Chapter 4 :
***
Cady dragged her feet and sulked as she walked through Candlekeep. They were leaving at midnight. It would be dark at midnight.
"Midnight" Cady mumbled for the umpteenth time.
She had never told anyone that she was afraid of the dark and she was pretty sure no one suspected, after all who had ever heard of a rogue that's afraid of the dark.
Cady absently picked the pockets of one of the guards she passed, something she was becoming rather good in, but she didn't care about money, her mind wasn't on money, it was on midnight.
Cady continued to ponder this as she passed a guard without even noticing who it was until she heard his voice.
"Cady, come here for a second" Hull said.
Cady walked over to Hull and smiled.
"What's wrong, girly?" Hull asked.
"Nothing much" Cady lied.
Hull looked sceptical, Cady was the type of girl that could be found bouncing around at all hours of the day and it was strange that she wasn't doing so as she stood in front of him but she looked like she was in no mood to talk so he decided not to bother.
"I wonder if you could do me a favor. I left my sword in the Barracks and I can't leave my post to get it, could you..." Hull said.
Cady's face lit up as the heard the word Barracks and she started jumping up and down, forgetting all about her midnight issues.
"You mean I get to go into the Barracks?" Cady asked with a smile on her face.
Hull chuckled. "Yes, girly, you get to go into the Barracks but don't stay in there too long or Fuller will get on my case"
"Okay" Cady said, already on her way to the Barracks.
"Cady, while you're in there get the antidote for Dreppin's cow" Hull yelled after Cady, not entirely sure if she had heard him.
Cady sneaked into the Barracks as a true rogue, silent, stealthy, deadly. She tip toed in and yelped when she found Fuller standing right in front of her. Cady fell back and landed on the wooden floor with a loud thud.
"What are you doing in here?" Fuller demanded as Cady jumped up and dusted her clothes off.
"And hello to you as well" Cady enthused, knowing that her smiles would only serve to anger Fuller.
"Answer the question, foster child" Fuller said.
"Why do you keep calling me that?. I'm not even your foster child" Cady retorted, still with a big smile on her face.
"Are you going to answer the question or do I have to call Gorion?" Fuller said.
"Fine, fine. Hull sent me in here to get his sword and an antidote for a cow" Cady said off the top of her head.
"In that chest over there and while you're doing chores, you can get me some bolts at the Inn and be quick about it, girl" Fuller said.
"Of course" Cady said, rummaging around in the chest "You are after all incapable of doing it yourself and you are asking so nicely"
"Don't give me any of your lip girl"
Cady quickly left with the sword and the antidote and went back to Hull.
"Ah there you are, here's 20 gp for your trouble, go spend it on some..." Hull stopped when he saw the look on Cady's face "What's wrong, girly?. Did Fuller give you a hard time again?"
"When does Fuller ever not give me a hard time?" Cady asked.
Cady spent the rest of the afternoon running between the Candlekeep Inn, Dreppin, the Barracks, the Library and the Storehouse.
"I kill all those rats and what do I get?. 5 gp" Cady grumbled.
Cady had bought equipment at the Inn like Gorion had told her to and she had settled for leather armor, a bow and some arrows and a small sword. She was still a little unhandy with the sword but she was already quite good with a bow.
Cady stopped when she passed the priest's quarters, the door was open. That's odd, Cady thought.The priests didn't usually leave the door open.
Cady stepped in and was about to yell out 'Hello' when a sword swooped by, narrowly missing her head and very nearly chopping off her ear. Cady stumbled back and wildly looked around only to find a man standing right behind her with a disturbing grin on his face.
The grin wasn't the only thing that was disturbing about him.His teeth were yellow and obviously rotting, his breath was murder on Cady's nostrils, his eyes were bloodshot and haunted, his face was pale and his clothes were somewhere between filthy and disgusting.
Cady didn't have the time to ponder this for long as the man took another swing at her, again narrowly missing her and she struggled to get her sword out, making her wish she had taken the sword training instead of the bow training.
The assassin was inexperienced and this was the only thing that kept Cady alive. When the man charged her, Cady closed her eyes and blindly stabbed the sword forward catching him right in the abdomen. The man screamed loudly, gurgled, fell back and threw Cady one more accusatory look before dying.
Cady was in a complete state of panic as she left the priest's quarters. The scene was soon flooded with guards, priests and other people. Imoen came running up to them and immediately threw herself into Cady's arms. Together they cried.
Cady and Imoen were both taken into the library to calm down by Phlydia and Tethtoril. Before they could properly calm down, however, a voice bellowed through the library halls.
"I knew it, I knew it all along"
"Oh no" Phlydia groaned.
"It was only a matter of time and now she has done it, she killed an innocent man" Ulraunt ranted as he approached them.
"Don't be a fool Ulraunt, it is obvious that she was attacked" Phlydia said.
"Don't try to protect the miscreant, she's not worth it. She must be executed for this crime, right now" Ulraunt yelled.
"You will not harm her" a voice said behind him.
Ulraunt turned around and his face paled. Gorion was standing there with a scowl on his face.
"My daughter killed because she had to and you know it" Gorion said.
"You are a fool Gorion, I have said so all along" Ulraunt said.
"You need not say it any longer, my child and I will be leaving tonight" Gorion said.
***
The hours went by and midnight rapidly approached. Cady nervously made her way to the library steps, happy to see that Gorion was already there. Gorion knew that Cady was afraid of the dark but there just wasn't any other way.
"Are you ready to go, my child?" Gorion asked.
"Yes Gorion, let's go" Cady said, swallowing hard.
Gorion and Cady made their way to the gate where Gorion proceeded to tell her that if anything happened it was imperative that she made her way to the Friendly Arm Inn where she would meet two friends of his.
Cady didn't understand why she needed to know this, Gorion would be there with her after all but she didn't argue.
"Do you have any questions, child?" Gorion asked.
"Can I kick Ulraunt in the shins and swear at him one more time?" Cady asked.
"No child, you may not" Gorion said but there was a smile on his face.
Cady sighed in disappointment but quickly forgot all about that as they walked into the wildernis, this was going to be a long walk.
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