| Emella's debrief Hmm, in pretty bad shape this, the side road of that imperial main road after the rough springtime. I wonder what Valkia will put on his report about this one? Still carrying all that iron gear on him, hilarious. Well, it�s been just a couple of months here for him, maybe he�ll learn. I�d better suggest a break before he collapses, poor bastard, under that heavy burden of his. �Well, Valkia, everything alright? Not tired, are you?� Not admitting. And still sitting a bit away from the rest of us. Don�t know should I pity him or is he seriously pulling some ranks or what? Ha, bravely refusing Sergeant�s bread and cheese, even though surely he has next to nothing in his own food bag. Damn that stubbornness. I wonder would Moran be interested in a little bet � will Valkia make it to the tavern on his own two feet or will he finally be carried there by the rest of us�? Emella patrolled the imperial roads with the rest of the team as so often before and, no doubt, as she would do so often in the future, too. Though, lately her doubts concerning the matter had been growing. Was this really the life she would like to lead for the rest of her life? And if not, what then? She couldn�t picture herself in a cosy family setting either. Every now and then the thought troubled her, but as long as she lacked the solution to the question, there was nothing to be done but the duty to fulfil. The main road was in pretty good shape, the side road quite another matter. The brief pause along the way to tavern of Broken Shovel she couldn�t resist to pick on the poor lieutenant Valkia yet again. She was sure he had hardly anything left in his food bag and yet he refused the Sergeant�s kind offer of bread and cheese. Sergeant trained Valkia with some strategy questions which resulted in some entertainment for Emella and Moran. Moran was mainly his silent self again, but finally agreed on the bet with Emella, when Emella said she�d take the risk and bet against Valkia�s fainting in his heavy armour. Valkia made it to the tavern all by himself and Emella had earned herself the first drink from Moran�s purse. Emella quite expected a nice evening, good drink and meal and a comfortable bed and it all started very promising. The team was enjoying their drinks and game, listening to Holla�s stories and Emella was also curiously looking and listening around to see who else was there. Quite a lot of people had gathered in the tavern, and delightedly Emella heard her own language Taborean spoken, too. Before long the trouble started, though. A gang of some vampire hunters came to the tavern stirring the earlier pleasant atmosphere with their loud remarks about vampires and earning themselves soon enough a hasty depart from the tavern with the help of the Royal Army. Moran had seemed to Emella as if he was trying to hide his face from the gang which naturally made Emella curious but she let Moran keep his secrets as she kept hers. Along the night there was a treasure hunt arranged, of which the Army showed no interest at all. Instead, the second �treasure map� got a game board drawn on the backside of it. But as the ghost appeared in the tavern the map proved useful after all, as Moran and Emella found themselves running in the woods in search of Holla to return to the tavern to talk with the ghost. The trouble with the ghost, the merchant and the necklace solved everyone turned their interest in the �treasure�. Some treasure indeed! Pieces of paper full of writing, what use was that and definitely of no interest at all to Emella, or so she thought. As it turned out to be notes on vampires, she got more interested in the content of the box and tried to listen to what others read from the papers. Her eyes caught on a parchment with some drawings in it, one of which particularly got her interest: A picture she had seen before, so long ago, in her childhood, the day after the lady had come and asked Emella�s father to forge the dagger. The vampire lady, who had robbed Emella her father� Emella managed to get hold of the paper and keep it to herself long enough for her to fumble it through with her poor reading skills. A name beside the sign. Lady Maywhistle. She studied and memorized the other names, too, just in case, before returning the paper. Emella managed to get the old scholar to read out loud what was written on the papers about vampires and she carefully listened to any possible valuable clues. Gradually things grew more grim and mad. A dead vampire hunter in the stables, throat cut, not bitten. A vampire or an ordinary murderer after all? Harsh, bitter words spoken to the woman grieving her friend. Doubts, suspicion, fear spreading among the people. And then finally Valkia calling his team to defend the people, the stairs, and the futile fight. There was nothing to be done. The intruders were not to be beaten, not even injured, so finally the swords were put aside and �the Master� entered. He turned out to be the nobleman seen earlier in the tavern. Emella, then hiding behind the counter, made her last desperate attempt and tried to slash the legs of the said master, but of no avail, her attempt earned nothing more but a contemptuous look from the nobleman. Emella saw a stake in the nobleman�s hand and for a brief moment she actually took him for a vampire hunter who had come to kill someone he knew to be a vampire, and Emella was ready to join him, until the horrifying truth came about. The peasant biting his sister and after a brief shocked silence the shout: �Kill them all!� As the fight commenced again, turned Emella her sword with bitter determination against the intruders. She would defence the helpless, the innocence, with all her might to the bitter end, no matter the cost, and dashed to the battle. No more army. No family life either. I wonder what Valkia will put on his report about this one � should he live to tell the tale� |
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