Chapter Twenty Two
/Unknown/1119/
#Henrik POV#
"Ha' ye 'eard?" An old man speaks
"Ney ya old fart! Speak what ya know if ye wan'! Stop blabbering around!" A drunk retaliates
"Shut it ye manwhore!..*cough*...I heard a rumour about the rearin' ground. Turns out a group o' bounty hunters 'ave scuttled the beast"
The old man tells
"Pah!!...That ain't true, heard meself the beast be unkillable" the drunk retorts
"Shut up!...I heard from a reliable source that two...." The old my begins to tell the tale of our hunt.
It appears our exploit has gotten to this place already. I wonder how they would react if they knew the two hunters are actually in this inn with them
"I'll cut yer old slimy tongue, cook it and feed it back to ye if ya keep yapping those lies!!" The drunk screams towards the old.
I don't think they would accept us. Anyways, after that battle, Benjen wanted to swear fealty towards us and become our subordinate, but we ultimately refused.
He wouldn't bear the truth if he ever finds out what we really are. So we left a couple of days later, they wanted us to celebrate with them for the victory and we did. But we advised them all to leave the village and start a new life somewhere else, believe me, if those ghouls where there, other monsters are around and when they notice the ghouls are absent, they'll come over again.
So when we were leaving we made sure they all did too, couple of golds were handed to them from us. That's when Benjen and his family wanted to follow us on our journey to swear fealty but we blatantly refused.
We have been hunting beasts, animals, men and we have become good with it, even making a name as the 'Grimm Brothers'. Although close to what we truly are, we wouldn't correct them now, would we.
Anyways, we have gotten closer to the North and we have been hearing a lot of news.
Far away, in the land of Tabor, there was a witch who ruled over them. Queen Rovenna, dubbed 'The Wicked witch' had been killed, finally ending her reign of terror. It was said that she wanted her step daughter dead so she could rule longer than anyone but it back fired. Apparently, the hunter sent to kill the girl became her protector and they battled the queen, gaining Victory over her and becoming the Queen of Tabor with her husband King William.
Now things have become hotter with news around speaking of witches, sorcerers who have been oppressing various land. Calls have been made for heroes, adventurers and hunters alike to end the reigns of these evil doers.
And that brings us to why we are here, close to the North. News have been going around that the lands around the North also is ruled by a sorcerer too, and we have been traveling around to gain more information on them. Nothing has been gained...
"What if it's a false?" Finn drags me out of my thoughts with the question
"What if it's not?" I asked back which makes him quiet. " Look, it's a 50-50 gamble, we will stay here and watch. What's the worse that can happen?" I ended my speech and he seemed to get what I planned
"And how long are we going to stay? And where? Surely we are not going to squander our money in this inn, even if we have tons now, from the looting of our kills?" Finn questioned.
And yes, we really have amassed a lot in our spacial rings. Yes, rings, Finn over years finally got attuned to rune magic and with the help of our magical bodies, he was able to find a way to store and release things from his daylight spacial ring through words from an ancient language that means 'store' and 'release' followed by the name of what he wants to release or store. Although, it might be crude but I think he will find a way. He told me he is studying the space runes as well as mental linking runes. He wants to tattoo a rune at the back of his head, close to his brain or 'mind' which would be linked to any and all is enchanted tools.
And for the kills, we have a bounty on our head. No, not as supernaturals but as bounty hunters, the people of the people we have helped captured or killed had placed a huge amount on our head. It was mouth watering enough to make other hunters to come for our head. It ended in their deaths though, and their money and bounties were acquired by us. We are filthy rich. Sadly, our combat skills and death counts are making hunters flee from us, but the foolish clients keep increasing our bounty and more foolish hunters are coming at us. Who are we to refuse gifts.
We came in covered in our cloaks to keep our identities, even if many eyes have been watching us, none has made a move. Their loss.
"As long as we can. And No, I'm too stingy to give my money to these money hounds. Let's get more information first, and then we will go further into the North, we will buy a plot and settle there for a while, study the sorcerer. Definitely, ruling a land isn't a one man business, they must have an army. We need to find all these information. And unless we want to make ourselves known, we have to lay low and get the information however we can." I explained to him
"Keeping tight seal on those kind of information would be evident. It's possible if we ask too much. They would catch a wind of it too..... alright...I agree, we will blend amongst the people. It isn't bad to retire a little. The killings have been tiring lately.even if it's been a great source of feeding too, Let's call it a vacation" Finn agrees with me.
We waited for a long time in the inn, until we were certain the crowd had reduced and the innkeeper was less busy before we walked towards him.
When he noticed us coming to him, he became guarded and stopped what he was doing.
We got close to him and Finn started to speak up after dropping five silver pennies on the table for the keeper.
"Can we talk? We have a need for some information" my brother asks. The keeper only looked at us for a while before giving us a nod.
"Well we wanted to know what's the best place to settle in the North, my brother and I are planning to settle down with our remaining family fortune after a long journey away from our home...our former home, which had been destroyed because of the war going on there." Finn stops, waiting for the reply from the keeper
"There is a town up the east of the North, Tauber. You can get a place at a low price if need be. You can start a life up there if you want. You can go now, if you're no longer needing anything..." The keeper says but is cut short
"We are not done. Another question. Are there any vital information we need to know about the North maybe" I speak this time, the keeper looking a little irritated replies" like what? Get on with it and be specific"
"Like let's say, the ruler of the North?" Finn says. This gets the keeper stiff but quickly regains himself
"Nothing. The queen is a good leader. Now get out, I longer have answers" glaring at us he scowls as speaks.
Still not giving up, I drop another five silver pennies. He looks towards us and then the money. Eventually he picks it up while grinning at us with a little glint in his eyes. I just knew we were going to regret whatever he spills from his gutter.
" Why didn't you say so..well the Queen rules the land and the people in it. That's the best information you can get. Now get out!"
And we did regret it. It was our fault, we only asked a general question about the ruler, nothing specific and he used it against us.
But from this, we have gotten enough that speaking about her could land anyone into trouble. Greedy bastard.
We were done, we decided to leave. On our way out I could here a random gruff walking up to the keeper and asking
" What did they ask? And what did you say?"
"Hmm...about the Queen. And I said naught!.. wouldn't risk my blood and business for some strangers...but they look more than what they speak of themselves" the keeper says.
---------------------------
Meanwhile, unknown to the two brothers, another cloaked man stood up to follow them as soon as they left, taking note of those in the inn ready to cause trouble for the brothers.
As he followed behind the brothers, giving them enough distance not to be exposed too soon, he saw the brothers enter through an alley, hoping not to loose them, he quickened his steps. When he entered the section, he gave a low cuss as he began to steadily increase his movement hoping to catch up to them as they must have entered one of the intersection ahead of him.
When he got closer to the intersect, he paused, and with a quick response blocked a punch heading towards him, after, he tried to make a counter with an uppercut to which his attacker dodged. Unfortunately, there was another waiting behind him and when the new attacker launched a kick to his head, he ducked and then gave a roundhouse kick to the new assailant. The kick was successfully blocked, bringing about another round of blows and kicks between the three.
After roughly twenty exchanges between the three and seeing he was getting overpowered even with his superhuman strength, the cloaked man withdrew from the brawl and then
" I do not want a conflict with you" the cloaked man speaks, his voice deep and steady.
"Aye, says the man hidden under a cloak and tailing us right before we came into this town" Henrik speaks
"You knew?" The cloaked man speaks, surprise evident in his voice.
"It isn't the first time we have been followed. Are you here for the bounty? Let's quickly end this, already in a bad mood after losing money for an information I could get from a blind old deaf man. And from your strength at least you could entertain us" Finn speaks disgruntling
"Aye, I noticed also. But I am not your enemy today. Let's make haste, some are coming for you for whatever information you must have asked for. We better leave" the cloaked man speaks
"Not untill you tell us who you are and why you're following us" Henrik says, grunting and a little impatient, the cloaked man removes his hood, revealing his face, black hair a little below his shoulders, shaved beards, brown eyes and huge physique.
"For who I am I can say, names Eric, a huntsman. For reason I'm following you guys, we can talk after we have left this town, I can already hear the screams of men coming here. I promise you it will be worth your time and if you don't feel interested we could part ways ahead, grim brothers. That's who you both are right?" Seeing that the man now known as Eric has no ill intentions towards them and they also hearing the voices from afar, decided to follow the man for now.
And so they escaped the alley, meeting up with Eric's allies, two dwarves, picked up their horses and ran off from the town.
---------------------------
After getting far from the town and finally convinced that they had no chasers, Eric began to explain to them why they came to the two brothers as they continued their journey riding their horses. And after he spoke, Henrik on his horse, after digesting the information, finally spoke.
" So you're saying, the magic mirror, an artefact of the late Queen Rovenna, was stolen while it was escorted to [The Sanctuary]. Every man amongst this guards were killed in the most gruesome way. You believe it's out of the ordinary, and you need our help? What makes you think we are capable enough to do that?"
" The rearing ground." One of the dwarves speaks. Both brothers were not surprised that they would know, after all they were able to track them. But they needed a confirmation, and ghoul slayers wasn't written on their foreheads. This also showed them the skills of these hunters, able to link them to the ones who did the deed. Thus, they were rather impressed.
"What's in it for us?" Finn asks this time looking towards Eric
"Well, gold and peace. Gold from the King and Queen of Tabor. Peace for yourself and the realm cause I can tell you, whoever holds the mirror with ill intention, will bring doom to the lands. Trust me I know"
Eric offers
After a while, Henrik and Finn exchanged looks between themselves, telepathically communicating and then Finn gives a loud sigh.
"Ahhhh...seems like our retirement plan is on hold now, eh brother?" To which Henrik laughs over. This had already confirmed their corporation with the huntsman and his crew.
And so begins another adventure.