Journey to Volmyr (1)

A peaceful night of sleep for the village of Darow, but for Garrick, restless and pained. He stares at the ceiling of his room, the moonlight creeping in through the window, giving vague light to the space. He is lost in thought before snapping out of it and getting out of bed. The pain is better than yesterday; he only winces slightly instead of the great tearing pain he felt the day before.

His body is resilient. Anyone would have died from his wounds, yet only a couple of days later, he is practically healed. The runes give him an innate healing factor, subconscious, like breathing or blinking. However, using magic as an offensive weapon is something that needs to be trained and practised to become anything worthwhile.

Garrick walks into the moonlight in front of the window and unwraps the bandages from his right arm. The skin is slightly discoloured blue, but the nerves remain intact, stinging when he runs his hand over the arm.

"I can still feel my arm, so no permanent damage is done, but why won't the scars leave? It's like a constant reminder of how I failed to protect myself."

Garrick leans on the window sill and looks up at the moon.

"I wanted to get on with my life and forget what happened, but life won't let me." Garrick sighs.

"Whatever, just get on with it, Garrick." He says to himself as he carefully gets changed into his gear, still mucky and stained with blood and picks up his sword.

He slowly stretches his arms out before swinging them around his body, the weight of the sword pulling on his muscles painfully as he tries to breathe. After a couple of hours of practice, Garrick takes a rest and looks out the window, seeing the sun slowly rise on the village, bringing it to life.

Picking up a chair from his room, he takes it outside the front of the building as he sits and watches the sunrise entirely over the village—a sense of calm washes over him as the heat warms his face.

The front door opens up as Meetlemire walks out, joining Garrick.

"Ahh, there you are. The nurse said you left twenty minutes ago. You're already dressed and ready to go, it seems." Meetlemire says.

Garrick keeps looking toward the village as he replies.

"Yeah, got a busy day today. We'll head out whenever you're ready."

Meetlemire senses something wrong with Garrick and decides to give him space.

"I'll get dressed and meet you at the south entrance of the village; Kyra needs to see you before she joins us down to Volmyr." Meetlemire says as he walks back inside the Infirmary, not giving Garrick time to ask questions.

"Wait, you managed-"

The door shuts quickly.

"No idea how he convinced her to join us, but let's see what she wants." Garrick says, unenthusiastic.

Making his way toward the Inn, he notices eyes on him from the guards and villagers, making him uneasy. A villager walks up to Garrick, teary-eyed and smiling.

"You're a good man for saving us from that cave. Thanks to you, I got to see my family again."

Before he can reply, more villagers gather around him, thanking him and trying to shake his hand. He gets flustered as he becomes claustrophobic, struggling to think or act. Just then, a hand grabs him on the chest armour and pulls him free from the crowd.

Past the crowd, Kyra stands in front of him, inches from his face.

"You, with me, now." Kyra bluntly says as she whisks Garrick away.

Kyra walks fast as Garrick tries to keep up.

"I was just going to the Inn; Meetlemire said you needed to see me."

"Only a guild member can collect the reward for the extermination job at the Goblin cave, so you're coming with me to the town hall."

"That isn't a rule. Anyone can collect the reward if they have proof of completing the job." Garrick confusedly states.

Kyra turns her head toward Garrick angrily.

"I know that, but that bastard Moreland isn't giving it to me after I argued with him. So you're gonna collect it and give it to me."

Garrick is even more confused now.

"What did you argue about to make him refuse your reward?" Garrick inquires.

"It doesn't matter. Just get me my money." She replies.

Entering the town hall, Moreland awaits them, a frown drawn across his face.

"I heard you made a miraculous recovery; must've been exaggerating those injuries." Moreland annoyedly states as he pushes a small brown bag of coins into Garrick's chest, causing him to wince. "Enjoy the reward money while I still have the good graces to let you have it."

Kyra steps in between the two of them and pushes him back.

"You seem a bit pissed off there. Heard your days as captain are numbered. The villagers heard what a pathetic piece of shit you are." Kyra smugly tells Moreland.

Moreland's face furls into anger.

"That may be, but I'm still captain today, so I'm deciding you lot are done here. Now fuck off unless you want a personal escort out of the village." Moreland stares at Kyra as the nearby guards place their hands on their weapons.

"Let's go Kyra. You got your money." Garrick says as he walks out of the building with Kyra.

Garrick rubs his chest as he passes Kyra the bag of coins and tries to shift the conversation onto something else.

"Heard Meetlemire managed to convince you to join us to Volmyr."

Kyra turns to face him.

"Yeah. I get you two to Volmyr, and we're even for good."

Garrick twists his face in confusion.

"Even? We're already even."

Kyra chuckles slightly.

"Yeah, then Meetlemire blackmailed me into guiding you to Volmyr since I lost one of his horses. Didn't think he had it in him to do that." Kyra exudes a certain level of respect in her voice toward Meetlemire.

"We're done here, Kyra. Whatever debt you think you have doesn't exist." Garrick tells Kyra with a stern tone, which takes Kyra off guard.

"I'm not blackmailing someone who saved my life. Enjoy the reward money; you deserve it, Kyra. Good luck in whatever you decide."

Garrick extends a hand toward Kyra, wanting to shake her hand, but Kyra slaps it away.

"Fine by me, less of a headache to deal with." Kyra retorts as she walks toward the village centre, attempting to conceal her anger.

Garrick travels to the south of the village, where Meetlemire awaits with his carriage and a single horse.

A smile dawns on Meetlemire's face as he sees Garrick but quickly drops, realising how annoyed Garrick looks.

"Is everything okay? Where is Kyra?" Meetlemire asks, puzzled.

"I told her she's free to do whatever she wants. Don't blackmail people who helped us, Meetlemire. Whatever debt she owes you, I'll take on." Garrick sternly tells Meetlemire, who is shocked, not seeing this side of Garrick before.

"I'm sorry." Is all Meetlemire can muster before slinking in his seat.

Garrick relaxes, realising Meetlemire didn't mean bad by his actions.

"It's okay. Let's just go. We got a lot of ground to cover."

The two make their way out of the village, south toward the port city of Volmyr.

Kyra enters the Ivory Duchess and throws herself down on a chair. Krovar notices her agitated demeanour, grabs two tankards of mead and sits across her, passing her one of them.

"I heard the news; Garrick is up and walking about. Give him my best when you next see him, Kyra." Krovar warmly asks.

"He's already gone. Left a while ago." Kyra replies.

"Already? Well, you can't keep a good man down for long; too many people to save." Krovar chuckles.

"He'll end up dead someday 'cause of it." Kyra says with fervor.

Krovar notices there's more meaning behind the words she uses.

"That may be, but if he lives his life his way, then who are we to say otherwise?"

Krovar takes a drink of the mead.

"I'd like to thank you personally for helping him that night and also bringing him back alive."

Kyra takes a drink as well and rubs her eyes.

"Still don't know why I brought him back. I even trekked through the forest to get a healing potion for him. No idea why I wasted my time doing that."

Krovar takes a sip as Kyra moves the bag of coins from one hand to the other.

"You are a good person, that's why. Your room is still yours for tonight, Kyra. Now, If you excuse me, I have a door to fix."

Krovar warmly smiles at Kyra, stands up and walks back to the bar.

Kyra looks agitated and self-loathing.

"Door? What happened to it?" Kyra asks.

Krovar grabs his toolbox from behind the bar and places it on the counter.

"Well, the night of the Goblin attack, Garrick kicked it down trying to find his Gnome friend, Meetlemire." Krovar chuckles. "Did a real number on the lock."

"You not want him to pay for it? I would." Kyra inquires.

Krovar Lifts the toolbox and moves to the broken door that housed Meetlemire.

"A good man owes no debt to me. He saved a lot of people in this village, so a broken door is a small price to pay for having them back safe." Krovar says with a smile on his face.

Kyra stares at the bag of coins, lost in thought.

"You deserve happiness, Kyra, we all do. His presence in this village seemed to liven you up. Not seen that side of you before." Krovar carefully says, trying not to get on the wrong side of her, saying something he shouldn't.

Kyra grabs the bag tight and then releases her grip.

"I got my money; that's all I wanted in the end." She says, trying to lie to herself.

Krovar tries fixing the broken lock as he continues speaking to Kyra.

"Then I'm surprised you're not happier then. You've been staring at that bag of coins like it's empty."

Kyra realises what Krovar is attempting to do and stands up with false wrath.

"Just fix that door and shut up. I got my money; that's all that matters." She bellows as she storms to her room.

Garrick and Meetlemire sit at the front of the carriage, moving slowly through the forest.

"It's been a while since I've been this route, Garrick, so it might take a bit longer to get to Volmyr." Meetlemire worriedly tells Garrick.

"It's okay. Let's just focus on getting there in one piece." Garrick replies.

Meetlemire looks down at his missing arm, then back toward Garrick.

Garrick looked ahead before realising what he had said.

"Fuck, not how I meant it, Meetle! Sorry!" Garrick, embarrassingly apologising.

Meetlemire can't help but let out a hearty laugh seeing Garrick so flustered.

"I know you didn't mean it that way, friend."

As Meetle lightly taps Garrick on the back.

"We should be mainly fine travelling the main roads toward Volmyr, but it might be more dangerous once we get to the mountains." Meetlemire warily says.

Garrick leans back, thinking to himself, then speaks up.

"Yeah, you're right. I've only travelled the mountain route a couple of times, and always with the guild. Let's take it safe and avoid any detours then."

"I trust your judgement; what you say goes! A couple days travel to reach the mountains, then a few more to reach Volmyr." Meetlemire happily said.

"Let's enjoy the rest of the forest while we can, Meetle. Not sure when I'll be back through this way." Garrick says as he soaks in as much of the scenery as possible.

End Chapter