Leaving Town

It was only an hour after they got back to the inn that a few city guards arrived. Sylvia was still resting in her room with Kelly and Maria providing support. Marcus made sure to post two guards outside her door in case she needed anything, he then went downstairs to talk to the city guards.

There were five of them and they did not look too happy. When Marcus took the last step off the stairs the guards eyes went wide. Marcus was still outfitted in his armor, thick plates of steel adorning his figure. The stairs groaned and creaked under his weight, he had to stoop to clear the threshold into the room.

The lead guard cleared his throat, adjusting his posture. "You'll have to come with us, sir. Murder is a very serious crime, we'll need to sort everything out at the garrison."

Marcus nodded his head, but didn't move. "I'm afraid I can't do that. I can't leave the lady's side. It was self defense anyway, that bastard tried to assault the young lady, I couldn't just let him do as he pleased."

The guard was ordered to apprehend the man that killed Holster Musk's son by any means necessary. But he didn't know that the man was such a monster, he didn't think that the five of them could make the man do anything he didn't want to do. He was told that Lenard was murdered in cold blood, although he knew of Lenard's reputation so he doubted that very much.

"If you have any doubts about what happened, Miss Sylvia would be able to attest the events that took place." Marcus added.

"Sylvia you say? Is her last name Bishore?" The guard asked, suddenly looking a little pale.

"That is indeed her last name. She's the daughter of Lord Bishore of Jarkart."

The city guards looked at each other, they were told to treat Miss Bishore with the utmost respect. She was the daughter of a very influential noble, and that the city lord wanted her visit to be as pleasant as possible. Now that something like this had happened, they were bound to be scolded very harshly.

"We're very sorry that the Lady had to experience such a trauma. The two men will be dealt with, there's no need to worry about that." The head guard said, bowing slightly.

Marcus was surprised to see his attitude change so abruptly. The guards all bowed, voicing their apologies for the incident and for taking up his time. They then left in a hurry, most likely going to report to their higher ups.

He went back upstairs, relieving the two guards at Sylvia's door. He knocked gently, waiting for permission to enter. Maria answered the door, cracking it ever so slightly to see who it was. Seeing that it was Marcus, she let him inside. Sylvia was sitting on the edge of the bed, still looking a little disheveled. She did have the color back in her face though, Marcus supposed it was a good thing.

"How're you doing?" Marcus asked with concern.

He walked up to her and crouched down to be eye level with her. She looked up at him, she had a small smile on her face. She brushed a wayward piece of blonde hair back behind her ear.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking. I'm sorry I broke down like that, it's rather embarrassing." She said, her face turning slightly pink.

"There's no need to feel embarrassed, it was a scary moment. As long as you're ok, that's all that matters." Marcus said as he stood back up.

He placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly. He gave her a smile that she returned, then turned to leave the room. He just wanted to make sure that she had gotten over the shock of what happened. He almost made it to the door when Sylvia spoke again.

"Thank you Marcus, for protecting me."

He just turned around, nodded his head and smiled. Then left her room to go to his own, they would leave early tomorrow so everyone needed to get some rest. Sylvia watched him leave, she had a strange expression on her face and many thoughts going through her head.

.........…

The next morning, they had all gathered at the city gate. Marcus was at his spot next to Sylvia's carriage, Nathan was in the lead on his horse. They were waiting on Riley and his entourage to show up. They didn't have to wait long, soon a somewhat plain carriage with about six guards around it rumbled down the street. It stopped to the side of Marcus and the others, the door opened and out stepped Riley.

He was embellished with brand new leather armor with thin steel plates. The steel plates were glistening in the early morning sunlight, blinding you if you were to look at it in a certain direction. A shining new sword hung at his waist, it seemed to be almost too big for him to wield properly. Riley stood tall, with his back ramrod straight. He had his chest puffed out, peacocking as he disembarked his carriage.

Marcus rolled his eyes at the scene before him, he thought that kid looked ridiculous. Marcus knocked on the carriage door, leaned in and informed Sylvia that her boyfriend was here. The glare that she gave him sent chills down his spine, he actually froze up a little. Chuckling, Marcus stepped to the side and let Sylvia out of the carriage.

"I'm glad to see you made it Sir Riley. Now that you're here, we can be on our way." Sylvia took the initiative to speak, hoping to quickly put an end to any conversation he was hoping to have.

"I'm happy to see you as well, this beautiful morning is made even more so by your radiant smile." Riley said, reaching for Sylvia's hand, then kissing the back of it.

Marcus thought he could hear Sylvia gag a little as his lips made contact with her skin. He did his best to stifle his laughter, the other guards were doing the same.

Sylvia took her hand back and inconspicuously wiped it on the back of her dress. "Thank you for those gracious words."

"You are most welcomed, Miss Bishore. Now, my carriage and my guards will take point, we will be the sword that clears the way." Riley declared with a dramatic overtone.

He gave Sylvia another bow, turned on his heel and went back to his carriage. Sylvia turned to Marcus, gave him another death glare, and climbed back into her own carriage. Marcus just laughed some more, for some reason he really enjoyed teasing Sylvie. Marcus then saw Nathan talking to Riley's lead guard, he was telling them about Nick and Dave. They were still further along the path, scouting ahead. He didn't want them to mistake them for vagabonds.

After everything was dealt with, Riley's carriage left the gate first with his guards surrounding it. Marcus and the rest soon followed, not looking forward to the road ahead.

............….

"You let that man leave?!" Holster Musk was enraged, his face was almost purple as he leaned over Lord Renar's desk, screaming in his face.

"He killed my little boy! In cold blood! And you let him leave!?"

"You know better than anyone that your son wasn't innocent. He finally offended someone he shouldn't have." Lord Renar said, using a handkerchief to wipe the spittle off his face.

"I won't stand for this, I'll have his head and I'll have yours as well!" Holster bellowed as he slammed his hand on the desk.

The guard standing by put his hand on the hilt of his sword when he heard that statement. Lord Renar quickly waved him off, not wanting to escalate the situation.

"Now Holster, you know how things work. If Lord Bishore found out what happened he would have had Lenard killed either way, you as well for enabling his behaviour for so long. Really, it is your own fault, if you would have disciplined him better this would not have happened."

Holster Musk trembles with rage. He was the wealthiest merchant in the whole city, he even had more wealth than Lord Renar. How dare he talk to him in that way. He was a big fish, the biggest, he got whatever he wanted, no questions asked. Now, his son was killed and the person that was supposed to do something about it refused, even going so far as to blame him for it.

Hoster didn't say a word, he kicked over his chair and stomped out of the room, Slamming the door on his way out, knocking a painting off the wall. Lord Renar shook his head while rubbing the bridge of his nose. He should have taken care of Lenard a long time ago, but the money was just too good to pass up. He was almost as bad as the boy's father when it came to enabling him. He had the city guards ignore a great deal of the evil deeds the boy committed. As long as Lord Bishore didn't find out that his daughter was accosted by the man, everything should work out. If he did find out, he just had to make sure he wasn't connected to him or Hoster in any way.

"Follow him, make sure he doesn't cause anymore trouble." Lord Renar said to the guard.

The guard nodded his head and rushed to fulfill his orders. Lord Renar was almost positive that Holster would try to seek revenge in some way. He just had to stop him before he dragged him along with him. He was debating on if he should just have him killed, but quickly put that thought in the back of his mind. Holster knew way too much, if the assination failed, it would be himself hanging along with him.

...............…..

They were trodding along the dirt road, little dust devils were spinning in the distance. The sun was scorching, beating down on everyone. Marcus was sweating buckets, his leather and steel armor acted like a greenhouse, trapping heat and cooking him. He would occasionally actively absorb magic power in order to keep his body in top shape, usually he wouldn't need to do that no matter how long they walked. The carriages had their windows open to let fresh air in.

The three women had silk fans fanning themselves. Their hair was sticking to their necks from the sweat. Marcus felt sorry for them, he was sure that if all these men weren't around they could take some clothing off without fear of seeming improper. Marcus stared a bit too long, Sylvia took notice and waved at him in a playful manner. Embarrassed, he quickly looked away, giving the local terrain his full attention.

They were due to take a break soon, he was looking forward to it. Hopefully they could find a river or lake to cool down in. Abruptly, Nathan called for the caravan to stop. Marcus could see Dave coming down the road, he looked to be in a hurry. He stopped before Nathan, whispering into his ear. Nathan nodded his head, then went to talk to Riley's lead guard. Marcus hadn't taken the time to learn any of Riley's guards names, they'd only been on the road for a little more than five hours.

It wasn't long before Nathan made his way over to Sylvia's carriage.

"Lady Bishore, there are reports of a group of orcs on the road up ahead. There are an estimated twenty to thirty. We'll have to go around or wait for them to move on." Nathan said.

"How far are they from us?" Sylvia asked.

"About two miles. They shouldn't come our way, they seemed to have ambushed a carriage that was hauling foodstuffs. They'll most likely gorge themselves then move on."

"What about the people? Did they make it away in time?" Sylvia asked, with a grim look on her face.

"There were no signs of a fight, so most likely they abandoned the carriage and ran away." Nathan said honestly.

From everything Dave had told him, the orcs were just getting fat on vegetables and some salted meats from the carriage. It was a total loss for the poor farmer, but it seemed like they at least made it out with their lives. The best thing to do is to wait for them to just move on, it would take a lot less time than going back and finding an alternate route.

"That's a relief, we'll wait then, we can just take our rest here." Sylvia said after some thought.

Nathan nodded, then took his leave to give out orders. They would set up a perimeter, just in case the orcs did for some reason make their way towards them. Marcus helped Sylvia, Maria, and Kelly out of the carriage, and made their way to the shade of the trees nearby. It wasn't long before Riley exited his carriage and made his way over.

"Great." Sylvia muttered under her breath.

She then stood and greeted him with a smile. Maria placed an extra chair around the little table Sylvia pulled out of her storage item. Riley's eyes opened wider when he saw the storage magic, he knew that even with his family's wealth, they were a long way from affording one of those. That just showed how high class Sylvia's family was, if he could woo her, his own family would be set for life.

Riley sat down in his chair first, leaving Sylvia to stand. Even Marcus knew to pull out a chair for a young lady. Kelly quickly pulled out the chair for Sylvia, her dress that she wore made it difficult for her to do it herself. Riley poured himself some tea that was set out on the table, after taking a sip he started talking.

"I hear tell of orcs up the road. That's quite the dangerous beast, isn't it?"

"Oh yes, very dangerous. I've decided to just wait them out, there's no reason to go and provoke them." Sylvia said as she waited for Kelly to pour her own tea.

"I'm sure me and my men could clear the road ahead easily. They're only lowly orcs, just walking pork chops." He said with an upturned nose.

Marcus couldn't help but to roll his eyes. If he really went up the road, he would just get himself killed, along with his men. He said nothing though, just stood by, silently judging.

"Haha, I admire your bravery, but there's no need to hasten the journey. I quite enjoy the slow pace." Sylvia said with a giggle.

Everyone knew what she was really laughing at, but Riley was oblivious to it. He just drank his tea while chatting Sylvia up, trying to show off any way he could. It was a long hour, but finally Nathan came over to give the all clear.

Riley kissed the back of her hand once more before returning to his carriage with his chest puffed out. Marcus could see Sylvia sticking her tongue out at him from the corner of his eye.

Everyone quickly prepared to move, packing up the tables and chairs, then mounting their horses. They had about half an hour to make up, it wasn't much, but they still had to quicken their pace. Marcus had to move at a light jog in order to keep up with the carriage. Sylvia offered many times for Marcus to ride with her, or at least hang on to the side of the carriage. Marcus always refused, he really didn't mind the exercise, although today was an exception since it was so hot out.

After another two hours, Marcus finally relented and grabbed hold of the back of the carriage. He tried his best to distribute his weight evenly, to make it easier on not just the carriage, but the horse as well. They still had another two hours of travel until they would set up camp. It was then another five days to the next town, Layette. There they would stay for two days then make the last leg of their journey to Rosevalley.