Morning March

As Gore woke up, he quickly straightened his stiffened body and nearly sent his head through the roof. He sighed. "I forgot I was in a Human inn… My poor back is sore… Next time, I will just sleep on the grass."

Gore slowly got up from his bed and went down to the bottom of the inn floor where people were already eating. He glanced at them all and then turned his gaze to the bartender. As Gore walked up to the bar, he set his massive hands down upon the wooden counter. "For breakfast, I want 10 glasses of milk, three loaves of bread, and a large portion of meat, like pork belly or something."

The man chuckled. "Sure thing boss. You sure look like you can hold all that food. I got some pork belly."

The man closed his eyes for a second and then coughed. "Alright, that will be 8 silver coins."

Gore fished inside his bag and then slid them across the counter towards the man. "I do have a massive appetite… I'm just not used to eating meat cooked."

The man's eyes widened. "Oh really?"

He rubbed his hand across his face and then frowned. "Well, your food will be ready soon."

The man moved towards the counter and Gore moved to one of the round tables in the inn. As he did, a man stepped through the door and looked around before finally resting his eyes upon Gore. The man strode over. 

Gore looked at the man as he walked over, but he didn't move. The man had well-polished armor, but his helmet was not on. He was clearly a knight. His hair was silver, and his eyes were blue. He had the look of a man who had seen a large number of battles.

The man stopped short of Gore and introduced himself. "Hello Gore, my name is Lintos… I don't mean to necessarily brag or anything, but I am the duke that owns this city. I know your name because I've been monitoring you. When you came down the stairs, one of the men told me you were awake."

Gore stood up and he towered over Lintos by a difference of three feet. Gore looked down at Lintos and then stuck his pointer finger into his nose to probe for mucus. "Alright, alright… So, get to the point."

Lintos closed his eyes for a moment and then glanced up at Gore with a sure smile on his face. "My parents dropped me on the head as a kid. Most people would have gotten mad at stuff like that, but I just think it's funny… Anyway, I have mobilized every single man in my castle, and we are all ready to go besieging now. There is a castle that was taken from me just a half day's march away. It should not be too heavily guarded. If you take down the gates for us it should be a breeze. You will be heavily compensated."

Gore pulled a booger out of his nose and then stuck it in his mouth. "Oh, that's cool. By the way, I have a Warband of five others that I just formed yesterday. They will be coming with me. I bought them horses and armor and everything, but I haven't trained them at all… I was planning on at least teaching them the basics before we got there."

He nodded. "You will have time before we get there."

The bartender brought over all of Gore's food and Lintos' eyes nearly popped clean from their sockets. "That's a lot of food… Do you plan on eating that much when we march?"

Gore nodded. "Obviously, but I'm used to hunting for myself. I can kill my own deer and then eat it whole without a fire."

Lintos blinked and then shook his head slightly. "Alright, meet me outside the city gates in an hour. I will have all my knights and men-at-arms mobilized by then."

Lintos left and Gore started downing his food as if he was starving for weeks, but that was not the case. The bartender blinked four times and half the food was gone. Gore finished the whole bit of food within two minutes.

The others started coming down the stairs and as they did Gore got up and decided to knock on the others' doors to make them wake up. Within the hour, Gore's whole warband was walking outside the city gates. Right outside the city gate, Lintos sat on his horse in full armor with his entire entourage of 20 aura knights, and 400 Men-at-arms. There were carriages filled with supplies, but from Gore's perspective, they were far less prepared than Dane had been, but they were relying on him.

Gore moved up to Lintos. "How much are you paying me?"

Lintos shrugged. "The person who took the castle over was a viscount and he has no other land to his name. All of his treasure though... probably not that much. We will see how much there is and then I will decide. I value your time at about 5,000 golden coins for this whole thing though just for blowing the castle gate successfully open. If you do more than that, I will value you higher."

Gore grinned. "I like the sound of that!"

And so, they marched through forests and fields of wheat. The castle had not yet been fortified by the reinforcements led directly by the Tyros, the king of Alios under fear of death by the goddess Eris. 

That party was also making good time towards the castle on their march, but they were much further away than Gore. The whole march was a race of time which Gore and Lintos were unaware of. 

A dozen miles north from Gore, sat Tyros upon his horse, and he was thinking. 'If that damned goddess were only to help this world instead of threatening everyone in it whenever she appears. She is more of a devil than a goddess! That bitch has done this to me before… Always threatening and never asking.'

Tyros dug his spurs into his horse's side and sped on ahead of the others. He needed air.