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Chapter 1 : 'Volunteering' for the mission
A mob had gathered around the house at the edge of the village.
It was late afternoon in early winter. The sun had lost most of its heat, so mob didn't mind mobbing in the afternoon also it was a matter of great urgency. The mob looked the part, armed with pitchforks and shovels. Actually most of them had just marched off their farms and joined the crowd. Along the way to the house someone had also lit a few torches. The logic was that they wouldn’t look a mob without them and everyone agreed. Along with all the pitchforks and shovels there was also one man with a wooden ladle. He, apparently, was unaware of the dress code of a mob, but he was a cook and didn’t own a pitchfork or a shovel. On the whole the mob looked the part, if you disregarded the ladle, and the odd spoon, fork and other assorted cutlery. The ones with the cutlery were in fact folks who’d just finished their afternoon meal and had seen the crowd walk by and had decided to join in. All in all they were trying their best to look like a mob and sometimes you just have to give credit for trying.
“If you don’t come out this instant, we’re coming in.” The mob shouted.
“Oh, go fuck yourself. You don’t scare me” came the reply.
It was a woman’s voice and she didn't sound scared at all. At least she wasn’t scared of the mob.
“Well, that’s just rude and besides it doesn't matter what you say, we’re not leaving here without you.” said the man with the ladle.
That man was Elmar Chapman and he owned the only eatery in the village rather appropriately named The Eatery. He had once worked as a chef in a restaurant called Ocean View in a seaside town named Port town. The people of this country weren’t particularly imaginative when it came to naming places. It did make the places easy to find, but it also meant that there were at least two dozen restaurants named Ocean view in half a dozen towns called Port Town. It also made travelling to places extremely confusing. Having worked in Port Town for nearly a decade he’d gotten bored of the smell of fishes and had decided to move to this village to open a small eatery where he had now been dragged out of bed and recruited in the mob.
“If that’s the case, you’re going to have to wait for a long time because I’m not coming.” replied the woman defiantly.
“Look you know we wouldn't be here if we had any other option.” Elmar said, having now become the de-facto voice of the mob.
“Of course you do. What about Sir Valiant? Isn't all of this part of his job profile, protecting the village and all that.” The woman asked.
Sir Valiant was the local knight stationed in their small village of Dot. The village was called Dot because that’s all it was on the map, a tiny little dot. But given the lack of imagination of the population in general and the bureaucrats in particular it would stand to reason that there would be fair few small villages in the kingdom named Dot.
This specific dot lay near the northern border of the kingdom near the unscalable mountain range known as the Tall Mountains. It was rumoured that beyond the range was the territory of magical beasts but no one had ever confirmed it since no one had ever scaled the mountains. Besides the village folk weren’t curious sort and it was Sir Valiant’s job to ensure their safety in case they got curious.
Sir Valiant or more specifically Sir Gerald “Valiant” Bentley the Fourth and Three Fifths as named by his parents. They had figured that adding numerals to the end of their names would make them sound more important. Most days it just made them sound silly. But that was the name the man had to live with. Gerald was in his mid forties. He’d been in the service of the kingdom all his life. He had seen some action but had never mentioned what kind of action. Everyone in the village just assumed that it would have been some war even though the Kingdom hadn’t really been in any wars in a long time.
The truth was Gerald Bentley was just an average knight. He had been an average soldier and an average captain of soldiers. In appreciation of his spectacularly average service the kingdom had posted him to the village of Dot as its guardian and protector. The village was too small to warrant an entire garrison or even a small unit of soldiers. One knight was all the kingdom could spare and the people of Dot had never even asked for that much. Most mornings Sir Valiant would tend to his small farm and look after his bees and roses. In the evenings he would sit in The Eatery at the corner most table near the kitchen. This was his office, so to speak, and he would listen to whatever complaints the village folks might have and protect them in case they were ever in any kind of danger and that’s what he was doing at the moment, rather unsuccessfully.
“We already did that.” Elmar replied to the woman.
“And?”
“He hasn’t returned in nearly six hours, so we don’t know how he is.” he replied slowly.
“Well go and check.” the woman said.
“Are you insane,” the mob shouted back in fear, “we’re not going in to check.”
“And you want me to go”
“Well... the thing is we figured Sir Valiant might have gotten injured fighting the beast, you being the village healer and all maybe you could take a look.” Elmar asked sheepishly.
“And what if something happens to me when I’m out there. What if that thing out there attacks me?”
“You know magic don’t you?” Someone else from the crowd asked.
“I can magically grow plants, what do you propose I do, shower the beast with herbs. Season it a bit.”
Someone in the crowd chuckled.
“That wasn’t meant to be funny. Besides why haven’t you lot gone to the Mage?” The woman asked.
There was some whispering in the crowd as they looked for the answer.
“The Mage isn’t here. He and his apprentice have gone off to the annual Mage conference, they won’t be back for a couple of months.” Elmar replied.
“My dear lady, you know we wouldn’t have come here if we had any other option but you’re our only hope. You’re the village doctor and the only practitioner of magic in the village at the moment. We beg you to reconsider.” This time it was an older voice which had spoken.
The lady and village doctor in question was Rosalind Bloom, Rosa for short. She was the doctor that had been appointed to the village by the kingdom. Since the village was too small to afford a doctor and a vet, Rosa handled both those roles and she did them well enough. She was in her late twenties, medium height and build with long black hair and eyes that matched the colour of her hair. Rosalind Bloom belonged to a large family of carpenters and metal smiths but she had turned out to be the black sheep and had gotten interested in medicine because of the local medicine woman. Her parents had been supportive and when she had finished her basic education in their small town, they had sent her off to the Royal Guild of Medicine for further studies. From the beginning Rosa had realised that she wasn’t going to a be great surgeon or physician, so instead she'd decided to focus on becoming a general practitioner which also included studying animal diseases. She knew that all the middle rung students were sent off to remote villages so that even if they screwed up the Guild’s reputation wouldn’t be damaged. Rosa was aware of this but she was glad when she got sent off to Dot. She didn’t enjoy living in the big city and was happy to be back in a small village like her hometown of River Bend. In terms of size, Dot was even smaller than River Bend.
Doctor Bloom had been in Dot for well over a year now, having replaced the older physician who had passed away nearly three years ago. Such appointments were usually lifelong unless the doctor wrote to the capitol and asked for a transfer. Rosa had taken up residence in the old physician’s home which was in fact a government constructed accommodation for the capitol appointed doctor. It was just that the previous physician had lived in that cottage for nearly thirty years and so the cottage had practically belonged to him. The villagers had been glad when they'd heard that a new physician had finally been appointed to them by the capital. They were initially sceptical of the young woman but Rosa had quickly proven to be quite an efficient healer of both man and beast and the farm animals had taken an instant liking to her, which the villagers took as a good sign. She was now very much a part of the village. Having settled comfortably in the village she had written to her parents and they had promised that they would come and visit next year. Now she was sitting on the floor of her small bedroom wondering if she was going to survive till next year or even till the next day.
But she'd sworn an oath and she had a job to do. All she hoped for was that the beast wasn’t doing all of this just to attract a meal, or a second helping in this case, and she would be it.
Rosa took a deep breath and got up off the floor.
She peeked out her window to address the crowd.
“Fine,” She said with a sigh, “I’ll go.”
The mob roared with joy.
“But I have one requirement.”
“Anything.” Said the town elder.
“I’ll need an additional horse, in case I need to get Sir Valiant back.”
“That can be arranged.” It was Ossana Appleton who spoke. She was the most educated woman in the village and the one everyone listened to. If the village would have had a mayor she would have been it.
Rosa ducked back into her bedroom as she heard the villagers whispering amongst themselves, she figured it was about who’s horse they were going to give to her. But then the reality of it all came crashing back, no matter who’s horse came along came along with her, she was still going. That fact couldn’t be changed. She hung her head and dragged herself towards the closet. She had the look of someone who was walking to the gallows. As Rosalind was picking out a dress from the closet her eyes fell on a painted portrait of her parents.
“This is all your fault, “she addressed the painting, sarcasm dripping from her voice, “Why couldn't you have stopped me from going with that old woman? You could have just made me stay in the workshop like my brother but noooo, you had to all supportive. Go honey, learn medicine. Oh you like animals too that wonderful, my dear. You should go to the capital and become a doctor. I could have been back home right now, making dressing tables and chairs. Instead here I am going off to face certain death. I hope you’re both happy.”
She got dressed and went into the living room to pick up her medicine kit. The kit was a small box that held a few herbs, seeds and some assorted tablets. She also had a small book in there which contained a few spells that she needed on a daily basis. The villagers were correct in saying that she was the only practitioner of magic in the village at the moment. It was mandatory that anyone joining the Royal Guild of Medicine had to have magical abilities, since quite a few of the cures required some minor usage of magic. Depending upon their specialisation doctors were trained by the Guild of Mages in specific forms of magic. Most were relatively basic. The higher forms were reserved for the Mages. Rosa had primarily been trained in earth magic since she frequently needed to grow herbs in case she ran out of something specific that she might need for a particular medicine. She sat on a sofa in her living room going through her medicine box making sure she had everything she needed. As she rummaged through the box she wondered what use her magic skills would be against a beast of those proportions. Maybe she could grow a tree and drop it on it’s head before it incinerated her. But she knew she was just procrastinating, she sighed and got up off the sofa. She picked up her medicine kit, pulled up the hood of her cape and stepped out of her cottage.
The mob was all present and there were three rather morose looking men standing a little ways away from the crowd towards her left. Rosa looked at Ossana quizzically.
“They’ll be accompanying you, in case you need help. We figured it’s the least we could do.”
Rosa wanted to protest but she couldn’t bring herself to. She didn’t mind the company and it turned out that Elmar was one of them. She’d always gotten along well with him. They both shared a liking for cooking. The other two were barely men, they had just gotten out of their teens. The two young men were Wes Merton and Clarenzio Fazzi. They were good friends, having grown up together and their parents had shops in the village centre on opposite sides of the central street. They all stood there with brave smiles planted on their faces waiting for her to give them instructions.
Someone had already gotten her horse all saddled and ready for travel, not that they had to travel very far.
Rosa climbed onto her horse as the three men did the same. The mood of the crowd was somber. No one knew what was going to happen.
Rosa looked up at the three men and smiled as bravely as they were.
“Alright men, let's go rescue our knight from the dragon.”
***