Chương 222: 219. A Man In Need

The feast had been going on for more than an hour by now, probably even two hours. One by one everyone had taken the food in their wooden plates and bowls, before they began to eat and mingled with each other. Some of the guards had finished eating, and were showing some juggling tricks to the kids on one side to the awe of Lucem and Clarisa. A little outside the circle of the braziers, someone had brought a circular target which was used for archery practice and hung it on the outer wall of the manor.

A few guards including Yufim, Hyola and even Cedoron were having a dart throwing competition, although they were using knives instead of darts. The guards who had been on duty at the village gates and patrols had also been replaced by others, so everyone got a chance to eat. While most of the others had been eating while standing, there were also a few benches kept on a side for those who needed to sit.

A sturdy table had been kept on one side and covered with a tablecloth - although it looked heavily repaired - for him and his advisors. That is where Kivamus was currently sitting with Duvas on his side, while Gorsazo and Hudan sat on the other side of the table after finishing their meals.

"The feast turned out to be a success, I'd say," Duvas remarked while looking at the festive atmosphere. Hudan nodded.

"The last feast didn't leave many good memories for us with the battle with Nokozal's bandits, even though we eventually won." He snorted, "It's nice for a change that a feast was completed without any attacks on the village this time!" Gorsazo agreed, "Indeed. It was a good idea to give everyone a chance to relax and forget about any worries. The kids seem to be enjoying it the most." Kivamus laughed looking at Lucem and Clarisa who were watching the knife throwing competition with awe.

"That they are." Suddenly he heard what he had been waiting for, before everyone had to return indoors. The temple bells were ringing! Unlike the daytime when they rang for the same count as the time of the day, this time they were ringing continuously. On a short visit to the temple in the past, he had seen the sundial built on the southern wooden wall of the temple which was used to tell time and ring the temple bells every hour.

That was good enough during the daytime, but there was no good way to tell time in the dark. That's why earlier in the day, he had told a servant to provide their only hour glass to Father Edric in the temple, so that they could keep track of the hours even in the night for this special occasion. He had also sent a request to father Edric to ring the bells at around midnight, and it had finally happened.

He had told the manor residents that tonight the temple bell will ring for the first time in Tiranat during night, and that is what will mark the beginning of the New Year. It had been unusual for them to think that the New Year should begin in the middle of the night and not from the start of the next day, but Kivamus had insisted on this point, and declared that the new year will begin when the temple bell rings in the night.

He had also sent a few servants and told the guards going on patrol to spread that news in the village as well, so they wouldn't be alarmed at the bells ringing in the night. However, being completely unaccustomed to hearing the bell at this time, nearly everyone in the crowd stopped doing whatever they had been busy in, moving their heads with a surprised expression towards the west where the temple was located.

Standing up from the bench he had been sitting on, Kivamus took the lead, and exclaimed loudly, "Happy New Year, to all of you!" That broke the reverie of the crowd, and they all erupted in cheers and everyone started giving wishes of Happy New Year to others around them.

"I wish you a very happy New Year as well," the majordomo said, before Hudan and Gorsazo repeated the same. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Kivamus grinned.

"Thank you, and I wish the same to you all! Let's hope this year goes even better for Tiranat!"

~ Tesyb ~ It was morning of the next day, and he and the other guards were waiting inside the empty storehouse of the fish merchant near the north gate of Kirnos, while Feroy was talking with the merchant in hushed voices in a corner. Their plan was to leave soon, so that they could reach Tiranat by tomorrow evening. Snowfall had started once again in the night, and it had become bitterly cold by now.

They did know about the feast they had missed in the manor in Tiranat, but hopefully someone would have saved some adzee meat for them. Soon, Feroy walked back towards them.

"I've made a deal to buy enough fish to fill both our wagons, although more than half of it is on credit. Start loading it up." As they began walking towards the barrels kept on one side of the storehouse, one of the guards asked in confusion, "There is barely enough fish here to fill half a wagon!"

"I'll explain later," Feroy said, "just load up everything here fast, then we are leaving from the eastern gate of Kirnos." Tesyb frowned.

"From the eastern gate, not from the northern gate right outside the storehouse?" Feroy smirked.

"Later." Soon, they had loaded up all the smoked fish on a wagon, and after climbing on their seats, they moved around their wagons on the snowy dirt path outside the storehouse and turned south towards the marketplace, as Tesyb glanced back towards the northern gate which was only a short distance away from them. The merchant was riding a horse along with his own guard and he would soon exit through the northern gate, while their own wagon would have to cross the whole village to exit from the eastern gate.

Wouldn't it have been faster to exit from here? He wondered why Feroy wanted them to take the long way. Tesyb saw the merchant grumbling as he handed over some coins to the guards and exited the gate, before their own wagons turned around a bend in the street while travelling towards the marketplace. Reaching there, they turned towards the east and followed the snow-covered path towards the eastern gates, when they suddenly heard the sound of a child crying.

Feroy immediately told them to stop the wagons, and jumped out from the seat with Tesyb following him, and the other two guards waiting at the wagon. It didn't take long until they found the source. Just behind a hut - which was tied with a rope surrounding it thoroughly so nobody could enter it - on a small alley next to the main street, there was a man in his thirties trying to calm a child who couldn't be more than a few years old.

As they watched for a moment, the toddler seemed to have gotten too tired from crying by now, and fell silent, probably sleeping now. Looking up at them, the man glared.

"Why are you all here again! What more does the baron want from me...? I have nothing more left to give!" Tesyb was confused for a moment, before he realised that the man must be confusing him with the guards of the baron of Kirnos with their fur coats and swords making them look quite similar.

"We don't work for the young master Lanidas, or his father," Feroy explained.

"We are from Tiranat in the east, and I heard your child's cries. Is there any way we can help?" The man looked at them in suspicion for a moment before he sighed.

"I thought you were here to ask for more taxes from me..." He looked wistfully at the hut next to him.

"This used to be my home in the past, but I couldn't pay taxes a few months ago, so the baron's guards threw me out of my home as punishment." He looked at the toddler in his arms with regret.

"We don't even have a place to live in this winter... My wife died during childbirth, and after we were thrown out of our home, I did my best to feed my son from what little I earned to prevent him getting sick," he added with his eyes wet, "but it seems like this winter will take him from me as well." It seemed like Feroy didn't have to take more than a moment to think before he removed a small leather pouch from one of his pockets.

Inside that were a bunch of folded leaves which had been sealed with small wooden needles - which were actually thin twigs - seemingly containing something within their folds. From the size of Feroy's pouch, it looked like it contained a lot more such folded leaves earlier and only the last few were left by now. Tesyb thought about why it would be so, while also wondering what they contained inside.

Finally, the ex-mercenary carefully removed the last few of those folded leaves and gave them to the man, who took them with hesitation.

"What is this thing...?" the man asked with confusion as he opened one of those leaves to look inside.