Chương 107: [Festivities And Folklore]

The group walked through the gate of Stonehall, Shai and the others exchanging quick greetings with the guards.

"Good to see you again, Captain," one of the guards called out.

"You back for good, or just for the festival?"

"Just the festival," Shai replied.

"You entering the tournament again this year, Bredic?"

"That's the plan. I have gate duty for most of today, but I'm hoping to catch the last few rounds of the trainee bracket. Harold is taking my place tomorrow so I can take part in the main event."

"Good man. Well, if you do manage to catch the trainees, keep an eye on these four." She gestured to Leo and the others.

"Also, Parmo over here is entering the archery. I know you're fond of a bet, Bredic, so I'd put my money on him to sweep the competition." The guard grinned, eyeing Parmo.

"Thanks, Captain. I'll keep that in mind." As the group walked farther into the village, those from Monkhaven looked around. They were fascinated by the place, it was a little similar to what they imagined when they thought of a medieval style village but with so much more going on. Stalls were going up along the main street, traders arguing cheerfully about territory while their neighbours unpacked crates and arranged things on tables with the ease of people who'd done this many times before.

The smell hit Leo first, woodsmoke and something sweet he couldn't place, underneath it something savoury that made his stomach remind him the walk had been three hours long.

"That smells lush. What is it?" Phil asked, already looking around for the source.

"The sweet smell is the flatbreads. The other one is probably the river fish starting," Torren said.

"I think I can smell Cradle Vine Hog as well. You should all try it at some point today, it's lovely," added Rika.

"What is it?" asked Sam.

"They use this plant called Cradle Vine, it has a sweet flavour. The pig is roasted while wrapped in the vine, infusing the flavour into the meat," said Torren.

"Some of these take a while to cook, so people start early," Rika said.

"As the day goes on, you'll probably smell a lot of things you haven't had before." Parmo grinned, his eyes already tracking a distant trail of smoke.

"Awesome." The village itself was smaller than Monkhaven, but the layout was entirely different. To Leo, it felt like the roads had simply appeared around the buildings, rather than the buildings being positioned along a street. It was a tangle of history compared to Monkhaven's structured past. The houses were packed close together but remained separate, each with its own front and back garden, many of which were currently overflowing with crops.

The streets spiraled off the main square like spokes on a crooked wheel. With the stone walls, thatched roofs, and overflowing window boxes, it looked like a place that had grown naturally out of the soil rather than being built to a plan. For the festival, the usual washing lines had been taken down and replaced with long strings of dyed cloth that snapped and fluttered in the early morning breeze.

"It looks like a film set," Sam said quietly.

"A what?" Rika asked.

"I'll explain later," Sam said.

"But it's a compliment. This place is amazing." The streets were busy for the hour. Stonehall's own people were up and moving, nodding to Shai and the others as they passed. Visitors from the other villages were filtering in steadily from the west gate, small families as well as larger groups similar to their own. A few clearly travelling merchants who'd timed their route to coincide with the festival. Leo watched a group of armed guards from another village walk past.

They wore different colours and had a mix of weapons, some familiar from training, others from stuff he'd seen in games or TV shows. They nodded to Kai and Ronan who nodded back.

"How many villages send people?" Leo asked.

"Three regularly," Torren said.

"Sometimes four. The ones further west don't always make the trip." They continued to walk and look around, Kai leading them now, towards a big building in the distance. Leo was looking off to the side when he bumped into Phil ahead of him, who had stopped walking. The reason he stopped quickly became obvious as a family of four made their way along the street toward the square.

The father was broad and barrel chested with a dark beard that sat on his chest like a second coat, the mother beside him clean shaved and sharp eyed, two children between them, a boy and a girl, both looking around with the same wide curiosity Leo suspected was on his own face right now.

"You see that dude? Real dwarves," Phil said.

"Yeah, I see them. Don't just stop and stare man, it's rude," Leo said.

"Yeah, I know. Just surprised me, that's all." Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Nessa looked over at Phil.

"You know you're probably the one who stands out here. Not many people wandering round in all black."

"You hear that Phil, Nessa just called you an emo." said Parmo, with a smirk.

"Fuck off, no she didn't." They kept walking. Not thirty seconds later Luka and Sam stopped. An elven couple walking arm in arm, both tall and unhurried, the woman saying something to the man that made him smile.

"Do you get many elves at these?" Sam asked, after a moment.

"A few," Shai said.

"There's a village about half a day further west that has a small elven population. They come most years."

"Interesting," Sam said.

"Hoping to see a big tiddie, goth elf to make your girlfriend?" whispered Luka to Sam.

"Damn right," he said with a grin. Diane, who wasn't far from the pair and had clearly overheard what Luka said turned to look at Sam.

"Wow, I should have known you'd be a huge perve on top of being a nerdy loser. Colour me surprised..."

"Yeah, cos you can talk. I've seen the way you've been ogling some of the guards. You trying to catch flies or something?" Diane snapped her mouth shut, which made Sam grin.

"Holy shit, did you just win an argument with Diane?" asked Parmo.

"First time for everything," Nessa said, without looking up. Torren chuckled beside them as the walk continued. They were approaching the main square when Parmo grabbed Leo's arm.

"What is that?" Leo followed his eyeline to a garden visible through a low gate beside one of the houses. A man in his fifties was moving between his plants with a watering can, and following him at a distance of about two feet was what appeared to be a translucent wobbling mass roughly the size of a large dog. It moved when he moved. It stopped when he stopped. It had no visible face.

"Is that a slime?" Sam said.

"Yes," Shai said.

"That's so cool. So people keep them as pets?" Leo asked.

"Yeah. They're useful," Shai said.

"They eat pretty much anything. People keep them for waste disposal mostly. Some get attached to their owners."

"That one's definitely attached to its owner," Luka said. The man noticed them watching, gave a cheerful wave, and moved on to his next plant. The slime followed.

"I want one," Phil said.

"That's not a bad idea actually, they could be dead useful," Mike said, looking thoughtful.

"If we could get a few of them down into the sewers back home, that'd keep everything from building up."

"I've been meaning to ask about that," Luka said, turning to Mike.

"The toilets still flush, the showers still work... did the whole sewer system come with us?"

"Everything within the town boundaries," Mike nodded.

"Pipes, pumps, the lot. It's all still there, buried under the streets just like it was back home. It's weird, but I suppose it's no weirder than the sky tearing open or us being here in the first place."

"And the Water Treatment Plant was out near the coast road, so that's still with us too," Diane added, jumping in.

"I've already been over there and checked everything with Terry. Solar running overtime is keeping the pumps and filtration systems online at a hundred percent efficiency. We've basically got a closed-loop system of clean water as long as the panels keep working as they are."

"Anyway," Mike said, cutting Diane off before she could launch into a lecture.

"The point is, if these things eat organic waste, they're a plumber's dream. No blockages, no smell."

"They're also adorable," Parmo added, watching the slime ripple.

"In a weird, snot-colored sort of way."

"Well, we're on the way to see the elders anyway, so I don't see why you can't ask about getting some," Ronan said, gesturing for them to keep moving. They'd only gone a few yards when the sound of the crowd was cut through by something heavier. It wasn't the rhythmic clip-clop of horses; it was a series of dull, heavy thuds followed by the distinct scrape of claws dragging across the stone paving. The noise was enough to make everyone from Monkhaven pull up short. They rounded the corner and found the source.

Two dragons were harnessed to a heavy wooden cart loaded with barrels. After weeks of seeing Growlie, who was basically a winged, cat-sized lapdog, the sight of these was something else entirely. They were roughly the size of heavy dray horses, covered in thick, dull greenish scales. Their wings were folded tight against their flanks, and their eyes, amber and slit-pupilled, drifted lazily over the crowd. They came to a stop outside of a large wooden building, the words Warden's Hearth above the door.

A handler moved between them, checking the leather straps of their harnesses while the animals waited patiently.

"Okay," Phil breathed, his eyes wide.

"Okay, that's more like it."

"They're working animals?" Leo asked, forced to look up to meet the nearer one's eye.

"These ones are," Torren said, stopping beside them.

"Bred for it. Calm temperament, strong, don't spook easily. You see them less often out here on the border but in the core, farmers use them to help in the fields. Traders prefer them over horses, they're more likely to scare off any would-be bandits." Luka watched the nearer one shift its weight.

"Growlie's tiny compared to these. Are these fully grown?"

"These ones are close to it," Torren said.

"They'll get a little larger, but not much."

"There are loads of different types. Growlie is a different breed to these ones, he might eventually grow to be bigger, we're not sure."

"Do you get many bigger ones?" Sam asked.

"Some of the stories we have back at home have huge ones, capable of destroying cities. Come to think of it, we have stories of different types, too. Feathered ones from South American folklore, and ones that look more like giant snakes from the East." Rika looked at him, her expression turning slightly more serious.

"The ones nobles keep are larger, bred for combat, not carts. You don't see those up here often." She paused, glancing toward the mountains.

"And beyond that... you're into the old ones. The ones people don't go looking for." She gestured at the cart horses.

"There are stories of dragons so large, so old and powerful that they block out the sun when flying over towns. They make these ones look tiny." The lads went quiet, Leo snapping them out of the stupor.

"Sounds a lot like Ancalagon the Black from the Silmarillion."

"God, that's pretty fucking terrifying," Sam said, looking up at the sky as if checking for them.

"Can you buy one?" Phil asked suddenly.

"Like, a regular one. Is there a stall or something?" Rika started laughing first. Torren followed, his low chuckle joining the ambient noise of the square. Even Shai had to press her lips together to hide a smile.

"What?" Phil asked, looking between them.

"You want to buy a dragon," Rika said, still grinning.

"Just like that? Between the flatbreads and the beer?"

"I'm asking if it's possible!"

"Traders come through sometimes," Torren said, pulling himself together.

"But it's rare this far north. If you wanted one, you'd need to make the trip to the southern cities. And they're expensive."

"Mars found Growlie when he was still in the egg," Nessa added.

"The rest of the nest had hatched and left, and he didn't want a predator finding it. He brought it home and waited. That's not something you can just plan for."

"So Growlie just chose him," Luka said softly.

"More or less," Nessa replied.