Saturday, October 30, 2004
Day 38
What a gorgeous, sunny day! I feel as if my life is coming into focus, and no I'm not going to take you through the events of yesterday evening, a girl is entitled to some privacy. I feel ready for fresh challenges of an adventuring nature - the idea of getting out of the town where I've been making a fool and an exhibition of myself, at least for a while, certainly appeals. I know the way gossip spreads here, and while I have no idea how many people saw my early-evening stroll, there must be a few who would have noticed that the hooded figure was about my size, and of course everyone has seen the two of us shopping and generally hanging out together. If challenged, I intend to lie and say I lost a wager - but the fewer opportunities for a challenge the better...
Ashil is either becoming tactful as middle age approaches, or his contacts were busy elsewhere. While he didn't have anything definite on the jobs front, he did suggest that a trip down to the coast might be a good idea - plenty of caravans start out from the big port of Broadwater, and there's always the chance of joining a group of treasure hunters, as the area has a lot of old caves and tunnels where relics of an earlier age sometimes turn up. "If you stop off in Wealdstone, you could say hello to old Sergeant Tayne for me", he added.
Tayne had been our sergeant on a number of minor campaigns over a year or so, and had saved our lives a few times - and we'd saved his, as well, though I'd still been a skinny youngster at the time. He'd retired from fighting, and rejoined his wife and children in Wealdstone with enough money to become a prosperous merchant - it would be good to see him again, and I was sure he'd be happy to see an old comrade-in-arms.
Memree seems happy with the idea of a bit of travel, so the rest of today was spent in preparation. Our faithful Hengist is in good health, ready to carry our packs, and Ashil is lending us a pair of good riding horses which, he says, need to go to the coast to be sold anyway. We'll be leaving most of our money in Redwall under Ashil's care, we'll even keep our room on and leave some of our stuff in it, but tomorrow, if the weather stays good, we'll be riding out, and we probably won't be back here until the first snows fall.
Ashil is either becoming tactful as middle age approaches, or his contacts were busy elsewhere. While he didn't have anything definite on the jobs front, he did suggest that a trip down to the coast might be a good idea - plenty of caravans start out from the big port of Broadwater, and there's always the chance of joining a group of treasure hunters, as the area has a lot of old caves and tunnels where relics of an earlier age sometimes turn up. "If you stop off in Wealdstone, you could say hello to old Sergeant Tayne for me", he added.
Tayne had been our sergeant on a number of minor campaigns over a year or so, and had saved our lives a few times - and we'd saved his, as well, though I'd still been a skinny youngster at the time. He'd retired from fighting, and rejoined his wife and children in Wealdstone with enough money to become a prosperous merchant - it would be good to see him again, and I was sure he'd be happy to see an old comrade-in-arms.
Memree seems happy with the idea of a bit of travel, so the rest of today was spent in preparation. Our faithful Hengist is in good health, ready to carry our packs, and Ashil is lending us a pair of good riding horses which, he says, need to go to the coast to be sold anyway. We'll be leaving most of our money in Redwall under Ashil's care, we'll even keep our room on and leave some of our stuff in it, but tomorrow, if the weather stays good, we'll be riding out, and we probably won't be back here until the first snows fall.
