The Blood Witch (The Blood Reign Chronicles Book 1) (25 page)

Nicoldani studied Jak for a moment longer, and then clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s alright boy, just don’t let it happen again.” The big man actually smiled, just barely. He seemed to have a soft spot in his heart for the Jak, and especially Gineara.

“What’s everyone talking about? Gin said gleefully, as she skipped across the clearing to stop at Jak’s side.

“I was just saying, that if memory serves me correctly, we should be able to make it to the village of Cag today,” Benjim said cheerfully.

“Village? Gin exclaimed. “Wait, what …. Cag? Why would they name a village Cag? That’s not a very good name,” Gin said wrinkling her nose.

As evening was setting in the small party rounded a bend in the road and a village appeared just up ahead. It wasn’t very big, with only a few scattered buildings, but Jak thought it looked a little larger than Elsdon.

The town was nestled among large cottonwood and elm trees. That is if Jak remembered correctly, from what Benjim had told him of the trees. They were quite old trees, with large branches arching high, overtopping many of the houses and supplying ample shade and wind cover. It was a very peaceful, alluring looking scene.

The buildings were made mainly from wood, with thatch roofs. Jak couldn’t see any brick or stone buildings among the few scatter structures, other than what looked like a stone lined well near the center of town. The road passed directly through the small village, with most of the buildings setting to the east, and only a few on the west side of the road.

It seemed to be a farming village, with small gardens scattered between some of the buildings, where the trees did not shade too much. Larger cultivated fields were on the outskirts of the buildings stretching west towards the Sanchi River.

Jak spotted some chickens scratching and pecking around for crumbs and bugs among the fallen leaves and foliage on the ground. There were also a few goats in pens or tethered on long ropes, grazing on the grass and weeds within their reach. Jak thought it a little odd that these people had no sheep or cows, at least not that he could see. Cows gave better milk than goats, and you could get wool from sheep. He didn’t think goats were good for much of anything. At least that is what his father always told him.

There were plumes of smoke drifting lazily skyward from many of the chimneys presumably from cook fires, since it was almost time for the evening meal. Surely, preparations were being made for supper. All and all, Jak thought it looked like a more than peaceful inviting little town, and was eager to spend the night indoors.

Just before they crossed the edge of town, Jak noticed a sign posted next to the road. It looked to be hastily erected and made fairly recently. There was no weathering or discoloring of the wood, and some of the letters were crooked, as if it was carved in a hurry. He thought it strange to even have a signpost for a small town like this.

He noticed Benjim looking intently at the sign as well, with a puzzled look on his face. The sign read “Gloryvane”. That was odd, he was sure Benjim had said the name of the village was Cag, but maybe the old man had been mistaken.

When asked as much, Benjim just shrugged his shoulders, and said that perhaps he had been wrong about it. But the puzzled look in the old man’s eyes remained.

As they continued further into town, a young man not much older than Jak ran out to greet them.

“Welcome travelers,” he announced in a jubilant tone, “My name is Kalvan. All are welcome in Gloryvane, come, come! Follow me.”

When Frog caught sight of the young man, the dog’s ears pulled back, its teeth bared, and a deep-throated growl began to rumble in his throat.

“No!”
Jak commanded the dog wordlessly. Frog immediately stopped his growling, but he was still agitated at the presence of Kalvan. Jak wondered what would disturb the dog so much about the stranger. The young man seemed nice enough, and didn’t appear to pose any threat.

After glancing briefly at the dog, Kalvan turned gesturing enthusiastically for them to follow. As the young man led the way down the road, many more people emerged spiritedly from houses to join them. It appeared as if the whole village was coming out to greet them. They all shared the same vibrant almost gleeful demeanor as Kalvan. Frog became more and more agitated and skittish as the people gathered around, but the dog would not disobey Jak’s command.

Kalvan stopped in front of the largest building in the small village. Jak supposed it was an inn, or tavern, or something like that. It looked to be two stories tall, and only about half the size of the inn at Kragston. However, it appeared to be in good repair almost as if it had been recently renovated.

As Jak looked closer, he could see that the wood which formed the storm shutters over the windows looked much like the sign at the edge of town had looked. For the most part, they were untouched by sun and weather, as if they were newly installed.

Jak turned and noticed a girl that was perhaps a year or two older than he, eyeing him seductively. She raised her hand in a shy waving motion and smiled warmly at him. Jak blushed deeply and looked away hastily. He tried to ignore the girl, but it was extremely difficult, since she was rather pretty.

Just then, a man and woman of middling years, with the same amicable manner, stepped from the large building and greeted the traveling party warmly, almost as if they had been expecting them.

“Welcome travelers. My name is Cael, and this is my wife Jan. All are welcome in Gloryvane. You must be tired and hungry from you travels, come, we will get you some hot food and a place to sleep for the night.

Nicoldani exchanged guarded looks with Benjim. Apparently, neither of the men had expected a reception like this, and for that matter, Jak thought it a little strange as well. People in small villages tended to be cordial and hospitable, as long as you posed no threat to them, but these people were almost too nice, if that was possible.

What Jak found even odder still, was the lack of young children and older folks among the villagers. Kalvan, who had greeted them at the edge of town, and the girl that would not stop staring at Jak, seemed to be the youngest in the village. Cael and Jan, who were about the age to be Jak’s parents, were nearly the oldest. Perhaps the young ones and elderly had stayed in their houses in case the strangers happened to be hostile.

Suddenly Kalvan stepped forward grabbing Gin from her mare and hoisting her onto his shoulders. Uncertainty showed in her face, until Kalvan began to trot around making noises and galloping around like a horse. Gin’s expression turned to one of delight, and she clapped her hands in glee as she rode on his back. It troubled Jak, because his older brothers had done that with Gin, and she never seemed to tire of it. It seemed odd having this stranger doing it, but Gin seemed to be having fun, so Jak let it pass.

After a moment, Jak followed the lead of the older men and dismounted. As he continued nervously watching Gin ridding Kalvan around, Jak felt something softly touch his arm. He looked down to find the girl that had been staring at him had come up next to him and slipped her arm through his. He stood there a moment in shock not knowing exactly what he should do.

“My name is Jissera,” she looked up at Jak with smoky eyes and a seductive smile, “what’s your name?”

He swallowed hard, and was finally able to mutter, “Jak, my name is Jak.”

She was
very
pretty he thought to himself.

“Very pleased to meet you, … Jak,” she cooed. She placed her other hand on Jak’s forearm as she turned and started for the door of the large building, pulling him along with her. Along the way, he almost tripped over his own feet several times. Her hand on his arm was so soft, albeit unsettling at the same time. He thought of pulling free, but he was afraid she would be insulted, besides, on second thought, he didn’t really want to pull free.

Several of the younger men hurried forward to take the horses from the newcomers and lead the animals to the stables. Jak commanded Frog to go with them and stay in the barn with the horses until he came for him. He didn’t want to take a chance on the dog deciding to wander out and end up attacking someone. The dog was clearly agitated and acting very strangely.

Cael and Jan led the way up the few steps into the building. Once inside, Jak immediately noticed it was poorly lit. The storm shutters were closed on all the windows so the only source of light, other than two small hanging lanterns, was from the open doorway they had just entered. Jak however, had no trouble seeing in the dim light and was able to see the details clearly.

It was a large square room with two tables to one side and four chairs around each of them. It had a large open-beam ceiling spanning the entire structure, which was open all the way to the peaked roof above. So, it wasn’t two stories as he had originally thought. It was clean and tidy with no signs of dust, dirt, or even cobwebs, up among the beams. What was slightly out of place was the presence of some stains on the worn wood planks in the center of the floor; Jak supposed the stains were from someone spilling food or perhaps wine on the floor.

It wasn’t much of an inn, Jak thought to himself. There was no kitchen, no beds, just a large room with a few tables, and a large fireplace at one end, but no firewood.

Seeming to read his thoughts, Cael spoke up. “It isn’t much. You see, we don’t really have much need of an inn all the way out here, begging your pardon. This is more of a meeting place for us, but you’re welcome to bed down here for the night, if it pleases you. At least you’ll have a roof over your head. If you like, we can bring some beds in for you. It won’t be any trouble at all.”

Nicoldani forestalled the man by telling him the floor would be fine, it was much better than the hard ground. They didn’t really need to go to all that trouble of bringing beds in just for one night.

“It is no trouble at all,” Jan insisted, “it would be our pleasure. We have plenty of extra beds. We won’t miss four of them for one night”

Jak wondered what she meant when she said they had plenty of extra beds. Why did they have extra beds?

Further protests from the big man were cut short when Cael promptly sent several of the men to bring beds back for the four of them.

In the meantime, many of the village women had filed in bringing pots of hot food, loaves of hot fresh bread, and pitchers of mulled wine. The smell began to make Jak’s stomach grumble loudly. It smelled delicious and he was ravenously hungry since they hadn’t had a good full meal since leaving Kragston.

Cael and Jan saw to the preparations of the food, and had some of the villagers set one of the tables with dishes. The food and drink was placed on the other table. Then Cael, Jan, Kalvan, and Jissera began to serve up the food to Jak and the other three.

“Come, Come,” Jan beckoned, “you need to eat it while it’s hot. We apologize for not being better prepared for you, but we don’t get many visitors through here. We hope everything is to your liking.”

Jak wondered what kind of reception they would have gotten if the villagers had known they were coming. It seemed to him as if this entire affair had been prepared well in advance. He wasn’t used to being waited on in this manner, even by Svenlag, the friendly innkeeper at Kragston.

The meal was delicious and the best Jak had eaten in what seemed like a long time. The villagers even served mulled wine to drink, but Jak didn’t want any after his run-in with the ale at Kragston. He didn’t like the way it made his head feel, especially the next day. But the friendly villagers kept trying to pour it for him, particularly Jissera, who personally served Jak. She seemed to get extremely irritated when he wouldn’t have any of the wine.

Then again, she might just be angry since Jak would not respond to her constant advances. They made him more than a little uncomfortable, and he tried his best to just ignore Jissera. Benjim and Nicoldani seemed to think it all very amusing. Jak was glad someone thought it was funny.

The villagers however, seemed troubled by it, and kept giving Jak chastising glares. He wished Jissera would just stop before she got him in trouble with the town’s people. He wasn’t sure, but he thought Cael and Jan were Jissera’s parents and if so, he didn’t think they would like him paying that kind of attention to their daughter.

Finally, dinner was finished and the villagers cleared the dishes and moved the tables off to one side of the large room. They moved the beds in the center of the room with persistent apologies about not having better accommodations.

The villagers seemed a little on edge now, and nervous about something. They kept casting worried looks at Jak.
What did they think he was going to do? Did they think he would sneak out in the night to try and find Jissera?

After a time, and many inquiries as to whether they had everything they needed for the night, Cael, Jan, Kalvan, and thankfully Jissera left. Jissera gave Jak one final “you don’t know what you’re missing” look, before closing the door behind her with a frown.

“Aren’t they nice people?” Gin asked merrily. “They are such nice people. I do especially like Kalvan. He is so … fun!”

“I have to admit, they are not lacking in civility,” Benjim said, shaking his head in dismay. “But they are a little odd. I don’t think I’ve ever met village folk so….friendly.” His jaw cracked with a wide yawn as he spoke the last words.