Shadow of Hope IV
The reptilian figure takes an involuntary step back as the horse rears out of control, then again as it begins to buck and whirl about. The situation certainly does not present an immediate threat, but such a large beast moving about so erratically is hardly something to take lightly.
Then a realization dawns on him. There is only one similar circumstance that he has seen such as this, and the connection is all too obvious to make.
“You have, I see, brought with you a performer of a circus?” he asks, though he keeps his wary attention on the spectacle.
Within the general sparse traffic of the road approaches from the south a large group of mounted riders. No…a large group of mounts, but only two riders. The horses are all fully equipped for riding in new stock and gear, and are tethered in two lines of five; one behind each of the two riders riding side-by-side on the foremost mounts.
As the small herd approaches the bridge some details become evident. A young teen rides on the left, dressed in fairly new if plain traveling clothing with a wool cloak over his shoulders. Medium-brown hair suggests a few weeks on the road sin it last tended; sharp, fatigued features appear to no longer find the excitement of the prospects of travel and the road sufficient to fully overcome its tedium. A pace ahead of the boy rides an older man with a weather-worn face that carries a hardened air of experience. A full campaign is strapped on his mount’s flanks behind him, charcoal hair kept efficiently cropped short, cold detachment in his eyes, and the signature of a chain shirt worn beneath his weathered short traveling cloak. A length of steel bounces lightly in the scabbard at his hip.
The man surveys the scene, notes a few features of it — including the approach of the pair of riders — and turns back to the younger man, nodding toward the trampled field adjacent to the road. Together they veer from the road and lead their ten count some thirty yards to the aside. They dismount and the wind carries an order of two short words from the man to the youth, “Hold here.”
The teen nods curtly and sets about tending the horses for whatever brief respite was granted. The man turns back toward the bridge in time to witness the spectacle of the dwarf nearly falling from his saddle and the approach of the lizard-like humanoid. He closes the remaining distance on foot, left hand casually resting upon the sheathed hilt of his longsword.
He spares the lizardman and the dwarf each a brief appraising glance, but his gaze settles upon the female of noble bearing. He nods slow greeting directly to her without lowering his eyes.