Shadow of Hope XVIII
Putting away the tea gear and making the cups vanish, Marcus pulled a brown oilskin cloak out of his chest before closing it. Slinging the cloak on and walking towards Borlak and Katarina, he spoke to Erellia.
“Would you mind if I went to town with Borlak and Katarina? If we are getting foodstuffs, I would like to know what’s available before we set out. I will talk to you about the spells I have when we get back.”
“That would be fine, Marcus,” Erellia responded politely, “Time is presently a luxury we can afford.”
Marcus pulled a parchment out of his cloak and handed it to Erellia. “By the way, this is the information you asked me to look up. I have another copy so you can keep this one.”
“The knowledge of the Repository is appreciated,” she said, taking the parchment and tucking it within a fold of her clothing.
Marcus grabbed his traveling chest, putting the strap on one shoulder and turned to Kurn.
“Kurn? We should take two of the horses with us, besides the mule.
We are going to have to trade those riding saddles for packsaddles, besides getting rations and oil. I wouldn’t want to carry everything back without a horse.”
Kurn looked toward Erellia, then turned back to Marcus and nodded. “Five minutes.”
Kurn threw a glance Haron’s way, silently asking him to keep his mind on his work.
“No harm will come to you.” Kurn said it, and he meant it.
In short order three of the horses were divested of their riding saddles, two more of their saddlebags and extra carry, and the mule unburdened. The three freed riding saddles were stacked upon the still-bound saddles of the two horses that no longer had saddlebags. These two, plus the mule, Kurn lead off towards Borlak and Katarina. Marcus had a good point about needing horses to carry gear back, as well as to secure pack saddles for the five if they were available, to keep the carry-weight off the horses’ spines.
As people set about their tasks, he considered going to interrupt Erellia to speak with her himself. This division to menial tasks, this delay in learning what their purpose was… events were not progressing as Kurn had expected. But then, he hadn’t known what to expect, and had come at her call, no questions in his mind, voiced or unvoiced. Suddenly, there were questions. Patience was not strong in Kurn’s virtues.
With a gruff frown Kurn walked back to the other mounts and wordlessly assisted Haron with sorting through the supplies that they had, preparing to repack them — along with the addition of the purchases — upon the return of the foray to town.