Chapter Eight:

The nine members of the Seekers made our way through the streets of Crossroads. Several members were on horse back, the rest on foot. Some of us had just arrived in Crossroads this morning and went straight to the meeting. I had arrived last night and had left Thunder at the stable beside the Blushing Maiden Inn.

Our band had been officially registered with the Crown at the meeting that Cereld, Validar, and I attended. The others gathered supplies while we attended the meeting. Now reunited, our leader, the Priest Cereld, thought that sharing a meal would be a good way to get to know each other.

Cereld lead us to the Silver Merchant Inn. It was located close the gathering hall where we had formed, but in the opposite direction from the Blushing Maiden Inn. The Priest of Heironeous went in first to make sure the establishment could handle our large crowd. There were nine of us after all.

The portly priest reappeared after a few minutes and gestured for us to go inside. The Silver Merchant Inn was nice looking enough. Turns out that the had large private dinning areas and we were led into one of those. A door off the common room led to our private area. Another door gave access directly to the kitchen.

There was a single large table and we all took our places at random. Cereld took a seat at one end of the table, Validar the other. I sat in the middle on one side. Finrod sat down between me and Validar. Dalliance was on my other side and was closer to Cereld. Arafel sat down beside Validar on the other side of the table. Moorland and Flint sat across from me with Ti-Cat next to Cereld. The table was large enough that no one felt crowded.

"Mind if I sit here," Finrod asked as he took the seat next to mine.

"No, not at all," I answered, taking in the battle scarred elf. I couldn't decide if those scars made Finrod more attractive or less. "There's plenty of room for all."

The servers came forth to take our orders. I chose a turkey dinner, as it was one of my favorites from the fall festivals. The Inn did happen to carry Ansimont Ale, so I had that to drink. The others had a wide variety of meals and drinks. We talked among ourselves for a time.

Eventually Cereld stood and got everyone's attention. "A toast to my new friends and the wonders and foes we shall face in the frontier lands!" Holding his goblet up, Cereld tapped it with those goblets close to him and the others followed suit.

"Here, here!" Validar added to the toast.

"Since we are all essentially strangers united on a common goal, perhaps we should tell each other a little bit about ourselves?", Cereld continued. "Give some idea of the people we are now depending upon?"

Most of the others were fine with that idea, but Moorland didn‘t seem happy with the notion. It made sense to me as well. We were all putting our lives into the hands of everyone else. You should probably know more about those who had that responsibility.

"Since I was chosen your leader," Cereld said, "I'll go first."

Cereld told us that he had recently completed his training at the Heironeous Temple here in Crossroads. He was eager to put his years of learning to use and fight the forces of evil here in the frontier lands. It seems that there had been significant Hextor activity in the area around Gateway.

Hextor was not a name I knew at that time, but it was one that I would become very familiar with. That was the name of the foul God of War, who believed in survival of the fittest by bloody conflict. Heironeous was the enemy of Hextor and there factions hated each other with a passion.

"Cereld of Heironeous is correct in saying that agents of that vile slug were fought in the liberation of Gateway," Validar said, adding his own insights to the conversation. Yes, he actually said ‘vile slugs‘. "I witnessed it, as I was there aiding in the battle."

A murmur of conversation broke out among the Seekers. Clearly Validar had seen battle before and was familiar with where we were going. At least one Seeker was going to know what we were getting ourselves into, as I surely didn't!

"Since you are familiar with Gateway, Validar, perhaps you should speak next?" Cereld said as he took his seat once more.

Before speaking about the Battle of Gateway, Validar spoke briefly about his own personal history. His father was an adventurer, as was is father before him and so he was setting out to live up to his family name. I could relate to that, as I had my own grandfather's deeds to live up to.

Validar went on to say that he had extensive training with a variety of nobles before becoming a squire for Sir Alon Teramar. The name was unfamiliar to me, but as was quickly becoming apparent to me that the news of the day rarely filtered down to relative quiet of Plowman's Stand. Sir Teramar spearheaded the effort to reclaim Gateway a year and a half ago. Validar graphically told of the battle and the small, but significant role that he played in the conflict by preventing a flanking attack from inflicting damage to the main battle group.

I had to admit that most of what he said when over my head. Clearly this was a man skilled and trained in the art of war. The whole notion of a flanking attack, a pincer movement, or a cavalry charge were beyond me at this time. The nobleman seemed likable enough and I could clearly learn a lot about being a warrior from him, as I had basically taught myself up until now.

After Validar's long speech, no one else was eager to step up and tell their life story. How could any of use hope to compete with that? The tale and the skill in which it was told was most impressive. Clearly he was accustomed to being in a position of leadership.

"A most impressive tale," Cereld said after a time. "Who wants to go next? How about you, Miss Arafel?"

After a pause Arafel finally spoke and her words were chilling to me. The young woman's tale was not a pleasant one. It seems her father had also been an adventurer, but she had never met him. Her mother had been a barmaid in the town of Penhaligon. It was yet another place that I had never heard of.

"Penhaligon is the capital of the Barony of the same name," Validar explained upon seeing the obvious confusion in many of our faces. "It is the first large town one comes across while traveling south on the King's Road from Crossroads."

Arafel was the result of a night of passion with this adventure who quickly vanished and presumably never knew that he had sired a daughter. He had left a pair of scimitars', the unusual curved sword I noted earlier, with her mother for safe keeping. He had intended to come back for them, but never did. Arafel grew up poor and wandered on her own trying to make her way as an adventurer. The opportunity in the Frontier Lands lead her to Gateway and into our company.

Ti-Cat's story wasn't all that different, other than not growing up without knowing who his father was. He wanted to be an adventurer and so came to Crossroads to pursue that dream. In his case, there wasn't any more to him than met the eye: a young man seeking excitement.

Dalliance was not what I expected her to be. I had expected her to be from the Elfholds that dominated that region of the kingdom. Instead, she was a member of Clan Callarii who actually hailed from the Inner Kingdom lands! It seems that there was a unit of the Cynalonian Army entirely composed of Callarii elves. Back in the days when the kingdom was formed, the Callarii elves had helped King Victor the First and had been rewarded with this honor. All of that was a huge surprise to me and just further illustrated just how little I knew of the outside world. Dalliance mixed swordplay and sorcery.

I went next and quickly told my tale of being a protector of the people of Plowman's Stand and that I was here test out my skills against what the Frontier Lands had to offer. I found that I didn't like public speaking like that and the whole thing made me very nervous, so I raced through it just to get it over with. I probably made many mistakes, but I really don't remember what I said.

Flint Gravelrock came from a place called Karrak, a huge fortress city that protected the dwarven homeland from invaders in the Frontier Lands. The dwarven warrior had drifted down into the human lands looking for excitement and gold. The stories of the retaking of Gateway had sparked interest in him, leading him to Crossroads and into our group.

Flint was the first dwarf that I had any experience with, so that made him something of a curiosity to me. While elves were fairly common back at Plowman's Stand, dwarves were not. Flint seemed to be very fond of ale and drank far more that I could and still seemed to be sober. His most noticeable feature was his large nose and full beard.

Moorland quietly told us that he had received mage training in the town of Threshold and that this was his first real world adventuring experience. With those few words, Moorland told us about all that we would ever know about him.

Last, and hardly least, was Finrod. The elf rose from his chair and announced the he was from the Elfholds like I thought Dalliance would have been. He was from Clan Red Arrow and I knew them to be the elves closest to Plowman's Stand. It was Clan Red Arrow who arrived to the settlers my grandfather was defending during the battle of Plowman's Stand. Even more astonishing, Finrod had relatives who had actually fought in that battle!

That's the one thing that I always forget when it comes to elves. They just live so long! Their childhood is longer than a typical human's life! Both Finrod and Dalliance were older than my great-grandfather would have been, but they were both just at the beginning of their lives! It was another thing that just confused me. So in a roundabout way, without the help of Finrod's clan I probably would not be here today.

Finrod had been a mercenary for years now, essentially an adventurer for hire. As such he had picked up many skills that would be very helpful to the Seekers. He had the stealth of a scout, the skills of a warrior, and dabbled in magic too. Clearly a well rounded individual.

Our meal long since finished and with our tales completed, the individual members of the Seekers started to drift apart.

"We'll gather at the meeting hall after breakfast tomorrow morning," Cereld instructed. "Then we will begin our ride to Gateway."

We were all in agreement and started to go our own ways when Arafel spoke up. "Anyone have an extra bed? I just arrived in town this morning and don't look forward to finding a room this late at night."

Several other of the Seekers, Ti-Cat, Finrod, Moorland and Dalliance didn't have rooms for the night yet either. I remembered that there were two extra beds back at my room at the Blushing Maiden Inn.

"I have room where I am staying," I spoke up. "Arafel, Dal, if you need a place to stay you can come with me. There's plenty of room and two open beds."

"Oh, thank you, Stephanie!" Arafel said gratefully. "I could use a good night's sleep on a comfortable bed."

"Yes, most kind," Dalliance agreed. "It will give us girls a chance to get to know each other better."

We said our goodbyes to the men of the Seekers and left the Silver Merchant Inn. Arafel and I walked, while Dalliance was on top of a frisky pony she called Rhymer. Together we made our way through the streets of Crossroads towards the Blushing Maiden Inn.