The Lost Boy | ONC 2024

9 - Money problems

No one wanted to speak to us about the heir. There was no gossip, no words on the streets or anyone to bribe. It felt odd but there was nothing we could do about it. The young boy had brought Tom back to us, but he had nothing to add, which made him annoyingly grumpy.

As we left the tavern we were all in a foul mood, even Canan—which surprised me, he was usually so calm and positive. "What's on your mind C?" I asked, taking his hand in mine once we stepped outside.

He peered down at our joined hands, a smile forming on his lips. "C?" he asked with a chuckle. "That's not very romantic, but it'll do for now."

I rolled my eyes at him, but continued my investigation, "you look concerned."

He led the tree of us to a secluded area before he stopped us and looked around to see if anyone could hear us, "I need to find some of my kin, tell them about my friends and make sure someone will head over there and free them."

"So you're leaving then?" Tom asked and pulled up a pouch of tobacco from his pocket to stuff his pipe.

"No, I'll be done when you are," Canan added and gave me a smile. "You still need that information and it might take a while to find it."

"How convenient for ya," Tom muttered, but seemed to agree with him. "We'll get a room upstairs," he said and pointed his pipe at the tavern we just exited. "Come back here when you're done."

Canan ignored him and his eyes searched mine for an answer. I sighed and gave him a nod. He squeezed my hand slightly and suddenly bent down and pecked my cheek. "Stay safe Blue-eyes," he said and chuckled at my blushing face. Then he left just as quickly as he had entered my life, and a part of me was worried he was gone forever.

"Now what," Tom muttered and lit his pipe.

"We take a walk," I sighed, "let's see what they have to say in the craftsmens district."

He nodded and we were off, leaving the alley to move towards the stench from tannic acid and curing leather. As we walked I could feel Frank move around in my bag and I opened it slightly to see how he was doing. He looked up at me and I could see he wanted to spread his wings, but I shook my head. He needed to stay hidden for his own safety. With a tiny sigh he curled back up and rested his head on his paw. It gave me a bad conscience but I convinced myself it was for the best.

The cobblestones changed into dirt roads as we moved forward. The houses turned into hut-like structures and the folk living and working here were the short kind, halflings, dwarves and alike. They smiled and nodded at us as we approached and I realised I liked this part of town better than the others, despite the stench.

"Let's stay here for a while," I said and placed my tired body on one of the crates stacked by a house.

"Sure," Tom gruffed and sat down beside me, smoking his pipe and enjoying the daylight. "Now, Illon, since we have a moment, we need to talk about tha future."

I looked down on him, feeling a bit surprised by his words. "The future?"

"Aye," he said and looked back at me seriously. "Ya like that orc fella, right?"

I felt my inside start to flutter but my cheeks turned red from his question, "he's sweet and kind, and he's helpful," I answered lowly.

"Aye, he is helpful, he said with a nod, clearly not agreeing with the rest of my words, "and we helped him get out of tha place so I understand why he wanted tha give something back ta us. But I figure it's settled now."

I bit my lower lip and nodded, why did that statement make me sad? I had only known him for a couple of days. "He said he wanted to stay with us though."

"So he did," he said with a thoughtful expression. "Do ya want him to? Or do ya want to leave before he comes back to find us?"

A warm feeling started to spread in my stomach. So that was what he was doing, Tom wanted to check on me, to help me if I felt somewhat cornered by our tall handsome friend. "I'm fine Tom," I said with a light chuckle. "I enjoy his company."

The dwarf let out a hearty chuckle, "I've noticed."

"Is that strange?" I mumbled, feeling my cheeks heating up again. "I mean we just met."

"It's not," my friend said, patting my knee. "He's got charisma, that's for sure, and like a milkmaid, ya fall for anyone taller than you, add a broad pair of shoulders and you melt like butter in tha sun and starts making wedding plans," he snickered teasingly, knowing full well of all my previous crushes. "Tha difference is, this time it's mutual. That's why I wanted to have this little talk. I don't want ya to get hurt."

"Thanks Tom," I said and gave him a shy smile. "I'm trying my best not to rush into this, but he's not helping." As we sat there, enjoying the sun shining down on our faces, the villagers going about their business around us, I felt a sense of peace. A feeling I rarely felt. "It would be nice to stay here for a while, don't you think?"

"It would," he agreed, "but what about the heir? That reward is important to ya."

I sighed, because he was right. But this mission felt impossible. "We could search the local message board, maybe there's another job for us."

"After everything we've gone through to get here?" He slapped the back of my head and gruffed, "Illon Goblin Slayer, I am disappointed in ya. And there won't be enough coin from jobs like that to bail your brother out." He paused, "we need to find that heir."

"He's not here," a female voice mumbled from behind us, making us both turn around and peer into a window.

"Excuse me?" I said, sounding more surprised than I felt. People in towns like these were nosy, there wasn't anything odd about eavesdropping.

"I heard you talk about the heir," she continued as she stepped closer to the window and I got a glimpse of her brown curly hair framing a round face covered in freckles. She was a middle aged halfling, with kind eyes and a genuine smile on her face. "He left a few years ago, when folk found out about him."

"How do ya know that?" Tom asked, pulling his fingers through his long beard.

"I just do," she said and winked at him.

"And we're just supposed to trust you?" I asked cautiously, not wanting to upset her, but she didn't seem to mind.

"Do with it as you wish," she said, "it doesn't matter to me.

Tom looked unamused, "So why tell us at all?"

She giggled and gave him another wink, this time it was a bit more flirtatious and Tom seemed to notice that since his eyes fell to the floor. It was funny to me because he was usually pretty confident around ladies. It made me chuckle and I wanted to tease him about it, but decided to leave it until later.

"Because you seemed like nice folk," she answered eventually, giving Tom a onesover, "and there's not a lot of those around here anymore."

I chuckled at her advances and decided to give them both a bit of privacy, excusing myself and patting Tom on the shoulder as I left to finish our walk, and told him I would come get him when it was time to head back.

The streets were less crowded here and I walked with ease. I enjoyed the cauldrons and barrels with potted plants that decorated the doorways to hide the foul stench from the acids the leatherworkers used. Not that they helped much, but they were pretty to look at. As I moved forward I spotted an empty alley and when I felt Frank move in my bag I got the idea to find a secluded place where I could let him out for a bit.

The alley was neatly kept, there wasn't any garbage on the ground or suspicious looking folk standing around, so I decided to take my chances and walk further down until the sunlit street was barely seen.

I was just about to let Frank out when I heard voices and stopped in my tracks, noticing two people standing further down the narrow path. At first I felt happy, I could have recognised those shoulders anywhere, it was Canan. But then my heart stopped, I could see him clearly now. His arms were wrapped around a woman, kissing her lips gently and she was kissing him back.