Chapter 14: Chapter 14

The terrain had changed to less and less forest and more farmland. They were only a few days from the city when Anna heard a cry for help in the distance. She ran towards the call, seeing a cemetery and then a boy that was being chased by a man. The man was staggering after the boy, his arms oddly raised. She jumped over a small fence and then pulled her club out. The boy saw her and tripped trying to change direction. The man came closer, so she jumped over the boy and landed in between them. The smell hit her first. A deep rot permeated the air. The man looked like a corpse, skin blacked and falling off. His eyes were covered in a white sheen. He stopped and shuttered when he saw her, turning to try to run away. She moved forward and crushed his skull from the back with just enough force to send him into the dirt. She didn’t want to splatter another head over herself.  

Turning around, the boy looked up at her and turned bright red. She leaned down and lifted him to his feet. He looked to be about eleven or twelve. He was thin, pale, had blonde hair and sharp features. “You alright? Did he hurt you?” she asked. He stammered some but calmed down when he noticed he was just a little taller than her. “Yes miss. May I have your name?” he asked. “I’m Anna. What’s yours?” she replied. He looked put out, but then said, “I’m Gabriel Ender. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Anna. Thank you for your timely rescue,” he answered. The way he talked reminded her of some of the ship captains, the ones who had brightly painted ships. The others arrived soon after. “Lass, what in the world,” Thokri started. Then he looked at the boy and the fallen man. “By the Stone One, a zombie,” he said.  

“What’s a zombie?” Anna asked. “Dead that walk. They are rare. You usually only see them in cursed places or the work of the necromancer,” Barika said inspecting the corpse. “Necromancer?” Anna asked. “Mages that work with death magic,” Lyreen said. “It’s regulated heavily, but out here on the frontier may be experimenting,” Barika said, spitting afterwards. “Regardless of that, we need to get the boy home,” Voekeer said. “Where is your home, boy?” Gabriel looked at Voekeer. “Just up the road, not half an hour walk,” he answered. “Well, let’s be off. I don’t want to find out if there are more,” Voekeer said. There was a thundering sound in the distance, and it was getting closer. “Oh no. I lost track of time,” Gabriel said. “What lad?” Thokri asked.  

He didn’t answer. He just stared glumly down the road. The question was answered when they saw the squad of knights. The knights rode around them. “Young lord, what is the meaning of this? Who are these people?” he asked, hand on his sword. “I was exploring the cemetery and was set upon by a zombie. This young woman saved me. She jumped between me and the monster and then dispatched it with a single blow. These people are her companions. They were escorting me home. They are adventures,” Gabriel said. “Is that so. Adventurers you say? Let me see your badges,” the knight said. The adventurers dug a small bronze medallion out of their packs and handed them to the knight. “Anna doesn’t have one. She is a new recruit who enlisted in Fishport,” Voekeer said. “You don’t say. You will be joining us at the estate then,” the knight said. It wasn’t a request by the tone of his voice. He held his arm down and Gabriel pulled himself on to the horse, swinging behind the knight. They walked to the estate surrounded by the squad. “He didn’t die,” Anna said. Thokri snorted. “Not the time lass,” he replied. 

 There was an awkward silence on the walk to the estate. Neither the adventurers nor the knights wanting to start a conversation. The others seemed nervous. Anna wasn’t concerned. They couldn’t really do anything to her. She was only cooperating for the sake of her friends. They entered a garden. It was vast with neatly trimmed grass. There were shaped hedges and flowers everywhere. She liked it immediately. They walked down a long path. It was paved with a white stone she had never seen before. The house was the biggest building she had ever seen, dwarfing even the warehouses by the docks. It was covered with glass windows, and there seemed to be dozens of chimneys for fireplaces. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. They were escorted into the house and left in a room near the main entrance. The furniture looked expensive, so none of them wanted to sit. They were still covered in dirt from the road. “I think there is still troll blood in my hair,” Anna thought.  

The door opened. “His lordship, Earl Gabriel Ender the third,” a voice called. A tall man entered. He had a lean muscular look with the same features as the boy they rescued. He looked at them one by one and locked eyes with her. He walked over. “Miss Anna, I must thank you for saving my son from a terrible fate. You and your companions must dine with us tonight,” he said, and then walked out of the room not waiting for an answer. An older man entered and gestured for them to leave. “This way. We will take you to your rooms for a bath and a change of clothes before the evening meal,” he said. They followed. “A bath would be nice. I wonder if they have soap?” she thought.  

“We have arranged separate suites. Please follow the maid miss,” the man said to her. There were three maids. Two of them looked to be around twenty. The other one looked to be in her mid-thirties. She followed them into a room. It was large with a fireplace on the right wall and a large white thing sitting in the middle. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing. “It’s a bath,” the older maid said in a neutral tone. “An indoor bath. Nice,” she thought. Walking over to it, she stripped off her dress and began to step in. The water was steaming still. “Miss, if you would allow it to cool,” the maid said but stopped mid-sentence when Anna had entered the bath. She dunked completely under the water, pulling her hair in behind her. She popped up surprising one of the younger maids. They looked worried for some reason. “Is the temperature to your liking miss?” the older maid asked. “Yes, it’s perfect,” Anna replied. “Do you have soap?” she asked. They did have soap and soft brushes. She cleaned herself off. They had to change the water three times and bring in another maid to help with her hair. She was lounging in the water.  

She stepped out of the bath, finally clean. She hadn’t felt this clean in weeks. She wrang most of the water out of her hair then took a towel from the table nearby. She walked into the adjacent room drying herself off in the process. Tossing the towel on the floor when finished, she looked up seeing another person in the room. It was a small woman with rainbow hair and... “Oh, it’s me,” she thought recognizing her own hair. “This must be a mirror,” she thought walking closer. She had never seen her whole body before. Sure there was the rippled reflection in the basin when she washed and down by the river, but nothing this clear. What she saw a young woman looking back at her with curly rainbow hair down to her hips. She had a thin athletic build with clear bronze colored skin and a face that was round with a youthful look. Her eyes were large and violet. A small button nose and full lips finished it off. Turning her head, even her ears were small. Honestly, small was the best way to describe her except for a few places. Her hips were wide and well curved, and her butt, she thought turning to look at it, was plump and round, sticking out just a bit more than other women.  

The only part of her that seemed out of place were her breasts. They were large, very large, too large for her frame. Not that they were unattractive. They were round and perky with small nipples that were slightly darker than the rest of her. She sighed. If you took her as a whole package, she was absolutely beautiful. Probably the best-looking woman she had ever seen. She wondered idly what the dreamer had been thinking. “Maybe it just likes attention,” she thought. “No, that’s not it. It doesn’t even know what attention is.” She rolled the thought around in her head, quickly realizing what had happened. “It doesn’t know the difference between dreams and real life and thought that the girls’ fantasies were real,” she thought. “Oh no,” she said, putting her hands on her head. “I’m what you get when you mix a few dozen girls and young women’s fantasies together,” she moaned, looking back at the mirror. “Well, that explains my boobs,” she said to herself. She looked for a moment longer before leaning forward. She pressed her arms against her breasts, squeezing them together. Somehow, they seemed even bigger now. Then she put her hands on her thighs, arched her back, and sticking out her butt, wiggled it back and forth. “Can I get you anything?” she said with a coy smile on her face, imitating the barmaid from the inn. “I still don’t get it,” she thought, looking at herself. She heard a cough behind her. Standing up quickly, she turned around. “I was just looking at the mirror.” She said it so fast that the words blended together.   

It was one of the younger maids, and the woman couldn’t contain herself and burst into giggles that caused Anna to start giggling. It took a while for the giggles to die down. The maid had her yellow dress. She had asked for it during the bath when the older maid had asked if she had something to wear. She took it from the woman, put it on, and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She smiled and wondered what Beth was doing right now. “She’d never believe me,” she thought. The maid told her to wait in the room and that they would get her when it was time to eat. She sat on the bed leaning back. She looked at the mirror again. “Elizabeth would be so mad,” she thought, seeing up her dress. “I don’t get what that dwarf meant,” she thought, looking between her legs again. “It’s the plainest part of me. Why would looking at it kill anyone?” It was just a smooth slit with slightly puffy lips pressing tightly together. She spread her legs farther apart, and its appearance didn’t change. “Maybe I should have asked instead of going along with the joke,” she thought, laying back on the bed.  

An hour or so had passed before the maid showed. She was led to a huge room with a table that looked like it could hold all the food in the world. It was covered in a white cloth that had gold colored thread stitched into patterns near the bottom. They were seated at the near the head of the table next to the Earl and his family. The Lady Ender was a tall thin woman. Her face was plain, but she wore something Lyreen had called makeup to brighten her up. “It’s not working that well,” Anna thought. She had no idea what was happening, but one of the maids had told her to just copy what the women seated across from her did. The Earl talked and talked, and sometimes other people would clap. It sounded like he was telling them about his son’s rescue, but she wasn’t paying attention. Finally, they brought out the food. She had never seen so much. She kept eating and eating, clearing her plate repeatedly. Eventually she stopped when she noticed the Lady staring at her. She stopped and smiled at her, not sure what to do. “You have quite the appetite for such a small woman,” the lady said.  

“I like food,” Anna replied. She heard Thokri chuckle and then a thud. She looked towards her friends. Lyreen was staring at him, and he was just smirking. “We can see that,” the lady said. “Where do you hale from Miss Anna?” the Earl asked. “I don’t know,” she answered. She hadn’t even told her friends about the dreamer. She wasn’t about to tell these people. “Truly?” he asked. “We believe her to be a Fae child. She wandered into Fishport about three months ago with no memories. She has massive amounts of mana but can’t cast spells, so we are taking her to the Archmage Ezor.” “Fae child,” the Earl said, rubbing his chin. “Is your hair naturally that color?” the lady asked. She seemed to brighten hearing her alleged parentage. “It is,” Anna answered.  

“I hadn’t noticed it when you first arrived,” the lady said. “I had troll blood in it still. That stuff doesn’t come out without soap,” Anna answered. “Troll blood!” the Earl said. “Yes, we fought one on the road a few days south of here,” Anna replied. “What happened?” the Earl asked. “That may not be the best conversation in front of the lady,” Voekeer said. “If little Anna got covered in its blood during a battle, I think I can handle hearing it,” the Lady said. Voekeer went back to eating, not looking up. The other adventurers were doing the same. Anna told the Earl and his wife the tale of her battle with the troll, going into great detail about the event. She left out the aftermath, including her prank on Lyreen and Thokri’s comment. “That’s quite a tale,” the earl said. He looked like he regretted asking, and the lady was still covering her mouth. “The lass speaks the truth,” Thokri replied. “I don’t doubt it,” the earl said.  

“I have a proposition for your party. I would like you to find out what is causing the dead to rise at the graveyard. It had been peaceful. If you can find out what is happening and stop it, I will give you a full gold round each,” the Earl said. It sounded like fun to her, but she looked at her friends. They all had a greedy look, so she knew they would say yes. “It would be our pleasure,” Voekeer said. The dinner ended soon after. The lady felt ill and needed to lay down. The party no longer needed an escort having been hired and still guests of the Earl. “So, are you glad you let me go to Endertown?” “Yes!” they said in unison. She entered her room finding her pack next to her bed. She opened it finding the contents all there, but they had been removed, cleaned, and repacked. The bag had been cleaned and oiled as well.  

She found her belt on the table. It had been given the same treatment. Next to it was a new dress. It was the same cut as her other dresses but much higher quality cloth. There was a note beside it. “Miss Anna, we found out what your old dress was covered in and threw it out, we made you another one,” it said. “What’s with everyone and troll blood. It wasn’t as bad as the goblins,” she thought, taking off her yellow dress. She wrapped it back up in the oil cloth, repacking it. She left the new dress and belt on the table intending to wear them the next day. She sat down at a desk and started to draw pictures of some of the thing she had seen to send to Beth. Someone knocked on the door. “Come in,” Anna said. Lady Ender came in. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll...” she said. “Don’t worry about it. I was just drawing before bed,” Anna replied, cutting her off. “I see,” the lady said. She walked over and sat on a chair next to Anna. “These are well done,” she said, looking at the drawings. “They are for a friend of mine back in Fishport,” Anna replied. Lady Ender sighed.  

“I just don’t understand you,” she said. “What do you mean?” Anna asked looking up. “When I first saw you, you looked like any other filthy adventurer. Then I see you at dinner, and you look like some princess from a storybook. After that, you tell us a story about tearing a troll apart with your bare hands. You seemed to have enjoyed it like some blood thirsty Northman. Now here you are, drawing pictures for your friend like a little girl,” Lady Ender answered. Anna thought about it for a moment. “I’m all of those things I guess, although I never thought someone would think I looked like a little girl,” Anna said. “If it weren’t for your womanly charms, I’d swear you were fifteen, sixteen at the most,” she answered. “Really?” Anna said. “Oh, yes. You’re just so small,” Lady Ender replied  

They both laughed at that. “I wanted to thank you for saving my son. Is there anything I can do for you? Anything you want?” she asked. “I thought that’s what the dinner was,” Anna said. “No. That was just my husband showing off,” Lady Ender replied. “Well, I want to send my friend these drawings, but I don’t know how,” Anna said sadly. “Oh, I can do that. What is her name and where does she live?” Lady Ender asked. Anna told her about Beth. The woman gathered the drawings and got up to leave. “Oh, and do try to think of something you would like by the time you get back. My son is worth more to me than sending some letters,” she said walking out the door. Anna put on the new dress that morning. It was softer than her other dresses and was a dark red color. “Nice. It won’t stain as much,” thinking of her other dress. The maids suddenly entered the room and led her to a smaller dining room. Her friends were brought there as well. They were seated and brought an extravagant breakfast. “It’s either a curse or a necromancer. That’s the only way you get zombies,” Voekeer said.  

“We need a tracking stone. That would be the fastest way to sniff out a necromancer,” Lyreen said. “How can you be sure it’s a necromancer?” Barika asked. “That’s not some tomb out there. It’s just a cemetery. If it was cursed, they would have noticed before now,” Lyreen replied. “Still, if we just had...” she paused and looked at Anna. “The eye!” she said. “Well, that’s one problem solved, but it will still take time to search the place,” Voekeer said standing up. “All right. Let’s be off. Leave your packs. We just need weapons and any armor you have,” he said. She put on her belt, placing the club in its holder. Looking at necklace, she decided to leave it. “I’m not using it, and I’ll just lose it during a fight,” she thought, thinking of troll. The party left and was accompanied by two footmen. They carried long spears with a shield and short sword for close battles. They hurried after the adventurers both men looked quite nervous. 

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