T25.16 The Sellsword Part 5.1

 Hajer sat by the fire gloomily as he looked across the night sky. A small campfire of warm red embers danced about, slightly lighting half of his face.

Toward the horizon laid the Twin Sprigs - one of the most properous regions in the area.

Hajer made a decision to head there as it seemed to him to be the most likely place to be the intersection of all of the three likely pathways he could take to complete the task that was given to him.

"Surely you must have heard of the great immortal Librareiter Prahfar! Ahh... Mayhaps you are not of this Qeleres?" the gruff bladesman spoke as he grinded his human-sized cleaver with his jade-colored whetstone.

"If there's anyone to know of the Great Pollen, other than the Grand Magistress herself, it must be Prahfar! I believe from hearsay he's headed to the Twin Sprigs on his Flying Swamp."

"To be honest, I'd like to go see it for meself, but my wife would probably be furious," the man chuckled as he slipped his whetstone in his pocket and pulled out a towel to polish his blade.

The memory soon dimmed from his thoughts as he looked at the other side of the campfire to see a tightly bound turbaned boy gagged with a piece of cloth tied around his mouth.

Hajer was not one to keep prisoners unless they were worth a lot of money, having years of experience as a sellsword.

Yet even a goon - as he admitted he himself was - had limits.

While the boy was insolent and a perpetual nuisance, and he wished no more than to release him or slit his throat, he learned from a skirmish that occured not too long ago it was not wise to do the former, but also would not do well on his conscience should he do the latter.