David Bishop and the Mystic of Creation T.C. Crawford (icecream ebook reader txt) 📖

call it a night. Tyrius made sure to remind them each to lock their doors when they got to the rooms, as the men were still downstairs and were getting drunker by the hour. He didn’t know what sort of behavior to expect from them and thought it best to prepare for the worst.

When they each made their way to their separate rooms, David lay down in his bed and tried his best to get some sleep over the bantering and laughter that resonated from the group of men downstairs. They were drunk and boisterous, and David suspected they had only just gotten started.

After an excruciating time, exhaustion finally took over and David drifted off to sleep.

Chapter VIII

David woke with the sound of footsteps creaking outside his door. The morning light was shining gently through his window, indicating that it was time for him to wake up and head downstairs to meet the others.

He quickly got dressed and headed downstairs where he found the rest of the group already sitting around a table quietly pouring over the maps while nibbling on a sizeable portion of eggs and bacon.

David took a seat next to Erin who smiled warmly when she noticed he had joined them.

“It’s about time, sleepy head!” she teased.

David shrugged, “I had a hard time falling asleep last night with the drunken idiots downstairs. I thought I was never going to get some rest.”

“Yeah, I heard them too. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything. We just started going over the maps and trying to chart which course is best for us to take now that we’re in unfamiliar territory.” she replied.

David listened as Tyrius, Reingard, and Holzer discussed which route they thought was best for them to travel while the Innkeeper brought him a hot plate of eggs and bacon, which he hungrily devoured.

He looked around the empty room, wondering how often the seats and tables around him were actually used. He assumed the inn was built back when the town was more popular, and people were coming and going more frequently than they did now.

He started to wonder to himself what would have caused the trade to stop flowing between Ravenfell and the Southern Kingdom when Tyrius slapped his hands on the table, startling him out of his thoughts.

“If you think you know best, then so be it!” he shouted at Holzer, standing up and walking towards the counter. He quickly pulled out a handful of coins from within a pouch he had been holding and slapped them on the counter for the Innkeeper.

“This should cover us for the two meals and the rooms overnight. Thank you for your hospitality.” he said to the man before storming back upstairs to gather his belongings.

“What was that all about?” asked David after sharing a similar look of confusion with Erin.

“Tyrius seems to think we should keep to the hills and away from the towns on our trek north around the mountains, but Holzer and I think the best way to travel is by road. It’s an easier route and would give us periodic breaks where we could have a hot meal and a warm bed in the towns along the way.” said Reingard.

“Why does Tyrius think we should keep away from the towns?” asked David, confused by the logic. Towns held food and supplies, things they would need for their journey. Thinking of sleeping in the wild for weeks on end did not seem very appealing to him, although he knew at some point they would reach the areas beyond civilization, he just wasn’t expecting it to happen so soon after leaving Ravenfell.

“He doesn’t like the welcome we got last night with those men. He seems to think something is amiss in the Southern Kingdom and that it could put our mission in jeopardy.” said Holzer.

“I can see his point,” said Erin, thinking it over. “I’ll go talk to him” she said finally before getting up and heading upstairs.

David watched Erin as she walked to the stairs and disappeared. As he was turning back to his companions, his eyes focused on the Innkeeper and noticed he was acting rather strange – more than he had been the night before.

The old man was holding the coins in his hand, inspecting them closely, before his expression changed from curiosity to disgust. He then threw the coins on the ground and stormed out of the building without a word or explanation.

Thinking it strange, he decided to tell Holzer and Reingard, who both agreed it was time to gather their things and get started on the road north. It would be another long day ahead of them, but at least they had the fresh, cool air and shining sun to look forward to, something infinitely better than the damp, stale air and eternal darkness of the tunnels they had trekked through the days before.

As they gathered their belongings and started towards the door, they could hear a commotion just outside the inn. It sounded like a crowd of people shouting and screaming and it was getting closer with each passing moment.

When they opened the door to exit the building, they discovered the source of the noise. A crowd of at least a hundred people, all villagers it appeared, were standing around screaming and yelling at them as they exited.

David didn’t understand what they were yelling about, but Reingard and Holzer quickly filled him in.

“I think they know we’re Northerners” said Reingard, hearing some of the insults being thrown their way.

“So? Why does that make them so upset?” asked David, still not understanding.

“Not everyone took the defeat very well in the battle of the Northern Pass,” explained Holzer. “Many blame the King for the struggles they’ve had to deal with, what with the crumbling of the kingdom after their king died in battle. His death left a power vacuum within the kingdom, leaving many various factions fighting for control of the land. It was a mess for a while, at least