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Tranquil Waters: The Lead Crown Ch 5-5, A Call to Arms

Although Henry didn't truly consider himself a businessman he knew enough about making money to know that beggars couldn't be choosers when it came to employers, jobs, or pay rate. Really what it came down to was getting enough coin by doing work that wasn't as bad as any other number of things he could have had to have done. In that regard, Alarice had been one of his favorite part time employers for over a year. That was, of course, whenever he wasn't actively serving Prince Malcom Wildwolf.

Having successfully wagon-mastered the woman and her motley assortment of traveling companions to the outskirts of Vallara the man brought the wagon to a stop. He opened the small wooden slat in the wall that separated him from those riding inside. Alarice, who had been in the middle of a discussion with her fellow travelers fell silent the moment he did so. He took the opportunity to address her. "We're in Vallara."

The woman gave a superficial smile and a nod of her head, "Very good, Henry. You may stop the wagon at the Jerkin and Firkin."

He nodded back without another word and closed the slat back up. The Jirken and Firkin seemed to be one of the woman's favorite taverns. Although Henry didn't know much about the woman, he was able to identify her desire for nice things and to be surrounded by trappings that were finer than most folks ever experienced-- in both regard the Jirken and Firkin would always be the obvious choice for her in Vallara.

Known more casually as the J&K, the tavern was the nicest meeting place anywhere outside of the city's Civic Center and also had the fine benefit of also having rooms for rent over the common area. Originally designed to be a tannery, the building was rennovated a number of years ago when Vallara relocated the manufacturing businesses to the outskirts of town (the blacksmith was far too noisy and the tannery was far too smelly). Henry chuckled to himself as he thought about the scents from a tannery; he'd experienced far worse in his lifetime.

Pulling the carriage up to the drop-off point at the tavern's entrance, the man climbed down off of the driver's bench and opened the door. Alarice came first, followed by her 'pet Bat'. After them was the white scaled dragon followed by the slight, svelt, and comely Otter woman. The armor-wearing Coyote exited next and helped the black-furred mongrel down. There was then a short pause before the last of the group disembarked.

The final two passengers to exit were the Wolf-Dog and the blind scholar; Henry smiled as he mused overthe benefit of the stricken man having a Dog see for him-- he'd of course heard the stories of seeing eye dogs in some of the eastern kingdoms, but he'd recalled THOSE being the four legged variety. For the sake of decorum and to be the version of polite Alarice preferred, the man did not bother voicing any of his thoughts aloud.

Once the party had all exited Henry closed the door and turned to meet Alarice, who was approaching him. She held out a small coin pouch. "Thank you for your troubles, Henry. You are released from service once you move the wagon into the carriage house."

He nodded simply, accepting the coin from her, "Pleasure doin' business with ya, Ms. Alarice... lemme know when you're ready t'head back and I'll be yer man again."

She made her way into the building, not bothering to look back as she spoke over her shoulder, "Of that I have no doubt."

Chuckling to himself, the Human climbed back up onto the driver's seat and gave the reigns a light flick. The draft animals moved obediently forward, turning into the packed earth path that led up to the Jerkin & Firkin's carriage house. He quickly locked the wheels and hopped down. Since his work was done he was more than ready to be on his way; the establishment's laborers would see to the animals.

Despite the fact that Henry was a very skilled carriage driver there were numerous factors that worked against a speedy trip. As it was, they had been on the road for very nearly twenty four hours... which meant that he had not slept in nearly forty. That fact didn't truly bother him; he had, on more than one occasion needed to stay up nearly three days... and he still had one very important task to complete before he could find a place to catch some shut eye. Besides, he reminded himself, he'd managed to nap on and off for a few minutes at a time while on the carriage-- that was more than enough.

If the Jerkin & Firkin was an obvious place for Alarice to be, then Vallara's Civic Center was the exact opposite for Henry. Built with beauty and serenity in mind, the fine housing and carefully cultured buildings were surroundings the man would not normally have sought out. Not only did those kinds of structures tend to attract the type of people Henry specifically disliked, they also left him with feelings of deep-seated displeasure; in Wyra, the nobility and high born spent more decorating their homes than most commoners would see in a lifetime... such a waste-- and if there was anything Henry disliked, it was waste.

Of course, one thing the man DID have to admit was that the Civic Center was usually devoid of Tribals... and THAT made his life a LOT easier. The unsettled people of the lands East and North East of Lehsunia usually made his life exceedingly difficult. Despite the fact that he was normally on his best behavior around them, every last one of them had a great dislike of some of his idiocyncracies; it was bad enough that, for the first time in his life, he had found a section of wilderness he considered inhospitable.

His thoughts were stalled as a finely dressed young Ferret of some eighteen to twenty years stepped in front of him. Despite blocking Henry's path, the Ferret's attention was more focused a pretty young Civet lady who had been walking paw-in-paw with him, "Why look, Landri, it appears a beggar has somehow found himself in the Civic Center..."

The majority of the Civet's attention was on the Ferret, but she did manage a hesitant glance toward Henry, who offered her his largest smile he could manage; she quickly looked away. Her voice was small and timid "Oh, sweet, heavens, Arno... he's hideous. Make him go away... he shouldn't be here."

The Ferret smiled, eyes moving from the lady on his arm to Henry himself. His voice was dripping with self importance. "Well, my good man? You heard the lady. Your kind shouldn't be in this part of town. Off with you."

Henry raised an eyebrow, less interested in obeying some pompus prick of a teenager and more interested in how much he could mess with the clueless Ferret, "Eh... I see plenty a 'umans all 'round this place."

The Teenager was obviously not interested in debating the fact or clarifying himself beyond a very precursory, "All men of means, I assure you. Vallara accepts all sorts, Sir-- except for those who don't know their place. Beggars are NOT to open their hands in the Civic Center... you could be arrested for--"

The Human shrugged, having grown bored of the discussion. The fop of a Ferret fell to the ground with a single punch to his stomach. Henry's first inclination was to see if his fist could remove a tooth from the thoughtless teen's muzzle but he didn't even need a moment to rethink the course of action; permanent injuries would result in unpleasant legal action, and he still had some important tasks ahead of himself. He finished up his simple 'love tap' with a straight-forward comment, "There... didn't even open it."

The Ferret, surprisingly, didn't stay down long. Despite still being hunched over, the youth managed to get to his feet, wheezing out a breath furiously as his whiskers shook with rage. He somehow managed to croak out an indignant (though far too predictable) objection. "I'll not let you get away with challenging my honor!"

Henry had not missed the fact that the Ferret was wearing a fencing foil, but the Human had also seen his share of swords and was able to identify it as far more accessory than weapon. The rich brat fumbled with it for a moment, further identifying him as a dandy rather than a real warrior. Regardless, Henry waited patiently until the teen got a paw around the hilt and had just started to draw it before he took action. After all... once someone drew a weapon Lehsunia law allowed him to protect himself.

Stepping in, Henry grabbed hold of the Ferret's wrist and, still moving forward, brought his head straight down onto the teen's. With the same resounding 'thunk' that an empty wooden box would make, the Ferret's head bounced back; Henry let go of the teen and let the unconscious little prick fall over. The Civet woman let out a whimper, falling down beside the worm masquerading as a person, "Oh Arno!"

The Human let out a single huff, "I wouldn't get too attached ta 'im, girly. Mouth like that'll get 'im inta all sorts a trouble... chances are 'e's gonna die soon 'nuff if 'e doesn't learn 'ow t'fight."

With little more to be said, Henry made his way straight toward the Council Hall. There were numerous people mulling about, whispers rising up from every collection of murmuring townsfolk on the street. Although the Human didn't catch everything they said he was able to piece together something about a small army of Church soldiers having just left town, and that there was very nearly blood shed in Vallara.

The thought both intrigued and stupefied Henry; it wasn't usually the Church's perrogative to come across as 'the bad guy', and attacking Vallara would certainly serve little purpose beyond that. If what the townsfolk had to say was true then there was obviously more going on than Henry would have first suspected. Then again, he reasoned, his strong point had never been suspecting-- he was far better at acting.

The opening of the Council Hall put an end to the man's musings; Prince Malcom exited the building with a finely dressed Councilman walking at his side. The Wolf and Ram appeared to be chatting casually, which made sense to Henry since any REAL business would have been done inside the Hall in private. The Ram led Prince Malcom to the middle landing on the stairway that rose up to the Council Hall's entrance, and the two finished up their discussion with clasped wrists and words of farewell. Only then did the Wolf turn to see Henry.

The Human stood right where he was unceremoniously, "Mornin', Prince."

Prince Malcom's smile never seemed forced or fake; it was one of the things Henry admired the most about him, "Hello, Henry. Good to see you again."

Malcom also wasn't one to lie, and, for whaterver reason, the Human was always left with the impression that the Wolf truly WAS glad to see him... probably one of the many reasons Henry chose to continue to do business with him. "So... I 'eard there was Churchies visitin, eh? That must be quite a story..."

The Prince smiled anew, and trotted down the steps to join Henry at the bottom, "A tale for another time, I think... the events are still too fresh with the folks here, and I have to find my way back to allies of mine at Doctor Brownell's."

The Human nodded thoughtfully, "This 'ole thing 'ere 'ave anything t'do with those folk's bein' chased from Newport?"

The Wolf chuckled calmly, slapping Henry on the back. "In part, yes... Come. If you wish to join I'll explain what I can on the way."

Yet another thing Henry liked about Prince Malcom; nobody else the Human knew worked so hard to include him in things. He opened up his mouth to reply positively when a very firm command caught his attention. "Hey! You! Stop!"

Henry turned to regard two guards making their way through the crowd toward him; Prince Malcom likewise seemed to notice, "I assume you'll meet up with me later?"

The Human smiled and nodded. One more thing to like about the Wolf: Malcom seemed to know him better than anyone else. Heading off to meet up with the guards, Henry called over his shoulder, "Shouldn't be any later'n lunch."