Read Online 01 - The Price of Talent by Peter Whittlesey - Free Book Online

It would be better if we never return to this particular spot. Once the patrols are sent out to find what happened, they will keep an eye on this area.”

Chapter 5.
     
                  The trip to the bandits’ home was surprisingly uneventful. I rode in the back of the cart with “The Boss”. The band quickly left the road after cleaning up all evidence of their having been there. We travelled what looked like a game trail back into the deep woods where I quickly lost track of our direction. “The Boss” was quiet and seemed to be sleeping. At some point along the way I think I fell asleep too because I was startled awake when I heard the door of the cart open and Sapphire announced “We’re here.”
     
                  I don’t know what I was expecting to find, but I was surprised by what I saw. We must have travelled a good distance because what I saw was a lake by the side of some hills and a decent sized building in a clearing. There were stables for horses and livestock, and a few outbuildings. Also in the clearing were some tilled fields that were growing various vegetables.
     
    “Surprising isn’t it kid?” Asked Sapphire.
     
    “Yes actually.” I replied. “The stories of bandits in the woods I read as a kid always made it sound like everyone lived under the trees out in the open and ate around a camp fire. This is much more… Uh…”
     
                  The word I wanted to say was civilized. But I stopped myself as that seemed a little insulting to my rescuers. Since my only real option was to see if they would take me in, I didn’t want to antagonize anyone.
     
    “It’s nice is what it is,” said Jarvis. “Why give up the rudiments of civilization when you go Bandit? It’s nice living under the sun and stars when the weather is nice, but it gets old quickly when it rains. Besides, no one comes out this far into the foothills through the forest, so building a more permanent encampment makes a lot of sense. Especially when winter comes.”
     
    “How long have you guys been out here?” I asked.
     
    “The Boss has been here for over a decade,” said Sapphire. “The rest of us have trickled in over the years.”
     
    “How many people live here?” I asked.
     
    “Quite a few actually, you will meet them soon enough. For now we have no time for introductions, we need to get the Boss into the longhouse and those wounds looked after.” Said Sapphire.
     
    “Is there anything I can do?” I asked.
     
    “For now, stay out of the way,” she replied. “But later we will have to have a meeting and decide what to do with you.”
     
                  So with that I followed them into the longhouse and found a seat out of the way in the corner. There was a lot of hustle and bustle as people came and went. Sapphire and a few others helped the boss into a back room where I assume they were doing more than just a field dressing on the boss’s wounds.
     
                  Given that I had nothing better to do I looked around the longhouse. It was a large building, about the size of the banquet hall back in Forsburg. However, it wasn’t all open space. On one side were two long tables parallel to each other and a third smaller one perpendicular to the other two. Then there was the large hearth with a kitchen area opposite to it. Further into the longhouse there was a wall and a long hallway with doors on either side of it that lead to individual rooms. At the end of the hall was a door which led to what I assumed was the boss’s room. I assumed this because that is where they took him to look after his wounds. The whole structure was made of wood, which was no surprise given it was in the middle of the eastern forest near the foothills of the great eastern mountain range.
     
                  What surprised me about the main room was that it was quite well decorated. On the walls were various paintings, murals and