I said stop! The voice called out again.
Bravae slowly turned around.
It was a middle aged braunian man accompanied by 2 braunian soldiers.
"Shit!" Bravae cursed under his breath.
He felt like running but his instincts told him to remain Calm.
"Come here! The man thundered once again"
Bravae with a brisk Pace made his way toward them.
He bowed his head slightly as a sign of respect,greeting and salutations.
speaking norean in a highly accented dialect. The man asked him.
"Do you know who sells arrows in this town?"
Bravae's heart froze, the braunians Must have studied the arrows that he and orvae used to break into the castle and were probably looking for the manufacturers in order to find the criminals. The problem was that no one really sold such arrows in deiamy, everyone who wanted to get those arrows would buy them in the big towns like beiamy Or ortovy. He had gotten his arrows from rumein an old blacksmith At the town Square who made pots, pans shovels and farming equipment.
Rumein sometimes made arrows for his own convenience, but not for sale,only to be used in the hunting season. Orvae had taken some arrows from his store when they had gone to fix their farming equipment, all without the knowledge of rumein. Who for the longest time had been one of nicest People bravae knew, he didn't realize how much trouble He would be putting the old man into by using specially made masks from his store.
So at this point he couldn't dare mention his name.
"I said can you tell me who sells arrows in this town!" The braunian man thundered hard again.
Bravae swallowed hard before saying.
"I don't know anything about arrows sir, no one sells masks in this town, all the hunters I know buy their masks from beiamy not here in deiamy"
"Don't play with us Boy" one of the soldiers said, grabbing Him by the neck.
"I don't know anything sir I promise" bravae said gasping for air as the soldiers's rough big hands squeezed his throat.
"That's okay, let him go," the older man said to the soldier.
The older man looked at bravae up and down, studying him with some scrutiny before saying Finally.
"You can go"
"Thank you sir" bravae said once again before bowing his head.
the three braunians departed him leaving him alone in the street.
Bravae quickly made his way Towards his great aunt's house.
Which was simply a small modest white cottage with many beautiful plants and flowers in front of it. By the side lay a small grass patch with goats feeding from it.
Bravae pushed open the small wooden gate to the small fence that enclosed the cottage and walked into the compound.
He knocked on the door but there was no answer so he walked Behind The cottage to the back where sure enough there was his aunt simphymi was attending to some hens in her small poultry farm.
Aunt sympymi Now very advanced in age at almost 80 years old. Was still very active and functional. the small gold pinky ring she wore on her finger gleamed in the sunlight.
"Ah bibu my boy, how are you doing?" she called out to him affectionately.
"Good morning aunt simphymi" he said whilst taking the feeding basket from her and continuing to feed the hens.
"You look Terrible bibu, you've not been eating properly since you started staying with orvae in the barn, you're starting to look frail if you still stayed with me you'd be eating better…." She continued.
"It's okay I've told you this many times I'm a man I can fend for myself now, I don't need to stay under your roof."
"I know I know you're always eager to prove yourself, I understand but you could still stop by every once in a while for a nice home cooked meal" she Said.
"I know I'll come around whenever I have the chance," bravae said, putting the basket down.
"By the way, where were you last night? I wanted To give you some cakes I made. I sent little Dore to find you at the barn, he said "He couldn't find you."
Bravae sat down on a bench beside her and said.
"Well we went to run some errands for chief amintoro,we came in a little Late"
The old woman Looked at bravae for a second studying the young man's face.
Although she did not believe him she simply nodded her head.
"Well I Haven't paid My taxes yet to the braunians, so I would like you to help me deliver them to the tax office in the town Square, she said pulling out a small brown parcel from her garments"
Bravae shrugged a bit, the town Square would surely be crawling With braunians, which would make it the last place he would want to go to but he didn't know what excuse to give so he Accepted the parcel before saying
"Oh ok I'll do that, has gbavamy come by here Recently?" bravae asked.
"No not really I haven't seen that Silly Goose since the last rains fell"
"Ok i'll be on my way then"
"Oh so soon won't You stay and have breakfast with me?I prepared a nice lamb stew with cheese," she said to him.
"No aunt I can't stay There's A Lot of work I need to get to at the barn this morning"
"Oh but atleast take some with you so that after you're done you can enjoy it" she said in a patronizing Fashion.
"Okay I'll have some, just put it in a haversack" bravae said whilst getting up.
So the old lady went inside and after some minutes she came with a haversack which contained some stew and some cheese.
She handed it to the young man who was grateful to her.
Bravae said his goodbyes before getting on the road again.
By now the sun was rising high in his face.
Some carriages rode past him. Others walked by him on foot, he tried to figure Out how he would get to the town Square without attracting too much Attention to himself.
At this point another carriage was coming by the street being pulled by two Donkeys.
The man riding it was a man that although bravae was familiar with due to stories and rumors about him had never met,his name was indumae of ortovy. He was a sea food trader and popular poet,most Of his poems were satirical and In some way was aimed At mocking the braunian empire
Indirectly, most braunians didn't care about Norean art or literature so they didn't really know much about indumae's poems. Indumae had been tried and accused many times of treasonous offenses but strangely enough had never been convicted. No one knew Much about his past or how he had gotten into the sea food trade but what was known for sure was that he was not a very big fan of the empire and it's escapades"
Sitting next to indumae on the carriage was a young girl About bravae's age.
She was dark skinned and beautiful and tied her head in a bun. They both looked pristine as they rode down the street toward bravae.
The carriage pulled to a stop right beside
Bravae and indumae called out to him in a loud voice.
"Say young man,what's Your name?" He asked.
Bravae turned around a bit confused and intimidated.
But He stopped regardless.
"I'm bravae sir" he said stopping.
"Bravae, that an interesting name, bravae I'm indumae I'm a shellfish farmer, I'm looking To employ some more young men to join my company as I'm falling short of employees This period"
Bravae paused for a second he didn't Really know how to reply because for a long time he had been looking for a job opportunity that would take Him away from deiamy to explore more of the kingdom but at the same time, he didn't think he was quite ready yet especially given the situation at hand.
"Umm I dunno sir…." He started to say but indumae cut him off.
"Where are you headed?"
"To the town Square sir"
"The town Square? Well that's splendid, we are on our way there just hop in, let's drop you Off, we can discuss more about the job when we get there- merab please make room for him" he said referring to the girl beside him.
Bravae thought about it for a second, he didn't see the harm in being with them atleast he wouldn't be so ominous if he went to the town Square with them.
So he nodded his head and climbed into the carriage with indumae And the lady.
As he climbed on he felt a burning sensation In his skull that almost caused him to cry out in pain But he just managed to control himself. As he sat down next To the Lady, Who was very beautiful herself.
And away they went riding into the town.