The Last few Errands before their Departure – 3B-QO

Chapter 3 – Getting Underway (continued)

Kaylen knew the exact moment his sister spotted not just him, but the siblings following him, and raised an eyebrow in question before he drew close enough to offer an explanation. “Before you ask, Janel was the one who urged me to purchase a ****, as she put it, before someone less kind decided to.” Kaylen held up his hands at his sister’s expression. “Gregory Thatcher here was being sold to pay off debts, but his sister Dinnae offered to serve in his place.” He gestured for Danny to step forward as Lyria, Ursa, and Alanthea all regarded the newcomers together. “Does that answer your questions?”

“I suppose it covers the important questions.” Lyria agreed, glancing between him, Dinnae, and Janel, who nodded to confirm she had indeed recommended the sale before Lyria turned back to Kaylen. “I admit that when you said you needed to see it for yourself, I didn’t expect you to actually buy someone.”

“Is she coming with us?” Ursa asked, hanging back with a concerned expression.

“Yes. Dinnae is my servant now, and she’ll be going where I go. She is also a tanner, which means she can help maintain our equipment in the field, and handle other tasks we might require. That’s not going to be a problem is it?”

“It could be.” The half-giant continued. “If I have to focus on protecting her in addition to everyone else on the team it could make things difficult. Can she even fight on her own?”

“If she can’t now, she can learn.” Kaylen insisted.

“I’ve been in a few fights.” Dinnae interjected. “More than Gregory, but I don’t have much formal training with anything other than a knife. Not that I’d expect you to let me carry a weapon.” She added.

“You didn’t read the contract. I’m not about to bar you from defending yourself.” He informed her. “The mark already prevents you from attacking me, so a knife or even something a little heavier is perfectly fine.”

“But she’s still a liability in combat.” Ursa pointed out. “You hired me to defend you, not babysit your ****.”

“We’re not going to deliberately bring her into combat with us, and if she’s in danger, we’ll all help where we can.” Kaylen retorted.

“You could take me with you.” Gregory suggested, stepping up next to his sister. “I could protect her.”

“I’m afraid not. I don’t feel like being arrested for ****, and since you’re underage, and not indentured, that’s what I’d be facing.” Kaylen told the brown-haired boy.

“What if we got my uncle’s permission?” He asked, looking back and forth between them.

“Greg.” Dinnae turned to her brother. “It’s not your job to protect me anymore. Master Kaylen will look after me. You just need to focus on staying out of trouble and living your life. Don’t worry, I’ll come back once I’ve paid my debt. This was my choice.”

Gregory sniffed, but nodded, “Very well, but there’ll be hell to pay if you let anything happen to her.” He said the last to Kaylen.

“I was the one who pushed Kaylen to buy her.” Janel spoke up once the two siblings had finished. “We’ll all look after her in combat if necessary.”

Ursa sighed. “Very well.” She didn’t look happy about the situation, but apparently she had no further arguments.

“I’m sure Kaylen will be a great master to us.” Alanthea said, having moved forward to peer at Dinnae curiously. “Where is your **** mark?”

Dinnae looked down, embarrassed, “W-what do you mean? Are you a **** too?”

“No, Alanthea’s not a ****, she’s a priestess.” Lyria explained.

“Don’t worry about where I marked her.” Kaylen added. “It’s intentionally out of sight.”

Alanthea gave Kaylen an odd smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “Master Kaylen likes being called master.”

“Actually, I seem to recall asking you not to.” Kaylen reminded her, and the priestess shrugged.

“You’re doing it to tease him.” Lyria guessed, shaking her head as she looked between them.

Kaylen sighed, knowing Lyria had the right of it. “Alright, well that’s enough of that. We need to get Gregory back to his relatives, then we have a few more purchases to make before we can get on the road now that we have a seventh party member.”

Dinnae turned to address Kaylen. “I’m sorry if I’ve caused you any trouble.” She said meekly.

“It’s fine. A little friendly banter is probably a good thing, in all honesty.” Kaylen offered a smile, and Dinnae returned it hesitantly.

“Don’t worry.” Lyria put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “You’re part of the team now, and we take care of our team, right?” She turned to look at every member of the team in turn, particularly Ursa.

“You and Ursa should focus on holding the front line.” Talindra said. “Those of us in the back can keep an eye on Kaylen’s new servant.” She added with a nod to the blue-eyed girl in question.

“Look, I’m sorry for bringing it up.” Ursa said with a huff. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Do we want to split up?” Lyria suggested after a moment, turning back to Kaylen. “A few of us could go with Gregory to deliver him to his relatives while you get Danny her new gear and supplies.”

“I’m going with him.” Dinnae insisted. “I might need to explain what happened at the **** auction.”

“I will also go with you.” Kaylen assured her. “I made a promise to see him returned safely.” Then he turned back to his sister. “You could get started on supplies for her, Lyria.” He counted out the money they would need to buy another share of rations and related supplies, and handed it to his sister. “How does that sound?”

“That sounds like a good plan.” Kaylen’s sister agreed. “Where shall we meet up after?”

“Ander’s Armory. We can get her fitted for her own chainmail tunic, and pick her up a weapon or two while we’re at it.”

“If the mark works like you say it does, then I agree she should have something to defend herself.” Lyria said.

“Does it prevent her from attacking the rest of us?” Ursa asked.

“It should prevent her from being hostile towards me or anyone she perceives as my ally.” Kaylen informed them. “She willingly signed the contract, and thus the magic is more binding and more specific than on other slaves with a more generally applied mark.”

Everyone seemed to accept that, so after a brief discussion they split up, and Kaylen went with Janel, Alanthea, and the Thatcher siblings towards the port district to locate Gregory’s relatives.

Meeting Breen and Dillon Thatcher was a bit of an awkward affair, though more so for Gregory than any of the adventurers. The blue-eyed boy faced his aunt and uncle contritely, as Dinnae explained most of the occurrences at the **** auction. She omitted a few details, such as how and where she gained her **** mark, and tried to deflect any hostility towards Kaylen and his teammates.

Janel laid her praise for Kaylen on thick, perhaps hoping he would take it to heart when it came to handling his new ****. But it still came to a one on one conversation between Kaylen and Dillon.

“I don’t know if there is anything you can do to reassure me of your intentions towards my niece.” Dillon said in a quiet but fierce tone as he and Kaylen stood several yards away from the others. “But I also recognize I have little legal recourse.”

Kaylen nodded, “I suppose all I can do is give you my word that I will protect her as any other member of my team. My teammate, Janel was being truthful when she said it was because of her urging that I bought her. But it was Dinnae who insisted on taking on Gregory’s debt to become indentured in his place. At that point, I felt I must honor her request in the matter.” He kept some of the details to himself, of course, particularly the fact that Danny had tried to use her body to tempt him.

“Just know that I will hold you responsible for her safety.” The brown-haired man said definitively.

“That is a responsibility I will take very seriously.” Kaylen agreed. The conversation seemed to mollify Dillon, at least as much as anything was likely to, and the two of them rejoined the rest of the group.

Danny hugged each member of her family one last time, lingering on Gregory as the boy fought not to tear up in front of his older sister. And then the four of them turned back towards the market district to rejoin their team at the armory.

Marian and Rolph Ander were surprised to see them back so soon, and curious to how Dinnae had come to join their group. But she didn’t seem inclined to elaborate on the subject, so neither did Kaylen or his team.

While the blue-eyed **** girl was being fitted, Ursa and Janel quizzed her about her limited combat experience and how she approached fights, and between them they began getting a feeling for what sort of weapon would be suited for her. Something simple to use but which their group could train her to use more proficiently while they were on the road.

Alanthea had wanted to linger with Kaylen’s group, but he didn’t think now was the right time to sate her curiosity, so while the four of them were occupied with that, he sent the priestess with Lyria and Talindra to the stablemaster to buy a pony for Kaylen’s new servant.

Dinnae and Hali settled on a shorter chainmail tunic than Kaylen and Alanthea were wearing, only a little longer than the leather tunic she’d been wearing presumably to protect her dress from dyes and oils she used as a tanner. Then before leaving the armory – while the girls were selecting weapons for Dinnae – Kaylen discreetly bought a set of sturdy manacles since he felt uncertain what his companions would think of the purchase, but knew they would be useful, especially if Danny gave them any trouble.

Finally, the seven of them met back up at the tailor where they purchased several changes of clothes, riding boots, and a few other items to round out Dinnae’s travel wardrobe. Their last stop was to buy a kit of tools Dinnae could use to ply her craft maintaining their equipment, for which she’d been so highly recommended by the hawker.