The Mayor of Glenvale – 4B-DT

Chapter 4 – Spiders in the Trees

The village of Glenvale was surrounded by a wooden palisade wall. As the seven of them approached the closed gate, a voice called from atop the wall. “Ho there! State your business.”

“Someone woke up cranky.” Alayni muttered as Kaylen moved forward between his sister and the halfling marksman. “There’s a few of them up there, by the way.”

“I am Kaylen Gallowglass, leader of this adventuring party.” He announced. “We are responding to a request from your mayor to the adventurer’s guild. Will you let us in?”

There was silence for a moment then Alayni said, “They’re sending for a sheriff.”

“You will be admitted as soon as the sheriff is here. The mayor is also being notified of your arrival.” The guard called out. Kaylen couldn’t make out more than a hint of movement of someone’s helmet over the palisade battlements.

“Maybe I should have expected it, but I’m a bit surprised by how big their wall is.” He said as he turned to his two companions, the others coming closer behind them.

“They have plenty of trees, might as well build a wall with them.” Ursa pointed out.

“Stand back!” The guard called once again, and Kaylen urged his horse a step back as the gates began to open, though it was quickly apparent none of their mounts were actually in the path of the large wooden doors.

Inside they saw a group of four human guards carrying spears, and a halfling riding a pony with a crossbow lain across his saddle. “So you’re the group the guild sent?” The halfling said as his pony trotted forward. He stopped about 10 yards away, and gave Kaylen a salute.

“Bovin Proudwyn!” Alayni said loudly, urging her pony forward. “You’re the sheriff? What’s it been, three years?”

“Well well well, didn’t expect to be seeing you today, Alayni. Is this your team?”

“Kaylen here is the leader.” Alayni gestured back to Kaylen on his mare.

“Well, if you’re a friend of Alayni’s you’re a friend of mine, Master Kaylen.” The sheriff said with a broad smile. “My men and I will escort you to the town hall. Come with me.” Bovin continued, waving them to follow as he turned his pony around, and Alayni’s trotted beside him.

Kaylen took a quick glance around at his teammates to gage their reactions. Janel and Ursa seemed a bit wary, while the others ranged from curious to bemused. Kaylen guessed that the kitsune and the half-giant were simply used to people judging them on their appearance, though Bovin had given no indication so far of any prejudice.

Once inside the walls, the village was more what Kaylen was expecting, various wooden houses and logging structures with straw-thatched roofs were spaced out around a series of rolling hills with a single paved road cutting through the center of the town. There were other dirt paths created by frequent carts and wagons, some of which were visible now, though none of them were currently in use. The town hall was the only two story structure they could see, and it sat right in the middle of the village.

Alayni and Bovin spoke in low tones as they approached an inn and stables close to the town hall where they left their horses and ponies in the charge of a stable-hand, and Kaylen paid the innkeeper in advance for the rooms they would need. Then they continued to follow Sheriff Proudwyn on foot to the town hall, where a woman in her mid-twenties awaited them on the top step leading into the building, flanked by another town guardsman. She was a short slender woman with brown hair and hazel eyes that looked tired, but determined.

“Welcome to Glenvale.” She said, as they approached. “I’m acting mayor Patricia Steeper. You are the adventurers the guild sent to answer my request?”

“We are.” Kaylen stepped forward, “Adept Kaylen Gallowglass. This is my adventuring party.” He gestured at the five women behind him and Alayni next to Bovyn. He noticed the mayor’s eyes widened slightly when she heard his title, but she chose not to say anything on the subject.

“This here’s Alayni Swiftfoot.” The sheriff said. “She and I grew up in the same village and I can vouch for her integrity.”

“That’s good to know.” The mayor said, then gestured to the building behind her. “Come inside, and I’ll fill you in on the details of the request.”

Kaylen turned once more to address his companions. “It might be a bit crowded in there with all seven of us. Who would like to return to the inn while the rest of us speak with Mayor Steeper?”

“I think I’ll catch up with Bovin.” Alayni said from a little ways away.

“I’ll be glad for the company.” Bovin agreed and the two of them started off together.

“I can go back to help look after the horses.” Ursa told them.

“I might go back to the inn as well, and look at the rooms available.” Janel added.

“I will stay with you, Master.” Alanthea said to Kaylen.

“As will I.” Lyria affirmed.

“I could return with them, or stay with you if you prefer.” Dinnae said after a moment.

“We’ll meet back up at the inn in an hour.” He said loudly enough for Alayni to hear, “Go ahead and come with us, Danny.” He added as three of his companions turned to go about their activities as he and the other three followed the mayor and her guardsman escort inside.

Mayor Steeper led them to a room with a large table strewn with maps, a few woodcutting tools, and at least a dozen tankards, most of them empty. Kaylen recognized the town and different depictions of the surrounding countryside on the displayed maps, each of them marked up with charcoal and smudge marks. “Your request to the guild said you’re having problem with a nest of spiders?” Kaylen asked.

“That’s correct. People have been going missing, and we’ve found evidence of large webs. We’ve had to shut down most of our logging operations, and anyone who goes into the woods must have an armed escort.” She cleared some clutter off one of the larger maps, and pointed to an area that had been circled with several cross marks in and around it. “We’ve narrowed down the probable location of the nest to this part of the woods. Most people go missing near there, and no one who has ventured too deep into that region has returned.”

“How is morale here?” Kaylen asked, and noticed his sister giving him an approving look. The woman in front of them had the appearance of someone who hadn’t been getting enough sleep. Her face was haggard and pale, and her hair somewhat frazzled. What’s more, she carried the fancy sword at her waist uneasily, like she either wasn’t used to its weight or was generally low on energy.

The hazel-eyed woman sighed, leaning her head down momentarily before steeling herself and meeting his gaze, “Everyone here is under severe stress. Few are sleeping as much as they need. But I think we are holding up so far. Better, now that you are here.”

“Hopefully we can resolve the situation quickly.” Kaylen said. “If I may ask, I noticed there are burn marks on your sword sheath. Did something happen?”

“This was my father’s sword. He was the first one to disappear. We found his sword in the woods surrounded by signs of spiders and scorched trees.”

“What sort of signs?” Lyria asked. “Why were the trees scorched?”

“There was webbing, and marks on the ground consistent with spider tracks. We do not know why the trees were scorched, but thankfully they didn’t catch fire, or we might have had a much different problem on our hands.”

“Mind if I take a look at that?” He asked, gesturing to the sword.

“No, go ahead.” She unbuckled her sword belt and handed it to Kaylen, who drew the sword partway from the sheath to note there were scorch marks on the blade itself, covering a bit more area than the bit of the sheath that had been singed.

He resheathed the blade and handed the whole thing to Dinnae. “What can you tell me about that?”

The tanner took the sword belt and examined it from different angles. “This does look like it was made for someone bigger.” She confirmed, then ran her fingers along the burnt section near the mouth of the scabbard. “It’s not really damaged, so whatever burned it just grazed it for a moment.”

“It seems like it might have been magical fire.” Kaylen added, “And the blade was hit by a much more direct blast, so it wasn’t sheathed when it was burned.”

“It was sheathed when we found it.” Patricia said.

Dinnae handed the sword back to Kaylen, who handed it back to the mayor. “What information does the adventurer’s guild have on spiders like these?” She asked as she belted her sword into place.

Kaylen retrieved the mission papers he’d received from Tyrell Norrison at the guild. Behind the general outline and the map were some sheets of parchment containing relevant information from the guild library, including some details on giant spiders. “I haven’t personally faced giant spiders before.” He admitted, “But from what it says here giant spider nests only really become dangerous to people when they get large enough that food begins growing scarce. So if there’s a shortage of things like deer or hypogriffs, their preferred prey, they’d start coming after the townsfolk.”

Patricia frowned, “We’ve seen no decline in the deer and moose populations. Our hunters still bring in venison, though in smaller numbers due to the need to hunt in larger groups.”

“What about hypogriffs?”

“There aren’t any around here that I am aware of. There are occasional wyvern sightings, and just yesterday our scouts spotted some harpies.”

Kaylen nodded, “We saw them over the forest yesterday as we approached along the road.” He acknowledged, leaving out any mention of Gryla. “Whatever they eat must be getting scarce for them to go after your people. We’ll need guide of some sort to take us to one of the incident sites, so we can start our investigation there.”

“Of course. I can have one of my guards show you the location where my father disappeared. It is the closest.”

“If I may.” Alanthea cut in. “Have your people captured or slain any of the spiders? If I could get a sample of their venom I can probably produce an anti-toxin for it.”

“No, so far no one has actually seen the spiders and returned to tell of it.” Mayor Steeper informed them.

“I told my team we’d meet up in an hour. We should be ready to head out pretty shortly after that.” Kaylen said.

“Very well. Where shall I have the guide meet you?”

“Have him meet us at the inn.”

“Very well. I wish you luck in your endeavor.” Patricia said before leading them back to the door.

“The same to you. We’ll be back with the results of our investigation.” Kaylen replied.

They made their way back to the inn, where they first entered the stables to find their half-giant shield bearer in one of the stalls with Kaylen’s mare. She had a brush held on two fingers and was brushing the horse’s fur while humming softly to herself.

Kaylen shared a glance with his three companions, all of whom looked about as surprised as he was. Then he stepped forward, “Glad to see you taking such good care of our horses, Ursa.” He said softly.

Ursa flinched slightly when he spoke, but turned to him blushing. “Yes, well, I like animals, particularly horses.” She explained, looking past him at the other three girls, “I thought that was already evident.”

“You did seem pretty interested when we were purchasing our mounts.” Lyria acknowledged.

“We’ve finished with the mayor.” Kaylen continued. “Once everyone is here, we should meet up inside to fill you in on what was discussed.”

“I will finish up here and join you inside.” The half-giant told them.

As Kaylen and the others turned to exit the stables, they heard Alayni’s voice approaching, “…this is where we part. Thanks for catching up with me. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to talk some more before I leave.”

They emerged from the stables to see Alayni and the sheriff walking side-by-side, smiles on their faces. Kaylen gave them a moment to finish their goodbyes, then smiled when the halfling spotted him, and changed her direction to meet them and walk alongside them into the inn. “Heya, boss. How’d things go with the mayor?” She asked.

“Let’s get everyone together and I’ll fill you in all at once.” He said as the five of them made their way into the inn and spoke with the innkeeper.

“Welcome back, Master Gallowglass.” The man said, “One of your teammates already took a key to one of your rooms. Here are the other three.”

“Thank you, Mr. Tobin.” Kaylen accepted a set of three iron keys from the burly man, and proceeded towards the stairs.

Their rooms were all along the same side of the second story hallway. He checked the first door, and matched the symbol of an ox head on the door to one of the keys. The room contained two beds, one significantly larger than the other. “I’m guessing they brought this in for Ursa.” He observed. “Is anyone bunking with her?” He asked.

“She was on her own when we camped.” Lyria reminded them. “Let’s check the other rooms.”

Kaylen nodded and moved to the next door. The cat device on the door didn’t match any of the keys, and he assumed it must be the room Janel was in, so he knocked once, only for the door to swing open an inch. “Janel?” He called out.

There was a rustling, and a thump as something landed on the floor within the room, “Janel? Are you okay?” He asked, nudging the door open further.

“I’m fine, just…” He saw Janel next to the bed, getting to her feet and belting her tunic into place. Her eyes went wide when she saw him in the doorway and her cheeks turned red. “I’m fine!” She squealed, turning her back to him as she finished adjusting her clothes.

Kaylen closed the door to give her a moment of privacy, turning back to ther others. “I guess she was napping.” Alayni suggested, a smirk on her dimpled face.

Then the door opened, and there was the red-head kitsune, still flushed and more than a little disheveled. “Sorry, uh… I-is it time already?”

Kaylen raised an eyebrow, but nodded, “Ursa’s coming up shortly.”

“It hasn’t quite been an hour yet.” Lyria added.

“Yeah, um… I guess I wasn’t keeping track of the time.” The kitsune mumbled.

“We were checking the rooms.” Alanthea added, “We haven’t been in those two yet.” She gestured towards the two remaining doors.

“Oh-um, well the boar room is slightly smaller than the others, and the hawk room has two windows.” Janel explained.

“I suppose that’s good to know. Have you chosen the cat room, Janel? Does anyone else have a room preference?” Kaylen asked.

“How did you get into the other rooms without the keys?” Alanthea asked.

“Been picking locks?” Alayni asked.

“Ah, I uh… infiltrated.” She said, still blushing heatedly.

Kaylen smiled, “Well, you’re just keeping your skills sharp, as far as I’m concerned. So long as you don’t get carried away with it, we should be fine.” He told her, and Janel nodded.

They heard the stairs creak under Ursa’s weight before she emerged into the upper story hallway. “Everyone here?” She asked, seeing the six of them standing just outside the door to the cat room.

“It would seem so, yes.” Kaylen confirmed. “Since the ox room is the largest, we were thinking we’d gather there to discuss what we’ve learned so far.” He pointed to the first room at the top of the stairs. “We were just discussing sleeping arrangements for when we return here this evening.” He added.

Author’s Note

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