Gunter and Brice

Gunter and Brice.

Arrival to Hurtlepool

Gunter wiggled his furry nose at Brice as he approached out of the underbrush, covered with twigs and leaves.
“What did you do, fall out of another tree?” He asked in his deep gruff voice.
“No!” Exclaimed Brice defensively, as he brushed his hair down to hide the new scratch on his forehead while also pulling the sticks and leaves from his hair. “It was completely planned, there was just a stick I didn't see that was between me and the ground.” Brice mumbled.
“Ho ho, slow down and let me see!” Gunter stopped Brice by laying his heavy hand on Brice’s shoulder as he leaned down to look at the scrape. Brice tried to throw off Gunter’s hand but he struggled in vain, his scrawny form was no match for Gunter’s size and strength. He couldn’t even budge the large Amlian. Gunter paid his squirming no mind as he looked him over.
He gave Brice a heavy pat on the shoulder as he straightened up. “You’ll be fine, it’s nothing more than a flesh wound” He said.
“It’s not even a wound!” Brice insisted. “It’s barely even a scratch!” He ruffled his hair to get it back into its normal shape.
“Whatever you say kid.” Gunter shook his head. “Did you at least spot the next town?”
“Yeah yeah.” Bruce said. “We should reach it by midmorning or midday tomorrow. Unless you want to try going through the night.” (It was about three or four hours till dusk)
“Nah, there is no need. We will continue for a few more hours before making camp though.” Gunter said as he shouldered his greataxe again. “Onward!”
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By midday the next day Gunter, the large weathered Amlian warrior and Brice, the young human that was accompaining Gunter arrived in the merchant town of Hurtlepool, near the Easten border of Peridial. The guards stationed at the southern tower watched Gunter with some concern, though they made no effort to stop them while the pair entered the town. Many of the bustling townsfolk and merchants gave Gunter a weird look and a few made a small berth around them, though no one said anything to them directly while they looked around the town. In the town’s center they found the rows of merchant stalls and the other general buildings.
Brice quickly left Gunter’s side, temporarily forgetting the Amlian as he bounded from stall to stall, marvling at each new item he discovered. There was so much to see. One craftsman had carved a small elegant boat to sail in the pond, another had crafted an ornate dagger with symbols and markings that he had never seen before, and yet another had a cloak of many colors. Gunter followed behind as Brice followed his nose to the source of the smell of freshly baked breads, and then followed his ears to the sounds of the bards next to the center fountain as they told their grand tales and sang their epic songs.
The young teen pushed in to sit near the front with the children, listening intently to the man and woman as they spun their tales of amazing adventures and songs of epic battles, weaving a story into his mind that he could almost see in front of him. Brice’s heart soared with the story until it came to an end with the climatic bow of the two performers. Brice clapped his hands as hard or harder than the children he was with.
“Brice!” Gunter called to him, “We need to keep moving.”
“Right!” Brice sprung up from where he had been sitting and pushed through the crowd as he jogged over to where Gunter had been leaning on his greataxe and watching the performance from afar. “Sorry” Brice muttered as he brushed himself off while he looked back at the fountain and the group that was gathered around it still laughing and talking amongst themselves.
Gunter shook his head as he picked up his greataxe. “Its alright kid,” he growled in his gruff animalistic voice. “it was a good tale. But we need to get out of the center of town. To many people are watching.”
Gunter led Brice to one of the busy side streets and started down it. Brice followed, pulling up his hood to cover his face, and to hide the tear that threatened to leak out of his eye.


To be continued??