Ishbosheth woke to a man shaking his shoulder. He turned to look up at Torres, going down the line, shaking everyone awake. Ishbosheth watched until he got down to Ana. Torres was quite civil, shook her on the shoulder, didn't say anything to her, just moved on to the next one.
Ishbosheth looked up to find Luther. Once he did, they two's eyes met and Luther gave Ishbosheth a knowing look, then winked. Ishbosheth smiled, which felt strange, especially coupled with the feeling of cold manacles around his wrists and ankles.
Torres and Luther once again went down the line handing everyone a strip of salted meat and a chunk of bread. It was even harder to swallow right after getting up. Ishbosheth tried desperately to wet his mouth before putting the food in, but to no avail. He decided to let it sit in his mouth until he got water. Luther passed the bucket around while Torres went back inside the inn. Ishbosheth drank the up of water slowly, savoring every drop.
Once Torres came back out of the inn, carrying his pack, the chain was unhooked from the horse post and the convoy was started again. Luther stopped the group once to talk to Torres about buying another mule to carry the extra food and water. The two bickered back and forth, until Luther stood up to his full height, which towered over Torres, and Torres finally gave in, passed a gold bag to Luther and commanded the line to sit while Luther ran off.
Ishbosheth loved to watch people in the palace, and here was no exception. He watched people buy and trade their goods, people fighting with one another, people courting. He also saw a large number of Minotaurs, which meant that he was probably in Devland now. Had they really crossed Moguta's bridge without him waking up?
Luther came back shortly, holding a rope tied around the neck of a mule. He strapped two boxes of the salted meat, a pouch of bread, and several large jars of water to the mule's back before the group was allowed to stand back up. Once the gear was cinched up, they were on their way again.
***
Stopping only once, in a march that lasted from before sun up to after sun down, to stuff more salted meat, bread and water down their throats, the traveling group finally came over a hill, to see a sizable castle come into view.
They had since passed into the land of Heest. Ishbosheth wondered if this man wasn't King of Heest, then he must be of some great importance to live in a place so extravagant.
They were marched down into the valley where the castle was located, across a bridge over a ravine, and through the front gate. Ishbosheth saw a picture painted of a man, tall and wearing a lion furred robe. He had a longish beard that was pulled into a point at the end. His hair was covered with a large red hat with a large plume jutting out the top. The caption at the bottom Ishbosheth quickly read, "Lord Antony of Heest."
Soon, a man appeared before the group, the exact likeness of the man in the picture, minus the big hat, which was replaced by long brown hair, which fell over either shoulder. "Good evening," Antony said to the group. "I awaited your arrival. Torres, Luther, please take their chains off."
The man and the Lion went to each one and unlocked their chains. Ishbosheth didn't know how much they hurt until they were taken off and it felt so good to be free. He rubbed his wrists, but that started to make them hurt again, so he stopped.
Antony spoke again, "Men, please follow the corridor to your right, women the one on your left." Ishbosheth glanced over at the open archway, leading to a hall lit by lanterns on the wall. "I will see you all in the morning when you will be assigned your positions. Luther, please follow me." Luther walked with Antony as the two went up a set of spiral stairs.
Torres jerked his head to the right, to give the men the impression to get a move on it, and then to the left to let the women know as well. Everyone moved as one.
They followed each other down the hall to a large open area with several mattresses scattered about the room. There were easily enough for everyone to have one and they were all open, so Ishbosheth went up to one, expecting it to be prickly with either straw or feathers. However, he was happily surprised to find they were stuffed with wool! He picked up a mattress and moved it close to one of the walls and laid down. He could feel a smile peel across his face as his body sunk into the soft material, but he fell asleep before he could think anything else.
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