We stepped onto frost white grass as we departed the cabin at first light. The morning was clear and bright and, as we left the woods that surround the cabin, rolling hills of blue green stretched south before us. The way was easy going to start, but while Brook had become a little less clumsy in his oversized boots it still pained me to see him struggle over the rougher ground, and I was all the more eager to get our business at the outpost done.
Bess had joined us for the journey, of course, and was apparently untroubled at having been largely ignored the past day or two. I had made it up to her that morning before we departed with a big bowl of meal mixed with hog's grease, her favorite thing, and she was now running happily ahead and among us like she had lost five years from her. Brook and she had proven to be fast friends and more often than not when she returned from her gallivanting it was his hand her nose sought. It warmed me more than I can say to see them take to each other so well.
We stopped around noon by a ford across one of the silver streams that thread the land. The sun was warm and we shed our boots to rinse our feet in the cool water as we ate a lunch of bread and berries.
"Tell me about your friend, the one we are to visit." Brook asked as he lazily splashed his feet at the stream's glassy surface.
"Asprey? Asprey is a hard man to explain." I told him. "Most think he's mad, and sometimes I agree, but I think he just sees things differently, and that don't always accord with how other folks see them."
I told Brook how I had met the hermit. I had been staying a while at the village by the lake, fishing mostly and looking out for work as a guide or guard. I was at the inn one evening, nursing a jar, when in comes this tall, skinny, ghast of a man, wearing a smock stained and burned in more ways than I can name. He smelt, too, of smoke and sulphur and something I couldn't place and didn't want to. Before I could get over my surprise he approached me. Said he'd heard I was looking for work as a guide, and that he wanted to hire me. The laugh hadn't yet left me when he produced a small purse and handed it to me. I opened it, and inside were about ten small lumps of what looked like gold. Not believing my eyes I shook one out for a closer look. Now, I'm no assay, but I've seen enough gold to know the real deal, and this was it. I turned back to the strange man.
"I made it." He said. "It's quite pure. I trust it will be sufficient to secure your services in my, ah, adventure?" Well, as you can imagine my interest was whet, so we sat and he told me of this 'adventure' of his.
"What was it?" Asked Brook, warming to the story.
"Rocks." I told him, and he looked nonplussed.
"Rocks?"
"Asprey wanted a guide north to this cave he had heard about. Said it had some special rocks he wanted to collect. I asked him what was so special about them and he said that that was exactly what he wanted to find out." I scratched my head at the memory. "I thought he was crazy, but he interested me, and his gold was better than the merchants I usually attended, so I agreed."
"Was it dangerous?" Brook asked as he idly threw a stick into the water for Bess, who happily loped in after it.
"No, not really." I said, stroking my beard. "It was still good weather for travelling, and the going was easy as I recall. Asprey proved himself more capable than I would have taken him for at first. Indeed, part of me thought he had hired me for the company and the extra arms as much as a guide."
"And what about the rocks? Were they special?" I teased out answering, enjoying the look of boyish expectation on Brook's face.
"Well...." He grinned at me, knowing my game. I relented.
"He seemed to think so. To me they just looked like rocks, but he collected so many of this sort or that, that the journey back was a lot more wearying, but by then we had become good friends and that lightened it a deal." Brook sat in thought for a moment. I liked that about him, that while his face was an open book, his words were always careful.
"It's like you said. He looks at things differently. Sees things other people can't see." Brook turned to me as he said it, and I sensed something of his meaning. "I look forward to meeting him."
"Well if we make good time we can be there in three days or so. On my own it would be two, but with you here..." I grinned at him, and he rose up in mock indignation.
"Hey, if it wasn't for these damn boots I would be there already!" He puffed up boastful, and I took the opportunity to deflate him by tickling his sides. He collapsed giggling into me.
"I only meant...." I pulled him close and kissed him. "....that I might get distracted on the way." It was true. If we were to get to the lake this year I would have to keep my hands to myself. "Stop being so..."
"So what?" He asked with a smile, knowing damn well what.
"So. Fucking. Hot." I said, between kisses. Brooks hand found the tent I was already pitching, curling his fingers around what he found there. I wanted nothing more than to take him right there, but I pulled his hand off me.
"If you're a good boy you can have that later." I told him, as stern as I could muster. "Now, get your boots on. Sooner we get going the sooner we can make camp." It was gratifying to see him jump into action at that, and soon enough we were on our way again.
The stop at the outpost was more troublesome than I'd hoped. Seems there had been a lot of travellers on the road of late, most heading south. The troubles we had been having with the game disappearing here abouts were worse up there, or so the word was, with whole villages being abandoned as the lands about became empty but for the wolves and bandits preying on the fleeing. I had Brook and Bess stay close to me as we went about our business there, managing to get most of what I wanted, though the prices were dear, and we also found a good, slim dagger for Brook to wear with his new, better fitting gear. I couldn't help but admire him as he walked a little ahead, not only did the clothes fit his body better, but he somehow seemed to walk taller in them too.
