Part 4
The Midgewater Marshes is an ideal place to dump a body...
Taala dragged the dead weight of the Brigand from the wagon having taken it as far off the road as she dared at the risk of it getting bogged down in the soft mud. Her mood was sour, the furs were smattered with blood and nigh on useless now, so she sunk them along with the body into one of the murky pools that littered the Marshes.
She took the wagon to Neyaa's and used the water from her well to clean the blood from it. Time was against her, if Deredan, Neyaa or that nosey damned nursemaid of theirs, Aanya showed up she'd have some explaining to do... Taala seriously considered killing Aanya for a moment, she hated that girl...it was lucky her half brother Branston loved his wet nurse so much.
Finally, she drove a clean wagon and a cleaner self in the direction of Grimsnade again...
Confusing? Back in the present and still reflecting... Taala had 'borrowed' Seaver's wagon without really asking him to make some deliveries and collections. She had been attacked by bandits on the road out of the lumber camp in Combe... She had killed one of them and dumped his body in the marshes, cleaned the wagon, returned it to Seaver, been scolded but forgiven... Spent half the night with Seaver and was now heading towards Combe unable to settle in the aftermath of it, knowing her locket is out there somewhere, and the longer she left matters the more unlikely it would be she'd ever recover it.
Combe, proved fruitless, she mooched around the stable area and mingled with the residents but there were no clues nor information to be had, one had to be very careful what was asked and said, as the folk there, were either related or afraid of the bandits about...
Downhearted, she made her way to Bree, damn it, she needed a drink, this was a fools errand surely? Forcing a cold heart, she half convinced herself the locket did not matter, yet the mood for merriment was far from her as she lingered outside the back door to the pony...
Then she met Eroforth, an exile from Dale, there in that very spot and things became interesting again...
