”This looks like the place, Tann”, said the red-headed woman standing before an archway on the side of a big stone building. The doorway opened up to a room that looked like a big, rudimentary infirmary. ”Nothing good has ever happened in this crappy place for me. I prefer to keep my head down here... and if I start to run off at the mouth, give me a kick.”
The short man standing next to her - who looked more like a boy than a grown-up man - gave the woman one of his usual blank upwards stares. His hands were buried into the folds of wraps around his waist that made a staple belt for him. He shrugged, hunching over in his five foot form.
”Nothing good's happened to me here either, but I've never been here. S'ow you view it”, he smiled, briefly.
”One way of looking at it, I suppose.” The red-headed woman walked through the archway and looked around in the room, scanning the many beds in the infirmary. The room was huge and had stone walls. The floor was made of stone as well, and decorated with archaic patterns that might have meant something to someone centuries or millenniums ago. There were some wooden bunk beds on the opposite wall, some ordinary beds and some mattresses with blankets and pillows by the walls. There were also piles of sacks, buckets and barrels next to the walls. A single woman walked back and forth between the beds, checking on the people lying on them. Some of the patients wailed and moaned incessantly and some lied completely still.
”Miss”, the redhead called the healer, ”we are looking for one of our company. Miss Hellrien? We've been told you are tending to her.”
”Hellrien? Are you friends of hers? She's right over there.” The healer pointed towards a mattress next to the north wall.
The redhead raised her brow. ”She is well?”
”Well?” the healer repeated. ”That's a matter of perspective. But yeah, she's not going to die just yet. She's only drunk.”
”You are all damn heart!” the redhead snapped, dismissing the healer. ”Drunk!”
”Sad story, actually”, said the healer. ”If she keeps on going the way she has so far, she will not live to see another year.”
The short man lifted a bushy brow. ”That’s not promising.”
”Thank you for the care you’ve shown anyway”, the redhead said, ”we’ll tend to her now.”
”I’m glad somebody will”, said the healer.
”Don’t worry, Tann”, said the woman, patting the short man on his back, ”we've a damn good healer back in Towerglan... let's go see how she is.”
”Not much heals drinking”, said the man, a pouting look over his lips as he waddled forward from the pat.
”Oh, there’d plenty heals drinking”, grinned the woman, ”but it’s not likely to come in a form of a potion.”
The man sniffed, letting his hands bury back down into the wraps around his waist. ”I don't want a contractor’s life lost on my own whim from coming here”, he grumbled. ”Ebold would castrut-castra-... cut my bollocks off.”
The pair moved over to the dirty mattress against the wall. A shapeless figure was lying limply on the mattress, wrapped into a dirty blanket. A nauseating smell wafted around the bed – a mixture of sweat, vomit and cheap Eglain swill.
The woman crouched down on her honkers, lifted the blanket and turned the head of the sleeper towards her to study her face.
”What the blazes…” she said, unable to hide her shock. For the woman was Hellrien, but she could barely recognize her anymore. Hellrien had gained at least fifty pounds of weight and had to weigh about 16 stones now. Her face was dirty, bloated and reddish. Her eyelids were inflamed and her eyelashes stuck on each other. Her mouth was half-open, and a trickle of drool was dripping down her cheek from the corner of her mouth.
”She’s not only drunk”, said the red-haired woman, ”seems like she’s become a drunk.”
”Right, but is she okay?” asked the short man, lifting his brow.
”Wonder what the hell happened out here”, the redhead said, giving the man a worried look. ”Damn, she shouldn’t have come back here. I knew there was something amiss about all this.” She inhaled deeply. ”Tannur, can you find out from the healer if Hellrien is fit enough to ride? The impression Eriac’s letter gave suggested she was.”
The healer overheard their discussion and walked over to them. ”She’s been drunk continually since she came here a few months back”, she said. ”Every once and a while somebody carries her over here in this state, and I nurse her back to health so she can keep on drinking herself to death. She lives on the streets mostly.”
”Is that right!” said the red-haired woman grimly. ”I wonder if her horse is still around. Shit! Can we wake her up then?”
”She has kept her horse, weapons, armor and some clothes. Everything else she has traded to swill… and she did have quite a lot of jewelry in her possession.”
”Feck it! If’n I hadn’t been so damn busy setting things up in Trestlebridge I’d have ridden out and checked on her. Last I heard she was taking a vacation. No idea she’d come back here though.”
The man called Tannur squinted at the topic at hand, letting his body slump and his feet push him forward with a few steps. His hands rummaged out of the wraps around his waist and briefly rubbed together to keep warm. He tilted his head, looking down at Hellrien, and extended his hands outwards. Then he clapped his hands firmly behind her ears. Hellrien’s eyelids shivered and a vague croak emanated from her throat. Then her eyes closed again. Tannur breathed out of his nose harshly.
”No you don’t”, he muttered, scanning around the room. ”Bucket of water.”
The healer nodded unsympathetically and headed over to a corner where there stood a bucket of water. Her demeanor indicated that she was sick and tired of nursing drunkards to health when she had plenty of people with real illnesses and injuries to deal with.
”This is not like her”, said the woman sitting by Hellrien’s side. ”She’s merry company, likes a drink, but she’s a professional. In my experience it’s something that drives folk this way!” She blinked as she noticed the healer coming with a full bucket of water. ”Might send her into shock…” She nudged Hellrien. ”Hellrien…” she urged, shaking her and repeating her name. Hellrien moaned incoherently, but refused to open her eyes.
Having no luck in rousing Hellrien, the woman stood up and took a step back to allow Tannur to try it his way. Tannur continued to stare down at Hellrien, his arms outstretching for the bucket as the healer gave it to him. Slowly he lifted it over his head, resting the butt on top of his head.
”This’ll suck for you more than it will for me”, he sighed and bowed. The water splashed all over the bed and the woman resting on it. Hellrien croaked and spluttered and sat up on the bed, hands flailing around helplessly before they settled to rub her eyes as she spat water from her mouth. The red-headed woman took another step back as water gathered around her feet, eyes flicking at Tannur, looking quite surprised. Then her gaze snapped back to Hellrien.
”Wha… what th’ hell’s goin’ on?” Hellrien croaked.
Tannur slowly lifted himself back up, balancing the bucket on his head for a moment. His arms slowly slumped back down to the floor as the bucket lost it’s balance, hitting the cold stone floor with a thud. ”Morning.”
A pair of dull, addled, hostile eyes stared at Tannur from beneath a wet mop of ashen brown hair. ”Who th’hell are you?” Hellrien growled in a grating voice.
”Welcome back to the land of the living, lass”, said the red-haired woman on the other side of the bed. ”As for what the hell’s going on, we are hoping you’ll tell us!”
Hellrien turned her head slowly at the woman. It seemed like her eyes were moving slower than her head. Finally Hellrien’s gaze fixed on the woman and slowly, slowly a glint of recognition lit up in her blue, bloodshot eyes.
”Taala? Taala! I'd off'r you a drink if I had any...” Hellrien looked about, looking disoriented and confused. It seemed like she had a hard time knowing where she was herself.
”Well at least you remembered me”, said Taala, tilting her head the other way. ”This here is Tannur Gale, quartermaster of The Bloody Dawn… you remember them at least, I hope? Company you are contracted to… what the hell is going on with you, lass?”
”Me? Nuttin’s goin’ on… I jus’ had a few drinks is all.”
”From what I hear, you've been having a few drinks every damn day for the last few months.”
”Doesn't look like a few drinks”, said Tannur, a shortstack of little emotion. ”Looks like some loveless lass drowning the loneliness away.”
A stream of memories surfaced on Hellrien’s addled mind. ”The Dawn! How long have I been away?”
”A while”, Taala replied gently.
Hellrien looked down on her bloated figure and pulled a blanket to cover it from view. She averted her eyes, burning shame stinging her cheeks. She didn’t want Taala and Tannur to see her like this.
Damn them! Why had they come here? Why couldn’t they have left her to her own devices? Had Ebold put them up to this? Did Ebold want them to drag her to Towerglan so he could have the satisfaction of firing her personally? For what other reason could there be? She had broken her contract, she had been Absent Without Official Leave for months. And besides, who would keep her the way she was, a washed-up fat drunken slob? She couldn’t get a work cleaning people’s toilets anymore, surely the Dawn would have no use for a wreck like her.
Damn them all! Why did they need to humiliate her?
Taala crouched down on her honkers again, taking care not to let her backside touch the damp ground. ”We received a letter”, she said, ”from Eriac the Strong. Said you’d been helping them out here, full of praise for you. Tannur here arranged for us to come out and get you. Ebold is away, you see…”
Eriac! Of course! Now that they had sucked her out of the gems the Eglain wanted to be rid of her. She was of no use to them anymore. She was an embarrassment, a sad drunk in the gutter. Hellrien’s eyes burned with hatred. It was loser’s resentment towards everyone who was better off.
”Well”, she growled resentfully, ”as you can clearly see, I have let myself go…”
Taala clicked her fingers to attract the healer’s attention. ”Miss… can you have someone bring Hellrien's possessions? She's going to freeze to death in this bloody dress.”
”They’re behind that pile of sacks behind you”, said the healer. ”Her buddies brought them in with her.”
”Aye Hellrien”, Taala said, ”you have an arse like my steed’s… and belly like Barliman’s…”
”And I guess I have overstayed my vacation… so now what?”
Taala stood up, headed over to the sacks and dragged out the bundle behind them. She started to unwrap the bundle as she spoke, taking care not to set it down in the wet. ”Never mind your vacation. I heard you'd given no time limit on returning, and all Ebold will care about is that he's not paying you. So now, we get you off that wet bed, get you into some dry clothes and get a meal inside you and some coffee and talk... then we get you home!”
Home… Hellrien had not believed it to be an option anymore, not in a long time. And still, some subconscious part inside her mind had kept hoping against hope. That’s why she had clung into her horse, weapons and armor when everything else had gone down her throat. But she still couldn’t quite believe it. She kept expecting this to be some kind of cruel joke on her, waiting for the punchline…
Tannur looked between the two, as silent as always, letting his hands slowly curl back to his waist. He kicked the bucket away from his foot, taking a few waddled steps away from the bed. Hellrien got up to her shaky legs. Taala looked at Hellrien’s mail coat and then at her.
”This’ll never fit you now, and that dress is soaking”, she said as she rummaged through the bundle to find out if there was anything else that would fit her. She noticed how Hellrien was struggling with her balance, let go of the bundle and headed over to steady her. ”Easy there.”
Some of the defiance of the old Hellrien flashed in her eyes. ”Of course it will fit me”, she snapped, ”I’m not that fat! I just put on a couple of pounds is all.”
”Steady yourself”, said Taala, looking doubtful. ”Lets get you out of those rags and a dry blanket round you... then we'll see about your armour!”
Taala coaxed her onto a dry camp bed next to her, holding a blanket up to shield her. ”Can you manage or do I have the lad here strip you?”
”Not ’appening”, said Tannur.
”You not seen a naked woman before, lad?”
”I have”, said Tannur, glaring out of the doorway as he took another stride forward. ”Still not happenin’.”
”Well have a look amongst her belongings, Tannur. See if there's something dry that'll fit her, because I'm not sure her armour will.”
Tannur sighed and nodded, turned around and wandered towards the sack, crouching himself before it and idly rummaging about within it. He found trousers, shirt, vest and cloak and threw them over to Taala, humming a muted tune to himself. Taala caught the clothes on her head, as she was using her hands to hold the blanket up for Hellrien. An unkempt, bearded man in a nearby bed was staring at them keenly.
”Turn your head away from this lady”, Taala snapped, ”or I’ll snap your bloody neck so that your head stays looking the other way!”
Behind the blanket Hellrien was sweating profusely and her hands were shaking, but she had managed to undress her ragged dress. She hated the sight of her own body, eager to cover it up quickly. Slowly she started pulling on the trousers Taala had thrown her, ignoring the conversations as she was focusing on the task of dressing up. She muttered curses under her breath as she realized she had put her foot on the wrong leg of the trousers.
”So does Ebold want the satisfaction of firing me personally or what's the purpose of this?” Hellrien asked scornfully when she had pulled on the shirt and vest. Taala dropped the blanket on the bed and kicked the tatty dress to one side.
”That looks better”, she said.
”Can I turn me head now?” wailed the man on the next bed. ”I'm in 'ere wi' a neck injury.”
”Right”, said Taala, ignoring the man. ”Let’s get some food in your…” she paused, studying Hellrien’s paunch. ”Belly. And then you can tell us why you have drank Ost Guruth dry.”
”Ebold don’t know”, Tannur said. ”This was my doin’.” Slowly he stood back up, a curious brow from Hellrien’s meager possessions in her sack. He shook his head and turned back around, stepping back and forth.
”Tannur here has gone out of his way on this, Hellrien”, Taala said, a little miffed by Hellrien’s ungrateful attitude. ”He’s done you a big favor.” She stepped back to give Hellrien some space. ”You got her stuff, Tann?”
Hellrien’s scornful defiance melted away, making room for burning shame again. ”Well, thankee then, I guess”, she muttered.
”S’my job”, Tannur retorted, wafting his hand dismissively to the left. ”Don’t fret about it.”
”Look, who am I to judge”, said Taala, who had noticed the shift in Hellrien’s demeanor. ”I've likely done worse and some... Let's eat, Tann and I have had a long ride here”, she smiled at the young quartermaster, ”and he's doing a grand job for sure. We've been well supplied in Trestlebridge.”
”Trestlebridge?” Hellrien repeated. ”I’ve been there once.”
”Right... where can we eat in this craphole? I'm barred from the Inn here, if it's still standing. Aye, Trestlebridge, Dawn has a contract out there... feck, you have been gone a while.”
”So where's Ebold then? And ain't he going to fire me anyway when he gets back?”
The man in the bed next to Hellrien turned his head slowly and cautiously to look at Hellrien. His disappointment at seeing her dressed was evident, but he remained weary of the mercenaries. Instead he rested his eyes on Tannur, who stared back, dead cold, almost unnerving in the absolute zero expression in his voice as he spoke:
”He won’t fire you because he wont need to know anything bad 'appened. I took it upon myself 'ter retrieve a formidable contractor. He'd be happy to 'ave 'yer back, not annoyed, surely.”
”But”, Hellrien started to protest, but decided to snap her mouth shut before she said anything else. A formidable contractor? She looked down at herself. Who was Tannur kidding? Was he making fun of her? The only thing formidable about her was the size of her bum, and if Ebold would find any use of her it would be as a damn cook. And she should be grateful for that. A formidable contractor indeed!
”Lad’s sorted it”, Taala said. ”Besides, as long as you don't expect Ebold to pay you during your time away, you'd not be the first to take personal leave and pick up an injury. We just need to get you sober afore he comes back... and that's down to you, lass.”
”Right you are”, Hellrien said quietly, deflatedly.
”Eriac the Strong spoke well of you. Doesn't harm the company to have friends out here. Doesn't harm me either, I've burned a few bridges here.”
Hellrien suspected the only reason Eriac had spoken highly of her was because she had done the Eglain a big favor by cleaning up the scum from Bree… and then traded a fortune in gems and jewelry for a few barrels of cheap swill even most of the Eglain wouldn’t touch. She had been good business for them, but that was not worth pointing out to Taala either.
”I do want to come back”, she said. ”I just didn't think of it as a realistic option in a long while anymore. I can still hold a sword.”
Could she, though? How long it had been since she had practiced her moves? How many months?
”Seems Tannur here has seen to it that Ebold won't know a damn thing. He's my Captain, I love and serve the man as I did all my Captains, but sometimes, you have to tell them things on a need to know basis… better for them, really.” Taala smirked.
Hellrien proved that the swill hadn’t completely softened her brain as she quickly realized the trickery Tannur must have done with the books. She raised a brow. ”You can keep the coin, Tannur… and thankee.”
”Right”, Taala said decisively. ”Food, coffee and you can tell us what the blazes happened here and why you are drinking yourself to death. Healer packed no punches, she said you are a damn drunk, Hellrien. Well, not on my watch, lass!”
”Not really going to be a problem”, Tannur shrugged in his idle thoughts. ”You're still under my payments. I can just dejoos-, decu-… take some away from it and give you a head start.”
”There’s no problem”, Hellrien protested, almost horrified by the idea of actually getting paid for the months she had wasted lying in the gutter in Ost Guruth. ”I have a bit of money back in the barracks still, enough to get by.”
”Shash and let me do my job.” Tannur finally snapped his eyes away from the leering man, looked up to Hellrien briefly and wafted his arms a little as he rocked back on his heels.
”Alright”, Hellrien gave up, ”coffee and food it is, then.” Actually every fiber of her body was screaming for a drink of swill, but she would have rather died that let Taala and Tannur know it.
The patient in the bed continued to stare at Tannur. His eyes kept flicking between Tannur and Taala’s arse, listening to the conversation quite happily.
”Well good luck wi' that one”, he snorted, jerking his hand at Hellrien. ”She's a drunken bum an' likes ta talk in her sleep!”
”Shut up, Jabby”, Hellrien snapped, ”or you'll be spitting teeth for the rest of the day!”
”Now, that sounds more like the Hellrien I know!” Taala chuckled. Tannur blinked, squinting his eyes. He sniffed nonchalantly, letting his hand lift and grip to the long-handled pole of his mace. Lazily he lifted it from it’s clip and dragged it along slowly towards his apparent new victim.
Hellrien felt a sensation of burning shame again, for Jabby was one of the small circle of ’friends’ she had here in Ost Guruth, a bunch of worthless idlers and drunkards the lot of them – and, she was ashamed to acknowledge, shared a bed with him once or twice. And if Taala ever found out about that little detail she would positively die of shame. So, before Tannur could crush his skull or Jabby run his worthless trap again, Hellrien kicked him off his bed. Jabby let out a shriek as he tumbled out of his bed and landed on the stone floor.
”Jus’ sayin’”, Jabby stammered, frightened. ”Wha' yer problem... I'm fond o' Shirelings... I'm a sick man... sometimes me mouth runs away wi' me...”
Tannur continued to stare at the man, leaning on the bed with his usual creepy blankness, the scratch of the mace following slowly after him. ”I hope you're not allergic to nuts”, he said, ”because I'm about to kick yours up into your throat.”
”’e’s not worth it…” Hellrien growled, eager to leave this place before Jabby’s big mouth would ’run away wi’ him’ again.
Taala belly-laughed at Tannur. ”Come on, leave him, he’s a sad little man. Show us where there's good eating, Hellrien... can you walk? You were a little shakey standing up.”
Tannur sniffed again as he turned back to the other two, still dragging the mace behind him. ”Food now, hungry.”
”Good eating… here?” Hellrien said, picking up the plumed slouch hat from the floor that had become her trademark. She pulled the hat on her hed and drew the slouch over her eyes. ”Good eatin’ here means anything other than warg meat.”
