Chapter 9 - A dream within a dream...

Hrodulf looked again at the man who had been his captain, shrunken in death in a way that never could have happened in life. His death had drained him of the vitality that had made him one of the most feared captains on the sea of fallen stars... A name that gods fearing mariners wouldn't even mention for fear of attacting his eye to their vessel.

"Go to Greenest, rectify the mistakes I have made!" the old man had pleaded and Hrodulf could not understand why these last few words had a hold of him the way they did. Was the old man truly his father? Hrodulf had no way of knowing his earliest memories being those of the boiling stews and rookeries he had grown up in and always the Captain had been there...when he wasn't aboard ship at any rate.

He had taken the young Hrodulf to sea before he was 10 winters old and he had participated in his first act of piracy no more than a few short days later. Had the Captain, his father, kept him safe? Had he raised him to be a loyal  dog? Hrodulf didn't know for sure, what he did know was that either way the old man had given him teeth and a lack of fear to bite !

The dream shifted to the caravan train, Hrodulf while not the biggest of men being  of average height and as fit and lean as a butcher's dog had been hired on as a guard. He looked like nothing more than a bandit and perhaps the caravan master had figured better to have him with him than against him. The Elf Morfindion had been hired on in the next village after promising that he had arcane skills that he could use to aid the caravan should trouble beset them on the road.

Hrodulf had palled up with Shea Varhooven, a cleric of some god Hrodulf didn't know or care about in the least. She was a handsome woman , hair as red as a dawn glow and freckles spinning out from a nose that may well have been broken once... maybe twice before.
They shared their blankets of a night and would stand watch together when they were called upon. She was a hardy woman, keen to take charge of their rutting but all business when it came to her job. She was a professional and knew that Hrodulf, as he had plainly admitted, was only on board as far as Greenest and then he had business to complete there.

She had still been with the caravan when they had turned back from Greenest when Morfindion and Hrodulf had made the journey into the town on the night of the raid. Hrodulf missed her company, the Elf was OK but he didn't want to sleep with him and had he then he would have probably broken him if he got too vigorous...

A sound niggled at his brain and consciousness came back to Hrodulf brining with it less pain than he had expected. Governor Nighthill and Morfindion were stood about ten feet away discussing something "Why don't you both fuck off!" Hrodulf muttered loudly "I was dreaming about a redhead!". Morfindion turned and looked at him "They've gone" he said looking pleased "The raiders have gone" Realising that his rest was probably going to remain disturbed, at least for a little while Hrodulf raised himself up onto his elbows and said "Do I look like I give a fuck?" to which Morfindion replied "You might when you hear what the Governor here has to say"