Broadswords - 14. The Chasm

Broadswords

Chapter Fourteen
The Chasm

Since Sal's miraculous turn at running the inn, he had revealed to Kep how he had enjoyed the feeling. Though it had only been a couple of days since he'd handled the place on his own for the first time, he'd admitted to his brother that he'd like to continue helping in that capacity. As a result, for the last two days, it allowed Kep to take a well-deserved break for around two hours.

During that period, he convinced Kep to continue a discount on drinks. Kep had argued that the half-off price was too low, even for just a few hours each day. They'd eventually come to a compromise. For the specified two-hour timeframe, they would run a twenty-five percent discount on drinks, but the kitchen would be closed.

This arrangement would allow Sal to practice his front of house skills, Kep to continue reading up on dragonslayer information, and the inn to garner a whole slew of new customers. Kep had even agreed that if they saw a large enough influx of business based on their signage outside of the building, he would use some of his savings to place an ad in the newspaper to spread the word to a wider audience.

In the meantime, he was still appreciating the change in his brother. He'd felt a stronger connection with him in the last few days than he had for a long time. They'd gotten the kitchen ready in the mornings, cleaned the main room together in the evenings. Just in that short time, they'd felt like a true team.

It was the ninth day since Birten had departed and the third day of the inn's new special, and thus his arrangement with his brother had given Kep more time to pore over the tomes in the library. He'd finished reading the ranking statistics, which he was thankful for. It meant he didn't have to interact directly with the librarian anymore.

Instead, he spent his newfound lunch breaks focused on reads like Dragons Across the Globe, The Official Dragonslayer's Squire Guide, and Beastlore: An Abridged Accounting of Our World's Monsters. He had become almost obsessed with the topic, willing to read anything with even slight ties to dragonslaying.

Given that he was only taking two hours away from the inn, and considering that the travel time to and from the library almost took up half of that, he didn't get a whole lot of time to actually go over the material. As he put Effects of the Dragon Tongue back on its shelf, he had to consider perhaps purchasing a few books from the kingdom's bookseller.

It would be expensive, as most books weren't mass produced. That being said, the ones that were had to be scribed by hand which took an extensive amount of man-hours to complete. Between the rarity and the manual labor, the cost of a purchasable book could be quite lofty. Generally speaking, only the richest citizens had their own personal libraries. Even then, Kep assumed, their collections probably didn't consist of a multitude of volumes.

Then again, if they truly could increase sales at the inn, there was a chance that he would actually have some spending money. The thought was exhilarating. Neither he nor his brother had ever truly been able to buy things that were not of necessity. Food, clothing, basic items, sure. They could afford what they needed. But they'd never been afforded the luxury of buying something simply because they wanted to.

He spent his walk back to the inn thinking about what he could purchase with disposable income. An outfit made of decent fabrics. Some random knick-knacks, simply so he could say he owned personal items. Maybe some decorations to liven up the inn. If it were enough money, perhaps even a clock. He could even get a gift for Birten!

Over the last several days, he'd though of Birten often. The separation truly was making him develop stronger feelings for the squire. There were only a few more days until he was set to return, and he couldn't wait. He hadn't forgotten Birten's suggestion of sharing the bottle of wine when he was back in Jhirdyr. While he still wasn't completely certain of what was going on between Birten and Daegon, if anything, he couldn't help but wonder if Birten had meant for their wine-sharing to be a date.

"Hey brother, I kind of need you to run down to the cave," Sal said as Kep entered the shockingly crowded front room of the inn. "We are insanely low on hollowshrooms." Sal had to speak louder than normal to make his voice heard over the din in the room.

Kep, still perplexed by the amount of people, joined his brother behind the bar. Sal didn't make eye contact, as he was hurriedly pouring drinks, taking money, and trying to interact with each guest as they approached the bar. "What in…?"

"Long story. In short, I invented a drink. The Muddled Mushroom, I call it. The juice of a few hollowshrooms mixed with plain mead. Sounds like it shouldn't work, but it does. And word spread like wildfire. Tried it out on a couple of our regulars, they told their friends, and, well, you can see how that went."

"Hollowshrooms! You know those are too valuable to our food menu, Sal! This is going to hurt the money we pull in from the dinner crowd."

Sal finally glanced over at Kep, an excited twinkle in his eyes. "Watch this."

An older woman approached the brothers, dropping her satchel on the bartop. "I'll have one of these mushroom meads everyone is talking about," she said, digging through her bag.

Under the counter, Sal squeezed the liquid out of two or three hollowshrooms and into a mead glass. He filled the remainder of the glass with the syrupy golden drink and stirred it together with a long spoon. He sat it atop the surface in front of the woman, who had pulled a few coins from her bag. "That'll be one silver, please." The woman prodded through her coins until she found the correct one, and handed it to Sal before wandering off to find her group.

Kep's eyes widened and he was left speechless. One silver piece, for a drink? Most of the drinks they offered went for a copper piece or two; there were even a few occasions when business was so bad that Kep had knocked a couple aluminum pieces off the price in order to get a few sales. But a silver piece! The most expensive dinner plate on their menu went for a silver piece. And it was an uncommon order. But based on the number of people in the room with glasses in their hands, this new drink was far from uncommon.

"A silver piece per drink!" Sal said excitedly, holding the piece up as if to prove to Kep that it was real. "When I had our regulars try it, I asked how much they'd be willing to pay for it. They said for something like this, they'd cough up a couple silver pieces. So I went with one, to see if it would work. It did! Plus, we can still utilize the rest of the shroom for sauces, like dad used to do."

"Yeah, but that being said, Sal, I can't go pick more right now. Clearly the juice is the essential ingredient for this drink. It's not prime picking time, the flavor wouldn't be there at all."

Sal's face fell, clearly not having thought that part through. It didn't last long, though. "Well, that's okay. If we run out today, it's our first time offering them on the menu. It's no big deal. And this way, we can keep our tradition alive and go together."

The next morning, Kep and Sal departed from the stables on horseback toward the cave. Due to the popularity of the drink, Kep determined that the cost of renting the horses would be worthwhile. That way, they would be able to gather far more of the shrooms than if they travelled on foot. Thankfully the stables were one of the businesses within Jhirdyr that were open 24 hours, and thus they were able to choose their horses and make it to the cave with plenty of picking time.

Though they'd chosen the cheapest rental horses, they did pay a little extra to rent saddlebags. The decision to go on horseback would have been pointless if they weren't bringing back a larger haul than normal, so it was an easy choice to make.

After the normal routine of lighting their torches and disguising the fire pit, the brothers rode into the trees. They knew they'd have to take the horses all the way to the cave, lest their presence outside of the woods would draw attention.

Instead, they tied them to a small tree just outside the cave. The horses were old, which explained their cheap rental price, and the reasonably short journey had worn them out. With as many hollowshrooms they expected to pick, though, Kep knew they'd have plenty of time to rest before they made their way back.

"It's a little slim," Sal said, referring to the choice of mushrooms within the cave. Since they had been there so recently, they hadn't given sufficient time to let the fungus repopulate itself and they'd already chosen some of the best pieces. Kep knew that this meant they'd have to go a little bit deeper into the cave than they normally liked to go.

Pushing his nerves aside, he stepped further into the darkness. He'd let his brother filter through what was left closer to the entrance. There was no need for him to be the one closer to the chasm after what had happened all those years ago.

The depths, though terrifying, were extremely lucrative. Due to the ground being damper and the darkness being more intense, the mushrooms were far more plentiful. Kep began picking them with such fervor that he was almost scooping them out of the dirt.

That excitement continued to win over the anxiety he had initially felt. Until he heard a noise. The same noise he'd heard on their last visit, yet much louder. A guttural, feral roar. It wasn't bats as Sal had suggested the last time. And Sal had definitely heard it this time, as he made terrified eye contact with Kep.

The roar burst from the chasm again, echoing off the stone and ringing in the brothers' ears. They stuffed the mushrooms currently in their hands into bags. They had to get out of there, immediately. While they hadn't gathered anywhere near the amount they'd hoped, their lives were far more important than risking being attacked by the occupant of the cave.

Just as they had snatched up their bags and darted to the exit, a burst of flames shot up from the chasm in an uncontained stream. There was a dragon in the cave.

Upon reentering Jhirdyr, Kep sent Sal back to the inn to unload the mushrooms and return his horse and both sets of saddlebags. Kep needed to keep his ride for the time being in order to get to the castle as quickly as possible.

While it wasn't illegal to ride horses through town, it did become increasingly more frowned upon the closer to the castle one got. As he rode through the last few streets, several pedestrians shot him dirty looks. He didn't care, though, as the dragon was his only focus. As far as he was aware in his brief study on the subject, there had never been a dragon this close to Jhirdyr. And even if there had been, it was irrelevant. It was far too close to the kingdom for comfort. It could be just a matter of time before it ascended from the depths of the cave and attacked.

As he neared the castle, he dismounted the horse and approached the guards. "There's a dragon in a cave to the north of the kingdom!" He was frantic, well aware that he wasn't perhaps being as formal with members of the king's guard as he should.

The two guards stationed outside of the castle's main entrance smirked at one another before one responded. "Oh yeah? Where?"

"In the woods just beyond the flatlands," Kep explained breathlessly, his heart beating heavily in his chest.

The guards began laughing. Kep could only assume they didn't believe him. Considering he wasn't aware of a dragon ever being within the vicinity, they probably weren't either. While there were a few forests and mountains in the area, Jhirdyr was primarily surrounded by flatlands and plains. That type of terrain didn't often appeal to dragons, and thus they were not often seen this close to the kingdom itself. "Well, you're in luck," the other one said. "There's a dragonslayer right over there." He pointed at someone behind Kep.

He turned to locate the person being pointed out. It was a tall man, dark-skinned, with several scars peeking out from beneath his sleeves. He was walking aimlessly, wandering in the opposite direction from where Kep stood. "Thanks," he mumbled to the guards, who continued laughing. He hoped they weren't just pulling his leg.

Without giving it a further though, Kep ran toward the man. His sudden approach was quickly noticed, and the man turned toward him as he slowed back to a walk. "You know, you shouldn't rush up on a dragonslayer like that."

At least the guards hadn't lied to him about the slayer's occupation. "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit panicked. My brother and I, we were in a cave in the woods north of the kingdom, and…." He swallowed nervously, looking at the man. His stature seemed like he didn't care to be seen with someone like Kep, but his face indicated that he was not discounting what Kep was telling him. "There's a dragon in there."

The slayer looked down his nose at Kep. "You're certain?"

"Positive," Kep said.

"Good thing you've found the top-ranked slayer in the kingdom, then. Let's go."