Mark Of The Raven

Chapter Thirteen: The Trader

To say we were disappointed would be an understatement. We had believed for so long that the resistance could change everything. But now we were faced with the remnants of something that we now had lost faith in. We had to find a way to make this work though. Whatever the cost, the cult would be coming sooner or later. And we had to take a stand.

We had all awakened to a rather wretched smell, one that could quite honestly, wake the dead. " What in the hell is that? " Issac shot up from his bed as the rest of us began to stir from ours.

" It smells like month old garbage" Emery confessed whilst Astrid did not seem to notice the smell all that much. " I think it's fine? Doesn't smell all that different from yesterday" Astrid smiled which made us all look at him with shock. " Either you are messing with us or you legitimentally can't smell and either answer is going to piss me off " Emery stepped out of the room quickly and we followed behind her.

The smell outside was even worse, but there was nothing around that would indicate where the smell could be coming from. " I guess it doesn't matter right now. We need to figure out what we want to do" Issac tried to reason but none of us could really think when it felt like our noses were being strangled by stench.

" I think we need to..I think" Emery tried to speak but couldn't after covering her mouth.

" Good Morning everyone" A man walked up to us, sporting a rather large smile. His clothes were slightly worn out and he had a long Grey beard, and long dirty Grey hair. The one thing we could be sure of, was that this man was the source of the smell.

" What the hell is wrong with you? Why do you smell like that? " Emery cried out as she fell to the ground in disgust.

" Oh..I've been extending the new sewer system from the old fort into the city. It's been one hell of a job but man, once it's done, we are all gonna be pretty happy " he smiled again, seeming to not even be bothered by his own foul oder.

" Well..that explains it" Issac squirmed as he tried to back away from the man but instead backed into Astrid.

" I am here to take you guys to Rowan. He wants to meet with you all again " the man smiles as he proceeds to escort us back down the street and right back into the tavern from yesterday.

And there again sat the same group of people, almost Looking as though they had not moved since we last saw them even though we knew that couldn't be true. The only difference was that the young girl and the young man were no longer there. Their absence was a little curious but we decided to dismiss it for the time being considering we were more so curious about why they would want to meet it with us again.

The foul smelling man left the tavern as soon as he had made sure we made it safely to our destination which gave a small sense of relief, at least for our noses.

" So what did you guys want? " Emery asked, trying to recover from the ordeal we just went through by wiping her nose several times over with her wrist. One of the men stood up and smiled widely at us and said with a jolly tone " We heard you guys wanna fight? So we are going to allow you guys to join the Resistance"

At first, we were all puzzled but the openess of the offer. But we for the most part figured this openness came from the lack of members they possessed. " We would love to Join you" Astrid barked as he approached the old man who patted him on the shoulder with glee. " I like this one" the old man smiled and pointed his finger at Astrid. " He is a fighter. I can tell" the man smiled again. " And just so we don't find ourselves confused too much with the details, my name is Rowan" the jolly man laughed. We all introduced ourselves, and finally sat down with the group to have a drink. The drinks, much to our surprise, were actually pretty good. I only had two beers but Emery had at least 5 whilst Astrid had none. Issac only had one but I don't really believe he had ever been that much of a drinker.

After talking for a while, we realized that this resistance did not seem to have all that much of a plan. They had talked about possibly is possibly pressing closer to the East East to put pressure on the Cult, but had never really followed through it. At least, some of them didn't. The ones that did, had never Managed to make it back. So for the most part it had been assumed that they died. A search party couldn't be sent for them considering it was way too much of a hostile territory. And the ones that didn't go, were either here with us now or they chose to leave, believing that the fight would only lead to more deaths.

Rowan, had once been the great leader of the resistance. Along with his son, who died in combat shortly after the collapse. Most of his family had been military so that is where he learned some of his training. He trained other members of the resistance and that is how they have survived. Though, when magic started being used, they were proven to be no match.

" We have always needed an edge against them. Something that we could use against them to shut down forever. Because right now, they do not fear us " Rowan confessed. " They do not see us as a threat which really means that whether it is today or tomorrow, they will come for us. The only reason they haven't so far is because we have scattered enough misinformation out there so most of them probably believe we have bigger numbers than we actually do" Rowan and his resistance had been giving information to any and all who dared to venture East, that would throw the cult off their deadly war path. But for the most part, from what we could tell, that had never truly worked. Sure, they knew of the resistance but they didn't seem all that bothered by them. Which could be because there are still enough people in the East to terrorize. But when they run out of people, they will come here and do the same thing all over again.

" Well we believe that if we push hard enough against them, and cause enough damage, they won't be expecting it. And maybe that would give us an opening" Issac suggested to which Rowan laughed.

" An opening to what? They don't have a single set leader as far as we can tell. If they did, that would make this alot easier" Rowan placed his hands on his hand, running his fingers through his dirty hair and sighing.

" Well what about Delanore lady?" Emery asked, which left every quiet at the table. " Isn't she suppose to be the trader between the cult villages or something? If we hit her, then maybe that would cause some chaos for them".

Delanore, was name we had only heard a few times in the past and it was mainly from eavesdropping on cultists. From what we knew, this Delanore seemed to be in charge of trade routes throughout the east. She wasn't exactly a part of the cult, but was always gifted safe passage by them. She would often trade things from one village to another and have her workers constantly delivering supplies when needed. It was suspected that she had some knowledge about places that hadn't been raided yet and that is where she got all of her supplies. But Noone is really sure. Even the cultists, when they would mention her, didn't seem to know too much about her. But still, she was important to them if for nothing else than supplies. Her motives, well those were never quite clear.

" That would be a good idea but Noone can touch her. She is more protected than the villages themselves. And not to mention, whilst taking her down would be a good idea. Finding out where she keeps her supplies would be even better. It might be able to help alot of people" One of the resistance members suggested.

" He has a point" Astrid added. " If we find where she gets her supplies and we take it, we would not only be taking her down, but also the cultists resources"

" But how in the hell would we even get close to her enough to make that happen?" I asked, knowing full well the danger that was presented with this option. " I have an idea" Astrid smiled, his wicked little smile and I knew, this could either be really good..or well..would get us all killed.