A journey out of a village had never been so strange. Koe could feel it even as he secured his saddlebags, before they left the stable. Mirram and Horon were involved in a hushed conversation on the far side of these wooden stalls, with carefully laid straw and carefully arranged troughs. Red pushed his head against Koe's shoulder as the dragon worked - but Koe's hand was absent as it stroked the dray horse's face. Whatever they had been discussing was for their ears alone. Eavesdropping was not a gentleman's sort of business. He was a storyteller, not a gentleman, but even with that distinction clear in his mind Koe still could not hear what they were saying. A trick of the wind, perhaps, which was rushing through the stable from one set of open double doors to the other. Or perhaps it was something else and he chose not to think so. Thinking that they were hiding something would have cast a pall over this entire affair. Well. That was nonsense. If he believed it he was lying to himself. Horon was hiding something. The question was simply whether or not that unknown element was going to cause trouble for them. Two dragons and a knight of Bahamut had nothing to fear.

( Nothing at all. )

Eragos,

I can meet you at Ganva. A small village between here and Tyrus, the sort of place that no one stops unless they have to. Rumor is that your wagons visit this place often for supplies and a pair of days' rest for the teams, the soldiers. It should not be difficult to time my arrival properly provided I left yesterday and wasted three horses. The timetable will be difficult, but I will see you in the village or not far outside of it. The runner guaranteed me that he would have this letter in your hands before you reached the village. If he succeeded, you're to give him two gold crowns. Trone crowns, of course, since they're the heaviest. Now don't be cheap old friend.

Suspecting that Eragos had been given enough time to read the note, the runner coughed. Or perhaps that was merely a result of his hard run through all the damnable hills of the low country to try and reach Eragos before the knight reached Ganva. There in the dark, with only the two of them, Eragos could have sent the boy away in anger. Doubtless he'd run faster and harder for the promise of two crowns. Even knowing his feat would be nearly impossible, and that they were now only a half-day's ride from the village, the boy had tried. He might hate the author for being so free with money that was not his own - but such was life. Eragos did not concern himself with such things.

( At least, he tried not to. )