His First Silver

The boy was not old. 10 perhaps. But he knew he was special. Something magical had happened to him last night. He had seen a ghost bear and the bear had looked him in the eye. The boy imagined himself as an adventurer: valiant, handsome and strong. It had something to do with the adventurers, he was sure of it. He looked again at his palm and saw the silver coin there. His first silver.

The boy had seen the small band of adventurers as they entered the city. Two Elves, a Hobbit and a cloaked woman in arms walked their mounts through Travellers Gate, mingling with the morning market crowd. They headed to the Earthmagic Guildhouse and the Elves and Hobbit took two heavy saddlebags bags from the horses. They went inside while the woman pulled her hood close and waited.

The street was loud with peddlers and stall-holders touting their stock. The guildhall was near Market Square; it was a tall stone building, and the boy knew it extended deep into the chaotic streets behind Market Way. People jostled past the horses while the woman in arms corralled them restlessly. The boy watched a grubby youth swipe something small from behind one of the saddles.

One of the Elves strode from the Guildhall, spoke briefly to the woman and they led the three horses back the way they had come. Before reaching the market proper they turned up Castle Road and then into the stables of the Mercenaries Guildhall. The boy followed, listening while asking a stable hand if there was work for a day or for an hour.

There were others in the stable. The Stable Master walked towards the woman and Elf.

“I need space and privacy,” the woman in arms said. With her hood down she seemed unremarkable. The boy saw silver cross the Stable Master’s hand. The Elf remained silent, hooded.

The woman nodded toward the Elf. “He needs training. We’ll be here a couple of weeks,” she said, “the horses too.” The Stable Master nodded and called for one of the stable hands. Then he saw the boy. The boy ran. He thought he had something to sell to the Thieves’ Guild. But the boy just got a beating. He kept an eye on the adventurers anyway.

The adventurers kept to themselves. The Elf spent the first two weeks at the Mercenaries Guild and then disappeared into the Mage’s Guildhall. The horses and woman in arms remained at the Mercenaries Guild. The Hobbit and the other, dark skinned, Elf took the King’s Suite at the Earthstone Inn. From there the boy tracked them about town, hidden among a daily gathering of touts. He learned the Hobbit was a member of the Thieves’ Guild but also had connections with the Mage’s Guild. The Elf seemed friendly with both Mages and Mercenaries.

Then the Whip, a Chapter Captain from the Thieves’ Guild, started to pay him to know where they were. It was a good business for the boy. The boy visited his mother and sister in the wash-house and slipped them some bread and cheese. They did not believe him when he said he had brought the bread with his own copper.

The boy heard that the Hobbit was not trusted by the Guild. The Hobbit seemed wary of others when going about the town. One day, when the Hobbit was alone, the boy saw him talking to a tiny dragon that slipped and wound itself around the little Hobbit’ neck. There was something strange about this Hobbit. There was a few extra copper that day.

The Whip took the boy to an empty square, a small space between buildings with a well to one side, and showed him a flagstone that had been lifted and then allowed to settle back in place. He told the boy to watch this place for a month. He said to watch at night and watch from new moon to new moon.

The adventurers packed up and left, but the boy did not care, he had copper each day. He was eating more that he could ever remember, and he was able to provide for his mum and sister. He was careful to watch every night and report every day.

Then late one night, as the light of the full moon fell on the square, the boy saw a blue glow around the edge of the flagstone. Blue smoke was coming from the gap where the stone had been lifted. He watched as the smoke began to form into the shape of a massive wild bear. It glowed with ghostly blue light and stood upright as if reaching for the moon. Its mouth opened and the boy expected to hear a monstrous growl, but there was no sound.

The ghost bear turned and looked directly at the boy. The boy froze in fear. The bear had vicious looking fangs and long claws. But something about its face, its eyes, reassured the boy. Something deeper than the ghost bear. The bear turned and dropped to all fours. As the beast walked away it seemed to dissolve. When it reached the far side of the court it melted into the wall of a house and was gone.