cleric asked looking around.
Maude looked over her shouldered and spied the half-lucid elf kneeling beside his horse studying a patch of wildflowers a hundred yards back as the rest of the group pressed onward.
“For crying out loud!” Maude cursed as they wheeled their mounts around to retrieve the distracted wizard.
CHAPTER 6
Azerick knew that there was several abandoned building in the old industrial district. Years ago, this had been the center of commerce for the many trade goods that went in and out of the city, but over the past couple of decades, the economy of the nation had been continuously declining and fewer and fewer goods and trades came into and went out of the city. The district was a sore reminder of better times, but many of the abandoned warehouses and trade goods shops now served as shelter to the city’s many homeless.
As Azerick picked his way down the dark deserted streets, he spied several buildings that had burned to ground. Sometimes an entire block would show the ravages of past fires. Fire was always a real fear of those who dwelled within the city. The Watch kept close tabs on the abandoned buildings, chased out, and sometimes arrested anyone they found residing within them due to the fear of a vagrant’s cook fire or a fire built for life saving warmth during the winter might set the buildings aflame and spread to the more inhabited sections of the city. Azerick found these fears did not lack merit as he passed by another fire-scorched building.
He spied an abandoned tannery that looked promising. Unfortunately, there was a man standing in the darkened doorway, apparently keeping some sort of watch. Azerick watched him for a few minutes before another man appeared in the doorway and the two began a quiet conversation of some kind. With the anxiety of what had happened to him in the alley still fresh in his mind, he decided it was best to avoid everyone and was about to move on when his ears picked up the sound of marching feet.
The men loitering in the doorway came on instant alert and one quickly ducked back inside. Several people poured out of the building. At least three or four men, two women and a couple children made their way out of the building and ran off into the night ahead of the oncoming city watch.
As the Watch came upon the building, they quickly spread out to cover all avenues of escape. Four circled around the side and to the back, probably to check and guard for a rear exit, six stormed inside while another four guarded the front for anyone who might try to duck past the invading guardsmen and escape out the front.
In a few minutes, the guards reappeared and regrouped. Since they had no prisoners in tow, Azerick figured everyone who was in the building must have already fled. As the guards continued on their way to check another building, chosen seemingly at random, Azerick continued to watch the building from the safety of the dark shadows in a small alley across the way. After about twenty minutes, he decided that no one was going to return, the original inhabitants chased off by the Watch and the guards themselves would not return to a building they had already cleared.
Azerick slinked carefully across the street and ducked into the dark opening of the doorway of the now vacant building. He looked carefully around the dusty, cluttered room to ensure that it was indeed vacant.
The building appeared to be a long-abandoned tannery given the many barrels that probably once held various oils and chemicals used to treat the hides of animals. He thought he could even detect a faint lingering odor even after this long of disuse.
Azerick crept across the large room and went through a doorway on the far side. He came to a smaller room that had a single closed door in the far end. He crossed the room and slowly pulled it open, his knife held firmly in his grip just in case the building was not as empty as it appeared.
Behind the door was a small storage room. Shelves
Maude looked over her shouldered and spied the half-lucid elf kneeling beside his horse studying a patch of wildflowers a hundred yards back as the rest of the group pressed onward.
“For crying out loud!” Maude cursed as they wheeled their mounts around to retrieve the distracted wizard.
CHAPTER 6
Azerick knew that there was several abandoned building in the old industrial district. Years ago, this had been the center of commerce for the many trade goods that went in and out of the city, but over the past couple of decades, the economy of the nation had been continuously declining and fewer and fewer goods and trades came into and went out of the city. The district was a sore reminder of better times, but many of the abandoned warehouses and trade goods shops now served as shelter to the city’s many homeless.
As Azerick picked his way down the dark deserted streets, he spied several buildings that had burned to ground. Sometimes an entire block would show the ravages of past fires. Fire was always a real fear of those who dwelled within the city. The Watch kept close tabs on the abandoned buildings, chased out, and sometimes arrested anyone they found residing within them due to the fear of a vagrant’s cook fire or a fire built for life saving warmth during the winter might set the buildings aflame and spread to the more inhabited sections of the city. Azerick found these fears did not lack merit as he passed by another fire-scorched building.
He spied an abandoned tannery that looked promising. Unfortunately, there was a man standing in the darkened doorway, apparently keeping some sort of watch. Azerick watched him for a few minutes before another man appeared in the doorway and the two began a quiet conversation of some kind. With the anxiety of what had happened to him in the alley still fresh in his mind, he decided it was best to avoid everyone and was about to move on when his ears picked up the sound of marching feet.
The men loitering in the doorway came on instant alert and one quickly ducked back inside. Several people poured out of the building. At least three or four men, two women and a couple children made their way out of the building and ran off into the night ahead of the oncoming city watch.
As the Watch came upon the building, they quickly spread out to cover all avenues of escape. Four circled around the side and to the back, probably to check and guard for a rear exit, six stormed inside while another four guarded the front for anyone who might try to duck past the invading guardsmen and escape out the front.
In a few minutes, the guards reappeared and regrouped. Since they had no prisoners in tow, Azerick figured everyone who was in the building must have already fled. As the guards continued on their way to check another building, chosen seemingly at random, Azerick continued to watch the building from the safety of the dark shadows in a small alley across the way. After about twenty minutes, he decided that no one was going to return, the original inhabitants chased off by the Watch and the guards themselves would not return to a building they had already cleared.
Azerick slinked carefully across the street and ducked into the dark opening of the doorway of the now vacant building. He looked carefully around the dusty, cluttered room to ensure that it was indeed vacant.
The building appeared to be a long-abandoned tannery given the many barrels that probably once held various oils and chemicals used to treat the hides of animals. He thought he could even detect a faint lingering odor even after this long of disuse.
Azerick crept across the large room and went through a doorway on the far side. He came to a smaller room that had a single closed door in the far end. He crossed the room and slowly pulled it open, his knife held firmly in his grip just in case the building was not as empty as it appeared.
Behind the door was a small storage room. Shelves
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