Road to Valhalla

Chapter 4: A Very Gray Man

Things went according to plan and we travelled with a caravan for the next few days. These people were gypsies and I barely ever heard them speak. They had taken to trading in the recent few years but it didn't look like they were doing very well. They told us the caravan would rest in the capital before moving onwards to the next continent. It seemed they travelled the whole world. I suppose such a journey despite bad business was still worth it. Chopper decided we'd stay in the capital until the caravan took off in three days.

The capital of Ildia, unlike Mercae, wasn't the center of opportunity. There were two kinds of people that occupied the city. The rich and the oppressed. It looked like one  of the smaller cities of Mercae, at least to me. Chopper wasn't surprised at all. He was accustomed to places like these. My Ildian accent was subpar but he spoke like a true native and so he did most of the talking wherever we went. We booked a room at the inn but I noticed that Chopper never once stepped in the room.

The inn was in one of the run down, slum areas of the capital. Usually, Chopper would either be chatting up local drunkards or be gone, perhaps wandering the city. On our last evening, I had the chance to sit and drink with him. We sat at the bar, Chopper was talking with the innkeeper.

"How's times?"

"Well, y'know what they do. They think we insects don't hear their rattle in the cabinet. Some lousy minister comes next, I'm about running out of wine in my cellar. Heard they're cutting people in the gallows now."

"For a cellar that's running out, you sure have a lot of customers here", Chopper noted.

I silently heard the two talk.

"Regulars who can't stop. You, mister, where ye headed?"

"Halen."

"Oi, you some o' the bandits? Spying on me little tavern, are ye?"

"Don't lose your shit old man. I'm a merchant. My caravan leaves tomorrow. Sure on guard, aren't you?", as he said it, for a moment, I believed his lie too.

"Ye have to be. They be cutting up traitors in the gallows now. How's business for you?"

"Not much", he took a sip out of his tankard, "How's the old palace? Is it still standing?"

"The old palace? It's overrun, has been for years!"

"By what?"

"Bandits and thugs. Some old mercenaries from the war days turned hooligans as if we didn't have enough shit to wash off our arses."

I could have sworn I saw Chopper chuckle at that.

"They sure do some surprising things", Chopper hadn't finished his drink but paid and patted on my shoulder to get up. I chugged the whole thing down and followed him outside.

"Keep your head straight, while you can. We'll be leaving tomorrow."

And just like that we had left the capital next morning. The caravan seemed to be moving faster. They had sensed the ever growing rot of Ildia and probably wanted to get away as soon as they could. I noticed Chopper arguing with one of them.

Chopper didn't intend to cross through the forest but the caravan leader said it was the quickest way out.

"Didn't the old innkeeper say there are bandits in this area?", I asked Chopper.

"Gypsies are brethren to people like that, they won't listen to any of that."

"Aren't we walking straight into trouble then?", I wasn't afraid because I had a feeling he'll take care of everything.

"Put this on, don't move, pretend you don't exist", he handed me a sand colored hood and wore a similar one himself. We could see quite well through that hood but no one would be able to tell who we were.

I didn't understand what his concerns were about. Maybe he just wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble. In any case, I remembered what Lady had said and kept watching him.

It seemed we were almost out of the woods when our cart stopped with a jerk. I would have been thrown off if Chopper hadn't held me back by my collar. I heard the caravan leader arguing with someone. Through the corner of my eye, I saw a man  pointing an arrow at the leader. The man had long white hair and in fact, he was so eye catching, I couldn't stop myself from trying to take a proper look at this mysterious figure. Chopper stopped me from turning around and it seems after some long negotiations, somehow the caravan was able to keep moving, the bandit watched us go, still keeping steady hands on his bow.

When our cart, the last one, passed by him, he looked sternly at the two odd figures sitting with their heads down. For a moment, he looked like he had seen right through us and I was alarmed that he might shoot at us. But I looked at Chopper and I noticed a faint grin and a strange bloodlust in his eyes as he looked excitedly at the bandit with long white hair. It was as if he'd found gold, or like a dog that found meat. I felt almost nauseous as I looked at him but then I let my head hang down on my chest, I felt like I wasn't so sure of anything right now.

The next day, we reached Halen, a town built on a rocky hill. I had noticed that the threatening glimmer I saw in Chopper's turquoise eyes had completely faded. I had to think if I'd just been imagining things, but for the moment I shook the thought off my mind.

We split from the caravan and headed to the top of the hill. I was lagging behind him and I had begun to think that for me to have come this far with a companion I didn't know, I had been a fool. The truth is I was deeply unsettled.

"Chopper-san, that scar on your chin...how'd you get it?", I was half in thought when I asked him.

"Huh?", he stopped and turned around, facing me with a questioning expression.

"Oh uh...I was just wondering-"

"Just a little piece of the past. I can't even remember how, when I found it on me, I was about as curious as you are", it was quite a big scar, formed like an x on his chin and it in fact was the only part of him that stood out, amidst his deep ashen hair and blank eyes.

The rest of the way to Halen, I kept looking at his back, trying to figure out if there was anything at all to him.  If I have to put his persona in simpler word, I'd say he was a very gray man. There simply wasn't enough to him to make him something else. This realization made me feel a bit on guard. I kind of figured why Lady had said what she did before we left.