It's the wee hours of the morning, the sun has not yet risen. Alexander finds himself woken by a noise. He leaves his tent to investigate. He sees movement just north of the bear trap he had set yesterday. Pulling out his sword he heads to the trap. In the darkness, there's a rustling then suddenly a bear! The attacks from both sides are swift, however Alexander is showing far more worse for wear. He cries out to waken his companions. Potter awakens and goes to help, only getting close enough to throw his knife. Then the others wake up, but not before Alexander is knocked to the ground unconscious and bleeding. It takes lots of team work between Green, James, and Potter, but they eventually get the bear back over to the trap. Unfortunately, Green suffers a severe bite in the process.
Once they have the bear over by the trap, chasing them it steps into the trap. Green goes to remove his arrow from the bear only to be attacked again. The bear is not dead, just trapped and angry. The cadets kill it. With his healing hands, James helps revive Alexander. They skin the bear, deciding to take it back to the village.
A wolf cry is heard in the distance. Green runs and hides, along with James. Potter climbs a tree. The sun is just rising and he can see further. He sees a person who is watching the scene from behind a tree. Potter and Alexander make their way over to the person, stopping half way and asking who is there. A young man about the same age as they are steps out. "I'm Jimmy. Is it safe?" They discover Jimmy heard the bear and was keeping his distance. The cadets ask him questions and discover that Jimmy is from Fairfall and is heading to Rivenshore to sell some wolf pelts.
The cadets agree to take Jimmy to the Rivenshore market and they all pack up camp. It's at that point that Faerenal Derendil returns. She inspects the camp and all the cadets have done, and also meets Jimmy. The cadets inform her they would like to make a trip down to Fairfall with Jimmy, when he returns. She thinks that would be fine, but they must ask Captain Jack.
As they all make their way back to Rivenshore, the cadets talk more with Jimmy. Alexander is suspicious of him and tells his concerns to Faerenal. She tells him to keep an eye out. Suddenly James falls into a pit trap, obviously set up to capture large game, and has his legs cut up by spikes on each side as he falls. Only his shoulders and head are out of the pit. The others work out a plan to get him out as gently as possible. Green ties a rope around him, Alexander takes the other end and tosses it over a branch catching the other end and pulling taunt, as Potter and Jimmy each grasp James under the arms and pull him up. James gets scraped up as they pull him out, but all in all it could have been worse. He lays his hands on his legs and heels enough to continue.
Back in Rivenshore they go to the Academy kitchens and sell their meat to Mrs. Patmore, the Academy cook. Then make their way to the marketplace. On the way Potter pinches a pouch from a gentleman that he knows is not from town. It's market time and there are lots of people here from Fairfall and towns north. He manages to score some gold.
At the market they sell some of their pelts to June at the Tannery. Potter keeps eyeing the lock-box she takes coins in and out of. He can't help himself, when the time is right he snags the box and quickly heads away. Followed by the others, he makes his way across to old man Barnes' place. He's the grounds keeper in Rivenshore and has a small one room shack with an outhouse out back.
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| Barnes' shack |
Potter doesn't bother to knock, not expecting Barnes to be home, he walks right in, only to find Barnes standing right in front of him. "Do you know how to knock?" Thinking quickly Potter asks to use the bathroom, as Alexander barges in. "Another one? Does anyone know how to knock now-a-days!" Barnes complains then proceeds to tell Potter how the outhouse is OUT SIDE for a reason. Anyone can use it. At that moment Green knocks. "Finally, someone with manners!"
Potter heads out back and enters the outhouse. He opens the box, takes out the gold - not as much as he expected for a busy tannery, but he didn't realize that June constantly has it changed out - then he leaves the box, thinking maybe the old man will get blamed.
Alexander is waiting outside the outhouse. What Potter doesn't know is that Alexander saw him take the lock-box. The others join Alexander as Potter comes out and Alexander tells them that he needs to go back to the market and will catch up with them. Jimmy, who's been following them around has had enough and tells them he's gonna go look around and will meet them at the docks in an hour to make plans of traveling to Fairfall. They all agree and Jimmy takes off. Alexander heads to the marketplace followed by the other three. He goes directly to June and tells her what he saw. Potter quickly turns the blame on to Alexander. After a bit of arguing June has heard enough and snaps her figures. Quickly two large guards (not town guards, June's personal guard) are at her side. "Take these two to the sheriff, she says pointing to Alexander and Potter. "Ira will sort this out."
As the two are being lead off Green tells June that he thinks Potter left the box in Barnes' outhouse. They head over to the old mans shack. At the same time Potter convinces the guard to go check Barnes outhouse and he'll find proof that Barnes did it.
All of them wind up in front of Barnes shack at the same time. June knocks. Barnes opens the door, clearly frustrated at going from never having company to having non-stop traffic to his home. He tells June that yes Potter asked to use the outhouse and that she can go investigate wherever she wants.
June finds the lock-box and has Garrison (one of the guards) take Potter to Sheriff Ira. She has the other guard release Alexander.
On the way to the sheriff Garrison suddenly drops to the ground, unconscious. "Pssst..." Potter looks over to the sound of the voice. It's Jimmy - a small dart gun in one hand. "This way," he whispers loudly, a finger indicating for Potter join him. Potter does.
Continued...
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