Alcingeria Volume Two Chapter Nine: Escape From Dunford

Escaping Dunford, the group makes a beeline for Stavon, a small village of only sixty residents near Dunford.

Chapter Nine Escape From Dunford:

 Monday July 19^th 1690

We rode on for about another half hour. Gradually, the rocky forest terrain gave way to open, grassy plains. A small village appeared in the distance. Behind the village, across the clearing was a forest. With a slight course adjustment, we rode up to it. This village was small, very small. It couldn’t have had more than sixty people! A wooden fence surrounded the village. There were small houses nearby. There were also a few small farms. I saw a few mines leading into a nearby hill. We rode into the village.

We received strange looks from anyone who looked at us. We were nine people, eight of us who were piled into a wagon towed by two horses. The others in the wagon were covered in straw. I’d say we looked pretty strange.

            “Where are we?” Macalister asked.

            “Let’s go to the inn and ask.” Robert suggested.

We located a small inn up the road. I told the others to stay in the cart. The innkeeper came with me, he had said he wanted to pay for our rooms. I walked through the door and was greeted by a woman in her early twenties at the counter. The place looked just about empty.

            “Hello, my name is Debra. you must be travelers.” She said with a smile.

            “We are. In fact, my friends and I are lost.” I explained.

            “Oh, where are you coming from?” She asked.

            “Dunford.” I replied.

She gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth.

            “Oh, my! I heard about the disaster over there. A few people rode through here about twenty minutes ago. They stopped to buy food then headed out. They told me of what happened. It sounds terrible!” She exclaimed.

            “It was. The town is overrun by vampires. My friends and I just barely got out ourselves. We were lucky.” I said.

The innkeeper from Dunford scoffed.

            “Lucky? Don’t be so modest! You saved us. Not luck. It was you who made the suicide run to get that carriage pulled beneath the window so we could jump down!” He exclaimed.

Debra gasped.

            “My, aren’t you brave?” She asked.

I laughed, enjoying the moment.

            “Anyway as payment for saving my neck, I mean that literally, I’m buying us all rooms for the night.” The innkeeper announced.

            “Very well, how many would you like?” Debra asked.

            “Nine, please.” The innkeeper from Dunford replied.

            “Oh… Uh… Wow.” Debra said.

            “What is it?” I asked.

            “Well… We don’t have that many separate rooms. We don’t get many visitors you see.” Debra explained.

            “Not a problem.” I brushed her off.

            “Very well. Rooms are four dollars per night, that’ll be thirty six dollars.” The innkeeper replied.

The innkeeper from Dunford reached into his pockets and handed her the money. She took it and put it in her pocket. She handed us all room keys.

            “Thank you very much.” I said to the innkeeper from Dunford.

            “Hey, it’s the least I can do.” He replied.

He took his room key and headed for the stairs.

            “I’m going to sleep.” He said.

            “Okay, thanks again for the rooms.” I told him.

He nodded and went upstairs. I turned to leave, but turned back to Debra.

            “Before I forget, what village is this?” I asked.

            “This is Stavon.” She replied.

            “Thanks a lot.” I said as I walked out the door.

I went back to the others and gave them their room keys.

            “Uh… Why do some keys have the same room number?” Stella asked.

            “Because the inn doesn’t have nine separate rooms, so some of us will have to share.” I explained.

Stella groaned.

            “Come on Stella, it’ll be just like the bunkhouse back in Riverguard.” Erin comforted.      

            “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Stella asked sternly.

            “You’re such a girl.” Erin chuckled.

            “Anyway, did you find out where we are?” Tabatha asked.

            “Yes, the innkeeper said this village is called Stavon. Do you have any idea where we are, Erin?” I asked.

            “Oh, yes. We’re a few hours Southeast of Dunford, near central Yutsa.” She replied.

            “Well that’s good now that we know where we are.” Don remarked, reclining in the cart.

            “I’ve been meaning to ask, why do you guys think Ignacio turned all those people?” I asked.

            “I don’t know.” Robert admitted.

            “He couldn’t have just done it because he could. That’s not like Ignacio.” Don commented.

            “Before he left, he said that he was preparing for something.” Robert said thoughtfully.

            “Yeah, but what?” Walden asked.

Robert’s face then lit up. He snapped his fingers.

            “I have a theory. I think that Ignacio was creating more vampires for the vampire mafia.” Robert said.

            “Now that sounds like Ignacio.” Don remarked.

            “We did deal them quite the blow back in Valgate. A lot of mafia members were killed. It makes sense that they need reinforcements.” I agreed with a nod.

            “Well, what do we do now?” Stella asked.

That was a good question. I don’t think anyone knew the answer. We don’t know where Ignacio is. We don’t know where the surviving vampire mafia members are, we don’t know where any of their bases are.

            “We need to find out what their game is. We need to know what they’re planning to do. Before, they tried killing Queen Yuka, obviously to assume control of the province.” Robert added.

            “Then we stopped them.” Macalister continued.

            “Then there was no trace of them for over a week.” I said thoughtfully.

            “And then vampires overran Dunford.” Don said in a speculative tone.

            “Does anyone else see a pattern here?” Robert asked.

I thought about it. Now that Robert mentioned it, there did seem to be a pattern to their actions. I gasped.

            “They tried taking over Vulrock through a frontal assault to kill Queen Yuka. After that didn’t work…” I trailed off.

            “They might be trying to take over Yutsa!” Erin exclaimed.

            “They’re changing their tactics! What happened in Dunford, that was only the beginning.” Don joined in.

            “They must be trying to capture individual areas. They’ll use their captured territories as footholds to mount an assault on the capital!” Robert said in shocked realization.

            “Erin, where is the capital?” I asked.

            “It’s a large city called Desmond. It’s in the Southeast corner of the province.” She answered.

Tabatha stepped in.

            “Okay, we all need to calm down. Things like this take time. It’s not going to happen overnight. We don’t even know if that’s the vampire mafia’s plan. We can’t go throwing assumptions around based on one event. Ignacio might have just done what he did in Dunford to slow us down, so we couldn’t follow him as quickly.” She reasoned.

            “Tabatha, I see your reason, but what could Ignacio’s plan be if that was the case?” Robert asked.

Tabatha fell silent, hanging her head.

            “I don’t know.” She admitted.

            “We need to know where the vampire mafia is going to strike next. If it was Ignacio who turned all those people in Dunford, chances are that he was still in the city during the attack. He’d want to lead them on after they had control of Dunford.” Robert theorized.

            “Erin, what’s the closest village to Dunford?” Stella asked.

Erin looked to all of us, worry was blatant on her face.

            “Please don’t say what I think you’re gonna say.” Walden pleaded.

            “It-it’s Stavon.” She stammered.

            “There’s no way Stavon could survive an onslaught like the one in Dunford.” I said, wide eyed.

            “That’s what I was just thinking.” Robert said somberly.

            “S-so… What do we do?” Stella asked nervously.

We all thought about this. We didn’t know for certain if this was Ignacio’s plan. It was highly likely however, and I believed that we had uncovered his plot.

            “Looking at the evidence, I side with Don and Robert. Ignacio turned all those people, and he is going to lead them here. When we left, Dunford was overrun by vampires. There’s no doubt that they captured it. Come nightfall, they’re going to be here. We have a few hours to think of something before Stavon becomes a village of the dead.” I said ominously.

Everyone froze on that thought. I think I had convinced them that we had figured out Ignacio’s plan.

            “So what do we do?” Stella repeated.

            “We can’t just let these people die. We need to get them ready. We need to take a stand. The vampire mafia needs to be pushed back.” Don said daringly.

            “You can’t be serious.” Stella objected.

            “I am. Are you telling me I’m wrong?” Don challenged.

            “W-well no. I just…” Stella stammered.

Don waited on her response, but Stella shied away.

            “I know it sounds crazy, but we’re the only ones who know what’s coming.” Don reasoned.

Robert nodded, clapping Don on the shoulder.

            “Since when are your plans not crazy?” He asked.

They both laughed heartily.

            “I’m in.” I said with a determined nod.

            “Redmond!” Stella gasped in surprise.

            “They’re right! We gotta do somethin’ here.” Walden agreed.

            “I will fight.” Macalister said as he pounded his fist into his opposite palm.

Erin, Tabatha and Stella looked uncertain.

            “Guys, we barely got out of Dunford alive. How are we going to defend a little village like Stavon against Ignacio and his vampires? We don’t even know how many he has!” Stella said, exasperated.

            “I agree with her. I’m not usually the pessimist, but I don’t think we have a chance here.” Erin said intently.

Tabatha bit her lip. She looked from Stella and Erin and back to us. Don gave her a reassuring smile. She eyed her staff, then nodded.

            “I’ll help you. I agree with Don. We have to take a stand.” Tabatha agreed.

Stella and Erin hug their heads.

            “Well, I guess I’ll help in any way I can.” Erin said, her confidence growing.

            “The same goes for me.” Stella said with a nod.

            “All right! Girl power!” Tabatha cheered, smiling.

            “Girl power, please.” Don scoffed to Walden.

Tabatha punched Don in the arm, still smiling. That shut Don up. Walden burst out laughing, holding his sides.

            “You gonna let her push you around like that?” Walden asked.

            “You want one to match?” Tabatha threatened without dropping her smile.

Walden fell silent.

            “So it’s settled.” I stated.

            “We should go to the mayor of Stavon and alert him of the incoming attack.” Robert said, taking charge.

            “Do we have any idea where he lives?” Walden asked.

            “I’ll ask Debra. She might know.” I suggested.

I got up and walked into the inn.

            “Hello, did you need something?” She asked.

            “Yes, do you know where the mayor lives?” I asked.

            “Yes, but why?” She asked in return.

            “I have urgent business with him.” I said honestly.

            “Well he lives in the house at the East end of the village. It’s at the very edge, you can’t miss it.” She reassured me.

            “Okay, thanks for the help.” I thanked her.

I walked out the door and joined the others.

            “The mayor lives in the East end of the village. Let’s go.” I said.

We tied the horses up near the inn. We walked to the East. We passed houses and a weapon shop. We then came to a house that looked to be three stories high. It wasn’t very big, it was just tall. We walked up to the front door and I knocked. After a few seconds we could hear footsteps on the other side of the door. A teenaged girl answered the door.

            “Oh, hello.” She asked.

            “Hello, is the mayor in?” Don asked.

The girl nodded.

            “Yes, do you have business with him?” She asked politely and patiently.

            “Not official business, no.” Don admitted.

            “Well he is occupied at the moment, would you like me to take a message?” She asked.

Don shook his head quickly.

            “No, we must see him now. It’s very important that we do.” Don explained.

            “Oh?” The girl asked skeptically.

She nodded after looking at us for a second.

            “You’ll need to be searched for any hidden weapons before you see the mayor.” The girl explained.

            “Of course.” Don replied.

She beckoned us inside. After we all stepped in, she shut the door behind us. Armored guards carrying short swords converged on us as if we were thieves.

            “Spread your limbs.” One of them ordered.

We did as we were told. Our weapons were taken from us. One of the guards grabbed Tabatha’s staff from her.

            “What is this? Are you a witch?” He asked quickly.

Tabatha shook her head.

            “No, it’s just a decorative family heirloom.” Tabatha explained patiently.

The guard nodded, eyeing the staff in his hand.

            “Your weapons will be returned to you after your visit.” One of the guards explained.

            “This way, please.” The teenaged girl said, walking ahead of us and leading us down the corridor.

Author's Note

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