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Post by Brandwyn on Dec 18, 2010 22:09:27 GMT -5
The pony pricked his ears as Roath was talking to him while he munched on the apple. It looked all the world to Timothy as if the pony knew what the boy was saying. Timothy held the pony’s reins just below his chin as Roath mounted and was poised to pull Roath off the pony’s back if he exploded into bucking.
The pony finished the apple and sniffed at Tim’s side for more, looking at him hopefully. He made no reaction to having someone on his back. “So far so good,” Tim nodded. “Let’s walk him around a bit.” Tim corrected Roath’s posture, pulling down on his heel and pushing in Roath’s back. “Sit up straight and settle your butt down in that saddle. You want your shoulders, hips and heels to line up and keep your heels down, that will help you keep your balance.”
“Hold onto the front of the saddle there.” Timothy watched Roath as Tim urged the pony forward, leading it around the paddock at a slow walk. Gently Timothy released his hold on the reins and kept walking. The pony kept walking right at his side. “Seems like he is broke to ride. How you doing up there, Roath?”
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Post by Ringulf on Dec 18, 2010 22:49:55 GMT -5
"um...yeah uh huh heels down..butt, shoulders, back ,yeah I think I'm doin it, now as long as we can go to the citty riding in a big circle I am set, how you steer dis thing? you know just in case I wanna...oh I don't know go in a cirle to da right? He said in a teasing sarchasm.
"I guess he don't mind me too much an it aint as bad as I thought it would be, I ...um.. have never been real fond o these hayburners cause I had to live in their stink all my life but this ones kinda nice."
So now other than fallin off which I am sure I am gonna get the hang of how do you get this ride to stop and me off?
When Timothy had shown him that and some other basics Roath said,
"Yeah ok so I guess the little guy aint bad though I may be cursin him in a few days if my but don't tuffin up real quick. Um how much you think I can buy him for Sir...ah...Tim?"
I got de money to take care of it an maybe some real clothes an a bath if a gotta, don't wanna smell worse den him, you helped me nuff aready. I might be de Rat King but a got scooples you know! heh heh Ratking who'da thunk, Royalty!
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Post by Brandwyn on Jan 3, 2011 13:09:45 GMT -5
“Askin a gold piece for ‘im.” The merchant replied, having overheard Roath ask Tim how much he could buy him for.
Tim frowned, “I don’t know, you just sold that charger over there for just 3 and a half gold pieces. Seems to me this here scrub pony should be a whole lot less. What breed is he anyway?” Tim stepped back, studying the pony with the saddle and bridle. He’d noticed the seat was only just a hair too big for Roath, so there would be room for him to grow into it and the tree on the saddle seemed to sit perfectly on the pony’s withers at the shoulders.
“Not sure, but I think he’s a cross ‘tween one o’ those ranger horses and one o’ those dessert step ponies. See how big is feet are? Those dessert horses got those big feet to help ‘em walk on the sand without sinking down inta it. He’s got that shaggy coat, size and temperament of those ranger horses and he’s a clever one, too clever for his own good.” The merchant replied. “Got those ranger horse smarts too, but I don’t think he is full ranger horse. He looks a bit different than them in his build.” The man studied the pony too.
“But he is a good horse. He pulls a cart just fine and as you can see, he is trained to saddle…” The man trailed off at the look Tim shot him, eyebrow raised. “ah.. yes.. well… I couldn’t go less than 9 silver I am sure.”
Tim shook his head. “You just said you can’t keep him in a pen. Going to cost me money to keep repairing fences all the time and replacing lead ropes.” He pointed to the frayed end of the pony’s lead and then to the pony himself as the bridle tinkled to the ground at the base of one of the fence posts. The pony now wore only the saddle, but he walked right up to Roath and started sniffing at the boy’s pockets and shirt, looking for treats and maybe another apple.
“That is going to be a big problem and we don’t know if he is really trained to ride. He was just following me around the pen.” Timothy said to the merchant, trying to get the price down. “I should think 6 silver pieces would be more than enough for a mutt like him.”
“Six! Six?” exclaimed the merchant. “That is impossible. Why the saddle and bridle alone are worth 2 silver pieces. If I sold him for 8 I would be taking a terrible loss,” he said indignantly.
“Hardly,” Timothy said in response to the tack being worth 2 silvers. “They are dried out and travel worn and at least three of those straps are likely going to have to be replaced.” Timothy pointed out one of the breast collar straps, the chin strap and the cheek strap that were very worn, but likely would be revitalized with a bit of saddle soap and some polish. “I think 7 silver pieces should be plenty as we would be doing you a favor by taking him off your hands, what with him being such a nuisance and everything.” Timothy countered. “That truly is as high as we can go.”
The merchant looked distraught and then sighed as if giving in. Timothy suspected the man had doubled what he’d paid for the pony originally, but such was the nature of commerce. Overall it was actually a fairly good deal. “Very well, seven silver pieces then, but you are robbing me blind in the doing of it.” He grumbled.
“I am sure.” Tim smiled, “and that includes the saddle and bridle and pad as well,” Timothy pressed and the merchant looked about to protest and then changed his mind. He sensed something in Timothy that made him realize this was as good a deal as he was going to get this day from this man.
“Fine.” The merchant said, picking the bridle and the halter and lead up from the ground. “Fer ‘nother 2 coppers I’ll throw in the halter, lead, a bucket, a hoof pick and a brush.” He said this to Roath. “They are all used of course, but yer gonna need ‘em and they work jes fine.”
Timothy nodded behind the merchant’s back to Roath. It was a fair price for those items. “You sure you want to buy him, Roath? I meant to only get you something to make the trip, figuring to sell the beast in Araluen when we get there. So I can cover it if you like. Course if you buy him, you can do the same if you are of a mind to,” Timothy contradicted himself. “Up to you. As to the bath,” Timothy held up an arm and sniffed his armpit, “seems like I could do with one of those as well. There was a merchant sporting scented baths down near the tourney grounds. We should be able to get freshened up there and pick up some clothes and blankets for you on the way too.” Timothy grinned, patting the pony on the neck, “Maybe get him and Tonnerre all washed as well.”
…
Once they were finished buying the pony and getting him outfitted, Tim led them to a grain merchant and purchased enough grain for both of the horses for two weeks. They followed this up with a food merchant and bought food for them both for two weeks. The grain was a standard practice for Tim, for he always ensured that Tonnerre had the best of food and care, but the latter was rather unusual. Most of the time Tim just lived off the gratitude of those he helped or by the money the hurdy-gurdy brought him, buying his meals at taverns and inns along the way and carrying very little with him. He had three sets of clothing, a bedroll and his weapons which he tried to keep in excellent condition and, other than the bird, the horse and the domestic items in his pack, that was his entire outfit. He liked to travel as light as possible.
It was pretty well into early evening by the time they were set up and ready to go. Tim wanted to go speak with his parents. He hadn’t seen them for a very long time and the urge to throw caution to the wind was very great. However, he had not remained alive and free all of these years by acting rashly. He needed to know if his own parents would turn him in if he paid them a visit and he wanted to find out the extent of the poacher’s activities and who exactly was involved. He was going to need to keep an eye on them. He was thinking that it might be best to follow them to Araluen, but then he dismissed that idea. They would be travelling slow and would suspect two mounted men that continued to shadow them. No, the best thing would be to get to Araluen ahead of them and then set up a surveillance until he could determine what to do next.
"Guess we should go get some supper. How about we go to that tavern... what was it again? Ah yes, The Boar's Head... and then we can come back and get some sleep and get an early start before dawn and the roads get clogged in the morning.
He packed all of his gear up, even though they were planning on coming back. He liked to be ready in case he had to run on a moment's notice. Having been hunted for the majority of his life, he didn't take any chances. Being here at the faire was pushing his luck and he knew it, but he couldn't help it. The lure of the archery tournament had been too great and as it turned out, it was well worth it, but only if he could leave without being discovered.
All of his belongings tied to his saddle or on his person, he turned to Roath, "Let's ride to that inn and see how that pony of yours steers without me walking him."
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Post by Ringulf on Jan 4, 2011 9:16:00 GMT -5
“Fer ‘nother 2 coppers I’ll throw in the halter, lead, a bucket, a hoof pick and a brush.” He said this to Roath. “They are all used of course, but yer gonna need ‘em and they work jes fine.”
This was all going a little fast for Roath. Tim had given him the Gold piece for for his services, so he felt like it was fine to buy the horse with it since he was way ahead, but he had never spent this much money at one time, on one thing, ever!
Timothy nodded behind the merchant’s back to Roath. It was a fair price for those items. “You sure you want to buy him, Roath? I meant to only get you something to make the trip, figuring to sell the beast in Araluen when we get there. So I can cover it if you like. Course if you buy him, you can do the same if you are of a mind to,” Timothy contradicted himself.
"Hm, well I need ta get home an I guess ya need all this crap to take care of a horse, I never get to use a brush myself but I can find some other uses for the pick...yeah I think we can do it like you said I can always sell the little hayburner on the other side...OK!" and with that he pulled out his little coin bag and gave the man the money owed. He walk over to the pony and patted the little Bay on the nose. Hay Mr! he got a name? I don't wanna have ta name him somethin like "horse" or "hayburner" or some such other cleverness."
"Well his real name is Shadow but I ain't called him nothin but trouble in a long time!" said the man.
"Shadow?...I like that. OK shadow less get outa here!" Roath said.
"Is there anything else we gotta do Horsey-wise?"
“Up to you. As to the bath,” Timothy held up an arm and sniffed his armpit, “seems like I could do with one of those as well. There was a merchant sporting scented baths down near the tourney grounds. We should be able to get freshened up there and pick up some clothes and blankets for you on the way too.” Timothy grinned, patting the pony on the neck, “Maybe get him and Tonnerre all washed as well.”
"Well like I said I would have a hard time of it if my horse smelled better than I did, but after we are done wit da bath and supplies I gotta swing by my...camp, and pick up my stuff." he said a little nervously.
Roath was not in the habit of letting anyone see or know where his hole was, but he was going to have to abandon it anyway and he could certainly not get shadow into it. So he may as well grab his stuff and stay close to the big fighter so he could get home.
"Home" He thought to himself, "What the hell am I gonna do when I get there and how am I gonna take care of a damn horse? I can just about feed me an if I go with this Tim guy I am gonna have to travel light. That might not be easy, I got allot of stuff I have collected over the years and even though he would think it is mostly junk everything is useful...to me anyway. If I load it all on this little horse I will look like a a four legged junkpile! I don't know...what have I gotten myself into!"
They went back toward the spot that Timothy had selected for his camp and surprisingly enough it was only a stones throw down the ditch from were Roath had found the lttle hideaway for himself.
"This is it, looks like we was neighbors anyhow guess I missed the invitation you sent out for hight tea! ah well my mailbox has a nest a squirrels in it anyway!" Roath said to hide the tension he felt at having the big Knight see the way he lived.
"Um I guess we have to leave the horses here, we gotta step on the stones to get across to the tree and watch yer head as we go under thers lots a branches an crap stickkin out inside."
Roath skittered across with tremendous agility walking over the stones as if they were a broad roadway. then he ducked under the mossy overhang and was swallowed up in the darkness of the wooden cave. He set about grabbing everything he needed, He gave a whistfull look at the food bag. "guess we don't need all this stuff if we got all the rations huh?" he said to Timothy. "Hate to get rid of it all, it was a great stash of food hardly touched!...You want any? I got some apple fritters in here that had to have been made just this week sometime and some ham too!"
"The tarp over there is really cool I got that after that big wind the other day I figured with a little cutting and sewing I could make it into a great small tent for my way home." He collected all his other little knick knacks as well as his weapons and some bags and sacks he had squirreled away to take things back in.
Finally he was done and pulled the wooden peice out of the hollow branch and recovered his "stash"
"Um dis is my...earnings from the fair, now I aint gonna tell you it is all right an above board accordin too normal folks, but I worked hard at it an I don't never take nuthin from nobody who got less den I do see, so I aint givin it back, I am not sure what you think about that but it is the way I have survived all my life and well I don't know what else I can do, so I can understand if ya don't want me to go with ya, but if I do go I won't snich nothin while you are around so you won't get in any trouble."
They got all they could back to the horses and then got back to Sir Timothy's camp.
"Guess we should go get some supper. How about we go to that tavern... what was it again? Ah yes, The Boar's Head... and then we can come back and get some sleep and get an early start before dawn and the roads get clogged in the morning.
"Yeah that sounds like a good idea." Roath looked at shadow a little apprehensively at the thought of the long ride.
"Let's ride to that inn and see how that pony of yours steers without me walking him."
"I spect that we gotta since it don't make no sense for me to pull him around by his lip all the way back to the city!"
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Post by Brandwyn on Jan 20, 2011 15:20:23 GMT -5
Tim wasn’t quite so light on his feet crossing the stones, but he still did it rather gracefully despite the weaponry and armor he was wearing, giving testament to his lifestyle of living outside He had to nearly crawl through the mossy entrance but once in he could almost stand upright. He could tell Roath was a bit nervous but he was rather impressed with the young man’s lair. He was living more comfortably than Tim lived most of the time.
“This is a right cozy set-up you got here. Been many a night on a cold mountainside that I would have given my eye tooth for half what you have here,” Tim commented looking around. “I’ve been in some pretty lean times myself, as I am sure you have, and this would have looked like a castle back then.” He smiled, trying to ease Roath’s nervousness.
Roath set about grabbing everything he needed; He gave a wistful look at the food bag. "Guess we don't need all this stuff if we got all the rations huh?" he said to Timothy. "Hate to get rid of it all, it was a great stash of food hardly touched!...You want any? I got some apple fritters in here that had to have been made just this week sometime and some ham too!"
Timothy waved his hand at him in a beckoning gesture. “Bring it. No sense in throwing out good food. We’ll eat it first and keep the road rations for later.” He suggested. “Besides, you never know who you might run into on the road that needs it worse than you do.”
"The tarp over there is really cool I got that after that big wind the other day I figured with a little cutting and sewing I could make it into a great small tent for my way home." Roath collected all his other little knick knacks as well as his weapons and some bags and sacks he had squirreled away to take things back in.
“You could always roll up your belongings in that tarp and tie it behind the saddle. It would help keep them dry and then when we get the chance we can make it into a tent if you want to bring it along.” Tim watched Roath gather up his stuff with a smile playing around the edges of his face. Roath was so like him when he had first taken to the road, but without the terrible nightmares and drastic mood swings, Tim amended his thought and the smile faded away. He pushed thoughts of his own mental stability at bay again. Every time he tried to self-analyze his emotions it led him down a long path of remorse and self-pity. He didn’t have time for that right now, his mother was very ill and he was determined to see her again, not to mention the men that were stealing from his father.
Would his parents have forgiven him by now? He doubted it. They would shun him again, just like last time. Again he shook off the thoughts and concentrated on Roath. The boy was a good distraction and Tim had been feeling particularly lonely prior to the Faire. He thought going to it might cheer him up but it only served to make him lonelier. He supposed that was why he had invited Roath along on the road with him. It would be nice to have company.
Shaking off the mood that was threatening to engulf him again, Tim asked, “Anything you want me to carry back to Shadow?”
Finally Roath was done and pulled the wooden piece out of the hollow branch and recovered his "stash"
"Um dis is my...earnings from the fair, now I aint gonna tell you it is all right an above board accordin too normal folks, but I worked hard at it an I don't never take nuthin from nobody who got less den I do see, so I aint givin it back, I am not sure what you think about that but it is the way I have survived all my life and well I don't know what else I can do, so I can understand if ya don't want me to go with ya, but if I do go I won't snich nothin while you are around so you won't get in any trouble."
Timothy laughed at that. “You are travelling with a convicted murderer, son. Anyone catches up to us and they are going to take one look at me and forget about any minor pocket pinching you have done, trust me.” He grinned. “It’s you who should be thinking twice about travelling with me.” He grew serious. “Really, I can be… moody… just so you know what you are getting into. As to your stuff, well, I don’t suppose you could give it back now and I won’t say I haven’t indulged in a bit of snitching now and then when times were tough. Not saying I condone it or anything, but I understand and the invite still stands if you still want to travel with me. Least ways I can keep those bullies off your back and you can light out on your own whenever you like.” Tim paused for a moment then said, “as long as you leave my purse, intact, with me.” He winked at Roath and grinned.
They got all they could back to the horses and then got back to Sir Timothy's camp.
"Guess we should go get some supper. How about we go to that tavern... what was it again? Ah yes, The Boar's Head... and then we can come back and get some sleep and get an early start before dawn and the roads get clogged in the morning.
"Yeah that sounds like a good idea." Roath looked at shadow a little apprehensively at the thought of the long ride.
"Let's ride to that inn and see how that pony of yours steers without me walking him."
"I spect that we gotta since it don't make no sense for me to pull him around by his lip all the way back to the city!"
Tim laughed again and said, “Nope. I suppose not.”
They broke camp and did the final packing onto the horses and then road down to the city to the Boar’s Head Tavern. The place was crowded and noisy and there weren’t any hitching spots left to tie their horses to. It seemed everyone from the Faire was crowding the place.
Timothy looked around and saw a small grassy spot just past the building next door where an old house had once stood. It had burned and caved in and the lot was vacant now, as if some curse was preventing anyone from rebuilding there. He rode Tonnerre over to it and dismounted, leaving the reins looped loosely over the pommel of the saddle. He loosened the girth just a tiny bit to make it more comfortable for the horse and turned to leave him to graze. “Don’t guess there is much sense in tying up your magnificent charger anyway,” Tim joked. “Might as well leave them both here and hope they are here when we get back.” Turning to Tonnerre who was watching him intently Tim pointed at Shadow and said, “Guard!” Tonnerre flicked an ear and looked to the pony and then snorted. Satisfied, Tim waited for Roath and then they walked back to the tavern while the horses began to crop the meager grass. If Shadow wandered off, Tonnerre would follow. Tim removed Flachette’s hood and launched her into the sky. She would go hunt rats or whatever and come back periodically to check on the stallion. Tim wasn’t worried that she would fly off; the three of them were too much of a family to venture out on their own.
Tim paused on the doorstep for a moment, stealing himself against the noise that was about to assault them when he opened the door. For a brief moment he wondered if this was a good idea. There was a slim chance someone might recognize him. The chance seemed to be very small though, so taking a deep breath, with a slightly worried glance at Roath, he flung the door open and stepped inside, striding toward the bar slowly as he looked around the crowded room. Two men stood up and left a tip on the small table they had been eating at and strode out the door, almost bumping into Tim on their way. Timothy gestured to Roath and quickly strode to the table to claim the chairs. He waved to the barmaid as he pushed the used plates away from him.
“What you want, Roath,” he asked. “This one is on me.” He eyed the pretty girl as she cleared the table and wiped it down with a clean wet cloth. She had remarkably blue eyes and blond hair and looked to be in her early 20’s. Tim found himself grinning at her like the village idiot and closed his mouth hastily. It had been a very long time, but now was not the occasion to go messing around. Reining his thoughts in, he concentrated on the menu she was rattling off from her memory. He decided on a loaf of dark bread with a cheese and spinach dip, a huge mug of honey mead and a plate full of fresh green beans, carrots and corn with a huge slab of prime roasted beef. He hadn’t had beef in years and figured if he was going to flirt with getting caught, he might as well make it worth it if he did. The meal itself cost him a full silver piece, which was probably about the most expensive thing on their menu, but he didn’t’ care. “You only live once, Roath. Better make the most of it.” He winked at his new travelling companion.
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Post by Brandwyn on Jun 13, 2011 11:14:57 GMT -5
The End
(You can read more about Roath and Tim on the Norgate board under "Winter Revel" and on the Character Board: Journals in "Tim Baskerville's Journal")
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