*Smedly settles down on a hard wooden stool in the kitchen on the verge of tears, trying to get his head around the days events acompanied with the slow drip, dripping sound of water striking the cold stone floor beneath him*At the end o' me fifth day at Cove, things could no' have been goin' better. Mister Grief had paid very well fer the logs I had gathered for him and for reportin' me activities to him so diligently. I took me latest set o' shillin's and went to the bank to count 'ow many I had in total. Grand! I had earnt enough to buy me my Registrar's Fees.
I withdrew the hundred shillin's an' headed off to the Barracks to find a guard who'd fill out the paperwork. When I got there, the place were quite busy with a hunt or somesuch jus' endin' so it didn't take long to find me someone. An' tha' person were an old friend from Tel'mar; Mister Ahmed.
He seemed pleased at the amount of work i'd been doin', took me shillin's an' got me to sign some parchments to make the Registrar's Fees all official like.
The hard graftin' had paid off; I were now officially a Peasant of Cove! To me surprise Mister Ahmed told me I had been workin' harder than I realised, an' gave me a bag of 70 shillings. Great news, I would be well on me way to savin' up for a Covian Citizenship Certificate.
I tied the bag to me tool belt and headed into Cove to deposit the shillin's at me bank box. Whilst I was there I also decided to check the fields to see if the wheat I had planted earlier tha' day had begun to seed yet. No such luck, so i were about to turn away when I spotted two folk talkin' in the distance.... I didn't get a good look as I only saw them through a small break in the trees in the orchard, but it were some bearded tall fella talkin' to a
bald Covian guard.
*Shrugs* I couldn't recognise them a' tha' distance, an' it were none of me business anyway so I pulled out me hatchet and headed through the town gates an' out into the woods for some more wood-cuttin'.
After ten minutes or so I were fully into the swing of thin's, whistlin' to meself an' about to bring down me first tree. I barely noticed someone shoutin' hostilities behind me until he were right up close. As I turned I saw the same man who I thought I saw at the orchard. Couldn't be sure though, 'cause pretty much as soon as I turned ter look at him he had shoved me down onto the ground an' planted a boot in the small o' meh back!
He were proper riled up! I tried to ignore the pain shootin' along me spine an' take heed o' what he were screamin' an' askin' me. He said he saw me up at the farms, an' demanded to know what I were doin' there. He wanted to know wha' I saw an' wha' I heard... so many questions but truly I told him I had not heard or seen nothin'!
Me answers didn't seen to convince him so he yanked me up an' dangled me on the edge o' the nearby pond. I ain't sure if he didn't believe me, or he thought I had seen more than I knew, bu' he decided to punctuate his rantin's wi' a threat! Should I ever mention wha' I saw to anyone, he'd
"know" then he'd find me and Swoosh! *Remembers the axe motion and shudders* He'd cut me clean in half!
With tha' he kicked me arse o'er head into the pond! I am more of a land based hobbit, so takin' the plunge terrified me. I thrashed about in the water, lost me hatchet and darned soiled meself at the prospect of a bath an' drownin' like. As I waved me arms about tryin' to keep afloat, I felt a wooden pole in me hands and grabbed on. Seconds later I were dragged from the' water by the same man tha' had kicked me in.
He took one sniff and told me the next time I earnt any coins, I should use them to buy some dignity. Wit' that the stranger disappeared into the woods leavin' me in a wet, smelly heap a' the side o' the pond.
[OOC] This story is Smedly recollecting the days events to himself rather than writing a report for others to read. As such please could the meeting between the guard and the stranger be treated as OOC information
Cheers [/OOC]
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