[h2][center][u][b]Leofric[/b][/u][/center][/h2]

The horse that Leofric was riding started to whinny, it was clearly agitated with how many people were surrounding her. There seemed to be more people in this street alone than in the whole of Yellowmoor and the horse clearly wasn’t used to it. Leofric patted her neck gently and whispered some calming words into her ears. “We need to find a place for the horses.” Leofric stated to his two companions who were behind him. The streets were covered with people and on every corner, there were stalls with merchants trying to sell their wares to all of the new faces to the city. Some of the items were genuine and others were useless overpriced trinkets that were sold to people gullible enough to believe the items were genuine. Leofric had lost count of the amount of times he had to break up fights between people who had been parted from their money and the hustlers who had taken the money when he was in command of the city guard. 

They’d only been in the city for a few minutes when a woman in a red cloak approached them offering some concoction. Leofric smiled to himself realising he’d become the type of person who was a stranger to this city, but he was a stranger to this city now. Buildings had been destroyed; others had been extended; the people had changed. Leofric forgot how quickly the city moved after living in the Great Plains for so long which moved at the pace of snail. Greytry would have dozens of new buildings up by the time Yellowmoor made one. They stopped their horses for a minute to speak to the woman. Leofric, even though he thought it was going to just be a drink with a few spices in it was intrigued by her. “So, what makes it so special?” Leofric simply said trying to see her face properly with most of it hidden by the hood. 

“Stamina eh?” Michael spoke up from behind him and he was deep in thought. “Well, I could use some extra stamina for tonight.” Michael then let out a dirty laugh looking at his friends. Rolland just sighed and Leofric shook his head but smiled at him. Michael started to rummage around in one of his pockets for money before being interrupted.

“You three!” A voice shouted. “You three on the horses!” The three turned around to see guards approaching them. “Do you think it’s a smart idea to block half the road, just to have a chat?” There was four of them and the one in front who was speaking was the oldest and looked in charge. “Pull your hoods down and answer.”

Leofric hesitated for a moment then obliged with the request and pulled down his hood. “Sorry my friend, we’ll move on now.” Leofric said, nodding at the guard who was staring at his face.

“What’s your name?” The guard said blocking the way for them. He was clearly trying to figure out where he knew Leofrics face from. It didn’t take long for Leofric to realise the guards face though, when he was still living in the city, this guard was just a recruit at the time. Leofric didn’t believe he had changed so much since leaving or was the guard just not that bright?

“John.” Was all Leofric said.

“And where are you from… John?” The guard said John like he didn’t quite believe that was his name.

“A small town, two days ride east of here. My big ugly friend here wanted to make some money in the tournaments.” Leofric pointed to Michael. “And we thought we’d accompany him for the morale support.” The guard just carried on staring into Leofrics eyes racking his brain from where he knew Leofric from. “We’re just trying to get our bearings; we’re looking for a place in the city to leave our horses. Can you point us in the right direction?” 

The annoyance was clear to see on the guard’s face. “Five minutes ride down the street, there’s a big tavern with a stable. Most smart people leave horses outside of cities though. Now move!” Leofric smiled and moved on, after a few moments he looked back to see the guard in a heavy discussion with the other guards with two of them rushing off.

“That is not a good sign… we need to see if some of our old friends are still around and hide out there for a little bit.” Leofric said the last part in a hushed voice to his friends not paying much attention whether the woman was still with them. 

Tags: [@psych0pomp]