A short walk later, and Julian, Oliver and Jos had arrived in the town. Oliver hadn’t stopped sneering since they had left, and it seemed only to intensify after realising what an easy walk it was. He could have got there on his own. Maybe.

But as they entered the town, both Julian and Oliver tried to stay as close behind Jos as possible. Though it was only a small town, it was incredibly busy. People of all races were gathered around the market place in the centre of town, and the noise was almost overwhelming to Julian, who had not once been in a situation like this. Jos, however, was used to the shenanigans and effortlessly weaved their way in and out between the people.

Jos’ current plan was to take the two to the local inn, and then be on their way. They would have taken them to the town without the incentive of money, but since they seemed rich Jos felt no guilt in the deal they had made. A couple of silver wasn’t much anyway.

Looking over their shoulder, Jos noticed them struggling through the crowds. They let out a small laugh which was barely audible, and paused to let them catch up.

‘Try to keep up guys. Just a bit longer.’ Jos said in a cheery tone, which Julian appreciated and Oliver did not.

‘Oliver!’ Julian scolded, noticing how unpleasant he was being. ‘At least show some hospitality, he’s trying to be nice!’

‘Yeah, for money.’ He said sourly, then noticing Julian’s slight pout. ‘Fiiiiiineee.’

Whilst they had been talking, Jos had pulled ahead, and they rushed to follow them for a small while longer. The people began to thin out, which allowed Julian to finally walk beside Jos instead of behind them.

‘Here we are!’ Jos did an extravagant arm flail to point to the inn nearby. ‘Now pay up, if you please! A couple of silver was the deal I believe.’

Laughing, Julian shook his head and placed 5 gold coins in their open hand. It was way too much for their service, but Julian was rich and rather fond of Jos and their upbeat attitude.

‘Woah.’ Jos examined them closely before flipping one up into the air and catching it with the other hand. ‘I knew you guys were rich, but daaamn. I haven’t had this many gold coins in forever. Thanks!’

Jos was extremely happy, and Julian felt strangely happy and fulfilled too. He looked over to Oliver with a grin, but Oliver didn’t return it. He was fed up with Julian, and how he just handed over a bunch of coins to a person they barely knew, and who had barely helped them.

‘I’ll get us a room.’ Oliver stalked off inside of the inn, which made Julian shrug eccentrically at Jos.

‘Thank you for healing my friend and I…’ Julian shifted on his feet awkwardly, and looked at Jos who was smiling like mad.

‘Ha, no problem. The pay was pretty darn good.’ Jos too turned on their heel to walk off down the road, waving slightly over their shoulder. Now that they had got some money, Jos wanted to treat themselves somehow. However, they wanted to get to the next village first, hoping for a smaller market where the prices weren’t as high.

With a smile and a small wave too, Julian went to follow Oliver into the inn and maybe tell him off some more about how rude he was being. But, before he could even plan his lecture he was interrupted by a fist hitting him sharply on the cheek. Staggering back, he arched his neck slightly to see a tall and angry Elven woman glaring at him. He looked around quickly for some sort of assistance, and was dismayed to see that the few people nearby had taken the decision to flee, and neither Oliver nor Jos were around to help.

However, in one smooth movement, he unsheathed his dagger from his belt and held it up to his side in defence. The Elf snarled, and grabbed her sword too, swinging it straight at Julian’s head. He ducked under the moving blade with barely a second to spare, and thrust his dagger forward towards her stomach. To his surprise, she grabbed the blade with her free, and gloved, hand then chucked it off to the side. He was left without a weapon, and promptly her sword was pressed against his throat. The Elf’s eyes were narrowed into slits, and she pressed Julian against the wall with her sword still threatening him.

‘Hand it over’