Prologue
And here it is, the first bit of fiction to be posted to my shiny new Blog… It’s the prologue to an as yet untitled dark/low fantasy tale. Chapter 1 will follow shortly.
It was the smell of the place that really drove home how far I’d fallen, I’d been on the road with the vagabond-adventurers known rather pompously as the Golden Brotherhood for six months now… but this was low even for us. The inn was unnamed, served ale watered down with piss and, while comely enough in a filthy kind of way, the wenches were almost undoubtedly pox-ridden. To this day I don’t know how Rudi found the place and, to be frank I don’t want to know, but at least it offered some respite from the incessant rain which plagues that part of the world for much of the year. Of course when it came to arranging board things got even worse.
“Right then lads,” Rudi said with forced joviality, “let’s count up the clink and see what we can afford.”
We all searched through pouches, stockings and boots to dredge up the last of our ready cash and came up with a total of five-and-one-half pennies.
“C’mon, that can’t be all we’ve got,” growled Rudi before looking sharply at the man we only knew as Magpie, “what about you Mags? You’ve normally got something stashed away.”
Magpie shook out his sleeves and raised his hands, “got nuffink, no’ even a copper farthing.”
“That’s that then, it’s the penny hanger for us tonight.”
I didn’t bother to ask what a penny hanger was, I’d find out soon enough.
