...Straugr jolted in his bed and opened his eyes, the dream was still lingering in his mind after he woke up from the nap. There was an unpleasant feeling, but there was no time to dwell on that as he had enough rest and there was work to be done.
He sat in his bed and looked around, dim light of the candles illuminated small room where four beds were placed against the walls, different household items and containers occupied the corners leaving just a bit of free space to move. The wooden walls barely had any decorations, unless you count a hanging spear as such.
After getting fully awake Straugr put his boots on, grabbed his spear and headed downstairs. He could already hear faint rumbling of the pots and dishes, as he descended he was met with a breeze of hot air and a variety of different aromas. The building he lived in housed 3 families, each having their own bedroom on the second floor, but everyone shared one large communal kitchen that occupied most of the ground floor. He saw his wife standing over the pot, one of his children was running errands while the other was helping to cut various vegetables.
-“Had a good sleep?”, Fäära asked without taking her eyes off the pot
-“Yes”, Straugr wasn’t sure if he was lying or not.
-“We could use some meat this week, try talking to Rhed, maybe he will trade you some?”
-“Let him keep his hunt, I can get some meat myself if needed, just because I prefer fishing doesn’t mean I forgot how to hunt”
-“I know, I know…”, Fäära sighted, “but is it worth running around the woods at your age when there are so many young wolves looking to prove themselves?”
-“My age!”, Straugr laughed “Don’t send me to the spirits yet, I’m not that old. Anyway I’ve got to get going before it gets too dark”
Straugr patted his youngling who stood nearby and headed out.
The cold autumn air stung like needles after being inside the warm and cosy house, but Straugr quickly shook that feeling off and headed down the lightly paved road. The district that he lived in offered housing of various sizes and shapes depending on one’s wealth, allowing anyone to find a suitable home, thus majority of Drifgard citizens lived here. Navigating narrow alleys and avoiding bumping into people he finally reached the Main Square where it became easier to move, as the area was better paved and offered more space.
Straugr looked around, it was always busy at the square, the edges were filled with many stores and establishments and people came here for many different kinds of things; there was a line going to the butcher's shop as well as other vendors. One workshop was busy working on new bows and arrows, another was making pelts and both had goods moved back and forth swiftly and smoothly by their eager young apprentices. The inn always attracted their share of patrons, citizens stopped there both to have quick and delicious meal and to catch up on the latest news, visitors came to try local drinks and stay for the night and even now there was a crowd of travelling merchants standing just in front of the inn, engaged in conversation.
None of that interested Straugr at the moment, so he decided to cut straight for the gates and through the square. As he came to an end of the square he saw a small group of about 7 people standing near the notice board arguing about something. Passing by, he heard one of the group- a hrothi- say, “…so what if it may get dangerous, think about the treasures it may hold!”. Adventurers Straugr thought to himself, he could never understand what drove them to willingly risk their lives for the promise of treasures that may not exist.
Finally going through last alley which contained mostly guard barracks as well as some minor buildings for storage, he reached tall wooden gates. Two brudvir were standing guard near the gate, and two more were on top of it. With people constantly moving back and forth they didn’t pay him much attention.
Once Straugr walked outside of the gates, he stopped for a moment, took his gaze at the sky, looked at the passing comet for about a minute, clenched the spear, inhaled deeply and headed towards the bridge…
