Chapter 40: A New City
Simon woke the ferryman and paid the drunk a full silver to take him across the river before sunrise. Judging from the way the man reacted, immediately switching from confused anger to helpful friendliness as he judged the coin, Simon was sure that he’d over paid, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to outrun whatever the consequences of sparing that woman’s life were going to be.
Soon enough they were on the water and being poled across at a speed that was barely fast enough to fight the current while the ferryman yammered on and on.
“In a hurry eh? Where are you off to then?” he asked, slurring only slightly. “Liepzen or Hurag?”
“Which one’s closer?” Simon asked.
“Well Liepzen is the bigger city, so it has better roads, if you head straight east,” the ferryman opined, “but if you bear south along the river you’ll eventually get to Hurag, So I’d say it’s about the same.”
“I guess I’ll just flip a coin then,” Simon answered. “One is just as good as the other.”
“Ah,” the ferryman gave him a knowing nod. “So this is the kind of hurry where you’re eager to be away from somewhere, not to somewhere. I see. Which is it? The law or the ladies?”
Simon just looked at him blankly at that, making the man laugh so loudly that he’d probably woken up people in town. “I know, I know, none of my business. I’ll just shut up now before I say something we both regret.”
He didn’t of course. Whether because of the beer he reeked of or because of his nature the man prattled on and on the whole ten-minute trip, but he did learn a few things worth knowing without coming off as too much of an outsider. They were apparently in some place called the Kingdom of Brin, and that things had been going well for as long as anyone could remember, but that the king was sick, and the ferryman worried that things might not be lasting much longer.