Fischersville

CHAPTER 6

Fischersville

In a matter of around twenty minutes, they reached the entrance to a village. In the welcome sign you could read:

WELCOME TO FISCHERSVILLE

POPULATION: 52

Erika was entertained observing the curious town; the houses made out from carved stone, the diverse signboards hanging on them, and the energetic townsfolks. Many of the signs belonged to businesses; bars, smiths, pawn shops and hostels. Friedrich entered one of the shops. Erika curiously looked at the house, which had a chimney with smoke coming out of it. The giant sign that creaked with every move caused by the air read:

SOPHIA

WARES AND MORE

Friedrich walked directly to the counter, laying his elbows on it. Erika gazed through the interior of the shop. There were shelves full of diverse objects, from weapons like daggers, arrows and throwing knives, to more common objects such as books, inkwells and bags of coffee. On top of the counter, there were small showcases with watches and jewellery. Next to it, there was a wardrobe with a couple of folded fabrics on top, and there was also fishing equipment; spools of thread, fish hooks and fishing rods.

‘‘I’ll be there in a moment’’ A woman’s voice was heard, possibly the owner of the shop, which came from an open door behind the counter.

After a loud noise and a grunt, a tall woman came out; she was in her late thirties, emerald green, long brown hair and tanned skin. She was wearing an olive-green blouse and a khaki skirt, with a gold pendant that she wore around her neck. Clumsily she passed through the door behind the counter and started giving her routine welcome.

‘‘Welcome to Sophia’s shop, wares and…’’ Her voice stopped abruptly after seeing Friedrich’s face, then she gave him a warm smile that was corresponded. ‘‘So, you came back, huh? Tell me, what do I owe to this visit?’’

‘‘Hey, Sophie, I was just passing through and figured that I might as well come to say hello,’’ Friedrich made a thoughtful gesture with his hand. ‘‘Although I think it would also be a good idea to stock up on a couple of provisions.’’

‘‘So… you’re going to travel?’’ The expression with which she spoke was of concern. ‘‘Tell me that you didn’t do the stupid thing I think you did’’

‘‘No, I didn’t run away from the academy’’ Friedrich made a move with his right wrist, raising and lowering his hand as if he could make the idea fly out of Sophia’s head. ‘‘I just… have some spare time and thought taking a touristic trip north.’’

Sophia turned towards Erika, who was still observing the shop.

‘‘Ah, she’s a friend of mine, she is the sister of one of my colleagues and she will be travelling with me,’’ He turned towards Erika. ‘‘Eri, she’s Sophie. Sophie, she’s Eri.’’

‘‘A pleasure to meet you, Eri.’’ Sophia gave her an honest smile. Erika answered her greeting the same way. Sophia was truly pleased of meeting Erika; it was the first time that Friedrich had brought a friend, it was even more unexpected that it was a lady. She had an expression of genuine happiness, that boy who went through so much, that she saw growing up, had finally healed and was starting to open himself up to others.

Sophia looked at Friedrich with a grin full of suspicion and a raised eyebrow, she knew that there was something that Friedrich wasn’t mentioning and she also thought that she knew what it was. Then she put that aside and returned to the topic at hand.

‘‘So, what do you need? I restocked my inventory yesterday in the afternoon.’’

‘‘Great,’’ Friedrich looked quickly around him. ‘‘To start with, a handful of arrows, a little bit of potassium nitrate, a few pieces of coal, and a few fistfuls of sulfur,’’ Sophia stopped taking note and raised her gaze towards Friedrich. She just thought of one single word: powder. What did he need that for? What was he planning to do in the north? Her concern started growing but she couldn’t do much rather than place her trust on him, he must’ve had his reasons. ‘‘And I think that’ll be all.’’ Friedrich turned once more towards Erika, who was still wearing her blue summer dress. ‘‘Well, no, I think I still need something. Do you think that you might have any clothes for her? You know, something more adequate for the ‘‘wearing’’ conditions of the journey.

Sophia stared at Erika thoughtfully, with a hand on her chin and the other one on her waist. She then gave a snap with her fingers and clapped her hands together with a pleased expression.

‘‘Of course I do, I think I have something perfect for her.’’ Immediately she disappeared through the door where she came from. Friedrich waited for her to return tapping his fingers melodically on the counter.

After a few minutes of wait, Sophia appeared once more while humming a joyful song. Both turned to see her with curiosity. Sophia moved towards Erika.

‘‘Here you go,’’ she extended her hands, handing her some clothes perfectly folded. ‘‘Come in, try it out, you will surely love it.’’ She pulled Erika from her wrists before she could even say anything and both crossed the door.

After a while Sophia came out alone, closing the door behind her. Possibly she wanted to give Erika as much privacy as possible so that she would feel more comfortable. Sophia stood behind the counter observing Friedrich with a big grin, which started to make him uncomfortable.

‘‘So… Is she your girlfriend?’’ Friedrich had seen the question coming from kilometres away; it was a matter of time before the opportune moment was given for it to be asked.

‘‘No. I already told you, she’s the sister of one of my peers and if anything a friend, nothing more.’’

‘‘Is that so?’’ Sophia stared even closer at him, waiting for the smallest detail to give him away. He didn’t give any signal that suggested that he was lying. At any case she didn’t expect that even if she was right about her suspicions, Friedrich would admit it openly; he was a hard nut to crack.

The door opened and Erika came out from it. She was a little bit shy; she didn’t know how she looked but could only imagine it. She was wearing a snow-white blouse, on top of it a coal grey vest, lighter grey ankle boots and pants that combined with her vest and on top of everything a cloak that had the same or a very close tone to her eyes; a middle ground between Carolina blue and cerulean. Sophia looked at her with satisfaction, she looked just as she imagined; it fit her like a glove.

‘‘You look great, that cloak suits you superbly.’’ Sophia looked at Friedrich, staring carefully at his reaction.

‘‘Hmm, yeah, it does suit her indeed,’’ Friedrich knew that he was going to be watched so he consciously made his best effort to avoid doing any gestures or emit any emotion with his voice. Sophia was disappointed with that reaction, but she was expecting it. ‘‘How much is it going to be in total?’’ Friedrich turned towards Sophia while he was reaching for his pants’ back pocket.

‘‘Let’s see, because it’s you and the clothes look fabulous on her…’’ She started giving taps on her forehead with the tip of her finger, doing mental accounts. ‘‘Fifty gold coins.’’

‘‘Are you sure? It’s a bargain considering the number of things that we’re taking.’’ Friedrich felt the obligation to object at the low price, he didn’t want to abuse of an old friendship. If it were someone else, all of those things would cost at least eighty or a hundred gold coins.

‘‘I insist, after all, it has been a while since I last saw you, besides that every time you come here you take something with you and it’s not like business is going badly.’’

Friedrich shook his head giving a sigh. ‘‘I just hope you never go broke for carrying such a huge heart’’ he thought. He handed the fifty gold pieces which he mechanically counted whilst placing them on Sophia’s hand. She placed them in a drawer behind the counter and nodded with a smile. Friedrich was expecting to spend a little bit more, he had been saving for a while in case that, by any chance, he was in such a situation as he was now. He took the items that he had just purchased and walked towards the door.

‘‘Thanks for everything, Sophie, once I finish my chores I’ll come to spend some more time with you, I promise.’’

‘‘Friedrich…’’ Friedrich dryly stopped and turned towards Sophia once more. ‘‘Take care.’’ For the first time in a while, Sophia wasn’t smiling, her eyes stared seriously at Friedrich’s’’

‘‘I will. Don’t worry too much about me, you will get wrinkles.’’ Friedrich gave her a reassuring smile. He kept going to the door. Erika followed him giving a goodbye vow to Sophia, which was answered with a waving hand. Friedrich opened the door and let Erika go out first.

‘‘Don’t forget to invite me to the wedding; I want to yell “long live the couple” once you two get married’’ Sophia had a big grin on her face, she knew what she had just provoked and just thinking about it was funny for her. Friedrich slammed closed the door behind him; both of them stood pale outside the shop. Did she know? Could she have deduced it without Friedrich saying anything about it? Had he given himself away somehow? No, it was impossible. The most likely thing was that she simply said it with the intention of teasing him, having a little laugh at him.

The shopping session ended with a final stop; the smith. Both were tired; their feet started protesting with the stinging pain that demanded the return to home. More so Erika’s feet than Friedrich’s. Both took their course towards the cabin, by the same road that they used to get to the village. Friedrich now had everything that he was going to need for the journey, but he still wanted to stay a few more days on the hut. He knew that it was something risky and selfish; he could not afford to waste any time and wait for anyone to come and try to kill them. At that precise moment, he didn’t care at the minimum that various assassins could be on their way to silence them permanently. He was simply enjoying the return to his home after almost three years, and that perhaps he would not be back to it for another while after this adventure. Besides, the extra time would come in handy to observe a map and meticulously plan his next moves, discarding any possible risks and taking the safest decision. And what did Erika think of that? It was not as if she knew much about war tactics, she was at his mercy, under his control. Erika hated the sound of that, but she wasn’t having a bad time; she enjoyed the things she was learning. Although she did not like Friedrich, she was sure that he knew what he was doing.

Without saying or thinking anything, both followed the path blindly, as if they both had an autopilot. The cabin was within sight after some minutes, they could feel the warmth of the home and the resting of their bodies. Once inside, Friedrich lit the chimney’s fire; he searched through the chests and pulled out what appeared to be a map of the continent and a pencil. He sat next to the chimney so that the fire would illuminate the piece of paper that he thoughtfully stared at. Erika lay down in the bed and closing her eyes with the image of that boy’s focused face on her mind, turning blurry until it became completely dark.