So... We are royal couriers, aka postal workers, tasked with delivering letters and packages on behalf of the government.
There was a lot of walking involved.
A.
LOT.
OF WALKING.
I mean... really... a... lot.
Unless you have had a similar job, I doubt you can even image how much walking we did.
Today, about a week after our thug incident, we had a special request.
And... I was not sure, but I started to have the feeling we were the only two postal works currently int he employ of the royal family.
Even though we returned to the Royalle Poste after each outing, I had never seen anyone else there.
The windows were always dark when we returned, so maybe it was just that everyone left before we returned, but still, even though I never got to go inside, each time Ibehru opened the door to go inside, a musty, dusty smell greeted us, as if the windows had not been opened for years...
OK, maybe that is just how Post Offices were supposed to smell like - what do I know, I'm a donkey!
Anyway, back to our current special delivery job.
Today, our main destination was some wizard's residence - we would of course also do our normal postal service as we travelled.
We had a small package for the wizard. From the size and shape, my guess was some sort of magical tome - I mean, this was for a wizard, after all, so that would make sense, right?
"Sigh, this is another annoying one, Donkey... According to the directions I got from Her Majesty, it will take us at least three days to reach the edge of the wizard's domain." [Ibehru]
I shook my big donkey head in resignation...
After an uneventful day of walking and occasionally stopping at a town, village, or hamlet to exchange mail, the sun was slowly inking behind the endless fields of various produce.
As if planned, we reached a comfortable looking inn with a clean stable.
Actually, I noticed that now a few times, and may have mentioned it before, but it still surprised me a bit - seems inns were space out about half a days walk from each other....
Oh...
I guess that was on purpose?
"Donkey, we are gong to stay the night here..." [Ibehru]
She patted me on the nose. The stable featured fresh hay and a friendly stable youth, who I immediately took a liking to when he brought me a bucket of washed fresh carrots with a few sweet apples mixed in.
"Hey Post Master and Donkey! Staying the night, I heard - mom will be happy, been a month since you came by..." [StableYouth]
He seemed to know Ibehru and me, but I could not recall him at all. No surprise there, I only remember being me now for about a week, after all...
After Ibehru removed my pack, and brushed me down, I made myself comfortable for the night.
Before long, I dozed off...
ZZZ.....zzzz..... z....
The next two days were repeats and uneventful. And each day around noon we'd pass an inn were Ibehru would grab a lunch she could eat while waling, and each night we reached a pleasant inn to stay at.
Did I mention this job involved a lot of walking? Yeah we walked a lot.
At this inn on the third night the inn keeper called out to Ibehru with a new title. Up to now I heard her called "Oi, Ibehru!", "Post Master", and even generic variations of "The mail is here!".
"Well hello there, One Woman Royal Post!" [Innkeeper]
Suspiciously matching the theory I had been hatching. I knew I was the only postal animal left - the other stable cells at the Royalle Poste building were not usable anymore - either missing their roof or filled with ancient looking or even rotting packing crates.
So was Ibehru really the only postal worker left, and thus according to the rule of "last person standing", simply automatically the Post Master?
Or was this just another country jest, and Ibehru was being buttered up?
Or maybe... less sinister, she was simply the postal worker assigned to this route? Maybe...?
Hmmm....
One would naturally assume that a thriving country as this - at least from what I had seen - would have at least two or three postal workers assigned to each route. They would want to ensure the deliveries would never be interrupted when one of the postal workers took vacation or had some other reason to take time off?
Ok, maybe this route was simply a low-yield route - it was true, int he last three days we hardly picked up or delivered much, so maybe this was the least busy route that Ibehru and I got saddled with - and why the stable youth had only seen us a month ago.
A mystery requiring more research!
The next morning, forth day, as Ibehru tied my pack securely onto my back.
"We'll be there soon, Donkey... I checked with the inn-keeper!" [Ibehru]
And indeed, after a bit more - you guess it - walking, we finally reached the lake where we were told our delivery destination would be,
The not too well travelled dirt road - you could tell because fo the grass and wild flowers growing out of it in intervals - stopped at the edge of the lake.
A cranky old wooden dock continued a short way into the water.
Weirdly, a mailbox with the name of the wizard no longer readable thanks to the peeling paint was planted just in front of the dock.
The little red metal flag was down - so no mail inside.
"Hm... so the package we have is to be delivered directly into the hands of the wizard, so we can't use the mailbox... but..." [Ibehru]
We looked around.
There was no house.
There was not even a houseboat at the end of the dock...
"Oh... someone fishing over there at the rocks... Let's see if they know where the wizard's house is..." [Ibehru]
And indeed, napping on the top of a huge boulder was a small bearded gnome like personage, leaned back, a straw hat coving their face to keep the sun and bugs out.
A primitive excuse for a fishing rod - really just a long stick - was rammed into a crack in the rock. The fishing line lazily moved with the lake's gentle current.
We trotted over to the rock. Well I trotted, having hooves. Ibehru walked normally...
"Ahhh... Excuse us? Would you know where the residence is that belongs to that mailbox over there?" [Ibehru]
The gnome lifted his hat and peered at us with one eye.
"Oh? Hmm...." [Gnome]
He then dropped his hat again onto his face, and pointed straight up.
Ibehru and I looked up.
Huh.
A giant shadowy figure floated above us, the sun peeking from behind it.
Squinting a bit... the shadow had a familiar shape.
"A.... a giant turtle???" [Ibehru]
Ibehru stated what I was thinking.
"And how in the name of the seven fates are we supposed to reach that, all the way up there???" [Ibehru]
The gnome, still with hat on face, ignored us.
I tugged at Ibehru's sleeve with my teeth.
"Oh, you have an idea, Donkey?"
I nodded my big donkey head towards a giant tree about a mile away - a long thin line ran from it to the turtle - a bridge of some sort.
Ibehru held her hand over her eyes and squinted.
"Oh... that looks like a rope and plank bridge? Looks... safe enough? Well, let's go have a look, shall we?" [Ibehru]
And off we went through the surrounding hilly fields towards the giant of a tree.
There were other trees visible around us, but they were normal sized - still several stories tall in some cases. But the specific tree we were aiming for was... well, there are mountains about that height....
There was no pre-trodden path that we could see through the wild fields, so we trail-blazed our own.
It was tough going in some parts, so I lead the way and trampled down the taller grasses, to give Ibehru a safer path.
After what seemed to be a couple of hours, we finally made it.
The smooth barked tree was as wide as the palace.
Not seeing anyway up, we walked around it - under, over, and around huge roots that sprouted up to three stories above us from the tree.
It took us another half hour to round the tree.
And there was no evidence of any method to climb it to reach the bridge high above us.
By the time we had fully circled the tree, we noticed the gnome that had been fishing - well mostly napping - from near the dock. He was sitting on a smaller root, dangling his feet and watching us in apparent amusement.
Fishy fisher-gnome...
"You want up? Know how..." [Gnome]
"Naruhodo? Can you tell us please?" [Ibehru]
The gnome tapped the side of his nose.
"Secret... but.. favour do for me, I help?" [Gnome]
Obviously our language was not the gnome's native one.
"Well, we don't have much choice - what do you need?" [Ibehru]
"Three golden thistles, fresh. Follow road to cave, find there. Cannot miss if follow signs..." [Gnome]
"Sigh... Donkey, we are doomed to be everyone's gopher, aren't we? All right, we will be back with your thistles... let's go Donkey." [Ibehru]
{
NEW QUEST
Retrieve 3 Golden Thistles.
Careful - they sting!
}
