Bastion

beds.”
    “Does that happen often?” Mags asked with alarm.
    Jakyr shrugged. “I have never heard of it happening to Heralds or Bards, and I picked these inns on the best recommendations, but, yes, it does happen to travelers who might not be missed. Usually traders alone, with enough goods to make them worth murdering.”
    That didn’t make for an easy rest that night.
    Finally, on the third day, Jakyr brought them not to an inn but to a Guardpost. Like all such Posts it was a walled compound right off the road for easy travel. Very conspicuous even at a distance, since the trees had been cleared around it to prevent possible hostiles from using trees to get in over the walls, there were three plumes of smoke arising from three substantial chimneys, one at each end of the big building and one in the middle.
    Mags was very glad to see it, as the unmistakable timber walls loomed up in the distance. Finally there would be some faces that were friendly from the moment they rode up! It would be a blessed relief from the closed-in wariness of the locals. Even the scent of the chimney smoke on the air was a harbinger of comfort, part woodsmoke, part cooking food.
    And so it proved. From the moment they first came within view of the walls and the sentries got sight of the Companions, the distant figures waved a welcome. The Guardsmen on duty hailed them from the top of the walls as soon as they came within shouting distance, and by the time they entered the gates around the walled compound, there were several dozen welcomers waiting for them. There were plenty of eager hands waiting to take their packs, take the caravan around to the stabling area, and see to the Companions. Here, Mags had no fears about letting someone else tend to Dallen. Guardsmen knew very well what Companions were and spoiled them like favored children. Dallen winked at his Chosen as he followed three of the uniformed Guard around back to the stables.
    :Don’t eat yourself sick!: Mags cautioned, knowing that the Guardsmen were going to press sweet things on both of the Companions, probably more than they should ever eat at one time.
    :Me? Never!: Dallen said in mock indignation, flagging his tail as he pranced out of sight.
    The rest of the party was escorted to the main entrance. The building within the walls was two stories tall. All the windows could be shuttered and barred from within, and Mags knew that the shutters themselves were reinforced with metal plates, while the drop-down bars were solid steel. The exterior walls were stone, unusual in this area where most buildings were made of timber. Even the roof was of slates. Anyone who actually got into the compound would be unable to set fire to this building from the outside.
    Yet there was nothing foreboding about the structure; on the contrary, it looked very much like a comfortable manor.
    The main door, like the shutters, was sheathed in metal. Good luck taking it down with a battering ram.
    “You lot go find some beds. I’ll be with you, Mags, shortly,” Jakyr said, as they passed through the door, and went off on his own. Mags followed the Guard who had appointed himself as their guide to the guest quarters. The rest followed him.
    The guest quarters were upstairs, where the barrack rooms were, all by themselves in the center of the building and surrounded by the officers’ quarters. They comprised a block of rooms about the size of a highborn’s closet, ascetic but comfortable enough, on either side of a corridor that also served as an armory. But once he had picked one of the tiny rooms for himself, he left his pack on the bed and went looking for Jakyr; he ran into him in the hall. Jakyr was already looking for him.
    “Ah, good. We’re going to go meet with the Quartermaster and then with the fellow who’ll guide us to The Bastion, who also happens to be the one who oversaw storing supplies out there. Come along.” Jakyr headed off down the hall at a fast walk without bothering to look back to see if Mags was following; Mags made haste to keep up with him.
    All Guardposts were laid out on the same plan, so it was no problem to find the Quartermaster’s office. It was directly downstairs and in the same general position that the guest quarters were, which was (not at all coincidentally) near the central chimney. When a job requires that one have fingers that are not stiff with cold, it makes sense to put him near the chimney. On the other side of the chimney wall was the