The crossbow bolt strikes the brigand in the shoulder and he throws his hand up to his chest as if to try and pull it out, but falls over and starts to bleed onto the dirt.
Happs is also bleeding from his wounds and looks to be dying.
The half-orc drops his falchion, pulls out a short bow and takes aim at the fleeing brigand. "Ain't lettin' you leave now."
The arrow strikes the brigand, piercing through her armor.
Crytalis casts one last furtive look after Colin and hurriedly makes her way down the ladder. She keeps her distance as she studies the bleeding man, watching the blood pool in fascination, that little secret smile gracing her lips again. "Shall we finish him off? Or shall we keep him to play?" she asks over to Crumbs.
Oleg makes it into the house, while Mayor of Braddock continues stomping about impatiently, looking at Crumbs with an approving, empty eyed stare.
Colin wheels Joyous Storm and prepares for another charge against his mounted opponent.
Seeing his lance strike true, Colin reins in Joyous Storm from taking a bite as well, the fever pitch of battle upon her. "Wind. Down." he commands.
As the brigand mounts her horse, Colin's lance drives into the base of her neck, shattering her collarbone and slicing open her neck. Blood sprays out as her head rolls across her shoulders, hanging on by the other half of her neck. Her body falls from the horse with a wet thud.
"Oh gods..." Colin stammers in horror at what he'd done.
"Well lass, it seems like he's not gonna be giving us too much trouble like he is. I don't see the harm of bandaging him up and seeing what he has to say. Why don't you keep an eye on that other fellow over there," Crumbs gestures to the rough area the half-orc occupies. "Make sure he doesn't take a swing at me while I work."
Crumbs moves forward and kneels at the brigands side. He removes the bolts and does what he can to stabilize him. It seems to be too little too late as his crossbow's aim was too precise.
The half-orc picks up his falchion and puts it in its sheathe. Then he inspects Happs body with a grimace. After a moment, he fishes a coin purse from Happs belt, tossing it in his hand a bit and then turns and looks towards the gate.
Crytalis needs no more encouragement as she spins to rush full speed out the gate, her steps only wavering for a split-marc a she sweeps the field with her eyes. Once she locates Colin she soars again, almost keep abreast with the small bird beside her. We did it! We saved them! she calls out, albeit a bit breathlessly as she runs.
Oleg's face peaks out the window looking for signs that the conflict has ended.
Mayor of Braddock appears standing where Crytalis was. He stares blankly at Crumbs.
The half-orc turns and watches Crytalis run across the field, to see what she does.
Crumbs walks over to the Mayor and pulls a bruised apple from one of his many pouches. He feeds it to him, strokes his ears while reassuring him and dodges a bite.
"Hey Oleg, what you want to do with this here boy? You want me to help him out or did you have something else in mind?" Crumbs shouts to Oleg.
Colin hears Crytalis approaching but he doesn't raise the visor on his helmet for fear of her seeing the tears suddenly running down his cheeks. He acknowledges her joyful cry with a wave.
He glances down at the gore-spattered lance, and leans down to wipe it against the grasses.
"I'll gather up the horses," he says huskily, and proceeds to try to calm and corral the brigands' mounts.
Oleg pokes his head out of the main house and looks about. "They all dealt with?" Seeing that there isn't any immediate threat he comes out and Svetlana comes with him. They walk over to where the brigand lies just by the gate and look out to the field beyond. Svetlana is visibly shaken but the scene, but Oleg stands firm. "He's still breathin'. I'm tempted to hang him up on the wall for what he and his ilk put us through." His fists are still clenched. Then Svetlana shakes her head and puts her hand on Oleg's shoulder.
"Best we leave them to face their crimes in Restov. If those guards they were supposed to send, if they show soon we can have them do it. No need to trouble our protectors any more."
Oleg nods. "If any are dead, though, I want them on the wall. As a sign."
All the horses resist for a few moments at the smell of blood and sight of Colin's armor and weapons, but they calm at his steady, caring hand.
"So be it," grunts Crumbs. "Pretty sure the lass knows a thing or two about putting people back together, but I will see what I can do for him in the meantime."
"He's still breathing and that's more than he deserves. I'll get some rope." Says Oleg.
"We thought they would be here sooner, the guards from Restov. When you were riding up, we thought that you were them. Oleg sent out for protection a while back and they've been taking their time getting here. But I've no doubt they'll be here soon." Says Svetlana as Oleg heads off to the stables and returns with some rope. Oleg begins tying the brigand up with multiple strong knots.
Crytalis's mad dash for Colin is interrupted as she comes upon Happs. She stumble to an abrupt halt beside him and the half-orc. She bestows a smile at the latter before turning to watch Happs. Pulling her staff from her back she jabs a quick poke at the man, assuring he is not conscious before divesting him of any weapons. "Wasn't that a lovely battle?" she bubbles out to the half-orc as she works, tossing any weapons she finds into a pile. "Do you have a name? Why did you side with us?" she finally stands, sticking out a hand. "I am Crytalis, it is ever so nice to meet you. Want to help me tie him up and drag him back? We should be quick before he bleeds out. I have so many wonderful plans for him." her inane, adrenaline fueled words finally come to a rather abrupt stop, hand still out-thrust towards the bandit.
"Name's Brumir." He says and reaches out and shakes Crytalis' hand. "I saw Happs here had gotten in over his head, so I took the winning side. Simple as. I ain't care much for his kind, neither. Extorting folk like that." He tosses the bag of coins to Crytalis. "That's for you, or for them traders up there." He nods towards the gate. "Or a peace offerin'. However you see it."
He seems to be telling the truth.
"Happs here won't bleed out. Best tie him up, though. If he wakes, he'll make a run for it. And he talks like who he'd run to is more than just a few bandits. Or at least they're more skilled in their ways."
Crytalis claps his hand in what she hopes is a firm grip and pumps it, taking the coin pouch with a regal acceptance. "Well met, indeed." She releases his hand and turns, looking for sight of Colin. She relaxes, again, upon spying him, again, and shifts back to Brumir. "I find myself fresh out of rope, and haven't a clue as to how to tie someone up." She turns the full force of her smile back to him. "I don't suppose you are skilled in such things...?"
"Be glad to," He says.
He walks over to Svetlana, Oleg and Crumbs. Oleg eyes him suspiciously and steps between Brumir and the others.
"Don't worry, I ain't like them." Brumir says, putting his hands up, palms out.
Svetlana looks him over as well. "I don't recognize him, Oleg. He hasn't been here before."
Oleg grunts in agreement and returns to tying up the brigands, shouldering past Brumir to tie up Happs himself. Then they set about bringing them all into one of the stalls in the stable.
By now, the sun is above the horizon and clouds creep across the sky. It's already warmer than it was the day before.
Colin brings the horses into the palisade walls and then returns for the female brigand's body. He squeezes the tears from his eyes and forces down the bile rising up. Then he removes her gear and wraps her in her cloak and carries her back to the Trading Post.
"I'll bury her, Oleg," he says through his helmet grate. "Just tell me where."
"You," he says with uncharacteristic harshness to the half-orc making himself comfortable with the very people he had come to rob. "What was her name?"
Waits only until the half-orc consents to deal with Happs before making her way back to where Colin stands holding the dead woman, she wraps her arms around him from behind and rest her head against him for a brief moment. She drops a kiss to his back before stepping away. "I will help bury her" she tells him in her most gentle voice.
"Anywhere outside the walls," says Oleg as he walks past carrying Happs towards the stable.
Brumir narrows his eyes at Colin, then, seeing how Crytalis acts with him, opens them again. "Called herse'f Katty."
Having chosen a sturdy spade from the stable, Colin carries Katty's corpse to a small copse past the walls on the other side of the Trading Post from the road. Then, he lays her body down and accepts Crytalis's assistance in removing his armor. But he absolutely refuses to let her dig.
In silence he begins the work, which at first goes well, the ground being soft from the prior days' rain, but soon he slows down and eventually leans against the thigh-deep hole he stands in.
Leaning against the lip of the hole he says, "I know she was doing wrong but I... I don't know why, Cry. I don't know why!" He wipes his arm across his face, loam remnants clinging to his stubble. He sighs and adds, "It's not for me to know."
He looks her in the eye, then. "You know how to mark people, Cry. I want you to mark me. Somewhere I'll see it. I want a mark for any and each person whose life I end. So I can carry them."
He folds forward and rests his head on the ground, his arm reaching out toward her. "She may not have deserved anything good, Cry," he says, letting the tears' salt trickle into his mouth to mix with the taste of the earth. "But she deserved to be remembered. I'm going to remember. I have to."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Crytalis runs to beg a needle and thread off of Svetlana before collecting her comb and the bucket of water she had used to bathe just hours before. She hauls it with her as she follows silently after Colin to the copse, walking carefully in his shadow. As Colin digs she kneels beside the woman, methodically washing her face and around her severed neck, the wash water turning a swirling hue of red. Pale lips close around the tip of the thread as she wets it; closing one eye to thread the borrowed needle. Before she beings her grisly work she brushes soft fingers over the woman’s eyes, a fluttering of touch, ”This won’t hurt a bit., she whispers sweetly to her.
A hummed lullaby drifts up through the morning air as Crytalis sews, broken only by Colin’s questions. To the first part, she has no answers and so she gives none. She leans low over the closing fissure of flesh, nimble fingers piercing and looping. Finally, she knots a double loop at the end and bends over to snip the thread loose with her teeth.
Her eyes lift to hold Colin's as he makes his request, solemn, humming ceased. ”I will mark you Colin, if that is your wish, but only to honor them. It is not a good thing to carry guilt around with you, I don’t think.” Standing quickly she steps over to his prone body, dropping to her knees before his outstretched arms. One small hand comes to rest beneath his chin as she lifts his face from the dirt. “We will remember, my love. Even when deaths and battle mingle and run together in our memory. This one will live forever imprinted on our minds. That is how firsts work.” She lowers her mouth to his, kissing away the salt and dirt, before standing to return to her corpse-doll.
Sitting now, she brings the woman’s head to rest in her lap. “You did not chose her path, that was hers alone to do. You just played your role in the order of things. Death is inevitable.” As she speaks her fingers work through the hair, untangling it. Eventually, the comb comes into play smoothing the hair and making it shine. The humming begins again.
Brumir is wearing leather armor from head to foot. His lip and lower face is mangled by a series of scars. Beneath the hood, which rests behind his shoulders, he is more obviously a half-orc, but with only minor distinguishing features- slightly pointed ears, larger than average-human canines, rounded hulking shoulders disproportionate to his height.
Brumir speaks to Crumbs. "Now who are you? Those two run the place, I take it," He points to Oleg and Svetlana as they busy themselves securing the unconscious brigands inside the stall. "Unless Happs was really that stupid, he didn't know you and those other two would be here."
"Not that I knew the guy or any such thing, but I'm going to make a judgement call and say that, even though this Happs fellow didn't know we were here this morning, he really was that stupid. But, you are correct. Those two run the place and they were the ones you were coming to rob again." Crumbs rummages through the bandits pouches and pockets. "Us? We were just in the right place at the right time. This is just a stop for us. We'll be on our way soon enough, but a more permanent guard solution is on its way for these folks. I'm guessing you've gone a good ways towards severing your ties with these brigands, yes? Well Brumir, the name is Crumbs. Cranson Crumbs and I'm going to need you to give me a hand getting this body hung up there nice and prominent," Crumbs squints along a pointed finger aimed at the upper portion of the palisade, "Maybe the next group of fools to come wandering along will get the picture and keep to themselves, hey?"
Crumb ties a sturdy knot around the fallen brigand's right ankle and tosses the end of the rope up and over the palisade wall. He and Brumir tug the grisly ornament into position, body hanging upside down, spinning slightly in the breeze. Overhead, the silent silhouettes of crows take notice.
Finished, Crumbs takes a long drink from his water skin and then offers the same to Brumir.
"What say you, Brumir? Are you one to switch sides whenever it most suits you? Or are you one who could be trusted? We three are set with the task of clearing out bandits and attempting to make the Greenbelt more habitable. Have you any interest in such a task?"
Brumir listens to Crumbs' story. When he is done, he takes the water skin and drinks from it. "I was headed south when I ran into these people. I saw they meant to rob me unless I played along. So I took the part of a bandit come down from the southern tip of the Icerime Peaks. Brunderton and that. They asked if I wanted to serve a new lord. Be truly free. Didn't sound half bad, until I saw them for what they really are."
He watches the bandit dangling from the palisade for a moment in silence.
"I may switch sides if you turn out to be like them, sure. But seeing as how you seem to be looking to help people, I can't think of a reason why I'd have to fight you, if that's what you mean. So much for trust and all that. I'll travel with you for now, if that's what you ask. I can help you navigate and forage. I can help you in a fight if more of their kind show."
Svetlana gathers all of the belongings on the brigands and puts it all on the table in the market yard.
(3) suits of leather armor, in various states of repair.
(2) vials of alchemist's fire
Dagger
(3) short swords
Composite Longbow (+2 Str)
(2) longbow
(57) arrows
(6) days trail rations (stale bread, berries, deer jerky)
(55) gold pieces
"Here is those other two potions we promised you and a little something for your trouble. You're welcome to stay in our guest house from now on, free of charge."
(2) potions of cure light wounds
(50) gold pieces
"I also found this strange amulet on the one Oleg said they called Happs." Svetlana holds out the amulet- the shape of a stag's skull cast in silver.
When the sun starts to reach its apex, Colin stops digging. He clambers out of the hole and regards it, the woman he loves, and the woman he killed.
He blows a mouthful of breath out as he pulls his dirty hair out of his eyes and watches Crytalis's delicate work. He rests a heavy hand upon her shoulder, massaging the back of her neck with his thumb.
"I was shoveling when we first laid eyes on each other, Cry, do you remember?" he asks, knowing her answer. "Now, here we are. Not quite the adventure we'd planned, I guess."
He holds up a hand before her concern might grow. "No, I... I feel better now. You always make everything clearer for me. I know that this is what might happen if we're going to protect people like Oleg and Svetlana. I just have to get used to it. I just don't want to get too used to it, if you know what I mean. I don't ever want to become so hardened that I don't think about our enemies as people any more. Tonight, you'll help me remember."
He bends down to kiss her. "I do love you so, Crytalis. You make me better than I am."
Glancing down at Katty, he says, "Is she almost ready? We should get back to the Trading Post, I suppose. What if that half-orc changed his tune once your spell wore off? I guess Crumbs could handle him. We might be riding out tonight to find the rest of them. I don't know."
After seeing to the brigands, Oleg and Svetlana return to their daily chores. Svetlana's face brightens each time she makes eye contact with their guests, save the half-orc to whom she forces a smile. Oleg continues keeping to himself, but nods approvingly as he is passed by.
Oleg can be seen nailing a piece of parchment to the inside of the front gate, on a wooden post.
The half-orc takes a seat at the table and starts picking at his nails with a dagger. He slowly eats some trail rations from his pack and looks about incessantly, as if concerned that there is something he hadn't noticed, sneaking about the market yard. As far as anyone can tell, there is nothing out of the ordinary save for him.
A few crows have begun to gether on the palisade, both the south face and the north. They caw periodically, gathering one or two more by the hour.
Crytalis lowers the woman to the ground. Once her hand are free she pulls the dagger from her calve and quickly severs the smallest finger off the woman's right hand, avoiding Colin's gaze the entire time. "I wish to remember as well.", she murmurs. She then helps Colin lower her into the grave, remaining silents as he shovels the freshly dug soil down on top of her.
As they approach the trading post, and the swinging man, she stops for the length of a long breath to stand and stare. She remains silent through that as well, though and continues past Oleg, stopping to read the parchment he is nailing.
Crumbs has been sitting in the shadow of the wall, pondering his book and keeping an eye to the horizon for any more bandits. When Colin and Crytalis walk up, he says without looking up from his book, "Oleg wanted a dead one hung up there. But you guys went and stole away the only dead one to do Hood knows what with in the woods. So me and the bandit who turned out to not want to fight me that badly after all had to haul that other weasely bastard up there. I'm guessing he's dead now. Hasn't made any noise for...," Crumbs holds up his hand in a complicated gesture placing the sun at the tip of his index finger, casting a series of shadows upon his palm.
"...fifteen, twenty minutes. Oleg seems right happy about it. The half-orc's inside looking nervous. Could probably use your attention, Crytalis. It was getting a little too weird in there for me."
"Wha?" "To BURY her!" "Huh?" "Oh gods!" Colin reacts to each of Crumbs' statements before finally crying in alarm and rushing to the hanged man. "He's dead?" he asks aloud.
Crytalis's head whips back toward Colin and his dismay. She shifts her gaze from the parchment, flicking it past Oleg to the half-orc within the walls. Tawny brows furrow before she traipses back over to Colin.
The paper that Oleg has hung is by two others.
The one Oleg has just hung reads:
Bandits made off with Svetlana's wedding ring. They may have lost or sold it already. Reward for it's return.
-Oleg Leveton
The two others that have been there for some time read:
A boar the size of a horse. They say it was raised by goblins. One thing is for sure, it has tusks the size of swords. Kill the nasty thing and bring it's head to Oleg's to send to me. Or I might just hobble out there and get it myself. Reward.
-Vekkel Benzen
Oleg's been under a lot of stress lately (for some reasons more obvious than others). I want to cook him his favorite soup to help him relax. Unfortunately, moon radishes are relatively rare. A patch grows about 16 miles south of the trading post. I'd truly appreciate it and so would Oleg.
-Svetlana Leveton
"Yes, boy. Dead. As in not living anymore. As in he came here to rape Svetlana with his buddies and found himself up there instead. That is Oleg's property now and you'd best not be messing with it. Next time you want a say in who does or doesn't end up dangling, try sticking around instead of running off for hours to hug about it in the woods with your girlfriend, yeah? This is our lives now and it is only going to get harder from here. What did you think you brought that sword for? Or that lance?"
Crumbs goes back to reading his book, making an occasional esoteric mark with his quill and ink.
Colin rounds on Crumbs, his eyes wide with shock and then a hot, red flush rises quickly from his neck to his scalp. He drops the armor he'd been carrying and takes two quick strides.
"Oleg is not the law here. You and I and Crytalis have been commissioned to enforce it!" he bellows, all restraint crumbling away after the morning's emotional trials.
"In any case, I was there when he said if any are dead he wanted them hung on the walls. To that I replied, with the authority that we have, that I was burying the one named Katty. Because that is the right thing to do which everyone knows here, even Oleg in his anger. Everyone except you."
He jabs his finger at the supine alchemist, breathing hard as thoughts flow out almost faster than he can form the words. "So you're saying that any time I turn my back it is my responsibility to keep you from torturing a helpless person to death? If that is the case than you and I have a problem that needs to be dealt with here and now or our travels together end this minute."
He turns to step away but then wheels back, his voice pitching in the cracked rage of youth. "And you do not EVER speak of Crytalis Surtova that way again, do you understand?!"
"I didn't torture him. I tried to save him, but there was nothing I could do. And if digging a hole and chucking a body into it makes you feel better about driving your lance through a woman's neck, then great. All buried. All forgotten. Tonight, some boars or some badgers or some bears will dig the body up and drag it away and have enough to eat for a while. Maybe feed their children. Maybe have a chance. Like those crows are doing up there. And like those two are doing in there." Crumbs says gesturing to Oleg and Svetlana."The world moves on. The living keep living. If you want to take your righteousness out on someone, try Happs in there. He's the one who brought these people here."
Crumbs closes his book, stands and looks Colin in the eyes. "You remember Happs, right? He's the guy that you and your horse ripped to shreds before. We patched him up while you were gone. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that he's gonna make it."
With that, he turns and climbs up onto the wall, reclines upon one of the broken catapults and appears to go to sleep.
The brigand's unconscious body taps slowly on the palisade. Not dead, but not far from it, he will likely die from thirst in a few hours more than a day's time.
Crytalis rests a hand against Colin's back, "We will talk to Oleg, surely he will let us release him. And I took no offense at being called your girlfriend." her lips quirk up, her tone playful. "Besides, it appears we have more things to worry over, and I am starving." her head tips towards the notices that Oleg hung before brushing past him to seek out Brumir, Oleg, and most importantly...breakfast.
Colin relaxes against her touch and shakes his head. "I just don't understand old people," he answers her. "I'm hungry too, though."
He stops to read the notices which he'd glossed over before. "Do you know anything about harvesting mushrooms, Cry? That's about three hours' ride there and back. I'm tempted to ride off with you right now," he smiles down to her.
"I wonder who Vekkel Benzen is?" he adds as he walks with her back into the Trading Post. At the sight of Brumir he stops short and looks him up and down, remembering his armor is in a pile outside the wall.
After a handful of heartbeats, he steps forward and offers his hand. "My name is Colin. Thank you for your help. I'm glad you saw that what you were doing was wrong. It was my hope that all of you might have, though I know that is foolish. That reminds me..."
He calls to Svetlana and Oleg, "We need to cut that man down, Mr. and Mrs. Leveton. It isn't right. He'll be punished for his crimes, though. Also, do you have any food prepared?"
The half-orc mostly studies Colin as he speaks, but his eyes wander every few moments. "Don't mention the help. I appreciate you not hangin' me from the wall..." He looks at Crytalis and gives her a notably less pleasant expression, but forces a smile. "Look, I ain't intend to hurt these folks here. I told Happs I didn't like the idea, but he is ambitious in the wrong way. Seems he was trying to impress a higher up with his kind. But I'm not one of them, just happenstance." He spits on his hand and holds it out to shake Colin's. "Won't draw my blade on you, unless you do something really stupid and make me. I don't want to be on the other end of that lance, anyhow."
Oleg ignores Colin's request at first, but Svetlana goes over and has a hushed conversation with him. After a few minutes, he heads out to take the brigand down, a scowl on his face.
Svetlana heads back into the house for a moment and returns carrying out a basket of leaves and root vegetables, most of a loaf of bread and a chunk of salted ham. She puts it down on the table next to the fire and rekindles it. She situates a iron stand over the fire and hangs a large cast pot on the stand. Then she begins chopping her ingredients with a knife and tossing them into the pot.
"Was a bit late getting lunch ready, what with all the commotion. Just a few minutes, though, so have a seat." She says.
When Oleg returns from putting the brigand up in the stalls, he tells Colin. "I'll be willing to buy any of their gear you don't want. The way I see it, it's yours more than mine.'
Crytalis slips into a seat across from the half-orc at the table at his look. "Thank you again for your aiding us in the battle. They had been making threats against Svetlana and Oleg." she glances towards the woman, "She seems much more relaxed now, people shouldn't have to live in fear." she turns back to Brumir. "Happenstance? How is it you came to be with such people? You are not like them, are you? Have you ever been south of here?"
Brumir looks Crytalis in the eyes when he speaks, the familiar, friendly shine gone from his. "I met them on the road. Was clear to me they meant me harm unless I joined up, offered my skills. It was but a day past, so I didn't owe them much, as I see it. And no, the furthest south I've been is a few miles from here where I met them. Just out on the plains.
You have no reason to doubt his story, although it is brief and seems deliberately lacking in detail.
Colin warily listens to the half-orc's tone. "Have you been to their base, Brumir? he asks. "How far away is it? How many of them are there?"
"Never seen their base. They mentioned something about a camp somewhere to the south. I didn't see any others, but they talked like there were more." Brumir says and cautiously takes some bread and chews on it. "You looking to drive them off?"
Oleg hands over a bag of coin for the extra stock you do not take. "Good to have some extra horses in the stalls." He says.
(166) gold pieces
Colin says to Oleg, "I'd like to keep a couple of the horses so Crumbs and Cry won't have to go on foot, but the others should be good for trade. I'm happy, too, to help you take care of them whenever we're here."
He turns to Brumir. "Yes, we're here to drive them off. We're also going to get Svetlana's wedding ring back. Are you interested in helping us? Pay is one quarter share of whatever we recapture. So long as Crumbs and Crytalis don't object, of course."
He adds, "Or, you're free to go on your way if you feel like we've taken advantage of you with magic. Everything Crytalis said to you, when she offered you a chance to turn, she meant. We'd discussed it earlier."
He shows Brumir the charter from the Regent. "As you see, you've got a chance here to do good with your skills, with your life. It seems like the gods put you on a path to make a choice today. A second chance from the choice you'd felt you had to make yesterday."
"I am a cavalier of the Order of the Shield. I've given up what might have been an easy life to serve the least of people and protect them. If you treat honestly with us, I will tell you that I will stand at your side and do all I can to protect you. Even though I lost my temper at Crumbs earlier, I would block a charging razor boar for him. Because he is my companion. It is not going to be easy or safe, but our work here I think will at least be interesting if you want to join us."
When he finishes speaking with Brumir, he heads to the stables.
to influence Brumir
to choose best two horses for Crumbs and Cry
to choose best two horses for Crumbs and Cry
"I can respect that. We'll see if that helps against who or whatever is out there." Brumir watches Colin as he walks away, saying nothing in response, but clearly lost in thought. He chews slowly on his food.
Colin finds what he determines to be the two best horses, although they are all very similar in terms of size and apparent breed. Of the two better horses, one has a stripe of white down its face and the other has a dark brown, almost black coloring to the hair on it's mane and tail, unlike the rest which are uniform chestnut.