Heath's wine was gone for a while, when he had finally reached the gates of Paron. Five canteens of wine and a small gold pouch was his payment for escorting a wine merchant to his previous destination. Heath had agreed to escort another one of the wine merchant's friends, but took the wrong turn along the way to him, so now that plan was off. Now all he could hope for was to find some work in Paron.
Heath had visited the town a couple of times but never came in through this road. It was by no means comparable to the capital, Sharu, but a pleasant settlement, a crossroad of sorts. At least several roads from cities and towns around crossed here. Many people stopped here to replenish their supplies or spend a cozy, warm night.
The guardsmen did not spare a second glance as Heath went through the gate - for them he was yet another traveller seeking shelter as storm clouds were brewing and a rain would be upon the city come night, no doubt. The man turned his horse for a bigger street with white stone pavement. Heath knew that people called it the "Emperor's Way", as the street would eventually lead to the Large Gate which starts the road to the capital. After walking his horse along the Emperor's Way for some time, he eventually found the inn he was looking for. The Lion's Tooth it was called. One of the, if not the, most expensive inns in the town, but every wealthier traveller would spend their night there.
Heath left his horse in a stable nearby, where he got a small paper indicating that the horse was his and went inside the inn. This inn actually had its own wardens, one of them guarding the doors, not letting in common drunks and folk that their eye saw unfit to pay for a night here. Three days of road-drinking did not make Heath look a fitting candidate, so he already had his coin pouch in hand and waved it as he entered. The man probably barely fitted in their eyes as the guards let him pass after exchanging a couple of glances. Heath then went to a free table and sat, ordered a beer, food and a room for two nights. That cost him the whole coin pouch; a sad end to his savings, but Heath’s best shot at finding a well-paying job in Paron. The man then tried to listen to people talking around him, hoping to overhear something useful and hopefully find a way to earn some good coin from these wealthy travellers.

While Tobias had this gut feeling that he wasn’t going to stay here for long, it was not because he was expecting an invitation from the emperor. And while someone else might have followed up with the letter, because it had the royal seal, Tobias couldn’t stay without pondering. He knew that he was noticed, brothels were places where people learned most about the riches of the people. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise to Tobias, if some sort of thieves’ guild housed themselves beneath the very stones of the building. Tobias was vary because of this and didn’t fall to trust the letter in an instant.

He was pushed outside by the lady, because he had to be on his way already, to not miss these adventurers. Once outside, he took a good look around himself. He checked for every alleyway which he could use to run away if he is suddenly jumped by a few thugs. Killing a person on a road wasn’t as bad as killing one in the city. Cities have many eyes and someone would still learn, that it was you who killed this person. So running was the only option at this moment. But the weather wasn’t making it any better, for running on a slippery ground like that could’ve meant whether or not he would manage his escape.

No-one came out jumping on him, so he rushed between a few houses, into the darker alleyways, to hide from the rain and study the contents of the letter more thoroughly.

“If this is a legitimate calling, then I still have a day, because they aren’t going just yet, but this still doesn’t sound attractive at all. Offering us huge amounts of gold for our services? I didn’t know that the emperor did that. It’s as if it’s been written to sway me into going to this place, where I could get mugged. But the seal looks really well done. I can’t put my finger on why would someone go to such lengths just to invite me out to the open like this. This just doesn’t make sense! If they’re really traveling to Paron, they will have to meet me there.” Tobias rolled up the letter and got out back to the streets.

He knew the road from the capital to Paron pretty well, but he didn’t trust himself to manage to go there without a horse. He went to the stables, where he bought himself a horse for journey to the city north of the capital. With his new friend, a black mare, he rode out through one of the few gatehouses on the northeast of the Sharu. As he was walking through it, he looked at the intricate architecture of the gatehouse. This gatehouse was one of the three gatehouses that were unique. On both sides it had two huge dragon skulls, hanging and overlooking every person on the road to the gatehouse. The gatehouse itself was much narrower and taller than all others. “I should read up about this. I wonder who built this.”

The storm started around half an hour after Tobias had left the Sharu. He encouraged the mare to ride a little faster and put up a cloak on his head. It’s was going to be a few horrible and pretty difficult days for him and his steed, but he had to make sure, he was going to be able to get to Paron first, before the ‘adventurers’ did and keep an eye on the road while there. “If the letter turns out to be false, then I’ll figure things out in Paron. On the other hand, if the letter turns out to be true, then I will gladly join these adventurers. If an emperor is gathering up a group of adventurers, I think something grave is up. And the only thing that comes to mind at this point is…” he sighed. “Slysari.”

With those words, he once again encouraged his mare to ride even faster.