A half-goblin to Castle Green

Part 7 of Doy of the Marshes

Doy slept that night at Kletós' place. He wasn't supposed to, but unlike the Heavenly Prince, the altar boy was devoted to the gods and considered compassion and being a good friend the chief virtue. It took the other boys to keep their mouths shut, trading the chance of being chastised for a small bit of adventure. There are little opportunities for that at the temple.

The good part was that, early in the morning, both boys could appear before Priest Erek. Doy's penny had been spent wisely. His bag had been enlarged with seven pieces of colorful candy, hard-tack bread, beans and salted pork. He was also wearing new sandals and a woolen vest over his tunic. In all, too much for what a brown penny could do, but not too much for a new friend's help.

Priest Erek gave Doy a new letter, closed in a sealed envelope, and said

“Kletós, your Hope, will you translate my instructions to the hwblin?” The official address for an altar boy was indeed 'your hope', but it was rarely used, much less coming from a higher priest.

“Yes, you are, your mercy, I'll be glad to.”

“Very well. Tell him to go to Castle Green and deliver my letter to the Prior”.

That wasn't an easy feat. Yes, Kletós knew just enough words to do a rough translation. Green Castle was easy, and the Prior could be the “count” of the place, but… what could that possibly mean for a foreigner who knew almost nothing of humans and their lands?

Indeed, Doy looked confused enough that Kletós offered to help him. “Your mercy, I could lead him to the right way.”

“No, Kletós, he has come all this way from the Western Swamps, he'll manage. You are dismissed.”

Oh boy, right then Kletós learned not only how much he had loved to follow Doy to his adventure, but all the way back to the Western Swamps if need be. Of course, that could not be, he was content to give a quarterpenny to a local goblin girl to translate the whole thing properly to Doy. What could possibly go wrong?