Journeys End

Journey’s End
Journey's end
By
Jan rohan
Jan Rohan Page 1 16/09/2015

Journey’s End
Chapter One.
It was nearly four years since Jack, George and the men that lived at Ronwin Hurtz managed to
defeat Davenour and Croyoden. Every thing was getting back to normal, the Inn that had been
rebuilt was having more visitors than ever, which meant that George, and his brother Jack, were
working harder than they ever were, they were even really happy about it too. They even had to
take on extra staff and have an extension built on to the back of the Inn. For the rest of the men
that had been a part of the defeat of Davenour and Croyoden, any visitor that came to the town was
asking them about the fight too.
The King and Queen of the country paid them a visit and invited them to their stately home and
gave them medals for bravery and services to the country. The rest of the village was awarded in
their own rights too. On their next visit to the Inn, the King gave George and Jack a certificate,
which said it met with the Royal Seal of Approval. Jack decided to go to the Inn for ale, on his way
there he noticed a couple of cloaked figures walking towards him, he thought he recognised them.
“Hello Jack, how are things going these days?” Said one of the cloaked figures.
“Staigo? Nice to see you again, we’re not in for more trouble are we?” Said Jack.
“No, not at all. Just thought we’d pay you a visit. How's George doing, hope things are all right at
the Inn?”
“They certainly are, George had to have an extension built about a year ago, and he's extended the
kitchen, plus more staff. We've had quite a lot of visitors since you left, and there's been no sign of
any let up. We seem to have become quite popular.” Said Jack.
“That is good news, Emberdean was wondering if you managed to get any customers since this one
had been rebuilt.” Said Staigo.
“Once word got out that we had reopened they started coming. Are you on your way there now?”
Said Jack.
“We are. I hope the service is as good as it was before.” All three walked to the Travellers Arms
chatting away like they had never gone away. When they entered the Inn, the two travellers kept
their hoods up and approached the bar, George was working behind the bar he was about to tell the
two to get out of the Inn when Staigo and Paltrow took the hoods off their heads, he was really
pleased to see them.
“Staigo, Paltrow, welcome! Welcome to the new and improved Travellers Arms! What would you
like? The ale's are just as good as the last time that you were here, if not better.” He said.
“We would love some, and have you any rooms? Jack told us that you had been really busy of late.”
Said Paltrow.
“You just wouldn't believe how busy. Would you like a meal? I’m sure we can rustle up a banquet
for you. Most weeks we haven't got any rooms left, if I'd known you we're coming I would have
saved you a room.” Said George.
“No room at the Inn? Never mind, I’m sure we can make other arrangements. A meal would be
quite welcome after our long journey, have you a menu so we can chose?” Said Staigo. George
passed him a menu, then served the ales to them and Jack. Just as they were about to drink the
ales, some one tapped Paltrow on the shoulder.
“Aren’t you the guys that helped beat Davenour and Croyoden and saved the whole of this country?
Wow! I’m honoured to meet you, Sirs. I’m Anthony, and I live in a village not far from here in
Dithering Dell. The people there really appreciate what you did too, they will be really jealous and
excited when I tell them that I met you. Are you staying here tonight?” Said the man.
“Unfortunately not, George hasn’t any rooms left, we are going to have to make other
arrangements.” Said Paltrow.
“Mr. Scrummpy, are you sure you haven’t a room left for these two heroes’?” Said Anthony.
“If I say I’m full, I’m full. I don’t need you to tell me what to do.” George checked where he kept the
keys, and the book he kept with those who had checked in. He went through the book, and found
that he had got three rooms that were empty.
"Your in luck, I do have a couple of rooms empty, I thought I was still full, some people must have
checked out. Two of them have two single beds and the other just has the one. Would you like the
single room Mr, err, what's your surname?" Said George.
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"Oh, that would be great. The name is Anthony Delross, the room sounds fine and I'll be staying for
about a week if that's possible?" Said Anthony. George got him to sign in while he offered Paltrow
and Staigo the other two rooms, they told him they'd have the one. After they all signed in, Paltrow,
Staigo and Jack ordered something to eat and sat at a nearby table. Anthony followed them and
joined them at the same table.
“Are you here for business again?” Said Anthony.
“Well, no we're here for pleasure this time, hopefully.” Said Paltrow.
“I'm here for pleasure too. It's always a pleasure to come here, this Inn was highly recommended by
a friend of mine before it was burned out the last time. I stayed here a few months before it was,
and now that it's been rebuilt, well what can I say? It seems even better, doesn't it? What do you
think?” Said Anthony, chatting away as if he'd known them for years.
“I'm going to see if my meal is nearly ready and get another drink, bye.” Said Paltrow. He got up
and walked over to the bar and asked for another ale, while talking to Staigo. Jack was sitting there,
listening shaking his head, he couldn't believe the guy was sitting there talking to them as though
he'd known them for years. It wasn't long before the meals for Paltrow and Staigo were brought
out, they sat at a different table, Jack excused himself and joined them, leaving Anthony to sit on
his own. Anthony looked around the room to see if any of his friends that had accompanied him on
his journey had come back to the Inn yet, they hadn't, he got up from the table and decided to go
looking for them. Paltrow and Staigo breathed a sigh of relief when they saw him leave.
“Thank heavens for that, I thought that he was going to be following us around forever then, I
didn't want him behind us all the time.” Said Paltrow, relieved the man had gone.
“Me too, I came here to get away from people like that. His relatives don't live near us do they?”
Said Staigo laughing, with a big grin on his face Paltrow carried on with his meal without saying a
word. Jack was sitting there laughing and tried not to choke on his drink.
“I hope he's not staying longer than a week.” Said Jack, “I don't think I could take more than that,
especially with you two.”
“What about us two? You want us to go back home now?” Said Paltrow.
"No, nothing like that, it's just when you come across people like him you seem to go crazy." Said
Jack.
"People like that send me crazy, that's why." Said Paltrow pulling a face, "By the way, Elronda,
Christo and Alfedo and all their men send their best, they're hoping to come back soon to make
sure there's been no more trouble in the area. They weren’t too sure if they got rid of all those
demons and minions."
"I haven't heard of any one having any trouble in the area. I can only assume they have been, but
that don't mean there isn't any around. I haven't seen any myself but then I haven't really been
looking. I've been in and out of here helping George a lot, even though he's got the extra staff,
there's nothing like family helping out." Said Jack.
"That's true. As far as you know, there have been no sightings of any of those things we fought?"
Said Staigo.
"As far as I know, there hasn't been. Nothings got back here by messenger or letter from anywhere.
Every things been really quiet, apart from us being busy, of course." Said Jack, "I hope it stays like
it too." A faint memory of what happened before came to him, he felt a cold shiver run down his
back.
"Any way, what brings you two here? I know lot's of people come here for either a break or to visit
some one in town, the last time you were here it wasn't exactly good news that came with you, or
followed you." Said Jack.
"We are here for our pleasure." Said Paltrow, "This meal certainly contributes to it, too. I've never
in my whole life tasted any meal as good as at this Inn. Have your cooks learnt how to cook now?"
he said, laughing, and ducking when Jack raised his hand as though to hit him, "Don't get me
wrong, they could cook before. You must have got rid of the other staff that you had. Have you
changed the staff? Seriously, I need to know I can't believe what I'm eating here. This is
impressive." Staigo was inclined to agree with Paltrow, the food was a lot better than it was before.
"We have made a few staff changes. Mainly because we lost several good people before, some of the
cooks came with us and they were either killed or couldn't work again. Their sons have taken over
where they left off, they told me that their fathers trained them at home well before. Look, I've got
some things to do, I will come and see you later." Said Jack, getting up and excusing himself. He

Journey’s End
didn't really want to talk about what happened a few years ago. Even now, after every thing was
settled, he still felt bitter about loosing all the good men that had helped in getting rid of Davenour
and Croyoden.
Making his way out of the Inn, he walked towards the Town Square and stood in front of the
Memorial that Alberto Latimere had donated and had placed there. There had been too many
people that had given their lives then to go on the towering Memorial.
The main inscription read:
‘To the living memory of all those who
Fought in battles to save all our lives.
Many fought and many never came back.
We knew them all and knew them well.
We thank them all.’
Jack took a deep breath, he sighed while holding back tears he couldn’t shed, and then walked back
to his home. Unlocking the door, he walked through to his kitchen, intent on making himself some
food. Instead, he just poured himself a glass of wine, taking the bottle with him he walked through
to his living room, sat down and drank the whole bottle. He was drunk by the time he'd finished it
and fell to sleep where he sat.
Paltrow and Staigo stayed at the Travellers Arms till later that evening, then took the short walk up
to Jacks home to see him. Walking up the path then knocking on the door, they waited a while for
him to answer. As there wasn't any, they knocked again, louder, just in case he hadn't heard them,
there still wasn't any answer.
“Do you think he's all right?” Said Staigo.
“He seemed all right earlier. Better try the door again.” Said Paltrow, knocking again. There was
still no answer, he tried the door to see if it was unlocked, the door opened and they stepped inside
calling his name. They walked through the house checking the library then the bedroom he wasn't
there. They entered the living room and found him sleeping on the settee, looking pale.
Approaching him they tried to wake him, he wouldn't move, Paltrow checked his breathing, which
was rather slow.
"He doesn't sound too good. His breathing is rather shallow, what has he done now?" He said,
looking around and finding an empty bottle on the floor, "I think he's had too much wine and got
drunk. He never had anything to eat while he was with us and it doesn't look as though he had any
thing when he got back either."
"What does he think he's doing? I think when we turned up, it may have triggered the memories of
when we were here before." Said Staigo. Jack stirred and opened his eyes and thought he was under
attack by some one else, and started thrashing about hitting Paltrow hard.
"Jack! Jack it's us, Staigo and Paltrow." Said Staigo, helping Paltrow up and pulling him out of the
way of Jack. As Jack tried to get up off the chair to hit out again, he fell and landed heavily on the
floor, and rolled over in pain. The two men helped him back up and sat him on the chair he came
off. Nursing his arm, Jack moaned aloud and told them to get out, he didn't want demons in his
house.
"What are you talking about, Jack? It's us, Paltrow and Staigo." Said Paltrow.
"Get out of my home demons, before I take my sword to you." Said Jack. He was still suffering the
effects of the wine he had drunk earlier.
"Have you eaten today, Jack?" Said Paltrow, Jack waved his arms around again, and nearly hit
Paltrow again.
"We haven't got our things with us, go and see if he's got anything in his kitchen that will help him,
if not we'll have to go and get something for him." Said Staigo. Paltrow got up and entered the
kitchen and started to look around. There wasn't any food anywhere, just empty bottles of wine and
a sink full of dirty plates. Paltrow went back into the living room and said he would have to go and
get some food and their things, as there was nothing in the kitchen.
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"Will you be alright with him till I get back? I won't be to long." Said Paltrow.
"I should think I will, I don't think he'll start up while you’re gone." Said Staigo.
Paltrow left the house and hurried to the Travellers Arms and got his bag, then walked to one of the
local stores to get some food that would be needed when he got back. After picking up several other
items, he hurried back to Jacks home and walked inside. As he entered the living room, Jack was
trying to sit up, still telling the demons to get out of his house. Paltrow told Staigo to follow him to
the kitchen, between them they made him something to eat and made some thing with what they
had to help sober him up. While the meal was cooking, they took the potion through and sat on the
seat next to Jack. Staigo tried to wake him up properly while Paltrow held the potion ready it to
give him. Jack groaned as he stirred, he opened his eyes and looked at the two men.
"Demons! Get out of here. No! Demons get out!" he said.
"Jack, where are the demons? We’re here to help you." Said Paltrow, Jack pointed at Staigo and
himself.
"Looks like the drink he's had has made him see things." Said Paltrow, "Try and give him the potion
while I hold him." He said as he passed him the bottle. Paltrow grabbed hold of Jack as Staigo had
the bottle and held onto his mouth, pouring the potion into Jack, they had another fight on their
hands as he started struggling with them, then they moved away from him as quick as they could.
"Have a look to see if that meal is ready for Jack yet would you Staigo?" Said Paltrow as he watched
Jack slide back down on the seat. He seemed to go into a deep sleep for the time being, while Staigo
walked into the kitchen to check the food had cooked.
An hour later, Jack woke up with quite a bad hangover. Looking at Paltrow and Staigo, he didn't
know how long they had been there, or why they were there.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were staying at the Inn, it's getting really late." Said Jack
as he sat up, "Oh, my head! What happened?"
"Don't you remember Jack?" Said Paltrow.
"No, I came home after looking at something, and had a drink, I think. And fell asleep, that's all I
remember." Said Jack.
"Don't you remember us coming here, or giving you something to drink?" Said Paltrow.
"No, should I?" Said Jack shaking his head slightly as it still throbbed.
"So, you don't remember calling us demons? You must have been well drunk. When was the last
time you ate any thing, by the look of your kitchen, it must be a while." Said Paltrow.
“I can't remember, I think I had some thing this morning.” Said Jack scratching his head, “I feel as
though I've been in a fight.” He got up off the sofa and started to walk through to the bathroom, he
started wobbling and almost fell over another chair, grabbing hold of it to steady himself. Staigo
came out of the kitchen with the food he'd prepared, and asked him if he was ready to eat, Jack
took one look at it and ran for the bathroom as quick as he could and spent the next few minutes
hovering over the toilet.
“Do you think he's going to be all right?” Said Staigo.
“I doubt it, looks like we're going to have to play nursemaid for a while.” Said Paltrow. A few
minutes later Jack came back out of the bathroom, and was asked again if he wanted to eat the
food, Jack sat at the table and started picking at the food in front of him, only eating a little at a
time.
“Jack? Are you all right?” Said Staigo.
“Yes, I just don't feel like eating really.” He said.
“You can't be ill again surely, what about you're drinking? What were you seeing earlier when we
came in?” Said Paltrow.
“No, I'm not ill; I don't know what's causing it. I don't normally get drunk on one bottle of wine.”
Said Jack.
“But what about when we got here, you kept going on about demons.” Said Paltrow.
“Demons? I've no idea. I haven't seen any.” Said Jack.
“Are you sure? Only you were pointing at us and telling demons to get out.”
“That's a new one. Are you sure that I was doing that?” He said putting his fork down and pushing
his plate away. Paltrow and Staigo sat at the table with him.
“Please eat some more, Jack. You've got to keep your strength up. What's done is done, there
shouldn't be any more demons, I'm sure we took care of them all before.” Said Staigo.
“Did anyone check all the area? If there are any still out there we won't know about it.” Said Jack.

Journey’s End
“If any one would be able to, you should, I think you would have known if there are any. Has
George had any visions lately?” Said Staigo.
“I don't know, we've spoken, but not about the trouble we had back then.” Said Jack. He started
playing with the food on the plate again he was looking thoughtful. He got up and started walking
round the living room rubbing his head, he still had the hangover.
“Jack, do you want help to tidy this place up? You've let this place go.” Said Staigo. Jack shook his
head, and carried on walking around, then wondered off into his bedroom and sat on his bed with
his back against the wall. He felt tired, and wanted to sleep but felt it would be a waste of time.
Getting up again and walking through the rest of his house, then into the library. Slowly going
around the room, looking at his books and files he didn't know what to do, he felt lost for the first
time in months. Paltrow and Staigo followed him into the library, and watched him, to them he
looked as though he was in pain. Stepping into the hallway and beckoning Paltrow, Staigo looked
worried.
“There's definitely something wrong with Jack. I think he has been having visions again and not
told anyone, I don't know why he hasn't told us, he would normally.” Said Staigo.
“What makes you think he has? Apart from him being drunk earlier when we weren’t here, he could
just be suffering from something else.” Said Paltrow.
“Like what? I don't think he's usually like this. There must be something...” Some thing falling in
the room got Paltrow and Staigo rushing in a hurry to the library, where they found Jack sprawled
on the floor.
“Told you there was something wrong with him.” Said Staigo as they both approached him and
tried to wake him up, “Help me get him back to the settee in the other room.” They picked him up
and took him to the living room and placed him on the settee.
“I hope that wasn't a reaction to the potion that we gave him.” Said Staigo.
“I doubt it, don't forget, we've used them on him before and they helped.” Said Paltrow “I've put a
second one in my bag get it for me in case it's needed, will you?”
“Ok, but try waking him first, or wait till he comes round before you use it.” Said Staigo as he
helped to put Jack down then got the potion out of the bag.
While they were waiting for Jack to come around there was a knock at the door, Paltrow answered
it, and on opening the door George was waiting to be let in.
“I didn't know you came to see Jack? How come he never answered the door?” He said.
“He's out at the moment, out cold.” Said Paltrow.
“What? Not again...” Said George rushing past Paltrow “Where is he?”
“We've taken him into the living room.” Said Paltrow following him.
“How long has he been out?” Said George.
“Not long, a few minutes. He collapsed or fell in his library.” Said Paltrow, he stood behind George
while he was near the settee looking at Jack.
“Same as last time.” Said George. Staigo and Paltrow looked at each other and then George.
“Last time? How many times has this happened then?” Said Staigo.
“I've lost count to be honest, at a rough guess I'd say about seven or eight times.” Said George,
“That's why I'm here now, I know he hasn't really been taking care of himself since every one left.”
“When we arrived here, we couldn't get any answer, we came in to find Jack sleeping on there, and
I think he'd been drinking, wine possibly.” Said Paltrow.
“Has he eaten here?” Said George.
“I cooked him something, but he didn't eat much of it.” Said Staigo, “We were going to help him
tidy this place up, we had no answer, he just started to walk around aimlessly.” Just then Jack sat
up screaming loudly, making the three men jump; he started thrashing around again as if he was
fighting some thing invisible.
“Demons! Demons get out, get out, get out.” He started shouting “Aarrgh, no, no! Don't kill me,
don't!” Then flopped back down onto the seat, sweat was pouring off his face.
“He was like this earlier, only he thought that we were the demons.” Said Staigo “Did he do this
before?”
“No, well, last time it was Shadow’s. There is definitely some thing wrong with him, only he won't
admit it.” Said George, “I’ve tried to persuade him to stay with me for a while, but he won’t. I’ve had
the healers over here to look at him, I’ve even taken him over to the buildings, and they can't find
any thing wrong with him. Why I don't know.” Staigo, Paltrow and George stayed with Jack, sitting
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on the seats around the room, keeping a watchful eye on Jack. Paltrow started feeling sleepy, and
dozed off where he sat, and started dreaming of Davenour, Croyoden and demons, the fights, and
the Travellers Arms burning. In his dream one of the demons attacked and almost killed him, he
woke up with a start and pulled his sword out to strike. Staigo and George jumped up and stepped
out the way as it looked like they were going to get hit.
“Paltrow.” Both the men shouted together, as he was standing in front of them breathing heavily,
sword in his hand, and his face glistening with sweat. Paltrow fell to his knees, and sat back on the
floor.
“I think something is here.” Said Paltrow, “Dreams of when we were here before, fighting demons,
Davenour, Croyoden. Some thing is causing the dreams.”
“How can that be?” Said Staigo.
“There's possibly some thing connected, from before, causing this to happen. George, have you any
thing that can reveal what ever is around here?” Said Paltrow.
“I haven't, but Jack should still have the staff here. Where he’s put it I don't know. What do you
thinks happening?” Said George.
“Remember the Shadow’s we were fighting before? I've got a feeling that some thing similar is
happening now. Possibly something invisible here is causing Jack to be this way, bad dreams, or
something controlling them.” Said Paltrow.
“Wake Jack up, he’s probably having a similar dream. We must get him to find the staff.” Said
Paltrow, “There must be some thing around that’s triggering these dreams. I haven’t had dreams
like that before I arrived at Ronwin Hurtz when we managed to defeat Davenour and Croyoden.
Every thing was getting back to normal, the Inn that had been rebuilt, everyone was getting on with
their lives.”
George and Staigo tried to wake Jack up, it proved a little difficult at first, and then he woke up
with a start.
“What? What’s going on? I was having the most wonderful dream. But…” said Jack, “You look a bit
worried, what’s wrong?”
“Paltrow woke up after having some sort of bad dream. He’s got an idea that there’s some thing
going on.” Said Staigo, “We need your staff to find out if there is any thing here.”
"We think there is something causing these dreams. I’ve found you out cold a few times, and you
collapsed in your library not so long ago. There must be something behind it, the Healers can't find
any thing wrong with you so it must be something else.” Said George. Jack got up and walked
through to his bedroom to find the keys to the doors in the hallway and found them, then
approached the doors, opening first the one then the other. The staff wasn’t in either of the small
rooms, then he remembered, he’d put them into one of his secret places. He closed and re-locked
both the doors and found his secret entrance and disappeared. A few minutes later he came out
with the staff in his hand, the crystal that he’d left in it started glowing fiercely as he walked
through his home.
“That answers the question, there is something around here.” Said George, “He never seems to
keep a check on things like he said he would.” He said as the staff took on a brilliant white hue.
“Shalambar Soondred!” Said Jack, as the staff sparked and shot out bolts out all around the room,
hitting several ghostly figures, which disintegrated as the bolts hit them. Staigo and Paltrow ducked
as the staff spread them all around the room.
“My God! I didn't know there were so many!” Said Paltrow, getting back up, “Don't look like we will
be having any more problems with those any more. Any idea what they were Staigo?”
“Never seen any thing like them before. I wished that one of them could have been saved to find out
some information about them and who sent them or where they came from.” Said Staigo, picking
himself up off the floor, Jack was startled at this and was wondering what was going on.
“Now I know why you were acting like you were, I won’t need to worry so much.” Said George, “At
least they've been dealt with, I hope there’s no more around making people have the same sort of
dreams.”
“There's no way of knowing that, we can't see what people are dreaming.” Said Staigo, “Jack, I
think you'd better get some of your crystals out and leave them lying around just in case they come
back, or more come.”
“I think I will, what about the rest of the town? Would that spell work on all the buildings that you
used on the Travellers Arms to stop Davenour and Croyoden getting out.” Said Paltrow.

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“I've no idea, it might not work. It’s only meant to work on one building at a time, and only if you’re
trying to stop people from taking over.” Said Jack.
“What about the whole area? Have you got any thing for that?” Said Paltrow.
“I’d have to check. What we could do is have some powder sprinkled all over the town and see what
happens.” Said Jack.
“Have you got any thing that would do the trick?” Said George, “Sounds like a good idea, what ever
you do. I trust you when it comes to things like this.”
“I don’t think I have, I’ll have to go round to the shop that Will owns and find out if he’s had any
new things come in recently. I can’t do it now as he’ll be closed, I’ll go in the morning.” Said Jack.
“Come round to the Inn, I’ll give you a meal to make sure you’ve eaten. Come on, after what’s
happened today, I want to keep an eye on you.” Said George, “And bring your staff with you, I want
to know if there’s any hanging around there.” Jack told him to wait awhile while he went around
the rest of his home making sure there was no more of the ghosts. They all got together and left,
Jack locking up behind him, and headed for the Travellers Arms. Before they had even entered the
building, the crystal in the staff had started glowing.
“Looks like there are more of them, if not the ghosts then some thing else.” Said Paltrow to Jack
when he noticed it.
“Looks like I’ll have to get a potion of some sort together, and a spell, to find out what’s around
here. The crystal in this staff will only show when there’s any thing of any nature around.” When
they entered the Inn the staff there wondered why Jack had his staff with him, but never asked as
the crystal was glowing brightly. Donno came over to them.
“Good evening, Jack, Paltrow, Staigo, George, would you like some ale?” He said.
“Yes we would, bring them over to the table over in the corner, please, would you Donno?” Said
George, as they walked through the room, Donno walked over to the bar to get the ales, then took
them to the table.
“Will there be any thing else?” he asked.
“Oh, yes would you order four of the chef’s specials too. I’ll pay for them in a while.” Said George,
“When we’ve eaten, the bar is going to have to be cleared of the people, I’m going to have to put a
spell on this building again, to keep these things in.” Said Jack.
“Hey, I don't want this Inn going up in flames again!” Said George.
“Don’t worry, it won’t go up in flames, I’m just putting a spell on it to stop those things, what ever
they are this time from going out. I’ll use the staff to be rid of them like I did at my home.” Said
Jack.
“Are you sure? Last time you used it the whole place was lost.” Said George.
“Of course. Last time I had something in the cellar.” Said Jack smiling at him. When Donno
brought the meals out he asked him to get three of the men to stand at the door and not let any
more people in, to tell them they were closing up early.
Chapter Two.
Once the Inn was empty, George locked up for the night, and made sure that none of the people
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were staying were able to come down stairs. The crystal in the staff was still glowing, though not as
brightly as before, Jack had to walk around the Inn to see where it shone the brightest. Going up
the stairs, the staff started shining brighter as he walked down one of the hallways. Realising that
most of them had followed the guests upstairs he held the Staff aloft.
“Shalambar Soondred!” Said Jack in a loud voice, hoping that he wouldn't wake who ever was in
the rooms sleeping. As the staff glowed brightly and showed up the ghosts that were there then shot
bolts at all of them. Going back down stairs he saw some of the ghosts still walking around, and the
staff was glowing again.
“Shalambar Soondred.” Said Jack again, holding the staff aloft again. This time it didn’t work, they
were still walking around the room, and they were looking more solid than they were before.
“It’s not working this time, try some thing else.” Said Staigo.
“Don’t blow the place up while you’re doing it.” Said George, as Jack came back down the stairs and
raising the staff.
“Dracaena Blazoon” Said Jack, as lightening bolts shot out every where hitting all the ghostly
figures, making them explode where they were. Finally, the Inn was emptied of them, and they all
breathed a sigh of relief, especially George, as the Inn never caught fire.
“I hope that's it.” Said Staigo, looking around the room, Jack looked at the crystal in the staff, it
wasn't glowing any more.
“The crystal doesn't show any thing in here any more, I can assume its safe now.” Said Jack, “I’ll
still have to go round the town tomorrow and make sure that there's none around. Just because
there's none here, don’t mean there's none around any where.”
“Looks like I can shut up shop properly now.” Said George, going around putting off most of the
lights, “Jack, will you get four ales for us all, and we’ll have them in my quarters. Paltrow, Staigo,
your welcome in there too.”
“Why, thank you, George. I’ll go and put the lights on for you.” Said Paltrow, as he walked to the
door near the bar and opened the door. There was a warm glow coming from the fire, as he turned
on the lights, behind him Staigo followed him into the room. A few minutes later, Jack and George
came into the room, Jack placed the tray of drinks on the table and grabbed one for him self then
sat down on a chair near the fire. The others grabbed theirs and sat around the room, George was
feeling tired, he managed to keep himself awake to drink his ale.
“I wonder where all those ghostly figures are coming from?” Said Jack, “I’ve never seen so many. I
know it can’t be Davenour and Croyoden's work.”
“I doubt if it's the men that were killed. We would know.” Said Paltrow, drinking some of the ale
“How are we going to find out where they came from?”
“I thought ghosts were ghosts, and they moved around the area where they died or some thing like
that. They don’t normally make them selves seen.” Said George.
“They normally are. I haven't known anything like this before.” Said Staigo.
“They must be coming from some where. Do you think any one could be behind them?” Said Jack,
sipping his drink.
“I don't think so.” Said Paltrow, thoughtfully, “Wasn't there an incident some time back, either
before Davenour, or not long after he was exiled?”
“I think your right, there was, but it wasn't their doing. I can't remember who was behind it now.”
Said Staigo, “I’d have to check with Emberdean.”
“Right, shall we do it now or in the morning?” Said Paltrow.
“In the morning, it's getting late. Think I'll go to bed, you coming up too?” Said Staigo, finishing off
his ale.
“Your right it is late, just let me finish my ale and I'll be with you.” Said Paltrow, “We’ll contact
Emberdean in the morning, and let you know what's going on if we can. Goodnight, we’ll see you in
the morning.” He said looking at George and Jack, George got up and took them to the door to the
bar, and watched them walk up the stairs, and then he went back to finishing his ale.
“There’s a bed through there for you to spend the night, I’ve locked up every where now so you’ve
got no choice but to stay the night, ok.” Said George.
“That’s fine, I don't mind. It’s about time I spent time with my brother. Thanks George.” Said Jack
finishing his drink and getting up, “Where’s the other bedroom?”
“Come with me, I’ll show you.” Said George opening the door near the corner and going through
with Jack following him. At the end of the hallway he opened another door and walked in.

Journey’s End
“There you go, Jack. Ready and waiting, free lodgings for the night for my brother.” He said.
“Wow! Would you look at this room! It’s fantastic.” Said Jack, “Is this what that guy and his men
did? What was his name now?”
“Alberto Latimere.” Said George.
“That’s it, Alberto Latimere. He’s certainly knows how to put things together, doesn’t he? Thanks
for letting me stay the night, George, I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight.” Said Jack. They gave
each other a hug and George left to go to his own room, sighing as he walked down the hallway. He
now felt relief as he knew what had been happening to his brother.
After a goodnights sleep, George woke bright and early and started making preparations in the bar,
and kitchen, ready for when the staff came in. Not long after some of the staff started to arrive, to
start preparing the breakfasts, some of them were looking as though they never got a good nights
rest at all. George went back to the bar, Jack was up and was over by the fireplace cleaning it out
and getting it ready to make another fire.
“Good morning George.” He said.
“Good morning Jack, did you sleep well?” Said George.
“To well. I must admit that bed and room were really comfortable.” Said Jack.
“Pleased to hear it, the staff is just arriving now, if you want some breakfast it won't be long.” Said
George, “Need a hand with that?”
“I'll be fine, I don’t mind doing it, thanks.” Said Jack carrying on with putting the logs in the
hearth. It wasn’t long before Staigo and Paltrow came down stairs, by this time George had a
selection of hot drinks on a table near the stairs. The two men sat near the fire place with their
drinks, Jack called to them then went to get cleaned up, it was a dirty job getting the fire going.
Soon he could smell the food cooking and couldn’t wait for breakfast to be brought out, he went
over and sat with the two men while they waited.
“What have you two got planned for today?” Said Jack, “I know you've only come for a pleasure
visit.”
“We haven’t contacted Emberdean yet, we’ll be doing that after breakfast. After that we’ve nothing
planned yet, have we Staigo?” Said Paltrow.
“Not yet, depends on what Emberdean says. If there has been a reoccurrence, we’ll be making more
plans then.” Said Staigo. While the three men were talking, waiters were starting bringing out food
and placing it on the table near the hot drinks, some of them going back and coming back with
cutlery and plates, putting them one end of the table.
“Looks like we can get started, let’s get in before the others guests come down.” Said Jack getting
up and making for the table. Being one of the first down stairs, they could get what ever they
wanted instead of what was left, then sat back at the table and really enjoyed the morning meal.
Laughing and joking as they ate. Soon, the rest of the guests started coming down stairs, two at a
time, and the room started filling up, and the food was soon almost gone. One of the waiters came
through and checked the table then went back into the kitchen to get some more food to put on the
table. Thirty minutes later, the table was empty and people started going about their business
around the town. One of the guests went back up stairs to get something from his room, and just
happened to look into one of the rooms on his way past, he stood still looking in horror at what he
saw inside and let out a yell. Jack, Paltrow and Staigo rushed up stairs, George was behind the bar
and soon followed them up. Jack stopped suddenly in the doorway, what met his eyes wasn’t a
pretty sight. The other three were right behind him and he was pushed into the room.
“What the...?” Said Paltrow, as he managed to get past Jack. Staigo and George stood behind them.
The room was a mess and the people that were staying there were dead. Looking around the room,
there was no sign of forced entry, the two bodies were on the floor one near the bed and one by the
window.
“Better get the doctor, I know they are dead, but he may find a cause of death.” Said Paltrow, as he
went over to check the bodies, “It don’t look like there’s any marks on them they may have died in
their sleep.” George went over for a closer look and couldn't see any marks on them either.
“I’ll go and get the doctor, can you make sure that no one comes into this room. I hope this doesn’t
affect the business. Jack, go and get the spare key for this room and lock it till I come back.” Said
George, as he went back towards the door. Staigo and Paltrow headed out the door followed by
Jack and George, closing the door behind them. By the time they came out of the room, there were
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quite a few people in the hallway wanting to know what was going on.
“Staigo, Paltrow, can you make sure that no one else goes in there please? I won't be long.” Said
George, “Ok, people lets have you all on your way down stairs please, there’s nothing to look at. Go
about your business.” He said as he ushered the people that had gathered in the hallway down
stairs. They all asked George what had happened and when, as he didn’t know he told them to just
go about their routine, or leave the building. Jack went down to the bar and got the spare keys from
behind the bar, then went back to lock the door of the room. Paltrow and Staigo decided to go back
down stairs as the door was locked this time they sat near the bottom of the stairs so that they
could see the room.
George hurried as fast as he could to the doctor’s home, which was almost on the edge of the town.
Running up to the door, he kept banging on the door till the doctor opened it and almost hit his
face.
“George, what’s up? Nothings happened to Jack has it?” George was still breathless while he tried
to tell him, shaking his head he tried to tell him what had happened.
“I'm going to lose the business, this time for sure. Two people were found dead in one of the rooms,
there’s no marks on them. I need you to come right away.” Said George, “Get your bag or what ever
it is you need, and come quickly.”
“Ok, calm down, I'll get my things.” The doctor went back inside, got his bag then walked back
down the street with George. He started shaking on the way back, worried in case the Inn got a bad
name because of what had happened. Within a few minutes they were at the Inn and George
showed him up to the room, he had to call Jack up to unlock the door. Jack got one of the staff to
cover the bar while he went up to George and the doctor, and let them in. On opening the door the
room was tidy and the bodies wasn't in the room. Jack and George stood there looking at each
other then the doctor.
“Well? Where are the bodies?” Said the doctor.
“They should be here! Has anyone been in the room, Jack?” Said George looking at Jack.
“The room was locked, I locked it myself no one should have been able to get in. The bodies should
be still here.” Said Jack, he went back to the top of the stairs and called Paltrow and Staigo up.
“Has anyone been near this room?” He asked them when they got there.
“We never saw anyone go near it. We’ve been watching the door all morning, is there anything
wrong?” Said Paltrow, as they came to the room where the others were.
“The bodies have gone, that’s what's wrong.” Said Jack, going over to George, “Are you sure no ones
been in here?” Paltrow and Staigo were puzzled as they entered the room, it was tidy and there
were no sign of the two bodies.
“Where are the bodies then? If they are dead they should still be here.” Said the doctor, “Looks to
me like there wasn't any thing here. I’m going back home, it doesn't look like I'm needed here. Try
not to waste my time again, George.” Said the doctor looking at George as though he didn’t believe
him.
“But doc, they were here, I’m not making it up.” Said George, “Really, they were in this room.” He
followed the doctor out of the room and down the stairs protesting loudly that there were two dead
people in the room.
“All right, when you find them, call me. Until then, leave it.” Said the doctor, walking out the door.
Every one that was in the bar at the time, sat there looking at him questioningly.
“What are you looking at? Get about your business now.” Said George, he could feel himself getting
angry, instead of going back up stairs to the others he went through to his quarters to cool off. He
went through the living room and into the kitchen and stopped in his tracks. The two bodies were
in the middle of his kitchen. He rushed back to the door and shouted the three men to get there
quick. Jack, Paltrow and Staigo rushed downstairs to George, and he took them through to the
kitchen.
“Guess where those bodies are? Some one has put them in my kitchen. How the heck they were
able to do that I’ve no idea.” Said George as he took them through.
“What on earth? They should be still in that room up stairs, right, we’ll stay here Paltrow, Staigo, go
and get the doctor back we'll stay here this time and make sure that they don't go any where this
time.” Said Jack, Paltrow and Staigo left the Travellers Arms and went after the doctor, he hadn’t
gone far they caught up with him in no time at all, and got him to come back to the Inn. He stood

Journey’s End
there protesting for a while then agreed to follow them back to the Inn. They entered the Inn and
the two men took him through to George's quarters, this time the two bodies where still there.
“Obviously this isn’t where they were, but they are now. Is this the condition they were in when you
first found them?” said the doctor.
“Yes they were. Thing that I don’t get is how the heck they got here in the time that it took me to get
to your home and back here I don’t know.” Said George, as the doctor got down on one knee and
started checking them there and then.
“Looks like they died in their sleep.” Said the doctor.
“Thing is, doc, both of them were on the floor in the room. They wasn’t discovered till this
morning.” Said George.
“Sounds like they had both got out of bed or fell out, do you think they were trying to get away from
something?” Said the doctor.
“It's possible.” Said George, “We had a bit of trouble here last night.”
“What sort? Your guests wasn't fighting were they?” Said the doctor.
“Nothing like that, if any start fighting, they get put out straight away. We think it may have
something to do with some ghosts that were in here last night.” Said George.
“What? Ghosts? They don't fight they just walk around the area and don't bother any one.” Said the
doctor, “You're expecting me to believe that they ‘killed’ these two people?” said the doctor.
“No, it’s just, well it’s too hard to explain right now.” Said George. The doctor stood up, looked at
George and shook his head.
“Right, now that the bodies have turned up, I’ll have them taken over to one of the healing
buildings so I can find out what they died from, if I can.” Said the doctor, “Have you any one here
that can help me with the bodies to the building?”
“Sure, I’ll just get some of the staff to come through to give you a hand.” Said George, he walked
through to the bar then the kitchen asking two of the staff from both area's to go to his quarters to
the doctor and help him take the bodies that were there to the healing building for him. Jack,
Paltrow and Staigo waited in his living room while he looked at them.
Just as the staff walked into George's quarter's the two bodies disappeared right in front of the
doctor, George and the four men.
“What's going on? Where have they gone, things don’t just disappear.” Said the doctor, almost
falling out the door of the kitchen.
“What on earth?” said George. Jack, Paltrow and Staigo rushed through to the kitchen bumping
into the doctor.
“What's going on, where are the bodies?” Said Jack.
“They've just disappeared into thin air.” Said George, “There definitely must be some thing going
on that we don't know about. Dead bodies just don't disappear.”
“I... I'm getting out of here.” Said the doctor, “Get out of my way get out of the way, all of you. You
find any more dead bodies lying around, get some one else to come here.” He said rushing out the
Inn.
“Looks like you’re going to have to call your friend, find out if it’s been happening where he is.” Said
Jack looking at Paltrow, "First ghosts around, now bodies that can disappear! This is not normal.
Some one has to be behind this."
“Your right, I haven’t had a chance to contact Emberdean yet. I’ll do it now, come on Staigo, you
can help explain.” Said Paltrow, “You too, Jack. George, I think you better sit down with a hot drink
or something, I’ll get one of your waiters to come through with some thing, alright?” George stood
there, looking shocked at what just happened. He’d seen things in his life that would curl any
body’s hair and toes, but nothing like this. Jack approached George and helped him over to the
settee in his living room.
“Sit down, George, take half an hour, I should be back down soon. Are you going to be all right?”
Said Jack.
“I... I don't know, this sort of thing has never happened around me before.” Said George, “Bodies
disappearing then reappearing, then disappearing again.” The four men that had come through to
help take the bodies out were still stood around totally astounded at what had happened.
“What just happened?” Said Albert.
“Don't ask me that was the weirdest thing that I ever saw.” Said Frank. George realised that the
four men were still there, and told them to get back to work and forget about what had happened.
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Up stairs in the room where Paltrow and Staigo were staying, Staigo got the mirror out and
contacted Emberdean. Within a few minutes, Emberdean's face was reflected in the mirror.
“We seem to have a bit of a problem here, and you’re not going to believe what it is. We haven’t
come across any thing like it before either.” Said Staigo, “This morning we found two people dead
in one of the rooms at the Travellers Arms, George got the doctor while the room was locked and by
the time that the doctor arrived and entered the room, they had disappeared. George went to his
quarters for some thing and they were in there. How they got there nobody knows, thing is, not
long after we got the doctor back they disappeared.” Emberdean looked surprised then shocked as
what Staigo told him sank in.
“Dead disappearing then reappearing some where else? That's not right, I haven’t heard of any
thing like that happening before, least I don't think so. You should have gone to Jacks home and
asked him to look through his information he may have some thing there.” Said Emberdean.
“That's just it, we don’t think he has. Check your records would you, and we’ll go round to Jacks
home, see if we can find any thing there.” Said Staigo, “Has any thing like this happened there at
all?”
“Not that I've heard. If there has, I’ll contact you.” Said Emberdean, Staigo waved his hand over the
mirror, and turned to Jack and Paltrow.
“Have you got any thing that covers this at your home?” He asked, Jack shook his head.
“I doubt it very much. I don’t remember reading any thing along the lines of bodies being moved
from locked rooms to another place.” Said Jack, “It’ll be a good idea to check though.” He said
getting up off one of the beds and heading for the door, “You want to come or are you going to
check the room where the bodies were originally?”
“Think I’ll check the room, see if I can find any thing. That’s if the room hasn’t been locked up.”
Said Paltrow, “There might be something in there, but it’s doubtful. Have you got the keys just in
case it has been locked?” Jack took the keys out of his pocket, and walked down the hallway with
Staigo and Paltrow behind him, trying the door, it was still unlocked he let Staigo and Paltrow in to
look around.
“I’ll go home and go through my things to see if I can find any thing. I’ll let George know that I’m
going first and make sure he’s all right before I go. If you find any thing in here, let me know.” Said
Jack. He left the two men to go through the room, hoping they would find some thing to go on even
if it was just a small bit of information, he knew that they would be able to work some thing out
together.
Down stairs, Jack walked into George's quarter’s to find him still sitting where he’d left him, he was
shaking, and looked as if he’d broke out into a cold sweat, one of the staff had gone through before
he came down and gave him a small tankard of ale. Jack stood in front of him.
“George? George, are you all right?” said Jack.
“Demons around, go away Demon. Leave now.” Said George, Jack looked at him again.
“George? Are you all right?” He said, stooping down in front of him, George looked pale and there
was a strange dark glow around him.
“George. Are you awake?” Said Jack, George wasn’t looking to good, taking the drink off him and
placing it on the table, he ran to the bottom of the stairs and called Staigo and Paltrow to come
down quickly, there was something wrong. Both the men came to the doorway of the room and
looked down at Jack.
“What wrong?” Said Staigo.
“There’s something wrong with George, I can’t get him to answer.” Said Jack, both the men ran
down stairs to George’s quarters to find him in the same state as Jack was the day before, this time
there was a difference.
“How long has he been like this?” Said Paltrow, going over and stooping in front of George.
“I’ve no idea, I came in to tell him that I was going home, and he was like this. He was telling
demons to go away.” Said Jack. Staigo looked around the room and noticed the drink on the table.
“Is this what George was drinking when you came in?” he said as he picked it up.
“Yes he was, it should be just an ale.” Said Jack, Staigo smelled it, it smelled like ale, looked like ale,
and when he tasted it, it tasted like ale, but there was a bitter after taste to it, “I think it’s the ale,
where's he getting it from?”
“He’s been using the same people for years, there hasn’t been any change that he hasn’t told me
about. If he does, he’ll talk to me first, and we always check it together. Is there a problem with that

Journey’s End
one?” Said Jack.
“Definitely, it’s got all the right smells and tastes, but there’s also a bitter taste to it. I think it’s been
tampered with or some thing was added before you got it. Looking at George, that is how we found
you yesterday.” Said Staigo.
“There's some thing strange about George, there’s more than just a far away look, there seems to be
a dark glow around him.” Said Paltrow, Staigo approached them and took a good look at George.
“You’re right, there is a darkness around him. Have we any thing that can counter act this?” Said
Staigo.
“Possibly, I'd have to check my bag. That’s some thing else I haven’t done yet, I haven’t taken any of
my things out of my bag yet. I’ll go to our room and have a look, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Said
Paltrow getting up and leaving George’s quarters and going to his room, leaving Jack and Staigo to
look after George. As Paltrow walked through the bar, the four men asked him what was going on,
Paltrow told them that there was nothing for them to worry about he was just helping Jack.
“Do you think there may be something wrong with the ale?” Said Jack.
“Could be. There could also be some one tampering with it, who I don’t know.” Said Staigo, “We're
going to have to find out if it has been, as it’s affected you then George. It may have affected those
two people that were in the room up stairs.” He put the ale back down on the table and waited for
Paltrow to come back.
“I’ll go to the bar and make sure every things running alright, and find out who brought him the
ale, then I might be able to find out which barrel it came from.” Said Jack. Just then George started
thrashing around as if in a trance.
“Demons! Demons get out of here. Die demons.” Said George.
“I wish Paltrow would hurry.” Said Staigo going over to George, this time keeping his distance in
case he hit him. George looked worse than Jack did when this happened to him, and he was looking
even darker now than before. Jack walked through to the bar and every thing seemed to be all
right, the four men that had been needed were still standing in the bar talking amongst themselves,
they stopped when they saw Jack coming.
“Is there any thing wrong, guys? Shouldn’t you lot be working? You two get back to the kitchen and
you two get back to work here.” He said. The four men stood there looking at each other then Jack.
“Certainly, sir, but there’s some thing we want to know first. Is George all right, we heard him
shouting just now. And those bodies in his kitchen, what happened there?” said Frank.
“It's got us rather worried, you see, is the same thing going to happen to us?” said Albert.
“What's happening now is the least of your worries, you could be looking to be fired if you don't get
back to work.” Said Jack, “Now get going, you don’t want George to fire you without any pay do
you?” The men shook their heads and started heading back to work, one of them stopped and came
back to Jack.
“Look, I know some things going on, do you need any help with it?” he said.
“I’ll let you know. Who served George with the ale in his quarters?” Said Jack.
“Donno took it through, who poured it I don’t know.” Said Fred.
“Ok, thanks. As for helping, I may need some help moving the casket of ale in the cellar, where is he
now?” Said Jack.
“I’m not sure, he was around not so long ago. He might have gone to the kitchen.” Said Fred, “I’ll
get back to work now.”
“All right, Fred, thanks.” Said Jack as he walked over to the kitchen, as he got half way across the
room Donno came out of the kitchen. Jack called him over.
“Donno, who gave you the ale earlier for George?”
“Derek pulled it for me, I just took it through. Is there a problem?” Said Donno.
“Just a small one, there could be a problem with the ale, thanks Donno.” Said Jack, as he went to
the bar and spoke to Derek. Going round the bar, he asked him to show him which pump he used to
pull the ale for George, Derek showed him which one it was then he went down to the cellar.
Looking for the right pipe leading down from the bar, he checked all the barrels that were by the
wall. At first he couldn't see any thing, swinging one of the barrels around slightly he thought he
saw some thing move. He moved it again and some thing ran from behind the barrel and ran to the
other side of the cellar making Jack jump. He spun round to find out where it went but couldn’t
find it, he started looking around the cellar moving the casks and barrels, nothing moved. He put
the barrels back where they were and went back to George's quarters to find out if he was any
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better and if Paltrow and Staigo had been able to help him.
“Have you been able to help George, Staigo?” Said Jack, as he walked into the living room, “I think
we have got a problem, something moved in the cellar when I moved one of the barrels.”
“Do you know how many jugs of ale’s George has had today? What we have don't seem to be
working.” Said Staigo.
“Are you sure? I think he’s only had the one. And Derek pulled it. I’ve been down the cellar, and I’m
sure there's something down there.” Said Jack, going over towards George and looking at him. He
still looked as though he was in a trance, “What did you use on me when I was like this?” Paltrow
showed him what they had and what they had just used on his brother.
“And it hasn't worked?” Said Jack.
“’Fraid not, why I don't know, it should have done.” Said Paltrow, “Has George had any thing
wrong with him lately? A cold, cough or any thing else?” Jack shook his head.
“Nothing, he's been fine. Did you contact Emberdean?” Said Jack.
“I did, nothing like this has been happening there, not to his knowledge any way.” Said Paltrow
getting up and going to the table.
“This is puzzling.” Said Staigo, “Have you got your book with you Paltrow.”
“I’ve got a couple, but I’m not sure if I've picked up the right ones.” Said Paltrow, “Have you been
able to get home Jack?”
“Not yet, there’s been too many hold ups for me to get there. Look through the books that you’ve
got, if there’s nothing in them, I’ll have to go home and look. Even if there’s something that can
break this for now, I may still need to get there.” Said Jack, “I don't think he’s got any crystals here
for this room or the Inn. Wait, my staff, I left it in the bedroom.” He went through to the bedroom
where he slept and got his staff, the crystal in it was glowing. ‘Oh no, not again!’ he thought, he said
a chant to make the crystal glow, so that as he walked through George’s home it would show up any
thing that was there. It did, there were ghosts every where yet again.
“Shalambar Soondred!” Said Jack as he walked into the living room, and once again there were bolt
of lightening flashing out of the crystal hitting the ghosts simultaneously. The ghosts gave a screech
as they disappeared. George started thrashing about again and almost fell off the settee.
“What on earth? I thought you got rid of those last night?” Said Paltrow.
“I did, I know I did.” Said Jack, “The only thing that I haven’t done is go around the town with the
staff, but I don't want to worry the people in the town. I’ll have to find some other way of protecting
the town for the time being.” As the three men were talking, George seemed to come around, and
stood up.
“That must be the worst jug of ale that I’ve drunk. I’ve got a hangover now. Where did we get it?”
He said.
“George? You’re all right! Thank goodness for that, apart from your hangover are you all right?”
Said Jack.
“Of course I’m all right, where you been all morning?” Said George, he looked at Paltrow and
Staigo, “What are you doing in here, I thought you were going to bed.”
“We have been to bed, this is the following morning don’t you remember what happened since last
night? About the two bodies, the doctor coming, Jack staying the night?” Said Staigo.
“No, it’s a bit vague, I can’t really remember much.” Said George.
“I think we've got some thing in the cellar, George, I don't think its rats.” Said Jack, “I didn’t see
what it was it ran past me to fast. I’m just going back down there now.” Picking up the staff and
leaving George’s quarters with the three men following him, George shut the door on his way out.
In the cellar, the crystal started glowing again, Paltrow started saying a chant that he knew while it
was glowing and it showed up some thing smaller than the ghost that were in his part of the Inn.
“Shalambar Soondred!” Said Jack, raising his staff high, the crystal glowed and sparkled and
nothing happened.
“It’s not working Jack, try some thing else.” Said Staigo, as some of the ghosts started to go towards
the walls.
“Albaran Storbaran.” Said Jack as he raised his staff again, this time the staff glowed brightly and
shot out bolts of lightening which hit those that were still in the room, and left dust every where
this time.
“Looks like we’re dealing with something different this time.” Said Paltrow, “I wonder where these
things are coming from.”

Journey’s End
“The extension wasn’t built over or near graves or grave yard was it?” Said Staigo.
“I doubt it very much, the grave yards have normally been built just on the outskirts of the town. So
I doubt that there would be any thing around that would cause this sort of thing to happen.” Said
Jack, “Looks like I’ll have to get home now, I hope, so long as nothing else happens here.”
“We’ll come with you.” Said Staigo, “Don't forget your Staff, we’ll know if there’s any more of those
things around if it starts glowing.” The three men went back up to the bar, several of the men that
worked there were gathered near the doorway, they all wanted to know what was going on. Some of
them wanted to know if they’d got rats or mice down there.
“Don’t worry nothing like that is down there, those of you who are scared of them, it was some
thing totally different.” Said Jack.
“What if one of us needs to go down there? Will we be safe?” said Frank.
“What do any of you need to go into this cellar for? How many need to get any wine or change the
casks of ale? George and I normally do that, now go about your jobs and leave the cellar and any
problems to us and George, all right?” Said Jack. The men looked a little disgruntled, but went back
to their jobs. The three men left the Inn and went over to Jacks home.
Every thing was as he had left it the day before, so he thought. The staff started to glow again, and
Jack chanted one of the spells that he knew along with a protection spell, the staff flashed a bright
yellow and his home was protected. He then made the staff shoot out the bolts of lightening which
killed any thing that was still in his home.
“We’ve got to find out what’s behind all this.” Said Jack.
Chapter Three.
“Wait here for a while, I’m going to get all my information out, it’ll take a while.” Said Jack as he
walked through his home and disappeared.
“All your information? How much have you got?” Said Staigo, there was no answer as Jack had
gone, leaving the two men standing there.
“Do you think he’ll have the right information?” Said Paltrow.
“I’ve no idea, I don’t even know how much he’s got or what he’s got.” Said Staigo, just as Jack came
through with four small boxes.
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“Start looking through these will you while I get the rest.” Said Jack, slightly breathless then
disappeared again into the hallway.
“Jack.” Said Staigo, as he disappeared, “Looks like we’ll have to wait till he stops disappearing, I’ve
no idea how much stuff he's got.” A few minutes later, Jack came into the living room again with
some more boxes.
“Is that it Jack?” Said Paltrow, Jack shook his head, and disappeared again saying there was still a
couple more boxes to get and to start looking through what he’s already brought in to the room.
Staigo and Paltrow started looking through the boxes that were there. A few minutes later he came
back through dragging two big boxes behind him.
“I think that’s all the boxes, but seeing that we don’t know who’s behind it we’ll have to get through
this lot as quickly as possible. What about Emberdean, has any thing like this happened were he is
at all?” Said Jack.
“Nothing like this has happened there, he doesn’t know who’s behind it at the moment as he’s
heard nothing.” Said Paltrow, opening one of the boxes.
“Right, let’s have a look through this lot, I know that I’ve got more information, I’m hoping what we
need is in here. There might be a reference to some thing in these boxes if not, I’ll get the rest.
Surely this isn’t the only place that this is happening?” Said Jack.
“At the moment it does.” Said Paltrow, looking through the papers and documents in the box.
“I could do with a drink, do you want a hot drink at all?” Said Jack.
“Why not, so long as it’s not the ale heated up.” Said Staigo, smiling, “We don’t want to go the same
way as you and your brother have recently, I need to keep my wits about me.” Jack went into the
kitchen to make a drink and pottered about the kitchen getting things together. As he opened one
of the cupboard doors, a small shadow jumped out and flew past his head making him drop one of
his cups.
“What the heck!” he said, “How did that get in there?” Paltrow and Staigo came into the kitchen
and saw the shadow run to the wall and disappear through it. Both the men tried to follow it but
didn’t see where it went once it got outside.
“Those things seem to be getting every where.” Said Paltrow, “Where did that one go?” Just then
there was a rustling in the bushes nearby, Paltrow approached them cautiously then moved part of
them. Right in front of him was the shadow, cowering under the leaves. Paltrow reached down to
pick it up, but his hand passed right through it.
“Staigo, over here. That thing is under the bush.” Staigo went over to Paltrow, bent down and saw
the creature.
“Don't try picking it up, your hand will pass through it. I wonder what it's supposed to be.” Said
Paltrow, “It looks like some sort of creature, I can’t make out what sort though. Have we got any
thing that will make it more solid?”
“Don't think so, knowing what damage has been almost caused by some thing like this already, I
don’t think that would be wise.” Said Staigo standing up and moving away from the bush, Paltrow
stood up and started heading for the house.
“I think we better leave it alone till we can find out more.” Said Paltrow, Staigo followed him.
Jack was standing in the doorway watching them.
“What was it, any idea?”
“Looked like some sort of shadowy creature, I don’t know what sort though.” Said Paltrow, “We
need to keep checking your boxes, I’ll check your kitchen and make sure you haven’t got any more
of them in there.” He said entering the kitchen and having a look in all the cupboards and corners,
and finding nothing else there, “Lets have a look in your boxes, looks like there’s some thing else we
have to find information on.” In the living room, they carried on looking through the information
Jack had, while he made a drink and took it through. Going through all of them, they never found
any thing in the ones he brought through.
“There’s nothing in here about those ghosts.” Said Paltrow.
“I’ll just go and get the others.” Said Jack, picking up a couple of the boxes and taking them back
with him. A few minutes later he came back with some more.
“If the information isn’t here, I’ll have to check the other room.” Said Jack taking the lid off then
looking through what was in there.
Twenty minutes later they were still looking and never found any thing. Putting everything back in
the boxes, he picked some of them up and took them back to his hidden room, then entered

Journey’s End
another one. He entered the living room with some more boxes, he couldn’t believe how much
information he had, as he picked up the boxes they had already gone through and took them back
out of the room. Going back into the second room, he brought out some more boxes.
“Let’s try these ones.” Said Jack putting them down on the table, taking the lids off he started going
through every bit of information that was there and still found nothing.
“It doesn’t look as though you have any thing, Jack. How about your library, would anything be in
there.” Said Paltrow.
“I never thought of there, I’ll go check.” Said Jack, he went into the library with Paltrow and Staigo
following him, they started looking at the books that he had on the shelves, Paltrow going round
the upper floor and Staigo going round the bottom. Jack opened up one of the panels in the
column, and found some paper work. Going through it, he finally found something about what was
going on, but not how to get rid of it.
“I found some thing here, some thing like this has happened before, but not how they were got rid
of.” Said Jack “There’s a reference to a book, I’m not sure if I have it. ‘Serpents and Ghosts’ it’s
called.”
“It's up here, you’ve got quite a book collection, just about every book I’ve heard about, some of
them I didn’t know existed.” Said Paltrow, coming down the stairs with the book in his hand, giving
it to Jack.
“Great, I thought that went missing when the place was trashed a few years ago.” Said Jack taking
the book and looking through it. He found a chapter on ghosts of all sizes, and descriptions on
them, but not how to get rid of them. There were notes at the bottom of the page referring to two
other books.
“This book refers to two other books which I don’t know if I’ve got, I’ve got that many.” Said Jack.
“What are they called? You have a selection about what we’ve come across up here.” Said Paltrow.
“One is called ‘Unforeseen’, the other is called ‘Devils Ghosts’. I don’t even recognise the titles, I
don’t know if I have them.” Said Jack. Paltrow looked around the top floor while Staigo walked
around the bottom half, both the men found the books and brought them over to Jack. Going
through each book in turn, he found what he needed. Both the books had a way of getting rid of the
ghosts, the one book, ‘Unforeseen’, even said that they normally started roaming around prior to or
after some sort of catastrophe. Jack showed the two men what he’d found.
“That explains it. We had catastrophe not so long ago with those two men and those things they
created, that could be the cause of these things we have now.” Said Staigo.
“I think that was to long ago, there could be something around that no one is aware of.” Said
Paltrow, “Let me look at that book, Jack.” Jack passed him the book, Staigo picked the other one up
off the table and read through what was in there.
“Both of these books seem to be connected to each other.” Said Staigo.
“In what way?” Said Jack, “Books don’t normally connect to each other in any way, they may make
references to other books, but hardly ever connect to each other.”
“He’s right, there seems to be parts missing in this book, but it’s nothing to do with pages. Look at
this.” Said Paltrow showing one part of the book, “This paragraph here and the next one don’t make
sense.”
“Nether do these here in this book, now if we put them together they do.” Said Staigo putting his
book next to the one that Paltrow had, “There’s even a mark by each paragraph that may mean that
it refers to the other book. There’s even three letters and a number by the last sentence.”
“Same here, three letters and a number. What are the chances of that? I must congratulate you on
your choice of books, Jack. You must do more reading, matter of fact why don’t you make a list of
the books, then you will know what you have.” Said Paltrow.
“Make notes, that would be another good idea. Does it say how to get rid of them?” Said Jack.
“What we have been doing, using your staff with a crystal in it. But, it says here that if they keep
coming back to use a different one, it recommends a green one or a red one. It just depends on
which one's your dealing with at the time.” Said Staigo.
“I’ll go get them.” Said Jack, “Now where did I put that box of crystals.” He said leaving the room
and disappearing again, a few minutes later he returned with his box of crystals.
“These are all my crystals, I’ll just change the one in my staff.” Said Jack.
“I think you’ll have to change both.” Said Staigo.
“There’s only the one in my staff, I think.” Said Jack getting the staff from the corner of the living
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room, “Sorry your right Staigo, there is two but I’ve only got one in there.” Correcting him self.
“You can use both red and green or two of the same colour.” Said Staigo, as Jack started going
through them.
“Think I’ll put in a green and a red. That way I should be able to get them all at the same time.”
Said Jack taking out the white crystal and putting a green and a red crystal in the top of the staff,
“Right, let’s go and see if we can find the rest of those things and get rid of them. Then I’ll have to
make sure that George is alright.” He said making for the front door and heading for the town
square.
“Why are you starting at the town square?” said Paltrow.
“Well, if there are any around, I can work them out of the town rather than work them into the
town.” Said Jack, “That book never said any thing about which way to go did it?”
“Let me check.” Said Paltrow getting the book out, looking through it he found the page where it
had mentioned the crystals, but there was nothing about where to start. He went to Staigo and
asked him to look in the book that he’d brought with him to see if it said any thing about the best
place where to start. Staigo got the book out to check, he told them that it didn't say where the best
place was to start, and to follow your own instincts when it came to getting rid of these type of
things. They approached Jack and told him to carry on as he was as there was no set way according
to either of the books.
“Lets get started, you can either walk behind me or either side, either way if we say the same chant
or spell, we should be rid of them.” Said Jack. The three men started walking round the town
square first, past all the homes and the shops, Jack holding the staff up high and repeating after
him one of the chants that Jack always used. After the square, they started walking down one of the
streets and turned right, and walked round the houses turning right at each corner till they got to
where they started. The next time they turned left down one of the streets, then kept turning left till
they got to where they started again. They did this time and time again till they got to the edge of
the town. Every street they had walked down the red and green crystals in the staff had been
glowing, now and again shooting out a spark at a home or in the street. When they got to the edge
of town, both the crystals glowed at the same time, looking as though they were about to explode,
they shot out a hue of gold and showed up what looked like a rag tag bunch of ghosts of all shapes
and sizes. One of them looked as though it was approaching the three men, and stood about six feet
away from them. It stood there for awhile, then it seemed to get on its knees with its arms up in the
air as if wanting to be spared. Jack could just barely hear what it was saying, he got Paltrow to hold
the staff while he went forward to them, as he got closer he could just hear what it was saying.
“I know you can’t spare any of us, or let any of us go. We were told this area could be lived in by us,
we didn’t know at the time that people lived here. Once we got here, we found that we couldn’t
move on, we’re sorry we invaded you. Now do what you have to do.” Said the ghost.
“Who told you that you could live here?” Said Jack.
“Some one called Pascatt, he lives in a land called Generis.” Said the ghost.
“Generis? I never heard of that land, where is it?” Said Jack.
“About forty leagues away from Blazing Broog.” Said the ghost.
“Why would he tell you that it was alright to live here? Have you any idea what he’s up too? He
wouldn’t just tell you to come here would he?” Said Jack.
“I don’t think he would tell us mere ghosts, but I did here him mention something about getting
revenge on someone. A family and their friends that live some where near here.” Said the ghost.
“I don’t suppose that you caught the name did you?” Said Jack.
“I think they used the name of Dawson or Robertson they want to get revenge on.” Said the ghost.
“Are there any more of you around in this village?”
“No, we are all that are left.” Said the ghost.
“I’m not going to apologise for getting rid of you as long as you know why I'm doing it.” Said Jack,
he walked back over to Paltrow and Staigo and took the staff back off Paltrow and raised it as high
as he could and said his chant.
Within seconds all the ghosts were gone, leaving dust floating on the air to be blown away by the
wind. Staigo and Paltrow backed up a little as they watched the dust being blown out of the town by
the wind.
“Looks like we may have some trouble, but it’s hard to tell.” Said Jack, turning round to the two
men, “The one ghost told me that someone told them that they could live here, the name he used

Journey’s End
was Pascatt.”
“What? Why on earth would some one do that?” Said Paltrow.
“He said something about taking revenge on a family in this area.” Said Jack, “I’ll have to go and
check and see if I’ve got any information on him, but this sounds like some thing recent.” All three
men went back to Jacks home, and Jack looked through the things he’d left out, there was no
mention of the man named Pascatt. The boxes he left out, he started putting them away before
going through the other boxes he had in turn. He had nothing that mentioned him in any way. He
went back to his living room and told Paltrow and Staigo.
“There is no mention of this man any where in the information that I have. It’s a little strange,
there’s usually mention of relatives to any one that has either given cause for trouble, or help over
the years.” Said Jack.
“What about the books in the library? Or the columns, have you any thing in there?” Said Staigo.
“It’s doubtful. Most of the information I have is usually stored in the other room. I’ll have a look
any way, I’m sure that there's nothing. Failing that, you’ll have to contact Emberdean and ask him
if he knows any thing.” Said Jack going into his library, he opened the panel in the column and
looked through the first lot of information that was there, there wasn’t any thing that mentioned
him, not even a reference. Going over to the other two in turn, he checked all the information, and
finally found one reference to some one having a child, but there was no name mentioned, and who
had it.
“Found something but, I don’t think it would be connected. Someone had a child, but there’s no
name for him or her, and there’s no indication of who actually had it, the parents are not
mentioned here. Just some vague information on they had to keep moving around a lot, as no one
wanted them living in the same area. The people who had the child eventually lived near some
mountains near Melthon.” Said Jack, “But that’s miles away from Generis.”
“That's strange. I’ve never heard of anyone roaming the land on their own, or just a small family
going from place to place. I know there’s no information like that held at Emberdean’s or any of his
other sources.” Said Paltrow.
“Leave it for now, then. It doesn’t sound as though we have a lot to go on, I’ll get in touch with
Emberdean and ask if he’s got any one he can send to Generis and Melthon to gather information.
Come on, Paltrow, lets get back to the Inn I need a drink any way.” Said Staigo.
“I’ll go too, I want to check on George and make sure he’s alright. It’s about time I did some work
too.” Said Jack. All three left Jacks home and headed for the Travellers Arms. Jack checked in with
George first, he looked better than he did earlier, Jack told him that it had been ghosts that had
been causing the trouble and they had got rid of them. He told him that Paltrow and Staigo were
going to contact their friend to get some information.
“Where did the ghosts come from any way?” Said George.
“Apparently, some one in Generis told them to come here, that it was alright for them to live here
or some thing like that, once they got here and found that people lived here, they couldn’t get
away.” Said Jack.
“Did they say who said they could come here?” Said George.
“Some one named Pascatt, I'm led to believe. But that could be a ruse. How many people over the
years have tried to take over here, or another part of this country either side of the river?” Said
Jack.
“There have been quite a few, most of them weren’t successful. I think I might have some
information on him, I’ll have a look when I get the chance. Some staff will be in shortly to take over
the bar, I’ll go and look then.” Said George.
“Ok, thanks George. I’ll get to work over there, looks like we’re getting busy and things are
mounting up a bit.” Said Jack, he walked round the room collecting some of the empty glasses and
plates, taking the glasses behind the bar and the plates into the kitchen putting them near the sink
ready to be washed up by one of the men. In the mean time, Paltrow and Staigo were up stairs in
their room contacting Emberdean.
“Have you anyone that can go to Generis and Melthon? We have come across some thing here that
suggests that some one from there sent the ghosts that were around here.” Said Staigo.
“Alfedo was about to leave here with his men and come to Ronwin Hurtz, I’ll ask him to go there.
Any idea who you’re looking for?” Said Emberdean.
“Rumour has it that it’s some one called Pascatt. We haven’t heard any thing about him or who he’s
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related too, all we know is that he sent some ghosts here telling them that they could live here.
When they tried to leave, they couldn’t.” Said Staigo.
“Is rumour all you have to go on?” Said Emberdean.
“No, one of them told Jack. He hasn’t got any thing at his home to tell us any thing about him, just
some vague reference to some people that lived in the areas of Generis and Melthon, and they had
one child or some thing like that. There was no mention of the child's name though, it’s possible
that it could be this guy that we’ve heard of.” Said Staigo.
“Alright, I haven’t heard any thing about him my self, as far as I know, no one here has either. I’ll
get Alfedo to go to Generis he may want to come to the Travellers Arms first. Tell him what you
can.” Said Emberdean.
“Will do, I hope he isn’t out to cause this town any trouble. We’ll see you when we get back or
sooner.” Said Staigo waving his hand over the mirror, “Let’s go down and have some thing to eat,
I'm hungry.” He said, looking at Paltrow.
“Me too. I feel as though I haven’t eaten since yesterday, I need a drink too, lets go.” Said Paltrow.
The two men went down to the bar and asked for a menu and ordered something to eat and asked
for two ales, then sat at a table near the corner of the room so they could keep an eye on who ever
came in the door.
Anthony came down stairs with his bags and asked to check out, he was with two of his friends.
“It’s about time we went home, we have worked to do. We’ll be back at some point and bring our
families with us next time.” Said Anthony.
“That would be nice. I hope we will have some room for you when you come back.” Said George,
taking some money off him and getting him to sign out, “Have a safe journey home.”
“We will, thank you for having us.” Said Anthony. All three men picked up their baggage and left
the Inn and went round to the stables to get their horses, then headed for home, little realising
what was in store for them when they got back.
A few minutes later, Elronda came in through the door and approached the bar and asked for some
ale. After he was served it, he looked around the room and spotted Paltrow and Staigo in the corner
of the room, he went over to the table and sat down with them.
“Hello, Staigo, Paltrow, haven’t seen you two for quite some time, how have you been?” He said.
“Elronda! You’re early, we weren’t expecting you for a while, at least another two or three days. I
only contacted Lord Emberdean yesterday, and he said that you would be coming with your men.”
Said Paltrow.
“I know, I had already left. I was visiting relatives not far from here. They’d heard that there was
some thing was going on near Dithering Dell, I’ve been there and checked things out there didn’t
seem to be too much going on that I could see.” Said Elronda.
“What sort of things?” Said Paltrow.
“Ghostly apparitions, people getting drunk on a tankard of ale. Some people acting weird, those
sorts of things, when I got there, there didn’t seem to be any thing out of the ordinary.” Said
Elronda.
“That does sound a bit weird, but saying that we had the same sort of thing going on here. It
effected Jack, then his brother George. We found out that it was some ghosts that were going about
the town, they had been told they could live here without realising that people lived here already
then they couldn’t leave. Jack and George thought they were being attacked by demons.” Said
Paltrow.
“That's what I’d heard had been happening there too. Any idea what's going on?” Said Elronda.
“We've been trying to find out. The only thing we’ve been able to find out is that a couple that used
to live near Generis or Melthon had a child. There’s no mention of a name for them or the child, we
may have to go there and see if we can find out any thing about them. We haven’t any thing here,
and Lord Emberdean hasn’t any thing either I've checked.” Said Paltrow.
“Emberdean said that he would be asking Alfedo and his men to go and check it out.” Said Staigo.
“He has, I think he’s on his way there now, how long he’s going to be I’ve no idea.” Said Elronda, “I
must say that this Inn is looking really nice, it looks different somehow.”
“It is, apparently, they’ve had that many customers since we left that George has had an extension
built and extended the kitchen, he’s got extra staff working here too.” Said Staigo.
“Great. Home away from home. Have they had extra rooms added on?” Said Elronda.

Journey’s End
“Of course, the amount of people that have been coming here has been tremendous. George told us
that since they reopened, people have been coming from far and wide to stay here and they have
been really full most days, we were really lucky to get a room here.” Said Paltrow.
“Sounds as though I’ll have to check in quickly, I’ll be back in a minute.” Said Elronda, getting up
from the table and going over to the bar and asked for a room.
“Let me look to see if I have a room, we’ve been very busy of late. Oh, my! Its Elronda isn’t it? I
thought I recognised you, when did you get here?” Said Maurice.
“About half an hour ago, have you got any rooms here?” Said Elronda.
“Sorry sir, yes we have. Would you like to book in now before they go? There’s no telling how long
some of the rooms are going to be empty.” Said Maurice, passing him the book to sign in, he then
found a key to a room for him.
“Have you a menu or something?” Said Elronda, Maurice passed him one from under the counter.
“Think I’ll have the beef. How long will that be?” Said Elronda.
“Not long, it should be with you in a few minutes. Thank you, sir.” Said Maurice.
Elronda thanked him, and went back to join Paltrow and Staigo. Shortly after he’d signed in some
more people came in and wanted rooms for a couple of days. As soon as he heard that Elronda was
at his Inn, George came round to welcome him.
“Elronda! Welcome. Welcome back to the Travellers Arms, my friend. How have you been? Have
you booked a room yet? How long will you be staying? Are your men with you?” Said George.
“Whoa, whoa! George, I’m only here for a visit, you don’t have to get that excited. I’ve been all right,
I am booked in, and I’m not sure how long how long I’m staying for, yet. I may be expected to join
Alfedo at some point. He’s gone to find some information at Generis and Melthon.” Said Elronda,
“My men aren’t with me at the moment, I was visiting family, I went to Dithering Dell on the way
here, there had been some strange reports coming from there. It seems you had the same type
problems here, with ghosts.” Said Elronda.
“Yes we did. Jack managed to be rid of them though.” Said George, “Would you like ale, my
friend?”
“Would love another one. It’s just as good as before, as a matter of fact its better. Have you been
adding something extra to it?” Said Elronda, George laughed and said that he hadn’t. George went
over to the bar and got another drink for Elronda, and took it over to him. He sat with the three
men for a while talking about the things that had been happening over the last four years. George
had almost forgot the time, when he turned round and realised that the Inn was getting full, he
excused himself and got back to work, promising to talk to him later if he had time. Some of the
people that were coming in recognised Elronda and spoke to him before going to the bar or talking
to other friends.
A short while later when Jack had finished in the kitchen, he came through to the bar to help out
there. Walking around collecting the empty glasses and putting them onto the bar so they could be
collected, when he bumped into Donno he asked him to take the glasses through to Jim to wash.
When he got near to the table that Paltrow and Staigo were, he realised that there was a familiar
face with them. Not believing his eyes, he walked over to them.
“Elronda? Is it really you?” Said Jack with surprise, Elronda turned round to see Jack behind him.
“Jack? How are you? I’m glad to see you.” He said getting up and gave him a hug and shook his
hand as if he hadn’t seen him for a lot longer than four years.
“I’m fine thanks, how have you been? You look rather worried, are you staying with us for a while? I
hope you are, I would like to speak with you again.” Said Jack.
“I would love to, I’ve been alright, looking worried? No more than usual, I’ve been visiting friends
not far from here. Dithering Dell seemed to be having problems with ghosts, or something. George
tells me that you had the same problem here and you managed to get rid of them.” Said Elronda.
“Yes we did. They were told they could live here by some one called Pascatt, we haven’t much
information about him really. The only thing we could dig up was some thing about a couple living
in the Generis area many years ago.” Said Jack, “I was thinking of going there, but it’s having the
time to go. I understand that Alfedo and his men are going.”
“They are, I think they may stop over here for a while first, or on their way back, I’m not sure. Sit
with us, Jack, and have a drink.” Said Elronda, offering him the seat next to him. Jack told him he’d
just get himself a drink first and would be right back. Going over to the bar and getting himself a
drink, he told George that he was going to have a break for a while and would be sitting with
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Journey’s End
Elronda, Paltrow and Staigo for a while, as other staff were coming in George told him it was ok.
“How is Alfedo these days, and Christo? I did here that they would like to visit us soon.” Said Jack.
“They’re doing really well. They’ve both got women after them since we went back home, there
must be at least a dozen after them.” Said Elronda, laughing.
“What? I don’t believe it, is that a dozen each or a dozen in total?” Said Jack.
“A dozen each, really, you should see them running down the street after them. All of them literally
were throwing them selves at them. They’ve had to make body guards of some of their men.” Said
Elronda.
“What about you, have they been throwing them selves at you too?” Said Jack.
“What, me? No, no way.” Said Elronda blushing. Jack started laughing.
“Now I know your lying, come on tell me the truth. You have had the ladies coming after you too
haven’t you? You lucky man, I’ve been here all this time, and no one has come after me.” Said Jack.
“All right, all right you got me, they have.” Admitted Elronda, “I just didn’t want to make you
jealous.”
“Are you sure that none of the women have been coming after you?” Said Staigo.
“Positive, why do you ask?” Said Jack.
“Well, take a look around here, all this end seems to be full of women and they all keep looking at
you. You mean to tell me that none of these women have approached you in any way, Jack?” Said
Staigo, Jack looked around the bar of the Inn and realised there were more women than normal in
the bar, all of them known to be single.
“Now wait a minute, they could be all here because of Elronda you know, not me.” Said Jack,
Paltrow shook his head.
“Jack, are you blind? We noticed it when we came here the other day, there may be a few extra
because Elronda’s here, but the majority are here because of you. You’ve not been well enough to
notice what's been going on, have you?” Said Paltrow.
“We’re not here to talk about the ladies, we’ve other things to talk about. Generis for one and
Melthon for another, how are we going to sort out any information about those two places?” Said
Jack, he was starting to feel uncomfortable. He did like the ladies, but he didn’t want to rush into
things, and he was trying desperately to change the subject. The others started laughing while he
was blushing. Paltrow nodded at Jack knowingly, as a couple of the women got up and walked
towards them and stood behind Jack. Both of them said hello to Jack and kissed him on the cheek
and then walked over to the bar, leaving Jack feeling flustered.
“Now, you trying to tell me they’re all here for Elronda?” Said Paltrow. Jack shook his head.
“Yes they are, they just did that to make him jealous.” Said Jack, taking a bit gulp of his ale, “Now,
what news of Alfedo and Christo? What are they going to do?”
“Alfedo should be on his way to Generis by now. Emberdean asked him to check some information
out about some family or other. Other than that, they should come here after with the information
they have gathered to give to you, Jack. It may help I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of any one from
there, never even heard of the place before now.” Said Elronda.
“Nobody seems to have heard of Generis or Melthon. What about you two?” Said Jack.
“Not really, I heard one of the names mentioned, but that was years ago. But what was said about it
wasn’t anything worth making note of.” Said Staigo.
“Looks like we’ll have to wait for Alfedo to get here before we can make any plans as far as those
two places are concerned.” Said Paltrow, they all nodded in agreement, and drank up. Just as they
drank their ale’s one of the waiters came over with Elronda’s meal. Seeing Elronda eating made the
others feel hungry, they decided to order another meal while the waiter was still there. They were
all eating the finest meals the Inn served within a few minutes. Later, Staigo, Paltrow and Elronda
decided to walk around the town for a while, and Jack went back to work around the Inn. Even
though the staff had arrived to do their duties, Jack was still needed to collect the empty glasses
and plates that were on the tables. Soon, the Inn became less busy as every one went home.
Paltrow, Staigo and Elronda came back to the Inn just before George called for last drinks, all three
headed for the bar and asked for ale’s.
“Did you have a good time around the town?” Said George.
“Yes we did, thanks, George. There were quite a lot of people around that remembered Elronda
from the last time he was here, I don’t think we got as far as we wanted too as every one wanted to
talk to him. Next time I think we’ll take the horses.” Said Staigo, “That way we could get away

Journey’s End
quicker if we see any one coming.”
“That will definitely be a good idea.” Said Elronda he drank most of his ale, “You know, I’m starting
to feel tired now. I think I’ll hit the hay. Goodnight, Paltrow, Staigo, goodnight George, see you all
in the morning.” All three said good night to him, while Staigo and Paltrow sat at a near by table
and took their time over the ales.
Chapter Four
Jack went to the Travellers Arms about mid morning to help get things ready for lunchtime. Some
of the staff left as they were having the afternoon off, as others were coming in to take over. He
made sure that every one got started preparing the meat and vegetables, and the fruit, for the
second courses, when the head chefs came in to take over from him and the other chef. Jack went
into the bar to help serve behind the bar, he didn't notice four men walk in that were in Christo’s
and Alfedo's armies, they approached the bar.
“Where’s this best ale that I’ve heard about? You can't even get served at the best Inn in town
either.” One of the men said trying to make sure that Jack couldn’t see his face.
“Coming right up sir, how many would you like?” Said Jack.
“Four of your finest, barkeep.” He said, as Jack started pulling the ale’s into glasses, he then took all
Jan Rohan
24

Journeys End

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