Jarek: Meeting with Sheriff Belor Hemlock, Interlude

"Jarek, please stay for a moment." The sheriff coughed out as the others proceeded to leave his office. The Shaonti closed the dook quietly as the last one of his visitors left and slowly urned around to face the woodsman.

"You were supposed to be our look out," Belor scowled at me, his personality shifting quickly to anger. The sheriff had better days and today wasn't one of them. He gazed overthe horn tucked in my belt. "You should have sounded the alarm." "

"Why didn't you blow the horn?" Mayor Deverin asked me. The noblemwoman stood by the sheriff's side, looking at me with disappointment.

"Things happened so fast," I explained. "There were so many of themand I panicked."

Sheriff Below snorted, as if he didn't believe a word I said. "I don't know why you even bothered to have Shalelu train this boy," he said to Kendra. "He's a liability."

"He did manage to save Lord Foxglove," the mayor answered. "And also saved Ven's store from being burned to the ground."

"That's not what I heard," Belor shook his head. "Ven told me that he saw Jarek climbing out of the roof, just as the store was on fire. Ven suspected that he was looting some stuff during the goblin raid."

"Looting some stuff?" I repeated in disbelief. "What did I loot? Pies?"

"That needs to be proven," Lad Kendra answered in my defense. "I know that Jarek isn't one of the ranger's best pupils, but I do know that he tried his best."

"Well his 'best' cost us the celebration and several broken properties," Belor muttered as he held out several legal forms over my direction. "He needs to learn the consequences of his actions."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

The sheriff gave me a wicked grin. "Well, you can start by cleaning up the dead goblin carcasses. He can then help rebuild the plaza and do the other twenty things I have in mind."

"That would be an appropriate punishment," the Mayor interjected. "But there is an urgent matter that Jarek needs to do first before anything else."

Belor raised his eyebrows. "What could be more important thanrebuilding the town?"

"Lord Foxglove," Kendra answered. "It seemed that our young woodsman had helped save the nobleman's life. He exepects Jarek to go hunting with him?"

I never saw Sheriff Belor's expression changed from towering vindictiveness to utter shock and disbelief. It seemed all the blood in his body had gone up to his head, making him blush a darker shade of red. His eyebrows quivered, as if each strand was howling in protest.

"Hunting?" He spat out the word as if it was a curse. "He wants to go hunting?!"