I Built This City Chapter 70: Chapter 70

Read chapter 70 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Merchant Ellen Ellen silently cursed her luck. After days of unseasonable cold, the weather had warmed up considerably. This was at the exact worst time for her, since she really needed the excuse to keep the hood of her cloak up as much as possible. Even with it up, she had to move very carefully or her hair would spill out and give a glimpse of its scarlet color. The people of Merriweather had likely not heard the details of who owned the dungeons land yet, but it was a reasonably sized city. It only took one person who had heard the rumors—and she knew there were rumors—to recognize her and make her trip much more difficult. She just wanted some supplies, and wasn't ready to deal with the complications of being the owner of the newest dungeon walking around town. If it had just continued being rainy and cold for one more day, she wouldn't have looked out of place wandering around town huddled up in her cloak. The weather just didn't cooperate. It was fortunate that she got most of her shopping done yesterday. Ellen only needed to pick up one more item, finish packing up what she bought in the room she rented, and then she could start the journey back home. She would have to sleep in the cart, but she really didn't want to stay an extra day when she had already confirmed that Uncle Anroll wasn’t in town yet. The loot from the dungeon had been enough to cover all of her expenses and then some for this trip. The adventuring party had been running the first floor enough that just the proceeds from that were enough to give her a surprising amount of coin. They were dungeon coins, so she had needed to exchange them at the Guild, but that hadn't been a problem. Now the cart was loaded up with salt, leather, cloth, and other bulk goods. New clothing, boots, shoes, and cloaks were kept in her room for the time being. It would have all been well within her means if Ellen hadn't felt the need to rent out an entire room for herself in one of the nicer inns. Recent events had left her a little worried about communal sleeping arrangements. The real annoyance is she had needed to wait this long just for a final three shirts to be done. Ellen was already thinking she should have just brought the cloth over and let Fisher handle making shirts. They wouldn't be pretty, but that was fine for work clothes. Cheaper, too. Ellen clutched her purchase closer and tugged her hood down a little more. At least now it was bright, and the shadow of the hood could be excused as keeping the sun out of her eyes. Perhaps she should have Scout teach her something about remaining unnoticed. She paused as she heard a ruckus further down the street, drawing her attention for a moment. She immediately forgot about it upon seeing it was just a horse getting upset. Nothing she needed to worry herself about. Just a typical minor issue in city life. Ellen stepped onto the street to cross. The shouts rose in volume, and the clatter of hooves sounded loud on the paving stones of the street. The creak of wheels in motion, the loud whinny of a spooked horse. It all told her what was coming. So… she stepped back and glanced toward the horse galloping toward her, cart wobbling behind it. Another step back, more hurried, put her fully out of the way of the careening horse and cart. Ellen felt the impact on her ankle first. A yank with the instep of a foot, hooking around her leg and tugging. At the same time, a firm shove of a palm pressed to her back, forcing her forward again. She had the wits to scream, time to realize what was happening as she stumbled back into the street. Her mind was already locking everything into place. The entire agitated horse had been deliberate. The shove, deliberate. She didn’t know why someone felt the need to kill her instead of trying to con her out of what they wanted, but she knew that was what had just happened. She also knew it was too late to stop it. Ellen closed her eyes. Cale Cale didn’t have much time, but he knew he didn’t need m