Terror of the Trdlo - Part V: Silvernose arrives minus his weird girlfriend

Silvernose, thanks to the unintentional courtesy of Skylum Luminar and MS Paint

In the next few hours, Zdenka and Beata readied supplies for their journey in the brewery’s courtyard.  Some of the admiring young Sisters stole away between prayers and brewery reconstruction to load Beata’s horse with provisions.  Beata had to smilingly decline much of the overpacking threatened by their enthusiasm.  Zdenka smiled, too.  She was going to appreciate being with Beata on the road, alone, or at least alone-ish with three other people, minus the fluttering presences of these young clerics.

The older nun, Sister Wojtecha, who had enforced the end of the Sisters’ break time, was now leading a horse bearing saddlebags and Sister Ludmilla.  The thin, tough, sunburnt white-haired woman with broken teeth was dressed in a burlap robe.  She sat awkwardly on the horse, swaying and complaining constantly.  Coming up alongside Beata and Zdenka, Ludmilla narrowed her eyes at the women.

Mother Vlasta had, in the meantime, sent messengers to summon Silvernose and Sieglinde.  Zdenka and Beata had not seen the strange couple for several weeks.   Silvernose had finagled accommodation for himself and Sieglinde across the Stone Bridge, under the Castle, on the Schwab side of the river, at the townhouse of the newly-minted Baron Rudiger von Possenreisser.

Zdenka looked up and caught sight of the rotund, silver-proboscised, splendidly-cloaked Silvernose leaning elegantly against one of the brewery’s new gateposts.   They smiled broadly and bowed to one another with elaborate flourishes.    

Beata complimented Silvernose on the expert razoring he had arranged for his goatee.  She said that the precisely-trimmed point of his beard was sharp enough to impale the heart of any fair damsel he encountered.

Zdenka punctured their arch banter with a serious question: “Where is Sieglinde?”

Silvernose’s smile shifted into a purse-lipped grimace.  Uncharacteristically, he for once seemed at a loss for words.  After an awkward number of heartbeats, he said: “I will tell you when we are en route.  She won’t be accompanying us on this little adventure.”

“Oh,” replied Zdenka softly. 

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Want to read the next episode, Part VI: She's Gone Feral?  Or Parts I-IV?

All Terror of the Trdlo story links are here.