As the first light of day hit the gates of Norfolk Corcoran was walking up the path towards the entrance to the village. It had been years since he had walked away from this town. He hoped that Richard still lived in Norfolk. Richard would be able to help him delay the travellers.
The guards at the gate did not stop him, they just opened the large wooden doors that served as the gate and let him pass through. He walked over to the centre of town; the daily market was just setting up. Richard was not one of the merchants he saw setting up their stands for the days trading. The market would be a good place to find his old friend, everybody stopped in the market at some point during the day. The square was large enough to fit the entire population; made it a suitable gathering spot for returning messengers.
Corcoran spoke to some of the people in the square, hoping someone would be able to lead him to Richard. Most people didn’t know who this ‘Richard’ was; they all thought he was looking for ‘Ricky.’ It certainly was possible that Richard had gone by the name Ricky, the two names sounded alike. A man dressed in ragged clothes offered to bring him to Ricky’s place of residence. He also was warned that Ricky was a cruel old man with a short temper. These characteristics certainly suited the man he was looking for, although he did not think that Richard would be very old; but it has been thirty or more years since he had left Norfolk behind.
The dwelling the ragged man showed him was a small stone building near the wall that surrounded the village. Pieces of mortar were piling up around the base of the building and the lonely wooden door had long since faded to an off white colour. Corcoran gave the man a small silver coin and he was off. The building had no windows on either side of the door, Corcoran moved to his left to get a view of the side of the building to get a view of the side of it. If Ricky was indeed Richard, he would certainly recognize any windows that would be on the side of the house. Years ago he had helped Richard build a dwelling for himself, the sad state of this building made it hard for Corcoran to recognize the work of his own hands. The surroundings looked just like he remembered, but the house seemed out of place compared to the obviously newer buildings in the area.
He walked up to the door and hesitated before knocking. There was no answer, immediately he was filled with rage towards the ragged looking man who had lead him to this building. He knocked again, louder and more forcefully. He waited and listened. At last he heard some movement within the dwelling. He could hear someone cursing the day that someone would knock on their door.
The door swung open violently to reveal a half naked wrinkled old man with fire in his eyes. “Who dares wake me at this ungodly hour?”
“I’m looking for Richard,” Corcoran stately calmly. “Might you be the Richard I knew many years ago?”
“Who wants to know?” the fire in his eyes subsided slightly.
“Corcoran of Colodia” he replied.
“Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in many years” the old man’s demeanour changed quickly after hearing the name Corcoran. “You can’t be the Corcoran I knew; you’re too young to be him.”
“So you are the Richard I knew.” Corcoran said, “May I come in.”
Come back next week, Part 3 continues...
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