Episode 2: Mercenaries, Part 1 Episode 4: Dragon’s Breath
Righty, this one is lacking in action but it doesn’t matter so much, gotta keep moving forward, gotta get to the end, and anyway it’s just bandits and we all know they’re the least of challenges, right? End of the episode was hard. Non-dramatic plotty stuff + work day = brain mush. Actually it feels more like fuzz than mush. But anyway. Pent’s little jaunt there is kind of wasted. I might edit it later. Tomorrow, perhaps. When my brain is less mush.
This story is basically an excuse for me to get all my absolute favourite characters together and have them all be awesome. You realized that, right? : P And yes, the other characters who I’m not even using eventually are also great, and everyone does deserve some spotlight, but I can’t have EVERYONE be my favourite. (yesican) But I do have to say Rath was a bit of a surprise – he was vastly helpful beyond the little role that I had originally envisioned for him. Also that Isi guy? Totally out of nowhere. Added some nice drama. For some reasons drama’s been easy to write in this story even when I’m not even trying. Weird.
Sacaean party music: voila. At least to the end of the fantastic crazy part (about 4:40).
EDIT: Changed Rath’s parting, because he’s a quiet man but not so quiet that he wouldn’t have talked about his girlfriend in all this time, and his friends would be terrible friends if they didn’t ask about his home life once in a while.
Episode 3: Mercenaries, Part 2
They parted with the young Duke Deis at the gates of Edessa, capital of Ilia, wishing them luck for the return journey. “And don’t forget to call Ceniro’s Elite Company – if we happen to be in the area!” Yens joked, making Ceniro very uncomfortable.
“It’s been a pleasure working with you again,” Phil said. “Good luck with your path!”
“Thank you,” Ceniro said, and Pent said, and they turned back, heading south towards Sacae again.
The roads were growing treacherous, but so far the weather had been almost unreasonably good. Their luck held on the way back, and although it snowed, the roads were not made impassable. Ceniro kept his eyes out for pegasus knights, but only saw a few at the border, and far off.
“I think we should celebrate our first successful job,” Lyn said, once they were back on the plains, now lightly dusted with snow of their own. “Perhaps we can get supplies for a feast from one of the local tribes.”
“I like this idea,” said Andy. “I like it a lot. Are there any local tribes? Do they really wander all year round?”
“Of course they do,” Lyn said. “Some of the smaller ones may not, but the majority of them do. They might wander less, but… it’s not like they’re in a town, either.”
“I see,” George said. “You people don’t like towns, do you?”
“They’re too… binding,” Lyn said. “Under a wide open sky like this, it would be a waste to be stuck in one place all the time.”
“I think I understand,” Louise said. “The wind blows freely here, and you go where it blows you.”
Lyn beamed at her. “Exactly!”
Towards the early evening, they saw the twinkle of campfires in the distance.
“Ceniro, you and Rath should come while I go get things,” Lyn said. “Everyone can come, but be respectful; don’t stare, don’t point, and don’t touch anything.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Yens said cheerfully. “Count on us. We’ll be silent as little lambs.”
The whole group approached the village, and after Lyn spoke to the scouts, they were let through, although with the warning that there was not much to buy there at the present time – the tribe needed most of it. Lyn nodded; she understood.
There was one tent that was pointed out as the trader’s tent, and Lyn, Rath, and Ceniro entered it. It was dark, and though warm, rather smoky. Lyn was kneeling in front of the trader, also kneeling, already speaking quickly and using many words that Ceniro didn’t know from the peculiar Sacaean dialect of the Elibean tongue. She paid for several things and handed them to her men, when suddenly someone else burst into the tent.
Lyn started, her hand on her sword, and her face only grew darker when the man began yelling at her.
“I think we should continue this discussion outside,” she said in cold, clear, plain Elibean, and stood, leading Ceniro and Rath out of the tent.
“What’s going on?” Ceniro asked Rath, worried.
“He is… startled to see her here. He recognizes her… how?”
“He is of the Lorca,” Lyn said, still icy. “He is of the Lorca, and he recognizes me not only from my childhood, but from last week.”
“Last week… You don’t mean…” Ceniro began.
“Yes. He was with the raiders we fought off that day.”
The man scowled. “So this is what you do, Lyn? You were Hassar’s daughter, and now you are a common sellsword.” Ceniro wondered if he’d stopped himself from saying worse.
“Well maybe if you had joined me when I attempted to follow my father-”
“You were a little girl. You still are a little girl. Leaders are men, strong men.”
“You are as great a fool as you were three years ago, Isi,” Lyn spat. “Greater, even. You didn’t even give me a chance to try to lead the Lorca. And now look at you! You are a bandit! Have you forgotten it was bandits who destroyed our tribe?”
“I have not forgotten! I am not a bandit. I raid only outsiders. But sometimes the outsiders hire guards from among our people, thinking it will protect them.”
“Enough!” Lyn said. “It doesn’t matter who they are. You attack people to steal their possessions and possibly their lives. That’s not the way of the Lorca.”
“You stole plenty of our lives, you and your little band there!”
“You attacked us! We defended ourselves! The only reason so many of your lives were lost while we lost none is because my fiancé is a great strategist.” She gestured at Ceniro, who was suddenly horribly uncomfortable, especially under the ugly glare the man sent his way.
“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” the man muttered. “You were a half-breed anyway-” He got no further; Lyn slapped him in the face.
“Don’t speak of my breeding,” she hissed. “I’m not some dog or a horse. I know I went to Lycia to see my mother’s father. He’s the only family I have left. Since the rest of my family was murdered by bandits. Begone from me. I wanted to try again to restore the Lorca, but if the rest are like you, there is no point. The Lorca are truly dead.”
“And what would they be if they did follow you?” the man shouted, holding his face. “A little half-breed girl, marrying yet another dirty Lycian? He dresses Sacaean to please you, but he’s just another imperialist pig like the others! What would your children be? Not Sacaean, let alone Lorca!”
“Get out of here before I kill you!” Lyn shouted back, half-drawing her sword already.
“You always were temperamental, Lyn,” the man began, and Lyn fully drew her sword. He blanched and fled.
The others were staring.
“That was… interesting,” Pent said at last.
Lyn snorted. “Interesting is not half of it. Come, let’s get away from this place. Now that I know bandits come here to trade, I want no part of it.”
They quickly headed out into the darkening night.
“I’m sorry,” Ceniro said to Lyn.
She looked at him quizzically. “For what?”
“It is a fact that I’m not Sacaean…”
“It is also a fact that you are not an imperialist pig, and it is a fact that you are not dirty, and it is most definitely a fact that I love you and I don’t care what fraction of Sacaean blood our children will bear.”
“But if they don’t like me marrying you…”
“What does it matter?”
“It will make it hard for you to be chieftain of the Lorca… I thought it would be all right as long as our kids had green hair, perhaps, but… it doesn’t seem that easy…”
“Don’t be silly,” Lyn said, although now he could tell she was fighting to maintain composure. “I always kind of knew that the Lorca could not be re-established…”
Ceniro stopped her and pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry.”
She sniffled a little. “Thanks. It is a little hard when someone stomps on your dream.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing. It’s not your fault.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Ceniro-!” She looked up at him and laughed a little. “Anyway, what was that about our kids and green hair? You didn’t tell me that before…”
“I… well, when you were telling me about the Lorca, that was my own private thought – that our kids should have green hair. Which would probably be easy, since it’s a dominant trait…”
“You’re silly. You’d love our kids no matter what colour hair they had, right?”
The idea of kids, his kids, his and Lyn’s kids, was still hard for him to wrap his head around. But the answer to that question was easy. “Yes, I would. We’re falling behind. We’d better catch up.”
“I’m all right now. Let’s do that.”
They’d set up camp not far from the Sacaean camp – it was dark and cold, after all, and they didn’t want to go too far – and Lyn cheered up after they’d prepared the food she’d bought.
Surprisingly, it was Rath who came up with the next idea. “If you intend to celebrate, what is a celebration without music?”
Lyn brightened. “You’re absolutely right! And I’ve barely touched my huuchir since we got back! Rath, what do you have with you?”
“I have a shanz. Although it is cold… the tuning will be horrible.”
“Who cares?” Pent said. “Music is music.”
Lyn nodded. “Music is one of the best kinds of spiritual healing.”
The two Sacaeans went to their packs and returned with long, thin stringed instruments that Ceniro had never before identified among all their belongings. It did seem to take them a long time to tune before they were happy with the sound, but then they began to play. The music started slow, meandering, reminding Ceniro of the way the wind whistled.
Suddenly Rath looked around. “Who is that?”
A shadowy figure in Sacaean clothing stepped into the light. “I am Shikoba, from the Hanska tribe across yonder, and… I… wanted to apologize for the way Isi spoke.”
“Is he with your tribe?” Lyn demanded.
“No… he only comes to trade with us. But he has shamed our tribe and all Sacaeans in speaking to you the way he did.”
“I thank you for your apology,” Lyn said, bowing her head.
“Are you celebrating something?” asked Shikoba next.
“The first successful job of our mercenary company!” announced Yens, raising his glass.
“You may join us, if you like,” Lyn said graciously, indicating the leftover food.
“I will go and bring drums,” said the Sacaean. “I thank you for permitting me.”
Shikoba returned a few minutes later, and he was not alone – there were several other Sacaeans, all with various musical instruments, and more food and even alcohol. “We have come to show your company what a real Sacaean celebration is like.”
Lyn almost squealed in glee, with excited looks at Ceniro. Eventually she was persuaded to sing, although she insisted her voice was terrible – but she had had two glasses of wine by that point. Ceniro thought her voice was beautiful when she began to sing.
The music became faster and faster, driving away all thoughts of cold and snow. Lyn got up, putting aside her instrument, and dragged Ceniro to his feet, trying to teach him to dance. Pent and Louise, when they stopped laughing, did the same. Some of the others got up too, dancing alone, or even with each other, despite the shortage of women in their company.
The evening passed by in a blur, and eventually Ceniro stumbled into a tent, slurring something about setting watch.
“No need,” was the last thing he heard, from someone who sounded like Shikoba. “The Hanska tribe will watch over you.”
He had a hangover the next morning, but it was kind of worth it, he thought. That wasn’t something that happened very often. And he didn’t wake up naked next to Lyn, so that was also a plus. More or less. That is, he wouldn’t have minded, but he would like to remember it if that happened, and not have the worry that he had made some kind of mistake.
Shikoba had been right, and even though they had all been too tired to keep watch, nothing was amiss from their campsite.
“The honour of the Sacaean people is a marvelous thing,” Pent said. “To do such a thing for us strangers is humbling.”
“That’s my people,” Lyn said proudly.
They traveled south, heading for the town of Eno to find more work. On the second day, Ceniro was watching the winter-blue sky when he shaded his eyes with his hand, squinting to look closer. He glanced at his farseer and back at the sky.
“What is it?” Lyn asked.
“Something I never expected,” he said.
“But something good – you don’t look worried.”
“It’s better than good,” he said, grinning.
“Are you going to let us in on this secret?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
“Pegasus knights,” said Rath, shading his own eyes.
Lyn turned to glare at Ceniro, who was grinning like a little kid. “Pegasus knights whom we know?”
“Maybe,” he said evasively.
Lyn rolled her eyes. “You’re really acting like an ass today, you know that?”
“I’m just excited. Fiora! Florina! Over here!”
“Huh? Huh?” He heard Florina being confused over the farseer.
“Continue north and about two points east, you should run into us.”
“Ceniro!” Fiora cried. “It’s good to see you!”
“We haven’t seen him yet,” said someone else – Wil, Ceniro thought.
“Wil, is that you?”
“Yep! Me and Kent came along to keep the girls company.”
“But what about Sain? Castle Caelin’s going to be lonely without all of you.”
“I don’t think Sain even noticed we’re gone,” Wil said, and laughed. “We’ll talk about it when we meet up, all right?”
“How did you find us?” Lyn demanded a few minutes later, when they had all met on a snowy knoll.
Fiora shrugged. “Luck, I suppose. We weren’t actually looking for you.”
Lyn deflated a little. “Then what were you doing out here?”
“I’m sorry, Lyn!” Florina chirped. “We were actually going to Ilia – it’s been a while since Fiora checked in with the higher-ups, you know? And I thought, since I’m a full pegasus knight now, I should go with her. I’ve never been for… that reason before.”
“And we couldn’t stay behind, could we?” Wil said, laughing and elbowing Kent.
Kent nodded warmly. “Fiora and I… we can’t be apart anymore. The Knights of Caelin can take care of themselves. Sain can take care of himself. Salir can take care of him even better.”
“And my grandfather?” Lyn asked.
“He is well,” Kent said. “He did say to send his greetings and his love, should we run into you.”
“I’m glad,” Lyn said. “I shall have to visit him in the spring.”
“But what is Lord Pent doing here?” Fiora asked. “Off on another quest, my lord?”
“Something like that,” Pent said. “Ceniro can explain better than I can at this point.”
So Ceniro explained, and introduced the Caelin group to Pent’s soldiers. It took a long time, with Wil and Fiora interrupting so much, but eventually they got it.
“It sounds quite exciting,” Fiora said. “I wonder… Ceniro, would you mind terribly if we joined you?”
“But weren’t you going to Ilia?” Ceniro said.
“It’s not mandatory,” Fiora said. “They’ll already have received my report on the loss of the 5th Wing ages ago. They’ll probably have formed a new 5th Wing already. So I’m not Fiora of the 5th anymore, I’m just Fiora.”
“I would have thought you’d visit your family as well,” Louise said.
Fiora looked away. “I would like to see them, but… a chance meeting like this can’t be passed up. Who knows if we’d meet so easily when we returned?”
“I see,” Ceniro said. “Well… Perhaps we can make it a secondary goal as we travel. I would love to have all of you along, if you’re willing!”
“He was just saying the other day that all he needs is pegasus knights for life to be perfect,” Erk said, and Florina giggled.
“With this we’ll be the best-outfitted mercenary group in Sacae!” George said. “Possibly in Elibe, though I daren’t say for certain.”
“There’s large guilds of mercenaries that would probably be better than us,” Ceniro said.
“But they don’t have you!” Wil cried. “How can they call themselves better without you? Oh, by the way, when Florina and I get married…” Florina turned bright red. “We want to name our first kid after you!”
Now Ceniro turned bright red. “W-what!? Why??”
“You brought us together, that’s why! And you’ve been a great friend as well as a great tactician! I just think we need to do this.”
“I-I-I-I agree,” Florina stuttered, embarrassed out of her mind.
“What if it’s a girl!?” Ceniro exclaimed. Pent was quietly laughing himself into stitches, Lyn was giggling, and even Rath was smiling in amusement. There might have been a ping but he was too distracted to notice it.
“Then we’ll call her Cenira!” Wil said. “Bam! Problem solved!”
The ludicrousness of the situation hit Ceniro and he fell over in hysterical giggles himself.
Wil stared at him in confusion. “Did I break him?”
“I think you did,” Kent said. “Be nice, Ceniro. They’ve been talking about this for a while, so they’re serious.”
“I… I can’t…” Ceniro began. “I can’t talk… I think you’re both crazy. But if it makes you happy, go ahead.”
And an arrow whizzed through the group, striking Frank in the shoulder and bouncing off his armour.
Ceniro whirled, trying to see where it came from. “Florina, Fiora, get up in the air and out of range NOW! Kent, Andy, Frank, Rath, Lyn, perimeter! Caddie, George, get to the south side of the group.” He finally managed to get the farseer out of his belt. “Same group as last time, reinforced with mages and axemen. Not that it will make a difference…”
An hour later, almost all the bandits had fled the field, and almost every one of Ceniro’s fighters was unharmed.
The one who had recognized Lyn recently, Isi, was still there, in the middle of regrouping with several other sword-wielding bandits.
“Do you think it’s safe to go talk to him?” Lyn asked.
“Yeah, probably,” Ceniro said. “Caddie, Yens, go with her for cover. Florina, interfere if they get feisty.”
“I’m on it,” Florina said. She had grown so much from the terrified teenage girl Ceniro had met a couple years ago.
“Isi!” Lyn called. “Is this your idea of revenge or something?”
“It was supposed to be,” Isi said sulkily. “How are you all untouched?? Are you men or demons?”
“We’ve been fighting battles harder than you can imagine,” Lyn said. “Naturally we’ve all grown stronger. In case you still haven’t noticed, I’m not the little girl you remember.”
“You’re not,” Isi said quietly. “But I still can’t accept you as my chief.”
“That’s fine,” Lyn said. “I couldn’t accept you as one of my people.”
“So… now what?” Yens asked. “You’re not going to kill each other, are you?”
“I’ll withdraw,” Isi said. “You might not be a demon, but I think you might be possessed by one, and your allies are as well.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Lyn said tartly. “Go on before my boyfriend decides it would be better to eliminate you so you don’t try to ambush us a third time.”
“We won’t,” Isi said grudgingly. “You have my word.”
“Thank you,” Lyn said, and watched them go.
Fiora and Florina returned and landed next to Ceniro, who’d taken a central vantage point and hadn’t even needed to draw his sword this time. He smiled at them. “It’s really good to have you guys back.”
“It’s good to be back,” Fiora said. “And I’d like to reiterate my intention to join your group.”
“Me too!” Florina said. “And Wil!”
“And me,” Kent said, riding up. “It will be… a different life than what I’m used to, certainly. But it will be an educational one, and I think with companions such as these, it will be a good one.” He and Fiora smiled at each other. Wil rolled his eyes.
“We’re happy to have you,” Ceniro said. “We were headed south to Eno for more work.”
“We’re a pretty big group now,” Erk commented. “We could even split up to do more work, possibly.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ceniro said. “I hadn’t really considered it, but it’s a good point. I trust you all to keep yourselves alive without my interference.”
“In that case…” Rath said. “I will be leaving you at Eno.”
“Oh, that’s too bad!” Wil said. “I was looking forward to more riding lessons from you!”
Rath smiled slightly. “Lyn can teach you to shoot from the horse. I have… duties at home with the Kutolah that I cannot neglect for long. I told her I would only be away long enough to show Pent the way to Ceniro, and I have been away for much longer than that.”
“Oh!” Lyn said. “Yes, of course, she’s been waiting all this time. Please give her our best wishes, and we hope you’re very happy together.”
Rath half-bowed. “Thank you, Lyn.”
“You’ve been a tremendous help,” Ceniro said. “Especially to me, trying to learn the culture of this land and its people. We’ll miss you a lot.”
“Though, we do have lots of archers,” George put in, grinning. “I’ll take up your place as I can, though I don’t have your skill.”
“You’re fine,” Louise hastened to assure him.
Rath nodded. “You have no need of me anymore. When we reach Eno, I will head my own way. Do not worry for my safety. I know this land well.”
“I know you’ll be fine,” Ceniro said. “If we can ever repay the kindness you’ve given all of us, just let us know.”
“I will.”
They spent the next five months wandering from place to place, working as much as they could. Bandits on the southern mountain border soon learned to fear the Elite Company, until Yens and Wil joked that they were going to put themselves out of work by being too good.
The darkness and heavy snow of winter made way reluctantly for the rain and mud of early spring. Louise was getting along in her pregnancy, so much so that Ceniro had begun to insist that she stay in whatever town was closest to their route with at least one escort.
They had dared to go to Bulgar, hoping that they could learn fresh news about the world while also risking being spotted and reported to King Desmond. While George and Kent led the main group to find lodging, Ceniro, Lyn, and Pent went to the main squares of the place.
Of course Pent would be drawn to groups of magic users, and without telling Ceniro, he meandered over to a collection of shaman near the city’s library. Ceniro could find him if he needed him. He could even call him if he needed him. This was win-win for both of them, Pent felt – he got the chance to eavesdrop on the magical community, and Ceniro and Lyn would get a chance to be alone together for the first real time since Pent and his group had joined them months before. He’d heard them saying something about Bulgar reminding them of old times, when they had first met, and first met Kent and Sain, and wished them luck.
Ten minutes later, he heard Ceniro. “Pent, you all right?” It was later even than he’d been expecting. The tactician had definitely been enthralled by his princess.
“I’m fine,” Pent said. “Enjoy yourselves. I’m going to listen to boring magic things.”
“Enjoy yourself too,” Ceniro said. “Call if you need anything.”
“I’ll let you know if I’m in trouble,” Pent said, with a voice that made it clear he wasn’t expecting any, and that if he got into any, he could probably get himself out again.
Ceniro chuckled, and then he heard no more from them.
Pent sidled up to the group; they didn’t seem to notice him, tall as he was, and he assumed that they were mostly strangers to each other as well.
Why would a group of strange shaman gather in public like this?
“I felt it too,” said one of them. “But I felt it coming from the southeast.”
“Were you north of me?” asked the shaman he was talking to.
“I was near Nittany,” said the first.
“Then, yes.”
“But did you feel it the same day?” asked a third. There followed much bickering, but it seemed that all the shaman had felt… something… disturb the forces of magic, on a particular day in late summer.
It was a day that Pent remembered well.
“Sorry, I’m from out of country,” he said amiably to one of them. “What exactly did you feel?”
“A ripple,” said one immediately.
“I wouldn’t say a ripple,” said another, and began theorizing exactly how dark magic knit into the physical world that the sensation detected had the semblance of a ripple without actually being a ripple.
“I’d say it was more of a wave that caused a ripple in a particular and as yet unknown location,” said another one, firmly. “Who are you, anyway?”
“I’m a mage, not a shaman, so I didn’t feel it,” Pent said. “I have a decided professional interest in magical phenomena, however, and I would be interested in investigating this… wave.”
“The wave came from the south, southwest somewhere,” said one. “Possibly all the way from Bern. I’m more interested in that, myself.”
“Good luck to you,” Pent said cheerfully. “And be careful.”
“Why? Do you know something?”
“Bern is full of dangers,” Pent said, shrugging. He didn’t want to give away his guess, but if he was right, any shaman who tried to find the source of the wave would be walking straight towards the Bern Royal Army at the Shrine of Seals. “I’d love to stay and discuss this further, but I have an appointment with my boss shortly.” How it amused him to say that.
“Hang on, who are you? You still didn’t give us a name.”
Pent blinked and almost stumbled on the fake name he and Louise had come up with. “Rowan. My name’s Rowan. I’m with Ceniro’s Elite Company if you have need of mercenary support.”
“Those guys? I heard they fight like they’re possessed by demons. They’re incredibly good.”
“Thank you,” Pent said, bowing. “But like I said, I have to meet with Ceniro. Good day, and good luck with your investigation. I’ll come back later to help if I have time.”
Instead, he headed directly for the rest of the group, already refining the request he wanted to make of Ceniro’s leadership.