"Face it Jose, you will never meet another woman that's beautiful, charming, competent….and mostly importantly can tolerate your drunken ass.", sniped Kitahria.
"….If you are going to insult me…please address me as Sir Jose. ", responded the large knight drolly.
"Sigh, I was just trying to get some sort of emotion out of you. ", conceded Kitahria . " You're boring as it is…but you're definitely no fun when you're sulking like this. "
"Woof!", barked Greenpaw in agreement, but Jose deemed it unimportant to respond.
A silence fell on them as the trio continued to march up the narrow snow covered mountain path. Sir Jose was not particularly tall , but he was broad of shoulder and had a hard look about him despite his rough appearance. The dark haired, olive skinned man wore the familiar armor of the Knights of the North, more specifically the colors and banner of the famous Knights of the Husky. He rode upon a massive mailed green and white dog which was the size of a horse. Trailing slightly behind them was a young slip of a girl, with reddish brown hair and pale skin. Although Jose looked slightly out of the place amongst the northerner's of Grom, Kitahria definitely stood out as some type of foreigner.
"Your ears are showing again, Keeta. ", commented Jose as he finally broke the silence.
"I know. Its more comfortable this way. I'm not use to the cold climate like you two are. ", protested Kit as she fluttered her long elfin fur covered ears. "It's not a big deal is it? We haven't seen signs of anyone for days, save for the tracks of that caravan that is a day ahead of us. ", she added.
"Woof ! ", barked Greenpaw.
Sir Jose simply glared at her and the young girl sighed and retracted both the length and the fur from her ears. In a few seconds they seemed like plain unremarkable human ears.
"About earlier….I didn't mean to upset you. The baroness…", began Kit but Jose held his hand to silence her.
"The Baroness is a grown woman , a grandmother she keeps reminding me. It's for the best we went our separate ways. Besides, my master Lord Rollo has sent us to the Western Freeholds in response for a call for aid. I have more important things on my mind right now than the Lady Stille. ", responded Sir Jose dismissively.
Greenpaw whined at the mention of the Lady Stille and Kit agreed with him. Despite his brave front, Kit knew her master was hurting inside. She also knew he blamed himself , and the young squire was reluctant to agree. Though he attributed their social standings and their age difference for their eventual parting, Kit knew she spoke the truth when she mentioned his drinking. Jose was a good , brave man, but not while under the influence of that accursed Agave worm juice he loved so much. Not that he couldn't his liquor, but Kit knew that it made him moody and sometimes mean spirited when he imbibed too much of it. For the most part, the Baroness forgave Jose for his indulgences, but Kit guessed even the noble and kind hearted Lady Stille had her limits.
As Kit recollected the seemingly trivial aspects of her master's romantic life, Greenpaw came to a stop and gave a low growl.
"Ambush? ", asked Kit but Jose had already drawn his sword and readied his shield.
Kit's senses were unnaturally sharp, but not as keen as Jose's mount. She scanned the mountainous path , and saw several places where they could be waylaid. It was mostly snow and rocks, and the slope was fairly gentle but the easiest form of attack would be an avalanche she thought. The squire could well imagine bandits rolling a tide of snow and debris on them and then picking through their corpses. Another possibility might be they were hidden in the snow , waiting for the opportunity to spring up around them and surround them before they could escape. Kit wasn't sure what the order of attack was going to be , but fiddled with her twin curved daggers in readiness.
Kit half expected Sir Jose to turn around and approach from a different direction, but instead the knight defiantly stood his ground. "I am Sir Jose, a knight of the Order of the Husky. Regardless if you are friend or foe, face me in the open! ", he shouted while drawing his blade and scanning the terrain with his paladin's vision. A formidable talent that allowed the knight to detect not only evil foes, but also to roughly gauge their level of corruption as well.
Kit wondered if his booming voice would trigger an avalanche but thankfully it did not. Instead , a young woman, slightly taller and older than Kit , seemingly appeared out of the wastes a mere twenty feet in front of them. Though the squire's eyes were sharp, she was not sure where or how she hid from them so long. The woman was certainly not armed for banditry. She was dressed in a simple, tight fitting tan dress that elegantly showed her ample curves. The cold weather did not seem to affect her much , despite the light clothing she wore. Unusual for anywhere else, but not for the hardy cold weathered inhabitants of Grom, the squire noted. She had long curly brown hair, blue eyes, and her skin was slightly darker than Kit's almost white skin, but nowhere near as dark as Jose's. She had a fair scent to her, Kit noted she smelled more like a pampered merchant's wife or daughter than a mercenary or bandit. The young squire thought the woman pretty, but in a more village beauty kind of way, instead of the aristocratic splendor of the baroness. Despite the woman's non-threatening appearance, the fact that she had appeared in the middle of nowhere , screamed danger in Kit's mind.
"Are you the knight in charge of keeping these roads safe? If you are, than you are doing a terrible job! ", the young woman declared angrily.
"I have been given a writ by my master Rollo that gives me the command of the Northern Knight garrison in Fairhaven when we arrive. They have been charged to maintain law and order in the Western Freeholds. So technically I am not currently in charge of keeping these roads safe, but it will be part of my duties after I reach my destination. ", explained Jose as he sheathed his sword. Kit guessed that she had passed the paladin's vision test but the squire still shook her head slightly at her master. She hated it when he revealed too much, especially to potentially dangerous strangers.
The young woman's expression soften slightly and she bowed slightly towards the knight and squire. "Excuse my rudeness then. I see now that you are not to blame for my plight. A mixed band of ogres and goblins raided my caravan . I'm not sure what happened, but I think the advance scout for the caravan triggered an ambush, afterwards they streamed out of the mountains to attack us. The guards put up a spirited defense but there were too many. They captured and looted many wagons, and cut me off from the others. I'm not sure if any escaped. ", she explained bitterly.
Kit knew that they had been slowly gaining on a caravan heading towards the Western Freeholds during the last few days. From the tracks, she guessed there was about ten wagons, and roughly fifty merchants and guards. For a band to humanoids to be so brazen to attack so many, they probably have been numbered close to one hundred fifty to two hundred. She could not confirm the numbers of course without examining their tracks or scent.
"Why were you hiding from us?" asked Jose.
The woman seemed hesitant to answer at first but relented under the knight's glare. "I wasn't sure of your intentions. I was hoping to let you pass and follow you to safety. ", she admitted. Jose and Kitahria gave each other bemused glances at the woman's response, though she somehow hid herself well, it would have been difficult to follow them without their notice.
Before Kit could make a snarky comment about the woman's doomed plan, Jose stood tall in his saddle, drew his blade once again, reared his mount slightly , while pointing his sword off into the distance and striking a heroic pose. The squire rolled her eyes at her master's antics. "Though this pass is not under my protection yet, I will crush this band of ogres and goblins that are plaguing it. Today I begin my crusade to bring justice to the Western Freeholds! So swears Sir Jose of the Order of the Husky! ", the knight declared.
The young woman was briefly stunned by his statement, but clapped excitedly in glee. Kit sighed and looked behind them to see if there was a platoon of knights following them that she had missed. Sadly there none, and she wondered if her lord's overconfidence had once again bitten off more than he could chew.
Finding where the caravan had been attacked was simple enough. The wagons were all gone, but the signs of battle were plainly evident. The raiders had left their dead scattered around the area, and there was slight debris from some damaged carts. With her tracking skills Kit determined that perhaps half of the carts left in a haphazard manner down the trail, while the rest were either pushed or dragged up the mountain by the raiders. The bodies in the area had been looted and stripped, but Kit noted with disdain that they were not buried or at least hidden. That was pretty sloppy for bandits , especially if they wanted any hope of catching any future caravans or travellers unaware. Jose didn't seem too concern about the crude logistics of the raiders, and instead broke from the trail and pursued them up the mountain.
Jose suggested to the woman that she rejoined her caravan, but the girl stubbornly refused. She babbled something about keeping an eye on her investment , and insited on following them. The squire wasn't sure what she said to her master , but somehow the woman convinced him that she could tag along. Kit thought the high altitude, and a few hundred feet of scaling the mountain would soon tire her out and make her reconsider her decision, but to her credit the young woman had managed to keep pace with the squire and her master. Normally Kit would be taking point tracking the goblins but since the trail was easily enough to follow , Jose sent her to keep guard and a wary eye on their guest. Kit, being naturally sociable, talkative and curious, of course began making light conversation with the woman. The squire wanted to know who she was and why she was on a mountain in the middle of nowhere , following an armored knight on a dog, tracking goblins.
"So your name is Maid? That's an unusual name isn't it ? Even for a Grommer. ", noted Kitahria as she followed her master.
Maid laughed lightly. "Even though I'm not a Grommer, it is an unusual name isn't it. Believe it or not, I'm from the northern lands, the birth place of the Orders that you and your master seem to follow. Though I must admit , that you two do not look like the other knights that fight under your banner. That was one of the reasons, that I decided to attempt to hide from your presence. ", she admitted.
Kit nodded. "Aye. My master hails from North Darokin a land , despite its name, that is far to the south. Myself , I am from lands further to the east than you can imagine. I was originally from an area called the Empire of the Emerald Throne, but had lived most my life in the distant lands of Vinnraj, or what you would call the Mysterious Kingdoms. I only recently arrived to Grom a few years ago, and through a series of fortunate events, became the dour Sir Jose's squire."
The knight ahead of them grunted at the mention of his name, which caused Kit and Maid to share a brief smile.
"You've lead an interesting life I see. One that I hope to hear more of if we survive . Unfortunately my own tale isn't that remarkable . My family were merchants, but they were slain in a caravan similar to the one that I was just in. It was a long time ago and sadly I don't even remember them .", explained Maid with a frown. " The caravan master dropped me off at a secluded inn at his next stop, and I guessed you could say I was adopted by the Innkeeper there. I worked as a waitress and….maid there till I made enough money to strike out on my own. I guess you could say , that's how I received my name. "
"You were named after your job? That's odd isn't it?", asked Kit.
Maid shrugged. "Not really , up north, especially in the smaller towns, people are named for what they do. A black smith for example would be called smith, in my own community, the innkeeper was named Innkeeper, his cook was named Cook, we even had a guy that fetched water that we called…."
"Silence! ", hissed Jose as the knight and his massive mount crouched low to the snow. Despite the size of Greenpaw, it's snow covered fur easily blended into mountainous terrain. The war dog would not be easy to spot by a sentry unless they were alert, something goblins were not particularly well known for.
The group stopped a moment before Jose waved Kit towards a large outcropping a rock below the mountain's crest. It was approximately two hundred feet away and Kit noted the trail passed directly below it. The squire nodded silently and lightly hopped onto a patch of hardened snow and surprisingly did not sink or break the surface. Maid's eyes grew in surprise when she finally noticed that Kit was not wearing shoes, an easy enough detail to miss since, her feet were covered in reddish brown hair and appeared as fashionable furred boots.
The squire shifted her form and tested the weight of the surface slightly then adjusted her weight accordingly. She shrunk slightly and grew out her tail for balance, but was still able to maintain a humanoid form. She saw Maid was in slight shock but not stricken with panic at her transformation, she guessed the young woman had seen lycanthropes before, but did not guess she was one herself. Kit of course simply flashed a sly smile, before scampering across the snow towards the rocks that Jose pointed out.
The squire was evasive and erratic in her movements, but it was an unnecessary precaution she admitted. As she neared the rocks she could detect the distinct scents of her foes. The sentries were indeed goblins and she knew that their vision would be impaired by the day light. That and their legendary sloth should make it easy to approach them. She knew her caution was mainly for show to her Master, and she did not wish to be scolded if she guessed incorrectly about their alertness.
As she circled around the outcropping she saw that there were three bow armed sentries. One was apparently sleeping while two were engaged in some sort of crude dice game. She signalled their number to Jose, which responded with a quick slash with his fingers across his throat.
Kit smiled, her title was merely that of a squire, but she was well versed in the killing arts. Perhaps as lethal as Jose himself she mused in a moment of pride. Though the background she revealed to Maid was fairly accurate, she had left out many less than savory details. Before she was rescued by Sir Jose, she lead a life dark life as an assassin for a creature that could best be described as a demon. She was raised and trained as a weapon to kill the demon's enemies , mainly giants and curiously enough other demons. Killing goblins would be no problem for her she thought. She studied her foes and knew the safest order of attack would be the sleeping sentry first than the two preoccupied ones. She instead decided to impress her master by killing the other two first and capturing the sleeping one to question.
She lightly pounced on the two dice playing goblins and stabbed one through the throat and stabbed the other through the eye. The second goblin died instantly while the one with the slashed throat stumbled back and attempted to scream. Only a gurgle of blood came from its throat before it crashed into the ground. The slight ruckus its death throes made however woke its sleeping comrade, who was apparently resting more snoozing. Kit silently cursed as she turned and saw the third goblin stare at her in surprise. The distance between them wasn't that great but it was too far away to cover before it screamed. She threw her curved blade instead, and it whirled head over hilt towards her foe. Kit considered the kukris she used more suited to hand to hand combat than a normal dagger, but admitted that the small straight blades used by Grommers and their neighbors were more suited to throwing. Her assessment proved correct as her blade struck the goblin in the chest rather than its throat where she was aiming.
"Bree-Yark! " To her dread the heavily wounded creature screeched a warning before it limped from its cover. Kit cursed and scampered after her prey, but a massive green blur obliterated the goblin before it took ten steps. Greenpaw then took a few steps and rounded the crest of the mountain. The squire saw the knight peered over the other side and a smile crept on his face.
Kit knew she should have played it safe and began apologizing to the knight, but Jose waved her forward to the crest. The squire retrieved her blade before she scampered forward as ordered, and saw they were over top a small valley. Five of the plundered caravan wagons were there and she saw that its supplies were being divided by the raiders. She swiftly counted roughly forty goblins and about a half dozen ogres, a far number from the 150 to 200 she expected. Perhaps the rest were away from camp, but most likely there was most likely a cave or entrance to some underground lair nearby. She also noted that they did not seem to be employing war beasts like goblins often did. No worgs, dire wolves , or winter wolves, but there were a few stray almost comical goblin dogs in the camp. Though she was well use to death, her stomach turned slightly when she saw a dozen slain guardsman and merchants piled amongst the slain horses in a make shift abattoir, a dozen more haggard prisoners and a few horses were being lined up to meet a similar fate and Kit knew that they had little time if they were to be saved. The warning shout the goblin sentry gave seemed to have little effect on the camp save to draw brief glances of a few of the wagon looters.
"Greenpaw and I will lead the charge and draw their attention. Keeta, you make your way to that slaughter house and secure the prisoners. ", commanded Jose contemptuously at the goblin and ogre host. The fact that even if you didn't count a hidden lair, they were outnumbered roughly twenty to one but it seemed to have no bearing on the knight's tactics. "If you hurry, I'll leave a few ogres for you. ", smirked the knight before he bellowed a war cry that shook the small valley .
Kit nodded at her Lord's overconfidence. Win or lose, the wrath and judgement of the Order of the Husky would be brought to their foes. His self style crusade of the Western Freeholds would either begin gloriously or end miserably today.