A/N:
Hoo! Sorry this took so long. I've been rather busy lately, trying to finish up stories and let's plays. Yeah, I'm just trying to clear the schedule... to make room for more stories and lps... Anywho! The chapter is out, we have two more recruits, let's get to this! Also, I've been playing through Radiant Dawn. I like it much more than its predecessor. Voice Acting is still bad though... Anywho, sit back, R&R, and most importantly, enjoy! Word Count (2336)
The group had arrived at an inn quite some distance away from the little alley they had found themselves chased into previously. Diana had started carrying Rufus on her back after some time, as his legs stopped working not very long after their encounter. Iris, on the other hand, kept an eye on her guest. The mage absolutely fascinated her, but she would never answer any of the questions the young lord asked. Well, perhaps the streets weren't the best place to be asking, but Iris didn't really care so long as she could sate her curiosity.
The inn itself was rather small, but quite accommodating. A nice elderly couple seemed to be running it, residents of this town for quite a long time. A young man, clad in green armor which matched his close-trimmed hair, sat at a table by himself, drinking special brew the elders mixed up for him. His eyes lifted as he noticed the group enter, rising from his seat to reveal his tall, yet lanky build. He approached the group, eyeing the newcomer among them. "Ah, well, I see you've made a new friend." He commented.
"Ah… yes. This here is Celeste," Iris replied, "and before you ask, Algar, no we didn't meet the informant yet."
"And where exactly is she going to stay?" The cavalier asked. "I'm certain Diana has brought this up, but you're prone to…"
"Taking on more than she can handle." The guard finished, shifting as she readjusted the cavalier she was still carrying. "And nearly getting herself killed because of it." She added, casting a glare at the princess.
The girl closed her eyes as she took this heat from the two, a grimace stretched across her face. "Yeah, yeah. But the thugs are gone, and our dear Celeste over here is welcome to bunk with me and Diana tonight." She said, placing a hand upon the mages shoulder and shaking the girl roughly.
Diana finished handing Rufus off to his counterpart, jumping back as she heard Iris' suggestion. "Milady, there were only two small beds in the room, and you suggest this girl stay with us?"
"Well, we can't let her sleep on the floor…"
The mage freed herself from the princess's grasp, taking a few steps away from the girl to avoid another situation like that. "I really don't mind… I mean… I'm used to it." She said, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground.
Iris' expression fell. This girl had fled from Khadein. How long had she been on the run? Probably lost, alone, and without help, for the fear the average person had about dark mages. "Diana?" She started, looking up to her guard.
The halberdier let out a sigh as she knew what that look was. "Yes, milady." She turned her attention back over to the mage. "You may take my bed. No worries for me though. Before you object, this is the princess' orders."
"So it's settled then." Iris stated, crossing her arms and giving a satisfied nod. "Celeste bunks with us tonight, and Algar…" She looked over to the knight who was trying to keep Rufus from sliding down. "Good luck tonight." She added before heading off to her room with the other women.
The knight's eyes widened as she left. "What? Iris!"
The night was quiet, but one dark mage tossed and turned in her bed. Eventually, it became too much to handle. Her eyes opened and she sat up, taking a look around the room. The older knight slept on the floor, close to the princess. A wool blanket pulled over top of her. She seemed to be having a nightmare of sorts, but the princess herself seemed rather quiet. Too quiet actually. The mage ignored this as she left her bed, and headed for the door, being careful as she could so as not to wake anyone.
As she made it to the hallway, she carefully closed the door, but could not escape the loud noise which it made. She looked back and forth through the hall. No one else was there, the men of the group were staying right next door. What a quirky bunch this group was.
Light shone in through a window at the end of the hall. Celeste made her way over to it, looking outside to observe the town. Guards drinking and laughing. She shook her head and let out a deep sigh.
"Trouble sleeping?"
The mage turned around to see the one who asked her to stay, the princess, Iris. "I suppose." She answered.
"I suppose." The princess repeated to herself, a small smile stretched across her face. "Tell me, Celeste. What's the problem?"
The brunette shook her head. "I-It's really nothing."
This time it was the princess' turn to sigh. She looked out the window her companion backed herself up against, watching as moths fluttered around outside. "People don't just get up in the middle of the night for nothing." She said. "Now either something's bothering you, or you have a bad habit of sneaking out like I do, and I seriously doubt it's the latter here."
The mage turned her head down. "You're a lot smarter than I gave credit for."
Iris watched the girl with an amused grin. "Yeah, I get that a lot. I guess I did learn from the best. …So I assume this is about your home, yes?"
Celeste let out another sigh, starting to play with her hands this time. "Y-Yeah. I mean… my friends… well, some of them decided to stay and… I just don't know if I should have left or…" The girl closed her eyes, tears starting to stream forth.
"Hey," Iris started, pulling the girl into a comforting embrace. "For all it's worth, I think you made the correct choice in leaving."
"But I…"
"Don't worry about that now, 'kay? It's in the past, and we're here now." She added, pulling away, and wiping away a few of the girl's tears. "Now let's head back. We still gotta look for that informant tomorrow, and besides… Diana might notice we're missing. Last thing I want is for her to gut you like those mercenaries today."
The mage's eyes went wide at that last comment. Like those mercenaries… Got it.
"So where is this informant, again?" Algar asked as the whole group made their way through town. "Are you sure this is the correct town?"
Diana led the group, her silver lance fixed on her back as always, and her posture tense. The woman always seemed to expect the worst. Meanwhile, Rufus followed along, wearing an expression of pain as he fought back the headache he awoke with earlier that day. Celeste stayed quiet the whole day, but Iris, she just romped along with her arms stretched back behind her head. "Yes, I'm sure this is the correct town." The princess stated, letting her arms fall back to her sides.
"Really…" The knight continued, reaching a hand up as he pressed the bridge of his nose. "And do we even know what this man looks like, or where exactly he is?"
"The note said he'd be at The Maid's Bastard." Diana spoke up. "Now, we could have gone there yesterday if some cavalier didn't decide to wander into the first pub he could find and lose the rest of the group." She added, casting a glare back to the crimson-armored knight.
"'Ey, it wasn't my fault." The man tried to say, raising an arm in defense.
The other male knight shook his head as he watched his companion. "It's always your fault, Rufus."
"Hey!"
"Oh, boys." Iris called out, grabbing the attention of the two. "I'm not sure if you've noticed yet, but we're here already." She said, pointing up to a sign which hung above the entrance of the shady-looking little pub.
The two shut up, Algar straightening up and dusting himself off, and Rufus combing a hand back through his crimson hair. Diana rolled her eyes at the antics of the two. She was always like the mother of the group, hells, she was old enough to be Iris', and had been in service of the royal family since the girl was an infant. She looked over to the princess and the mage close by. "Now you two in particular, stay close." She warned. "And you…" She added, pointing to the green knight. "Keep Rufus away from the mead."
She opened the door, keeping Iris and the recent addition close to herself as they stepped forth. The inside of the pub was about as dirty as the outside. A couple of grisly looking men were passed out in the corners, whom no one seemed to care about. Piss and ale on the floor, and peeling paint covering the walls. An old barkeep stood at his station, briefly looking up at the new arrivals, barely raising his bushy brows before turning his attention back to a small group gathered at a far end. "Welcoming." Iris commented as she looked around. "See anyone that might look like our informant?"
"We only know as much as you do." Algar reminded her.
The young noble let out a sharp breath as she thought on about the information that went around the group before they left. "Right." She looked around a bit more, her eyes settling upon the gathering of men in the far corner, as they seemed to be quite focused upon one in the group. "How about over there?"
"I doubt our informant would draw attention to himself in such a manner." Diana stated before realizing the girl was headed off towards the group on her own. The guard let out a growl, chasing after the princess.
Iris reached the group of men, peering around them as she tried to look for what seemed to be drawing their attention. One man, sat at the far end, wearing a smug expression as he manipulated a group of three mugs. Iris knew this trick, and what this con-man was up to. Then again, these men were probably too drunk to notice. She observed the man more intently, taking note of his features. He had a messy mop of blond hair and a face of stubble. Certainly, this man never shaved regularly. A scar stretched from his right ear to his nose, and down across his lips to his chin. He wore the garb of a traditional hunter, mostly colored grey, and an iron bow which was propped up on the wall behind him.
"Ey! Give us ar money back!" One of the men shouted out, backing up and knocking Iris over, who was caught by a steaming Diana.
"Now, now, fellows." The hunter said, starting to back up. "No need to get all up in arms here. I did say there were no refunds."
"Hey boys," Another called out. "Here's our refund!" The man proceeded, swinging his fist towards the hunter, which was swiftly dodged.
The man backed up further and further from the patrons, unable to pick up his bow as they came. "Well it seems my business is unappreciated here." He added with a bit of a pout. "Hey, help a fella out?" He called, taking notice of the spectating group of knights.
"Why not?" Iris stated, readily rushing forth and striking a man from behind. All she ended up with was a sore hand, and a patron that looked more irritated than anything. "Eh-heh…"
Algar and Rufus already rushed in after Iris' jump into the fray. Well, Algar seemed more like he was at it to protect his comrades unlike Rufus who was just rushing in for the heck of it, and probably snatch a drink while no one was looking. Celeste backed away, not willing to use her magic during this whole fists-fight, and instead just backed up to the door. Diana immediately rushed to her princess' side, delivering a sharp blow to the man's windpipe, neutralizing that threat. She stared down at Iris as the others continued to fight. "Seems like someone needs to revisit their self-defense courses?"
"Hey, I can fight." The girl squeaked as she looked up at her guard.
"You know what I mean."
The fight carried on between the two parties, though even in number, well, not exactly seeing as how Celeste stayed away from the fight and Iris was barely being any help at all with how squishy she was, the party of knights was clearly superior. They easily managed to incapacitate the group of patrons, leaving the hunter to pick back up his belongings.
"Hey, thanks back there." He said, fixing his bow to his back.
"No… problem." The princess groaned, her guard helping to keep her upright.
The hunter grinned at the sight, starting to laugh as he let the group wonder what was going on.
"Excuse me, sir." The halberdier spoke up. "What exactly seems to be so humorous here?"
The man sniffed, catching himself before he could start again. "Ah, well, excuse me my good lady, but I have a very important message to deliver to Archanea's princess." He stated, casting a glance towards Iris.
The princess, however awkwardly, managed to find it in her strength to stay on her own feet this time. He wouldn't just tell this information to anyone, she hoped. "So you're that informant we've been looking for?"
"My name is Kaiser, my good lady. And I must say… I never expected a princess to enter a brawl like that." He added, starting to chuckle again. "Ah but I truly needed the help back there. Would have been quite unfortunate if she and her company arrived to a dead informant, yes?"
"Y-Yeah." Iris stated, not really knowing what to think of this man. The west though, she needed to remember that was the purpose of coming all the way out here. "A-Any news of the conflict in Khadein?"
The hunter's expression fell as he pulled a seat forth. Not for him, but the young Archanean princess.
A/N:
Yeah, I know some of you may have been excited for a big bar-fight scene, but I kinda wasn't feeling up to writing it. Personally, I feel it's better to leave something out than shoehorn it in with poor writing. I just wasn't feeling it, so yeah. It was kinda approaching my focus threshold anyway. That's why things longer than 3000 words for me tend to drop off in quality. ADD sucks, I'll tell ya. Ahem, so Algar and Kaiser. Yes, Kaiser's name is a blatant ripoff of Caesar, but I enjoy the Archanea games. Norne is still my favorite bow wielding unit of the bunch though. And exploring into Iris a bit more with her personality and stats. I've always kinda compared her to myrmidons, so yeah. But I'm not gonna add in a Navarre-type character just yet. We still have plenty more story to go. I'm just gonna roll on out of here now.
Anyway, thanks for the read. Leave a comment, follow, favorite, all that wonderful jazz.
This is your dear old Squishy, bidding you all a good day! :D
(I'm not old, seriously...)
