Chapter 4: A Joyful Little Camping Trip
Fiora yawned as her gelding walked ever onward. They had been riding for a day and a half, straight, and the noblewoman was exhausted, hungry and cold. After their initial mad dash out of the city gates, the ranger at her side had followed Prince's order and set a path headed southwest. They had ridden hard throughout the night, ending up in light forest half a day's ride from a small village that Quinn had called Fennick. The two had found a small compartment in the saddle of Fiora's horse that had housed a large quantity of dried fruit and jerked meat. Rations for a soldier? The nerve! She had thought at their discovery but as soon as nightfall came and her stomach began to rumble she had been glad for the food. She had never slept in the saddle but had found it the most uncomfortable experience and had got little sleep during the night. They had eaten the last of the rations moments before but it lacked the filling qualities of the luxuries she was used to at home.
Home. She thought about it with longing now. Oh how she would have loved to be sleeping in her bed at the moment. The memory of her swan down pillows and silk robe seemed to linger all the more as her fatigue set into her bones. She would have traded the current landscape of brown and green for the gold and silver glittering sea vista of her balcony. She would have traded the moist trousers, singlet and hooded sweater she now wore for her silk summer dressing gown in an instant.
"Hey! Focus on the path Laurent," barked her travel partner while looking for her bird in the tree line. They hadn't gotten along since their desperate gallop out of the city gates. Both women had taken an instant disliking to the other and their stances of each other had not helped the relationship start positively. "VAL! Where are you?" she yelled into the surrounding woodland before Fiora could snap back at her.
The Grand Duelist turned her head and observed the young purple-haired ranger through the forest's thick early morning mist. Though she kept a calm expression, Quinn showed signs of alarm. Her movements ended suddenly and her eyes darted around more than they usually did. Something had alerted the girl to some form of coming danger. Fiora had seen the expression many times when opponents who had challenged her to duels to the death had realised their folly. It was an expression of fear. Fear for her life.
"What's wrong? What's going on?" She asked the ranger, shading her face from a stray ray of sunlight poking through the green canopy.
"Can't you smell it?" Quinn shot back whilst looking in all directions.
"Smell wha-" The fencer caught hold of the scent, faint at first but as they continued to move forward it was beginning to become more prominent. It was an acrid smell that lingered in her nostrils and clawed at her eyeballs causing them to water. Smoke, she confirmed. Her lack of sleep had dulled her senses so much that she could not even recognise the basic smell of smoke until it was pointed out.
"Smoke..." She said after a long pause.
"Figure that one out all by yourself did you?" asked the ranger before returning to the summoning of her avian buddy. The shriek of an eagle was heard through the boughs of the forest causing Fiora to stiffen slightly at the sound. Moments later the form of an enormous blue eagle, a roc, appeared circling them through the trunks of the trees. Quinn outstretched her right arm and the bird closed with the pair, landing magnificently on the ranger's right gauntlet that took its weight with nothing but a small cushioning depression. Valor, the second half of Demacia's Wings, had landed
"Whatcha see up there Val?" she crooned whilst she stroked the plumes on the bird's neck. Valor responded with a series of noises to which Quinn replied with several nods, gasps and mutters. Fiora watched the odd exchange with apprehension as she had twice before in the previous day and half but whilst each time seemed light hearted, this time was different. Valor seemed startled as if something had frightened the beautiful bird and this in turn had concerned Quinn. She wore a look of shock and disbelief as if she had been backhanded. "That's impossible," she said bewildered, "but it would explain the smoke. Go check again Val. Eyes in the sky!"
She practically flung the bird into the air and it took off again to scout the road ahead whilst the human scout started her horse into a brisk trot, almost leaving the fencer behind. She stopped and turned a little way up the path they were on, beckoning Fiora to follow with a jerk of her head, before continuing onward. The Duelist followed and began noticing that the further they went, the stronger the scent of burning became. The forest had also become steadily wilder and before long the scent became visible as a light haze between the trees. Fiora's concern also increased when Valor squawked above the trees and Quinn had pulled them off of what passed for a road in this forest.
They now stood in a tiny pentagonal clearing where a few trees had fallen either due to weather, age, local fauna or any combination of the three. On two sides, several fallen boughs formed a natural barrier the height of Fiora's horse, giving potential shelter from the elements as well as creating a defensive wall should it ever be needed. The rest of the clearing was protected by brambles and thick brush though Fiora paid these details no attention as she reigned in the gelding and dismounted. "How come we're stopping?" she asked just as the answer became all too apparent.
Quinn was on foot and had managed to get the hooded body and her crossbow off her mare before the animal had lain down onto the ground, lame from the exhaustion of two days of straight riding. She was now struggling to pull the saddle from the lame mare's back and shot Fiora a vicious glare before answering. "Oh I thought I might juggle for a bit."
"Jar- The Prince," The Duelist caught herself before she breached etiquette, "told us to-"
"I know what he told us to do Princess," interrupted the scout as she prized the saddle off of the horse. "But we have multiple issues facing us right now if you haven't noticed." She pushed the saddle to one side and motioned her hand toward the mount in front of her. "Not only do we have a lame animal with us but there seems to be a rather large fire somewhere nearby which by the lack of a forest fire means that there can only be one other explanation for it."
"And what would that be, peasant?" Fiora asked, agitation overtaking her patience.
"The village we were going to stay at has been sacked or at least attacked; also meaning that in both cases there may be hostiles nearby that would love a couple of young ladies to rape. Plus without a ride, I can't complete the other mission I was given either." Quinn motioned toward the limp body and continued her rant. "And unfortunately for you it was given priority over you."
The young Laurent girl stood as exactly that, a little girl who had just been scolded. Jay ranked a body as worth more than me? Is my life really worth nothing? Or is this slimy foot soldier just trying to mess with my head? Or maybe this slimy foot soldier is trying to get rid of the extra baggage... As her thoughts began to wander her hand drifted over to rest on the slight pommel at her hip. She looked down at the girl who had just managed to remove the last of the equipment from her lame mount.
Quinn returned Fiora's gesture; fingers lingering over the intricate crossbow at her side as Valor came circling down around the clearing, making his presence known with a loud 'whoosh.' The three stayed at an impasse for half a minute before the scout spoke. "C'mon, let's not do anything irrational now," she said softly.
"I'd take my own advice if I were you," thick with menace, the duelist whispered, "Undermining your betters seems irrational if you ask me, commoner."
The ranger motioned slowly to their surroundings as she made her reply calmly. "Out here there isn't such a thing as 'betters' there is only survival and you, sweetheart, cannot survive out here without my skills. Think about it. Do you know how to make shelter? Do you know how to hunt for food? Maybe you can follow the smoke to the village and try to scavenge from the ruins but what if there are bandits and mercenaries still there. It would take a minimum of fifty to scale the walls twice that to take the gates and twice that again to take the township itself. You're against roughly about two hundred armed men, not including casualties. And, like me, they can and will hunt you down if you cross them. The only difference will be that I'll only tie you up and drag you back to the Capital for a court martial rather than what they'll do," She left the last thought unfinished before giving her final question, "Now which do you pick?"
Fiora willed herself back into control. Damnit! She's right, I wouldn't last a night out here and if she's right about the bandits then... she shuddered at the thought. The ranger was right and Fiora knew it so she nodded, looking awefully humbled. She knew she couldn't survive out here without her companion. Companions... Her thoughts turned toward the body that was sitting up against the boles. Who was it? She pondered.
Following her line of sight, Quinn saw what the Duelist stared at and instantly knew what she was thinking. "I don't know either. I think he's in a timelock. You know, when they freeze time within something. Like a box or a sack."
"I was a Royal Guard once, I know what a timelock is," the proud Laurent shot back. She was still slightly heated from their previous discussion and the fact that she was getting something explained to her like she was completely ignorant didn't help her bad mood.
"Ok Miss Snootypants but we still got to get a small camp sorted, get some food and deal with this," the ranger smirked before she looked back down at the animal beside her and grimaced slightly.
If looks could have killed, Quinn would have disintegrated there on the spot. Once again the young swordswoman found her patience tested to its limits. It took all of her self control to not draw her blade in challenge against the ranger. Her arctic glare was all she could muster in that moment, otherwise the multitude of vile and vulgar expletives that she was thinking of might poured out indefinitely. The archer realised the misunderstanding that had occurred and was quick to make her explanation.
"Sorry it was only a joke but we seriously need to deal with our problems here," she said, "Together."
THUNK! The crow hit the ground hard, waking two sleeping women as Valor perched himself on the branch of a nearby tree. He held his beak high in pride of his catch as a young fencer scrambled off of her sleeping mat and away from the black bird's carcass. An archer arose from her slumber simultaneously, arcing her back in a extensive stretch and yawn. She finally looked down at the dead avian laying on the ground nearby, slowly shaking her head with a 'Tsk'. Valor's demeanour dropped instantly, drooping like a scolded child.
"Val, how many times have I told you? If you're gonna go hunting, get some Wild Fowl or at least some Demacian Pigeons. This crow is way too scrawny to be edible!" She laughed as the enormous bird recovered from its exaggerated response to begin preening happily.
Fiora had already risen and backed up against one of the larger trunks in the clearing, putting as much distance between herself and the fresh crow corpse as she could. She had never been all that comfortable with death even though many had fallen to her blade. Seeing the bodies of her enemies at her feet was one thing but she detested the merciless savagery of hunting innocent animals, even if it was necessary.
"Lucky I went out earlier and got us some of both Val," laughed Quinn as she seemed to produce a rack of bird corpses out of nowhere and hung them on a large protruding thicket nearby. The ranger then proceeded to begin the process of skinning and gutting the animals ready for eating.
A hand rose to the Laurent's mouth as she struggled to settle the sickening feeling in her stomach and the exhaustion of the last few days suddenly caught up with her again. Darkness began to encroach on her vision and she knew she was fainting. Sliding down the trunk she had backed up against, she could feel her senses dulling. The smell of blood, putrefaction and death filled her nostrils and she could feel her eyes rolling back into her head. The last thing she heard before passing out once again was Quinn muttering, "And you told me she wasn't squeamish. Now you owe me two gold pieces you jackass. Hahaha."
A light prod from a boot woke Fiora with a fright several hours later. She looked up to see the face of her most recent tormentor in the Demacian Ranger Quinn. Crouching low enough to come face to face with the fencer, the archer handed her a stick loaded with chunks of meat and poultry that had been cooked over the fire that burned behind her now benefactor. The Laurent girl nodded, understanding what the gesture meant as the archer went down to her own spot in the clearing with her own skewer of meats. Valor seemed to be nowhere to be seen despite their surrounds darkening with the coming evening and against the fallen trunks still lay the mysterious body they had been transporting.
She couldn't help but wonder about it as she ate. Who was it? Could it be him? She shook the thoughts from her head. The timelock would only lift once they reached a specific destination or a ludicrous amount of time had passed and the body could no longer sustain itself without proper nourishment. In the meantime, very little could penetrate the container at all let alone without suffering a particularly vicious and violent magical backlash. It was a sorcery rarely used and reserved for only the most secret of classified missions. Worrying about it was pointless and would only serve to cloud her thoughts and decisions when she would need to make them later on.
"Eat up Laurent. You'll be needing it tomorrow," came the only other voice from the opposite side of the clearing. Realising she had stopped chewing on her meal to gawk at the slumped heap against the fallen trees, Fiora slipped another piece from the wooden stick and ate it ravenously. "You take first watch since I need beauty sleep sometimes too," Quinn continued briefly before rolling up in her travel cloak with her back to the flames.
The duellist was about to refuse when she heard a loud, continuous snoring coming from the lumped heap where the archer was. Deciding there was in fact reason behind her acquaintance's words she let the young woman sleep since her expertise would be needed later on in their trip. Standing up, she heard Valor return and land on the makeshift tree wall. The two seemed to stare at each other for a moment before the bird finally broke eye contact. It jumped down and waddled to where its owner lay and snuggled into where the back of her knees would be. It was sort of comical now that Fiora could distance herself from it and she found herself suppressing a chuckle into a scoff before beginning her patrol of their campsite.
A/N: Hey guys it's Neo here again with another chapter of this fic. Sorry I don't update it more often but as I said with my other FanFic, I'd rather produce quality than quantity and, in doing so, keep a terrible update schedule. Anyways guys please point out any mistakes or plot holes and voice any suggestions you may have to help me improve not only this story but my writing overall. I love hearing from you guys since I usually get a heap of motivation from reviews and PMs and I just hope you really like this chapter. - Neoslate