Chapter 12 – Settled In
"Idiots! Idiots and cowards, the lot of them."
Viktor was not in a good mood. Flik winced as he slammed his mug of beer down on the table, again. A small pond of the alcoholic beverage was inching its way towards Flik's seat. Actually, his mug was now completely empty and he was unlikely to be getting any more drinks this night. This stemmed from the fact that his roaring had scared all the waitresses, not to mention many of the patrons, off to the far side of the room. Still, it had been a long time since Flik had seen his friend worked into such a lather.
Carefully, he considered the right choice of words to calm Viktor down. "Yes, but now we're here, right? All we can do is to do our very best for Lady Anabelle."
It didn't help. "Damn right!" Viktor responded, swinging his cup around in a wild gesture. "That is exactly what we're going to do, you and I. First we'll run those Highlanders back across the border, and then we'll roust out all the rats biting at Anabelle's heels. And then, when that's done, she and I will-"
Flik never did get to hear exactly what Viktor was planning, because at that moment he bashed his elbow right into the head of a nearby man. All Flik could make out was a mop of blond hair before the newcomer, knocked into unconsciousness, collapsed into a heap on the floor. Viktor, who was sitting closer to the stranger, remained motionless, staring glassy-eyed at the offending limb as if to ask, "Now why did you go and do that?"
Since Viktor wasn't moving, and no one else in the inn was brave enough to approach, Flik got out of his chair to check on the man. He was of a height with Flik, with a whipcord leanness to his build. He was dressed in light gray pants and a darker jacket, with a sweater wrapped jauntily about his shoulders, and a knife sheathed on his hip. He had an exotic look, possibly Harmonian, Flik judged, based on his blond hair, thin nose, and sharp blue eyes, which were open despite the loss of consciousness. Was he some sort of Harmonian merchant, Flik wondered.
He looked up. Leona was approaching, with a young teenage boy in tow. There was something familiar about the kid, Flik noted, looking at the chin length dirty blond hair that spilled out on either side of his cylindrical blue cap.
"Here he is. This big lug knocked his block off." The boy squatted down, placing his hands on his knees just above his blue knee socks and just below his pleated gray shorts, as he tried to get a closer look at the Harmonian.
Leona rounded on Viktor. "I have had just about enough of you," she said, raising her voice. "What do you think you're doing, shouting loud enough to raise the dead, and now hurting a customer? I'm working day and night so that you people can eat and sleep here and all you can do is abuse your welcome. I've half a mind to get the bouncers in here to throw you out onto the street. And don't think they couldn't do it, given the state you're in. Maybe a night sleeping on the cobblestones will sober you up."
Viktor despondently looked down at the puddle of beer on the table. "I didn't mean to hit him," he answered, in a small voice.
Leona sighed. "Of course you didn't mean to hit him, but it happened all the same." She continued in a somewhat gentler voice. "If you really want to help Anabelle, the first thing you need to do is keep your head clear. The clumsiness of a drunk mercenary does nothing for her reputation, especially if you're going to keep yelling about your relationship at the top of your lungs." When Viktor didn't answer, Leona turned towards Flik and, gesturing towards the insensate Harmonian, said, "Come on, I'll need your help dragging this guy to his room."
Flik looked over at Viktor, who was still staring down at the table. He put his hand on Viktor's shoulder and said, "Hey, I'll be right back, okay." Viktor nodded in mute response.
Then, stepping around to get into the best position to hoist the Harmonian, Flik grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him off the ground. Leona, at his legs, snapped, "Support the neck!" He considered this for a moment and then squeezed his elbows uncomfortably together to provide a headrest. Leona frowned, but didn't comment, and they began carrying the Harmonian upstairs, with the boy in the lead.
About halfway up the stairs, Flik remembered who that boy was. "So, Templeton, are you still trying to map the entire world?" he asked, as they tried to maneuver the Harmonian around a corner.
"You know this kid?" Leona asked, as they finally got him around.
It was Templeton who answered. "Yeah, I was in the Liberation Army during the war two years ago. Uh, not that I did a lot of fighting." He paused and pointed an accusatory finger at Flik. "You two were supposed to be dead," he declared. "Then you go and build that silly fortress out in the middle of East Muse. I had to update all of my maps, but now, because of this stupid war, they're all out of date again."
Flik chuckled. "Still the same as ever. Things change, though. You just can't help it. Odessa had some maps from when Gregminster was still a part of Harmonia, and it was called Rupanda. She even had part of a map of ancient Aronia. At least, she thought it was ancient Aronia; no one could ever read the letters on it."
"Now those are some maps I'd love to see." Templeton sighed.
Flik and Leona finally got the Harmonian to an empty bedroom. Though it was unlit, the two moons -both Scarlet and Blue were past half full- provided more than enough light to see. Gently, they placed the Harmonian onto one of the beds.
Leona looked doubtfully at the man in the bed and then back up at Templeton, standing in the doorframe. "You traveling with this guy?"
"Yeah, he looks like a rogue, but he's harmless enough. I've got a knack for picking out the right people to travel with."
Leona glanced over at Flik, seeking confirmation. Flik shrugged. "He's been doing this since he was eleven, so I guess he's got some sense." Then he turned to speak to Templeton. "Listen, though, if you ever get in trouble, you come find us. We can take you on until things blow over." Leona nodded in affirmation.
"I know what I'm doing," he answered, with a young man's pride. "You just make sure Highland doesn't come along and burn anything else, you got that?"
Flik laughed. "Well, there's something that I can see to. While we're at it, why don't you cut that hair? You still look like a girl."
"I like my hair just fine," Templeton responded, sulkily.
Viktor was snoring away when Flik woke the following morning. After getting dressed, he briefly wondered if he ought to go and check on Templeton, but decided against it. Flik knew full well about the pride of an independent-minded youth, having been one himself. Instead, after eating breakfast, he went out to the field beyond the city gates where the men were encamped. It was there that he found Rossgard who had a piece of interesting news.
"Sir, one of the men thought he saw Riou's group at the gates last evening. He didn't get a real good look, though, and then the guards hauled them off somewhere."
Flik felt a certain glad relief trickle through him. "That is good news. Viktor and I will go get them. Meanwhile, I want you to get the men ready to move. We've been assigned to the Dawn Fort, up on the hill. I want to get the men settled in and back to their routines as quickly as possible. Understand?"
"Sir," Rossgard nodded.
Later in the morning, when Viktor had finally woken up and ruffled his hair into a slightly more presentable mess, the two of them began their search for Riou and the rest of them. They began at the guardhouse right across the street, which, to Flik's thinking, was as good a place as any to begin the investigation, or at least the closest.
"Yeah, we nabbed some people fitting that description," a graying, rather drawn guard captain said after Flik had explained the situation. "We threw 'em all into the lockup to let 'em cool down. I suppose we'll escort 'em back out into the pool sometime today, let 'em wait for a legit permit just like everybody else."
"We're taking custody of them," Viktor announced, slapping the contract that Anabelle had given him down on the desk. He followed this with a rather large bag of potch. "You'll release them into my care."
Flik closed his eyes. This was all a rather elaborate bluff, as neither he nor Viktor had much authority as mere mercenary captains. Certainly, they didn't have any say in the movement of prisoners in Muse's justice system. Now, did the guard captain care enough to contest this?
The captain didn't even bother to look down at his desk. "Fine, but you'll have to sign some documents before I release 'em. Proper procedure and all."
Viktor chuckled grimly. "Indeed. I know all about proper procedure."
Only then did the captain pocket the potch. Flik sighed.
Thirty minutes later, one of the captain's subordinates led them to the proper cell. Walking in, Flik could see that it wasn't terribly big, containing only a wooden cot, a mat on the floor, and a wooden bucket. It also contained Riou, Jowy, Nanami, and Pilika all looking rather dingy and worse for wear. They looked up dumbly at Viktor and Flik.
Viktor, finding the proper mood, started laughing. Finally, he said, "Don't look so down, we're here to spring you."
Nanami jumped up. "About time, you big jerk! Hurry up, I need a bath!" She jabbed a finger into Viktor's chest. He found that funny, too.
Flik turned to the guard, who was regarding the scene rather sardonically. "Yeah, these are the ones, and their companions in the other cell, and the wolf, too."
"You sure?" the guard commented. "I mean, we can keep them locked up a little longer, if you'd like."
Viktor continued to laugh, now in the process of blowing a snot bubble out of his nose. He wheezed to a stop and rubbed his nose, finally saying, "Not bad, not bad, you're all okay. You sure took you're time, though. We were all starting to get worried, especially the girls."
Riou nodded as a response, calmly stretching out his muscles. Jowy also stood up and answered, "We had quite an adventure, detouring all over the place, back and forth. I feel like I've run my legs off." He smiled, though, suggesting boundless enthusiasm.
Flik took a moment to study the two boys. There was something different about them, more so than just a trek through the wilderness would account for. They had both acquired strong runic auras from somewhere. Very strong runes, possibly even stronger than his lightning rune. He shook his head. "You all certainly look like you've had quite the adventure. Let's get out of here. You can tell us all about it at Leona's new tavern, after you've had something to eat and baths too."
Nanami practically whooped for joy. Viktor spoke up in her wake. "After that, I'll take Riou and Jowy over to meet Lady Anabelle. She wanted to see them, after all."
"What, us?" Jowy asked, a little dazed at the sudden turn of events.
Nanami, however, was not in the least bit dazed. "I'm coming too. It's not fair to leave me behind," she exclaimed.
Viktor chuckled. "Fine, fine, you can come too, you little tomboy," he said, with the air of one making a great concession.
Nanami stuck out her tongue as a retort.
Over lunch, the three of them, well, mostly Nanami, breathlessly described their flight from the fort up to Toto, where Pilika had guided them into her father's shrine.
Jowy took up the thread from there. "Riou and I went over to examine some writing on the stone in the back and then we were…teleported into another part of the cave. There was this beautiful woman, with black hair and a jewel in her forehead, and she was dressed in robes of blue and purple. She called herself the Arbiter of the Balance."
Viktor blinked in amazement. Flik sputtered, "Leknaat?"
Jowy did not catch on to their shock, but continued with, "Yeah, that's what she said her name was. She offered us power, the power to command destiny, and we…well, we accepted. I got this Black Sword Rune and Riou's got a Bright Shield Rune."
Flik struggled to keep the awe out of his voice. "May I-May I see them?" Riou and Jowy exchanged glances and then placed their right hands out on the table, so Flik could clearly see the runes embedded therein. He studied them carefully, clearly noting that they were unlike the common runes, such as his lightning rune, that one could buy and have embedded by a Runemaster. Still, the little triangular shield on Riou's hand and the little sword on Jowy's hand did not look terribly ominous, not at all like the Soul Eater that Tir McDohl still possessed.
"What do you think?" Viktor asked, in a hushed tone.
"I'm no expert in runic lore," Flik answered, and then paused for a long moment. "There is definitely power in those runes." Jowy looked almost gleefully at his hand, while Riou nodded quietly. Flik continued speaking, though. "Listen to me!" he barked. "This isn't something to be taken lightly. Nothing ever is, where Leknaat is involved. This kind of power can redound upon you, causing immeasurable pain if you're not careful with it. She has clearly given these runes to you, but I would advise that you only use them under the most dire of circumstances, and not to let too many know about them. That's what I've got to say."
He looked up at Riou and Jowy. Nanami was now regarding the runes much as she might two cobras at that distance. Jowy seemed to be debating whether or not to find a knife to try and chop off his hand. Even Riou looked a little green around the gills.
Viktor slapped the two boys on the back. "Don't worry about it too much. You'll figure out what to do with them. After all, Tir McDohl did."
Flik considered that statement for a moment. Given all that had happened to the bearer of the Soul Eater, the idea of figuring out the use for such a power didn't seem terribly comforting to him.
After lunch, and after depositing a rather somber Pilika in the care of Leona, Viktor departed with Riou, Jowy, and Nanami. They all seemed very excited at the prospect of meeting the Mayor of Muse; indeed, their concern over the runes appeared to have been subsumed entirely. Flik shook his head as they all disappeared out the doors. Well, they were still children after all; let them forget the cares of the world for a while.
Flik had his own cares to deal with, namely getting the men to their new home. The guards at the city gates looked dubiously at the prospect of letting four hundred armed mercenaries march through their fine city, but he finally prevailed on them to let the mercenaries through. In retrospect, he decided, it really would've been more convenient to have marched them all the way around the base of the cliffs to the fort. Most of the men, having been recruited off the farms of East Muse, had never been in a city the size of Muse before. They reacted in a predictable manner, gawking at everything and threatening to scatter in a hundred different directions at the sight of anything interesting. The fact that the civilian crowds were thoroughly unimpressed by the mercenaries didn't help matters much. With stoic indifference they clogged every street and the local vendors, much like vultures, circled the formation eagerly, looking to separate the men and their potch.
In the late afternoon the formation finally found itself at the top of the causeway, near the conference hall, the city sprawling out below them like a tiny scale model of itself. Flik paused the march to consult with a few of the guards outside the hall. The mercenaries clustered around a nearby monument to the victory of the famous Mayor Jowstone over the Highlanders in the year three-fourteen.
"Dawn Fort?" one of the guards responded, when Flik asked for directions. "You've got quite a bit of marching ahead of you. About fifteen miles…in that direction." The guard jerked his thumb down the paved road leading to the east. The mercenaries, or at least a large portion of them, groaned in anticipation. The guard smirked. "You'd better get started."
They did, marching off with the setting sun at their backs. The two moons were up, though, and both near full, so the march was not made in darkness. Still, a chilly northwesterly wind rose up, wafting clouds in and out of the moonlight. Over his right shoulder, Flik noted the lesser lights of Muse City receding into the distance, and the men marched through a night gone surprisingly still. Flik, riding his horse, slipped into a doze in the saddle.
And jerked awake an indeterminate amount of time later, pulled out of his slumber by a sudden, light tugging at his sleeve.
"Sir?" the voice was Rossgard's. Flik blinked awake, making out the shadowy bulk of a fortification in front of him. The two moons were at his back now, rapidly slipping below the horizon. There was a bit of a mist in the chilly pre-dawn air. "We've arrived, sir," Rossgard clarified. "But there's a bit of a problem."
"Hmm?" Flik shook out the cobwebs from his head. "What problem?"
"The guards at the gate; they want to see our orders before they hand over the keys."
"Well…that's normal, I suppose. Let's see them."
Them turned out to be a pair of sentries flanking a portly lieutenant. The lieutenant took a step forward at Flik's arrival, attempting to puff out his chest in an attempt to look intimidating. Actually, all that happened was that his gut sagged lower over his belt. "State your business, man," he wheezed.
Flik dismounted, presenting Anabelle's orders. "Lady Anabelle has assigned us to the Dawn Fort, with full responsibility in this sector of the Ring Forts. I hope there'll be no problems with this."
The lieutenant snatched the papers away, squinting through the darkness in an attempt to read the orders. Finally, one of the sentries was sent in to fetch a light. By candlelight, the lieutenant muttered over the orders. "Mercenary Army, huh? You're those fools that got crushed in East Muse, right?"
Taking a deep breath, Flik replied, "Yes."
The lieutenant thrust the papers back into Flik's hands. "Only reason you've still got a contract is because you're the Mayor's lover," he hissed, jabbing a meaty finger into Flik's chest.
Flik snorted, suddenly glad that he'd decided to do this, rather than letting Viktor. Viktor would probably have twisted this guy's head off. "If I were Lady Anabelle's lover, do you think I'd be up here at this time of night?"
"Give them the keys," the lieutenant snapped. One of the sentries stepped forward, handing over several brass keys on a ring. "Lot of good it's going to do us," the lieutenant continued. "You mercenaries are all alike; you'll probably cut and run at the first sign of trouble."
Flik smiled, despite the blood rushing through his body. "You're confidence is most appreciated. I'm sure you, too, will provide a most…heroic performance on the field of battle."
The lieutenant grimaced, did a smart about face, and stalked back towards the fort, presumably to gather his men. Flik didn't follow to find out, but turned to see to the ordering of his men. Unfortunately, the interior of the fort was a mess and, before Flik could track him down, the lieutenant and his men had scurried off to their new post. Thus, Flik and the men spent the hours of early morning working to put the fort into some kind of living condition. Midway through this operation, he simply collapsed into one of the beds that he'd just put to rights, falling asleep instantly.
It was Rossgard who woke him again, sometime in the afternoon. "Sir, thought you ought to have some food, sir," he said, offering some dried meat, cheese, and bread on a plate.
Flik listened to his stomach growl; it wasn't fancy fare, but it was food. He ate. "How are the men?" he asked.
"Sir, we are having them stand down at the moment. They're all a bit exhausted, at any rate." Rossgard smiled now, as if to suggest that nobody was too upset that their leader had collapsed on the job.
Flik laughed. "Well then, you should be at ease, too." Rossgard nodded, and slipped into a textbook at-ease position. Then, however, he shrugged and, sitting down on another bed, pulled off his helmet. Flik regarded him; the hair on the top of his head was still black, but a definite bald spot had appeared at the crown of his head. His mustache, on the other hand, had long since gone gray. His face was full of creases and wrinkles.
"You were in my unit in the Liberation Army, weren't you?" Flik asked, though it was more a statement of fact than a question. "Even before Tir McDohl became the leader."
"Yes," he smiled. "I was there when Achilles called us together…way back in the beginning."
Flik nodded. "But that's all over. You don't need to be here, if you don't mind my saying so."
Rossgard shrugged and then ran a hand through his hair. "Well, there isn't much else I can do. I was born on a farm, tenth of thirteen children, so I don't have any inheritance. I didn't learn any letters, except for what I've learned while fighting. I don't know much math, besides the basics. About all I do know is horses…and I've learned how to fight from the back of one. Besides, who'd look after the men if I left?"
Flik chuckled. "Who, indeed?"
"Now, if you don't mind my asking. Why are you here? I know you're not happy about going back home, but you could certainly do better than this. You could go back to the Toran Republic and they'd offer you just about any position you asked for. Or you could do anything else you wanted, like go into the trading business, or something. There's no reason for you to crawl around in the muck like some ranker, begging your pardon."
Flik looked up through one of the narrow windows, watching the light from the westerly sun. "They don't need me back in the Republic," he answered. "They've got plenty of competent generals. Besides, I could never spend my days sitting behind a desk in Gregminster; I get restless if I'm not out helping people. That's all." He shrugged.
"Not a lot of potch in helping people, sir."
"No," Flik mused. "I suppose there isn't. Well, maybe there are things that I think are more important than money."
Rossgard chuckled. "You might even be right, sir. Heck of a philosophy for a mercenary, though."