Chapter Six: Beyond the Border
A noisy wench with a healing staff,
All raucous voice and piercing laugh.
A gentle boy with a magic tome,
The cleric's weary escort home.
We caught sight of the hamlet at around noon, everyone talking cheerfully and looking much recovered from the last battle's rigors. My instinct had been right, the bandits had not been able to work up enough organization to attack us. Though I still had a niggling feeling of doubt, I pushed it aside in favor of the idea that we'd actually get to sleep in beds that night. Huey was tired from the several days that we'd been traveling, so Florina rode along with everyone else, and somehow I got stuck next to the girl. She was not my ideal riding companion, she smiled little and talked less than that, but at least she wasn't Sain. From the way that she kept snatching wary looks over her shoulder at him, I gathered that she rather felt the same about the man. Dorcas and Lyn had hit it off quite well, and he was relating one of his old war stories to her, with too many technical descriptions of the melee for it to be of any interest to me. They rode at the head of the column, with Florina and I directly behind. Bringing up the rear were Kent, Sain, and Wil (who rode double with Sain, and the Sky knows how they bore that). They were discussing, predictably enough, women.
I struck up conversation with Florina to pass the time until we reached the town. "Florina, what is your homeland like?"
She snatched back from one of those worried looks at Sain and blushed. Her index finger and thumb slid up and down the reins, something that she did whenever she felt nervous or pressured. "Do you not know, Josef? I thought you had a good enough education to know…"
"Oh, I know all about Ilia, my teacher always babbled about it whenever we were discussing winter warfare. But still, learning from a book isn't really the same as hearing about it from someone who's actually lived there." I paused. Now that I'd gotten into the conversation, I realized that I really didn't want to make small talk. But if I stopped it, she'd have been offended, so I tried to deflect the subject. "You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to."
"No, it's all right. You just surprised me. The place where I lived, Mizuyama, was always covered with snow. Most of Ilia is snowbound all year 'round, but I guess you knew that, didn't you? Um…In the spring, we sometimes planted crops, but we never got much. Mountain soil isn't good for growing things, and the cold doesn't help."
"That's why the Ilian trade is the lance, right?"
She nodded, a bit sadly. "Yes, that's why. Sometimes, people who don't really want to become mercenaries have to, so they can feed their families."
I wanted to ask, "Were you one of those people?", but decided against it when she pressed her lips together, distressed. "Florina, would you fly on ahead and prepare the innkeeper for our arrival? I'm sure he'd appreciate it, since we're such a large group.
"I…all right."
"Huey's not too tired for that, is he?"
The pegasus glared at me, but I ignored him. "No, Huey's fine."
"Then go. Huey will have first pick of blankets and mash then, won't he?"
The winged horse seemed a little mollified at that, and went willingly into the swift gallop that allowed him to lift off of the ground. It never ceased to amaze me, that. Pegasi truly were special creatures, with a magic that bore most of their body weight while they flew. When they bonded with a rider, they could extend that magic to their riders, making them able to carry as much in the air as they could while they walked. Extraordinary creatures. They were all extremely smart, and if that meant sometimes they were a bit mean, well, they were pretty. I rode by myself for a few moments, quietly contemplating, before Kent spurred his horse up to meet mine.
"A copper for your thoughts, Josef."
"You'd be wasting your coin, sir knight."
"I'm sure it would be worth the tankard or so that I lost for it. Were you thinking about the girl?"
I nodded, and he shook his head solemnly. "There is a sadness about her that I have never seen before. It fades somewhat when she speaks with the Lady Lyndis, but always else she is lost in her own thoughts, unless she is fighting. Then, she applies herself with a discipline that makes me look like Sain on a particularly bad day."
"Ilian mercenaries are trained to be that way, Kent." I reminded him, but he waved that aside with a small hand gesture.
"True, but I have met some Ilians in my life. They are sober to a fault, but they are also human, they all have likes and dislikes, things that they enjoy. Florina seems to find little joy in life outside the Lady and her steed."
"Isn't that enough?"
"Perhaps."
Something about the way he looked at me makes me think that he wanted to say more, but he was rather conveniently cut off by Florina's return. Girl and horse came flying out of the air to an ungraceful landing, most likely coming near to breaking Huey's legs seven or eight times. She was flushed, and looked worried.
"More bandits!" she gasped, and loosed her lance from its holster swiftly. I gaped at her.
"Here? They followed us? Blast them, I wanted to sleep in a bed tonight!"
She nodded to show that she sympathized, but the urgency did not leave her face. Lyn, Wil, and Dorcas were already dismounting, and the horsemen stood ready, awaiting my orders. I sighed.
"Florina, what are their numbers?"
"I don't know, there are too many trees. For all I know, twenty, or thirty!"
I smacked a hand to my forehead irritably. "I doubt that very much. Still, my teacher always told me, "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst". He gave good advice."
"Hey, look!"
Wil pointed up at the sky beyond a patch of trees. I followed his finger, and saw the ball of flames that appeared out of thin air there. They hurled themselves down into the trees, and I heard screaming noises a few moments later.
"Someone is using magic." Dorcas said matter-of-factly. I nodded.
"Exactly. And whoever it is probably isn't with the bandits. Maybe they'll be wanting help. All right, this is how we'll do it. Kent, Sain, I want you to go around to the north side of the forest and take out any bandits you meet. Don't worry about us, and don't turn back, keep going. Once you're around the hill, you'll be well into the town, we'll meet you there. Wil, I want you to follow them, but keep an eye on the woods as they pass by in case they miss something."
Sain bristled at the idea that he would be so negligent, but Kent gave an enthusiastic affirmative. "Will do, Josef." Replied the archer, and the three of them set off around the north side of the hill. I turned to the other three, and another fireball went off behind my back. "Dorcas, the bandits usually either have swords or axes, so you need to be careful. Florina, you'll be taking the direct route over the hill, take care to get any of the buggers that are hiding in the heart of the woods, we don't want them stealing into camp tonight when we aren't looking. 'Cas, you cover her."
Florina looked absolutely petrified, and Dorcas grim. I caught Florina's arm as she mounted and whispered into her ear, "I know you don't like men, Florina, but this is the best place for you on this battlefield. If you can't get over it, then you may as well just go home."
She bit her lip and mounted. Her answer was to take off above the treetops and head up the face of the hill. I turned to Lyn, who was glaring at me as usual.
"What did you say to her?"
"That's none of your business, Lady Lyndis."
She unsheathed the Mani Katti, which glowed menacingly. "I'll make it my business if you don't tell me, tactician."
"With that?" I pointed contemptuously at the holy sword. "You know the Mani Katti won't injure innocents."
"Whoever said you were innocent?"
She had me there. "All I did was give her some pre-battle pep talk, Lyn."
"I don't believe you."
"I don't much care."
We were interrupted from our impromptu argument by a high-pitched squeal of delight that went up several octaves past "piercing". I almost wondered why the village hounds didn't come running.
"Oh Erky, look! People in need! Could we ever have asked for a better opportunity? St. Elimine truly smiles on her daughters!"
"I have some doubt that you came from any woman's womb, Serra."
"Oh Erky, you think I'm an angel! How quaint!"
"Actually, I was thinking more demonic…"
I could hear their conversation quite clearly, they were only a few paces away. Lyn was too busy stifling giggles, so I took it upon myself to feel them out. "You there, who are you?"
The loud one was a tall girl with carnation pink pigtails that hung down past her waist, dressed in a white cleric's gown with purple trim. She held a long, slender rod in her left hand, something I recognized as a variation on the staff an old monk friend of mine had carried. It was used for healing, though in her hands, it seemed more like to cause wounds than heal them. Her companion, who stood slightly behind her, a grim expression in his eyes and on his lips, carried a thick tome, about as long as his forearm. It was red, nearly matching the crimson of his cloak. I recognized him as the mage who had cast the fire spells by the rather unfortunate hat he wore. I still haven't quite figured out why mages wear them, to this day. The loud girl raced up to me with unholy speed and grasped my hand with her own.
"I am Serra, a cleric! A priestess of the faith, no less. Sister Ice is strong in me!"
I'm afraid that I deadpanned at that moment, but she seemed not to notice, bowling on past in the conversation as if I'd just given her a compliment worthy of a queen. "Oh, you're so cute! Much cuter than my escort. Yes, I think that no comparison may be made!"
The mage gave me a look of sympathy and shook his head. "Be careful, she's a monster."
"Oh Erky, you're so funny! That's Erky, my mage escort. He's been commanded to take poor, fragile me to Ostia!"
Fragile? I doubt a hungry dragon would tangle with you, woman!
The mage called Erk opened his magical tome and began to flip through its pages. "She actually speaks the truth, for once, I am her escort."
Lyn was still laughing uncontrollably, apparently Serra had not noticed her yet. "I…ah...may I help you?" I asked the cleric, who was hanging off of my arm and making eyes at me. She suddenly jerked up, backed away several paces and pointed at me accusingly.
"We were just traveling on through the forest, when these ickle bandits attacked us! They think we're with you, so it's all your fault!"
"Actually, Serra, it was because you're a meddling…"
Don't say it, friend. I crossed my fingers behind my back, and Serra looked ready to explode, but Erk did not continue, instead flipping pages in his book nonchalantly. "At any rate, we should be going." He started walking back the way that Lyn and I had come, but Serra reached out and grasped his cape.
"You people look like you could use a healing hand!"
Lyn wiped tears away and brought up the Mani Katti, trying to emulate seriousness. "Indeed, it would be better if we all fought together, since the two of you were dragged into this by your actions."
Serra blinked as though she had just noticed Lyn standing there, but her eyes strangely seemed to gloss over the green-haired plainswoman. Erk, however, looked up from his book, caught Lyn's eyes and held them. "That would be welcome, good lady. I could take on these bandits by myself…"
"…but fighting is always easier with company." I finished for him. By the seven heroes, what am I getting myself into? "Would you care to join us, then?"
"I've always wanted to save a wandering band of mercenaries!"
"More likely they'll be trying to save themselves from you."
"You're so right, Erky! The man will probably faint at first sight of my wondrous beauty!"
"Yes, wondrous beauty."
We met with a couple of bandits on the way, but Erk easily fried the first, and Lyn took care of the second. Serra was in a tizzy by the time we'd reached town (though admittedly, Serra's tizzies tended to be frequent and long-lasting), since she'd not gotten the opportunity to heal anyone yet.
I wonder what'll happen when she meets Sain…
As we descended the hill into town, and the two cavaliers, with Wil in tow, came into view, Sain waved up at us. Erk, who walked beside me, his nose still buried in that tome of fire magic, mumbled a question at me, low enough that neither of the women could hear it.
"Do you have any, er…excitable men in your party?"
I blinked. "What do you mean?"
He flicked his eyes over to Serra momentarily, and I caught the drift of what he was saying. "You mean…Oh no."
"What is this? Yet another lovely lady to add to the ranks to of Lyn's Legions? Oh, how your face shines like the sun in glory…"
We made it down, and no sooner had Serra stopped walking than Sain had appeared before her (literally, appeared, I never saw him run up to her), grasped her hand and bent down on one knee. She looked down at him, blushed slightly, then applied the blunt end of her rod to the side of his head.
"Pervert!"
The look in Erk's eyes said, "I told you so."
The rest of the battle was easy, merely clean up. Lyn got a rather interesting cut across her breast, but Serra healed it before any of the rest of us got a look. Aside from that, the only interesting bit that happened occurred as we decided what to do next. I was about to mount Peaches, and Erk was holding the reins of his and his charge's horses, when Serra sidled up to me and batted her eyelashes coyly. "Oh Josef?"
"Yes, Sister Serra?" I winced, and slid back down to the ground. Peaches let out a snort and tossed her mane to show her annoyance. "Get on or stay off", she might have said.
"Why so formal, Josef? You know me well enough to simply call me by name."
"I only met you a few hours ago."
"Still, I feel like I know you. Perhaps that is the result of fighting side-by-side?"
Erk rolled his eyes and came over. "What the good sister means to ask you is, would you like our aid? Lyn has told us her story, and my charge wishes to aid you in your cause."
This time, his eyes said, "Don't say yes! PLEASE don't say yes!" I wanted to say no, really I did, but we would need all the help we could muster if we were to infiltrate Caelin properly. I weighed the benefits against the obvious downsides, and made the decision.
"We would welcome your support in the coming battles."
"I was afraid you'd say that."
"Did you hear that, Erky? We're going to Caelin!"
Gods help me, what have I done?
As they mounted, she her perfectly white palfrey, and he his bay gelding, I wondered at the level of eccentricity this group had. Lyn's Legions indeed. Well, we've made it past the border. Only fate knows where we'll go from here.
Author's Note: Glad to see you're all still with me. ^^ Yes, Slink, I do write the poems myself. Sorry there wasn't much action in this one, it always goes so quickly for me. I hope I did Serra and Erk justice.