The raw power of it all... I had to have it, no matter the cost.
Airyglyph wasn't much farther off, but too much had to be done to make it to the royal city before nightfall. The dragon who had killed his own master had to be put back into the stalls. The woman, who could wake up at any moment, had to be tied. The morale was bleak since the soldiers had essentially failed their mission, and furthermore had lost a comrade. These were the excuses Glou used when the men asked their questions.
"But don't be disappointed. We have Arisa Zelpher. Aquaria has few fighters, and now they are one less." The men agreed, but fell silent. The death of who had been their friend was not easy for them to accept. "You'll wait out here while I secure the prisoner in our cells. Then we'll celebrate and honor our brother." Even the prospect of free rum brought silence.
Fools, Glou thought as he struggled to open and close doors with an unconscious woman on his back. This is war. You have to move past death. Of course, it was easy for him to think of his death so lightly. The soldier who had died wasn't someone that was particularly high on Glou's list, and the Dragon Brigade captain didn't have any plans to promote the fallen soldier any time soon. Then again, it could have been any of the others, and he understood that they needed a pick-me-up. Besides that, he was quite excited at his "catch" and in the mood for some drinking.
Woltar was on the couch of the main room, reading some royal report or another. He cast Glou a disapproving look at the woman on his back. Glou knew Woltar's thoughts on prisoners, which was why, if he kept any, he kept them in the Airyglyph prisons. "Don't give me that look old man," Glou jeered jokingly. "This is Arisa Zelpher."
"Then you ought to kill her," Woltar growled, putting his report down and coming to assist Glou. "You know she wont give out any information. At least not anything real."
Glou just smiled and slowly made his way down the stairs. The room was dark. Two torches were lit on either side of the room. Behind them, bars blockaded the second half of the room. Inside was a bed and bucket on a floor of hay. Glou reached for some keys on top of a large, cracked shelf. "I don't suppose you're offering your help?"
"I want no part in this." Woltar said simply. "Prisoners aren't just--"
"Toys for us to kick around, blah, blah, blah. But you owe me a back massage for this," Glou unlocked the cage. He hoisted Arisa off of his shoulder and set her carefully down on the bed. She did not stir. Glou smirked as he looked over his shoulder. Woltar looked angry, and shook his head.
"I'll do no such thing."
Glou pushed Arisa up against the wall, and sat her up. He sat next to her, and held out her limp arm. "Count Woltar of Kirlsa!" he screeched in as high a pitch a voice as he could manage. "You will be much nicer to Glou Nox. I was talking to Queen Aquaria the Sixteenth and Apris told her to tell you not to be such a crotchety old man."
Woltar smiled in spite of himself and immediately turned around to hide it. "Just be sure to get her eggs," he said carefully and left up the stairs. Glou stared after him. Give her eggs? Why? Do eggs have some sort of special Aquarian-taming properties? he wondered. Maybe Woltar was older than he thought.
Glou lay his prisoner back down and left the room as well. He wrapped himself up in his favorite, royally colored cloak and dismantled his sword. "I'm going to the pub tonight."
Woltar looked up at him. "Alright. Be sure to--"
"I said I'm going to the pub tonight!" He whined. "Don't lecture me! I'm gonna be drinking! I don't want to get all depressed about some crap that you're going to remind me that I have to do!"
"Honestly, Glou, you're like a child."
Glou grinned. "That's only in comparison to your insanely old age." Before he could be hit by his elder's shoe, the Glyphian darted out the door into the snow.
When he entered the pub it was full, mostly of Dragon Brigade soldiers and a few traveling merchants that supplied the troops with food. Glou sighed. Shmoozing took much too long. He hurried through, "yes, so good of you to come all the way from Airyglyph"'s and "So sorry I couldn't bring you along, so sorry"'s and pushed his way to the front of the bar. "One round," he told the bartender. "To all of my men." The room erupted in cheers. "And a second to Haxley, Torvid and Makli, my men today."
The tavern fell silent. The three made their way to the front of the bar and grabbed the giant mugs of their first round. "To Jeremiah Fozith!" Following suit, the room raised their mugs to the air. "Our comrade, our friend, our brother!" At these words, the men downed their ale, shouting and cheering when they were finished.
From that point, the night went much smoother. Glou was able to find a table with his fighters of the day. Other men gambled and scrapped, but the four soldiers were in a more mellow mood. "I mean it, boss, we really love your leadership, great guy, just a great guy you are," Makli started.
Torvid helped him to finish. "And we was thinking, we thinked real hard, we think you ought maybe not to say nothing about your Aquarian."
Glou eyed the three suspiciously. Were they trying to trick him into committing a crime against his country?
"You know," started Haxley, who had had little to drink that night. "The way I remember it is, Nox killed that bitch the second she got ahold of Jeremiah. Fucked her up, uh, pretty good."
"You're suggesting I lie to my King?" Glou asked bemusedly, his brow quirked.
"Not at all, sir," Haxley replied cautiously. "We're saying, if you maybe forgot to mention your new toy, we'd be inclined to forget ourselves. Consider it our gift." Excitement and pride welled in Glou's chest. He was a damn good leader, inspiring such loyalty in his men. And, he realized, he did have a toy at home.
"You three are honorable soldiers," he said in response, and left the pub. His new toy, as they had put it, was waiting to be unwrapped.