Disclaimer: I had a disclaimer once, but I lost it. Can I borrow yours?... ... Well jeez, you didn't have to be so rude.
Chapter 32
Desertion
Day 3
Night watch definitely has its perks. Okay, so you don't get to sleep. Big deal. I can manage that. And sure, it does get a little cold this time of year, but that's why we have furs. Nothing like snuggling into the warmth of a dead animal, am I right? ...I am. Yeah, alright, I'm pretty far from the fire too, but this view!
I stopped my little internal monologue and leaned my head back against the tree trunk I was using to prop myself up, enjoying the relaxing view the crisp, clear night afforded me of an ice-covered stream reflecting the star-filled sky as it meandered through the forest. Add clear skies and a nearly-full moon into the mix, and it was like sitting inside a postcard.
We were three days outside of Talrega and we had made it well outside of the Begnion army's scouting range, just about freeing us from any fears of discovery. Despite taking most of the first day to get through the mountains and past the Begnion troops encamped outside the mountain range, we still managed to cover a lot of ground. We passed several recently-abandonned villages and farmsteads on the second day, and on the third we actually overtook some of the Daein villagers from one of those villages. Kezhda insisted we avoid contact with them - after all, we were still working on our cover identities, accents, and that absolutely essential farming knowledge and country-folk speech Neph was teaching us in camp each night - but all the same it was an encouraging sign; packed light and used to long marches, we would definitely reach the capital along with the bulk of the Daein refugees. Perfect for our cover.
A cold breeze swept along the riverbed and gently rustled my hair and beard, carrying with it the soothing scent of pine. I sighed contentedly. That was the other perk of all this nature; even though we were going into danger, the days spent out in the wilderness, free from the worries and stress of the army, were supremely relaxing. Even going without weapons - something I had thought would be incredibly uncomfortable, given how violent life had been for the last several months - proved to be a calming reprieve; twice today I caught myself thinking that I was back home in Midgard, just off on another camping trip.
That is not to say, though, that all my worries were forgotten. The calm also gave me some perspective on my mental state, particularily since my recovery in Talrega, and I was forced to come to the conclusion that I had been seriously unhinged for quite some time now. All the paranoia, the vaguely suicidal promise to I made to my comatose best friend, and - to top it all off - attacking Marcia at what turned out to be an imagined provocation... Much as I hated to admit it, she'd been right about me. I had issues. The kind of issues most people see a psychiatrist for. Hell, it might even be the kind people get locked in a padded room for.
A sharp gasp came from the camp, startling me from my reverie. I leaned around the trunk and looked back over my shoulder at our camp, a circle of bedrolls around a small fire just on the other side of my tree. Marcia was sitting up, looking around furtively at the others to make sure she hadn't woken anyone with her outburst. I settled back into my previous pose, getting myself back out of her line of sight before she could see that I'd noticed. That was the second time tonight that she'd woken up suddenly, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what she was having nightmares about. Seeing a sibling die like that... yeah, that'd stay with you.
I added another point to my list of night watch perks; no sleep means no dreams, and no dreams means not seeing dead people in my sleep. Not a bad trade. Now if only I had access to caffeine here, I could keep this up indefinitely.
"Heya," a groggy, subdued voice said right next to me. I jumped a let out a decidedly un-calm squeal, turning in surprise to see Marcia settling onto a root beside the tree.
"Jeeze! Ninja, don't do that!" I gasped, my heart hammering in my chest and the peaceful feeling all but vanished.
"Can't sleep. I'll take watch, you can go rest," Marcia mumbled, poking me in the shoulder in an attempt to rouse me from my comfy place of relaxation.
My first instinct was to snap 'No! This is my quiet time!' but considering she'd obviously been having nightmares I figured I should take it easy on her, so instead I settle for a simple "Nah. I got this."
Marcia snorted in amusement. "Yeah, I can see that."
I pretended not to hear her sarcastic tone and remained silent, returning my gaze to the frozen stream in front of me. Marcia seemed to expect some snarky retort from me, and when none came she just picked out a solid-looking root and settled down, streching her legs out in front of her to get comfortable. It felt kind of strange; ever since leaving Talrega, neither one of us had much good to say to the other, let alone any desire to be around each other any more than we had to. All the same, though, there really didn't seem to be much left of that tension now, just a shared desire for a little peace and quiet.
As we sat there, not arguing or glaring or trying to oneup the other, I started to feel uncomfortable in a different way. What I did in Talrega - trying to knock her out and stash her in a supply closet - crossed a few lines. I'd probably do it again under similar circumstances, and she certainly crossed a few lines herself - not the least of which was nearly ruining our escape - but since we had to work together now I figured it might be best to bury the hatchet... or at least to try.
I glanced back over at the pegasus rider. She was sitting very still, her head hanging ever so slightly, but in the darkness it was hard to tell if her eyes were closed.
"Marcia? Still awake?" I asked, keeping quiet in case she was sleeping.
"Nope. I went to sleep in the ten seconds we've been sitting here." It was too dark to see if she'd actually rolled her eyes, but the tone certainly gave that impression. "Chowderhead."
"Well fine," I grunted, falling silent again. And just like that, the urge to apologize was gone.
"...What is it?" she asked after a second.
"Forget it."
"Crackers, just say it already!" she huffed, crossing her arms.
"I was just going to apologize for strangling you back in Talrega. I guess I kinda overreacted," I said, looking away and fidgeting ever so slightly in discomfort.
"Your sincerity's really touching," Marcia grunted drily.
I took a deep breath to keep myself from snapping back at her, but even that couldn't keep a hard edge out of my voice when I replied. "Like it or not, we're a team now. I need to know that I can trust you to watch my back, so yeah, it was sincere... Out of necessity."
"...Fine. All is forgiven, then." Her tone was no friendlier than mine. "Out of necessity."
"Well good."
An icy silence descended after that, but despite the chill I took Marcia at her word. We had a truce... for now.
Day 4
"Ye're, not you're," Nephenee was insisting as I took a seat at the cookfire the next morning. Calill, busy roasting a skewered pheasant, simply scoffed.
"Nephenee dear, I appreciate your efforts to teach me this dialect, but I am afraid it is simply not part of my cover identity," the mage protested, snapping her fingers as she did to blow the smoke coming off the coals towards her would-be language instructor with a small wind spell. Nephenee coughed and shielded her eyes, and Calill straightened up to fix us with an imperious glare. "I am no commoner, even for pretend. I will be a merchant and traveling mage who, despite the misfortune of losing my wares and wagons in this war-torn country, has used her guile, charm, and stunning good looks to help this poor, tattered band of refugees," the mage declared with a self-satisfied smile.
"Yeah, okay then," I chuckled, rolling my eyes and waving an unused pan at the fire, wafting the smoke back in her direction. Calill caught that blast of smoke full in the face, nose still in the air, and her bluster completely vanished to be replaced by a beautiful mix of indignation, horror and extreme discomfort.
Nephenee and I exchanged grins and a high-five.
"Adam," Kezhda said, striding through the smoke unbothered. "A word with you." He said nothing more as he went right out of our camp, vanishing into the thick stand of evergreens.
Neph tore her gaze away from Calill's attempts to regain her composure and shot me a quizicall look as I got up to follow. I just shrugged and followed the team leader, wracking my mind for what would have brought such a dour tone to the usually cordial assassin. Daeins on the road? Ike's scouts? An outburst of angry chatter startled me just as I was leaving camp, but a glance over my shoulder revealed nothing more alarming than poor Nephenee catching the brunt of a very perturbed Calill's chastisement. I cringed. I'd have to apologize to her later... to Nephenee, that is, for leaving her alone with the indignant mage.
I caught up to Kezhda a short ways down the river from where I'd kept watch the previous night, just out of earshot of the camp. I must have looked worried because he raised one hand in a placatory gesture when he saw me. "Nothing's wrong, don't worry," he answered my unspoken question. "Just taking a minute to work out few operational details before we get to the city. I want to make sure people know what we're walking into."
"I've worked in an urban environment before," I replied. After surviving for months in Sienne next to a walking target, I felt fairly confident that I could handle myself in Nevassa.
"It's not the location. It's what we do there," Kezhda corrected me. "This is a covert operation. You know what that means?"
"Surveillance, meeting contacts, not much action," I guessed. I had kind of assumed we would be keeping things as low-key as possible to avoid detection until it came time to take out Fenrir's stronghold.
"That is correct," the assassin replied, nodding his approval. "However, these operations require a good deal more patience than you lot may be used to from the battlefield-"
"I can be patient."
Kezhda let out the sligtest of sighs, just enough to tell me he was annoyed by the interruption. I clamped my mouth shut. "Have you stalked a target for days without once making a move on them? Observed suspected safehouses even when no one comes or goes?"
I waited a second before speaking, just to make sure I didn't interrupt him again. Never a good idea to annoy someone who can kill you with, well, anything he wants to, really.
"Fair enough," I conceded. "But I can still be patient if I need to."
"You'd better be. Discretion is going to be our best defense in Nevassa. Perhaps our only defense." His brow furrowed and he shook his head sadly. "We may not have any extra help in there."
I nodded in understanding. "You really think your agents are dead."
"I don't like the thought, but we must be prepared for the worst," he stated. "And yes, they most likely are." He leaned one arm against a tree and gazed off along the riverbed, unfocused eyes making it clear that his mind was elsewhere. I could only imagine how much planning an operation like this would require. Perks of being along as muscle, I guess. "Just finding our enemies' base of operations will take time, even if Matt and Beth can give us a general area, and once we do that we will need time to prepare for the attack," Kezhda mused. He must have been weighing all this in his head for some time. "We'll need weapons, at least one good safehouse, and of course we can't have too may people out at once or..." he trailed off, still wearing that thoughtful look.
"If you're looking for help with the planning, I'm afraid we're a little outside of my area of expertise," I said with a helpless shrug, moving up to stand beside him. "But hey, if you wanna bounce ideas off me then I'll do what I can to help."
"No. Right now I'm dealing with... staff assignments, I suppose," the assassin corrected me, snapping his head up as if he had just remembered that I was there. "As I said, I cannot have the entire strike team out gathering information and supplies all at once. Even if they went to different areas of the city, too much coming and going from our safehouses will attract more attention than we can afford. Besides, I want to keep our safehouses protected at all times."
I sighed; I could see where this was going; in my state, I could very well be a hindrance in the field. I didn't like it, but the mission had to come before my pride. "Alright, I get it. I'm not one hundred percent healed from Talrega, and an injured leg makes me a liability in combat," I said, indicating the leg wound that nearly killed me. "If you want me sidelined until it's time for the raid, then I'm sidelined."
"You wouldn't object to that?" he asked, eyebrows raised in doubt. Something about the way he was watching my reactions...
"Does it matter if I do? I may outrank you in the army, but I've got no illusions about who's in command here," I replied. "I'll follow your orders."
"Good answer," Kezhda said, his satisfied smile making it clear that I had just passed some sort of test. "As for your injuries, I don't need the best fighters in the field with me; I need a killer."
For a second I was puzzled - who else did we have that qualified as a professional murderer? - then I noticed him scrutinizing my reaction again and it dawned on me. "You mean me."
Kezhda just shrugged and gave me a knowing look. "Talrega made a convincing case."
He was right. I didn't know how he knew about Josh, but he did. "I'm not proud of what I did there."
"The man was desperate and dangerous. He would have gone after the Princess again, and killed anyone who got in his way." Kezhda explained with a shrug, as if my feelings on the matter weren't important. "It was necessary."
I had no retort, so I just nodded my agreement. Kezhda didn't need his killers to take pride in their work, I suppose.
"Like I said, this is a covert operation; we are not taking prisoners, we are not leaving witnesses," the assassin continued. "Not everyone is ruthless enough for that kind of work."
He looked at me as if he expected some kind of denial to be forthcoming, but I remained silent. I had started to make my peace with what I did to Josh, but doing it again? Murdering anyone who happened to get in my way? The more I considered the implications of it, what it would do to me, what it would make me, the less I liked it.
At the same time, though, I had made a commitment to do whatever it took to end the threat Fenrir posed. Didn't that include this? How can I refuse this on moral grounds when it was my friends in Fenrir's crosshairs?
"I'm afraid that out here, there is a limit to what I can teach you about how we operate..." Kezhda explained, gesturing to the empty wilderness around us. He was either oblivious to my inner conflict, or just ambivalent towards it. "...But I can at least give some helpful physical instruction: killing quickly and quietly, escaping captivity and the like. The rest, you'll just have to learn as we go. So are you in?"
He was asking, much to my surprise. He wasn't ordering me. I could say no. I could take a step back from all this, leave the ugly part of this to him and whoever else took his offer. I didn't have to become the killer he wanted me to be, the person I had been so afraid of becoming. All I had to do was say no.
"...Alright. I'm in."
Day 7
"They're no more than a few hours ahead of us," Al remarked, running one finger through a fresh rut left in the dirt road. "I'd say two wagons at the most, plus some people on foot."
"Merchants or farmers, most likely," I reasoned. "Any idea how many?"
"...No," Al sighed, drawing a chuckle from me. "You realize I've only been a scout for a few months, right? Not exactly an expert yet," she grumbled, crossing her arms and glowering at me. "But there's small footprints beside the wagons, so they probably have kids with them. They won't be moving very quickly."
"Hmm," I mused, looking out along the road. It was empty for as far as I could see, but with the way it wound through the hills and crags of the Daein highland it was impossible to be sure we were alone. "Well, you're the scout, so I'll defer to your judgment. Stick to the road, or take a detour to avoid them?"
"Might as well stick to the road for now. It's not like they can harm us," she decided, straightening up to continue down the road. "If Kezhda decides he wants to avoid them, then we can worry about a detour once we've got eyes on them."
I shrugged and followed her lead, glancing back over my shoulder as I did to see the rest of the group just starting to round the bend in the road behind us. Al and I had been on point ever since we broke camp that morning, and by now the others were a fair distance away. I wouldn't get a much better opportunity for a talk; I had been training closely with Kezhda for the past few days, and in the process learned some very interesting things. One of those pieces of information left me with a few pressing questions for our sprightly scout.
"So I've been talking more with Kezhda the past few days. Learned something interesting from him not too long ago," I started, watching my friend's expression. Al just shot me a slightly quizzical look, but gave no indication she knew what I was talking about.
"About Nevassa?"
"No, about Sienne," I said. She looked confused. "Apparently the Assassins tried to recruit you," I clarified, wondering if Kezhda had misheard his colleagues in Sienne.
"Oh, that. Yeah, they approached me in Sienne," Al admitted, not bothered or caught off guard in the least.
"And?" I asked, taken aback by her nonchalance.
"And I turned them down," she replied with a shrug. I couldn't keep a look of shock off my face at that, and Al rolled her eyes. "What's the big deal?"
I quickly composed myself and just shrugged. It was her choice, after all. "Can I ask why?"
"Because that's not who I want to be," Al replied as if it were the most simple, obvious answer in the world. She shrugged, then just turned around and kept going. "Kezhda and his people are fighting for a good cause and all, but they're too ruthless, no?"
"I seem to recall you wanting to kill every Fenrir mage we find just a few days ago," I was quick to point out as I jogged to catch up. "You goin' soft on me?"
"Not even close," she replied. "Fenrir's people are too dangerous to be left alive, period."
"Some might say that's kinda ruthless..." I quipped. I agreed with her wholeheartedly about Fenrir, but I just couldn't resist the jab.
"The difference is that I know where to draw the line. C'mon, don't tell me you don't know how these assassins operate," Al insisted. "Collateral damage-"
"Is going to happen, Al. You have to know that's inevitable by now. Any soldiers stationed there have to die too," I pointed out. "We're not giving anyone the chance to sound an alarm."
"And if someone who isn't a soldier sees us?," Al retorted, not backing down an inch. "How far does their 'collateral damage' extend?"
It was true. And I'd known that on some level even when I agreed to do, well, just that: kill anyone who got in our way. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
"So that's why I'm not joining up. I'll work with them when I have to, but I'm not one of them. It's not much of a win if it costs me my soul, no?" Al concluded, cocking her head to the side and shrugging. It seemed so simple for her; this was the line, and she did not cross it. I had to admit I admired that about her. "I'm sticking with the Midgardians, thanks."
She returned her focus to the task of scouting the road as she said that, and luckily missed me flinch at her last words. If she thought that I could offer some kind of moral alternative as leader of the Midgardians, she was likely in for a very disappointing surprise.
Day 11
"We're getting close to the capital," I remarked as we passed an worn but still mostly-legible milestone.
"Almost there," Nephenee agreed, an excited gleam her eyes despite her typically reserved tone.
"You're looking forward to it?" I asked knowingly. Even though she had a thick wool cloak wrapped almost completely around her slender form, I could see her hands wringing excitedly. It was kind of a strange reaction, considering, well, the massive risk we were taking, the odds of capture and dying horribly and all that.
She cracked a smile, pure and simple joy playing across her face. "Haven't seen a city like this since Sienne, an' it don't scare me like it used to, either!"
"Yeah, just behind enemy lines trying to take out a super-soldier program. Nothing scary there," I grumbled, instantly regretting my tone. I hadn't meant to be that surly, it just kind of slipped out.
"Oh, c'mon! Tha's no' what I meant, and ye know it," Nephenee sighed, her mirth stolen by my harsh tone. She nudged me playfully in the arm. "Cities are exciting! ...Well, once ye're used to the crowds... an' the stench... an' the thieves... well, I s'pose what I mean-"
She rambled on, trying to lighten the mood again, but I only half-heard her, turning slightly and yawning to cover the deep frown I wore. The closer we got to our destination, the more the reality of what we were doing set in. That feeling of safety and confidence I'd so enjoyed on the road had vanished rapidly, and a cold knot of dread had been forming in my gut for the past day or so. I couldn't decieve myself or put off worrying anymore.
"Never thought I'd be the one sayin' this, but ye need ta lighten up a bit," Nephenee remarked. I glanced sidelong at my friend and tried to flash a smile, if for no other reason than to reassure her. She saw right through it.
"Ye didn't want me ta come, did ye?" Nephenee reasoned, growing more serious.
"I respect your decision to help us," I replied, evading rather than answer the question directly.
"I'm not yer only friend who's puttin' themselves in harm's way here," she was quick to point out.
"Yeah, but you-" I stopped myself short before I could say something stupid. I took a moment to collect myself before continuing. "Look, I know you promised way back to help me see this thing through, but I don't want you following me through all this just because you think you need to keep your word or-"
"Well, I'm not," she cut me off, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing here eyes. "We're all here 'cause we've decided stoppin' Fenrir and rescuin' those people is worth the risk. S'not just yer friends they're after. They're mine too," Nephenee added with a pointed look at Matt and Beth.
"I get that, but you know I'm still gonna worry."
That just drew a frustrated sight from Nephenee.
"What is it?"
"Ye're worried," she grumbled, the barest hint of bitter sarcasm in her voice telling me I'd said or done something very wrong. Nephenee was never bitter. "Y'know, ye never even think about-" Her voice cracked, and she snapped her gaze forward and cleared her throat self-consciously. I could see her one fist clenching and unclenching down at her side. She seemed almost... angry.
"Alright, I'm missing something here," I said, suddenly concerned. What'd I say?
"...They telled me ye were dead. Did ye know that?" Nephenee finally said. "After the second day o' searchin', they all said ye'd drowned or frozen."
I was speechless for a second as that sank in. She'd just been coming to terms with her father's death in Crimea, and then...
"Wow, they sure gave up on me quick," I quipped half-heartedly.
"S'not funny," Nephenee insisted. "That's two days I spent thinkin' ye'd died! I didn't even get ta say goodbye."
I nodded, and claped her gently on the shoulder. "I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I never meant for you to..."
"Ye're reckless, Adam," she said, jabbing one finger into my chest. "Ye keep actin' like that, and it'll get ye killed fer real one o' these days!"
I sighed and nodded. She was right. That didn't keep me from trying to defend my actions though; stubborn pride and all that. "In my defense, fighting that guy seemed like a perfectly reasonable risk... okay, well, until he almost took my leg off, but that's beside the point-"
Neph put one hand on her hip and fixed me with a reproachful glare."Don't ye be doin' it again," she ordered.
I sighed dramatically and rolled my eyes, trying to lighten the mood a little. "Fine, if you insist. I guess I can take a pass on the whole 'heroic sacrifice' gig."
I got a half-hearted punch in the shoulder for that, but she finally cracked a smile again. "Oh, shut up!"
"Hey, it was pretty damn heroic. I almost died!" I exclaimed in mock indignance.
"Still not funny,"
"I know. For what it's worth, I'm glad to have you here with m- us. With us." I coudn't help a glance in Kezhda's direction, but I clamped down on those thoughts before I said anything more. Nothing good can come of going there again. "And hey, who needs to lighten up now?"
Nephenee rolled her eyes at me, but the smile she wore was almost as genuine as it had been before I went and turned the conversation all dour and worrisome.
"Well, if ye're lookin' ta lighten things up, perhaps ye ought ta try the accent I been tryin' ta teach ye," she suggested, a mischievous sparkle in her eye.
"Are ye implyin' tha' me accent's no' up ta yer fancy standards?" I asked, putting on my best peasant voice. I thought it was half-decent.
"...It needs work," Nephenee finally said, although something about her careful tone and the way she hesitated made me think she was trying to be nice.
"No, alright, seriously I've actually been practicing. I swear," I insisted. I straightened up and cleared my throat, determined to prove that I had actually sort of picked up the accent. "See? Ah can blend righ' in wi' th' locals!"
Nephenee stared at me for a few seconds, her expression utterly unreadable. Finally, she gave a defeated shake of her head.
"I s'pose we could just blame it on brain damage," she sighed, gesturing to the scar running across my face.
"Oh, so that's how it is, huh?" I laughed, giving her a playful shove. Nephenee's deadpan facade cracked and she broke out laughing too, regaining her balance quickly and shoving me right back.
"Ye know it-" she started, but a sharp whistle cut her off as something brushed past my arm, followed almost immediately by the distinctive 'thunk' of an arrow striking the frozen ground.
I dropped low, arm outstretched to pull Neph down next to me only to find that she'd already done the exact same thing. A few more arrows shot down from the hill to out left, the poorly aimed shots arcing well over our heads or falling several meters short. We barely had time to share an increduolous look before people suddenly swarmed over the crest of that hill, at least three of them coming for Neph and I at the rear of our group.
A scrawny, shabbily dressed man wielding a pitchfork of all things got to me first, and despite our cover as farmers hard-wired instincts kicked in as I rose to meet him. For some reason he swung at me rather than thrust, so I stepped inside his reach and struck his arm to stop the swing. I was about to crush his throat with the blade of my hand when I remembered what I was supposed to be and stopped myself short. My hesistation was rewarded with a solid punch to the side, and before I could even double over in pain the man had shoved me to the ground and kicked me hard in the ribs. Another pair of men reached us them, one of them holding the pitchfork-wielder back while the last grabbed Nephenee - who'd stuck to our cover better than I had - and threw her on the ground beside me.
"Back off, Lem. Fucker hit me!" the pitchfork-wielder snapped angrily to his friend, rubbing his arm where he'd been struck. Now that I'd gotten a good look at them - with their roughspun wool clothes, callused hands and sunburnt faces - I realized these men were farmers rather than bandits, and pale, scrawny, generaly unhealthy-looking ones at that. Pitchfork guy noticed me looking at them, and gave me another sharp kick. Neph flinched and shifted her hands as if she were about to get up, but gave her a subtle shake of my head; I'd be fine.
"Oh, what, you wanna help him now girlie?" The peasant called Lem - this one wielding a small axe - snapped. He reached over to grab her, but a booming voice froze him in his tracks.
"Stop, you bloody morons!" The road went silent except for a few groans of pain. That sounded like Matt; he must have tried to fight too. I glanced ahead at the rest of our group to see them surrounded by about a dozen other farmers and peasants, all just as shabby as the men around me and all leveling scavenged weapons and tools at their hostages. A man in battered, dusty black armor strode into the middle of the mess, and continued shouting angrily at the pathetic group.
"I said fire on MY COMMAND!" he roared, spraying spittle with each explosive sylable. "Does that mean fire whenever you fucking please?"
One farmer, still holding a hunting bow in his shaking hands, foolishly spoke up. "B-but sir, they was just- Eeeuh!" With a meaty thwack of metal gauntlets on bone, the brigands' leader laid the man out with a solid punch to the face.
"Anyone else feel like making excuses?" the leader roared. Dead silence. "Good!"
The leader rounded on our group, suddenly smiling and polite. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, let me apologize for the actions of my men. They are a little new to this business, after all."
"And what business is that? Harassing refugees?" Jarod - ever the proud soldier - snarled contemptuously.
"Harassing is such a negative word. I don't like it," the brigand said, still almost jovial. He nodded to the peasant standing behind Jarod, and that man smacked him hard with the butt end of a shovel.
"No need to fret, my dears," the armored brigand continued, gesturing theatrically to his ragged group. He was just loving the power he had here. "We are highwaymen, not murderers, so there is no need for any of you to come to further harm."
"What is it you want?" Kezhda asked, leveling an angry glare at the leader but otherwise keeping himself under control.
"There's a sensible man. I have just come here to relieve you of your burdens and speed your voyage to our lovely capital," the highwayman replied, smiling with mock sweetness. "Simply hand over your provisions, gold and cloaks, and you can be on your way."
"Fine," Kezhda hissed, reaching up slowly to unfasten his cloak. "Do as he says, everyone. This isn't worth our lives."
The men around us seemed to relax a bit, and let Nephenee and I get up on our knees so we could remove our fur cloaks. I couldn't help glowering at my captors while I unfastened the garment; it was a damn shame to lose those, especially in this weather, but losing them to this group? That was just adding insult to injury.
"Oh, and we'll take your women too," the leader said, the same sickening smile plastered across his face as he leered at Calill, Beth and Marcia. "The nights are cold out here, after all." A few hearty chuckles and jeers came from the peasants around us.
Kezhda froze, hand just hovering over the clasp of his cloak as a cold look settled in his eyes. I could almost see him sizing up which ones to kill first, and there was a barely perceptible movement of his mouth as though he were whispering something. An instant later, Al suddenly stood up and snarled at the brigands.
"If you scumbags think I'm going anywhere with you-"
"Relax, little girl. It's just the women we want, not children," the leader sneered. Big mistake.
"I am NOT a child!" Al snarled, taking a step towards the leader. The man with the shovel went to strike her just like he had Jarod, but Al must have been waiting for that because she spun and caught the shovel's handle, turning it and the man's wrist with an audible crunch. Kezhda and Marcia sprang into action too, knocking a pair of peasants down and taking their weapons when they turned towards the angry scout.
"New terms!" Kezhda exclaimed, leveling a sickle at the nearest brigand. "We all go our separate ways, and keep our own provisions."
"Or what?" the armored brigand asked, seemingly unimpressed. He turned towards the men holding Nephenee and I. "Lem!"
"Yessir!" the axe-wielder replied.
"If any of these buggers make a move, kill those two," the leader ordered. "Archers-"
Before the man could even finish giving the order, an arrow shot past Marcia and dropped one of the farmers standing behind her. The leader's face turned bright red with rage.
"Who the fuck fir-" The lead brigand's voice was abruptly lost in the commotion as battlecries broke out and yet more men rushed over the same rise the brigands had used to surprise us. Bows twanged and a handful of brigands dropped writhing to the ground as others rushed ahead to meet the newcomers.
"Rangers!" the pitchfork-wielder standing over me gasped, taking a step back and nearly dropping his weapon as the first few farmers to meet these rangers were mercilessly cut down. "Lem, wha' d'we do?"
"Aw fuck, I dunno!" the equally terrified Lem cried. He stood there quivering for a second before shaking his head vehemently. "Fuck'em, I ain't fighting no rangers! Take th' girl an' let's go! Kill th' other!"
Neph and I shared knowing looks; time for the gloves to come off. We just had to hope that in the confusion no one would notice.
While one man went for Nephenee Lem rounded on me and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, lining his small axe up with my neck, but I had already gotten my feet under me. As soon as he'd drawn it back to strike I shot ahead, catching the weapon hand and twisting it sharply until the wrist broke and the axe came free. A quick slice to his hamstring dropped him to his knees and I spun back around as the pitchfork wielder came for me, hooking the end of the pitchfork with the axe and tugging it safely past me. Before the man could even recover from the shock of his prisoner turning on him I had the little hatchet embedded deep in his chest. Leaving that one to fall dead, I grabbed Lem's head as he struggled to rise and twisted sharply. The neck snapped with a loud crunch and Lem went limp.
Behind me, Nephenee had easily dropped the last one, blood pooling rapidly from the sickle still stuck in his neck and a ragged slash to his gut. She wiped the blood off her hands and hurriedly tucked them into her cloak, but not before I saw them shaking.
"They made their choice, Neph," I murmured, taking her arm and steering her away from the corpses. I couldn't care less about killing those fools - bunch of would-be robbers and rapists - but she'd always hated the idea of killing other farmers. "They're nothing like you."
"I know," she replied, her voice harder than I had ever heard before. Frighteningly so. "I'd 'a never let'em take me. Bastards." She spat on the nearest corpse, but despite her anger and false bravado I could see the horror in her eyes. Just the thought of what they had wanted from her had to be deeply unsettling. I gave her shoulder a reassuring pat, but I really had no idea what else to say.
Ahead, the skirmish had wrapped up as quickly as it had begun, the last few farmers who tried to run falling with arrows in their backs. The men Lem had called rangers moved methodically through the carnage, checking the bodies and finishing off any wounded brigands. Neph and I approached the rest of our group, and my fear that a stray shot might have struck one of our friends lessened with each precisely placed arrow I passed. To my surprise and elation, we found the rest of the team largely intact; Jarod and Matt each had a nasty bump on the head and Sothe appeared to have a shallow cut to his arm, but we were otherwise none the worse for wear.
Even more surprising to me, however, were these so-called rangers; I had assumed they must be a sizeable group to cut through the brigands so quickly, but instead I found a team of four men, clad in simple leather armour but wielding well-made swords, axes and bows. Whoever they were, they were good.
"Are any of your people hurt?" one of the rangers asked as he calmly wiped the blade of his axe clean with a rag. He looked to be in his early thirties, and his shoulder length brown hair and trimmed beard made him look almost like Boromir from the Lord of the Rings... just with an axe.
"All things considered, I'd say we're just fine," Kezhda replied, acting the rough peasant quite well. "Many thanks to you an' yours for that. I suppose we should offer-"
"No fee," the Boromir doppleganger replied, holding up a hand to ward off any offerings or gestures of thanks. "We're a militia unit paid by the Daein crown to keep these lands safe from highwaymen and the like... despite these bastards' best efforts."
"These men don't look much like highwaymen," Beth commented in a peasant accent little better than mine. I took some comfort in that.
"And what do highwaymen look like?" Not-Boromir retorted with a mirthless chuckle. "These are desperate folk, plain and simple. Well, most of them..." He rolled the brigand leader's corpse over with his boot to get a better look, then sighed heavily. "Border defense army, like I thought," he murmured, looking back at Kezhda. "Broken men," he explained. "Once their army's routed most of them find a hole to hide in, others go back to their loved ones, but then some go and do this. As if the Crimeans weren't enough trouble already."
"Can we expect more bandits on the way to the capital then?" I asked. Even if we scavenged weapons here to defend ourselves, it would be risky. We'd been lucky to run into such an unskilled group, but if more experienced and better equiped bandits found us...
"Not likely. This road has been mostly cleared of them, but we'll escort you to the city just in case," Not-Boromir assured us. "Nevassa's less than a half-day's march and my men need to resupply anyway."
"We appreciate it, Sir...?" Kezhda said, extending a hand to the ranger.
"Nolan," the ranger replied, shaking the offered hand. He pointed back at his men, who were now methodically relieving the corpses of any gold and valuables before rolling them off the road. "These are my men Vin, Taler and Jay." One of them looked up and waved, but the other two remained focused on their task. "We'll just need a few minutes to get these bodies burning, and then we can get going."
Kezhda thanked him again, then directed us to gather up our packs and supplies while the rangers set the pile of corpses alight.
In my time in Tellius, I had definitely seen some amazing architecture. Castle Gallia was a huge mountain fortress unlike anything I had ever seen, well at least back then, and Sienne's mess of harbours, canals and endless urban sprawl certainly dwarfed any the ports and villages of Crimea. But Nevassa... Nevassa was impressive in its own terrifying way, on a level the other two just couldn't match. As the spires of her towers rose in the distance, it became abundantly clear to me that whatever her modern use was -center of political power, economic hub, uber-secret base of operations for Fenrir - Nevassa had been built for one purpose, and one purpose only: War.
With each step, the dark, looming mass on the mountain ahead resolved itself into a stark, menacing marvel of engineering. Layered walls climbed from the fields and foothills high up the mountainside, bristling with towers, sporting colossal gatehouses and obscuring all but the tallest of the city's buildings. "Fortress" didn't even begin to cover it. I kept scanning the defences as we approached, looking for weak points, but its was no use. Each layer of wall was higher than the last, with unobstructed line of sight to the parapet of the lower one. If our soldiers took the first layer, they'd be completely exposed on the walls. The gates were the easiest point to create a breach in the walls, but they were tucked away far back within those gatehouses. Tailor-made kill-zone, and an obvious choke point. We'd lose hundreds trying to batter those down, and then we would still have... how many? At least three more gatehouses to get through, plus the keep, not to mention having to fight building-to-building in the urban areas nestled between each layer of wall. That would be too costly, especially considering Ike only had ten thousand men. I counted three aqueducts entering the lowest level of the city - the only visible weak points aside from the gates - but even if we could get through them they would only get our men into the lowest level of the city so... same damn problem. Shit. At the very least, though, they might offer a way out for our team if things went badly. I made a mental note to investigate them more closely once we were in.
"Impressive, isn't it?" the rangers' leader said, seeing me scrutinize the city.
I nodded. "Never seen anything quite like it." I am a simple farmer. Never seen any big cities.
He seemed to swell with pride at that. "Greatest city in all of Tellius, if you ask me." Nolan swept his gaze across the walls ahead, letting out a vaguely contented sigh. "Lot of good people there too," he noted. "That's what makes it worth protecting."
"They're mighty lucky to have people like you looking out for them," I replied. "Especially now." I am a scared farmer, in a very dangerous world.
"These are indeed dangerous times, friend," he sighed. "I just wish all of us Daeins thought that way. The way things have been going lately, we even have to be suspicious of our own countrymen." He cast a sidelong look at me with that last statement, and I raised an eyebrow in response. What was he getting at? "Threats can come from anywhere, especially with so many former soldiers fleeing the war."
"Aye, simple folk like us sure make easy prey," I remarked innocently. I am a farmer. I like plows, barns, cattle and all that. Not weapons. Definitely not.
Nolan snorted in amusement. "Aye, simple folk." That was definitely sarcasm. Not good.
"Beg your pardon?" I asked, and immediately cringed. My accent slipped.
"It's not every day you see a simple farmer break a man's neck so easily," Nolan said after a few seconds. "Looked to me like you'd done it before."
"I got lucky," I replied. So they did see what happened. That complicates things.
"Right. I suppose you got lucky with the axe too," came the inevitable retort. He looked me up and down, clearly sizing me up. "If any former soldiers want to get into my city, I would have to be very careful about letting them in."
Hypotheticals? Why not? "And would you feel obligated to report those soldiers as deserters?" I asked, not even bothering with the accent anymore.
"Not unless they posed a danger to my city," the ranger replied. "I would need to know why they want in, to make sure they aren't up to no good."
"You said it yourself. Some just want to go back to their families, make sure they get through this shitstorm alive," I replied. Nolan nodded in understanding.
"So these are all your family?" He gestured to the rest of my group.
"Not by blood, but yes." With our varried heights, hair and skin tones, selling it as an actual family would be ludicrous. Fortunately, Nolan just nodded as he glanced tellingly at his own men. He understood. We both stayed silent for several minutes after that, just walking along thoughtfully beside me as we closed in on Nevassa's main gates.
Up close, I could see the city was in full crisis mode, working frantically to prepare for the coming siege. Scores of workers swarmed along the walls, shoring up defences, sealing cracks, and hauling supplies up into the towers on pulleys. Roving spearpoints on the battlements showed the location of Daein sentries, although despite the massive number of workers the sentries themselves appeared few and far between. The main gates were open to accomodate refugees, but guarded by a sizeable detachment of Daein infantry. Fifty men at least, by my rough estimate.
Nolan's three comrades cheered and led the way to the gates, but Nolan himself slowed, his quiet pride turning to a deep, worried frown as he looked the defenses over .
"Can I offer a word of advice?" he asked, stopping a hundred meters or so from the city gates. His men went and Kezhda were already speaking with the Daein sentries posted at the gate, so I stopped next to him.
"Of course."
"You and yours should stay as far from Nevassa as you can. The invasion's coming here next." I could see that admitting that pained him. This was his home, and a siege - even a failed one - would leave much of it in ruins.
"I know, but we've got friends in Nevassa we have to find first." It wasn't entirely a lie. Sothe was looking for someone, after all.
Nolan just shook his head helplessly and began walking away. "Best make it fast, then," he called over his shoulder. "Once the Crimeans get here, there'll be no way out... for any of us."
It seemed the rangers had vouched for us at the gates, and I caught up to the others just as the guards waved us through. I made a point of surreptitiously examining the gates as we passed through. Two layers of thick, steel-reinforced wooden doors, with dozens of archer slits covering the area between the two. I gulped; no way to get in through there without first taking the walls and gatehouse first.
Inside the walls, the city was even more hectic than it looked from the outside. Yet more city guards manned the square just inside the gates, but they were outnumbered at dozens of times over by flocks of poor Daein refugees, their wagons and tents forming an impromptu camp in the crowded city square. I noticed more than a few richly dressed men and women moving through the desperate refugees, buying up wagons and livestock and handing out paltry sums in return.
"Wouldn't want to be stuck in here," Jarod murmured, eyeing the merchants with no small amount of disgust. "A third of these people will be dead of disease or hunger within a month, even without the merchants here to exploit them," he predicted, shaking his head sadly.
"That's why we brought money, handsome," Callil replied, but even her usual nonchalance was subdued. Her gaze lingered sadly on a pair of young children we passed. They didn't appear to have any parents.
A chorus of cheers and jeers sounded above the noise of the refugee camp then, and the words 'sub-humans' came up more than once. I glanced at Kezhda, but his disguise was as good as always. No way he'd been made. Following the voices, I located a cluster of well-armed men, their battered armor free of the any Daein crests. Probably mercs. The rowdy bunch was clustered outside a tavern, drinking heavily and raising their glasses towards a section of Nevassa's wall. I glanced that way out of the corner of my eye, and was treated to the grizzly sight of a dozen corpses hanging from the walls. I cringed and averted my gaze; the corpses all had tails.
"Kezhda-" I hissed, but he held up a hand to silence me.
"I saw," he said grimly, his lips forming a thin line and his fists clenching at his sides. "Keep walking, don't look back." He stalked out of the square wordlessly, leading us onto a less-crowded but still busy street. The buildings here were tightly packed and rose several storeys above ground to make the most of Nevassa's limited space, making every street into a dark, narrow canyon.
"Were they-?" Al piped up as soon as we made it out of the crowds and got some breathing room.
"My agents," Kezhda confirmed. He shook his head. "They were professionals; none of these locals should have been able to blow their cover."
"And yet they still got lynched," Beth pointed out, glancing back at the walls and shuddering. She looked like she was going to be sick.
"It seems more likely that someone compromised their identities, then let the mob do the rest," Calill corrected her. "Fenrir, I should think."
Kezhda raised his eyebrows and a mix of surprise and respect played across his face. "Most likely," he agreed. "Although Fenrir is not the only possibility." He retrieved a sizeadble pouch of coins from his pack and tossed it to Calill. "Calill, there's an inn at the end of this street. Take everyone there and get us some rooms. Adam, Marcia, you two come with me."
The mage hefted the bag experimentally, smiling in approval. "Quite the sum. I assume it is a nice establishment."
"It's a dive," Kezhda corrected her drily. "The extra gold is to buy privacy. Just tell the owner we don't want to be disturbed."
Callil tried to protest, but Kezhda walked away, waving for Marcia and I to follow.
"Where are we headed?" I asked, forsing myself not to look back at the walls. That could be us, if we're not careful.
"Metting a contact," he replied. "Not one of mine," he added quickly, answering the next obvious question. "He's a local information broker and crime boss."
"And you need us along for what, exactly? Our extensive criminal connections?" Marcia quipped, covering her confusion with sarcasm.
"I need you along in case he tries to kill me," Kezhda corrected her, flashing a confident smile.
"Oh. Lovely."
A/N
It's taken me way too long to get this uploaded, and I am sorry. Six months is pretty absurd, even for me. I think I've got things mostly dealt with on my end - I got an appartment, transport, student visa, and so many vaccinations and blood tests my arms look like a heroin addict's - and once I get settled overseas I can hopefully get back to a regular update schedule. If anyone is still reading this, thanks for sticking with it, and once again I apologize for leaving this so long.
Review reaponses:
NLV: ...Yeah, I done screwed up my updates again... If it's any consolation, though, the break gave me the time to really flesh out my plans for this arc, so it will be significantly better/have less plot holes than my original plans. So it's totally worth the six month wait, right? ...Right? Okay yeah, definitely not. But hey, you're right about the tone of the new arc. It's really dark. I had to take puppy video breaks when I was writing some of those scenes.
Totally-irrelevant-sidenote: There is a seriously adorable video of a dog singing along to Let It Go. Cure for any frown.
Anyway, you are correct, I did say I wouldn't go over 4 months again, and I failed to keep my word. I'll do my best not to let it happen again.
TelliusFan: Good gravy, Nephenee is powerful in RD even without grinding for stat bonuses. I've found that pairing her with Brom makes them practically unstopable, especially on all those levels where you're facing the Central Army. Never used Calill, though, despite her having some hilarious supports.
Yup, Sothe and Jarod will know each other before RD in this fic. I've written it into the RD chapters, and I think it actually adds a really interesting dynamic. And now Sothe's even met Nolan. I figured it wouldn't hurt to lay some groundwork for the Dawn Brigade.
PrincessArien: Your leeryness is understandable. Thank you for giving this fic a shot, and I am glad you like it! As for Nephenee, she will be back as a major character for just about all of the POR part of this fic. And yeah, there doesn't seem to be a lot of Nephenee-centric fics, but if memory serves there is one on this site about her, Geoffrey and a very meddlesome Calill that is quite good (I just don't remember the title, it's been a few years since I read it).
Guest: Yup, I'm still alive, although I did have a few close calls during that break. I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying the story, and don't worry about pressuring me. Honestly, a good kick in the rear every now and then can really help with motivation.
Well, I'm afraid I gotta cut this short, cause I've got some pasta dough resting on the counter. As always, a big thank you to everyone who reads and/or reviews. Until next time!