Chapter 13
The mountains, despite the shade that they provided us, really weren't all that different to the desert.
It was still hot.
It was still dry.
And I was still miserable.
In fact, it was worse here, because there was far less breeze. At least out on the salt-flats there had been a persistent wind to keep us coolup the illusion that we were beating the heat. It was really quite pleasant if you kept covered up and didn't look up-wind. But here in the mountains, we only got the occasional gust that wound its way through the peaks and valleys, buffeting us just long enough to tease us with some hope of respite before stopping and leaving us feeling even worse.
Yes. 'Us'. As in all of us.
Because little miss 'I'm actually a god' used up too much juice intimidating Aversa, and now she couldn't afford to be wasteful.
"By all the gods on heaven and earth it is so hot!" Raven practically sobbed. "How do you humans put up with it!?"
"Necessity," I deadpanned.
"I can… maybe fan you or something?" Anna offered tentatively.
"Don't waste your energy," I said before Raven could reply. "You'll tire yourself out and spoil her. Sorry, Raven, but you wanna be human? You gotta sweat."
"Ugh! Why do I let you live!?" Raven groaned melodramatically.
"Because you're trying not to be a goddess anymore and I do that thing with my tongue," I deadpanned.
Raven was silent a moment, before giving a tired sigh.
"You are correct," she admitted.
"Ew. You two are so gross," Anna commented.
We had been trundling along like this all morning, Raven's surprising amount of complaining a constant running commentary on how suckish our current predicament was. Not that I was doing much better, having lost my cool, flowing robes…
"You know, the more you talk the more water you waste," I pointed out.
"I have only just started having to sustain myself like a mortal," Grima pouted. "You should be grateful I allowed you both to split my share."
"I gave it to Anna, though," I said.
Anna actually blanched at this, whipping around to look at us with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"You mean I've been drinking the water of two people all this time!?" she asked. "How do people live like this!?"
"Necessity," I repeated. "If y'all would shut up for once you…"
I trailed off, a familiar sound reaching my ears. It was faint, but unmistakable…
"We would what, smarty-pants?" Anna demanded.
"Shhhhhh!" I hissed. "Do you not hear that?"
"I find my senses recently to be dreadfully mortal," Raven deadpanned.
"Battle ahead," I advised. "Anna, slow down. Raven, how much juice do you have left?"
"How much what?" she asked, confused.
"How much magic do you have left," I clarified, rolling my eyes.
"Ah. Not much," Grima admitted. "Perhaps enough to sustain myself for another few weeks, but I have not been 'feeding' lately due to our company…"
"Did I do something wrong?" Anna squeaked.
"No, and look away," I warned her.
Without hesitating, I gnawed into my wrist, opening the vein. Raven and I both made the same disgusted sound as I held my bloody appendage out to her.
"Drink," I told her. "I need backup."
"Ugh. Can we not just-"
"No, Raven, we don't have time and you know it," I sighed.
With a look of supreme distaste Raven began suckling at the small hole in my wrist, and I flinched a little at the force.
"Hey! Gentle!" I hissed.
"What are you two…" Anna asked, glancing over her shoulder before going pale. "Oh my gods, are you… is she drinking your blood!?"
"Told you not to look," I smirked.
"For future reference, I do not find this particularly pleasing," Raven said around my wrist.
"Drink," I insisted, and with a loud sigh Raven relented and continued to feed.
"Is this some sort of… weird pre-battle ritual?" Anna asked shakily. "Am… do you want to drink my blood-"
"By all the progenitor gods, no!" Raven snapped, rounding on Anna. "I am only doing this because we are in a pinch! Gods of earth and sky how I loathe the taste of blood!"
I snickered, tearing a strip off the bottom of my shirt and wrapping my wrist in it.
"Someone sounds better," I said lightly.
"Were it not for my fondness of you, I would have killed you weeks ago," Raven deadpanned.
"That and the tongue thing," I shrugged.
"Yes, which you will be doing the moment night falls, as I have grown weary of waiting," Raven said dangerously.
"Yes, ma'am," I smirked.
"I don't want to know," Anna shuddered. "I just… ugh… nope."
I snickered again as Raven let out a relieved sigh, clearly reactivating whatever spell it was that kept her cool. A spell that the bitch still hadn't shared with me. I crawled past her, moving up next to Anna and pulling down the little awning to get a clearer view. The sounds of battle were getting pretty close now, and while I couldn't hear the individual voices and shouts in the familiar roar, I could make out the clashing of steel.
No doubt the valleys made the sounds travel in odd ways. I hadn't spent much time in the mountains in Valm and Chon'sin, so I wasn't overly confident about this, but I'd rather be ready than turn the corner and come upon a battlefield.
"Should I… park somewhere?" Anna asked softly.
"I'd rather keep you where I can keep an eye onsee you," I told her.
"In the middle of the action," Anna said nervously. "Right. Gotcha."
We came around the corner onto a small shelf overlooking a shallow basin. Clearly, if the geography was anything to go by, this basin would collect rainwater during the rare occurrences of actual rain out here. It was little more than a shallow dip that the mountain road passed through, more of a pothole than a cauldron, but, while shallow, the space was somewhat wide.
Wide enough, apparently, to set up a camp in.
Wide enough, also, to wage a pitched battle in.
A group of men clad in earthen-colored robes and light mail spun and slashed with uniform local Plegian scimitars against a more ramshackle group armed with irregular equipment and arms. It only took me a brief glimpse to see that the men in robes had their backs to a caravan and some ruined tents, a small huddle of similarly-robed women carrying short swords of their own shielding their infirm and young.
"What's going on?" Anna asked in a hushed tone.
"Bandits attacking a desert caravan," Raven said slowly, watching the battle over my shoulder. "It seems fairly obvious. Although what one of the nomad tribes are doing so far from their desert…"
"What do you want to do?" I asked her. "Wanna wait til they finish, or are we getting involved?"
"Truly, I care not," Raven huffed. "We may wait until they exhaust themselves fighting each other and no longer have the strength to trouble us."
I nodded slowly, my companion echoing my own thoughts. Anna, on the other hand, looked at us both aghast.
"Are you serious?" she hissed. "There's children down there!"
"Your point?" Raven drawled.
"Better them than us," I shrugged.
"I cannot believe what I'm hearing!" Anna went on, color beginning to rise to her cheeks. "You, a former General and Duke, shying away from protecting the innocent?"
"Keyword being 'former'," I iterated for her. "And you've clearly not met a lot of nobility, have you?"
"And you, Raven," Anna went on, rounding on her and ignoring my sass. "Aren't you trying to be more 'human'? Well, no normal human could look at this scene and be unmoved!"
As Anna gave her impassioned spiel, one of the robed men fell beneath the axe of a bandit, cries of dismay coming up from the cluster of women and children at their rear as the axe raked across the local man's ribs. The circle of robed men was getting tighter around their caravan, and it only got smaller as another of their number dropped back to drag the wounded man to safety.
Raven and I exchanged a glance, and I shrugged.
"It's your call," I said.
"Well," she said, a small grin breaking out on her face. "I always did wonder what it felt like to be the hero, rather than the villain."
I nodded impassively, before letting out a small sigh and dropping from the wagon onto the hard stone.
"Anna, as soon as I get their attention, I want you to link up with the women over in the back and stay out of the way," I instructed. "Raven, ride with her part of the way. Don't waste your mana if you don't have to, but don't let these schmucks kill me."
Raven chuckled, reaching down to stroke my cheek.
"As if I would allow these vermin to harm my lover."
"Keep it in your pants while we're working," I told her, the sting of my comment offset by the small grin that rose to my face. "Now. Let's go play hero. Raven, why don't you get their attention?"
Raven smirked back as Anna whipped the camels into motion, rising to stand atop the barrels in the back. With a wave of her hand, a trio of black fireballs flew into the back ranks of the bandits, blowing men off their feet and throwing screaming bodies into the air as they landed. Even tired, Raven was still well and truly above the average mage in terms of power. As I strode down towards the bandits, Anna led the wagon around the edge of the basin, Raven hopping down halfway.
I strode out boldly, rolling up my sleeves as the bandits milled about uncertainly. Just as Raven could still be dangerous while she was running on fumes, I was still just as dangerous unarmed.
Pressing two fingers into my mouth I let out a harsh whistle to get the bandits' attention, and when every head turned to look at me, I couldn't suppress my feral grin.
"Alright, line up so I can kick all of your asses!"
… curse my natural showmanship.
A pair of bandits not still reeling from Raven's bombardment began to run at me, and I bounced a little on the balls of my feet like a boxer. I dropped the first with a knife-hand strike to his throat, collapsing his windpipe, and he dropped to his knees clutching vainly at his neck as he slowly choked to death. The second I had a little more fun with, aiming a hard, low kick at his knee with the momentum from my first strike. He dropped with a sickening crack, and I followed through with a brutal knee strike to his face. As he started to drop, I grabbed him by his filthy, matted hair, dragged him back up, and repeated the move. If he wasn't dead from a nasal bone being driven up into his brain, he was still very much unconscious.
All of this happened in the space of a few seconds, and I barely broke stride.
"Next?" I called.
A lot more of the bandits froze, suddenly keenly aware that an unarmed man had just felled two of their number in as many seconds. Raven took the moment to cast another spell, an arkarc of purple lightning dancing between three more bandits and dropping them.
"I suggest you all leave," she added.
Another brave, if foolish, bandit charged at me. He was a young man wielding what appeared to be a stolen or looted Ylissean greatsword, the weapon held haphazardly above his head in a high guard as he ran. I rolled my eyes, stepped into his guard and laid him flat with a right straight. He fell on his arse, and the toe of my boot whipped out to break his jaw. As he fell on his back I stomped down hard on his throat, then bent to retrieve his sword.
"I can do this all day," I said, resting the sword on one shoulder.
"Please do," Raven said, finally reaching my side. "It's really quite arousing."
"Kinky," I purred.
The few remaining bandits decided that this was the best time to practice discretion over valor, and beat a hasty retreat. I sighed, the tension leaving my body as I dropped the greatsword. It was a little too long for me, anyway, and-
Raven spun me, mashing her lips to mine and jamming her tongue into my mouth. I flailed in confusion for a moment before grabbing her around the waist and pulling her to me. We only kissed for a moment more before Raven leaned back, looking up at me with an excited smile and heavily lidded eyes.
"That was fun," she said, stepping back.
"Well, we're not done yet," I sighed. "C'mon, let's go meet the natives."
Raven nodded, entwining her fingers with mine as we approached where the robed men were standing protectively between Anna and their women. Anna, for her part, relaxed a little when she saw how calm Raven and I were, but I couldn't help noticing her spear was sitting across her lap.
"Hail and well met," I called as we neared the nomads.
"We thank you for your aid, strangers," a tall, bearded man said, stepping forward. "I am Mikhail, and I speak for our tribe."
Any further discourse was cut off as a piercing scream rent the air from the wounded man as the others tried to move him, and one of the women rushed forward from the throng to kneel at his side.
I glanced around Mikhail for a moment before turning to the tall man with a determined set to my features.
"That's a nasty wound," I said.
"That is Padi," Mikhail said, grief clouding his features. "He fought well, and will die with honor."
"I may be able to save him," I offered.
This seemed to surprise Mikhail and Raven both, the pair of them looking at me with shocked expressions.
"You are a healer?" Mikhail asked.
"No, but I do know quite a bit about battlefield medicine," I said. "The longer we debate this, though, the worse his chances get."
Mikhail seemed to judge me for a moment, before nodding.
"Please."
"Raven, I need our barrel of water and whatever clothes are cleanest. Mikhail, if you have any alcohol now is the time to bring it to me. The strongest stuff you have," I instructed, moving around the native man.
I approached the cluster around Padi, who was laying with his back on the ground, hand clutched to his wounded ribs. An axe had bit deep into the flesh of his ribs, but from what I could see it was a pretty clean injury. The other native warriors parted warily as I approached, and I ignored them as I quickly knelt down on Padi's wounded side. Raven was at my side with our half-empty water barrel almost immediately, setting it down within easy reach.
"What are you doing?" she whispered.
"Gambling and trying to get us some good will with these people," I said absently, already beginning to try and wash some of the worst of the dust off my hands as I grinned up at Raven.
"Besides, I'm sick of travelling rations."
And with that, I turned back to Padi and his distraught wife.
"Someone get her out of the way," I called out without looking up from the wounded man.
Mikhail barked out something in Plegian that I didn't catch, and a pair of the other nomad women came forward to pull the hysterical woman off my patient.
I ignored the fearful, pained look of Padi as I loomed over him, peeling away the damaged section of robe before tearing it free entirely. The chainmail beneath posed a more troublesome barrier, but I managed to get it out of the way to really see the wound. I poured some fresh water on it, assuring myself that no bones were broken in his chest.
Another of the men came running up with a small earthen jug, and Mikhail stepped to give it to me.
"Here, this is all we have," he said.
I uncorked the bottle, keenly aware that Padi was bleeding out as I was wasting time. I gave it a cursory sniff, recoiling from the thick, liquorish scent. Arak, like ouzo, was made from aniseed and carried that signature stink. I poured a little into my hand, sighing in relief at the lighter, translucent color. If it had been a milky white, it wouldn't have been strong enough. I rubbed the small amount into my hands, before offering Padi a drink. He shook his head.
"Trust me, this is gonna hurt," I told him, jiggling the bottle a little.
Reluctantly, he took a small sip, coughing in pain as the strong liquor made him flinch. I took my own, much longer drink from the bottle, before pouring another generous helping of the off-white liquid onto his wound. Padi shrieked, and I had to push him back down. Another two men came to help hold him as Mikhail came bustling up to me.
"What are you doing!?" the tall native snarled.
"Cleaning the wound," I shot back. "The alcohol kills bacteria that causes infection, but it hurts like a bitch. Raven? I need those rags."
Raven stepped forward, shooting a withering glare at Mikhail as the man still loomed threateningly over me. She deposited the rags into my waiting hands, the backs of her knuckles stroking lovingly across my cheek for a moment before she glared at the native man again and stepped back. I pressed the first of the rags to the wound, and Padi whimpered.
"I would like… some more Arak… please," he gasped.
"Good call, because this next part's gonna hurt, too," I said, glancing up at Mikhail. "I'll need a needle and some thread."
"Keep the wound clean and dry, and every six hours wipe it down with some more of that arak," I instructed briskly, wiping the tacky, drying blood from my hands. "I don't want to leave that thread in too long, so take it out after three days. Just cut along the top and gently pull it out, shouldn't hurt too much, but make sure no little pieces are left behind. That will cause infection. Afterwards, keep the injury tightly bound so it doesn't re-open."
"We are in your debt, sir," Mikhail said, bowing slightly. "Our tribe's healer was taken by Gangrel's wandering bands of soldiers for his war effort. And we know precious little of non-magical medicine."
I shrugged, tossing the filthy rag I'd been wiping my hands with aside. It was a common enough side effect of living in a world with magic; things like science and medicine tended to fall to the wayside in the face of the relatively quick and easy gratification of magic. It was one of the things that had made my Ylissean army so successful the first time around, despite our smaller numbers; science and technology. Every man had known at least enough to treat a basic battlefield injury and perform triage appropriately, I'd made sure of that much. I'd lost count of how many lives that basic knowledge had saved.
"He probably shouldn't move around too much until the wound heals," I went on. "And while I didn't see any internal organs hit, I am admittedly no healer. If I did, indeed, miss something, Padi will still die."
"It is a better chance than he had before," Mikhail nodded solemnly. "Once more, I offer you our thanks."
"You could offer us dinner," Raven suggested from behind me.
I spun, frowning. Raven shrugged innocently next to Anna, who was silently watching the proceedings. Mikhail just laughed, though, and I turned back to see him nodding.
"That is the very least I can do for you and yours for helping us," the tall man said amicably. "Please, join us tonight and share our fire and warmth. We will be travelling to another campsite in these mountains now that this one is no longer safe. You are more than welcome to join us."
"We accept your offer," I said with a nod.
We spent the rest of the day travelling at the rear of the small convoy of nomads, clearly separated from their insular group, yet still a part of the journey. Eventually, when we'd settled for the evening in a small, hidden plateau surrounded by knife-edged peaks, we had set up a gifted tent a small way away from the rest of the caravan, further cementing this feeling of otherness. The only way we could have been more obviously apart from the tribe was if Anna parked her wagon between us.
I'd had little to do with these people during my first lifetime, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd learned much second-hand from Tennabree, Tharja and even a few of the other Plegian expats that had settled in Baham, but I'd never actually met any of the nomads. They had been pridefully stubborn when it had come to Gangrel's war against Ylisse, and had apparently suffered great losses resisting him as the war had gone on. Then, thanks to Validar's machinations, many had fallen victim to the Grimleal and ended up as sacrifices to restore Grima. Seeing actual living, breathing Plegian Desert Nomads was an odd feeling, especially when I knew for a fact just how close to extinction they were about to come.
The sun had sunk low, elongated shadows throwing the plateau into a premature twilight as the Nomads began to set up a small bonfire. It was probably quite grand to them, considering their current predicament and the general scarcity of burnable matter in Plegia, but it was quite pathetic in reality. Still, it would be a nice change from the cold, dark nights I'd spent keeping watch. It might have been nice to let someone else keep watch at night for a change, but I hadn't lived this long trusting random strangers I met in the desert.
Anna let out a long sigh as she stretched out in the tent, laying herself over the soft blankets that the nomads had thrown in.
"This is so much nicer than the ground," she groaned.
"Well, I hope you ladies enjoy it," I said, eying the nomads a little way off. "Because I don't trust our new friends enough to let them keep watch just yet. Especially when they find out what we're hauling."
Anna glanced up at me down her body, before rolling over and spinning so her head was poking out of the tent.
"Did I ever tell you that I don't pay you enough?" she commented idly.
"I'm well aware," I deadpanned.
Raven just stood frowning at me, chewing on her lip while deep in thought. I quirked a brow, fiddling with the rough bandage around my wrist and waiting for her to work through whatever was going on in her head. After a moment she sighed and shook her head.
"We are not having sex tonight, are we?" she asked plainly.
I barked out a laugh as Anna spluttered in disbelief.
"Not unless Anna feels like standing watch, no," I chuckled, before growing serious. "Why? Do you need more energy?"
Raven shook her head, giving me a plaintive look before looking down. I closed the distance, wrapping an arm around her back, and she practically flopped into me. With a small sigh, she let her forehead fall onto my shoulder. We stayed like this for a few moments until Raven stirred.
"You stink," she commented without moving.
"No baths in the desert," I smirked. "You're not exactly morning fresh yourself, missy."
I felt Raven hitch against me as she chuckled, pulling back with a small grin. That grin faded to a frown, though, as she looked over my shoulder. I spun, seeing the Nomads all milling about in a bit of a panic.
"Stay with Anna," I sighed. "I'll go see what's got our new friends' panties in a collective tizzy."
"Mmm, I love it when you talk dirty," Raven purred.
I rolled my eyes, walking over to the nomads with a familiar sense of foreboding. Either the bandits were back, or Padi carked it. Neither option was particularly appealing honestly, and both were probably going to make my life harder.
"Mikhail!" I called as I approached. "What's wrong?"
The tall nomad man stepped out of the milling throng, his sword in his hand and a serious look on his face.
"You did not see it?" he asked.
"Please tell me we're not under attack again already," I sighed.
Mikhail gave me an odd look, his dark eyes piercing.
"I… do not know," he admitted. "But- wait, there!"
He pointed almost straight up, and I looked just in time to see a pegasus fly through the darkening patch of sky above us. A vein in my forehead throbbed as my jaw clenched.
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me!" I exploded. "I refuse to believe they've come back for a third round! Raven!? Raven! I'm killing them this time! I'm sorry, but this time I've had enough!"
Raven just cackled near our wagon with Anna, shaking her head.
"Third time's the charm, right!?" she called back. "We gave them ample opportunity."
I cracked my knuckles, looking almost straight up as I watched for the flying shape to reappear.
"The bandits don't have pegasai, do they?" I asked Mikhail.
The Nomad had stepped back a little during my tirade, and shook his head helplessly.
"Honestly, I do not know," he admitted. "We have only been in these mountains for a small time. Today was the first time we came across them."
"Well, it's a question for later," I shrugged. "I assume none of you are archers?"
"Unfortunately," Mikhail said.
"Okay," I muttered. "I've done more with less…"
The figure reappeared again, this time with two friends, and I felt my jaw clench again.
"Get everyone back towards the wagons," I instructed. "Try to make yourselves inconspicuous. If I'm right, they're here for us."
Mikhail shook his head, indicating to his sword.
"You have protected us in our time of need," he declared. "We shall return this favor."
"This isn't a 'time of need' for us," I snorted, before adding darkly "This is a mild annoyance at best. See to your people. This won't take me long."
I didn't even watch him skulk off;, so intentall of my attention was on the three figures flying above me. They'd have to come down to attack sooner or later, and that's when I'd be able to get them. I reached behind myself, going for my old daggers… only to remember that I'd cast them aside, my fingers finding naught but my belt.
With an irritated groan I dropped my hands, shaking my head.
"One of these days I need to get a new weapon," I muttered.
The three pegasus riders descended lower, but unexpectedly not in any attack pattern I could recognize. Instead, they glided to the rocky mountain ground, bringing their mounts to a halt a fair distance away from me.
I was having none of this, and balling my fists I began to advance towards them with a purposeful stride.
"Clearly I was too gentle the last two times we did this!" I snarled, breaking into a run…
… only to skid to a halt as the three women dismounted and dropped to their knees.
"Mercy, milord!" one of them pleaded.
Now, usually, I'm pretty quick on the uptake. Years of having to think fast on a battlefield, my decisions meaning life or death for hundreds, if not thousands, of people has left me pretty quick on my feet.
Admittedly, this blindsided me. I stood there gaping for a moment, before I cursed myself a fool and looked upwards for the ambush that had to be coming…
Finding nothing in the sky I spun, looking at the entrances to at either end of the little plateau.
Nothing.
I spun back to the three kneeling women, their heads still bowed, their hands empty and held up in a pose of supplication.
They… they were begging me for their lives.
"Uh…" I managed eloquently.
This was not how I was expecting my day to go.
We stood like that for a while, me looking down at the three women suspiciously while they kneeled, their pegasai whickering and stomping nervously behind them.
"Uh…" I started again. "Please explain what's happening. I'm too tired for this shit."
"We have fled the army," the woman in the front said without looking up. "After failing twice in our mission, our only choices were death or flight. As such, we throw ourselves upon your mercy, sir."
"Okay," I said slowly. "Why me?"
"I saw you and your companion speaking with Lady Aversa," one of the other women said, her voice marking her as younger than the first. "You are clearly people of some importance, to cow her so easily. Therefore, we offer ourselves to you, and beg your mercy!"
"So… you're not attacking us?" I asked, just to make sure.
"No, milord!" the front woman said quickly.
"Okay then… get up, you're making me antsy," I said.
Slowly, timidly, the three women rose to their feet. Without making eye contact, their heads still bowed, they made themselves look as small and unthreatening as possible in my presence. It honestly made me feel bad. It also meant I couldn't get a good look at them.
"I'm not going to decide anything without my companion's input," I explained. "You three are going to walk over to that wagon over there, slowly. I'm going to follow you. If I see any of you go for a weapon, you all die. Understood?"
All three of them nodded slowly.
"What… what of our mounts, milord?" one of the women asked.
I ran a hand over the top of my head, the stubble long since graduated to short hair.
"Take them, too, but lead them at a distance," I said.
As I escorted the three fliers back towards the others, I couldn't help but feel like a warden marching his prisoners to their fate. It wasn't a good feeling.
The Nomads watched on in confusion, and I spared Mikhail a reassuring wave. Raven and Anna watched on in bemusement as I led the three women over to our little corner of the camp, the trio silently tying their mounts to the edge of Anna's cart before moving to stand before us. Their movements were tense, nervous, as if they were expecting to be attacked at any moment.
"So, long story short, these three deserted because they were afraid of being killed for failing to kill us and now they wanna join up," I said, my tone glib.
"I… see," Raven said slowly.
"I don't," Anna said flatly.
"After failing twice in our mission, our only choices were death or flight. As such, we throw ourselves upon your mercy," the oldest looking of the three repeated.
As one, the trio dropped to their knees, supplicating themselves before Raven and Anna as they had me. Both of my companions looked up at me in confusion, and I shrugged helplessly.
"Why us, though?" Anna asked.
"We… have no supplies," one of the fliers admitted. "We ran with what you see. Our mounts are tired. We have no tools, no survival training. As an elite unit, we never needed it."
"So, in other words, you want us to save you," Raven said slowly.
She looked over to me as she spoke, a questioning expression on her face.
"If you want more pets, we can take them in," I sighed. "There will be some concessions, but I think we can make it to the capital with three more."
"None of you heard what transpired between your mistress and myself?" Raven asked guardedly.
"All we know is that you are a person of great power," the lead rider said, still refusing to look up. "Power enough to cow even Lady Aversa. We know nothing more."
Raven looked back up at me, and I shrugged again.
"Your call," I said.
"Wait, don't I get a vote?" Anna interjected. "These people tried to kill us!"
"We were merely following orders," the third rider said.
"So, no hard feelings?" I added.
"Indeed," she agreed.
I frowned, the third woman's accent decidedly not Plegian, but I couldn't place it.
Raven tapped a finger to her lips, as if deep in thought. She had that weird little thinking expression on her face that Robin would get from time to time, and the sight of it sent a pang of longing for my old life and friends deep into my heart. I buried that feeling, though, reminding myself that I could never go back to the past now.
"I don't mind brining you with us," Raven started slowly. "But it'll cost you."
"We have nothing but what you see," the lead woman said. "If you desire our equipment, then please. Our mounts, take them. Our bodies, they are yours."
"Okay, getting a little heavy here," I interjected. "Enough groveling. Get up and introduce yourselves."
The three women hesitated for a moment before rising and finally looking up. All three wore the black uniforms of the Plegian army beneath personalized bronzed armor. One looked to be foreign, of Chon'sinian descent, but the other two were clearly Plegian in origin. It explained the accent, though.
"I… am Layne," the one who had done the most talking said. "I was Orton's second."
The youngest looking one stepped up next to Layne, clearing her throat nervously.
"I… I am Deneia," she said timidy, as if waiting for me to stab her.
The last, the foreign looking one, stepped forward more boldly than the other two, meeting my gaze with a stern expression.
"My name is Sune, milord," she said mildly.
"Right, I'm Ben, this is Raven and this is Anna," I said. "So, you three are perfectly willing to do anything we say to get us to bring you with us?"
Deneia's eyes widened at my question, but Layne nodded.
"Anything you desire, milord," she agreed.
"For how long?" Anna asked with a sigh. "Until we reach the capital? A month from now? A year from now? This contract is very open ended."
"At… at least until the capital," Layne said.
"If you allow it, I will follow until my debt is fulfilled," Sune said. "Honor demands it."
I quirked a brow, deciding to take a chance.
"The path of honor is long and treacherous," I said in Chon'sinian. "It most often leads to one's death. Is that acceptable?"
Sune's jaw dropped as I spoke, all of the others looking at us in confusion as we continued to speak in the foreign tongue. Which, I remind you, is just Japanese, but hey. Details.
"You speak Chon'sinian?" Sune asked in a hushed tone.
"I know much of your homeland," I told her. "I once spent a great deal of time in Ka'oki. Although I am not particularly fond of the elevation."
Sune dropped to one knee almost before I stopped speaking, lowering her head again. However, unlike the groveling from before this was a little more familiar as a warrior's pose, both fists clenched with knuckles pressed into the ground.
"Please, milord!" she begged in Chon'sinian. "I beg you forgive my attempts on your life! Allow me to-"
"I swear to whatever god you worship I will kick your ass all the way back to Valm if you offer to take your own life," I snarled. "God, I hate that about your people. Get up! If you want to die, do it on your own time! I don't need that shit on my karma!"
Anna and the two Plegian women looked confused as Sune rose back to her feet, blushing and chastened, but Grima gave me a knowing smile. Clearly, she recalled enough of the Chon'sinian that Robin had known to follow that little exchange.
I ran a hand over the top of my head, looking at the three women. With a sigh, I realized our number had just doubled.
"Crapbaskets," I groaned, rubbing at the hair on the top of my head.
Maybe I could offload one or two of them on Mikhail…?
AN: I would like to remind everybody that my stories update on a 'when it happens' basis right now due to health problems. You can keep up more frequently on (P)atreon for only a buck, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.
Thanks for reading, and Nagaspeed!
