AN:
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Chapter 14: The Appearance
One Hour Later:
Eirlet gasps out a shaky breath as he does his best to focus his fuzzy mind on the darkened path ahead, 'Almost…'
With the sun setting less than twenty minutes ago and plunging the forest he's in into pitch black darkness, the rumbling of stampeding titans slowly softened. One by one he saw the approaching herd, who were nearing the double digits before more joined in on the pursuit, slow down, some slogging down into a walk and others completely flopping to the ground like puppets with their strings cut.
He had lost sight of the last titan just two minutes ago, a very persistent one with abnormally strong legs who at one point nearly got him, the setting sun thankfully saving him and his new horse.
Now starting to run out of steam with his body sore from all the slashes and the bleeding from his torso and leg sapping his strength, his furious riding slowing down the clotting process.
'A little further,' he adjusts his hand and presses it harder on his side, feeling the slightly damp and crusty cloth press against his palm.
He pushes himself for another minute before he brings his horse to a stop, the beast huffing and puffing as he tries to fill his lungs with air.
Swinging his leg over slowly, Eirlet drops himself to the ground but his wounded leg buckles under the pain and he's forced to grab onto the saddle for support. Taking a deep breath he pulls himself up, putting less pressure on his leg before he grabs the reins of his horse and ties it around a branch, letting the horse cool down on its own while he works on himself.
Limping to a tree, he leans against the rough bark and slowly lowers himself down with a sigh as he finally rests. Shaking the encroaching fatigue out of his head, he removes his hand from his side, noticing the slight sheen of liquid from the moonlight, before he pulls his crusty shirt up.
Prodding the area around the wound with his clean hand, he sighs in relief as he feels minimal blood flowing from it, something he feels the same with for his leg, 'No bleeding out for me today,' he thinks with minor amusement.
Dropping his shirt, he unravels the scarf from his neck and wraps it around his waist, making sure to tighten it well. Injuries temporarily dealt with, he pulls his stolen jacket around him, not doing much to fend off the chill of the night but enough to make him slightly more comfortable.
Now finding himself relaxing, the exhaustion he forcefully warded off comes back full force and he doesn't do a thing to stop it, letting himself drop into dreamland.
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Dawn:
Eirlet's eyes groggily try to pull themselves apart, his body still feeling weak all over and the crust over his eyes doing no help, but the faint sound of trees snapping and weak vibrations on the ground get him to pull them open.
The sun's just risen high enough to send rays of sunshine down into the forest, thankfully warming his body up from the chill of the night and letting him properly see his forested surroundings without the darkness and panic from the night before.
He first looks around frantically, his neck aching in protest before he focuses in a certain direction, one where he hears the sound of trees tumbling to the ground but with nothing in sight, 'So I got a few minutes, less than two if it starts running.'
Looking down at his body, he's surprised himself at his current appearance. Dried blood cakes his shirt and pants, more towards his two prominent injuries but with some near the tears in his clothing gained during his fight, 'Well… never knew I could lose that much blood,' he muses before feeling his makeshift bandage, one thankfully dry from any blood.
With hands coloured like rusted metal, his body groans as he pulls himself to his feet, fire ebbing from every injury. He hobbles over to his horse, in the middle of enjoying his breakfast of grass, who eyes him as he gets closer but does nothing when he unties him and slowly mounts him.
Resting on the saddle, Eirlet checks his compass for a direction before taking a breath and setting off. Slowly going from a light trot, he pushes his horse to a gallop and despite his wounds acting up, he lets a small grin come to his face at the pure muscle he feels underneath him.
'This definitely matches up to what I was gonna get from the job,' although sour at the failure, the ride lulls his brief spike of annoyance down as he enjoys the speed, 'Your name's gonna be Lowry.'
He could already no longer hear the previous approaching titan anymore, leaving him in his dust as he gallops through a wide cut through the forest, letting him see a good distance around him and the large pale body standing between two trees to the side and ahead of him.
Eirlet tenses as he eyes the titan, ready to push Lowry to his full speed, but to his brief confusion, the titan doesn't move from its spot, content on staying just at the edge of the shadows brought from the trees as it follows him with its head.
'Abnormals are scary man,' he thinks with some worry as the titan slinks back into the shadows.
Steering himself to the side, Eirlet minds the distance between him and the shadows of the forest as he keeps going down the meadow through the forest.
He eventually reaches the end of the path, the trees on either side of him getting sparser as even ground slowly changes, turning into mounds and then hills averaging around ten meters in height.
Eirlet slows Lowry down as they start to move between the hills, 'Too much of a chance for him to injure himself, and,' he eyes the stamped-out grass as they gallop up a hill, the indent looking like a giant footstep, 'this is a perfect hunting ground.'
Reaching the crest, Eirlet suddenly jerks the reins to the side, Lowry easily following along as they maneuver down the grassy hill diagonally and away from the titan standing in the dip between the hills.
'Seven meters,' he notes as the hunched-over titan catches sight of them, its stern facial expression unmoving as it brings itself up to its full height, 'Scratch that, at least twelve meters,' he corrects with a curse as the titan starts its walk, a single stride cutting nearly a third of the distance between them.
'I can't go faster in this terrain, too bumpy for Lowry,' the titan takes another, larger stride, cutting the distance between them by half.
Climbing up the face of a hill, Eirlet only sees the shadow of the titan's arm as a warning before he jerks to the side and gallops back down the hill. Beside him, the titan's hand gouges a chunk out of the hill, launching a ball of dirt and grass every which way.
Covering his head from the projectiles, Eirlet doesn't bother trying to escape up the hills and instead lets his horse go down the path created between the dip between hills, 'It's gonna catch up to me.'
Knowing what he has to do, Eirlet pushes himself up to crouch on top of the saddle, balancing himself on the back of his horse as he brings out his swords, 'Just like training.'
Taking a breath, Eirlet leaps up in the air and immediately launches his grapples up the hill to his left and pulls himself in with a burst of gas. He could feel the pressure press against his body as he gains speed and launches in an angle far above the hills.
Looking around he tries to take in his surroundings from a bird's eye view, 'Crap, another is on its way,' in the distance he could see a smaller titan making its way over the hills, eyes locked onto him with its tongue lolling out of its mouth.
Turning away in slight disgust as his body loses its momentum and starts its plummet down to the ground, he launches another grapple to the hill to the other side and flings himself forward. Swinging between the hills, he makes sure the titan focuses on him as he stays roughly level with its face and lets his horse gain more distance from the giant without his weight slowing him down.
Once he's far away, Eirlet grapples onto the side of a hill once more, but rather than releasing it, he keeps it attached even as he starts swinging in an arc. He stays low to the ground, enough to use his feet to maneuver himself into a better position as the titan passes by, it being too fast and large to turn on a dime as he did.
With a grunt of effort, Eirlet releases his grapple and launches himself with a yell and a burst of gas. Speeding towards the titan like a bullet, he quickly spins his body once, swords gleaming as the two rake themselves across the nape of the titan with a spray of blood.
Taking a second to right himself from his spin, he only hears the loud -thump- crash of the titan's body slamming into the ground. Ignoring the steaming body of the titan, Eirlet swiftly launches himself over and past the hill, just in time to see the second titan heaving itself over the crest of a hill.
It barely has time to register its surroundings before its left eye turns dark, steaming blades slicing through the flesh on its face, dragged long enough to even cut its ear into three pieces as its wielder launches to the sky.
Flipping into a backflip, Eirlet launches his grapples to the shoulders of the giant, planting them firmly in before he reels himself and plants his feet just below the nape of the titan, a flash of pain coming from his leg at the force. With a grunt, Eirlet swipes through the flesh, getting halfway through before one of his blades snaps in half, the other half staying lodged inside the flesh of the titan.
'Shit!' Eirlet widens his eyes before he's forced to jump off with a bleeding leg, just as the titan brings its hands around and smacks around its neck, hands trying to get a hold of him.
Reeling himself away, Eirlet unlatches both swords, the other unreliable given it haven gone through a sword fight beforehand as well, before latching on his last pair of blades, 'Gotta make these count.'
Launching his grapples, Eirlet closes in on the steaming titan standing on the top of the hill, its eye and nape slowly recovering as it turns to face him, mouth drooling a river down its front.
He launches himself up to the being's level, arcing in a way to meet it head-on. The titan reaches a hand out, intent on grabbing him, but Eirlet with a puff of gas boosts himself higher than the oncoming appendage, passing by with a -whoosh- of air before he drops down onto it.
Feet first, he slides down the appendage, heading straight for the titan's shoulder as its other hand reaches up to grab him, 'Too slow.'
Sliding down faster with a small puff of gas, he zooms down and off the titan's shoulder before quickly spinning around and launching himself once more at the steaming nape. He reels his head back slightly at the heat coming from the steam but he doesn't hesitate further in swinging his fresh blades down once more, slicing through the flesh much easier and finishing the job.
The titan below him barely shudders before abruptly stopping and after a moment of freezing, it starts leaning forwards. Jumping off before the body could pick up speed, Eirlet launches himself back to where his horse was heading off to as another titan -thump- crashes to the ground, nearly breaking the hill it was on with the force of it.
He has to fly only a minute before he lands back on the saddle of his horse, slowing him down before turning him back in the direction they were heading.
'Let's hope we don't meet any more running titans, I don't think I'll have enough gas for more of them,' he thinks with some worry as his tanks echo back, worrying low.
He rides over the crest of a hill, his horse cooling down from its fast-paced galloping as they trot away, leaving behind two steaming clouds in their wake.
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Dusk:
Lowry slows down once more at Eirlet's bidding, pacing itself in a calm gallop as he gazes at the two massive forms a distance away, 'Looks like we went out of their range,' he sighs in relief as the beings turn their strides, heading closer to the wall rather than towards him.
Bringing his gaze back up front, he looks up to the top of the wall looming to his right as he looks for his ticket out.
He didn't have to go much further once he was out of the hilly biome before he reached the wall, since then he's been following the structure as they got closer to Karanes.
'There it is,' he thinks with some relief as he locks onto the elevator hanging over the wall.
He sees a couple of people peer over the edge, likely towards him, before the elevator starts to lower itself, reaching the ground long before he gets near. Stepping on it, he waits a moment before it starts raising itself off the ground.
Eirlet reaches a hand to pat on his horse's neck, calming the tired horse down, 'Just a bit more and then we can rest,' Moving his hands around his waist, Eirlet slowly unlatches the ODM gear attached to him, the gas tanks and blades long disposed of after they fulfilled their use, and he slings it over the back of his horse.
Reaching the top, he's greeted by the familiar faces of the maintenance crew for this portion of the wall along with their smoking leader who raises an eyebrow once he lays his eyes on him.
"Wasn't there supposed to be more than a single horse?" He asks with some curiosity.
Answering his question with a deadpan and a wave at his bloody clothes gets him a shrug and no more questions, just a wave forward to the next elevator.
"Well you're lucky, barely anyone came this time so none know you came through here," He takes a drag of his cigarette as Lowry trots onto the other elevator, "If you need any more of these gigs, let me know. I can get these set up anywhere on any wall with enough coin," He finishes with a wave to his men.
Eirlet gives a small nod before getting lowered out of sight, and down to safer grounds, 'Well, safer compared to outside.' He tiredly thinks, exhausted from the intense two days with all his fatigue and pain coming down on him like a crashing wave now that he's less alert.
The elevator touches the ground with a cloud of dirt, and with none in sight to see him, Eirlet gives a light snap of his reins to get Lowry moving, now at a much more calm trot than before.
He travels for another hour, eyes drooping as he gets closer to his destination until a rather large inn appears in his view. Sighing in relief, he pulls himself off the road, going around towards the back of the building and comes to a stop a bit away from the building and dismounts his horse.
Absently patting Lowry, he watches the backdoor of the inn for a few minutes before a person calmly walks out of it, looking around slightly before heading towards him.
"You look like shit," he succinctly summarizes, grinning at the half-hearted middle finger raised at him.
Gavec gives Eirlet a pointed look as he brings his eyes back from the singular horse, "So, seems you weren't able to get the carriage."
He weakly nods, "Got it but Scouts took it back," he signs to him.
Gavec's face changes to understanding, "Ah… yeah, ok that's understandable," he walks closer to the horse, patting his neck as he looks him over, "You know who went after you?"
Eirlet gives a small shrug at the question, "Only know he is a lieutenant."
"Good, if you lost to anyone lower than that would be pretty humiliating, both for you and me."
Eirlet doesn't deign him with any response, too tired and in pain for anything else.
"Well you get yourself patched up and some shuteye, we'll talk when you wake up. I'll be sending this horse along though, could sell him to a breeding farm for a good sum."
Eirlet lightly smacks Gavec in the shoulder, "No, he is mine."
"Really? Didn't think you'd be wanting one now that you have some ODM."
Eirlet firmly nods in response and Gavec releases a huff, "Alright fine. I'll keep him around for now, we can talk more later. Now shoo," he shoves Eirlet towards the inn, making him stumble before he recovers with a scowl.
Dragging his feet to the building, he spends a moment splashing water over himself, doing his best to clear the blood and dirt from his skin, 'My clothes are a lost cause,' he moresorely thinks as he pulls at his cut-up shirt and pants, his scarf still tied around his waist and his stolen jacket long disposed of outside the wall.
Hobbling his way through the back, he nods to the chef preparing dinner before pushing through the swinging doors to the lightly crowded tavern, most of its typical occupants still out on their looting expedition outside the wall.
Sliding the fee for a room and a bit more to the innkeeper/bartender, Eirlet slowly makes his way up the stairs after swiping a bag handed to him.
Getting to his room takes some more effort, and it takes all his remaining willpower to not drop dead onto the bed and instead fix his injuries once more from the rather decent first aid kit.
It takes him a good twenty minutes to clean and seal his wound once more, having to use a whole jar of medicinal cream for the number of cuts splattered across his body, but once done, he flops himself onto the bed like he wanted to, knocked out within seconds.
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Dawn:
Groggily shoving food into his mouth, Eirlet watches as Gavec slowly slides in front of him, resting his head on his arms as he groans in pain.
Waving at the barkeep, he points at Gavec before raising two fingers, getting a nod as the man fills two mugs with something steaming and sets it in front of them both.
It takes a good five minutes of groaning and sipping at the tea before Gavec pulls himself together well enough, "Got word last night," he props his head with a fist, "The smuggler never made it to Aurum," he gives Eirlet a pointed look.
'Seems I was right about him,' he takes a sip of his tea before giving the gist of the drop-off along with the subsequent ambush and interrogation.
By the end of it, Gavec's leaning back in his seat with his eyes glued to his cup. Letting Gavec stew over the information, Eirlet finishes up his food.
"Damnit," Gavec curses as he slouches in his seat.
Eirlet raises an eyebrow at him as he starts playing with his cup, "Sherbolt wasn't convinced when we heard about the group before, the nobles have never banded together to back a group as big as this one, too many pieces on the board that could give them away," he explains with some gripe.
"But if they're this confident, it means they've got the influence in military circles to do whatever the hell they want, and that's about to change the game."
"And how much of that matters to me?" Eirlet signs.
Gavec pauses for a moment before speaking, "The east is essentially ours now, both Karanes and Stohess are fully under us with the Fangs just holding out for the sake of their pride. As of right now, they have delicate control up north but with what your man said, the Umbrella took over the west and banded whatever slaver assholes and fuckfaces over there together and are probably hitting the Fangs. So overall? Stay the hell away from the west, watch out when you go north and we'll take care of the rest," He finishes by setting a bag of coins on the table.
Picking it up, Eirlet takes a peek inside and finds most of the reward he was promised within, "You get the full payment for the first job cause we were the ones that fucked up and half of the second for the ambush and info. The last quarter is for trying the job, but you failed it, no matter if there were Scouts or not."
"Although it would've worked, it didn't in the end, so next time you want to get an elevator out you'll have to arrange and pay yourself," he tacks on.
Eirlet clicks his tongue but reluctantly nods, 'At least it's better than what others would have given.'
"Well I think that's…" Gavec cuts himself off as a hush falls upon the few patrons within the inn, all staring at the entrance, making both of them turn and look as well.
'Crap.'
Eirlet shifts his body to the side, letting Gavec's bulk block his figure as the trio in green pace across the floor to the bar, all of them alert and eyeing the patrons as they go.
None go above a whisper as one -Jaine- converses with the innkeeper/bartender, "So I take it these are the ones?" Gavec murmurs to him, calmly palming the knife Eirlet was using, grabbing it at some point, as he keeps watch of them out of the corner of his eye.
"Some," he signs nervously, lowering his hand to grasp onto the strap of his bag resting on the ground, ready to bolt at the first sign of recognition.
The innkeeper shakes his head at the woman, seemingly at a question, which visibly disappoints her given the frown she puts on. Turning her head, she nods at one of the other men -Teo- whilst she goes back to trying to pry something out of the man.
Stepping forward, Teo clears his throat, catching the room's attention once more before loudly addressing them, "Citizens! We of the Scouts are in pursuit of a criminal, a thief who has tried to steal supplies crucial to the expedition to retake our land! We were able to stop his evil ploy and take back the supplies for humanity, but in the end, he injured some of our brave soldiers and took off on a horse. We ask that you please bring any information on any suspicious activity you have seen, we promise that you will be sufficiently rewarded," He punctuates his words with a jingle of a heavy bag he had taken from his belt.
The whispers get even louder at that, but even with the reward, none go forward to take up his offer. After two minutes of just standing with none taking the offer, Teo lowers his hand with a sigh.
"Don't worry about it man, we knew it would be a long shot, let's grab something to eat before hitting the road," the last man -Lowes- pats him on the shoulder.
Nodding, the trio order from the innkeeper after Jaine finished her grilling from him, the man easily takes their orders before the trio move to sit to the side of the room. Eirlet forces himself to stay relaxed as the soldiers sit near their table, waiting for Gavec to finish his drink, even more so when he notices Lowes's gaze linger for a bit over him.
The man turns back to his squadmates, letting Eirlet puff out a small sigh of relief at the man not recognizing him, though his ears catching their conversation does get him to stiffen slightly.
"...all I'm sayin' is that he was fuckin' good, good enough that he probably survived out there," Lowes harshly not-so whispers.
"But he was injured," Jaine points out to him after swallowing a bite, "I saw the blood leaking through his clothes."
Gavec nudges his foot with his own and jerks his head to the door before standing up, dropping their payment on the table. Eirlet scrapes his chair on the ground as he stands, swinging his backpack over his shoulder as he turns to follow Gavec.
"Hold up there for a sec," Eirlet stiffens as he's called out behind him.
Turning around, he notices Lowes was the one that called to him, Jaine and Teo vaguely paying attention but with most of their attention on their food.
"Hey there buddy, where are you coming from?" He asks with a calm smile.
Eirlet doesn't open his mouth to respond, but the silence doesn't turn awkward before Gavec rests a hand on his shoulder, "We're coming from Evergreen, down south," Eirlet notices the slight accent that Gavec tinges his words with.
Lowes raises an eyebrow at that, "I know the place, long way out aren't you?"
"On our way back from visiting some folks," he answers simply.
Lowes bobs his head at that, "So you've been out on the road around here haven't you? Seen anything that could help us out?"
Gavec doesn't take the lead and just denies him outright, "No sir, we stuck to the roads the whole way, no need to get robbed all the way out here."
"True, banditry is indeed a problem, not enough soldiers to take care of everyone and the bastards are getting craftier by the day," he says with some sympathy as his eyes trail back down to Eirlet.
"Say, how'd your… son?"
"Nephew."
"Nephew, get those wounds on his face?" He asks with some interest.
Eirlet notices Jaine swing her eyes around as well, slowing her chewing as her eyes flit around his face. Gavec gives his shoulder a slight squeeze as he responds, "Just a bad accident he was in a couple weeks ago, should've seen him before,"
"Huh," he doesn't linger his gaze any longer before pulling it back to Gavec, "Well that's all I wanted to ask, remember, if you have any information, any at all, we'll be happy to hear it and reward you."
"I'll be sure to," he says simply before giving a nod of goodbye, turning around and dragging him by the shoulder as they make their way out.
Passing by the three large horses tied to the post outside, the two head down the well-worn road, letting the inn disappear behind their backs.
"We'll head south, they won't follow for long," Gavec murmurs under his breath, just loud enough for him to pick up.
'Just gotta hope they lose interest quick, don't know how long I can walk for,' Eirlet grimaces as he feels a tinge of pain in his leg and side, but pushes on to keep up appearances as he ignores the unnatural rustle of branches a ways away in the forest.
