Chapter 20: Mapping the Return to Jule (Shenis)
(FROM NOW ON WHEN SWITCHING PARTIES TO A KNOW CREW WE SHALL MAKE IT KNOWN IN PARENTHESIS AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER TITLE)
"Shenis would you quit being so concerned. You're always checking that eastern view hoping Tico is arriving. He'll get here soon enough." Dalton says as he emerges from a festive cottage near the gate of Runsa. He noticed the young lord, dressed for battle, sword at his side ready for action.
"We must be ready at a moment's notice. Why aren't you more serious like my knight Highlight here. He is ready for combat."
"That's because he is in love with you." The mercenary sat down on the stoop of the cottage and pulled a pipe from his pockets. He was shirtless and clearly had just come from the embrace of a local woman. Meanwhile Highlight looked rather embarrassed at the comments of his friend. He motioned his dismissal from the scene and quickly took his leave.
"Why'd you have to say something stupid and false like that mercenary?" Shenis said as he motioned his hand toward his knight moving toward the inn where the retinue was residing. He too had a slight blush of red but it was more of flattery and not a tell of true feelings such as was experienced by Highlight.
"What? The truth?" You don't enjoy the truth?"
"I welcome it fine, but that was simply a lie!" said Shenis
"Ol lance boy would follow you into dragon's stomach just to keep a close view of your backside." Dalton huffed and puffed out smoke leaning back against the wall. He let out a slight giggle twitched his nose a bit.
"Preposterous! Highlight is no pillow biter. Your accusations are unfounded and wrong. Cease this moment." Shenis was getting more furious with the comments.
"Well maybe he wants you to bite the pillow." Dalton laughed and leaned forward with his head between his knees in the moment. Shenis drew his rapier from his side.
"Take it back!" the young lord found himself getting heated over the subject and aimed his rapier at the mercenary still laughing and seated.
"Calm down. Calm down." He patted the air with his hand while twisting back and forth in laughter. The mercenary was trying to regain a semblance of composure but was failing miserably in his efforts. The laughter of the moment captivated him. "COUGH!" Dalton forced his hand to his mouth as he closed his eyes and pounded his chest to force a reset of himself.
"I AM LORD! YOU HAVE NO PLACE TO QUESTION MY DESIRES!" The young master was quite done with the conversation that seemed to have come out of nowhere.
"Are you?" Dalton stood up and found himself still grinning as he spoke. "Didn't know you still held lands." He chuckled again. Somehow this comment disarmed Shenis as he lowered his rapier and shed a smile before giggling.
"I guess you're right. HAHAHA." He returned the blade to his scabbard. And then sat done on the pavement nearby his best warrior. "I mean can I still really be a lord with no active lands and barely a motley crew as a personal retinue?"
"We'll get your homeland back soon enough young master."
"Will we Dalton?"
"Well….How else will you pay Issachar and I?"
"Indeed." Shenis tilted his head back as he thought of his home and the fate of those from his house and city leaders. "Why are you still with us mercenary? You know that without victory reclaiming the city of Jule we cannot truly pay you." The seated lord inquired.
"Well…I like you guys. Not like Highlight likes you." Shenis gritted his teeth and glared. "Just messin with cha. Honestly, this is the life I chose. And you are keeping my blade in use. Which makes me better for the next job. The worst thing for me is to not be active."
"Not active. You? Every woman from nearly every village and town we have stopped in has kept you fully active even in our days of rest."
"Well its important to keep both swords in use. I never know when my last day shall be in my line of work. I am just thankful that so far we haven't met anyone that is my better." The mercenary rose to his feet and unbuckled his belt. Dropping his pants to his feet. "But I have to be careful I mean I got knicked pretty hard by that last enemy leader." Shenis looked and then his entire face turned red and then covered his face.
"Dalton why are you showing my that?"
"What? I am wearing a loin cloth stop being so repressed! So I can remove a man's head from his spine but I cannot show you a scar on my upper leg?"
"Dalton! You aren't wearing a loin cloth!" The mercenary paused for a moment in confusion and looked down to his amazement. He didn't immediately rush to cover himself, but simply took in the view.
"Wow….. I guess I am not wearing one." He spoke. "Huh." The lord could now tell that the events of the evening for his hired sword had left him more drunk than first perceived.
"COVER UP MAN!" Dalton finally came to his senses and pulled his pants back up and fastened his belt. "I guess it doesn't matter seems like you're probably going to have them off again in the near future." Shenis could hear the cooing of a woman inside the cottage.
Dalton looked back toward the door, pipe in his mouth and smiling. "Probably right, she seems ready for another adventure." Shenis was shaking his head at the man. "Why don't you take a swing at some of the women we meet? You aren't half a bad looking guy, The ones I have to pay might even give you a go on the house."
"It's unbecoming of a lord."
"Doesn't stop most lords I have come across in my days."
"No. It will soil most marriage bed, I must remain true to my one day bride."
"Well Shenis, with all the warring we are doing and the fact that you don't have any lands currently I doubt that you'll be marrying anytime soon. And odds er high you'll be in the ground a fore you can convince a gentry for his daughter."
Shenis frowned. In spite of his nature to be a stalwart example of what a young lord should be, true and virtuous, he did have desires and noticed the women around. And yes with each battle those desires found themselves emerging with greater degrees. Would he find a bride in the chaos? "I have to maintain my constitution Dalton. In spite of my desires….It is all I fear I have left of my house."
"While I don't understand…..I feel I still understand somehow." The mercenary said as he placed his hands on his head. He lingered a moment longer but then excused himself from the lord's side to return to the cottage for the evening. As he closed the door the sounds of passion filled the air and Shenis huffed in melancholy. He knew he was doing the right thing with himself and yet, it left him not feeling good in the moment. He turned and retired to his room at the inn for the night. He found as he passed the hearth of the inn many of his loyal band were present, saving their energy in this small window of peace that had been the week since Tico was sent on his scouting mission. Dax and Burt sleeping near the fire. Somme and Bryan were at a table playing chess and debating religion. Kyler was pestering Issachar about the ins and outs of laguz life and culture….for the hundredth time. This pleased the lord as he passed them all to his room.
Outside his room sitting near the door on the floor of the inn was Highlight. "My lord….I" Shenis halted him as he passed by pushing his hand down in the air.
"I am aware Highlight and have been for a time. I cannot give you what you wish, but you will always be my friend, my trusted ally." A tear filled Highlight's eye as the lord entered the room and closed the door. The knight felt unrequited but was still thankful his lord did not dismiss him, chastise him, or punish him publically. He was thankful, and happy to hear that his lord still saw him as a friend and ally. He smiled as the tear rolled down his cheek. What Shenis said, would be enough for the knight.
Nearby, Claire and Ion, young adults who found each other way back on the streets of Til in what seemed a lifetime ago, were spending more and more time together, ever sense the events around Winter's Edge. During that battle both Claire and Ion sustained wounds, both have healed now and left scars upon flesh, but that skirmish found the two awakening to their own fragility and the truth that each battle can and could be their last. It also awakened in a way their hearts toward one another. Ion was always aware of Claire, but found himself chained in ways of the heart, perhaps from the events of his youth. Claire was always thankful for Ion's companionship and admired him. However, these days, in Runsa, the hearts were a blossom.
They now sit watching the moon hang in the clear sky from their perch along the walls of the city. The moonlight glistened along Claire's hair illuminating the beauty hidden beneath the survivor spirit she has often had to display exclusively for her safety during the campaign. She smiles, as she feels safe, not just physically, but emotionally. The two are alone, and with Kyler off mesmerized by Issachar the laguz giant, she could speak plainly with her most trusted person, her swordsman. "Ion." She breaks the silence with slight hesitation, she has worn the tough exterior for too long, so much so that the removal of it brings delay and apprehension. "I never did thank you."
"Thank me for what?" Ion leans his head back and while his eyes are still upon the moon, he is focused and listening to Claire, it is all he hears. Even the wind and trees, and noises on the streets below have faded.
"Back in Til, I mean they were rounding up young people. Putting them into camps for labor, and us girls." …. She pauses a moment and blushes looking at the ground. "Once Til fell and my parents were gone, I was ready to just give up and accept my fate. But you..." She pauses again to look up with watery eyes of admiration and thanksgiving. "You found me before….before they did what they wanted. You saved me and then found Kyler a few weeks later. You got us together and saved us."
"It wasn't me that saved you and Kyler. I was my mother Claire, don't you remember. She took you and Kyler both into family and made sure we had enough to survive those years we stayed." The young man, hung his head slightly remembering the sacrifice his mother made, forfeiting food to ensure that Kyler and Claire would be able to get enough to be healthy, a cause which eventually withered the woman to nothing but bones and death. Ion began sobbing. "DAMMIT!" He slammed his fist against the wooden pillars of the wall. "I wasn't strong enough to save us all, including her."
Claire moved toward her companion and wrapped her arms around his waist from his rear. He still hung his head with sobs and tears rolling down cheeks hidden by hair in front of his eyes, but the moonlight betrayed him as Claire held him tight. "You got us out, we took the time your mother gave us and you helped us develop some ability with weapons. And when we escaped we actually were able to make it. That was all you. Ion, I am thankful and will always…." She pauses as she almost says it, the four letter word of power. She pushes her head into his back and while her arms are still wrapped around his waist she loosens her grasp as fear of speaking plainly takes hold.
"I love you Claire." He doesn't lift his head. He doesn't turn around. He doesn't kiss her. The moment is pure and innocent. He simply stays put and reaches his right hand up and touches the hand clenched around his waist. Claire smiles, wide, more so than she perhaps believed she could, as the world of toughness and sadness, of spending years having to look like a boy, and all the bloodshed seemed in this moment to have been merely a dream. She rubs her cheek into Ion's back and exhales.
…
Sunrise comes with the pattering of hooves from the East. "Will sure be nice to see the guys again. And honestly just to take a bath, I must smell something awful." Tico jokingly spoke as he petted the neck of his steed. He had been on the road scouting both Jule, the fallen city of the Savoy clan, as well as looking for troop movement and examining the other houses and their townships, making a complete loop around the south central plains. The ride had been hard, but the rider was getting well versed in staying under the radar and keeping himself from danger.
The others soon were aware of their lone cavalier's return and made sure to alert both Shenis, as well as Ernst Cavan, lord of Runsa. As the rider approached he was given a moment to set the horse to fed and water and for himself to have a drink and bite to eat as well. Then he along with Shenis, Dalton, and Ernst, and Bryan sat around a table with a map in the main keep. "What did your travels tell you?" Ernst asked.
"With Runsa taken the supply lines are weaker for the moment, but Conner doesn't seem eager to retake his main route at this moment." Tico spoke.
"He is more intelligent than I thought." Dalton said.
"Pray tell? Wouldn't he want to march quickly and get this post back?" Shenis mentioned pointing out Runsa on the map.
"Conner has a large army, but he is cut off from easy access to both new soldiers and now also supplies. He captured Jule but most of the goods and grains of the city were lost in the siege, at least from what we saw. He knows every soldier he has is valuable. Especially if he fears the Valtrex may get involved. As we did provoke them with the Riserstead battles and quelling the siege of Winter's Edge."
"So what is Conner's goal?" Ernst spoke up unsure of what this all meant.
"Conner wants to conquer the area completely, without risking soldiers. He will seek to do with the others towns and cities the way he did here. Show force and get them to submit without a fight."
Shenis was still puzzled and began tapping the map in front of him as he thought. "So if he isn't going to march on us who would he go after?"
"Runsa is a great location and really the easiest route back to Dol from Jule. Conner won't dare go north and further provoke the Valtrex. So he'll use a display of force next onto Mitre on the East, and then move to get White Falls, and also Imholt."
"Imholt would be his backup for a trade route, if he cannot break through to the sea. The path is more dangerous along that route with thick woods and cliffs and flood plains but it can still be managed." Ernst knew the area well. The town was about a day's ride south of Runsa but the pathway beyond is was one not easy for the transport of goods. This and the attitudes of the lording family kept Imholt as a more backwater town than prewar neighbors.
"We should make for Imholt, and secure their alliance to our cause. The Holt family will not want to bow to Dol and Bruin, they are lower class and often dismissive and rude and crude but they will be helpful in choking Conner." Shenis wasn't much of a fan of the local lord. Nearly every encounter with them had left a sour taste in his mouth at their antics.
The men all agreed on their next move. Shenis and his retinue would march to secure the support of Imholt while Ernst, under public leadership of Parakles, would remain in Runsa and maintain his defensive. The enemy by this point no doubt knew of Runsa's fall, but perhaps not to whom. Ernst would maintain leadership but his man Parakles would be the face of all actions to perhaps keep the Cavan family and the city more safe, than if Ernst had visibly broken his agreement with the Bruin.
The men readied themselves for the remainder of the day and then caught one last guaranteed good sleep. And with the dawn Shenis and Ernst shook hands as his party made southward for the Holt family, and Imholt.