Chapter 8: Maybe a Scout Shouldn't Sing
Long had the days in the saddle ben for the young rider of Callie's unit. Tico was still in grand spirits though, as he loved serving his house as best he could, and being the scouting rider meant he never really had to do work detail such as latrine digging, wood cutting, body removal, sword sharpening and all other manner of military chores. Being a scout was freedom for him, especially since prior to being made a scout he was the lowest on the totem pole of the riders and forced to do the most annoying of tasks. Even though he was aware of the more dangers available to him being out in the open, he enjoyed the freedom it posed.
The young teen had just taken his steed up near Til to survey the land, the roads, the military and civilian presence, and any terrain issues ahead. With each mission he returned to Riserstead and helped better compile a regional map for Callie and his lord Shenis. He had been coming and going for weeks straight now and knew this was perhaps his last scouting ride for a time, and planned to savor the fresh air and the lack of swords clashing and clanging. He breathed deep from atop his horse as they trotted in the thick woods. "Today is a good day." He said softly as he exhaled his breath. The air was cool and wood was prefect this time of year.
"GUURHHHH!" The howl of his belly wretched forth and broke the quaint quiet of the wood. The Bellow even startled his horse below him. Tico laughed and guided his nag over toward a nearby tree so he could tie the reigns and get some food cooked to calm his empty stomach.
The rider was joyous still as he began slow cooking some salted meat he had in his saddle. So much so that he began singing without a care, as if he forget in the moment he was in unfamiliar woods and not just back in Jule.
"The winds go roaring! My heart goes soaring.
Like the flying laguz of old
My heart does grow bold.
As Kaya's grace rains forth from your eyes.
My body wishes to grip your thighs.
As your beauty eclipses the skin of Arana
You make me sweat greater than any s-suana."
"CRUNCH!" Tico stood up quickly and hushed himself as he looked across the area. He immidately slapped himself as he realized he just made a fire, and was singing in the middle of the woods like some common traveler. He panicked and without even think of removing the meat from above the fire he began throwing dirt on it.
"Well don't snuff it out!" A voice called from just out of view. "We could share the fire for our cooking as well!" The voice was followed by footsteps headed towards the young man, and the footsteps were more than a simple gaggle of steps towards the young man. The young rider was petrified, As the steps grew closer and closer he still had no clue what to do. The group quickly approached and before too long they were in view of Tico. "Wait a minute." The voice that seemed old and coarse from far off now in plain view was younger as well as that of the men with the voice. It was Jesse and his band of recruits from House Valtrex that had were retreating toward Til. They had assumed they were in friendly territory when they announced themselves from the distance to the rider. While Tico had not been at the battle in Riserstead he could tell the men were of Valtrex and he knew they would notice his Savoy sigil on his armor. Tico quickly unwrapped his horse's reigns from the tree.
"He's a savoy spy!" one of the recruits hollered as they were now right upon him. All went feral at that remark and readied their spears. Several bobbled their spears and even one fell over as they tried to ready for a blitz upon the rider. Jesse charged at the rider but missed his thrust as Tico ducked under than the lance struck deep into the tree behind the scout. He felt a strong jolt of energy with the dodge and knew in his heart that this was his only chance to safely flee. The scout quickly mounted his finicky steed and knocked the reigns while kicking in the sides. The horse blitzed off. Tico had not really thought about what direction he was leading the nag, and the horse naturally followed the flow of the trees which led him north-east, the opposite direction of where Riserstead and his companion were. The horse ran with strong gusto as Tico tried to create distance but before too long he realized the issue with being in the forest…His pace was immensely slowed due to the thick brush. After a few trots he could barely move fast than a walking solider could and these recruits back that dying fire knew it as they rushed quickly into the wood. Tico knew he would eventually have to stand and fight as he was afraid that blindly running around was going to end up injuring the horse or himself. He kept moving forward trying to create space but knew he needed to find a better vantage point. Looking back and forth as he hacked through low hanging limbs and mushed his horse onward he noticed a hill to his left.
"That's our only salvation it seems girl." He tugged hard on the reigns as he approached the hilltop. Tico knew from what he saw and experienced that in spite of the fact that he was a relatively low experienced cavalier that he could make it through this trial, he would make it through this trial. The recruits behind him were on their own vastly inferior in combat training to himself. He believed if he could gain the high ground on the hill that in spite of the fact that they had the reach advantage with their lances that perhaps Tico would survive this rout. It was his only chance.
"I hear soldiers marching." Claire hollered in a lower volume voice, enough to wake her companions but not alert other beyond their blind where they had set up long camp over the past few months. When they initially came upon the blind it was barely large enough for them to lay down and provided little shelter. However, in the time since they arrived they had dug out the blind deeper making the original area they slept in merely an entryway as they had a muffled fire pit that vented into outward and they operated it only at night to avoid any smoke visuals. They three had made this place into a livable dwelling since their flight from the enemy military, and while it was no resort or castle, it was a safe place and allowed to store and cache food and supplies.
"Have they found us?" Ion quickly remarked as he arose from his sleep. "Did we leave the fire going too long?" The three adopted siblings quickly readied themselves. Kyler the recruit grabbing his lance, Ion the myrmidon grabbing his sword, and Claire the thief grabbing her knives. Claire moved toward the exit of the hollow and they all quieted themselves to try and further listen to the commotion. They heard someone was already higher than their position on the hillside and they feared the unknown men around them were entrenching and surrounding the hollow exit.
"Ion, what do we do?" the youngest Kyler questioned. He was stronger and more resolved than their last impromptu skirmish but doubt and youth still resided in his eyes and shaky lance grip as the trio heard a pause to the hoof march above their hollow and a continuance of the march of feet and hollering from the men of Valtrex pursing Tico.
"I can't quite tell how many there are but it's more than us." Claire had her ear to the dirt wall near the exit hoping to better gage the situation at hand. The way the hollow was dug out the exit lay flat along the hillside, nearly invisible to those unknowing of its existence. This was as the original blind was, and was created to keep it easier to hide and remain invisible to others. Tico somehow in his vapid march up the hill dodged the entry hatch which was lucky as the hatch was not designed to support the weight of a man let alone a man and a horse. The hollow was dug out where the entry latch had a 5 ft vertical drop below and led to a separate chamber where the trio dwelled. "We best just stay in here and see if they fall in." Claire suggested as the entry had not been breached or removed yet. The trio had not fully created a secondary escape from the hollow and while they knew if the enemy decided to throw fire down into the burrow they would need to act quickly to snuff it or move it to their vented fire pit, lest they choke to death on the smoke, the trio felt confident they could stay hidden to perhaps hold out if they had to go into their lair one at a time.
"Just keep quiet, but ready to strike." Ion spoke confidence into his team as they stood ready for whatever lay beyond for them.
"COME HERE YOU BASTARD!" Jesse called as his band of recruits had ditched the 4 wagons, whom he signaled to continue toward Til; the lead recruit was convinced he and his brothers would gain some justice from the slaying of this rider from their enemy. Their pace quickened as they saw he was standing on the hillside and not fleeing further. They knew this was their chance. They marched hard with a lance wall read to snuff out the rider.
"THUD, THUD THUD." In this moment it was unclear whether this was the sound of the feet blazing up the hillside, the vibration heard by the trio under the hollow, or the pounding of Tico's heart pulsing blood faster than it ever had before for his body. Perhaps it was all three at once.
"SNAP!" three of the Valtrex men had found their footing unto the burrow hatch at the same time. While they were able to audibly hear the snap of the branching that made the hatch door, they could not react quick enough to escape the collapse as they tumbled into the entry way within a split second. As they landed one them became impaled upon the spear of another and the other two dropped hard that you could hear the distinct crack of bone as they collided with the burrow floor.
"Now!" Ion called as he and Claire quickly moved in and finished all three who had fallen into their domicile. They made sure to quickly end the recruits before Jesse's company noticed and looked into the burrow. They removed themselves from the sight of the exit and took a deep exhale.
"Ill get you savoy cunt!" the recruits still marching up the hillside hollered. Claire and Ion quickly realized that with 3 less bodies marching the sound above them had drastically decreased.
"What is a Savoy?" Kyler pondered aloud as Claire and Ion kept listening. They then heard the clash of metal above.
"Wait someone needs our help!" Claire was the first to understand. "That rider was the one they were chasing, we were unknown."
"Claire we can't go help him." Ion quickly retorted to his adopted sibling. "We'll end up sharing his fate."
"Ion, they didn't know we are here." She said as she then turned and pointed toward the 3 bodies on their burrow floor. "But once they take care of that rider they'll quickly figure it out and then we'll have to deal with them when we are cornered and they can easily go get reinforcements or smoke us out." Ion quickly smirked as he understood. He now understanding the situation quickly lunged toward the exit, he bolted up the ladder had and the other two quickly behind, Claire first followed by young Kyler.
Atop the hill Tico was holding his own as best he can, in spite of a reach disadvantage these recruits struggled to put enough strength in their trust to break his parry or dodge. All attention though was on the rider. Ion and his siblings used this quickly rush down three of Jesse's fellow Valtrex men from behind. Each falling to a lethal shot. Screams bellowed out and confusion set is as now in a matter of seconds Jesse had gone from being beside eight other comrades to merely two others and being outnumbered. Tico smirked at the situation, he had not noticed the men falling into the pit earlier but now realized the tide was turning and even if these three people that had emerged were enemies, for the moment they were friends.
Jesse turned his attention to Ion and moved toward the young swordsman with purpose. Ion used his history of poor nutrition to his advantage as his clothes were baggy and hug far from his body in spite of being tied tight to avoid falling off him. Jesse thrust at what he saw to be flesh only to hit cloth. Ion quickly dodged a flurry of attacks, making sure to try and use each as a chance to close in the range between him and the recruit so that he may counter and slay his foe.
"Tico finally emboldened by the company with him and seeing the odds turn in his favor grabbed the lance the recruit squaring off with him held as the boy missed another attack. Tico gripping the shaft of the lance firmly pulled toward himself with all strength he could muster. The unfamiliar with combat recruit could do nothing expect go forward with the lance and Tico stuck his sword deep into the side of the now in attack range young man. The boy let go of his lance as he fell to his knees. Tico flipped the lance around and then shoved it through the young man's neck to end the suffering of the doomed recruit.
Claire found her final opponent all too easy as she simply ducked below a horizontal swipe from the lance. She lowered herself with legs split to allow recovering control back to her feet after and cut the Achilles tendon on each of the recruit's legs as the boys boots were not thick enough to protect from a good well timed knife slice. Claire found herself once more in the realm of life to be a fair pure souled maiden but in the heat of life or death scenarios she had this admirable quality that Ion was noticing, where she could shut all things out, all fears and emotions that can hold one back in the sight of real terror and danger, and she could fight with pure intent to survive.
With the Achilles cut her immediately fell forward and tried to use his lance to hoist himself back upright. After noticing his inability to do so. The boy in huffing, panicking fear dropped his lance and fell to his stomach and began crawling to little movement success.
"SLIT." Jesse managed to graze the skin and render a slight piece of flesh off the right side of Ion's face. Yet, in this success Jesse doomed himself as Ion got his sword under his breastplate and after a slight delay he removed the sword, quickly rupturing the insides of the recruit. Jesse fell forward hitting the ground dead. With Jesse falling, there were no more Valtrex men upright, and thus after a few seconds of tense battle ridden breathing and survival instinct twitching from all, they began regaining sense.
"I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die." They all noticed the crawling recruit whom Claire had removed the ability to walk from. All relaxed as Ion walked over and stood above the man attempting to crawl away. He stepped on to boy's back. "Please no! Noo.." the boy tried to plea as Ion shoved his sword through the boy's neck and out his face. The he positioned his foot atop the now fallen lad's skull and used his legs to push off and free his blade which he then wicked off the blood from. Then Ion and Tico met eyes.
After a few seconds pause which seemed an eternity to the four still alive on the hill Tico threw down the spear and sword he was brandishing as a sign of good faith. "May I dismount." Ion nodded. Kyler positioned himself behind Claire and while the rider had dropped his weapons the trio still kept their means of attack at the ready. "Thank you." Tico spoke as he swung his right leg over the saddle as he dismounted the horse. He then grabbed his sword to the blade to show he meant no malice with it and slowly and shoved it vertically into the ground to give him a post to tie his horse to as the hillside was mostly bare of larger plant life such as trees.
Tico then sat down. Seeing this the other tree approached and sat near but at a safe distance from the man. As they got closer they all soon realized they were all close in age and this further relaxed all of the four. As Tico was clearly a year or so younger than Ion. "Thank you for your aide. I don't think I would have lasted that fight had you not helped." Tico laughed lightly to try and further brighten the mood.
"Who are you? Why were they chasing you?" Claire asked of the young rider. Tico opened his eyes and caught a glance of the young knife wielding war angel. His eyes lingered for a few seconds as he stuttered a tad and failed to produce an answer to the serious question before he finally slapped himself to regain composure and try again to answer.
"Well.. I am a scout for house Savoy. We are campaigning up north to free these towns and villages dominated by Valtrex over the past few years. That have not been returned to sovereignty." Tico went full red as he realized in that moment that he literally just told these strangers everything about his and his lord's secret purpose in the northern area.
"Well it is good to see others standing up against Valtrex." Ion smiled as he said friendly to the scout. Ion introduced the trio and of their flight from Til after Valtrex conquered the land and how they had been held up in their hillside burrow trying to survive in safety. Tico was amazed at the trio's resilience almost as much as he was the fairness of Claire.
"Well I cannot thank you enough for helping." Tico further explained who Shenis Savoy was and where they came from. The cause of liberating the north rang true with the trio and even though the three young ones had limited combat experience they knew in unison they wanted to help.
"I think we need to go with you on your mission Tico." Ion spoke confidently. "And yeah we probably need to because I doubt we'll be able to hide here for longer now that we killed a squad in this area. Valtrex will be sure to send scouts and larger military patrols here. It would be suicide for us to try and stay on this hill any longer." Tico agreed and knew that back in Riserstead he knew that Shenis didn't bring the biggest military north, so he figured any warm body to the ranks would be a blessing. Plus a selfish thought blossomed that he would be able to see more of this fair skinned maiden if they came with him. The thought wasn't a lustful one but he quickly shook it off his mind as he was a man on mission for his house. He pulled out his map of the area and invited the trio to look on with him.
"We are here, between Til and Riserstead." Tico pointed with Ion and Claire nodding. None of them in the trio had any real learning and so they just agreed with the scout as they barely understood what a map was let alone how to read it. "There may be more soldiers between here and Riserstead so it'd be a fool's errand to march back the way I was headed." Tico sat back for a moment, he was truly puzzled as what to do next. "Well maybe we can take an eastern route, further scout out those lands for my liege, and see if we can't sow discord, recruit or even weaken supply and defense lines in stealth?"
"So basically hide and kill fighting. Kind of like how we did today?" Ion replied to the scout. Tico nodded.
"You seem to have a talent for knowing how to safely emerge and fight without getting overrun." Tico ruffled his hair as he thought aloud. "I'm no great warrior. I am barely above a fresh day one cavalier. That is why I was made a scout. And you guys don't seem to refined and battle tested as well. But I think if we are careful and work well maybe we can disrupt things in the north and make my liege's march north easier for him. And one day I can introduce you to my liege and my captain." The plan was haphazard but Tico knew it was the safest thing now that their location would be searched soon because he did notice the wagons that were with the recruits had continued onwards. He was felt a connection to these three as he felt oddly like he wasn't the weakest in the party and that made him more confident and bold.
"Let's eat some food, catch a few hours rest then head east like you say Tico." Ion said with trust in his voice. The trio had a deep disdain for the men of Valtrex and were very happy to join up with someone who seemed in the know about how they can weaken their mortal enemy.
As they prepared food Kyler and Claire found themselves a moment away from Tico and Ion who seemed to be getting along rather famously like they were old friends all along. "I'm nervous sister. I know we have done well in our prior few skirmishes, but what if I hold you back in a real battle?" Claire hugged her adopted brother and kissed his forehead.
"I have that same fear Kyler." She held back a tear as gripped the younger boy stronger. "But what else is there to do. I enjoyed our time building a life on this hill, but that time is at an end." She leaned back and wiped her eyes as to try and appear stronger for the boy a few years her junior. "At least this way we have a chance to make things right rather than hiding forever."
She knew in her hearts as they all laid down for a few hours rest that during their time on the hillside they were getting comfortable living in peace, and sadly she knew this was not the future. And while a calm life sounded a dream, she knew Ion was growing more restless each day even before this encounter. She sighed as she wished there was a greater measure of peace in his heart that they could take this respite as a sign and flee to distant lands in search of enduring quiet and a new life, but she knew Ion's heart, and was prepared to stand by him on his quest to make things right for the injustice upon them all.
"I'll follow you for whatever reason Ion." She whispered. "Kaya please allow me to be strong enough to help."