Emiya VI
A small gust of wind grazed his face. He could feel the spring air's promise flow around him. The grass beneath his feet was growing strong, evenly covering the hill he somehow found himself standing on. The sun was directly above him, but he didn't feel the sting of it's rays, rather just a calm warming of his skin.
He was back here again.
Emiya, remembering, sprinted forward the instant he felt control of his limbs. As he did so, he felt heavier than usual. He felt it when he reached the bottom of the hill, a mild sinking feeling when his feet slammed into the soft valley. It was difficult to push himself up the next hill. But he had to get up it. If he was going to stop what he knew was about to happen, he had to get up this hill faster. Yet with each step, he felt his limbs get heavier and slower, his pace slowed. As about every time he was here, about halfway up, he would find himself about to sink down about halfway up that second hill.
And then the wind would come to him again, and as it passed his ears, he heard her.
A moment later, he began kicking his feet again, shoving himself back up the hill he'd been on. As he did so, he would come to a lone tree atop the hill. When he first saw the tree, there were only buds of little green leaves. However, when he finally reached the outer branches, the leaves had fully sprouted, and were instead joined by small white buds that were dotted between the greenery. The further he ran under the tree's shade, the more those buds grew, until he reached the trunk, where the flowers blossomed into hundreds of white shining flowers. As he ran toward the end of the tree, the petals of the flowers slowly flittering away. However, at the center of those flowers, large red bulbous orbs were growing instead, until finally, as he passed from under the other side of the canopy, he was surrounded by a rain of apples.
Yet he didn't care, because as he came out the other side of the tree, he saw her. On the hill opposite of him, he saw her once more. Golden hair, white dress dancing in the wind. Artoria Pendragon, safe, whole.
Happy.
But he also saw the one thing that could take that from her. The one thing that might rob her of everything she deserved.
A shock or red hair walking towards her.
He would not let that fool near her. He would not let that boy ruin her life again. That fool, who took, and took, and took, thinking he was helping others when all he was doing was soothing his fragile little ego. That smug little prick would come into Artoria Pendragon's paradise, and ruin everything for her, just like he had ruined everything for anyone he was ever around.
Emiya charged down the hill once more, his feet now using the greater feeling of weight to propel him forward, down the hill. He could hear her laughter, her joy. And yet that music was disrupted by the sounds of that boy's voice, his own laughter a cutting shriek, a discord to the melody of Artoria in paradise. That boy could not see that he was destroying everything, ruining everything. Emiya would not let Shirou hurt her again.
And then he felt his foot catch.
He couldn't know what it was. Perhaps one of the apples had fallen rolled his foot. Perhaps the tree above had longer roots than most. But his foot had lost a step, and before he knew what was happening, he was, head over heels, tumbling forward. Along the way down, he felt grass pulled up along him, flecks of plant and dirt mixing in his hair and along his clothes as he tried to regain his balance. But for some reason, he could not slow himself, and his descent only seemed to increase in speed.
Faster and faster he would roll down the hill. In the background, he could no longer hear Artoria or the boy. About a two thirds of the way down the hill, the world grew less green. THe grass, once verdant, were now jaundice, growing yellow and sick with dry death. Yet the coarse grass was in fact causing him to roll even faster. And as he continued to slide down into the valley below, the grass gave way to dirt, and then to sand. The sand, kicked up by his awkward fall, somehow began to inch its way inside his clothes, itching against his skin.
Finally he reached the bottom. Having come to a halt, he shook his head, a pile of sand being thrown off of him. He looked up, trying to see the hill where Artoria had just been, but there was nothing there. No hill, no grass, no boy.
No Artoria.
But the sun was up there, oh god was it there. The pleasant warmth had been overtaken now by the baking sensation of the full power of a massive red giant, the massive orb taking up over a third of the sky above.
He pushed upward, expecting to feel the sand itch against his clothes, only to realize that all he had been wearing was gone. As he continued to stand, he looked around, and saw that everything around him was nothing but dunes of massive sand. As he took in the mounds of sand, he turned his head back up the hill, and saw the apple tree. Or at least the remains, for the only thing still standing there was a desiccated trunk, dead brown with even the largest limbs long having been burnt away.
The heat was now unbearable. As he tried to move, he could feel the sun frying his skin. The wind seemed to only make things worse, as the sand was blown into his eyes, and Emiya had to hold out his hand to try and keep it from getting in his eyes. Emiya, on instinct that should have been long lost to a counter-guardian, desperately moved his head about, searching for some form of shade. But there was nothing there, just a barren valley between the dunes. Nothing could grow here, all the life having been choked by the sun and the wind and the sand.
"Hello there."
Emiya stopped, and once again turned his gaze up towards the hill, towards the tree. At the tree, was a figure that was taller than the long dead stump. A cloak long and red billowed in the wind, a white shock of hair gleamed in the light of the dying sun, and the sand storm seemed to bounce from his bronze skin. Slowly, the mighty counter-guardian began to descend the hill, with all the grace and power that came from that. And as he did so, Emiya could feel all the burnt and frayed hairs on his body stand on end.
"I'm here to collect on our de-"
Emiya's eyes opened.
Hanging above his head was not a dying red sun, bloated from billions of years of expansion, but the comforting sight of a little white moon. He reached out with his right hand, and squeezed, letting out an exhausted breath of stress as he felt grass once more in his hand. He finally turned his head, and smiled as he saw the back of a head covered in blue hair.
'I am really getting sick of this fucking dream,' he thought to himself. They were out camping tonight, as they had for several nights. He groaned as he felt a breeze, cool here in the physical world, and shook his head, 'Though I think I'm getting pretty sick of sleeping out in the open too.'
This was to be the last real night camping before they would hopefully be back with a roof over their heads. The past six or so weeks traveling up the Braavosi shore should, in theory, have been among the easiest of all their journeys. Braavos controlled all the coastline from Pentos up the Eastern Coast of the Narrow sea to the Great Lagoon. With all of it under one, relatively stable government, it should have been easy to follow their compass north, to where the Chaldean Compass pointed them.
That was not the case. It turns out that Braavos was very much a city-state before nation state as it were. While that was true of most of the powers that made up this western part of Essos, most of them at least had lands outside the main cities that they seemed to use, cultivate and fight over. Volantis had most of the lower delta of the great river it sat on, and the Three Sisters were so invested in those frontiers that they regularly battled for them. Braavos, meanwhile, had at most a smattering of a few villages up along the Braavosi coast, but no great fields, deep mines, or most importantly, paved roads.
The Braavosi were quite proud of their physical sequestration from the rest of the continent. He understood that Braavos was built on a lagoon, with no road actually connecting the city to the mainland. Not only that, but there were two minor mountain ranges leading up the lagoon, making the creation of roads exceedingly difficult. Had they wanted to, Mata had suggested that Braavos could have made a paved path to the lagoon. They just preferred not to, as it meant that to reach the city in force, a rival power would have to come on an extended trip by sea.
'Venice, only moreso,' Emiya cursed the banality of it all.
But, yes, Emiya returned to his thoughts on their soon to be over trek to Braavos. There had been consideration for taking a ship up from Pentos after finding Mata, but the massive uproar all around the destruction of one of the finest manses in the whole city into an uproar. With that uproar, came an influx of Braavosi soldiers, who had taken over the docks, and were being very thorough in making sure that none of the chaos that occurred in its client state would make it to their homes. Since that was where they were supposed to go, they had instead left from land, as there had not been enough soldiers to keep them from heading out on cart.
But taking the cart had meant weeks of travel north. And that meant it was going to be a long, cold trek, with roads that were either dirt at best, or non-existent at worst. Those weeks were also much colder, and much wetter, weather. Twice the cart had broken down, and it had taken them hours to get it back up and running. There had managed a tavern a few times, and those had been of such poor quality that Cu had sworn his hay bed had given him bug bites.
It was most likely Cu's natural fleas, but Emiya had been so miserable he hadn't thought of the insult until three days later.
But finally, mercifully, they'd arrived here, at a small set of docks on the southernmost point of the lagoon. They had found a small set of docks nestled alongside a massive aqueduct headed towards the city. Yet even in getting here, they had been delayed. Along the wooden shanties and docks of this little hamlet was a stone keep, with guards patrolling it. That was the customs house, where the Braavosi made sure to monitor those coming into the city. Mostly they were only checking poor dockhands who made constant trips to bring cheap goods to and from the city. Old men, many missing fingers or limbs, almost all looking like they had been pickled in sea water. Those sorts of men passed to the city with nary a glance.
Their party…looked nothing like that. The first day they had gone to the custom house, they had been surrounded and separated. A fight had nearly started, had Ritsuka not done enough to calm them all down. They had all gotten out of there in one piece, but they did not have permission to travel to Braavos.
'Thank goodness,' he thought, leaning upward to look at the servant with watch for the rest of this hour, 'Mata is with us.'
Mata had truly been invaluable in getting through customs. Unlike everyone else, Mata had spent her second life at least partially dealing with court and politics. Still, it had taken nearly five days, and help from a dockworker who was leaving earlier, to finally get into a face to face meeting with the customs official.
'Then of course,' he thought, 'She was able to get us passage on a boat tomorrow too,' he sighed, 'I'm just glad we didn't have to go and steal one in the dead of night, would make moving around much harder,' he then watched the woman some more. While alert, her attention was focused north, along the great "Sweetwater River". She looked tired, and mixed with the dream, Emiya could only sigh, 'Might as well go talk to her.'
"Hey," he whispered, pushing himself up and to his feet. Mata was still staring over the water, and Emiya snuck forward, just barely stepping over the sleeping form of Xuanzang, the monk's arms and legs sprawled out in a rather undignified manner, "Hey," that caught Mata's attention, she turned, and smiled once she saw it was him, and raised her hand to him. Emiya slowly walked to the blanket roll she was sitting on, and joined her, looking out over the water.
"Bad dreams again?" she asked. Having been forced to sleep communally, the chance of Emiya keeping his sleeping problems quiet were nil.
"Yes," Emiya rubbed the back of his head. Emiya was getting maybe one good night of sleep for every three that passed. It was beginning to wear on him. True, Ritsuka was able to provide enough mana for the whole party, but not enough to have them reach even the full potential of these lesser vessels they were already in. Sleep and food was meant to make up for these deficiencies, but with him not getting full nights of sleep…
"You should try to lay down again," Mata said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Emiya looked over at her, and for a second saw silver hair and red eyes rather than chestnut and hazel that were there. The woman had understandable issues with men, but Emiya appreciated her efforts.
"I think you should," Emiya offered back, and Mata puffed up her cheeks in annoyance.
"You're one of our best fighters," Mata said, pointing a finger into his chest as they sat together, "If we get into any kind of trouble in Braavos, you are going to be better in a brawl than I am," she held up her dainty hand, "Even before I was incarnated I wasn't exactly a front line brawler."
"We have enough fighters at full strength. You are much more important than I am," Mata's eyebrow raised slightly, "You are the only one who knows how to talk to these people."
"Gold and compliments go a long way," she offered, before grumbling, "Though we seem to have run out of most of the former getting us through-" she was stopped mid word with a large yawn. She blinked for a few seconds, before looking at Emiya, a small put on her lips, "Stop looking at me like that," Emiya snorted, and she crossed her arms, before saying, "Fine, I'll go to bed, thanks for taking the rest of my shift."
"No problem," Emiya nodded. He'd be fine, maybe take a nap or two during their little cruise. He watched as the woman shook her head, but as she got up, he brought himself to ask, "Anything to report from the city itself?"
"Just boats," she groaned, "Nothing coming over here, but there are so many barges and skiffs and caravels slipping in and out of the canals," she shook her head, "Everything else is solid as stone," she pointed at the Sweetwater River, "Though that makes sense in the aqueduct's case," she opened her mouth again for another yawn, before finally turning, raising her hand to acknowledge her, and then walked to where her two "Children" were sleeping, "Thank you for taking my shift Emiya."
"My pleasure," was the last thing he said to her. He watched her bend over, glancing over the two children, before finally laying down, and resting between them. The sight of Mata, having regained some level of purpose that had been robbed from her in her original life, made his stomach turn. He then twisted his head towards the hound and pup, the former using his back as a windbreak to provide more warmth to his boy. Then a few words from another dream, almost as unpleasant as the one that he had just woken from, rang in his ears.
"Mother, what troubles you."
"Damnit," he sighed, before looking over the city. It was coming soon, and the pit of dread that Emiya had had since Volantis was growing wider. She wasn't here, but she would likely be the next stop, and Emiya had no idea how he was going to deal with…
'Best to not dwell on it now,' He groaned while sweeping from West to East, 'Just keep thinking about what's going on right now,' his eyes using all their Archer's prowess to pinpoint individual movement along the shore of the city that sat across the lagoon. There was not much left, as it was likely after midnight, but he could see some drunkards, a few barges, some homes with candles in the windows, 'Need to keep on watch for any sign of troub-'
And then, when his eyes came to rest on the Sweetwater. Or more accurately, on the first major arch of the aqueduct entering the city itself. For standing on top of the long river of fresh water, was a man in a long billowing cloak. A red cloak. Emiya focused his eyes, and while he could not make out all the details, he could see that the cloak was red, the only part of the figure that was moving. Because the rest of the figure was standing as still as a statue, facing south of the city.
Directly at Emiya.
Emiya calmly reached out his hand, and called his bow. He gripped it firmly, and then conjured an ordinary arrow as he stood up. He kept his eyes on the figure, who simply continued to stare at Emiya from across the miles of water. Emiya began calculating the distance, and began to factor in the wind, and finally arrived at the right angle and strength. This would be a difficult shot, but he needed to make it as quietly as possible. No need to wake everyone up on something that might just be a hallucination. He even gave a quick glance to check and make sure that no one was awake to look at him, and then returned, ready to fire.
The figure was gone.
Immediately, Emiya scanned the whole of the Sweetriver. He brought his arrow up, ready to shoot an enemy that Emiya was readying to see attempt to come and gut them. Yet, after a few moment, he saw nothing. Emiya still kept the arrow notched, ready to fire, but even he could tell that that was an attempt at comforting himself. The figure…the apparition…the enemy…
Whatever it had been had let Emiya see him, and was now hidden in the city they were headed to. That the enemy was dressing like the thing in Emiya's dreams, and like the counter guardian that Mata had described mistaking Emiya for, and like Emiya himself only made him more uneasy. Still, there wasn't much he could do right now, other than sit, and wait for morning.
At least then, he would not be alone with his mind.
"Alright," he declared watching as the tanned young many leaned over, panting having completed the race, "Good time Baelon," he watched as Mata's son raised his head, his darker skin reddened from the exertion, "Your best time up and down the hill by far, and on the last day shows some real improvement."
"Tha-than," Baelon panted, barely keeping himself upright, hands planted firmly on his knees, "Thank yo-u Ser," he raised one hand, and wiped sweat away from his brow. Emiya nearly chuckled while watching the boy, for he still was only sixteen, try and keep a straight face. Though, for a boy who was only now getting really physical training, rather than simple work experience, he was doing an admirable job. He was even aware enough to catch the wineskin of freshwater thrown to him, which he did his best to greedily chug down.
"You might one day actually manage to beat Colan here," Emiya said offhandedly, placing his hand on the younger boy's shoulder. Emiya could see the scowl come over the teenager's face. The pup had been traveling for years with his father before Emiya had first arrived, being trained by his father the same way he trained. That training only intensified and became more strenuous after they had reformed their company of heroes. That had led to the lad being a quite impressive athlete, all things considered. However, with one look down on the boy's smirking face, Emiya reached back, and lightly whapped Cu's kid on the back of the head.
"Hey!"
"Don't gloat, it's rude," Emiya said, smirking while Colan rubbed the back of his head, trying to calm the welt that was already growing there. Colan looked over at Cu, who was resting against one of the Aqueduct's arches. When Cu simply shrugged, Colan sighed, and began to grumble, as Emiya added, "But, at least neither of you came in last."
As if on cue, the bent over and gasping third trainee came around the bend. Brownish black hair was matted around the young man's scalp, his eyes were cloudy from exhaustion, and his limbs were shaking. To call his pace running would be laughable, jogging would be far too king, to call it walking would be exceedingly generous. Limping was probably the best way to describe Ritsuka Fujimaru's pace. When Ritsuka finally crossed the finish line, falling forward on his face, Emiya could only shake his head.
"Pathetic," he said, as, Ritsuka finally just laid there prone, "That was a six mile run, and you couldn't even finish in an hour," he pointed his thumb back at the now sitting Baelon, "Both the kid and the newbie managed that," he slid his foot beneath Ritsuka's shoulder, and then kicked up, flipping his Master, "How have you let yourself go this badly?"
"Fu-fah-," Ritsuka coughed, placing his hand on his stomach as he tried to breath in more air, "Faaaack you," he finally managed. He seemed to try and throw a wad of spit at Emiya from his supine position, but it only traveled a foot before landing short of Emiya's boots.
"That's not an explanation," Emiya could only barely keep his smirk under control.
"I've been stabbed," Ritsuka groaned, placing his hand on his forehead, "IN BOTH MY LUNGS!" he then flinched, and curled up, "oooooooooowwwww."
"If you can shout, you can run," Emiya was not able to keep himself from laughing at this. Yes, he was being a bit cruel to his Master, but Ritsuka had said he wanted to try and rebuild his body after all the damage Kotomine and Viserys had done with their individual chest stabbings. That meant that Emiya wasn't going to pull any punches, either physically or verbally.
"Ritsuka," Baleon said from his position nearly a hundred yards away, "If you are going to keel over and die, could you at least wait till we're in Braavos. They might to let the rest of us on board if they hear that one of our number mysteriously died."
"Though maybe they'll let us on faster," Colan said, "After all, we can use the money for his spot to pay for early boarding."
"Hate you," Ritsuka raised his left hand into the air, one finger standing in salute to his two compatriots, "Hate you both."
"Alright, alright," Cu stood up from his sitting spot, "Not that this isn't fun, but I think we need to start getting ready to actually get on the boat. It is only a couple of hours until we board," he walked over to Colan and Baelon, "Come on you two, the creek should be free for you both to wash off, and get changed," he glared out to the city on the lagoon, "This place already stinks enough, I don't need your sweaty pits and parts to make it smell even worse."
"Yes Da," Colan said dutifully, nodding his head as he stood.
"Yes Ser," Baelon added, taking a few steps to right himself. The two stretched for a moment, before they both followed the Hound back inland. The creek was freshwater, unlike the brackish soup that made up the lagoon, and a bit secluded behind some of the small hills leading up to the great spring that supplied the Sweetwater River. That had luckily allowed for some level of privacy, both for those bathing-
'And those who aren't,' Emiya thought, turning his attention back to Ritsuka. He held out his hand, and Emiya gave him the third and final wineskin. A second alter, Ritsuka was pouring it down his throat, and Emiya almost wondered if the boy might drown himself. He didn't but it was closer than it should have been.
"So," Ritsuka said, the water seeming to have parched his throat, "You said you saw our mystery counter-guardian last night?"
"Yes," Emiya folded his arms together, as Ritsuka sat up. His young master brought his right hand to his chin, looking down thoughtfully.
"Well that's ominous," Ritsuka admitted, "Thanks for bringing this up to me, I know you usually like to bury stuff like this to deal with on your own," Emiya hitched slightly, and he could feel a bead of sweat drop down along his forehead. He forced a smile at that, but Ritsuka merely continued, "Also thanks for not waking us up, better to try and let everyone get more sleep, what with me proving to be such a piss poor battery right now."
"Better than we were before," Emiya admitted, and it was undeniably true. He remembered how exhausted he'd been after that first whirlwind day on this plane, especially with his inability to summon his reality marble. He'd pushed through it, but it hadn't been all that surprising he'd collapsed for a day soon after that. It had only gotten worse as he had acclimated to the environment.
"Still should be doing more," Ritsuka reached up, and touched his right breast, "If only…damnit," Emiya could only nod.
"Kotomine Kirei is a dick."
"Massive Dick," Ritsuka nodded, before running his hand through his hair, "But, back to our mystery servant," he looked over at the city, "This is probably going to make things more difficult. He was apparently making things difficult for Mata back when she was still a servant," he blinked, "And also she said her sister in this world ran into him once before," Mata had mentioned that Ellia Martell had met with the strange bronze man only a few weeks before her death and Mata's exile, "But does he sound familiar. The only reason I keep calling him a counter guardian is because he looks similar to you and your dad, but Ryouma is a counter guardian too, and he doesn't have bronze skin," Emiya nodded, he and Kitsurugu only looked like this due to their uses of specific magecraft, "And your coat isn't a uniform," Emiya smiled, a blue haired girl with glasses far too large for her head came to mind, "So…maybe a fan or yours or something?"
"Oh, that'd be greeaaaaaat," Emiya moaned, rubbing his forehead, "So I cause some poor sap to do this," he held up his arms to motion to the whole of his body, "To themselves, yeah, that's just what my conscious needs."
"Well the other option is maybe an evil version of you," Ritsuka stopped, and then laughed, "Another evil version of you."
"Honestly, less of a problem," Emiya sighed, "I've already written myself off."
Ritsuka pursed his lips at that. For a moment, Emiya and his master just stared at one another. Ritsuka then sighed for a moment, before laying back down, and letting out a huff. Emiya slowly raised his arms and crossed them, not bothering to exchange the huff. They'd already had this conversation, and Emiya had need to go through it again. Best to just let this branch of conversation die, and wait for the next one to sprout.
"So, we tell them that we think our enemy is in the city," Ritsuka declared.
"Not sure that's a good idea," Emiya scowled. He trusted the boy now, they'd been together through too many things for him not too, but he wasn't sure about the rest. Even putting aside his general opinion of the wisdom of Cu or Jalter, there were now enough civilians who they were partially escorting.
"Too bad," Ritsuka grunted back, and Emiya's scowl deepened.
"What's too bad?"
'She's getting better,' Emiya noted, eyes wandering up to see Jeanne Alter. The witch, in a silk blouse with a large woolen coat over her shoulders, walked over to Ritsuka, and stared down at him. Ritsuka smiled up at her, which caused the woman to puff her cheeks out in embarrassment.
"Emiya saw that rogue servant guarding Braavos last night," he said aloud, and Emiya could only sigh.
"What, really," Jeanne Alter looked over at Emiya. He could only nod his head, and she cursed, "Shit, that's going to make this harder isn't it," she groaned, "We only recently got the princess to stop looking at Dogbreath like he's going to slit her throat at night, and now we are going to be telling her that we might be facing something like us that's actively seeking to kill her."
"Better she know now then wander Braavos unprepared," Ritsuka said, "So I'll go ahead and tell ever-"
"No," Jeanne Alter bent at the hip, and held her head directly above Ritsuka's. For a moment, they just locked eyes. She then reached down, touched his forehead, and rubbed her fingertips over it, before raising them to her eyes, "You stink, and it looks like you fell into a salt mine," she pulled herself up, and pointed around the hill, "Go take your things off and wash off. The others just got done, so no one else is in the creek."
"Jeannette," the woman smiled at the name, "We only have so long before we have to leave," he said, sitting back up again, while looking at her thoughtfully, "I want to just have a full meeting, and this is probably our best chance to-"
"I'll join you."
A second later, Ritsuka's shirt was hanging in the air, as the boy was already halfway behind the hill. Emiya blinked as the shirt slowly floated into Jeanne Alter's open arms, a small grin on her face as she held it open. She looked over at Emiya, tilted her head back, and smirked a bit too wickedly to technically have the face of the Saint of Orleans. Emiya just held up his hand with a small wave, and she laughed.
"You have fifteen minutes to get clean," Emiya could only offer backhandedly, "We need to be ready to go in an hour."
"Fine, fine," the witch smirked, slowly pulling her coat from her arms as she began to follow the path that their master had taken, "We aren't getting physical anyway, just mostly looking at each other," she stopped, and blushed for a moment, before shaking her head, "Mostly," she waved, and Emiya sighed, before she added, "So I guess that means you get to tell them about that stupid rogue servant."
"Witch," Emiya grumbled, before turning back to the main meeting place. However, he gave one last look as he saw Jeanne Alter walk behind the hill, and then said to himself, "Though next time, I'll make you tell him to run, he might actually keep pace with the other two that way."
"This should be a good place to hole up for a while," Ritsuka said.
Emiya snorted, 'You'd think that about any place as long as it was cheap right now,' he watched as Ritsuka, followed by Mata and Jeanne Alter, cut their way through the crowd toward a desk along the right side of the room. At the desk was a man with receding brown hair, a weather beaten face and an inquisitive look as he saw Ritsuka approaching, 'A young man with two attractive older women,' Emiya could only shake his head while considering what the innkeeper must be thinking, 'must be wondering why someone would be bringing two prostitutes to an inn when not two blocks down there is either a much nicer inn…or the brothel where he thinks those two might have been hired from.'
As Mata leaned forward to begin discussion of what they wanted, Emiya took a second to breathe in the smoky air. It wasn't that nice, certainly not as comfortable as the manse they'd managed to get in Pentos. This place, the Outcast Inn, was one of the lower end taverns they'd heard about when trying to find a place to stay. After getting off the barge that'd brought them to Braavos itself, it'd been so late that the sun had already been setting. Seeing it getting so late, they'd asked a few of the fishermen and dockworkers that sailed with them for a cheap place to spend the night. A few names of establishments came up, but eventually they had run into the same man who'd helped Mata get into the custom's office. He'd recommended the Outcast inn, saying it was relatively cheap. They'd taken the advice of the one-eyed man, especially when it turned out the inn was in the same direction as the compass.
Of course, getting to the Inn had been a chore in and of itself. Getting through the fishmarket had been difficult enough, with hundreds of people packed into a very small peninsula. Trying to keep ten people together had proven difficult, as more than once one of them had been grabbed by some fishmonger or pickpocket. They were also unable to travel by canal barge, what with the cost, so they'd been forced to cut and weave through the packed streets of Braavos. If it hadn't been for their compass, they might have gotten lost. Still, it had been dark when they arrived at Ragman's Harbor, and thus at Outcast Inn.
"Let me go see if I can't rustle up some food," Cu laughed, marching towards a counter on the other side of the entrance hall from the innkeeper's desk, "Come on Colan, let's pick out something for you winning the race."
"Yes Da!" the boy scurried off after his father. Emiya just shook his head, and walked over to one of the larger tables, pulled out a seat, and waved his hand for the others to come. That meant Baelon, Rhaenys, Nitocris, and Xuanzang. As they sat around the table, the group allowed themselves to fall into their seats.
"I will never run on a day when we are set to travel again," Baelon admitted, laying his head down on the thick oak table, "The legs are throbbing."
"I am not sure it makes much difference brother," Rhaenys groaned. The dim light seemed to catch her silver hair, almost shining. She had smirked as she wagged her finger before Baleon's face, "Your legs throbbed enough when going out for chores, perhaps they are just weak limbs."
The teen scowled at his elder sister. He bit his lip, trying to come up with a retort, but nothing came of it. Nitocris looked between the two of them, and prepared to say something, but stopped, sighed, and leaned back into her chair. She tapped the table as the siblings bickered, and Emiya wondered what the matter was.
'They don't argue that much,' Emiya thought, 'Just seems to be normal brother-sister behavior.'
"Well good news bad news," Ritsuka's voice caught everyone unaware, and the all turned to look at him as he and the others who met with the innkeeper walked up, "Bad news is, the one room big enough for all of us to stay together, the suite on the top floor, is already being rented out already," Emiya groaned, "But the good news is that we should be able to get our own rooms all on the same floor, second from the top, and no one else will even be there," and at that Emiya nodded.
"So, we'll at least have a floor to ourselves," he said, "I imagine then that there are about five rooms then?"
"Six rooms actually," Ritsuka pulled them up, "Four doubles and two singles. The singles are much smaller, less than half a room really, but I think you and Jeannette," Ritsuka flipped his hand back between Emiya and the witch, "Should be able to take on those spaces better."
"Why you and I?"
"Well," Ritsuka laughed, while Jeanne Alter looked away with her arms crossed and Mata rubbed the back of her head, "When I was discussing this with the innkeeper, he insisted that he didn't want to be a brothel in all but name," Emiya nodded, remembering his own thoughts, "So, I guess it was just better for everyone that we only pair up by gender. Me and Baelon," he suddenly tossed a key to Baelon, who caught it out of the air, "And Colan and his dad once they get back."
"So I'm the odd male out," Emiya nodded, "And I suppose sleeping in her own room lowers the chance that she," Jeanne Alter scowled at the implication, "Will step on her roommates toes."
"Hey guys!" Cu returned to the table, a bunch of cups in his hand, frothing liquid pouring from it, "They have mead," he began to place the iron tankards down in front of them, "Do you know how long it's been since I had this stuff, I don't think since Bricru's feast," he grabbed up one of the flagon's, placed it on his mouth, and took a deep gulp, "Ah, just what I needed."
"You would be someone who actually likes the taste of fermented honey," Emiya sighed, watching as Colan, followed by two servants, brought several plates of what looked like roast chicken to the table, "Well, at least I don't have to worry about cooking tonight," he liked doing so, but it had grown bothersome having to worry about always being the only one to do it day in and day out.
Everyone was quick to take up their stein and their meat, and soon, the group began to relax. Baelon had reached over, and snatched up a roll he'd managed to get. He was able to do this because Ritsuka had his attention full taken up by Jeanne Alter, who was talking about some idea she'd had for a comic. Xuanzang had chosen to be one of the only ones to not eat, she was a vegetarian after all, instead meditating to try and control her body. Colan, seeing this, had reached up and grabbed some coin, likely getting ready to ask if they offered any food that wasn't meat based. Mata and Rhaenys were fussing over something with Nitocris, who seemed rather embarrassed from the attention they were paying her.
Emiya looked at Cu, and saw that the blue haired man's eyes had gone wide. Emiya blinked, and then turned around to follow the Lancer's gaze. At the front of the inn were around a dozen young men, in various states of drunkness. They were all fine dressed, not in silk, but well knit wool shirts and with fine trousers. While all of these men were in different colors, but they all had on their left breast a yellow crest with the head of a black deer on them.
"Cu?" Emiya asked, and Cu's eyes snapped back down to Emiya. What was more noticeable was that his eyes swayed over to where Baelon and Rhaenys were sitting, and then Emiya remembered that it had been the "Stags" that had overthrown the "Dragon" that had been Mata's children's family. Emiya felt the need to curse, but motioned with his head.
'After all,' he thought as Cu got up, and began to waltz his way over to the front of the tavern, 'He fought with these guys, hopefully he can keep them busy.'
"Hey, why is Cuuuuu…oh no," Mata had looked up when Cu left his seat, and her eyes widened as they caught on to the crowd of Baratheon men coming in. Her vocalizing this caused everyone else to turn their attention to the door, and the mood dropped like a stone. Mata reached over, and grabbed Rhaenys who had frozen as soon as she had looked up, and whose first movement was to begin to shake.
Emiya and leaned forward and whispered, "Mata, as soon as Cu gets their attention, take Rhaenys up to the fifth floor and get in your room. We're going to start sneaking out in pairs to not draw any suspicion," Mata nodded slowly. She managed to put her hand on Rhaenys's wrist, and lifted her knees to get ready to pull the girl along with her.
"Yo!" Emiya turned back to look at the front. Cu had walked up to the group, who were still mostly talking among themselves. At first, all of them seemed somewhat offended, until one of them, with a black and white tunic with a ship on the shoulder, a short brown beard twitching as he looked at Cu's chest. Emiya could see from the angle Cu's smirk grow larger, "Been a while I have been able to see men such as yourselves."
"Ser?" one of them, with a sea green shirt and a turtle on his chest. He seemed to be slightly confused, until the other man tapped his shoulder, and the black and white tuniced man pointed at Cu's chest, and his eyes widened, "Ser…ser, are you…are you the Hound of Winterfell?"
Almost immediately, the entire group, even the inebriated, had their bodies snap straight. Their eyes widened, and they all turned to look at this strange man in a new light. As their eyes were drawn to the Lancer, Mata stood up, dragging Rhaenys up with her. The girl was stiff, but she was able to follow, and quite quickly, Mata had pulled her from the table, and up to the stairs. Mata made one turn back to check, but it hadn't been needed. The crowd of Baratheon men were completely entranced by the sudden appearance of this legendary warrior. Once she was sure they weren't being followed, she pulled Rhaenys up, and they disappeared.
"Okay," Emiya said, before looking at Ritsuka, "You take up Baelon next," Baelon was looking nervous, but less so than his sister. He was much more common looking than the very Valyrian looking girl, so it wasn't too surprising, but it would still be important to move him up to their rooms too.
"Ser," one of the men, a patch faced boy barely twenty in age with a crescent moon on a purple sky over red trees, pulled out a coin purse, "Let us pay for a drink for you," somehow, despite how useful it was proving, Emiya could not help but be annoyed by the reverence Cu was being shown, "It would be an hon-"
"No need, no need," Cu laughed, grabbing the younger man by the shoulder, and then making a wave of his arm toward the bar. As he did so, the crowd of men began to bring their eyes toward the counter, and Ritsuka and Baelon pushed off from the table, and began to slink away, toward the stairs, "I am the one who is being blessed to meet my friends so far from home, I say I owe all of you a round!"
Emiya almost caught the hitch in Ritsuka's breath at the suggestion, but getting Baelon to safety took priority, so they took advantage of the great cheer that had come from the group of young men, and rushed upward toward their rooms. Emiya let loose a sigh as Cu gathered up the crowd, and pushed them toward the barman. As they passed, Emiya could see, alongside the patch of the black deer on gold, were other patches alongside the turtle and the ship, which he now saw had an onion on it. However, after they passed, Emiya turned pulled in the rest of the party.
"Okay, so Master's probably going to want to have a discussion about plans as soon as possible," the three women nodded, though Colan was more focused on his father. The boy's pupils were rapidly moving back and forth, his jaw slightly open. Emiya then continued, "Let's give Cu a couple of minutes, and then try and get him to go up," he then slowly looked at the party, "Jeanne Alter, I'd say it'd be best for you to go up to. They don't like Taragyens, so they may have something against you too because of your look."
"Doubt it," Jeanne Alter rolled her eyes, "Those hicks probably wouldn't even know what an Ash Valyrian is," Emiya felt an eyebrow raise, "well, "Westeros"," she made finger quotes in the air, "Is such a backwater, that really the only Valyrians they ran into were the Targs, they have no clue that someone with my blood could have my eyes," she then smirked, "On the other hand, heading on up means I won't have to talk to those bumpkins," Emiya could almost see Colan twitch at the word, but he kept his eyes on the crowd, who were staring at his father as he distributed drinks. The witch smirked, stepped out of her seat, and then marched off, with a bit less urgency than the previous groups.
"One would think that being sisters with Jeanne D'Arc, she would be less insulting of farmers," Xuanzang rubbed her chin. Emiya turned his head to her, and stared her directly in the eye. Xuan then blinked, her mouth opened into a round o, and then she added, "Never mind, it makes perfect sense why she is so dismissive of country people."
"They all," Colan spoke up, the wonder clear in his voice, "They all know Da."
"Well," Nitocris considered, "Your father hasn't told us everything, but consider who he is, I suppose he probably became something of a legend in the War," she watched as the men had barely touched their drinks, all of them staring as Cu was already waving his arms about, "Must be like if…well, if Cu Chulainn suddenly appeared in an Irish pub."
"That happened," Emiya noted, reaching up and massaging his temples.
"Really?"
"Yeah," Emiya sighed, "Right before Goetia, the asshole somehow talked me, Robin, Diarmud, David and Fergus to go on a "Pub Crawl to End all Pub Crawls"," he let out an audible groan, "I get a hangover just thinking about it," he felt a part of his stomach drop, "Certainly feel like I earned one when Iskander and Giglamesh both showed up."
"Wait," Nitcoris raised a finger, "Was that when you all somehow drank the Whore of Bablyon under the tabl-"
"I didn't do that," Emiya felt a heat on his cheeks, "That was Giglamesh," he then looked to the side, "I had barely been conscious by that point, and got vomited on by Iskander when he lost control of his gut," he sighed, "Bastard Macedonian was just lucky I respect Waver so much or I would have stabbed him."
"I remember," Xuan slammed her fist into her hand, "Didn't you run in-"
"We can discuss the details later," Emiya knew his blush was much deeper now, and ultimately, he could see that Cu was becoming a bit overwhelmed, likely having to keep some details of his story straight, "Xuan, sorry, but you are going to have to-"
"I understand," she stood up, and reached for Colan's hand, "Come now son," that caused Colan to snap his attention to the monk. For a second, he just stared blankly, before finally nodding, and reaching his hand out to take hers, "We must go pick up your father, it is past his bedtime."
"Yes Lad-yes mother," Colan corrected himself, and the two headed over to the crowd.
Emiya and Nitocris just sat at the table. Nitocris slowly rested her head in her hand, and sighed, before saying, "Always have to be complications on this mission huh?"
"Not sure what we were supposed to expect," Emiya shrugged, as he watched the crowd part when Xuan managed to arrive, hand on her hip. Cu managed to make himself look appropriately disappointed at the end of his carousing, as Xuan wagged her finger at him, while Colan looked on. After a moment, he talked back, with the man with the ship on his chest suddenly speaking up. Both Cu and Xuan blanked, before suddenly Cu nodded, and said something. The growing disappointment that had been over the men's faces disappeared, and another cheer went out. Cu made sure to toss the barkeep a small bag of coins, and then he, Xuan and Colan were on their way back, "That went surprisingly well."
"Guess we should be grateful for small blessings," Nitocris shook her head, when Cu walked up, "So, you done with them?"
"Not quite," Cu admitted, though the smirk on his face wasn't about to leave, "But, I think it'd probably be better to tell you everything when we get upstairs to our rooms. Got some information that I think Master's gonna want to hear."
"Drake."
"Figures she'd be at a port town," Emiya could only nod at Mata's reasoning. It had taken about ten minutes for them to get up the stairs to their rooms, and then they had waited half an hour to keep there from being any sort of followers that might be trying to listen in on them.
'Though that might only barely have been enough,' Emiya thought. Rhaenys was shaking, her hands clasped together tightly. She had brought a shaw around her hair, and she kept looking down the hall towards the stairs, keeping an eye out for any of the Baratheon men somehow coming up the stairs. The only thing keeping her from panicking was Mata's hand firmly on her shoulder, gently holding her stability together.
"I'd heard about Braavos working with pirates recently," Mata offered, her eyes locked on her niece, "But we were mostly kept inside the Manse by Illyrio, and well," she shrugged, "the Pentosi mostly consider Braavos a pirate town anyway."
"Same with Mereen," Nitocris observed, a strained smile a a large bead of sweat on her face, "Especially considering Braavos's…policy when it came to slave ships they catch," Cu and Jeanne Alter snapped their heads toward her, scowling, "It is policy to consider such actions as piracy, and the whole city as one big band of brigands," as her two fellow servants glared at her, she raised her hands, waving quickly, "I'm not agreeing with it," she sighed, before rubbing her head, "anymore at least."
"Just keep it that way," Cu growled. Jeanne Alter sighed, before nodding, while bringing up her fingers to touch the burn mark beneath her could imagine that considering her time in the cult, she had probably not been too concerned with the goings on of another of the Free Cities. Cu then continued as before, "But yes, the brother of the king is here to try and get the Sealord to stop Drake from sicking her pirates on their trade ships."
"Well, that might complicate things," Ritsuka rubbed his chin, "but, at least we have an idea of what we are getting into tomorrow," he raised up a finger, "We know she is has a pirate fleet and a pirate shanty town right off the main island," he then raised a second, "And that she's the daughter of the head of the city, so she's politically connected," he then raised a third, "And that she's basically made a nuisance for all the ships that aren't Braavos's," he sighed, "Well, at least there doesn't seem to be anything stopping us from trying to get in there and talk to her," which seemed awfully convenient, though, with how many pirates roamed Drowned Town, it was likely most only came if they really needed to, "So, tomorrow, we'll all hea-"
"No."
Ritsuka stopped, and turned back to Mata. She stared directly into his gave her a nod, and then she continued, "I can't help you tomorrow," she sighed, and pointed upward, "Cu said those men were the ones that rented the top room of this inn right, and if we really can't afford to change inns," she fabe a look to Ritsuka, who remained stone faced, "Then I need to take Rhaenys out tomorrow so we can buy a new hair dye," at that, Rhaenys shivered once more, and tears began to well up under her eyes, "We'll go and try something that will be better than that stuff we used at Illyrio's Manse, I promise."
"I think I should go with them," Baelon added, "I do not stick out as much," Emiya nodded, "But I still perhaps should do what I can to blend in, and there is safety in numbers," he then looked up at Ritsuka, "Besides…it's not like there is much I'll be able to do in comparison to everyone else."
"...I'll miss Mata's negotiation skills," Ritsuka said, "But, if she thinks she has to do this, then it is fine. With everyone else there-"
"Yeah," Cu raised his hand in the air, "When I was getting away from those Baratheon boys, I may have promised that I would meet them tomorrow," Cu leaned back for a second, "Was a good way to get them to agree to let me leave so quickly, and if I don't meet with them tomorrow, they may start asking questions."
Ritsuka sighed, leaning his back against the door. He closed his eyes, and took in a small breath, before nodding, "Okay," he sighed, "We can work this out, this is not a problem," a small raised vein on Ritsuka's left temple disagreed, but eventually, he opened his eyes, "So Cu, if you are going to be here," he pointed at Xuanzang and Colan, "Why don't you three play the family. Give them a cover story about why you are in a large group, so that in case we have to go over to Wester-"
"Ah!" Rhaenys jumped, her shaking only growing in frequency. Mata grabbed up her hand, and began to pet it. She then gave Ritsuka a look, and that caused him to slap his forehead, before taking in another large breath, and adding.
"In case we have to go over, we won't be suspicious," he stopped, "Tell them we're a band of actors," he stopped, "Minstrels," he offered.
"The word you are looking for is Mummers," Mata said, slowly getting at the idea, "Though…as a cover story, that might not be a bad idea. Mummers are often motley groups from all over the world, so all of our different backgrounds wouldn't be seen as out of place," she smiled, "If you let us handle the purse, we can buy not only the dye, but also the outfits, costumes, masks," she smirked, "It won't only be a good cover story in and of itself, but a good explanation for why we'd have hair dye. Even if it takes time to set on Rhaenys, if she's thought to be a mummer, it won't raise too much suspicion."
"That works," Ritsuka said, "Cu, Xuan, Colan make up a story about you guys meeting up somewhere, work out the details, and get everything in line," he then pointed, "Come up with something you think you both can keep up for a while, just in case we somehow," he looked over at Rhaenys, who had calmed down only slightly, "Need to use it again."
"This is going to be a long night," Cu grumbled, before looking over at Xuan and Colan. Xuan smiled thoughtfully, while Colan set his jaw to show his determination. They headed over to Cu's room, likely going to spend at least an hour working everything out.
"Now," Ritsuka reached into a pocket, and produced a half full leather bag, "Take this," he tossed it to Mata, "Your mission is to help build our cover story. Baelon going along will mean you can probably carry more."
"Would send me off to just do more errands," Baelon then smirked at Ritsuka, "Though considering how little you can lift, I can see why you would trust me to do this," Ritsuka glared at Baelon, before he just gave a nod. With that Baelon nodded, and headed over to the room he would be sharing with Ritsuka for the evening, as Mata took Rhaenys to go lay down. As their door shut, that left him to look over everyone else.
"Please tell me you all are available to go with me to meet Drake," Ritsuka reached up, and began to rub the bridge of his nose. As he massaged his temples, Emiya looked over at Nitocris and Jeanne Alter, who both looked back, their eyes about as wide as his own. Finally, they looked back at Ritsuka, and saw that there were growing shadows beneath his eyes. Jeanne Alter reached out, and placed a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to snap his head to her, but he wobbled slightly.
"Ritsuka," she said, and Emiya then saw Nitocris snap to attention at that. Despite the witch having gotten…closer to their master, Nitocris still likely hadn't heard Jeanne Alter use his name, "Are you okay," she reached up, and cupped his cheek, "You don't look good."
"I'm fi-," Ritsuka snapped, only to stop as Jeanne Alter looked directly into his eyes. Then, his features softened, and he lowered his shoulders, "I'm…I'm sorry, I shouldn't snap," he reached up, "It's just, I was kind of hoping that this would be easy, and I thought six servants coming along would be enough to push this forward without having to do a whole run around," he grabbed her hand, "But, thank you for being there for me."
"If I wasn't, you'd probably get yourself killed," there was a smile on her face, before she stopped, looked back at her fellow servants, then turned to Ritsuka and said, "Idiot."
"I know," he smiled back to her. Jeanne Alter almost immediately jumped away, a deep red around her cheeks, before coughing. Ritsuka then looked at Emiya and Nitocris, "You are both good to head out to the Drowned Town tomorrow?"
"Yes," Nitocris shot out a bit too quickly, her face a bit blushed. Emiya could only chuckle before nodding. This caused Ritsuka to smile, and then he stretched up his arms into the air. He turned on his heel, and went to follow Baelon into his room. Right behind him was Jeanne Alter, who walked over to the room she had. Which just so happened to be suspiciously next to Ritsuka's room. Jeanne Alter placed her hand on the door, watching as Ritsuka opened his room, and went inside. She gave a nod, and then went into her room as well. As soon that door shut, Nictocris threw her head toward Emiya, "Did you-"
"They'd been pretty open about it to me, but they've managed to keep it hidden," he admitted, "Not out of any sort of desire to keep a secret, I'm pretty sure a few of the others know, but mostly just because Jeanne Alter is a bit…sensitive."
"I knew she was attracted to him," NItocris pondered, "But, so were plenty of other servants. That they'd actually move further," she stopped, and then looked at Emiya, her eyes trying to get him to open up. He sighed, before he shook his head, it wasn't his place to tell what he knew. She nodded, before continuing, "Well, I just hope he understands what he's getting into," she then thought on it, "Or what they are getting into when we get back to Chaldea."
Emiya could only nod. Still, that was for the future. Right now, they could only get ready for the morning. Emiya looked over at his door, and groan. He needed to sleep, if only to be ready if something went wrong, but he couldn't help but dread the idea of having another of those dreams again.
'Not much to do about it,' He walked over to his door, before turning back and raising a hand to Nitocris.
"You have a good night," he said, as he opened the door.
"You have a good night as we-"
"The fuck," Emiya's curse cut the Pharoah off. Inside his room, the blanket had been torn from the bed, and stretched out to cover the back wall, gently fluttering as the breeze from outside came from a window. On the blanket had been written, in a text he did not know but due to the magics of his body he could understand, "The Black and White Doors shall open at Evening Twilight". In bright red letters.
"What ar-oh no," Nitocris had run up right behind him. He gave a quick glance back, and saw her cover her mouth. Emiya, slightly more confident with another servant guarding his rear, strode forward, and grabbed the blanket, and tore it down. He heard Nitocris groan, "Is that blood?"
"Of fucking course it is," Emiya snarled, staring at the sheet in his fingers, "What else would it," he looked up, out the window, and his stomach dropped.
The window to his room was indeed open, and it showed the skyline of Braavos itself, toward the inner city. Despite being on the just below the top, the outcast inn was tall enough that even down here, one was able to see across several buildings. And standing three buildings away, was a figure with a long, billowing red cloak.
Emiya immediately called his bow, and right behind him, he felt Nitocris summon a spell of some sort he was not familiar with. He pulled back the bowstring, summoning a common arrow, and loosed it, and then felt a gust of wind as Nitocris released her own attack. The two strikes shot out the window, aimed directly at the figure, who seemed unmoved by the projectiles. Just as they were about to hit, the figure crouched, and jumped, sailing out of view. The two attacks then continued to travel,until the magic dissipated from the distance it had traveled, and the arrow lost so much momentum that it dipped and found itself lodged two buildings further.
Then, after the attacks had failed, the figure finally landed, five buildings further away. The figure stood up, and seemed to stare at them once more. Emiya began to twist his fingers, wondering if he would need to bring up a powerful noble phantasm, maybe the Tonbongiri just to be safe, when the figure turned, and began to leap away. Emiya watched as the figure finally seemed to prance along the rooftops, before finally seeming to disappear from his vision. As soon as he lost sight of him, Emiya dematerialized his bow, and growled. He grabbed the window, slammed it shut, and then summoned Tizona, and then placed it along the middle of the door.
"That should lock that up," he looked back at Nitocris. In her hands was the sheet. She read the thing a few more times, and then handed it back over to him. He took it, read it once more, and sighed.
"Well, things just got even more complicated."
