"Damn it!"
It was Zahreen's tinny voice, so Darren instantly knew there was trouble to be had. This became all the more true when he saw the Fraedian guards run away from the direction of Zahreen's voice, and that signalled the regular civilians to begin running as well. He was just glad that he let Ajax and Fara convince him to bring a weapon just in case, strapped across his back just as they had theirs. The three of them exchanged a look, then nodded, running towards Zahreen voice.
He had both of his swords out, using them to simultaneously block attacks and attempt to strike down his enemies, only for him to have to use the sword to block another attack almost immediately. There were two people he was fighting against up close, but he also had to dodge magic attacks and somebody who had a javelin, which was attached to a chain for easier retrieval. It was strange to see Zahreen on the defensive at all. These guys didn't look to be anything special, so it shouldn't matter that he was outnumbered, yet Zahreen had a hard time getting an inch in them.
Tahno was on the ground, unconscious or asleep, yet nobody paid him any mind. Darren had half the mind to take him and at least prop him up against a building, but he doubted he could actually get Tahno out of the way without either one of them getting hurt. Tahno was oddly safe where he was.
Ajax attacked the mage, slicing their back and kicking them to the ground. When attention turned from Zahreen to them, Fara was the first to block their incoming attacks, using her lance to bat their weapons away. However, Darren quickly began to notice why they were giving Zahreen a hard time – their attacks were strangely synchronized. When Fara blocked one attack, she left herself open to the other one, who followed up on the attack of the first attacker to slice her arm with a sword. The cut was by no means serious, but she was caught off guard.
"Get the fuck out of here!" Zahreen growled as the javelin grazed his armour. He ignored the man, pivoting to go after the attackers, only for a pair of mages to come into view from behind, stopping him in his tracks with an attack that combined that sharp edges from wind magic and the burns from fire. He managed to shrug off the attack, his armour now covered in scratches.
"What about you?" Darren shouted, as he and Fara continued to battle against an axe user and a swordmaster.
"They're after you! It would be easier to protect you if you weren't around!" Zahreen called out to him before directing his attention the new mages instead. "If I can only just hold my own, you have no chance."
Darren agreed with that. Zahreen was just better than he was and if he was on the defensive because there were several people who actually seemed somewhat skilled, then Darren was in trouble. However, he didn't like the idea of just hiding while Zahreen fought all of his battles for him, even though most people in his position would just listen to him and run. They would probably prioritize being alive, since they had a kingdom to return to. Darren didn't stop moving to think about it though.
He had to block the axe after all, while Fara handled the swordmaster. Their backs were practically touching, their stances almost mirrored as they faced off their opponents. Ajax followed Zahreen, helping him to kill the two mages. Even while he and Fara paired up, Darren wasn't sure how they were going to get the upper hand. At best, they were evenly matched now, and there was still the man with the javelin who switch between trying to hit either him and Fara, or aimed at Zahreen and Ajax. It was exhausting to try to keep up between the multiple opponents.
He also noticed that they were slowly moving away from Ajax and Zahreen. He wasn't sure if they were unknowingly straying, or if the soldiers were just pushing them away from each other. He gulped hard. He doubted it was Ajax and Zahreen who were the ones moving away.
"Fara, we have to lose them now," he said as quietly as he could, trying to make sure that Fara was the only who could hear him. She nodded. There was nothing else said between them, but they both turned and simply ran. A javelin flew beside him but missed, clattering to the ground as they willed their legs to carry them faster.
They turned corners, twisting through narrow alleys. After running for what felt like a while, Darren noticed that their enemies didn't seem to be pursuing them. He let himself slow down, but he didn't stop. He didn't even want to turn his head to see if they were still being chased after all.
"Where are we going to go?" Darren asked as they rounded another corner. He couldn't have been running for long, yet his side was already burning. Fara was running with her lance in one hand, the pointed end face behind them, while using the other hand to brace her cut. She didn't respond. Was her cut deeper than he thought it was? He looked around, and the solution that came to mind was one he would rather reject if he could, but they couldn't keep running either.
He grabbed her wrist, since he didn't dare move the hand she was using to hold pressure, and dragged her to one of the houses that lined the street. She shook her head, but Darren ignored her, throwing the door open. He more or less shoved her inside, much to the horror of the family inside the house, then he let himself inside, pulling the chain to lock the door behind him. He hushed the family behind him, then for good measure, he propped a chair under the doorknob. He also noticed that the window was open, so he closed it and pulled the curtains across.
It meant that the moonlight couldn't get through, but the house was lit with a warm fire and candles anyway. It was pleasantly warm, he noted, not that it was all that chilly outside.
"Darren! What the heck are you doing?" she shouted in a whisper. "We're involving innocent people! Civilians!"
"Yeah, that's the point!" Darren shouted back, using the same volume she did. "They aren't going to look for us in a random house, there's too many of them to even begin to look for us. Besides, we have a little bit of gold thanks to the oracle. I'm sure we can compensate them if they are really bothered by us," he said. He propped his lance up against the wall near the door, then ripped Fara's lance out of her hands and did the same thing with her lance.
"Fine," she mumbled, letting herself relax. She took the floor, but leaned against the wall.
Darren approached the family. There were four of them all together, two adult women taking care of two children, though the children didn't look like either one of the ladies present. He thought it was nice to see people in a country like Fraedia care for kids who were probably orphaned. His impressions of the country was one where everybody was out for themselves, because there was nobody to look after them. The two adults were holding onto the two children defensively, throwing defiant looks their way, so Darren threw his hands up.
"I'm sorry for barging in, but my friend and I need a place to hide for the rest of the night and we could use some medical supplies. We honestly don't mean any harm to you or to your children. I swear this on the graves of both of my parents."
The two adults whispered among themselves, then nodded. "You stay here. I'll get our supplies," one of them said. True to her word, she came back a few moments later with some bandages, clean rags, and a waterskin. It wasn't a vulnerary, but he could still wash Fara's wounds and bandage her up. "This is all we have. We don't usually expect visitors and our children don't tend to play roughly, so we don't usually need to use any of it."
"No, this is great. Thank you."
"I didn't expect you to be this nice, Darren," Fara said with a laugh.
"Well, we are uninvited guests," he shot back. He sat down beside her, taking her injured arm as gently as he could. He pushed her sleeve up. "Now, let's get your wound taken care of."
"Have you noticed that you're injured as well?" she mumbled. Darren blinked, looking down his arms and chest, but he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. She shook her head, then leaned toward him to outline a scratch on his neck with her finger. He put his hand over it – it seemed to be bleeding a lot but the wound didn't feel that deep. Maybe that lance didn't miss after all.
"Here, how about you let us help you?" It was the lady who originally stayed with the children. "We're not experts with wounds but you two should get some rest."
Darren blinked but he passed the bandages and waterskin back to her. "I thought you two didn't want anything to do with us."
"I talked it over with my wife, and we decided that maybe change in Fraedia starts with us taking people who need help. We don't want to teach our children to just leave people who need help," she mumbled as she soaked the rag with water and touched it to his neck. "Maybe that's part of the reason why Fraedia's the way it is. Nobody helps each other anymore."
Fara frowned. "I thought a lot of Fraedia's problems were political."
"That stuff certainly doesn't help but we can't act like everything is the nobility's fault either, you know?"
Darren bit his lips as the bandage was tied around his neck. Why didn't Adoss ever step in to help Fraedia's citizens? Did his father think it was a loss cause with all of the bandits and slave traders around? Even if the nobility didn't care about the citizens, somebody should have. There was no reason why the Fraedian people had to live in fear for so long, trapped in their own country with little way out.
He had to find a way to help out while he was still in Fraedia. He just needed to figure out how.
Iniabi didn't plan on going out to the festivals. He didn't mind stopping for the festival because he recognized the need for a break, but he didn't care much for participating in it either. He was sitting in the lobby with Arder, who kept himself busy by polishing his brave sword. Arder was focused on maintaining his sword, so he was only giving one or two word responses whenever Iniabi tried to talk to him. To try and kill time, Iniabi read a couple of short tomes provided by the staff on the tomes, which spoke of a rather brief history on the festivals.
Not that he learned anything new. It just used more words to say what he already learned from his allies. Surely, a nation-wide festival would have some sort of founding story besides a vague description of a dragon protecting Fraedia, but he couldn't find a reason for nobles to shell out some much gold for it. Who was putting that sort of expectation on them?
The thought that maybe Haelin wasn't all that old, considering how its history seemed rather limited in scope, crossed his mind before and it came up again. Perhaps it was still developing to become a continent that had a history to be proud of, like the ones he came across in his travels. The only other guess he had was that there was more history that people knew of, but were reluctant to share. Perhaps it was all the more reason to make sure that Igneous reached Vedia's Serpent – if anybody knew anything, it would definitely be a manakete.
However, he was torn out of his thoughts when Orla came back the inn, holding Charles in her arms. At first, he thought that maybe they drank too much, but then he realized that they couldn't have been out long enough for one of them to come back blackout drunk. Orla didn't say anything, but Iniabi knew that something was wrong. Arder looked up, and judging by the narrowing of his aqua coloured eyes, Iniabi suspected that he came to same conclusion.
He ran upstairs, opening the door to Igneous' room where he knew his tomes would be kept, letting out a sigh of relief when he found that the door was unlocked. He grabbed three dark tomes from the pile of tomes Igneous left around the room without really looking at them. He also spotted one of Caalya's tomes and decided to take it with him, shoving them all away into a bag that Igneous had hanging off his bed. It was originally Iniabi's anyway, something he grabbed for himself shortly after arriving at the temple. He used it to carry his tomes when he was travelling since he wasn't using his sword as much.
Arder was waiting for him at the bottom, his brave sword already in hand, though his polish and rag were suddenly out of sight. They didn't need to speak to each other – they both had enough battle experience to not only understand what sort of trouble they may be in for, but how they should approach that trouble as well. Regardless, Iniabi could trust Arder to have his back, and he wouldn't dare to leave somebody high and dry.
After leaving the inn and going into the town, it didn't take Iniabi and Arder long to see signs of battle in the streets. There were overturned carts, pots of plants which were knocked over and the plants and soil had spilled out onto the streets, and there was the occasional smear of blood either on the walls of buildings or on the streets. The streets were also rather empty, which didn't necessarily surprise Iniabi, but he was still impressed by how fast civilians and the like were able to clear out, even if it was a little troubling.
"Ah, more friends of the oracle," somebody said. The voice came from above, so they both looked up to find a dark flier above them. The rider was a man with black hair and equally dark armour, which was accented with icy blue. It was all they could see from their position. "I suppose you wouldn't know where the oracle happens to be, do you? Otherwise, you're nothing but a waste of air."
"What do you want with Igneous?" Iniabi shouted, fishing out one of his tome while keeping his eyes on the dark flier. He had to feel the spine of the tomes and thickness of the tomes to figure out which tomes he actually did grab in his rush, and he was relieved to find that he did bring Fenrir.
The man smirked. "I honestly don't know what my queen has in mind for him. However, if my queen wants him for any reason, then I will fetch him for her."
Arder frowned. "Your Queen hasn't said anything about what she plans to do and you still do everything she says?"
"You think that she doesn't trust us?" he asked, while raising his sword. Iniabi saw green energy gather, and both he and Arder barely managed to avoid a wind spell aimed at them when he finally did swing his sword. It was the first time he saw a sword using wind magic – he was used to Levin swords using thunder magic. "She chose us, regardless of our blood and our backgrounds! She knew what we are capable of and she chose us based on merit alone! She has done nothing but trust us, so we trust her!"
"Yes, what Weinstrad said!" another voice came from behind. Arder spun around so Iniabi focused on Weinstrad, summoning his Fenrir spell and aiming it at the dark flier. He dodged, then steered his pegasus down, swooping over their heads. Iniabi was struck in the arm by Weinstrad's sword, cutting his jacket's sleeve and biting into his arm. He hissed in pain, then steeled his resolve and forced himself to ignore the pain.
When Weinstrad was above them all once again, he looked down on the newcomer, a growl gracing his features. "Azalea, dear, you should be looking for the oracle. Are you letting Daphne's nose go to waste?"
"Daphne has a hard timing picking up the oracle's scent since the entire town is covered in flowers. She even sniffed around the same site that the oracle's ursurine was sniffing around but his trail died pretty quickly. I vote we get rid of the interference, then we have the whole town to ourselves!" she said as the ursurine jumped back to let the archer on top of her get another shot at Arder. Arder sidestepped, preventing the arrow from going into his arm but it still grazed him, with the arrow landing behind him. He launched himself forward again, slashing his sword against the ursurine's arm while twisting himself to avoid her teeth.
Weinstrad growled. The sword went away to his pegasus' side and he opened a tome. Iniabi switched Fenrir out for something quicker to cast, pulling out his Ruin tome instead. He began casting, hoping that he could finish his spell before Weinstrad could finish his. Iniabi was struck with a Rexcalibur spell that tore into his clothing, sending chills up his body. While he felt the cold winds in his bones, there was only some stinging, though dull in comparison to the gash he had in his arm. Iniabi shook it off, just as Weinstrad more or less shrugged his off Ruin spell, though his pegasus was more affected, thrashing its front legs and flapping its wings erratically. Weinstrad did his best to guide to a rooftop, giving his mount a mount to recover.
Iniabi raised his hand, preparing to cast Ruin again while Weinstrad was busy with his mount when Arder suddenly tackled him to the ground, an arrow whizzing over his head. His tomb tumbled to the ground, landing far away from him and face down. Arder jumped to his feet first, then helped Iniabi up.
Before they could catch their breath, Weinstrad cast another spell, forcing them dart out of the way, putting him in the way for another arrow to fly over his shoulder. Instead of stumbling for the fallen tomb, he went for the Flux tomb in his bag. It was basic, but his magic was more than strong enough to make up for the inherent difference in strength that existed between tomes. He cast the spell, just as the ursurine was charging towards him. She couldn't change her direction in time and hit the spell with full force, knocking her partner off of her back as she landed on her side.
Just as he was preparing to summon another spell, Alissa and Cyrus popped out from the corner. Cyrus reacted quickly, pulling the fallen archer off of her feet just as she was getting up and hugging her against his chest, keeping her arms glued to her side. She kicked and screamed but Cyrus kept her in the tight bear hug.
The ursurine switched to her human form, charging for Cyrus with a fist raised. Alissa jumped between Cyrus and Daphne with a knife raised, stabbing Daphne as her fist flew over Alissa's head and striking air. Daphne ignored the initial stabbing, then fell to her knees when Alissa did something to the knife prior to pulling it out. Perhaps she twisted it. Regardless of what Alissa did to her, it shouldn't have been enough to take down an ursurine, at least, that was what Iniabi figured. He had better things to do then wonder about it though.
That only left Weinstrad then. Iniabi's magic didn't seem to affect Weinstrad much at all, and even his pegasus seemed fine after it got a moment to recover. Arder was stuck dodging all of Weinstrad's attacks and while he seemed to be trying to get to one of the houses, perhaps with the hopes of reaching the roof, he was unsuccessful. Thankfully, Arder was quick enough on his feet that only injury he received was the cut he got earlier when the arrow graze him and luckily, it wasn't on his sword arm.
"Come down here and fight me!" Arder shouted, hefting his sword to rest on his shoulders. "Isn't it boring like this? Isn't it more exciting when we can exchange blows?"
"Why would I do that? You can't reach me up here and I can do anything I want from here. I don't care about honour or a fair fight, so I would rather be up here where I have the advantage."
"Yeah, I figured you would say something like that," Arder said with a sigh. "A real pity that you're stuck fighting me then. Don't you have anything better to do... like looking for Igneous? Your bear and Azalea can't do it. For all we know, Igneous could be long gone and you wouldn't know, since you were too busy throwing spells at me and missing." Arder made a point of looking up and smirking, even flicking his sword so that whatever blood covered it split to the ground as well.
Weisntrad scowled, before straightening his back. His scowl melted into a frown. "How about a temporary seize fire? The first one to find the oracle wins and the other party cannot interfere for two days, in which case anything goes once those two days are up. For some reason, if either party fails to find the oracle before day breaks, then the two day grace period will still go into effect. How about it?"
"Arder, is this a good idea?" Iniabi whispered. Surely, they could regroup and just take the man down. Will's arrows could reach and they also three fliers on their team now, so between himself, Will, and the fliers, Weinstrad would probably be forced to retreat. He couldn't dodge all of them. Wasn't that better than making a potentially risky deal?
"We need to look for Igneous too and we don't know what condition the rest of us are in. I know we have some new fliers now but wouldn't we have seen them if they were nearby? At least with this, we get a chance to lick our wounds, even if Zahan gets the same chance."
"Can we trust Zahan to just leave us alone though?" Alissa added, walking up to them while spinning her knife in her hand, spraying droplets of blood. Cyrus was on the other side of her, though he was careful to avoid the blood that came of the end of his friend's knife. The ursurine was on the ground still, this time on her side. Cyrus apparently let Azalea go, but she wasn't causing any trouble, sticking to Daphne's side. "He just said he gives no shit about honour."
Iniabi nodded. She had a fair point. "Zahan hasn't given us a reason to trust their word on this. For all we know, they'll just attack us as soon as they get the chance."
"He needs time to regroup and heal too," Arder mumbled. "If he's suggesting that we do this regardless of who finds Igneous or even if he isn't found, then he probably needs it too. He could attack us but he may be on his own if he does."
"What is it going to be?" Weinstrad asked with a yawn.
"A deal is a deal," Arder answered, looking up. "If you betray us though, you will be sorry."
"Oh, I'm so scared!" Weinstrad said with a laugh. "But that goes for you too, brat. We have more generals you haven't seen yet, and one of them must be getting bored right about now. Remember – two days!" He took off, saying nothing more.
"Let's go inform everybody else, then," Arder said simply.
"Alright, but you're the one doing it," Cyrus mumbled with a frown. "I'm a little too drunk to deal with Igneous' pissed off guardians."
Iniabi spun around on his feet, turning to Cyrus. "Where have you two been anyway?"
"The tavern's nearby," he said with a shrug. "I would rather pay for ale then have to attend the festival to get some for free."
"We could hear the battle outside once the bar fight was over," Alissa added on.
"Hah, I started a bar fight when I met Igneous and that dancer girl too!"
"That's not surprising, you get into a fight almost every time you go into a tavern, and you go often," Alissa huffed, playfully punching Cyrus in the arm.
Cyrus laughed while Arder shook his head. "We should get going," Arder mumbled. "We have to find Igneous before they do."
"I still can't believe you agreed to something like that, Arder!" Saikur particularly shouted, panting deeply. Arder could understand Saikur's frustrations, expected it even. It was why he could sit calmly, keeping his injured arm out so that Mira could wrap it. She had a gentle touch, and he was glad that there was somebody who could treat wounds without using magic. It gave Elena time to spend with people who needed her more.
Still, Mira's hands were trembling. Arder was sure that if Saikur kept his emotions under wraps, then she could completely focus on her task.
"If they found him, they would have had two days to get away with him!"
"But it's not like they're going to kill him. It's clear that they want Darren dead, but for some reason, they want Igneous alive. Besides, it's not like I made the deal and then didn't look for him. Most of us were up until sunset looking for him."
The only ones who didn't go to look for him were the ones who found asleep, Gerben because he was still unconscious, and Reina and Mira, who stayed inside the inn to wrap their minor wounds before while Elena tended to the more serious wounds. That was where he was, sitting in the lobby, as they slowly took cover the inn as an impromptu base. At least the staff didn't seem to care about it, occasionally passing out cups of water and snacks.
Saikur was about to say something when Garath suddenly cut him off. He was sitting down, resting one of his legs on another chair. "Saikur, think about who you are actually angry with. Igneous isn't here but none of us took him, so shouting at us doesn't help anybody." He didn't often seem to start a conversation, so he had Arder's and Saikur's attention. Saikur was still glaring, grinding his teeth, but Garath's words stopped him in his tracks.
"It's not ideal, but we do need this time. I've never seen Gerben in such bad shape before, and I have no idea how long it will take for him to even be on his feet again," Leigh said with a sigh. He was pacing, his armour stripped down. Arder didn't watch him though, he was sure he would become dizzy. "I'd ask Orla, but she fell asleep as soon as she brought him in."
A bell at the door rung, letting them now that somebody was coming into the inn. He wasn't surprised to see that it was somebody from their group. Amaryllis walked inside, pulling the hood off of her head with Zahreen following her inside. "I did my own search around town, but I haven't found anything anybody haven't already found. I have an idea of what happened though, and where we can find him," she announced, shaking her head to let her long, silver hair fall over her shoulders.
"You don't think slave traders had something to do with this, do you?" Mira asked with a frown. It was the first time she spoken in a while, ever since Saikur came back.
"I almost certain," Amaryllis said with a shrug. Mira looked down, focusing all of her attention on tying off his bandages. The bandages covered Arder's arm from his just below to his shoulder down to his elbow, ending just above the joint. He yawned, leaning back in the chair. Arder was used to staying up late since he was constantly on patrol, but he was used to getting at least a little bit of sleep before or after the patrol. He was awake for far too long. He envied those who were sleeping through a battle. "I don't think he would just run off and not come back unless he was lost. We haven't found him, and Zahan left empty handed."
"It makes sense with what I saw too." Zahreen shrugged.
"...What did you see?" Saikur asked, his voice low. It sounded like he was trying to calm down but he was failing miserably.
"I was probably the last one who saw him," Zahreen answered, his metallic fingers tapping against his metallic arms. "Tahno came to show me that he got the kid to drink some wine, we laughed, he got all pissy and he walked away. Tahno was on the ground just a couple of minutes later and then we were attacked. For both parties to miss him in a small time frame, it was probably a third party."
"Amaryllis, you said something about knowing where you could find him," Arder mumbled before Saikur got a chance to flip out even more.
She nodded. "If he was taken by slave traders, then they will probably take him to Valburn. Since it's the biggest city, most of the big auctions take place there. There's no way somebody took him without he was going to be worth a lot."
"So what are the chances we can beat the auction?" Leigh asked.
"Probably not likely. Unless you want to send Caalya and that new woman out right away, then we won't beat the slave traders to Valburn. If he does get sold though, I know a guy in Valburn. He's great at collecting dirt on nobles and otherwise wealthy people, so we often conduct... business together," she answered with a smirk. "He owes me a favour anyway."
"We'll set off when Gerben begins to recover from his injuries then. By the time he begins to recover, the rest of the injured should be well on their way as well."
"But Leigh, what if Igneous gets sold and something happened to him in that house?" Arder wondered if the fact that Igneous had wine went over Saikur's head, or if really was making an honest effort to suppress his emotions.
"We'll have to help him work through it if it comes to that. I want to go after Igneous as much as you do, Saikur, but the rest of our group needs to heal as well or it will just take them longer to recuperate. If it was one or two people, it would be fine, we could cart them along, but that's not the case," Leigh mumbled, walking around to pat Saikur on the shoulder.
Arder decided that he would rather sleep than watch Saikur whine and sulk now that they something resembling a plan. He stood up and walked up to his room, noticing that Iniabi's door was open while he was on the way to his own room. He peeked inside. Iniabi was sitting on his bed, wearing only a tan coloured shirt with short sleeves and pants of a similar colour, though both pieces were torn in several places. His boots were off, placed at the side of his bed. Arder could see the shallow cuts travelling down his arms, which he left unwrapped for the most part, but he did have some bandages wrapped around his arm. Arder recalled Weinstrad slicing into his arm with a sword, though if Iniabi only needed bandages, then it must not have been that deep.
He was holding his coat in his hands, taking great care to sew up the tears. He was so focused on his task that he didn't seem to notice that Arder was hovering in his door frame. Arder said nothing and just left him to it, musing how it was the first time he really saw Iniabi without the oversized coat on.
It took the full two days of break from Zahan for Gerben to feel well enough to travel, but even then, he was sitting in one of the wagons which that had to be emptied to fit him. At least he managed to get into the wagon on his own. Since the other wagon couldn't carry everything though, the Adossian horses and Orla had to carry some of the supplies. The other unusual part of the trip came in the form of a blonde woman named Themis.
Arder wasn't quite sure why she wanted to tag along so badly and why Gerben was so set on her coming along as well. Gerben wouldn't let them leave without her, only saying that he and Igneous let her come with them. Arder didn't quite mind having somebody around who couldn't fight, that was Reina's case and he had no issue with her, but it still made him curious. What did Themis have to gain from travelling with them? How did the benefits outweigh the dangers?
On the second day of marching, they ran into a travelling merchant, who carried his wares in a horse-drawn wagon. He had his shop set up out of his wagon, along with a tent, so he must have decided to settle for the night early. He had three bodyguards with him, one of them who Zahreen seemed to know fairly well since the two of them began chatting while the rest of the team investigated the wares. There were a lot of small trinkets that Arder wasn't really interested in, just a bunch of gold stuff that he was sure Igneous would love to wear. He did however, decide to pick up some more polish for his sword along with a whetting stone with his own personal gold. He couldn't have too many things to help him maintain his swords.
He didn't think anything with amiss until he spotted Saikur scrutinizing the golden jewellery, checking them more closer than he was sure an expert would.
"These were Igneous'!" Saikur exclaimed. "Look, Leigh, you got these bracelets for him when he turned fourteen! And he always wears this necklace..."
"He got that from the king when he became old enough to interact with the public. He got it shortly after he turned ten... sir, where did you get these?"
"Just from a scruffy looking gang," the merchant answered with a shrug. He looked like a kind man too, a little full in the face and in the belly, and rosy cheeks. "I'm not losing a profit on them though." Arder wasn't surprised by the words that came out of his mouth, but he had a face that seemed incapable of saying those words.
Arder expected Saikur to continue with the small tantrum he had back in the inn, but he actually looked like somebody punched him the gut.
"How much for all of the gold jewellery then?"
"I was hoping to get about ten thousand for them. They are top quality and made of pure gold. Some of them even have precious gems! It was a rare find."
"I'm sure you would cut a discount for me, though?" Themis asked, walking up the wagon. Her steps were exaggerated slightly, just enough to make the circular discs on her belt jingle more than usual. The man's face light up when he saw her, though he noticed that Elena also seemed to pay a lot of attention to her as well. However, she seemed rather suspicious of Themis instead of entranced.
"Themis! Just the lady I was looking for! I got a couple of things I need your opinion on! Oh, and did you bring your cards?"
Themis nodded, giving Arder a brief, a strange sideways glance before she followed him inside his tent. "What was that all about?" Saikur asked, his eyes focused on the tent while still holding the bracelets in his hands.
"Just let her do what she needs to do," Arder mumbled. He wasn't sure he understood entirely, but she wanted to say something to him with that glance. He had a feeling that he could trust her, though he also knew that none of that was going to comfort Saikur in anyway. He leaned against the wagon, his arms crossed as he let himself relax. He might as well, he decided, since he had no long how long Themis was going to be. "Anyway, how much gold do we have to spend? I doubt whatever discount she could get us is going to make it all for free."
"Truthfully, we could afford the original asking price, but that would essentially be a person that we can't hire as a mercenary," Leigh mumbled. "Ideally, we won't spend quite that much... but a lot of this is precious to him. They were gifts from the people in the temple and his guardians. I'll do whatever it takes to get every piece back for him."
It didn't take too long after Leigh's proclamation that Themis did return with a new price that Leigh was quick to accept – six thousand. It was impressive really, what some cards and a woman who knew the right words could do. The only one who wasn't ecstatic about the who exchange was Elena, who decided to only speak once the merchant was behind hem.
"Did you lie to him?" she asked suddenly. She slowed herself down to keep pace with Themis, but she did nothing to control the volume of her voice. Arder sighed. It was a conversation that could have, and should have, stayed private. "Are you one of those fake fortune tellers who had to pick up business in Fraedia?"
To her credit, she didn't look fazed. She kept a coy smile on her face, tapping her cheek with her finger. "I'm nothing like that. Our trade may look similar, but you see... I'm not mad at Igneous. I don't even charge for my advice. I genuinely like to talk people and help them through their problems."
"Then who are you really? Why are travelling with us?"
"I've already told you I am. My name is Themis and I like to give people advice. Sometimes, people like it when I use the cards. That's all. We got his trinkets back, so we should continue to Valburn, should we not?"
"Yes, we're wasting time here," Arder said with a nod. He didn't feel like he needed to explain why.
It's been a while! This chapter is not only slightly longer than usual but I also made progress on the next two chapters!