A Moment to Breathe
The two of them pack together all the gear they deem useful and a small handful of coins in complete silence, trying not to look too closely at the bodies surrounding them. The crow caws mockingly at them until Matthias throws a rock at it and it flies off in a flutter of dark feathers. On the edge of the clearing, their horses are nervously stomping their hooves and tugging on the ropes that kept them tethered during the whole ordeal and unable to escape.
They also gather up whatever firewood they managed to collect before the attack and head back towards the camp in the same somber silence. Matthias cannot come up with a single subject fitting for small talk and judging from deep frown on Berwald's brow, he will not appreciate anything to interrupt his thoughts.
Vilje greets them with a wave and a happy smile when she notices them. Then her face seems to fall when she notices the state of them and she claps her hands over her mouth, barely suppressing a gasp.
"What the hell!" Gorm yells and storms forward when he too notices their arrival. "Have you been fighting?" Matthias is stunned silent just gapes at him from the accusation. Gorm gives them no time to reply before he continues. "Of all the stupid shit to do, we do not need fighting amongst ourselves."
"We didn't fight," Berwald grumbles. "We were attacked."
Gorm deflates and takes a deep breath; he then runs a hand through his hair, clearly stressed. The yelling seems to have attracted Trym and he stares at them expectantly, waiting for an explanation.
Matthias dumps the bag of gathered loot, the food, and the blankets in front of the others. "We were followed over the mountains by eight soldiers and a guide. They waited for us to split up the group and attacked when they thought we were vulnerable. We also have another problem," he opens the roll of wanted posters and spread them out on top the pile so they can all see it. "I think we should rethink our plan of how we are getting into the city."
Gorm reacts violently and suddenly. He screams in fury, picks up a pan from the pile of items, and hurls it towards the trees. The curses fly off him in rapid succession. "This was supposed to be our one chance to get and advantage against the damned army and no we have no way in!"
Trym breathes heavily. He looks closer at the papers and his forehead crinkles in thought. "You boys sure are worth a lot of money." He comments and sorts through the remaining papers with his good hand. "They know Torleif is our leader, which is not surprising. He is a veteran from your old town where all of this started and his name should exist in some army register, but how have they gotten such a good knowledge about the rest of the inner circle, if we can call it that? There are no names, but these drawings are really good."
Matthias thinks back on all his encounters with soldiers from the capitol. "A few soldiers saw us" he gestures towards himself and Berwald, "on the first night after we killed a group of soldiers in our hometown and fled into the forest. "But we were nobody back then, just a smith's apprentice and a farmer." His tongue grows thick in his mouth when he prepares to inform them of the other person that have seen them and been able to inform the capitol. "We captured a commander during battle up north after Aeston. We were going to execute him, but he had magical powers and broke free killing several of our men in the process. He got a look at our faces when we interrogated him and must have figured we were important." Matthias shivers as he remembers those days when Lukas was so cold and detached and how easily he killed. He remembers his injury afterwards and the days trapped in fever dream and how Lukas saved his life again.
"I remember that day," Trym says thoughtfully. "I've never seen anything like that before. "Just with a wave of his arm, he tossed soldiers aside as if they were nothing. Trym makes a grimace. "Magic. Gods, I wished that shit was only stories and myths."
Gorm snarls and looks murderous. "It's all true. "The king's main commander has magic; only way our kingdom is still standing after several war with our neighbors." He spits on the ground. "Heard many stories in my youth, passing soldiers says he can tear through entire armies on his own. They say there is only one thing that can stop the damned thing except the king himself. It is a flower they outlawed and mostly eradicated years ago. Just owning the plant is said to be cause for hanging."
"You have never talked about this before" Matthias says carefully, not wanting to rile up Gorm even further. He knows that most people in the rebellion choose to avoid talking about what happened that day when Brynjar died even if they saw it with their own eyes. He knows no one want to acknowledge just how strong the enemy is, and that magic is working against them. Even Eir seemed to have little belief in wives tales when he asked her. He also remembers her offhand comment about foxglove and figures that must be the plant in Gorm's stories and feels a pit of dread in his stomach. The one thing he might have as an advantage, and it will be nearly impossible to get his hands on if it is true.
"Is not like I had anything to add that will help anybody." Gorm growls. "Most of the stories are probably hogwash anyways. If one man was that powerful, he would have ripped our little rebellion apart ages ago instead of just killing a few people, and they say the one thing that can kill him is a freaking flower. That would just be an embarrassing way to kill an all-powerful creature." Gorm leans in closer to Matthias who must fight back the urge to step away and Gorm seems to know it. He then takes the time to stare at each one of them in turn and smirks cruelly. "I might not know a lot, but I know one sure way to kill anything." He takes out an axe from his belt and swings it towards the ground with a loud thud. "You get close enough to lop the damned things head of and he should die like any other being."
Matthias feels bile rise in his throat as his gaze wanders between Gorm and the axe.
"That was the plan wasn't it." Gorm continues. "Get into the capitol as refugees, join the army. Then do anything we can to weaken the army from within the capitol itself. I would say decapitation the main commander would weaken the army considerably, knock the king off his high throne, right?"
Vilje slaps Gorm's arm with a loud smack and breaks some of the tension. Matthias is glad she was the first one to react, because he just wants to punch Gorm in the face to shut him up and he is not sure he would have been able to stop after just one.
"Gods, Gorm!" She hisses. "Calm down. Keep your wits about you. There is no way you will just be able to walk into the capitol and start loping off heads as you go. This is not the end of our plan; this is just an obstacle and those we can overcome. First things first" she looks at Matthias and Berwald. "Did you get all the soldiers that attacked? If anybody got away and can report to the capitol that there are any rebels this close, they will increase their guard around the city."
"We are pretty sure we got them all" Matthias says firmly and resists the urge to clench his teeth and let the rest know just how angry he is at Gorm's word. "They were a smaller group hunting down bounties and stray rebels from what I could understand." He hopes he is not saying too much that he knows from Lukas, but the soldiers never revealed. He looks towards Berwald to see if he reacts in any way to what he is saying.
Berwald nods slowly. His face has swollen up even worse since their skirmish, the bad eye is entirely closed, and the lip is turning blue from the bruising, he just grunts in confirmation, seemingly not wanting to talk with his cut lip that threatens to split open again at the slightest movement.
"That is good," Vilje states firmly. "So, we probably can't join the army like we first intended, but there should still be ways to get into the city, we just have to be smarter about it. Even if we don't find a way in, we can still observe for possible weaknesses and help our army when they reach the city in what? Three weeks if the weather is bad and more if they decide to recruit more people along the way.
"But if they know about us, it will make it way harder to do anything," Trym continues. They built the city to have several lines of protection for the castle. The walls are increasingly taller the further in you get and the best-trained guards patrol the inner walls day and night."
"Well, I am going to do anything I can to get in" Matthias snaps, growing sick of the entire conversation. "I will do my very best to cause as much problem for the soldiers as I can. I'll climb the damned walls if that is what it takes. I told Torleif I would get in and that is what I'm gonna do."
"Well let's just calm down a bit like Vilje said. Take a moment to breathe and consider our options," Trym reasons. "You boys are beat to hell. We need to fix you up; we need to wait for Tino, and we prepare to spend the night here. We head into the nearest town tomorrow and barter for supplies and we should maybe try to disguise you two at least. I rather nobody takes to close a notice of our presence."
Their conversation dies down and they sort through the items Matthias and Berwald brought back. The atmosphere is still tense and Gorm decides to patrol around their campsite to keep and eye out just in case. Trym looks close to tears when he finds proper rations amongst the soldier's gear and nods approvingly when they count the coins they can use for bartering once they reach the town. Vilje uses the firewood they brought back to build a fire and prepare a meal with what she managed to scavenge. When the soup is set to cook, she firmly orders Matthias and Berwald to sit down and show their injuries from the fight so she can make sure it is nothing serious.
Berwald has a few bruises in addition to those covering his face, but no cuts or major damage. She determines that the cut on Matthias's arm does not need stitches but cleans it roughly and ties a bandage around it. The bola left some deep bruises around his ankles, but did not manage to slice through the skin. She also asks to see the state of his fingers. The deep black color from the frost burn has set in further and some of the skin has started to flake off. He grimaces at the sight of them but obediently bends each of them in turn at Vilje's orders.
Trym snorts at them as he walks past while organizing their gear. "There won't be much left of you if you keep getting into trouble like this." Matthias does not bother to come up with a reply, he fully agrees with that assessment.
The sound of rapid hooves sounds faintly through the trees and Gorm whistles sharply to get their attention. "Tino is back."
Tino gallops right into camp and jumps off almost before the horse has a chance to stop. The horse is frothing around the mouth, Tino is pale, and his gaze quickly darting from one person to the other and he only seems to calm down when he finds all of them present. "I just came across a battlefield on my way back, the blood was all fresh." His voice is high pitched and panicked. "I counted eight dead soldiers, I thought they got you and I was so scared." Then he realizes what Berwald and Matthias looks like and he shrieks. "You're hurt! Did they attack you?"
Berwald heaves himself up to Tino slowly, guides him towards one of their bedrolls and makes him sit down. He kneels and mutters gently to him, too quietly for Matthias to hear and eventually Tino calms down enough for him to demand they tell him everything.
Matthias joins Berwald and together they manage to go through step by step how they were ambushed. At several points in the story, Matthias can see Tino's hand lift as if to gently touch the massive swelling around Berwald's eye and make sure he is truly alright, but he always catches himself in the last second and let it drop back to his own lap where he fiddles anxiously with the hem of his jacket. By the point in the story where the mystery archer saved them, the entire group is gathered, listening intently, and bombarding them with questions, none of which they can answer.
They decide the best thing to do is keep watch during the night. They do not want to take the risk of soldiers attacking once again and no one is willing to trust a rescuer that did not even want them to see him.
Matthias spends his turn wandering a bit away from the campsite. He is convinced they are safe for no, after all, Lukas only mentioned one group following them. He makes sure the light from the campfire is always within sight but if anyone should wake up, he should be mostly out of hearing distance. He keeps hoping that Lukas wills show up, almost desperately wanting to talk with him. The bad dreams and his own realizations are making the few days since they last saw each other in person seem like an eternity.
"Lukas" he whispers, again and again out into the darkness, but there is never any reply. He fiddles with the blue feather he tucked away in his pocket earlier and keeps trying, but the only thing he gets in response is the gentle rustle of late autumn leaves as they decide it is time to greet winter in welcome and fall to the ground.
He does this for the entire two hours he is on watch before he gives up and wake up Tino for his shift.
The morning greets them coldly, but not bitingly so. A pile of leaves stacked upon their makeshift camp during the night covering it in a colorful blanket, and frost glitters on the grass. "So, winter reaches this place eventually as well," Gorm mutters darkly and kicks a pile of leaves so they scatter wildly. "Seems the cold will nip at our heels wherever we go from now on."
Nobody else is really in the mood for a lot off small talk after everything they've been through, so they pack up their camp mostly in silence and Trym points out the direction to the closest village only a few hours away from their camping spot.
When they can hear sounds of people in the distance, Vilje suddenly tosses a handful of dirt in Matthias' hair and roughly rubs in in before dancing away out of reach. "I don't think a cloak with will be enough to hide your identity when we get into town, it will only look suspicious," she laughs manically and grins when he creases his nose at the feeling of dirt in his hair. "Better smear some dirt on your face as well, that way we should make sure nobody will want to take a second look at you."
"Why are you only doing this to me?" Matthias whines and tries to brush some of the dirt out. "I'm not the only one with a price on my head in this group." He gestures wildly towards Berwald and Tino.
Vilje keeps laughing and talks loudly. "If anyone can recognize Berwald with his current face, they deserve the reward money. Even I have a hard time seeing that it is him with that shiner and I know him. Tino looks to cute to be a dangerous rebel." She leans in closer and lowers her voice so only Matthias can hear. "And nobody dares to look at him twice with Berwald glaring at them if they do." She winks and smirks and her eyes twinkle.
Matthias huffs and shows her away. But he thinks to himself that she does have a point. Berwald apparently has a few things to learn about being subtle if their entire group has noticed his interest.
"Quiet down back there!" Trym orders with a hiss. "We are about to enter into town, and I'd rather not make a scene." He stops for a moment and looks at them all. "Remember, we are refugees from the west, fleeing from the rebel army and wish to seek shelter in the capitol, and if they say that it is useless just plain stupid and claim it's our only hope for survival. They probably don't care about our fate anyways, but it is good to have a solid defense." He sighs quietly and takes a few breaths of air. "I don't mean to sound angry; I'm just trying to tell you all to be careful."
Vilje apologizes and their conversation dies down again as the first houses comes into view.
They enter the small town, keeping their heads down and trying to appear insignificant. It seems quiet for the most part. Only a few people are out and about doing their business. There appears to be a few hunters heading out for the day, gathering up weapons and equipment. A younger woman walking down the street eyes them with pity as they enter the main square looking properly pathetic in their ragged clothing and appearance. Some younger children run around playing, but they go quiet thee moment they spot the strangers and scatter.
The group slow to a stop in the middle of the square and wait awkwardly for a few minutes and then an authoritative-looking figure steps forward from between a few houses, his steps hasty and sure apparently to meet them. "We welcome you to the town of Westhigh." He declares loudly in a dark and strong voice. His hair is long and dark with a few streaks of grey. He has a short beard, carefully maintained and fine winter clothing and a heavy fox pelt kept around his neck. "Might I ask what brings you here and with what purpose? There is not usually a lot of reasons to visit our town this time of year and in these trying times we have learned to be wary of strangers. If you are a threat to us and our peaceful living, we will not hesitate to defend ourselves."
Behind him, a few of the hunters cluster together, clutching their weapons a little tighter, carefully watching their interactions and looking for any sign of aggression. A few more people step just outside of their houses to watch over the newcomers. Women call their children to them and keep them hidden behind their skirts. The tension is thick and rising quickly.
The man watches them expectantly. "I'm the Mayor of this town. Birger Westborn is my name, now step forward and introduce yourselves properly." His voice is firm and leave no room for argument.
"Matthias makes sure to keep his head down low as Trym steps forward to speak for all of them. "We are only here to seeks shelter for the night if you permit us," he says gently. "We are refugees from across the mountain and have faces great dangers to make it this far and we seek aid in the capitol. The rebels have torn down our home. We have little food left only not a lot of goods but we would like to trade what we can."
Birger scrutinizes them for long seconds, looking for lies, but his seem to accept their explanation. "Our town is not that big, but we have a general store willing to trade in most things and if you have coin to spare, there is a butcher and a bakery and an apothecary if you are hurt and in need of medicines. You can ask around, one of the farmers might be willing to house you in their barn for the night, but do not expect a warm welcome. This has been a hard autumn and we only expect things will be getting worse." He steps aside and that way givers them permission to enter his town.
They stand there a bit awkward again, not sure how to react to Birger's cold welcome.
"That is not exactly what I expected" Trym says to the rest of them after the mayor is gone. "But I'll accept that and be happy they did not chase us out of town on sight. Gorm and I will go see if we can find a place to spend the night, they don't seem that interested in us and it should be safe enough to seek shelter here, I would not refuse a proper roof over my head. You four can split up what coin we have left and see if you can find some useful supplies. It is not like we are likely to have an opportunity to spend coin in the Capitol."
Trym and Gorm takes the three horses and they split up what little coin they took from the soldiers and then leave the youngest four standing there in the square like unsure idiots. "Well then," Vilje says faking lightheartedness. "We better enjoy civilization while we can. I don't know what you guys are going to do, but I will go check out that bakery. See you later." She leaves as well, waiving almost in glee as she runs off.
Matthias feels almost like a third wheel standing there with Berwald and Tino. "I might actually look for that apothecary," he mutters awkwardly hoping none of the others want to follow him. An apothecary might be good place to dig for more information about his Vette-problem and find a solution to the missing ingredients and he does not need any questions he will have a hard time answering. "They might have something interesting." He continues lamely. "My fingers are still a bit weird from the frostbite and Trym's cut is at danger of getting infected."
"Sounds like a great idea!" Tino smiles brightly, seeming so hopeful now that they are safe for a moment. "That leaves the general store for us." He drags Berwald with him and they disappear as well.
Matthias heads down the streets in search of the shop. The locals look at him with skeptical eyes and suspicion as he is plotting to steal everything that they own if they take their eyes off him. He finds the store in a tiny, rickety building in a secluded side street. A mostly faded sign hangs in the front window and a small bell jingle tingles gently when he opens the heavy door. He is immediately assaulted by the thick and heavy smell of incense, sharp to make his eyes water.
"Hello" he says out into the seemingly empty room and waits for a reply.
"I'll be with you in a moment." The voice is feminine and bright and only a few seconds later a woman steps out from behind a heavy, embroidered curtain. She is maybe in her late twenties, dressed ins simple clothing, but wearing a large assortment of colorful scarves and beaded trinkets. Her dark eyes are lined with kohl, and she eyes him up and down and then smiles slyly. She bites on her lower lip as she leans forward on the counter to give Matthias a clear view down the top of her shirt.
"You don't look like my usual kind of customers," she says sultrily. Matthias must fight not to grimace at her painfully obvious attempt at seduction and puts on what he can only assume is a strained smile. She twirls a few locks of hair around her fingers and stares up at him, batting her eyelashes. "I don't mind at all" She add quickly with a laugh. "It's good change. So, what can I help you with, Sweetheart, looking for anything special?"
Matthias clears his throat looking around the dusty shop but not really having any idea what he is looking for and none of the labeled bottles look helpful in any way. "What kind of customers do you have in here, since you are so sure I am not one of them?" He winces at his own words; it is not his best attempt at small talk, but she keeps smiling at him.
"Usually the only people that comes here are those who seek remedies against coughs, fevers and other ailments usually healers." She blinks at him. "You know…" she pauses for dramatic effect, "women. It is rare to see men in an establishment such as mine and I have to say it is a shame. I would not mind visits like this more often. The most interesting people I see are those looking for love-potions to lure their menfolk back inn their good graces and other items along those lines."
Matthias already regrets entering the store, but he came here with a purpose and needs all the information he can get his hands on. If what Gorm said earlier is correct, then flower he is looking for is illegal and he should be careful of his words. "Really?" he says with a smirk, leaning a little closer to the woman and sees her eyes light up hungrily. He feels a bit disgusted by himself, but he will be out of this town soon enough he prays to all the gods he will never see her again. "I'm sure you have much more to offer than mere common remedies."
"I do," she says and leans even closer. "My shop is not the biggest but I have some interesting things hidden away, is there anything in particular you are looking for?"
"I have never been this close to the capitol and the town healers back home never had anything beyond common herbs," Matthias decides to take a risk since this woman seems so interested in him and desperate to keep his attention. "I have heard some exciting things about apothecaries and wondered if any of them were true. I've heard you know about magic and I am looking for protection against the evil kind." Matthias says carefully. "Such as foxglove."
"Dangerous territory" she says mischievously, "this close to the capitol most such things are outlawed and possession will get you killed. I like you stranger" She sighs deeply but keeps twirling her hair around her finger. "I am a bit limited in my stocks. For the truly interesting things you will have to go to the capitol and know the right people. There are some illegal things, hard to get to hold on and keep hidden. I had to burn a lot of my supplies when the soldiers came through here, but there is one thing of interest I managed to hide from the soldiers. It is said to have some magical effects if you believe in such things."
Matthias is certainly curious. He is disappointed she does not have the foxglove, but anything of magic might be of use to him. He just hates he has to pretend to be interested in this girl to make sure she will keep talking. Why she wants the interest of a dirty refugee he does not understand, she must be truly desperate. "So what is this thing you keep secret from most people?" he whispers as he leans in close.
She grins brightly. "I call it dream tea. I usually only offer it to my most loyal of customers. It is said to allow you to enter the dreams of other people. If you make a tea and add the hair of the person's dream you wish to enter to it, you can share a dreamscape. Can be used for many things I've heard, maybe see a lover even when you are separated, also great to keep a relationship a secret."
Matthias' heart starts beating faster. If this is working, it might be a way of contacting Lukas.
The woman keeps twirling her hair as she watches him contemplate his response. When she takes her hand away, there are a few strands trapped between her fingers and she swings them right in front of Matthias' nose.
Matthias almost shudders, but manages to keep it at bay. She is of absolutely no interest to him, but he really wants the tea. Therefore, he forces himself to smile, but stays out of her reach so she cannot trap his hair in return and steal access to his dreams, God's know they are messed up enough without some crazy apothecaries wreaking havoc in them. He wraps one hand around her fingers and plucks the strands of hair from her fingers making her smile. "What would you want for something like that?" He asks.
She purses her lips. "I would love to give it to such a handsome face for free, but a girl has got to make a living you know," she sighs. "But I'll give you a discount."
Matthias pays her and buys a few salves for Torleif's wounds so he can return to the others with some legitimate goods as well. The woman follows him to the door and she is dangerously close to snagging a few hairs from his head on the way out. He is glad to be out and away and breathe some fresh air again after the heavy air in her shop and relieved to be away from her advances.
He wanders aimlessly back to the square and drops the hairs he took from the woman along the way and well out of reach, grimacing a bit. None of the group made any proper plans of how to find each other again after their errands and so he hopes to find them back there. Vilje is already waiting, chewing on a piece of bread and it takes only a few minutes for the rest of them to show up.
Trym and Gorm found a barn where the owner was willing to house them and they decide to just settle down immediately and get some proper rest and enjoy their food.
Matthias offers to take the first watch when night finally arrives and no one bothers to argue. When the others are asleep, he lights a small fire on the outside and boils some water when his watch is about to end.
When the next person on watch goes to stand on the outside of the barn by the little fire, he takes his cup of boiling water and mixes in the tealeaves. He casts a glance around the room to make sure everybody is still asleep before the takes the blue feather out of his pocket. It might not be a strand of hair, but he hopes it will work all the same and that the tea is not a total scam.
He snips off the top part of the feather, drops it in the tea, and lets it steep for a few minutes. "Here goes nothing," he mutters and drinks it all in several large gulps hoping for the best.