Guys,
As has been mentioned on the main forums a few times, I've been running a multi-campaign Ravenloft game for some years now. The sheer body of writing work that has come out of the three-part series has been staggering, mostly in the form of journal entries and other forms of "blue-booking," but the current campaign (the last of the trilogy) has begun to also produce quite the body of fiction work.
The journals can be accessed through our Livejournal group: http://shadowrising.livejournal.com/friends/. Many of them are friends-locked, but enough are open to make it a worthwhile read for anyone who likes Ravenloft campaign journals (and I know there are a few of you out there).
I've asked that my players who have written lengthy fictions start posting them here, on the forums and to this thread, for anyone in the community who wishes to read them. Please offer constructive criticism to them, and praise if you feel they deserve it. My players are extremely talented people who have never before been members of the Ravenloft fan community, so I would like for their first steps into the Fraternity to be pleasant ones. ^_^
With that said, I'll let them introduce themselves and their own work as they post it!
Jeremy Puckett
Ravenloft: The Shadow Triumphant
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hidajiremi
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 239
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Ravenloft: The Shadow Triumphant
"Children are innocent and love justice, while most adults are wicked and prefer mercy." G.K. Chesterton
Introduction
Hello all,
My name's Chris, and I'm part of Jeremy's "The Shadow Triumphant" Ravenloft campaign. This is my first experience with the world of Ravenloft, and I have to say that it foiled my expectations. That's a good thing, though; I had the setting explained to me years ago as one where basically nothing good ever happened to anyone, and everything was basically gloom and doom without end. While there's little denying that many awful things happen in Ravenloft, the thing that makes the setting so interesting for me is that the seeming omnipresence of evil just makes good that much more heroic and impressive when it does appear. My tabletop experience has been overwhelmingly in Dungeons and Dragons, starting with 2nd edition and moving on to 3rd and 3.5. Other systems I've used include Pathfinder(my current favorite), Arcana Evolved, Cortex, Rifts/Palladium, Blue Rose, and DnD Dragons 4th edition. As for settings, I've mostly dealt with Dragonlance, various homebrews, and Eberron; by and large, I'm very much a story-driven player.
But on to the actual introduction of my work. The main protagonist is my character in The Shadow Triumphant, the itinerant, happy-go-lucky warrior Kai. A Falkovnian with some Valachani heritage as well, Kai is an ex-Talon who fled the military, and now lives in Lamordia with his twin sister. There's a lot more to the story than that, of course, but I'll let you learn it as you go
. The first work I'll be posting is a canon story that occurred before Kai joined up with the PC team; as a late-comer to the team, I've been using pieces here and there to give the other players a little insight into his personality and experiences.
I think that pretty much covers my introduction, so I'll let the story speak for itself. If you have any questions, feel free to post them, and I'll answer them as best I can. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!
Chris/Kai/Ro
My name's Chris, and I'm part of Jeremy's "The Shadow Triumphant" Ravenloft campaign. This is my first experience with the world of Ravenloft, and I have to say that it foiled my expectations. That's a good thing, though; I had the setting explained to me years ago as one where basically nothing good ever happened to anyone, and everything was basically gloom and doom without end. While there's little denying that many awful things happen in Ravenloft, the thing that makes the setting so interesting for me is that the seeming omnipresence of evil just makes good that much more heroic and impressive when it does appear. My tabletop experience has been overwhelmingly in Dungeons and Dragons, starting with 2nd edition and moving on to 3rd and 3.5. Other systems I've used include Pathfinder(my current favorite), Arcana Evolved, Cortex, Rifts/Palladium, Blue Rose, and DnD Dragons 4th edition. As for settings, I've mostly dealt with Dragonlance, various homebrews, and Eberron; by and large, I'm very much a story-driven player.
But on to the actual introduction of my work. The main protagonist is my character in The Shadow Triumphant, the itinerant, happy-go-lucky warrior Kai. A Falkovnian with some Valachani heritage as well, Kai is an ex-Talon who fled the military, and now lives in Lamordia with his twin sister. There's a lot more to the story than that, of course, but I'll let you learn it as you go
. The first work I'll be posting is a canon story that occurred before Kai joined up with the PC team; as a late-comer to the team, I've been using pieces here and there to give the other players a little insight into his personality and experiences.I think that pretty much covers my introduction, so I'll let the story speak for itself. If you have any questions, feel free to post them, and I'll answer them as best I can. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!
Chris/Kai/Ro
Last edited by TheBigRo on Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Those who dream by day are aware of many things that escape those who dream only by night.
A Raven's Feather, Part One
“He's going to be late.”
This private meeting room was tucked into a corner of the Frothing Mug, a sleepy little inn that was tucked away into an equally sleepy village on the western edge of Barovia. Counting those around the central table, and the armchair next to the small bookcase, there was room for five people to sit comfortably inside. Three of those seats were currently occupied: the man with the reed-thin voice who had spoken, short, balding, and just short of his middle years, sat in the armchair; a taller, younger fellow, clean-shaven and turning over a silver cross in one hand, sat at the table; and the third, a somewhat pale woman who was slender enough to look taller than she actually was, stood at the bookcase, the sheathed sword at her hip shifting quietly as she reached for one of the books on a high shelf.
“It's been nearly an hour since the kitchen started serving lunch,” the balding man continued, his hands irritably fidgeting. “Are we sure this guy is legitimate?”
“Stop worrying so much,” his female companion said as she nonchalantly perused the pages of the book she held. “Borus vouched for him, so you know that means he's on the up-and-up. He'll be here.”
“But he should've been here already!” Unconvinced, the man looked around, clearly even more nervous than he sounded. “I don't know about this.”
Giving out a frustrated sigh, the woman turned her head from her book, and glanced his way. “Look, I realize you're doing your whole 'pre-mission twitchiness' routine, but if you don't settle down just a hair, I'm going to drub you until you do.”
That seemed to do the trick; it wasn't spoken with any particular harshness, but the man gulped quietly and sat back against the backrest of his chair again, making his hands still themselves on the cushioned arms. “Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you...” he muttered half-heartedly.
Barely a second later, the door to the room opened, and in strode a tall figure, almost the size of the doorframe itself. Wrapped in a dark blue cloak, he surveyed the gathered group with dark eyes underneath a dark blue headband and raven-black hair, and then a moment later gave a great big carefree grin. “Naustvik here, at your service. So, did I miss anything?”
Kai spared another moment or two to look around the room's occupants. The team was exactly as Borus had described: a short, darkish man, probably Barovian, with the temperament of a nervous rabbit; a quiet-looking Borcan, who must have been the devotee of Ezra from the size of that cross; and a tough-looking lady, not much older than he if at all, with legs that went on forever. The last held his eyes for a bit longer, as he nodded respectfully in greeting to her.
“You're almost late,” she said as she closed the book she was holding and placed it back onto the bookshelf. Tall, heeled beige boots; dark leggings under black skirts divided for riding, with an equally dark shirt atop; slim, but clearly with lots of lean muscle underneath; and deep red hair that flowed halfway down her back. He had a bit of trouble placing her, but her accent gave him a helpful clue. Probably Richemuloise?
She turned back before he had any more time to think on it, and walked up to him, her eyes narrowing slightly in appraisal as she tilted her head slightly to look up at him. “Hm...a little darker than most of them, so there's probably something else there, but there's no mistaking the way you pronounce your Balok. You're Falkovnian, alright.” She indicated her two companions with a nod of the head to either direction. “The quiet one is Rodric, and the nervous wreck over there is Nicolai.”
Glancing towards the two men, Kai nodded their ways as well. “Pleasure to meet ya' both. I'm Kai.” His eyes then slid back towards her, and a slight grin slipped onto his face. “And you would be?”
“Rosa.” She stuck out her gloved hand, and after he shook it, she let go and pointed right to his face. “And before you say something like 'Matches your hair,' I've heard it before.”
“I was actually going to say that your eyes remind me of polished sapphires,” he said with a further grin, “but the point is well-taken.”
The smirk that she showed in response was undeniably sardonic, and she gave his forehead a firm poke with her outstretched finger. “Sly. But don't forget that you came here to work.”
“I wouldn't dream of it.” Going to the table, he received a cautious but thoughtful look from Rodric, and a glare of pure contempt from Nicolai, as he pulled out a chair. “Borus gave me the basic gist, but I'm a little sparse on details. Care to fill me in, fearless leader?”
“So that's the information we have thus far,” Rosa finished as she leaned back slightly in her chair, indicating a spot with one gloved finger on the map she had rolled out on top of the table. “The burgomeister of that town seems content to let the violence against the Gundarakites continue, but Boyar Marinescu is concerned about what might really be going on behind the scenes.”
“Hm...yeah, the disappearance of so many young men, specifically, suggests something more unusual,” Kai responded while scratching his chin. “You'd think the usual thuggery would be a bit less targeted.”
“I suppose a Falkovnian would know all too well about thuggery,” Nicolai spoke up in the same peevish tone he had been using ever since Kai had walked in the room. Rosa shot him a warning glance, which made him recoil a little, but Rodric spoke up before anything could be said either way.
“We have a few ideas about what may be happening, but until we go and check things out for ourselves, they'll remain simple speculation. Are you at all familiar with the region?”
Nodding, Kai leaned forward to get closer to the map. “Somewhat. I've ridden through a few times. The cabbage rolls they make locally are pretty fantastic.”
“Borus warned me about you, so I'm going to take that rather asinine comment as meaning you know your way around.” Rosa crossed her arms under her chest, and gave him a measured look. “I'm also going to assume that you'll be able to control your gut while we're on this mission.”
“I promise nothing.”
Rosa rolled her eyes, but there was a hint of dry amusement in her voice as she spoke back up. “At any rate, we hit the road at dawn, so make sure any business you may want to see to in the village here gets taken care of by sundown.”
The three men each nodded in response, and Kai pushed his chair back, standing up and stretching. “Well, I'm going out for a bit. I'll see you all at dinner, most likely.”
“Sundown, Kai,” Rosa called out as he started walking towards the door. “That's non-negotiable.”
“Loud and clear, Komman- er, Commander,” he said with a wave over his shoulder. And then he was out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
Rosa leaned over to Nicolai, speaking only barely above a whisper. “Tail him. If he does anything suspicious, let me know, but don't do anything rash!”
For all of his earlier nervousness, the balding man just nodded once, and eased out of his chair at the table with barely a sound, his demeanor focused and composed. “Understood, Rosa.”
This village was much like the other Barovian settlements Kai had visited in his brief time traveling. It was true that the locals seemed to be at least a little more amicable to foreigners – likely the reason Rosa had chosen it for their rendezvous – but he still caught his fair share of suspicious glances. It didn't really bother him, though; he was well enough used to that, and the spring weather meant there were lots of colorful flowers lining the buildings to take one's mind off of things, so just taking a walk through the village was pleasant in and of itself.
There was also the fact that people often forgot about their apprehension if you were willing to expend a little elbow grease on their behalf. The woodcutter whose cart had suddenly broken thawed out quite a bit when Kai helped the man carry his lumber to the village proper, and was actually engaging in something akin to polite conversation by the time the two of them managed to fix it. He had a similar experience fetching water for an old widow, as well as talking shop with the local blacksmith, whom he even wound up helping out in the smithy for an hour or so. Offers of coin were made by people for his troubles in at least one instance, but he wound up accepting stories and little hospitalities instead. Like the freshly-baked pretzel that the widow had gifted him with from her oven upon his return. Or the tale about how the smith had, as a child, wanted nothing more than to one day just sail up- and down-river fishing, until he learned that the girl of his dreams, his future wife, was absolutely convinced that she could only marry a blacksmith – a story told with much gusto and laughing over ales. Whenever someone would ask him about himself, he was just hired help, someone who traveled around working odd jobs wherever he could find them, or a similar twist on the truth; he always managed to deflect the conversation away, and they never pressed him on it.
It was just as sundown was rapidly nearing when he finally returned to the Frothing Mug. He had learned long ago that people rarely strayed out of doors when night fell in Barovia, so it came as little surprise that the common room of the small inn was lively. Of course, there was only a handful of other guests besides his team, other travelers just passing through, so “livelier than it otherwise might have been” was the proper description.
After having a short, friendly conversation with the other group, Kai went over to the table where his three partners were already located, and took the remaining seat, which happened to be across from Rosa. Rodric was lost in a book, while Nicolai pointedly didn't look his way, but she had turned her attention to him the moment he had started approaching, and drummed her fingers slightly on the table in front of her as he sat down.
“Looks like you made it, after all.”
“Looks that way, doesn't it?”
“I trust you took care of any business?”
“More or less.” The inn's lone serving girl came over, and he offered her a smile, a compliment, and a small bit of chitchat before ordering a drink, and turned back to Rosa once she had left to bring it to him. “So, bright 'n early tomorrow?”
“Bright 'n early.”
He nodded, and accepted his drink with a gracious thanks when the serving girl returned with it, then just settled in to relax for a bit, drinking mostly in silence. He could feel Rosa's eyes studying him again, but it was to be expected; very soon, these people would be putting their lives on the line with him, and she wanted to have him somewhat figured out by that time. Not for the first time, he was glad things were simple on his end; all he had to do was make sure they stayed alive. It might not be easy, but he would do it, and that was that.
Rosa still found Nicolai's report a little hard to believe. What was this man's game? From Borus's description of him, she knew he had been a soldier once, and despite his nonchalant manner, she still caught a few subtle clues – the effortless, casual gait with which he moved, surprisingly fluid and deceptive of his size, among them – that suggested he had not been just any soldier. “An officer” had been the most she had gotten out of their mutual contact; she had her suspicions, very strong ones in fact, which had been why she had sent Nicolai out to watch him. But a deserter Falkovnian elite spending his day helping out the residents of a small village for practically nothing in return? That really confused her. If she was right in her guess, there was no way a man like that would have done such menial labor, unless he was trying to fool them all into a false sense of security. But if there was one thing she had learned about Falkovnians, especially their soldiers, it was that guile was not generally in their M.O. And both Nicolai and Rodric had commented that the man seemed to be very much what he appeared. That left her with...not much at all to work with.
He seemed to be a little lost in thought as he drank across from her, so she figured it would be a good chance to try and catch him off-guard. “So, do you often work in smithies when you've got time on your hands?” The look of surprise on his face was humorous, but not very telling; if he guessed that he had been tailed from that, then he was hiding it so well she doubted even Rodric could have told. “I stopped by to have my sword examined, and Master Pavlenco mentioned that he had worked with you for a bit today.”
Kai laughed a little as he set his mug down, and rubbed the back of his neck a bit. “Guilty as charged. I have family that works in a smithy, so it's a comforting environment, I guess. And it helps me stay in shape.”
Rosa raised an eyebrow a bit at that last remark. “Somehow I doubt that you maintain that build by swinging a smith's hammer for a couple of hours once every other week.”
“Oh-ho. You've been looking,” Kai said with a roguish grin.
“Well, you're roughly the size of a giant compared to me, so it's sort of hard not to,” she replied with a shake of her head. “But, seriously, is that the kind of thing you normally do while on the road?”
Quiet for a moment or two, Kai looked down into his mug with a curious expression on his face. “I guess...I just like to help out whenever I can. People like it when you give them time out of your day; makes 'em feel good to have someone to talk to, even if it's just over a common task. Or something like that, I can't say for sure.” He seemed to catch that she was eying him skeptically, and laughed a bit as he looked over to her. “What is it? Do I have ale on my face or something?”
“You're just strange.” She shook her head again, and took a long sip from her own mug. “I don't meet many people like you on the road.”
“I'll choose to take that as a compliment. I had hoped to hear 'You're such an amazing guy, and I can't wait to get to know you better,' but you've gotta start somewhere, I suppose.” The flat look that she gave him was joined by similar glances from Nicolai and Rodric, and Kai raised his hands in a defensive manner, though he grinned widely again. “Okay, okay, I know, bad joke.”
“Oh, I found it funny,” Rosa replied in a dry tone. “Just probably not in the way you intended.”
“Everyone's a critic.”
This private meeting room was tucked into a corner of the Frothing Mug, a sleepy little inn that was tucked away into an equally sleepy village on the western edge of Barovia. Counting those around the central table, and the armchair next to the small bookcase, there was room for five people to sit comfortably inside. Three of those seats were currently occupied: the man with the reed-thin voice who had spoken, short, balding, and just short of his middle years, sat in the armchair; a taller, younger fellow, clean-shaven and turning over a silver cross in one hand, sat at the table; and the third, a somewhat pale woman who was slender enough to look taller than she actually was, stood at the bookcase, the sheathed sword at her hip shifting quietly as she reached for one of the books on a high shelf.
“It's been nearly an hour since the kitchen started serving lunch,” the balding man continued, his hands irritably fidgeting. “Are we sure this guy is legitimate?”
“Stop worrying so much,” his female companion said as she nonchalantly perused the pages of the book she held. “Borus vouched for him, so you know that means he's on the up-and-up. He'll be here.”
“But he should've been here already!” Unconvinced, the man looked around, clearly even more nervous than he sounded. “I don't know about this.”
Giving out a frustrated sigh, the woman turned her head from her book, and glanced his way. “Look, I realize you're doing your whole 'pre-mission twitchiness' routine, but if you don't settle down just a hair, I'm going to drub you until you do.”
That seemed to do the trick; it wasn't spoken with any particular harshness, but the man gulped quietly and sat back against the backrest of his chair again, making his hands still themselves on the cushioned arms. “Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you...” he muttered half-heartedly.
Barely a second later, the door to the room opened, and in strode a tall figure, almost the size of the doorframe itself. Wrapped in a dark blue cloak, he surveyed the gathered group with dark eyes underneath a dark blue headband and raven-black hair, and then a moment later gave a great big carefree grin. “Naustvik here, at your service. So, did I miss anything?”
Kai spared another moment or two to look around the room's occupants. The team was exactly as Borus had described: a short, darkish man, probably Barovian, with the temperament of a nervous rabbit; a quiet-looking Borcan, who must have been the devotee of Ezra from the size of that cross; and a tough-looking lady, not much older than he if at all, with legs that went on forever. The last held his eyes for a bit longer, as he nodded respectfully in greeting to her.
“You're almost late,” she said as she closed the book she was holding and placed it back onto the bookshelf. Tall, heeled beige boots; dark leggings under black skirts divided for riding, with an equally dark shirt atop; slim, but clearly with lots of lean muscle underneath; and deep red hair that flowed halfway down her back. He had a bit of trouble placing her, but her accent gave him a helpful clue. Probably Richemuloise?
She turned back before he had any more time to think on it, and walked up to him, her eyes narrowing slightly in appraisal as she tilted her head slightly to look up at him. “Hm...a little darker than most of them, so there's probably something else there, but there's no mistaking the way you pronounce your Balok. You're Falkovnian, alright.” She indicated her two companions with a nod of the head to either direction. “The quiet one is Rodric, and the nervous wreck over there is Nicolai.”
Glancing towards the two men, Kai nodded their ways as well. “Pleasure to meet ya' both. I'm Kai.” His eyes then slid back towards her, and a slight grin slipped onto his face. “And you would be?”
“Rosa.” She stuck out her gloved hand, and after he shook it, she let go and pointed right to his face. “And before you say something like 'Matches your hair,' I've heard it before.”
“I was actually going to say that your eyes remind me of polished sapphires,” he said with a further grin, “but the point is well-taken.”
The smirk that she showed in response was undeniably sardonic, and she gave his forehead a firm poke with her outstretched finger. “Sly. But don't forget that you came here to work.”
“I wouldn't dream of it.” Going to the table, he received a cautious but thoughtful look from Rodric, and a glare of pure contempt from Nicolai, as he pulled out a chair. “Borus gave me the basic gist, but I'm a little sparse on details. Care to fill me in, fearless leader?”
“So that's the information we have thus far,” Rosa finished as she leaned back slightly in her chair, indicating a spot with one gloved finger on the map she had rolled out on top of the table. “The burgomeister of that town seems content to let the violence against the Gundarakites continue, but Boyar Marinescu is concerned about what might really be going on behind the scenes.”
“Hm...yeah, the disappearance of so many young men, specifically, suggests something more unusual,” Kai responded while scratching his chin. “You'd think the usual thuggery would be a bit less targeted.”
“I suppose a Falkovnian would know all too well about thuggery,” Nicolai spoke up in the same peevish tone he had been using ever since Kai had walked in the room. Rosa shot him a warning glance, which made him recoil a little, but Rodric spoke up before anything could be said either way.
“We have a few ideas about what may be happening, but until we go and check things out for ourselves, they'll remain simple speculation. Are you at all familiar with the region?”
Nodding, Kai leaned forward to get closer to the map. “Somewhat. I've ridden through a few times. The cabbage rolls they make locally are pretty fantastic.”
“Borus warned me about you, so I'm going to take that rather asinine comment as meaning you know your way around.” Rosa crossed her arms under her chest, and gave him a measured look. “I'm also going to assume that you'll be able to control your gut while we're on this mission.”
“I promise nothing.”
Rosa rolled her eyes, but there was a hint of dry amusement in her voice as she spoke back up. “At any rate, we hit the road at dawn, so make sure any business you may want to see to in the village here gets taken care of by sundown.”
The three men each nodded in response, and Kai pushed his chair back, standing up and stretching. “Well, I'm going out for a bit. I'll see you all at dinner, most likely.”
“Sundown, Kai,” Rosa called out as he started walking towards the door. “That's non-negotiable.”
“Loud and clear, Komman- er, Commander,” he said with a wave over his shoulder. And then he was out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
Rosa leaned over to Nicolai, speaking only barely above a whisper. “Tail him. If he does anything suspicious, let me know, but don't do anything rash!”
For all of his earlier nervousness, the balding man just nodded once, and eased out of his chair at the table with barely a sound, his demeanor focused and composed. “Understood, Rosa.”
This village was much like the other Barovian settlements Kai had visited in his brief time traveling. It was true that the locals seemed to be at least a little more amicable to foreigners – likely the reason Rosa had chosen it for their rendezvous – but he still caught his fair share of suspicious glances. It didn't really bother him, though; he was well enough used to that, and the spring weather meant there were lots of colorful flowers lining the buildings to take one's mind off of things, so just taking a walk through the village was pleasant in and of itself.
There was also the fact that people often forgot about their apprehension if you were willing to expend a little elbow grease on their behalf. The woodcutter whose cart had suddenly broken thawed out quite a bit when Kai helped the man carry his lumber to the village proper, and was actually engaging in something akin to polite conversation by the time the two of them managed to fix it. He had a similar experience fetching water for an old widow, as well as talking shop with the local blacksmith, whom he even wound up helping out in the smithy for an hour or so. Offers of coin were made by people for his troubles in at least one instance, but he wound up accepting stories and little hospitalities instead. Like the freshly-baked pretzel that the widow had gifted him with from her oven upon his return. Or the tale about how the smith had, as a child, wanted nothing more than to one day just sail up- and down-river fishing, until he learned that the girl of his dreams, his future wife, was absolutely convinced that she could only marry a blacksmith – a story told with much gusto and laughing over ales. Whenever someone would ask him about himself, he was just hired help, someone who traveled around working odd jobs wherever he could find them, or a similar twist on the truth; he always managed to deflect the conversation away, and they never pressed him on it.
It was just as sundown was rapidly nearing when he finally returned to the Frothing Mug. He had learned long ago that people rarely strayed out of doors when night fell in Barovia, so it came as little surprise that the common room of the small inn was lively. Of course, there was only a handful of other guests besides his team, other travelers just passing through, so “livelier than it otherwise might have been” was the proper description.
After having a short, friendly conversation with the other group, Kai went over to the table where his three partners were already located, and took the remaining seat, which happened to be across from Rosa. Rodric was lost in a book, while Nicolai pointedly didn't look his way, but she had turned her attention to him the moment he had started approaching, and drummed her fingers slightly on the table in front of her as he sat down.
“Looks like you made it, after all.”
“Looks that way, doesn't it?”
“I trust you took care of any business?”
“More or less.” The inn's lone serving girl came over, and he offered her a smile, a compliment, and a small bit of chitchat before ordering a drink, and turned back to Rosa once she had left to bring it to him. “So, bright 'n early tomorrow?”
“Bright 'n early.”
He nodded, and accepted his drink with a gracious thanks when the serving girl returned with it, then just settled in to relax for a bit, drinking mostly in silence. He could feel Rosa's eyes studying him again, but it was to be expected; very soon, these people would be putting their lives on the line with him, and she wanted to have him somewhat figured out by that time. Not for the first time, he was glad things were simple on his end; all he had to do was make sure they stayed alive. It might not be easy, but he would do it, and that was that.
Rosa still found Nicolai's report a little hard to believe. What was this man's game? From Borus's description of him, she knew he had been a soldier once, and despite his nonchalant manner, she still caught a few subtle clues – the effortless, casual gait with which he moved, surprisingly fluid and deceptive of his size, among them – that suggested he had not been just any soldier. “An officer” had been the most she had gotten out of their mutual contact; she had her suspicions, very strong ones in fact, which had been why she had sent Nicolai out to watch him. But a deserter Falkovnian elite spending his day helping out the residents of a small village for practically nothing in return? That really confused her. If she was right in her guess, there was no way a man like that would have done such menial labor, unless he was trying to fool them all into a false sense of security. But if there was one thing she had learned about Falkovnians, especially their soldiers, it was that guile was not generally in their M.O. And both Nicolai and Rodric had commented that the man seemed to be very much what he appeared. That left her with...not much at all to work with.
He seemed to be a little lost in thought as he drank across from her, so she figured it would be a good chance to try and catch him off-guard. “So, do you often work in smithies when you've got time on your hands?” The look of surprise on his face was humorous, but not very telling; if he guessed that he had been tailed from that, then he was hiding it so well she doubted even Rodric could have told. “I stopped by to have my sword examined, and Master Pavlenco mentioned that he had worked with you for a bit today.”
Kai laughed a little as he set his mug down, and rubbed the back of his neck a bit. “Guilty as charged. I have family that works in a smithy, so it's a comforting environment, I guess. And it helps me stay in shape.”
Rosa raised an eyebrow a bit at that last remark. “Somehow I doubt that you maintain that build by swinging a smith's hammer for a couple of hours once every other week.”
“Oh-ho. You've been looking,” Kai said with a roguish grin.
“Well, you're roughly the size of a giant compared to me, so it's sort of hard not to,” she replied with a shake of her head. “But, seriously, is that the kind of thing you normally do while on the road?”
Quiet for a moment or two, Kai looked down into his mug with a curious expression on his face. “I guess...I just like to help out whenever I can. People like it when you give them time out of your day; makes 'em feel good to have someone to talk to, even if it's just over a common task. Or something like that, I can't say for sure.” He seemed to catch that she was eying him skeptically, and laughed a bit as he looked over to her. “What is it? Do I have ale on my face or something?”
“You're just strange.” She shook her head again, and took a long sip from her own mug. “I don't meet many people like you on the road.”
“I'll choose to take that as a compliment. I had hoped to hear 'You're such an amazing guy, and I can't wait to get to know you better,' but you've gotta start somewhere, I suppose.” The flat look that she gave him was joined by similar glances from Nicolai and Rodric, and Kai raised his hands in a defensive manner, though he grinned widely again. “Okay, okay, I know, bad joke.”
“Oh, I found it funny,” Rosa replied in a dry tone. “Just probably not in the way you intended.”
“Everyone's a critic.”
Last edited by TheBigRo on Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A Raven's Feather, Part Two
It was only another hour or so before the group turned in for the night. Rosa was insistent that they all get a good night's sleep, so even if Kai had intended on staying up to drink for a while longer, he was sure he would have gotten quite a tongue-lashing from her, if not a full-on punch to the stomach. But he knew better than to even try; they wouldn't reach their destination by the next day, but it was always better to get a clear-headed start on a new mission. Who knew what might happen between then and time for real work to be done, after all?
As per his usual habit, he checked his possessions upon returning to his room. He hadn't been able to shake that particular mannerism after leaving the military, but as it was one that still served a useful function, he didn't mind so much. He remarked mentally with a chuckle at the fact that it was so normal for him to reach for a set of “clothing” only to have cold metallic smoothness greet his fingertips as opposed to finely-tailored wool and linen. I suppose a person really can get used to just about anything.
Once his check was complete, he shucked his boots and shirt, and did a few of his routine muscle exercises, combining them with some of the mental tricks he had learned from both his sister and Gerhart to calm the mind. It had never seemed to work as well for him as it had for either of them, but it still helped out a little; by the time he finally snuffed out his lamp in the room, he was ready for a good night's sleep, confident that he would be able to keep the nightmares away for one more night.
Kai had been the first one up and at breakfast the next morning, and the looks of surprise from Rosa and Nicolai had been worth it. Giving a chipper greeting over his eggs and potatoes, he returned to them as the others took their seats, glancing back and forth between them. “I assume Rodric's praying?”
Giving a slight yawn, Rosa nodded. “He always does so right around dawn, so he'll be joining us in a while. I'm a little surprised to see you already here.”
“I hope it won't be the last surprise I give you, m'lady.” Blinking a bit, Kai tilted his head as those words came out, and he looked up at the ceiling in thought. “Wait...that didn't sound right. Make that 'Seeing you bright and early is a good first step to winning your undying admiration.'”
Rolling her eyes a bit, Rosa nevertheless chuckled quietly. “I'll say this much for you, Kai. You're much better comic relief than Nicolai here.”
“Forgive me,” snarked the shorter man, “but all of my training is in actually useful areas. I had little time for learning buffoonery.”
“That's a shame. I had three years of buffoonery lessons; changed my life.” Nicolai shot Kai another glare for his troubles, and Kai just laughed. “I swear, I'm going to make you crack a smile before this trip's over.”
“Fat chance of that, Musclehead.”
A few minutes passed by, and finally Rodric emerged, coming to sit at the table with a quiet “Good morning” and setting to work right on the food Rosa had just had brought out for him. Though Kai knew he didn't have their trust yet, it was still refreshing to share a meal with them. The team seemed to have a good rapport; though she was the de facto leader, it was clear that she valued their thoughts, and really listened when they had something to say, even if it was minor on the surface. It made him wonder a little about her background; it was clear that she was used to being recognized as a competent individual, and treating others in kind. If she was indeed Richemuloise, as he suspected, then it was doubtful she was ex-military. Probably from a family of minor nobles, or the like. Whatever it was, he didn't question her on it. One of the most important rules a mercenary adhered to was that one did not pry into the pasts of others while on a job. If someone offered to tell, that was more acceptable, but even with the sort of benevolent work Kai got from Borus, there were still people with plenty to hide, and for their own perfectly legitimate reasons. A courtesy Kai was glad to extend to others, especially if it meant he might escape them learning the truth.
And then, before he realized it, he was carrying his equipment back out to Merc, and loading up his saddlebags. The ox of a horse was contentedly munching away on oats, and looked to have been just recently brushed down by the stableboy, who sat diligently on a stool by the entrance, despite the fact that he was clearly still battling off sleep. Flipping the youth a gold coin for his trouble, Kai went back to his horse and brushed him down again, more out of habit rather than necessity. Rosa and Rodric came to tend to their own animals shortly after, and then finally Nicolai showed up as well, the usual sullen half-grimace still creasing the shorter man's features. At first, Kai had thought it was because of Nicolai's disapproval at his own presence, but after watching the man interact with his teammates, he got the feeling that it was just the default expression he wore on his face. Eh, well, it takes all kinds.
They set out along the eastern road out of the village once final preparations were complete, for what would be three days of travel until they reached the town they were investigating, stopping at villages along the way every night. Nicolai rode ahead of them all, while Rodric maintained at least three or four horse's lengths ahead of the remaining two, leaving Kai and Rosa riding mostly side-by-side. He decided to stow the usual banter for a time, instead going over the information about the job with her once more, discussing their usual battle tactics and what he might do to fit into them should it come to a fight, and so on. He would much rather have engaged in idle chatter, especially considering what a beautiful spring day it was, but there was important work coming up, and he needed to be as prepared as possible.
It still didn't keep him from enjoying the day, though. Wildflowers were in bloom, and the weather was comfortably warm but breezy, so when he wasn't talking with Rosa, he was just quietly enjoying the scenery. Occasionally, they would pass another small group of travelers going the opposite way, but the vast majority of the day saw them alone on the road, which gave them plenty of time to go over everything.
The town, Verde Terasa, was nestled, like most of the region's settlements, almost entirely into one of the great forests. Possessing a sizable Gundarakite presence, it had seen its fair share of ethnic violence back and forth over the years, but the burgomeister, a man by the name of Dmitry Macek, was more aloof and disinterested than malevolent, so the populace was at least not encouraged to start trouble. Kai had indeed passed through the town before, and had broken up one such altercation involving a gang of Barovians attempting to assault a handful of Gundarakite youths, so he knew first-hand just what sort of trouble sometimes reared its head there. He had also discovered, to his surprise, a minor noble working behind the scenes to try and make peace between the two sides, though he had never actually met the man himself.
This Cosmin Marinescu fellow had been part of the reason Kai's attention had been drawn to this job. From what little he had learned of him before, he had gotten the feeling that this guy was an upstanding individual, though he had his hands tied to at least some degree by the prevailing attitudes of his nation. The fact that he saw fit to use his network to locate people to investigate the disappearances of young Gundarakite men, when most in his station would have barely given a second thought to such a situation, attested even more to his character, or at least competence. As such, Kai was more than glad to lend a hand; perhaps he and the others could help the man turn the tide to at least some small degree.
When he had learned everything he felt he needed to know, Kai finally left Rosa alone, shifting in his saddle and letting out a deep breath. It would still be a few hours to the next village, so he decided to just relax for a bit, slipping back into his own thoughts. This was the part of his missions that he enjoyed the most, just traveling along the road as if everything were peaceful and serene. Too bad it never lasted for very long.
Rosa was keeping a close eye on Kai, but nothing she was learning was really of any help. It was a nice surprise when he wanted to hear more about the mission, and though she had been convinced he was just going to spend the whole time hitting on her, he actually had intelligent questions to ask, and his insight was helpful. When he peeled off to ride a bit ahead of her, she went back to studying him, but a few minutes later she just gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. Either he was the single best spy she had ever run across, or he really was legitimate.
It only continued once they reached the next village early that evening. They only had a few hours before sundown, and yet still he took off to busy himself with pitching in with the residents. She had Nicolai follow him, but the report was almost exactly the same; the big oaf spent some time poking his head into the shops, milling about and talking to the locals, getting largely shunned, and finally wound up helping the hired hand at the inn carry in supplies before dark. Just more of his curiously helpful attitude, which was actually more of a clue than she had originally figured.
They all made an early night of it, as the next settlement was going to be almost a full day’s ride away. The next day was more of the same, but Kai and Rodric spent a few hours talking along the road. She had no idea what in the world the quiet priest could have found in common to talk about with the great bear of a Falkovnian, but more than once the two of them burst out in raucous laughter, causing her to look their way in disbelief.
“What was that about?” she asked as Kai rode ahead once to check on Nicolai.
Rodric gave a chuckle, and just shook his head. “He doesn’t take much seriously, that one. Or at least, that’s what he wants everyone to think.”
“So you’ve gotten that feeling off of him too?” When the man nodded, she glanced up towards the road ahead of them, pausing for a moment or two. “Do you think we can trust him?”
“Hard to say, really. I don’t have any clue what he could gain from tagging along on this mission just to turn on us in the end, though that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.” Rodric took on a thoughtful look as her eyes went back to him. “Why are you asking me this, Rosa? If there was any question as to whether we could trust him, you wouldn’t have given Borus the go-ahead to send him, right?”
“True enough. There’s just something I’m curious about, and I admit that I probably seem a little paranoid.”
Rodric nodded, and tugged his hat down over his eyes a bit. “I agree that I feel he’s hiding something serious, but I also don’t think it means he’s untrustworthy. I’ll let you know if I see anything amiss with him, though.”
“Thanks.”
They didn’t reach their next stop until right before sundown, so the team didn’t have time to split up, but the next morning Kai was up and out again before anyone else. They had reason to stick around in town for another night - one of the missing youths from Verde Terasa was actually from this town, and Nicolai went to poke around for any information he could find - so Rosa left him to his own devices, and had planned to do just that, but she wound up running into him again in a rather...unexpected place.
She had stopped by the inn to drop off some supplies she had bought in town, when she noticed one of the girls who washed laundry for the owner scurrying out to the back. She was fairly sure that it wasn’t time for them to be about that work yet, and her curiosity got the better of her, so she followed her a moment later. What she saw was normal enough; there was a large pile of recently-felled lumber at one edge of the yard, while Kai stood in the center, stripped to the waist and chopping the lumber into firewood. What wasn’t normal was the fact that five or six of the local girls, who probably should’ve been about their own work, were instead leaning against the fence and watching him work. Quite possibly the worst part was that Kai was acting far too innocent, humming and whistling and pretending as if he wasn’t enjoying the attention. Rosa just stared flatly at the whole scene for a few minutes, before shaking her head and turning to leave.
“So what did you want to be when you were a kid?” The question came from Kai as he and Rosa sat eating freshly-baked bread in one of the village's squares, watching the local children horsing around. His woodcutting episode had ended about an hour earlier; Nicolai was still out probing for info, while Rodric was doing some catching up on his reading, so it was just the two of them again. She spared a glance over at him, raising an eyebrow.
“That's a random question.”
“Humor me.”
Looking back towards the children, she closed her eyes, and drew in a deep breath. “I suppose I really always wanted to be a fencer. Traveling the world, sword in hand, living by no one's rules but my own.”
“Liar.”
Kai’s response was so quick that she nearly choked on the bread she was eating, and she turned to punch him in the arm. “What do you mean, ‘liar?’”
“I dunno, I just have a feeling about you.” He grinned that wide grin, and chuckled slightly. “Seriously, you can tell me. I promise I won’t laugh.”
Rosa narrowed her eyes at him for a long moment, only partially seriously, and finally she relented. “Well...” She looked back to the kids again, and realized she was stalling. “I sorta...wanted to be a seamstress.”
Kai laughed, and Rosa punched him in the arm again. “Ow! At least not in the same spot!”
“You said you wouldn’t laugh!”
“I’m sorry, it slipped, really it did!” He stifled another laugh, and she glowered at him peevishly. “I’m not kidding this time. A seamstress, huh?”
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you.”
“Why not? It’s a fine occupation.”
Giving him a sideways glance, she regarded him thoughtfully. “You mean it?”
“Of course I do. It’s honest work, and I do like the sight of silk dresses against...well, I think you get where I’m going with this.”
“I do, all too well.” She took another bite of her bread, and watched the kids for a moment. They were playing some sort of game with a small ball, and she found their laughter soothing. “But, yes. My aunt is a seamstress, and I always looked up to her as a child. I used to spend hours watching her at work in her shop; the way her hands worked...she was always the most skilled person I knew. It was my dream to take up the trade, and be just like her.”
Kai didn’t say anything for a while, though she could tell his eyes were on her. She was expecting him to ask her to go on, but he munched on his own food for a bit before speaking back up. “Yeah...that is a good trade. A good dream.”
A moment or two later, she looked back to him. “What about you? Did you always want to be a sell-sword?”
“I prefer the term ‘mercenary.’” He took another bite of his bread. “But, no. My childhood dreams were pretty simple. I just wanted to be rich.”
She expected to hear more, and when she didn’t, she gave him a questioning look. “‘To be rich?’ Doing what?”
“Dunno. I guess I never really thought it through that much.”
Yet again, Rosa just shook her head. “Why does that not surprise me?”
“Heh. Yeah, I suppose you have a point. But money was always the most important thing I could think of when I was a kid.”
Rosa got the feeling there was something more to that thought, but she didn’t press it. There was a certain...feeling that she recognized there. Something she respected, and yet at the same time disappointed her a bit on the inside. After all of his joking around, this was something he wasn't kidding about.
Finishing his bread as they both sat there, Kai got up a few moments later, dusting off his hands. “Any objection to me goofing around for a bit longer today?”
“Not particularly. That’s kind of been your thing so far, hasn’t it?”
“Looks like you’re starting to get to know me pretty well, Commander.”
“Roooar! I’m the abominable Lamordian bear-man!”
She had intended to go about her own business in the town, now that it was early evening, but Rosa found herself sticking around to watch this spectacle. Kai lumbered like a hulking bipedal beast of some sort, arms held out straight in front of him. Directly in his path, maybe forty or so feet away, stood a stack of wooden boxes four or so feet high, atop which sat one of the girls who had been playing in the square. Probably no more than eight or nine, she feigned a look of terror, and gave a very theatrical cry. “Eeeeek! Someone save me!”
“Get back in your cave, you monster!” The boys who had been playing before, all standing in Kai's way, had banded together around the tallest, who took a confident stance and pointed at him. “Leave Fair Nicoletta alone!”
“Never! My job is to kidnap well-behaved little girls, and eat anyone who stands in my path!” Making more exaggerated monster sounds, Kai took another giant step forward, teetering back and forth. “And that includes you, puny hu-mans!”
“Anti-Monster Brigade, attack!” Wielding imaginary weapons, the group of six boys charged at Kai en masse, and the dramatic enactment of a brutal melee followed. The Lamordian bear-man would send two, three of his assailants flying at one time with swings from his massive paws, but it was never enough to stop them from recovering just before suffering a grievous injury and diving back into the fray. The whole time, Nicoletta sat atop her wooden tower and played the damsel in distress, while the three other girls who had been in the group cheered on her valiant rescuers from the sideline.
It was all nothing short of ludicrous, and yet Rosa couldn't help cracking a smile. At one point, a defender, desperate in the heat of battle, latched onto one of the bear-man's arms, and found himself being lifted into the air, unable to maintain his seriousness for the sudden laughing fit that struck him. The bear-man, sensing his opportunity was nigh, slogged on, picking up several more of the would-be rescuers along the way - on his other arm, across his back, and so on – until he was an absolutely ridiculous sight. Any attempt at holding back her amusement failed, and Rosa laughed out aloud for a moment.
“Noooo!” The bear-man started to slow down just as he was almost within arm's reach of Nicoletta, and collapsed onto his knees. “Defenders...too powerful...energy...mysteriously fading...can't...hold on...!” With a strangled sound, the bear-man tumbled over into the dirt – miraculously waiting long enough for his attackers to disengage - and flopped out onto his back.
“You should've known you couldn't defeat us,” the leader of the boys said, standing over their fallen foe and drawing his fifth or sixth imaginary sword. “Now, it's time we ended this!”
“Very well then. You have been a worthy adversary, and I admit defeat.” The bear-man's voice was thick with bitter defeat. “Make it quick, Invincible Warrior Lucian.”
Holding his invisible sword aloft for all to witness, Invincible Warrior Lucian plunged it into the heart of the fallen bear-man, and he made a long series of pained noises, before finally flopping back again, giving one final twitch before he was still. The spectators cheered, and the Invincible Warrior turned back to his allies, several of whom were still catching their breath. “I have slain the beast! Fair Nicoletta is saved!”
“My hero!” Fair Nicoletta hopped off of her box tower, and moved to run towards Invincible Warrior Lucian.
Before she could take three steps, though, a dagger – a real dagger – sailed in from somewhere nearby, and her eyes went wide as she fell onto her bottom with a squeak. The path of the weapon would have carried it right into Kai's skull, had he not suddenly rolled sideways and gotten up onto his feet, freezing as his eyes instantly shot towards its source.
Rosa sat stunned for a split-second, but then swore under her breath and looked that direction as well. A cloaked man, dressed all in dark browns and grays and with stringy hair, stood some ways to the side of the small square, his hand outstretched and the glint of steel showing at his belt. He wore a sinister smirk, and seemed wholly unconcerned with her. Which was probably a good thing; she had actually gotten caught up in watching Kai's silliness, and she didn't know for sure if she would have noticed him sneaking up behind her.
“Well, isn't this interesting,” the man said in a grating, raspy voice. “With all of Barovia in front of me, it's here where I run into the only raven the people will allow me to kill. Must be my lucky day.”
For all of the levity he had just been involved in, Kai's expression had suddenly become deadly serious. It was such a contrast that it sent a chill down Rosa's spine; but that didn't slow her reaction any further, as she quickly leaped up from her seat and put her hand on her own sword...
As per his usual habit, he checked his possessions upon returning to his room. He hadn't been able to shake that particular mannerism after leaving the military, but as it was one that still served a useful function, he didn't mind so much. He remarked mentally with a chuckle at the fact that it was so normal for him to reach for a set of “clothing” only to have cold metallic smoothness greet his fingertips as opposed to finely-tailored wool and linen. I suppose a person really can get used to just about anything.
Once his check was complete, he shucked his boots and shirt, and did a few of his routine muscle exercises, combining them with some of the mental tricks he had learned from both his sister and Gerhart to calm the mind. It had never seemed to work as well for him as it had for either of them, but it still helped out a little; by the time he finally snuffed out his lamp in the room, he was ready for a good night's sleep, confident that he would be able to keep the nightmares away for one more night.
Kai had been the first one up and at breakfast the next morning, and the looks of surprise from Rosa and Nicolai had been worth it. Giving a chipper greeting over his eggs and potatoes, he returned to them as the others took their seats, glancing back and forth between them. “I assume Rodric's praying?”
Giving a slight yawn, Rosa nodded. “He always does so right around dawn, so he'll be joining us in a while. I'm a little surprised to see you already here.”
“I hope it won't be the last surprise I give you, m'lady.” Blinking a bit, Kai tilted his head as those words came out, and he looked up at the ceiling in thought. “Wait...that didn't sound right. Make that 'Seeing you bright and early is a good first step to winning your undying admiration.'”
Rolling her eyes a bit, Rosa nevertheless chuckled quietly. “I'll say this much for you, Kai. You're much better comic relief than Nicolai here.”
“Forgive me,” snarked the shorter man, “but all of my training is in actually useful areas. I had little time for learning buffoonery.”
“That's a shame. I had three years of buffoonery lessons; changed my life.” Nicolai shot Kai another glare for his troubles, and Kai just laughed. “I swear, I'm going to make you crack a smile before this trip's over.”
“Fat chance of that, Musclehead.”
A few minutes passed by, and finally Rodric emerged, coming to sit at the table with a quiet “Good morning” and setting to work right on the food Rosa had just had brought out for him. Though Kai knew he didn't have their trust yet, it was still refreshing to share a meal with them. The team seemed to have a good rapport; though she was the de facto leader, it was clear that she valued their thoughts, and really listened when they had something to say, even if it was minor on the surface. It made him wonder a little about her background; it was clear that she was used to being recognized as a competent individual, and treating others in kind. If she was indeed Richemuloise, as he suspected, then it was doubtful she was ex-military. Probably from a family of minor nobles, or the like. Whatever it was, he didn't question her on it. One of the most important rules a mercenary adhered to was that one did not pry into the pasts of others while on a job. If someone offered to tell, that was more acceptable, but even with the sort of benevolent work Kai got from Borus, there were still people with plenty to hide, and for their own perfectly legitimate reasons. A courtesy Kai was glad to extend to others, especially if it meant he might escape them learning the truth.
And then, before he realized it, he was carrying his equipment back out to Merc, and loading up his saddlebags. The ox of a horse was contentedly munching away on oats, and looked to have been just recently brushed down by the stableboy, who sat diligently on a stool by the entrance, despite the fact that he was clearly still battling off sleep. Flipping the youth a gold coin for his trouble, Kai went back to his horse and brushed him down again, more out of habit rather than necessity. Rosa and Rodric came to tend to their own animals shortly after, and then finally Nicolai showed up as well, the usual sullen half-grimace still creasing the shorter man's features. At first, Kai had thought it was because of Nicolai's disapproval at his own presence, but after watching the man interact with his teammates, he got the feeling that it was just the default expression he wore on his face. Eh, well, it takes all kinds.
They set out along the eastern road out of the village once final preparations were complete, for what would be three days of travel until they reached the town they were investigating, stopping at villages along the way every night. Nicolai rode ahead of them all, while Rodric maintained at least three or four horse's lengths ahead of the remaining two, leaving Kai and Rosa riding mostly side-by-side. He decided to stow the usual banter for a time, instead going over the information about the job with her once more, discussing their usual battle tactics and what he might do to fit into them should it come to a fight, and so on. He would much rather have engaged in idle chatter, especially considering what a beautiful spring day it was, but there was important work coming up, and he needed to be as prepared as possible.
It still didn't keep him from enjoying the day, though. Wildflowers were in bloom, and the weather was comfortably warm but breezy, so when he wasn't talking with Rosa, he was just quietly enjoying the scenery. Occasionally, they would pass another small group of travelers going the opposite way, but the vast majority of the day saw them alone on the road, which gave them plenty of time to go over everything.
The town, Verde Terasa, was nestled, like most of the region's settlements, almost entirely into one of the great forests. Possessing a sizable Gundarakite presence, it had seen its fair share of ethnic violence back and forth over the years, but the burgomeister, a man by the name of Dmitry Macek, was more aloof and disinterested than malevolent, so the populace was at least not encouraged to start trouble. Kai had indeed passed through the town before, and had broken up one such altercation involving a gang of Barovians attempting to assault a handful of Gundarakite youths, so he knew first-hand just what sort of trouble sometimes reared its head there. He had also discovered, to his surprise, a minor noble working behind the scenes to try and make peace between the two sides, though he had never actually met the man himself.
This Cosmin Marinescu fellow had been part of the reason Kai's attention had been drawn to this job. From what little he had learned of him before, he had gotten the feeling that this guy was an upstanding individual, though he had his hands tied to at least some degree by the prevailing attitudes of his nation. The fact that he saw fit to use his network to locate people to investigate the disappearances of young Gundarakite men, when most in his station would have barely given a second thought to such a situation, attested even more to his character, or at least competence. As such, Kai was more than glad to lend a hand; perhaps he and the others could help the man turn the tide to at least some small degree.
When he had learned everything he felt he needed to know, Kai finally left Rosa alone, shifting in his saddle and letting out a deep breath. It would still be a few hours to the next village, so he decided to just relax for a bit, slipping back into his own thoughts. This was the part of his missions that he enjoyed the most, just traveling along the road as if everything were peaceful and serene. Too bad it never lasted for very long.
Rosa was keeping a close eye on Kai, but nothing she was learning was really of any help. It was a nice surprise when he wanted to hear more about the mission, and though she had been convinced he was just going to spend the whole time hitting on her, he actually had intelligent questions to ask, and his insight was helpful. When he peeled off to ride a bit ahead of her, she went back to studying him, but a few minutes later she just gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. Either he was the single best spy she had ever run across, or he really was legitimate.
It only continued once they reached the next village early that evening. They only had a few hours before sundown, and yet still he took off to busy himself with pitching in with the residents. She had Nicolai follow him, but the report was almost exactly the same; the big oaf spent some time poking his head into the shops, milling about and talking to the locals, getting largely shunned, and finally wound up helping the hired hand at the inn carry in supplies before dark. Just more of his curiously helpful attitude, which was actually more of a clue than she had originally figured.
They all made an early night of it, as the next settlement was going to be almost a full day’s ride away. The next day was more of the same, but Kai and Rodric spent a few hours talking along the road. She had no idea what in the world the quiet priest could have found in common to talk about with the great bear of a Falkovnian, but more than once the two of them burst out in raucous laughter, causing her to look their way in disbelief.
“What was that about?” she asked as Kai rode ahead once to check on Nicolai.
Rodric gave a chuckle, and just shook his head. “He doesn’t take much seriously, that one. Or at least, that’s what he wants everyone to think.”
“So you’ve gotten that feeling off of him too?” When the man nodded, she glanced up towards the road ahead of them, pausing for a moment or two. “Do you think we can trust him?”
“Hard to say, really. I don’t have any clue what he could gain from tagging along on this mission just to turn on us in the end, though that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.” Rodric took on a thoughtful look as her eyes went back to him. “Why are you asking me this, Rosa? If there was any question as to whether we could trust him, you wouldn’t have given Borus the go-ahead to send him, right?”
“True enough. There’s just something I’m curious about, and I admit that I probably seem a little paranoid.”
Rodric nodded, and tugged his hat down over his eyes a bit. “I agree that I feel he’s hiding something serious, but I also don’t think it means he’s untrustworthy. I’ll let you know if I see anything amiss with him, though.”
“Thanks.”
They didn’t reach their next stop until right before sundown, so the team didn’t have time to split up, but the next morning Kai was up and out again before anyone else. They had reason to stick around in town for another night - one of the missing youths from Verde Terasa was actually from this town, and Nicolai went to poke around for any information he could find - so Rosa left him to his own devices, and had planned to do just that, but she wound up running into him again in a rather...unexpected place.
She had stopped by the inn to drop off some supplies she had bought in town, when she noticed one of the girls who washed laundry for the owner scurrying out to the back. She was fairly sure that it wasn’t time for them to be about that work yet, and her curiosity got the better of her, so she followed her a moment later. What she saw was normal enough; there was a large pile of recently-felled lumber at one edge of the yard, while Kai stood in the center, stripped to the waist and chopping the lumber into firewood. What wasn’t normal was the fact that five or six of the local girls, who probably should’ve been about their own work, were instead leaning against the fence and watching him work. Quite possibly the worst part was that Kai was acting far too innocent, humming and whistling and pretending as if he wasn’t enjoying the attention. Rosa just stared flatly at the whole scene for a few minutes, before shaking her head and turning to leave.
“So what did you want to be when you were a kid?” The question came from Kai as he and Rosa sat eating freshly-baked bread in one of the village's squares, watching the local children horsing around. His woodcutting episode had ended about an hour earlier; Nicolai was still out probing for info, while Rodric was doing some catching up on his reading, so it was just the two of them again. She spared a glance over at him, raising an eyebrow.
“That's a random question.”
“Humor me.”
Looking back towards the children, she closed her eyes, and drew in a deep breath. “I suppose I really always wanted to be a fencer. Traveling the world, sword in hand, living by no one's rules but my own.”
“Liar.”
Kai’s response was so quick that she nearly choked on the bread she was eating, and she turned to punch him in the arm. “What do you mean, ‘liar?’”
“I dunno, I just have a feeling about you.” He grinned that wide grin, and chuckled slightly. “Seriously, you can tell me. I promise I won’t laugh.”
Rosa narrowed her eyes at him for a long moment, only partially seriously, and finally she relented. “Well...” She looked back to the kids again, and realized she was stalling. “I sorta...wanted to be a seamstress.”
Kai laughed, and Rosa punched him in the arm again. “Ow! At least not in the same spot!”
“You said you wouldn’t laugh!”
“I’m sorry, it slipped, really it did!” He stifled another laugh, and she glowered at him peevishly. “I’m not kidding this time. A seamstress, huh?”
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you.”
“Why not? It’s a fine occupation.”
Giving him a sideways glance, she regarded him thoughtfully. “You mean it?”
“Of course I do. It’s honest work, and I do like the sight of silk dresses against...well, I think you get where I’m going with this.”
“I do, all too well.” She took another bite of her bread, and watched the kids for a moment. They were playing some sort of game with a small ball, and she found their laughter soothing. “But, yes. My aunt is a seamstress, and I always looked up to her as a child. I used to spend hours watching her at work in her shop; the way her hands worked...she was always the most skilled person I knew. It was my dream to take up the trade, and be just like her.”
Kai didn’t say anything for a while, though she could tell his eyes were on her. She was expecting him to ask her to go on, but he munched on his own food for a bit before speaking back up. “Yeah...that is a good trade. A good dream.”
A moment or two later, she looked back to him. “What about you? Did you always want to be a sell-sword?”
“I prefer the term ‘mercenary.’” He took another bite of his bread. “But, no. My childhood dreams were pretty simple. I just wanted to be rich.”
She expected to hear more, and when she didn’t, she gave him a questioning look. “‘To be rich?’ Doing what?”
“Dunno. I guess I never really thought it through that much.”
Yet again, Rosa just shook her head. “Why does that not surprise me?”
“Heh. Yeah, I suppose you have a point. But money was always the most important thing I could think of when I was a kid.”
Rosa got the feeling there was something more to that thought, but she didn’t press it. There was a certain...feeling that she recognized there. Something she respected, and yet at the same time disappointed her a bit on the inside. After all of his joking around, this was something he wasn't kidding about.
Finishing his bread as they both sat there, Kai got up a few moments later, dusting off his hands. “Any objection to me goofing around for a bit longer today?”
“Not particularly. That’s kind of been your thing so far, hasn’t it?”
“Looks like you’re starting to get to know me pretty well, Commander.”
“Roooar! I’m the abominable Lamordian bear-man!”
She had intended to go about her own business in the town, now that it was early evening, but Rosa found herself sticking around to watch this spectacle. Kai lumbered like a hulking bipedal beast of some sort, arms held out straight in front of him. Directly in his path, maybe forty or so feet away, stood a stack of wooden boxes four or so feet high, atop which sat one of the girls who had been playing in the square. Probably no more than eight or nine, she feigned a look of terror, and gave a very theatrical cry. “Eeeeek! Someone save me!”
“Get back in your cave, you monster!” The boys who had been playing before, all standing in Kai's way, had banded together around the tallest, who took a confident stance and pointed at him. “Leave Fair Nicoletta alone!”
“Never! My job is to kidnap well-behaved little girls, and eat anyone who stands in my path!” Making more exaggerated monster sounds, Kai took another giant step forward, teetering back and forth. “And that includes you, puny hu-mans!”
“Anti-Monster Brigade, attack!” Wielding imaginary weapons, the group of six boys charged at Kai en masse, and the dramatic enactment of a brutal melee followed. The Lamordian bear-man would send two, three of his assailants flying at one time with swings from his massive paws, but it was never enough to stop them from recovering just before suffering a grievous injury and diving back into the fray. The whole time, Nicoletta sat atop her wooden tower and played the damsel in distress, while the three other girls who had been in the group cheered on her valiant rescuers from the sideline.
It was all nothing short of ludicrous, and yet Rosa couldn't help cracking a smile. At one point, a defender, desperate in the heat of battle, latched onto one of the bear-man's arms, and found himself being lifted into the air, unable to maintain his seriousness for the sudden laughing fit that struck him. The bear-man, sensing his opportunity was nigh, slogged on, picking up several more of the would-be rescuers along the way - on his other arm, across his back, and so on – until he was an absolutely ridiculous sight. Any attempt at holding back her amusement failed, and Rosa laughed out aloud for a moment.
“Noooo!” The bear-man started to slow down just as he was almost within arm's reach of Nicoletta, and collapsed onto his knees. “Defenders...too powerful...energy...mysteriously fading...can't...hold on...!” With a strangled sound, the bear-man tumbled over into the dirt – miraculously waiting long enough for his attackers to disengage - and flopped out onto his back.
“You should've known you couldn't defeat us,” the leader of the boys said, standing over their fallen foe and drawing his fifth or sixth imaginary sword. “Now, it's time we ended this!”
“Very well then. You have been a worthy adversary, and I admit defeat.” The bear-man's voice was thick with bitter defeat. “Make it quick, Invincible Warrior Lucian.”
Holding his invisible sword aloft for all to witness, Invincible Warrior Lucian plunged it into the heart of the fallen bear-man, and he made a long series of pained noises, before finally flopping back again, giving one final twitch before he was still. The spectators cheered, and the Invincible Warrior turned back to his allies, several of whom were still catching their breath. “I have slain the beast! Fair Nicoletta is saved!”
“My hero!” Fair Nicoletta hopped off of her box tower, and moved to run towards Invincible Warrior Lucian.
Before she could take three steps, though, a dagger – a real dagger – sailed in from somewhere nearby, and her eyes went wide as she fell onto her bottom with a squeak. The path of the weapon would have carried it right into Kai's skull, had he not suddenly rolled sideways and gotten up onto his feet, freezing as his eyes instantly shot towards its source.
Rosa sat stunned for a split-second, but then swore under her breath and looked that direction as well. A cloaked man, dressed all in dark browns and grays and with stringy hair, stood some ways to the side of the small square, his hand outstretched and the glint of steel showing at his belt. He wore a sinister smirk, and seemed wholly unconcerned with her. Which was probably a good thing; she had actually gotten caught up in watching Kai's silliness, and she didn't know for sure if she would have noticed him sneaking up behind her.
“Well, isn't this interesting,” the man said in a grating, raspy voice. “With all of Barovia in front of me, it's here where I run into the only raven the people will allow me to kill. Must be my lucky day.”
For all of the levity he had just been involved in, Kai's expression had suddenly become deadly serious. It was such a contrast that it sent a chill down Rosa's spine; but that didn't slow her reaction any further, as she quickly leaped up from her seat and put her hand on her own sword...
A Raven's Feather, Part Three
Nicolai had been sifting through the town all day for any information he could find on the young man who had gone missing. Rodric probably would have said he was “snooping” around, but Nicolai did not snoop; he was a professional, a master of his craft, not some common footpad. This was the sort of legwork that paid their expenses, after all.
Unfortunately, he hadn't had much luck thus far. From what he could tell, there had been little reason for whoever was behind these disappearances to target that particular youth. Some people might have said his skills had failed him, but anyone with half a brain knew that, sometimes, there just wasn't anything to find. So far as information on this victim was concerned, the well was just dry.
But there was another topic he was successful in learning about, though it was entirely accidental. While rubbing elbows in one of the local taverns, he overheard a whispered conversation about a big bounty head who had supposedly been seen in the area. Listening in, in the hopes that he might have been able to help these gents with their concerns – naturally – he had gotten some most unwelcome news. An ex-soldier from Falkovnia, an enemy of the state, was reportedly traveling east across Barovia – a man who had killed at least one Talon, and was considered extremely dangerous.
Now, Nicolai was no fool; he hadn't been one of those since losing three months of his allowance on a stupid bet against a childhood friend. No description of said dangerous Falkovnian was given, or of any possible traveling companions, but he didn't need any to piece together what was almost certainly going on. Listening in just long enough to make sure the speaker didn't confide any further information to his friend, Nicolai paid for his drink, and then ducked out of the tavern at his first chance, dashing into the shadows to high-tail it back to Rosa at once. He wasn't entirely sure – he couldn't be sure, not yet – but it was enough information that he knew he had to let her know. It was possible that they all were in very serious danger.
This was bad. It had been several months since someone had last tried to kill Kai, specifically; why did that streak have to break now, and here? As his assailant taunted him with that veiled declaration, Kai stood up slowly from his crouch. That first knife had come too dangerously close to Nicoletta; if this fight continued here, the kids were likely to get hurt. “I don't know who you are, but don't do this. Just leave this place!” Before he realized it, Rosa was moving in his peripheral vision, hand going for the sword at her hip. He shot her a warning glance, and she halted her advance, giving him a look that was at once questioning and angry.
“'Who I am' is unimportant. I've simply come for your head, Raven.” The capital in the final word was obvious. The wiry man reached to his belt again, and Kai caught the glint of several more knives hanging there. “Though I suppose the body as well would sweeten the deal even more. Oh, and before you try playing dumb, don't waste your time; I assure you that I've done my research. I know exactly who you are.”
Keeping his full attention on the man, Kai gestured behind himself to the kids. “Get out of here, all of you. It's not safe here.”
“W-what's going on, Kai?”
“Who is that scary man?”
“Is he gonna hurt you?”
The kids all seemed to speak at once, and Kai just turned his head to give them a pleading look as he shouted. “Go!”
“You should keep your eyes on me, bounty!” Another glint of light, and Kai barely managed to dodge another thrown dagger, taking off at top speed to the side and hoping the fool would follow. At the very least, he seemed disinterested in the kids thus far; that sort of single-minded opponent Kai was grateful for.
“Kai!” he heard Rosa call out as he made for one of the side streets. “I'm coming with you!”
“No! Just stay back and guard the kids!” he shouted back. And with that, he ducked around a corner, stopping momentarily to make sure he could hear the sound of pursuit. He had to lead the man away, and he had to do it now.
Cursing quietly again, Rosa drew her blade, and hustled over to stand in front of the kids, who seemed to be in a state of collective shock. “Alright, you scum, why don't you take my friend's advice and get lost?”
The fighter looked for a moment at Rosa, and around her at the children, then made an annoyed sound. “Please. You can save the act; I don't intend to try and use one of those children as a hostage. I'm only after one man, after all, and he's an outsider around here. It wouldn't do to go angering the locals any more than necessary.”
“And yet you throw knives when children are around.”
He laughed, a dark, unpleasant sound, and started walking in the direction Kai had gone. “I'm very good with my aim. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a walking bag of gold I need to track down.”
Rosa wanted to cut him off, but she wasn't certain she could guard this many innocents at once if the guy decided to try attacking them, especially considering he had ranged capability. And on top of that, she suddenly had a very good reason to not interfere, as much as she hated to admit it – and as much as that hatred surprised her. So she just watched as the man sped up, and then took off at a full run down the street Kai had taken.
Once he was gone, she looked over her shoulder at the kids, spoke a simple, “Stay put!” and then gave chase. Kai had had a bit of a head start, but she could tell he wasn't running away; he was leading this man somewhere. He also didn't seem to know his way very well around town yet, so following the sounds of their running, and their tracks, had Rosa weaving back and forth in a serpentine path. Kai seemed to be trying to lead him out of the village, and it appeared that the man knew it – and was content to play along. She passed several town residents while dashing along who looked like they had seen the two men, and shook her head as she kept following the trail. No matter how this ended, it was almost certainly going to be a pain.
She caught up with them several minutes later, some ways outside the last group of houses, in a clearing before the forest retook its hold on the surrounding environs. It looked as if the two of them had just arrived, as well; Kai stood with his back to the treeline, having procured one of his swords at some point – which explained at least part of his strange route – while his attacker studied him from twenty or so feet away, long knives in both of his hands now.
“Are the kids all safe?” Kai spoke up with the barest of glances her way.
“Yes, they are,” she replied as she reached a hand to her sword hilt at her belt again, stopping only once her fingers settled around the grip. “What's this about, Kai?”
“Just some old business, I'm afraid. Some old business that I can't seem to leave behind.” He watched her for a moment or two, eyes glancing down towards her sheathed sword. When he saw that she wasn't going to draw right away, he looked towards the other man once again. “It's just you and me, alright?”
“Of course,” the rasp spoke. “I have no quarrel with your friend, or with this town. This is strictly a transaction between us.” He turned to look at Rosa then, sizing her up silently. “You will refrain from interfering, I assume?”
Part of her wanted to tell him exactly where he could shove that attitude of his. She was no innocent, by any means, but people who were so flippant and businesslike about the taking of another's life seriously rubbed her the wrong way. Not to mention the fact that if Kai died here, it put them a member down, and their job would suddenly increase in difficulty. But at the same time, she had yet to see Kai involved in a real right; it would be a good chance to assess his skills in a real combat situation. And although she hated to admit it, there might be a very good reason why someone had put a price on Kai's head – there almost certainly was, if her suspicions were correct. The more she thought about it, the more she knew she should just keep her sword sheathed and wait for the outcome.
“Very well,” she finally replied, taking her hand from her blade. “This is your fight, Kai, not mine.”
“You have my thanks.” The truly grateful tone that she heard in Kai's voice was an enigma in and of itself, just another mystery tossed atop the pile. “Alright, then.” Stilling himself entirely, the tall man took a ready stance, closing his eyes for a brief moment, and when he opened them, the look they held was unnerving. Rosa had decided that many words described the man well – flighty, whimsical, lecherous, and laid-back among them. “Cold” would never have entered into the equation; but just then, the look in his eyes was nothing so much as detached, dispassionate ice. “Let's get this over with quickly.”
“Now you're speaking my language.” The other man charged at him a moment later, closing the distance between them rapidly, and his hands moved in a swift flourish, transferring both longer knives into the same hand and tossing several daggers at Kai on the way. The larger man managed to dodge or deflect them all, and once his attacker got into range, took a mighty swing, which missed, but only by a hair, as the lithe figure spun out of the way at the last second.
The fight was fast-paced and brutal as Rosa crossed her arms and just watched. The assassin had the edge in number of weapons, but Kai's range was impressive, even though he wasn't wielding that massive zweihander she had seen him pack onto his horse. He took several gashes along his limbs and torso, but they were apparently shallow, as he hardly seemed to slow down in the slightest.
“...think they're over here...” The sound of high-pitched voices made Rosa's head snap in that direction, coming from the edge of the buildings. The kids! They had followed after all?!
“What are you doing?!” she called out as she saw Lucian leading the way, rounding the last corner before coming into view of the fight. “I told you to stay put!”
It was too late, though. Before she could stop them from coming any closer, she heard a muffled slice, and a sickening cry, coming from behind her. Turning just in time to see the thin man collapsing over into the dirt, his entire midsection caved in and coated with red, her eyes immediately went to Kai. His back was turned to them all, and blood dripped from the edge of his blade. Giving it a shake, he slid it back into its sheath, and then slowly turned to look their way. The cold look was gone from his eyes, replaced by one that was sad more than anything. “Rosa...do me a favor and get them out of here.”
Drawing in a deep breath, and trying to ignore the shocked gasps she heard from the directions of the children, she just nodded, and turned towards them. “Come on, your parents won't be happy if they find out you've been here.” It was a lost cause, she knew; she could already hear the sounds of villagers coming this way, adults who were going to be none-too-pleased at there being a fight to the death right on the edge of their town, but she had to do something. The looks of horror on more than one of the kids' faces cemented that for her.
Kai had returned to the inn an hour or so later, and it was obvious that the mood of the townsfolk had changed considerably as he walked through. Where he had gotten a few friendly waves earlier in the day, now just about everyone glared at him with no small hint of menace, when they met his eyes at all. He couldn't exactly blame them, especially seeing as how he was still cut up from the fight.
Finding Rosa and the others had been easy; they had all congregated in Rodric's room, and the priest saw to his injuries as soon as he walked in without asking for an explanation. Likely Rosa had already filled them both in. Nicolai at least looked equal parts mortified, outraged, and uneasy, while Rosa just studied him carefully again.
She was the first to speak up after Rodric began checking his wounds. “Did you know that was going to happen when we came here?”
“I didn't.”
“But it happens occasionally, doesn't it?”
“It does.”
The stocky Barovian was clearly just dying to say something, but he stayed quiet as Rosa continued looking Kai's way. Kai couldn't make himself meet her eyes, suddenly, instead just looking down a bit.
“Alright, looks like you're good to go,” Rodric finally spoke up after a few more minutes, some quiet chants, and a bandage here and there. “Though I wouldn't advocate any more vigorous exercise today, but I'm sure you already know that.”
“Thanks, Rodric.” He knew he couldn't keep avoiding her eyes, so Kai turned to look at the red-haired woman finally. “I apologize for not telling you. It's only ever happened once while I was on a mission, and I just figured that bringing it up would complicate matters.”
“It does still complicate matters somewhat,” she replied in measured tones, “but Borus warned me that this sort of thing might happen. Mercenaries don't always make friends wherever they go, after all.”
Kai kept his eyes on hers for a long while before responding. “Even so, I'm sorry. I guess we'll probably not be welcome in this town, now.”
Some minutes later, the group was called into the common room of their inn, where they found the mayor waiting for them. “There's no way you can get a start on the roads before night falls,” the middle-aged man told them, “and I doubt we could actually force you to leave, anyway, so you're free to stay the night. However, it would probably be best for everyone if you left as early as possible tomorrow.” He gave Nicolai a stern, meaningful look – perhaps the man had worked in this area before – and then left shortly after.
Dinner was a sullen affair, with even the staff of the inn trying to spend as little time around them as possible. It was just as well; Kai didn't much feel like living it up. Another life thrown away, and in a place he was starting to like. Nicolai glared at him on and off even more intensely than he had before, but Kai barely took notice. Once he had eaten his fill, he excused himself from the table, and headed to his room. He didn't bother with the mental exercises that night.
The next morning, he awoke well before the sun, and got his things ready to go. Rosa came to his door slightly before he was ready to head down for breakfast, fully dressed in everything except for her riding gloves. She regarded him thoughtfully for a second before speaking up.
“Good, you're almost ready to go. Need to get an early start, and all that.”
“Yeah. Heading to breakfast?”
“Perhaps. You're coming as well, aren't you?”
“That was the plan.” As he closed the door, deciding to leave the remainder of his preparation for after food, he felt her hand on his shoulder, and turned around.
When he did, she looked up at him seriously, and prodded him in the same shoulder with one finger. “You're not going to mope, are you? I told you I was prepared for this kind of thing.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but then he caught a certain something in her expression and tone. Blinking once or twice, he paused for a long moment as he stared at her. “...How long have you known?”
“I figured it out sometime yesterday. A big, dark-haired Falkovnian deserter with a strangely kind temperament who goes around doing good deeds for peanuts? And yet calls himself a 'mercenary' the rest of the time? I didn't need that idiot with the armory full of knives to call you a raven by that point.”
Glancing up and down the hallway, though Rosa had spoken the last part quietly enough that he knew it would have been highly unlikely for someone even twenty feet away to hear, Kai looked to her in a bit of surprise. “And yet, you're strangely calm about it. Aren't you afraid I'll flip out and kill you all special forces-style?”
“Please. I've seen enough of you these past few days to know just how likely that is. Not to mention the face you made after killing that guy in completely justified self-defense.” She shook her head, and made a “tch” sound through her teeth. “You have the good sense to dislike killing people, even when you have to, and you seem to get genuine enjoyment from helping people out. That sounds like reason enough for there to be people in Falkovnia who want you dead.”
He was a bit stunned, and finally just laughed quietly under his breath. It was his turn to shake his head, now. “Very analytical of you. But what if I'm just, you know, crazy?”
“Then all I have to do, in that case, is get inside your reach.” Giving a slight smirk, she pointed to each of his shoulders in turn. “With those wide swings you make, if I strike precisely enough, I can neutralize you in seconds. That guy yesterday just didn't have what it took.”
“And you're saying you do?”
“I'm willing to bet on it. Let's just hope it never comes to that, hm?” She patted his shoulder again as she said that, and he just shook his head again.
“Sca-ry.”
The team wasn't much more talkative at breakfast, but Kai didn't feel the same crushing weight anymore. His conversation with Rosa had been surprisingly helpful; he was even able to ignore the fact that Nicolai continued to shoot him dirty looks. When everything was packed and ready, he hefted his equipment and headed to the stables.
He found a surprise waiting for him. Despite the fact that the sun had just been up a short time, there stood Lucian, Nicoletta, and two of their friends, blocking him from reaching the stall where Merc was looking on in a bored manner. The two in the back showed varying degrees of uncertainty, but Nicoletta and Lucian looked determined, if anything.
Giving a wistful grin, Kai stopped once he neared and set his bags down. “You all know you're not supposed to be here, right? Your parents would probably beat me to a pulp.”
“Of course meeting with the enemy isn't allowed,” the tall boy spoke up. “But Invincible Warrior Lucian doesn't let that stop him from showing respect to a worthy foe.”
“Ah, I see.” Walking forward, Kai crouched down and looked between the two of them. “Does that go for Fair Princess Nicoletta as well?”
“Yep, it does.” Taking her hands from behind her back, Nicoletta held out a raven's feather that had been woven onto a short cord. “This is a gift. It'll protect you from evil wherever you go, so...I hope you'll accept it?”
Laughing quietly, Kai reached forward to ruffle both of their hair. “Of course. The Lamordian bear-man can't be permanently defeated, but he can be bribed.” Taking the feather into his hand carefully, he set it on top of his backpack for a moment, and removed the plain silver stud from his earlobe. It took him a few seconds, but he managed to wind the cord around it slightly, and fastened it back into place. “It's not the hand of the Fair Princess, but it's a fine gift. I'll wear it proudly.”
Nicoletta giggled, and Lucian spoke back up. “That means you have to come back and play with us again, alright? It's much better when we have someone strong to fight.”
“I dunno, bears hibernate for a long time after a bruising defeat.” Kai stood up, and pretended to consider it for a moment, crossing his arms. “But I'll see what I can do. Make sure you and your team keep in practice either way, got that?”
“You bet!”
“Good. Now, run along, before you get in trouble.” The group of kids left, with Nicoletta turning back to look once more before she scurried off to join them, and Kai chuckled again, shaking his head. He would have to make a more suitable attachment for his new raven talisman, but it had a good feel to it.
“That's a good look for you.”
He was surprised by Rosa's voice, turning to see her at the other end of the stables. “How long were you there?”
“Long enough.” She walked over to her horse, and started adjusting saddlebags. “You ready to go now?”
“Yeah. I think I am.”
Unfortunately, he hadn't had much luck thus far. From what he could tell, there had been little reason for whoever was behind these disappearances to target that particular youth. Some people might have said his skills had failed him, but anyone with half a brain knew that, sometimes, there just wasn't anything to find. So far as information on this victim was concerned, the well was just dry.
But there was another topic he was successful in learning about, though it was entirely accidental. While rubbing elbows in one of the local taverns, he overheard a whispered conversation about a big bounty head who had supposedly been seen in the area. Listening in, in the hopes that he might have been able to help these gents with their concerns – naturally – he had gotten some most unwelcome news. An ex-soldier from Falkovnia, an enemy of the state, was reportedly traveling east across Barovia – a man who had killed at least one Talon, and was considered extremely dangerous.
Now, Nicolai was no fool; he hadn't been one of those since losing three months of his allowance on a stupid bet against a childhood friend. No description of said dangerous Falkovnian was given, or of any possible traveling companions, but he didn't need any to piece together what was almost certainly going on. Listening in just long enough to make sure the speaker didn't confide any further information to his friend, Nicolai paid for his drink, and then ducked out of the tavern at his first chance, dashing into the shadows to high-tail it back to Rosa at once. He wasn't entirely sure – he couldn't be sure, not yet – but it was enough information that he knew he had to let her know. It was possible that they all were in very serious danger.
This was bad. It had been several months since someone had last tried to kill Kai, specifically; why did that streak have to break now, and here? As his assailant taunted him with that veiled declaration, Kai stood up slowly from his crouch. That first knife had come too dangerously close to Nicoletta; if this fight continued here, the kids were likely to get hurt. “I don't know who you are, but don't do this. Just leave this place!” Before he realized it, Rosa was moving in his peripheral vision, hand going for the sword at her hip. He shot her a warning glance, and she halted her advance, giving him a look that was at once questioning and angry.
“'Who I am' is unimportant. I've simply come for your head, Raven.” The capital in the final word was obvious. The wiry man reached to his belt again, and Kai caught the glint of several more knives hanging there. “Though I suppose the body as well would sweeten the deal even more. Oh, and before you try playing dumb, don't waste your time; I assure you that I've done my research. I know exactly who you are.”
Keeping his full attention on the man, Kai gestured behind himself to the kids. “Get out of here, all of you. It's not safe here.”
“W-what's going on, Kai?”
“Who is that scary man?”
“Is he gonna hurt you?”
The kids all seemed to speak at once, and Kai just turned his head to give them a pleading look as he shouted. “Go!”
“You should keep your eyes on me, bounty!” Another glint of light, and Kai barely managed to dodge another thrown dagger, taking off at top speed to the side and hoping the fool would follow. At the very least, he seemed disinterested in the kids thus far; that sort of single-minded opponent Kai was grateful for.
“Kai!” he heard Rosa call out as he made for one of the side streets. “I'm coming with you!”
“No! Just stay back and guard the kids!” he shouted back. And with that, he ducked around a corner, stopping momentarily to make sure he could hear the sound of pursuit. He had to lead the man away, and he had to do it now.
Cursing quietly again, Rosa drew her blade, and hustled over to stand in front of the kids, who seemed to be in a state of collective shock. “Alright, you scum, why don't you take my friend's advice and get lost?”
The fighter looked for a moment at Rosa, and around her at the children, then made an annoyed sound. “Please. You can save the act; I don't intend to try and use one of those children as a hostage. I'm only after one man, after all, and he's an outsider around here. It wouldn't do to go angering the locals any more than necessary.”
“And yet you throw knives when children are around.”
He laughed, a dark, unpleasant sound, and started walking in the direction Kai had gone. “I'm very good with my aim. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a walking bag of gold I need to track down.”
Rosa wanted to cut him off, but she wasn't certain she could guard this many innocents at once if the guy decided to try attacking them, especially considering he had ranged capability. And on top of that, she suddenly had a very good reason to not interfere, as much as she hated to admit it – and as much as that hatred surprised her. So she just watched as the man sped up, and then took off at a full run down the street Kai had taken.
Once he was gone, she looked over her shoulder at the kids, spoke a simple, “Stay put!” and then gave chase. Kai had had a bit of a head start, but she could tell he wasn't running away; he was leading this man somewhere. He also didn't seem to know his way very well around town yet, so following the sounds of their running, and their tracks, had Rosa weaving back and forth in a serpentine path. Kai seemed to be trying to lead him out of the village, and it appeared that the man knew it – and was content to play along. She passed several town residents while dashing along who looked like they had seen the two men, and shook her head as she kept following the trail. No matter how this ended, it was almost certainly going to be a pain.
She caught up with them several minutes later, some ways outside the last group of houses, in a clearing before the forest retook its hold on the surrounding environs. It looked as if the two of them had just arrived, as well; Kai stood with his back to the treeline, having procured one of his swords at some point – which explained at least part of his strange route – while his attacker studied him from twenty or so feet away, long knives in both of his hands now.
“Are the kids all safe?” Kai spoke up with the barest of glances her way.
“Yes, they are,” she replied as she reached a hand to her sword hilt at her belt again, stopping only once her fingers settled around the grip. “What's this about, Kai?”
“Just some old business, I'm afraid. Some old business that I can't seem to leave behind.” He watched her for a moment or two, eyes glancing down towards her sheathed sword. When he saw that she wasn't going to draw right away, he looked towards the other man once again. “It's just you and me, alright?”
“Of course,” the rasp spoke. “I have no quarrel with your friend, or with this town. This is strictly a transaction between us.” He turned to look at Rosa then, sizing her up silently. “You will refrain from interfering, I assume?”
Part of her wanted to tell him exactly where he could shove that attitude of his. She was no innocent, by any means, but people who were so flippant and businesslike about the taking of another's life seriously rubbed her the wrong way. Not to mention the fact that if Kai died here, it put them a member down, and their job would suddenly increase in difficulty. But at the same time, she had yet to see Kai involved in a real right; it would be a good chance to assess his skills in a real combat situation. And although she hated to admit it, there might be a very good reason why someone had put a price on Kai's head – there almost certainly was, if her suspicions were correct. The more she thought about it, the more she knew she should just keep her sword sheathed and wait for the outcome.
“Very well,” she finally replied, taking her hand from her blade. “This is your fight, Kai, not mine.”
“You have my thanks.” The truly grateful tone that she heard in Kai's voice was an enigma in and of itself, just another mystery tossed atop the pile. “Alright, then.” Stilling himself entirely, the tall man took a ready stance, closing his eyes for a brief moment, and when he opened them, the look they held was unnerving. Rosa had decided that many words described the man well – flighty, whimsical, lecherous, and laid-back among them. “Cold” would never have entered into the equation; but just then, the look in his eyes was nothing so much as detached, dispassionate ice. “Let's get this over with quickly.”
“Now you're speaking my language.” The other man charged at him a moment later, closing the distance between them rapidly, and his hands moved in a swift flourish, transferring both longer knives into the same hand and tossing several daggers at Kai on the way. The larger man managed to dodge or deflect them all, and once his attacker got into range, took a mighty swing, which missed, but only by a hair, as the lithe figure spun out of the way at the last second.
The fight was fast-paced and brutal as Rosa crossed her arms and just watched. The assassin had the edge in number of weapons, but Kai's range was impressive, even though he wasn't wielding that massive zweihander she had seen him pack onto his horse. He took several gashes along his limbs and torso, but they were apparently shallow, as he hardly seemed to slow down in the slightest.
“...think they're over here...” The sound of high-pitched voices made Rosa's head snap in that direction, coming from the edge of the buildings. The kids! They had followed after all?!
“What are you doing?!” she called out as she saw Lucian leading the way, rounding the last corner before coming into view of the fight. “I told you to stay put!”
It was too late, though. Before she could stop them from coming any closer, she heard a muffled slice, and a sickening cry, coming from behind her. Turning just in time to see the thin man collapsing over into the dirt, his entire midsection caved in and coated with red, her eyes immediately went to Kai. His back was turned to them all, and blood dripped from the edge of his blade. Giving it a shake, he slid it back into its sheath, and then slowly turned to look their way. The cold look was gone from his eyes, replaced by one that was sad more than anything. “Rosa...do me a favor and get them out of here.”
Drawing in a deep breath, and trying to ignore the shocked gasps she heard from the directions of the children, she just nodded, and turned towards them. “Come on, your parents won't be happy if they find out you've been here.” It was a lost cause, she knew; she could already hear the sounds of villagers coming this way, adults who were going to be none-too-pleased at there being a fight to the death right on the edge of their town, but she had to do something. The looks of horror on more than one of the kids' faces cemented that for her.
Kai had returned to the inn an hour or so later, and it was obvious that the mood of the townsfolk had changed considerably as he walked through. Where he had gotten a few friendly waves earlier in the day, now just about everyone glared at him with no small hint of menace, when they met his eyes at all. He couldn't exactly blame them, especially seeing as how he was still cut up from the fight.
Finding Rosa and the others had been easy; they had all congregated in Rodric's room, and the priest saw to his injuries as soon as he walked in without asking for an explanation. Likely Rosa had already filled them both in. Nicolai at least looked equal parts mortified, outraged, and uneasy, while Rosa just studied him carefully again.
She was the first to speak up after Rodric began checking his wounds. “Did you know that was going to happen when we came here?”
“I didn't.”
“But it happens occasionally, doesn't it?”
“It does.”
The stocky Barovian was clearly just dying to say something, but he stayed quiet as Rosa continued looking Kai's way. Kai couldn't make himself meet her eyes, suddenly, instead just looking down a bit.
“Alright, looks like you're good to go,” Rodric finally spoke up after a few more minutes, some quiet chants, and a bandage here and there. “Though I wouldn't advocate any more vigorous exercise today, but I'm sure you already know that.”
“Thanks, Rodric.” He knew he couldn't keep avoiding her eyes, so Kai turned to look at the red-haired woman finally. “I apologize for not telling you. It's only ever happened once while I was on a mission, and I just figured that bringing it up would complicate matters.”
“It does still complicate matters somewhat,” she replied in measured tones, “but Borus warned me that this sort of thing might happen. Mercenaries don't always make friends wherever they go, after all.”
Kai kept his eyes on hers for a long while before responding. “Even so, I'm sorry. I guess we'll probably not be welcome in this town, now.”
Some minutes later, the group was called into the common room of their inn, where they found the mayor waiting for them. “There's no way you can get a start on the roads before night falls,” the middle-aged man told them, “and I doubt we could actually force you to leave, anyway, so you're free to stay the night. However, it would probably be best for everyone if you left as early as possible tomorrow.” He gave Nicolai a stern, meaningful look – perhaps the man had worked in this area before – and then left shortly after.
Dinner was a sullen affair, with even the staff of the inn trying to spend as little time around them as possible. It was just as well; Kai didn't much feel like living it up. Another life thrown away, and in a place he was starting to like. Nicolai glared at him on and off even more intensely than he had before, but Kai barely took notice. Once he had eaten his fill, he excused himself from the table, and headed to his room. He didn't bother with the mental exercises that night.
The next morning, he awoke well before the sun, and got his things ready to go. Rosa came to his door slightly before he was ready to head down for breakfast, fully dressed in everything except for her riding gloves. She regarded him thoughtfully for a second before speaking up.
“Good, you're almost ready to go. Need to get an early start, and all that.”
“Yeah. Heading to breakfast?”
“Perhaps. You're coming as well, aren't you?”
“That was the plan.” As he closed the door, deciding to leave the remainder of his preparation for after food, he felt her hand on his shoulder, and turned around.
When he did, she looked up at him seriously, and prodded him in the same shoulder with one finger. “You're not going to mope, are you? I told you I was prepared for this kind of thing.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but then he caught a certain something in her expression and tone. Blinking once or twice, he paused for a long moment as he stared at her. “...How long have you known?”
“I figured it out sometime yesterday. A big, dark-haired Falkovnian deserter with a strangely kind temperament who goes around doing good deeds for peanuts? And yet calls himself a 'mercenary' the rest of the time? I didn't need that idiot with the armory full of knives to call you a raven by that point.”
Glancing up and down the hallway, though Rosa had spoken the last part quietly enough that he knew it would have been highly unlikely for someone even twenty feet away to hear, Kai looked to her in a bit of surprise. “And yet, you're strangely calm about it. Aren't you afraid I'll flip out and kill you all special forces-style?”
“Please. I've seen enough of you these past few days to know just how likely that is. Not to mention the face you made after killing that guy in completely justified self-defense.” She shook her head, and made a “tch” sound through her teeth. “You have the good sense to dislike killing people, even when you have to, and you seem to get genuine enjoyment from helping people out. That sounds like reason enough for there to be people in Falkovnia who want you dead.”
He was a bit stunned, and finally just laughed quietly under his breath. It was his turn to shake his head, now. “Very analytical of you. But what if I'm just, you know, crazy?”
“Then all I have to do, in that case, is get inside your reach.” Giving a slight smirk, she pointed to each of his shoulders in turn. “With those wide swings you make, if I strike precisely enough, I can neutralize you in seconds. That guy yesterday just didn't have what it took.”
“And you're saying you do?”
“I'm willing to bet on it. Let's just hope it never comes to that, hm?” She patted his shoulder again as she said that, and he just shook his head again.
“Sca-ry.”
The team wasn't much more talkative at breakfast, but Kai didn't feel the same crushing weight anymore. His conversation with Rosa had been surprisingly helpful; he was even able to ignore the fact that Nicolai continued to shoot him dirty looks. When everything was packed and ready, he hefted his equipment and headed to the stables.
He found a surprise waiting for him. Despite the fact that the sun had just been up a short time, there stood Lucian, Nicoletta, and two of their friends, blocking him from reaching the stall where Merc was looking on in a bored manner. The two in the back showed varying degrees of uncertainty, but Nicoletta and Lucian looked determined, if anything.
Giving a wistful grin, Kai stopped once he neared and set his bags down. “You all know you're not supposed to be here, right? Your parents would probably beat me to a pulp.”
“Of course meeting with the enemy isn't allowed,” the tall boy spoke up. “But Invincible Warrior Lucian doesn't let that stop him from showing respect to a worthy foe.”
“Ah, I see.” Walking forward, Kai crouched down and looked between the two of them. “Does that go for Fair Princess Nicoletta as well?”
“Yep, it does.” Taking her hands from behind her back, Nicoletta held out a raven's feather that had been woven onto a short cord. “This is a gift. It'll protect you from evil wherever you go, so...I hope you'll accept it?”
Laughing quietly, Kai reached forward to ruffle both of their hair. “Of course. The Lamordian bear-man can't be permanently defeated, but he can be bribed.” Taking the feather into his hand carefully, he set it on top of his backpack for a moment, and removed the plain silver stud from his earlobe. It took him a few seconds, but he managed to wind the cord around it slightly, and fastened it back into place. “It's not the hand of the Fair Princess, but it's a fine gift. I'll wear it proudly.”
Nicoletta giggled, and Lucian spoke back up. “That means you have to come back and play with us again, alright? It's much better when we have someone strong to fight.”
“I dunno, bears hibernate for a long time after a bruising defeat.” Kai stood up, and pretended to consider it for a moment, crossing his arms. “But I'll see what I can do. Make sure you and your team keep in practice either way, got that?”
“You bet!”
“Good. Now, run along, before you get in trouble.” The group of kids left, with Nicoletta turning back to look once more before she scurried off to join them, and Kai chuckled again, shaking his head. He would have to make a more suitable attachment for his new raven talisman, but it had a good feel to it.
“That's a good look for you.”
He was surprised by Rosa's voice, turning to see her at the other end of the stables. “How long were you there?”
“Long enough.” She walked over to her horse, and started adjusting saddlebags. “You ready to go now?”
“Yeah. I think I am.”
A Raven's Feather, Part Four
When they reached Verde Terasa, they found a slightly different scene from the sleepy towns and villages they had encountered thus far. It was a larger town, for one, and the Gundarakite presence was immediately noticeable. Not so much because they looked all that different from the native Barovians – there was practically no difference, there – but instead because there were patches of people walking around who took great care not to approach each other, and shot more than a couple of dirty looks back and forth. The air of mistrust and mutual animosity was so thick it was almost palpable. This was definitely a town that needed some serious help.
Nicolai peeled off ahead as they rode down the town's main street, and soon Rosa did the same, saying she was off to meet their client. Rodric and Kai headed for their inn, where they were expected; once again, Kai found himself impressed by the thorough manner of Rosa's work. A competent leader really made a job go much more smoothly. He would do his part, too; there wouldn't be any milling about town looking for odd jobs, at least not until their work was finished. Incidents like what had happened in the last town were bad enough when they just occurred on the same trip as a job – something like that happening while they were already busy could become a complete disaster very quickly. So he decided to lay low in the common room of the inn with Rodric until the others returned.
Rosa was the first to come back, in the late afternoon. Her meeting hadn't taken very long; Boyar Marinescu had been very to-the-point about discovering what was causing the disappearances. He had mentioned that tensions between the two ethnic groups were approaching a boiling point, but that had been obvious enough. The meeting had really been about negotiating the terms of pay, and getting whatever further information he could provide. As for the rest, it was up to Nicolai to unearth.
When the Barovian man returned just before sunset, it seemed that he had done just that. The disappearances were concentrated mostly in the northeastern section of the city, in the largest Gundarakite neighborhood, and tended to occur right around dusk and dawn. Also – and this wasn't being circulated very much – several of the young men who had gone missing had turned up horribly mutilated to the point where they were barely recognizable anymore, their bodies discarded like so much offal. A key fact that they hadn't originally known was that the only serious change in that district over the past few months was the rise of a minor gang leader with a reputation for particularly brutal thuggery. The possible motives were unclear, but there was little doubt that there was some connection, so they planned an investigation for the following evening.
They spent most of that night prior to retiring making plans for the next day in a private meeting room in their inn. They now had a good idea of the layout of that neighborhood thanks to Nicolai's scouting, but beyond that they didn't have too much more planning to do. When the shorter man got up to leave the table and head to bed, Kai called out to him in a jovial tone.
“Hey, Nic, why not stick around and have a drink?”
“You do realize that your very presence brings me great disgust and displeasure, don't you?” the man replied in his usual acidic tone.
Kai shrugged, and gave a half-smirk. “I'm Falkovnian, remember? Taking pleasure in the suffering of others is practically our national pastime.”
Grumbling under his breath, Nicolai continued on out of the room, and both Rosa and Rodric shared in a short laugh. She turned to look at Kai, leaning one elbow on the table comfortably. “Why do you even bother? Nicolai's as sour as they come. Skilled beyond a doubt, but not exactly the sort of person who gets buddy-buddy with anyone.”
“I dunno,” Kai responded with another shrug. “Force of habit?”
The next morning was more of the same, with Kai waiting around on the grounds of the inn while Nicolai went out to poke around for clues. The hours immediately before a crucial junction in a mission was where he had gotten a bit of a reputation in the past for being a little difficult to handle; the combination of boredom and tension started wearing on his mood as usual, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the innkeep allowed him to practice his sword forms in the stableyard. It was nothing like the experience he had had chopping firewood – which he had rather enjoyed – but Rosa came out to spar with him for a bit when she returned, so he couldn't complain in the slightest. If the hour or so that they crossed swords was any indication, she really was as good as she claimed to be, and it was always reassuring to know that one's partner was highly skilled.
Finally, the time came for them to set out, right before dinner was to be served. They had their own light fare, just enough to be refreshing without slowing them down, and then they were off to the northeastern slums. The area was just as Nicolai had described it, run-down and obviously neglected by the authorities of the town in several ways, and it was hard to say if the atmosphere involving the Gundarakites was better or worse. On the one hand, there were no tightly-packed groups looking askance at their peers, obviously keeping to themselves for fear of having the slightest contact. But on the other, there was practically no one just walking the streets, and the few they did pass scurried along as if terrified to be caught out in the open.
“Cheery place,” Kai remarked under his breath.
Nicolai scoffed at his remark. “Yeah, it's a real bloody carnival. This place is rough, to say the least, so keep your wits about you, and don't draw any more attention than we already will. That goes double for you, Falkovnian.”
“I thought we'd agreed that you would call me 'Lord Kai' from now on?”
“Knock it off, you too,” Rosa cut in, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. “It's time to earn our pay.”
The first hour or so of searching didn't turn up anything. Occasionally, they would pass a troupe of brutish-looking men, a bit on the hairy side and wearing scowls almost to a tee, but besides clearly sizing them up, the men never made any move, and so Kai's team would just move on. Probably patrols of some sort to keep the peace, he thought, since it's pretty clear that the town militia doesn't give two damns about what happens here anymore.
That changed as they were rounding a corner in the northern edge of the district. There was a high-pitched shriek of a female voice, and the four went running to investigate. What they found was a young Gundarakite woman who had collapsed onto her knees, shaking visibly and pointing down an alleyway, where a human hand could be seen just out of the shadows, lying there as if just cast away. Kai checked to make sure she was okay, while Nicolai went up to give the scene a look.
“Just as we feared, Boss,” he called out a moment later. “We've got another, ah...'processed' one.”
As Kai helped the young woman to her feet, and sent her on her way, Rosa stepped forward to talk towards Nicolai. “Can you track where he came from?”
“They may as well have painted a great big bloody trail across fallen snow for me,” he replied with a snort. “We're not exactly dealing with someone who's trying to cover their tracks, from the looks of it. Probably won't find something pretty at the end of it, though.”
“Lead the way.”
Nicolai started following tracks on the ground, and the others fell in behind him, to the quiet stirring and rustling of weapons as they made sure they were prepared. Following a trail like this one would be difficult to manage without looking suspicious, so Kai figured it was only a matter of time before they drew attention, especially since they were one of the few groups actually out on the streets.
“Boss.” Nicolai's voice suddenly spoke up quietly, even though he didn't turn his head from the path in front of him.
“I know,” Rosa replied. “Ready yourselves.”
Rodric just nodded, and Kai was a bit confused. “Ready ourselves? For wh-”
His question was cut off suddenly as a throwing axe went whirling by his field of view, heading straight for Nicolai's back. The man moved with a quickness deceptive of his stocky build, and spun to one side, drawing his short blade and scanning the area where the axe had come from. Kai moved up to cover Rodric's back as planned, and turned to see a group of men not unlike the ones they had encountered earlier in the district. Only, now they were not so far in the periphery, and close to the Barovian parts of the town; no, they were deep in the heart of the Gundarakite slums, and there had been no sign of anyone else for several long minutes.
Rosa's weapon was out in an instant, and she stepped forward, not brandishing her sword so much as simply holding it at the ready. “Who are you, and what do you want?”
“You outsiders are unwelcome.” Now that he had a moment to look, Kai saw that there were seven of the men, all similarly garbed in dark brown cloaks and armed with axes. The one who spoke was a little taller than the others, and had a strange cast to his face, as if he had thicker muscle there than a normal person. “This area is off-limits to you.”
“And that's how you send a warning?” Kai remarked, one hand on the hilt of his sword over his back.
“It wasn't a warning,” the man replied as his toughs started spreading out. “It was the start of an execution.”
Rodric fell back a few more feet, towards the building that the group had been walking next to, and Nicolai moved along with him, as Kai stepped forward to join Rosa. “Looks like they're not gonna let us leave,” he said while starting to ease his sword out of its scabbard.
“Then we'll just have to deal with them.” The men started to advance, but Rosa held her ground. “Left, or right?”
“Are you kidding?” Kai broke into a dash, and finished drawing his blade entirely. “Straight up the middle!”
The apparent leader of the group had stepped into the back, letting his six fellows move forward in an arc in an attempt to surround them. Kai was uninterested in maneuvers; he slammed right into the center of the arc, his heavy swing lifting the thug he hit right off of his feet as his weapon caught his side, and almost certainly breaking a rib or two in the process. Three of the remaining toughs closed in around him, while the other two headed for Rosa. He was too busy to pay attention in that direction, but he heard a couple of swift strikes, and then the gargling groan of not just one, but two men going down.
Kai similarly made short work of the three around him, very nearly cutting through all three in one attack, and tried to turn to check on his allies, but was met with a very disturbing sight once the last of his current foes had fallen. The leader of the group was no longer where he had seen him last; instead, he had swung around to catch him on his flank. At least, Kai thought it was still the same man; he still wielded the long axe he had seen the fellow brandish originally, but now his face was twisted, his teeth having grown out to extraordinary length, his nose extended and flattened, and his ears much longer than before. His entire torso had widened a bit, and his arms pushed back against Kai's weapon with a strength few humans could have mustered. What in the world was he?! Some sort of bat monster?
The man snarled, pushed forward in their test of might, and forced Kai to step back an inch or two. “Interloper! You think I'll die so easily?”
“No, but I was really hoping you might.” Finally pushing the man...man-bat...or whatever off, Kai swung at him a couple of times, but managed to connect only with that axe. “Have you gotten a glance at yourself? You may want to go to a doctor to get that looked at, seriously.”
“Quiet!” His foe swung his axe once he found an opening, and Kai ducked and dodged back, not entirely sure that he could parry a strike from that weapon at the moment. “You'll pay for felling my men!”
“I left my coinpurse back in my other pants. Care to barter? I've got some lovely beads that would really bring out your eyes.”
“I thought I told you to-hrnk!”
Just as he was aiming another powerful axe swing, Kai lunged forward and plunged his sword into the man's barrel chest before he could change his momentum. Carrying his own weight forward, he rammed more of the blade in, and forced the man to fall over backwards, knocking his axe out of his hand in the process. At first, the guy actually reached up an arm as if to pry the weapon from his body, but Kai gave it a slight twist, making a sickening crack in the process, and his enemy let out a bestial roar before collapsing back, his eyes starting to glaze over.
When Kai was fairly sure the man was dead, he pulled his sword out of his body, and turned to look at the others. It seemed as if that initial sound had indeed been Rosa disabling the two men, because she already had them tied up and on the ground, a boot settled on the chest of one as she looked to be interrogating him. Rodric was off to the side, looking completely unruffled, while Nicolai was nowhere to be seen.
“Whatcha' got there?” Kai asked as he finished wiping his blade clean and came over.
“Probably nothing,” she replied as she ground her boot into the man's chest more, drawing out a cry of anguish. “They claim not to know anything. Not that we really need them anyway, I'm confident we can find out what's going on here without them.” She turned to look at the other man on the ground, who was very carefully not looking her way. “You hear that, rodent? You're dispensable.”
Giving the two men a look, to see if they showed any of the same strange traits as the man he had just fought, Kai didn't see anything of the sort. They looked human enough, alright. What he did see was that they had barely a scratch on them, either one. It looked as if Rosa had inflicted very surgical wounds on them with her blade; each had a bloody spot up at his shoulders, and now the one she had been stepping on sported a few bruises around his face, but beyond that they were clean. Well, relatively speaking, anyway. “Nice work there, Commander. Too bad these idiots don't know how to speak up to save their own lives, even after you went to the trouble of sparing them both.”
“Well, you can't have it all, I suppose.” Rosa's act continued – at least, Kai thought it was an act – and she gave a flippant shrug. “They're just uninformed brutes, anyway. Not as if they have any sort of respectable standing in the food chain around here.”
The bruised man started to laugh quietly, and Rosa and Kai both looked down at him, though Rosa's glance was considerably more derisive. “Oh? You have something to say, now?”
“He's gonna eat you...just like he ate all of the others.” The chuckle became an almost mad laugh, and the man took a moment to cough before continuing. “The boss doesn't normally indulge in women – says you're all too soft and fattening – but I bet he'll make a special exception for you, Legs. Ack!”
“A cannibal, is it?” Rosa took her boot back to his chest, leaning a bit of her weight onto the toe. “A lot of trouble to go to for a snack here and there. Continue.”
“That's all...you're getting,” the man said, trying and failing to spit at her. “Go ahead and kill me. Better than getting eaten alive, heh heh...you'll see.”
“Take care of this rabble for me, will you?” Rosa said with a glance to Kai.
He just nodded, and leaned down. “Certainly, m'lady.” One swift punch to the stomach apiece, and the two toughs were out cold. Standing back up, Kai brushed off his hands, and looked back to her again. “You're one scary lady when you're angry.”
“So I've been told. Nice job back there, you handled yourself quite well.”
“That was nothing. Working alone is all well and good, but I prefer teamwork, myself. Especially of the one-on-one variety. We could do some trust-building exercises later, you know.”
“Rosa, I think we may have trouble.” Rodric was so quiet that he had gone completely unnoticed by Kai again, and now he stood over the corpse of the man-bat. “He's got tainted blood, this one.”
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Rosa shook her head as she walked over to join Rodric, and Kai followed. “Great. I'd say this explains at least some of what's been going on.”
“Tainted blood?” Kai looked back and forth between them. “You've lost me there. Is that some sort of disease?”
“You could say that,” Rosa continued. “It means he's a lycanthrope, or at least something similar. Though if he is, he couldn't change entirely.”
“Damn.” Kai looked down at the man again, tilting his head from side to side a bit as he examined him. “I've never seen one in person before.”
“I would say you should hope not to run across another one ever again, but if this guy is just a minion, I'd say it means we're looking at the real deal somewhere very soon.” Rosa watched on as Rodric knelt over to do some more cursory examination. “This is still in our pay grade, but we're going to have to be even more alert from now on.”
“No sign of further attackers in the area,” came Nicolai's voice from the shadows, as the burly man walked over towards them. “Oh, great. We're up against one of those,” he said as he looked down at the body in front of them. “I assume we're still going through with this job, Boss?”
“Of course.”
Nicolai shook his head a bit, and grumbled. “Well, just make sure none of you get bitten. That's all I've gotta say.”
Nicolai peeled off ahead as they rode down the town's main street, and soon Rosa did the same, saying she was off to meet their client. Rodric and Kai headed for their inn, where they were expected; once again, Kai found himself impressed by the thorough manner of Rosa's work. A competent leader really made a job go much more smoothly. He would do his part, too; there wouldn't be any milling about town looking for odd jobs, at least not until their work was finished. Incidents like what had happened in the last town were bad enough when they just occurred on the same trip as a job – something like that happening while they were already busy could become a complete disaster very quickly. So he decided to lay low in the common room of the inn with Rodric until the others returned.
Rosa was the first to come back, in the late afternoon. Her meeting hadn't taken very long; Boyar Marinescu had been very to-the-point about discovering what was causing the disappearances. He had mentioned that tensions between the two ethnic groups were approaching a boiling point, but that had been obvious enough. The meeting had really been about negotiating the terms of pay, and getting whatever further information he could provide. As for the rest, it was up to Nicolai to unearth.
When the Barovian man returned just before sunset, it seemed that he had done just that. The disappearances were concentrated mostly in the northeastern section of the city, in the largest Gundarakite neighborhood, and tended to occur right around dusk and dawn. Also – and this wasn't being circulated very much – several of the young men who had gone missing had turned up horribly mutilated to the point where they were barely recognizable anymore, their bodies discarded like so much offal. A key fact that they hadn't originally known was that the only serious change in that district over the past few months was the rise of a minor gang leader with a reputation for particularly brutal thuggery. The possible motives were unclear, but there was little doubt that there was some connection, so they planned an investigation for the following evening.
They spent most of that night prior to retiring making plans for the next day in a private meeting room in their inn. They now had a good idea of the layout of that neighborhood thanks to Nicolai's scouting, but beyond that they didn't have too much more planning to do. When the shorter man got up to leave the table and head to bed, Kai called out to him in a jovial tone.
“Hey, Nic, why not stick around and have a drink?”
“You do realize that your very presence brings me great disgust and displeasure, don't you?” the man replied in his usual acidic tone.
Kai shrugged, and gave a half-smirk. “I'm Falkovnian, remember? Taking pleasure in the suffering of others is practically our national pastime.”
Grumbling under his breath, Nicolai continued on out of the room, and both Rosa and Rodric shared in a short laugh. She turned to look at Kai, leaning one elbow on the table comfortably. “Why do you even bother? Nicolai's as sour as they come. Skilled beyond a doubt, but not exactly the sort of person who gets buddy-buddy with anyone.”
“I dunno,” Kai responded with another shrug. “Force of habit?”
The next morning was more of the same, with Kai waiting around on the grounds of the inn while Nicolai went out to poke around for clues. The hours immediately before a crucial junction in a mission was where he had gotten a bit of a reputation in the past for being a little difficult to handle; the combination of boredom and tension started wearing on his mood as usual, and he breathed a sigh of relief when the innkeep allowed him to practice his sword forms in the stableyard. It was nothing like the experience he had had chopping firewood – which he had rather enjoyed – but Rosa came out to spar with him for a bit when she returned, so he couldn't complain in the slightest. If the hour or so that they crossed swords was any indication, she really was as good as she claimed to be, and it was always reassuring to know that one's partner was highly skilled.
Finally, the time came for them to set out, right before dinner was to be served. They had their own light fare, just enough to be refreshing without slowing them down, and then they were off to the northeastern slums. The area was just as Nicolai had described it, run-down and obviously neglected by the authorities of the town in several ways, and it was hard to say if the atmosphere involving the Gundarakites was better or worse. On the one hand, there were no tightly-packed groups looking askance at their peers, obviously keeping to themselves for fear of having the slightest contact. But on the other, there was practically no one just walking the streets, and the few they did pass scurried along as if terrified to be caught out in the open.
“Cheery place,” Kai remarked under his breath.
Nicolai scoffed at his remark. “Yeah, it's a real bloody carnival. This place is rough, to say the least, so keep your wits about you, and don't draw any more attention than we already will. That goes double for you, Falkovnian.”
“I thought we'd agreed that you would call me 'Lord Kai' from now on?”
“Knock it off, you too,” Rosa cut in, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings. “It's time to earn our pay.”
The first hour or so of searching didn't turn up anything. Occasionally, they would pass a troupe of brutish-looking men, a bit on the hairy side and wearing scowls almost to a tee, but besides clearly sizing them up, the men never made any move, and so Kai's team would just move on. Probably patrols of some sort to keep the peace, he thought, since it's pretty clear that the town militia doesn't give two damns about what happens here anymore.
That changed as they were rounding a corner in the northern edge of the district. There was a high-pitched shriek of a female voice, and the four went running to investigate. What they found was a young Gundarakite woman who had collapsed onto her knees, shaking visibly and pointing down an alleyway, where a human hand could be seen just out of the shadows, lying there as if just cast away. Kai checked to make sure she was okay, while Nicolai went up to give the scene a look.
“Just as we feared, Boss,” he called out a moment later. “We've got another, ah...'processed' one.”
As Kai helped the young woman to her feet, and sent her on her way, Rosa stepped forward to talk towards Nicolai. “Can you track where he came from?”
“They may as well have painted a great big bloody trail across fallen snow for me,” he replied with a snort. “We're not exactly dealing with someone who's trying to cover their tracks, from the looks of it. Probably won't find something pretty at the end of it, though.”
“Lead the way.”
Nicolai started following tracks on the ground, and the others fell in behind him, to the quiet stirring and rustling of weapons as they made sure they were prepared. Following a trail like this one would be difficult to manage without looking suspicious, so Kai figured it was only a matter of time before they drew attention, especially since they were one of the few groups actually out on the streets.
“Boss.” Nicolai's voice suddenly spoke up quietly, even though he didn't turn his head from the path in front of him.
“I know,” Rosa replied. “Ready yourselves.”
Rodric just nodded, and Kai was a bit confused. “Ready ourselves? For wh-”
His question was cut off suddenly as a throwing axe went whirling by his field of view, heading straight for Nicolai's back. The man moved with a quickness deceptive of his stocky build, and spun to one side, drawing his short blade and scanning the area where the axe had come from. Kai moved up to cover Rodric's back as planned, and turned to see a group of men not unlike the ones they had encountered earlier in the district. Only, now they were not so far in the periphery, and close to the Barovian parts of the town; no, they were deep in the heart of the Gundarakite slums, and there had been no sign of anyone else for several long minutes.
Rosa's weapon was out in an instant, and she stepped forward, not brandishing her sword so much as simply holding it at the ready. “Who are you, and what do you want?”
“You outsiders are unwelcome.” Now that he had a moment to look, Kai saw that there were seven of the men, all similarly garbed in dark brown cloaks and armed with axes. The one who spoke was a little taller than the others, and had a strange cast to his face, as if he had thicker muscle there than a normal person. “This area is off-limits to you.”
“And that's how you send a warning?” Kai remarked, one hand on the hilt of his sword over his back.
“It wasn't a warning,” the man replied as his toughs started spreading out. “It was the start of an execution.”
Rodric fell back a few more feet, towards the building that the group had been walking next to, and Nicolai moved along with him, as Kai stepped forward to join Rosa. “Looks like they're not gonna let us leave,” he said while starting to ease his sword out of its scabbard.
“Then we'll just have to deal with them.” The men started to advance, but Rosa held her ground. “Left, or right?”
“Are you kidding?” Kai broke into a dash, and finished drawing his blade entirely. “Straight up the middle!”
The apparent leader of the group had stepped into the back, letting his six fellows move forward in an arc in an attempt to surround them. Kai was uninterested in maneuvers; he slammed right into the center of the arc, his heavy swing lifting the thug he hit right off of his feet as his weapon caught his side, and almost certainly breaking a rib or two in the process. Three of the remaining toughs closed in around him, while the other two headed for Rosa. He was too busy to pay attention in that direction, but he heard a couple of swift strikes, and then the gargling groan of not just one, but two men going down.
Kai similarly made short work of the three around him, very nearly cutting through all three in one attack, and tried to turn to check on his allies, but was met with a very disturbing sight once the last of his current foes had fallen. The leader of the group was no longer where he had seen him last; instead, he had swung around to catch him on his flank. At least, Kai thought it was still the same man; he still wielded the long axe he had seen the fellow brandish originally, but now his face was twisted, his teeth having grown out to extraordinary length, his nose extended and flattened, and his ears much longer than before. His entire torso had widened a bit, and his arms pushed back against Kai's weapon with a strength few humans could have mustered. What in the world was he?! Some sort of bat monster?
The man snarled, pushed forward in their test of might, and forced Kai to step back an inch or two. “Interloper! You think I'll die so easily?”
“No, but I was really hoping you might.” Finally pushing the man...man-bat...or whatever off, Kai swung at him a couple of times, but managed to connect only with that axe. “Have you gotten a glance at yourself? You may want to go to a doctor to get that looked at, seriously.”
“Quiet!” His foe swung his axe once he found an opening, and Kai ducked and dodged back, not entirely sure that he could parry a strike from that weapon at the moment. “You'll pay for felling my men!”
“I left my coinpurse back in my other pants. Care to barter? I've got some lovely beads that would really bring out your eyes.”
“I thought I told you to-hrnk!”
Just as he was aiming another powerful axe swing, Kai lunged forward and plunged his sword into the man's barrel chest before he could change his momentum. Carrying his own weight forward, he rammed more of the blade in, and forced the man to fall over backwards, knocking his axe out of his hand in the process. At first, the guy actually reached up an arm as if to pry the weapon from his body, but Kai gave it a slight twist, making a sickening crack in the process, and his enemy let out a bestial roar before collapsing back, his eyes starting to glaze over.
When Kai was fairly sure the man was dead, he pulled his sword out of his body, and turned to look at the others. It seemed as if that initial sound had indeed been Rosa disabling the two men, because she already had them tied up and on the ground, a boot settled on the chest of one as she looked to be interrogating him. Rodric was off to the side, looking completely unruffled, while Nicolai was nowhere to be seen.
“Whatcha' got there?” Kai asked as he finished wiping his blade clean and came over.
“Probably nothing,” she replied as she ground her boot into the man's chest more, drawing out a cry of anguish. “They claim not to know anything. Not that we really need them anyway, I'm confident we can find out what's going on here without them.” She turned to look at the other man on the ground, who was very carefully not looking her way. “You hear that, rodent? You're dispensable.”
Giving the two men a look, to see if they showed any of the same strange traits as the man he had just fought, Kai didn't see anything of the sort. They looked human enough, alright. What he did see was that they had barely a scratch on them, either one. It looked as if Rosa had inflicted very surgical wounds on them with her blade; each had a bloody spot up at his shoulders, and now the one she had been stepping on sported a few bruises around his face, but beyond that they were clean. Well, relatively speaking, anyway. “Nice work there, Commander. Too bad these idiots don't know how to speak up to save their own lives, even after you went to the trouble of sparing them both.”
“Well, you can't have it all, I suppose.” Rosa's act continued – at least, Kai thought it was an act – and she gave a flippant shrug. “They're just uninformed brutes, anyway. Not as if they have any sort of respectable standing in the food chain around here.”
The bruised man started to laugh quietly, and Rosa and Kai both looked down at him, though Rosa's glance was considerably more derisive. “Oh? You have something to say, now?”
“He's gonna eat you...just like he ate all of the others.” The chuckle became an almost mad laugh, and the man took a moment to cough before continuing. “The boss doesn't normally indulge in women – says you're all too soft and fattening – but I bet he'll make a special exception for you, Legs. Ack!”
“A cannibal, is it?” Rosa took her boot back to his chest, leaning a bit of her weight onto the toe. “A lot of trouble to go to for a snack here and there. Continue.”
“That's all...you're getting,” the man said, trying and failing to spit at her. “Go ahead and kill me. Better than getting eaten alive, heh heh...you'll see.”
“Take care of this rabble for me, will you?” Rosa said with a glance to Kai.
He just nodded, and leaned down. “Certainly, m'lady.” One swift punch to the stomach apiece, and the two toughs were out cold. Standing back up, Kai brushed off his hands, and looked back to her again. “You're one scary lady when you're angry.”
“So I've been told. Nice job back there, you handled yourself quite well.”
“That was nothing. Working alone is all well and good, but I prefer teamwork, myself. Especially of the one-on-one variety. We could do some trust-building exercises later, you know.”
“Rosa, I think we may have trouble.” Rodric was so quiet that he had gone completely unnoticed by Kai again, and now he stood over the corpse of the man-bat. “He's got tainted blood, this one.”
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Rosa shook her head as she walked over to join Rodric, and Kai followed. “Great. I'd say this explains at least some of what's been going on.”
“Tainted blood?” Kai looked back and forth between them. “You've lost me there. Is that some sort of disease?”
“You could say that,” Rosa continued. “It means he's a lycanthrope, or at least something similar. Though if he is, he couldn't change entirely.”
“Damn.” Kai looked down at the man again, tilting his head from side to side a bit as he examined him. “I've never seen one in person before.”
“I would say you should hope not to run across another one ever again, but if this guy is just a minion, I'd say it means we're looking at the real deal somewhere very soon.” Rosa watched on as Rodric knelt over to do some more cursory examination. “This is still in our pay grade, but we're going to have to be even more alert from now on.”
“No sign of further attackers in the area,” came Nicolai's voice from the shadows, as the burly man walked over towards them. “Oh, great. We're up against one of those,” he said as he looked down at the body in front of them. “I assume we're still going through with this job, Boss?”
“Of course.”
Nicolai shook his head a bit, and grumbled. “Well, just make sure none of you get bitten. That's all I've gotta say.”
A Raven's Feather, Part Five
The trail Nicolai followed led them deeper into the heart of the district. Though they managed to avoid any further “patrols,” it was clear that they were entering a truly dangerous area. Where other people had been sparse before, here they were completely absent. Oh, there were candles lit in windows, and every now and then a face could be seen watching the group go by, but no one left the buildings they were in. That was probably largely due to the fact that night had fallen during their travel, but it was still unnerving all the same.
“There's definitely something vile at work here,” Rodric said quietly as they walked, and even then his soft voice seemed to resound in Kai's ears, with the deathly silence that surrounded them.
The silence was suddenly broken by a scream, this time of a male voice. “That's just two or three streets over!” Nicolai said, his ears practically perking up.
“Alright then, let's go.” Rosa looked at each of them quickly in turn. “Kai, you stick next to Rodric. Nicolai, you're with me. Be careful.”
Heading into action in pairs, the team found an entire gang of people awaiting them. A full squad of no fewer than ten thugs cordoned off a side street, each one of them looking much bigger and stronger than the ones they had just fought. In the center of the street was a frightened-looking teenage boy, stumbling backwards away from a slender giant of a man with wild hair, and the two hooded figures who stood at his back like a pair of hounds. The man himself was bare-chested and bare-footed, wearing only pants that looked a bit baggy on him, though he bore strange markings along his chest and arms, which were currently crossed in an arrogant manner.
“...o use running, you know,” the tall man was just saying to the boy as Kai got within earshot. “I have a nice Dementlieuese wine that goes great with rib meat, but you're going to make it all tough and stringy with your panicked breathing.” His eyes caught sight of them as they approached, and he lifted his gaze their way to take them in; the boy was backing right towards his companions, anyway. “And just who in blazes are you? I'm busy now, so come back la-”
About half of his goons had turned around to intercept the new arrivals, but Kai and Rosa slammed into them like a crashing wave. However, neither managed to drop one right away; instead, all of the men started to mutate like the one Kai had fought before, taking on the facial qualities of a bat and becoming feral and wild. The melee quickly became a tangle, with Kai and Rosa each fighting several toughs at once, while Nicolai darted among them with his short blade and Rodric hung back to keep an eye on the big guy and his two other henchmen, the latter of which had moved forward to seize the boy.
Though he was busy fighting, deflecting an axe here and there and using the momentum to carry himself into a swipe of his own, Kai caught a glimpse of the leader's face. He didn't look concerned in the least; rather, he looked amused if anything. The smart thing for him to have done would have been to retreat with his prize while the fight was going on; why wasn't he running? Disabling first one, then a second, of his foes, he tried keeping an eye on the man as well. There was something very, very not right with him, and Kai could practically smell it.
Kai saw the tip of Rosa's sword appear through the throat of one of the men, and she dispatched another with an almost casual flick of her blade across his neck, just as Nicolai put both the blade he had been using and a dagger he had drawn into the kidneys of two more. The fighting was furious, but a few moments later they had dispatched all of the lackeys, and now only the leader and his two cloaked hounds remained. One of their arms, apparently hairy and very thick, covered the boy's mouth to keep him from screaming again, but his eyes remained wide in terror.
“Well, well. It seems I've found some interesting prey tonight.” The man's voice was slick and dangerous, and a light of pure hunger suddenly filled his eyes. “It looks as if that wine can wait; we'll be bringing home a melange tonight, gentlemen. Make sure that whelp stays alive, though; he'll be dessert.”
The hooded figure who was holding the boy captive clubbed him on the side of the head, and let him collapse into the dirt of the street, then threw back his hood, along with his fellow. Whereas the men who had just been killed bore some bat-like features, these two looked literally as if someone had stuck a bat's head on the body of a man. Their eyes burned with feral rage, and they roared out as they tore off their cloaks and charged into the fray.
“Stay...on your toes...!” Rosa managed out as she did just that, nimbly managing to avoid getting clawed, but only barely. Nicolai harried the same enemy from his blind spots, and together they managed to strike a few crushing blows on their foe, but he kept on attacking.
Kai wasn't having a much easier time. He and Rodric teamed up on the second of the two creatures, with the priest having finally drawn a sword, that he seemed very adept with. Considering that Kai could tell that he wasn't hitting as hard as normal himself, he hadn't expected that Rodric's blade would pierce the creature's hide very well – so it was a surprise when he actually noticed it recoiling almost as much from the priest's blade than from his own weapon.
A cry from Rosa and Nicolai's direction drew his attention suddenly, and he glanced their way when he had a chance to see the short man reeling back from a vicious bite into his shoulder. But rather than collapse, or even take another step back, he just glared up at the creature, and dashed around one of its swinging claws to put both of his weapons into its rib cage to their hilts. “Take that, you ugly sonuvabitch!”
Rosa finished the job as the thing reared back in agony, putting her sword right into its throat, but then another sound tore through the street, a vicious, bloodthirsty howl. It came not from either of the two beasts, but from the tall man himself. He had thrown back his arms, and his muscles suddenly had grown to dwarf even those of his two pets. They were practically beasts, and his other servants mostly human, but he was something else...something truly between. The same facial structure as theirs, but perfected; leathery wings had grown up along his arms, and his hands were wicked, clawed things. Clearly, he was a creature that had been made to do one thing above all else – kill.
Still pinned down by the assault of the remaining henchman, Kai could only watch as the werebat bounded over to Rosa. Despite that last strike that had helped fell the creature, Nicolai looked to be in no condition to continue fighting; several long gashes along his arms were visible from claw rakes, and he clutched painfully at one leg as he dropped onto his back. Which was most likely why the werebat all-but-ignored him for the time being, leaping towards Rosa and attempting to tear her apart.
“What luck,” he spoke, his voice still smooth enough despite his transformation to seem unsettling. “I usually find women all fluff and no real substance, but you look to be a strong one. I'm sure your blood will be delicious.”
“Not...a chance!”
The creature he was still fighting took a swipe at Kai as his attention was diverted, and despite being clearly on its last legs, it managed to put quite a bit of hate into it, raking him across the side of his neck. It cried out in pain as Rodric stabbed it again, though, and turned its attention toward him.
“Can you handle the rest of this?” Kai asked his comrade around the monster.
“Yes, I'll be fine.” Rodric's voice was relatively unruffled, and he did indeed seem to be just dandy.
“Good. 'Cuz I'm gonna go play.” Disengaging from that fight, Kai broke into a full-on rush as he headed for the werebat, clearing his mind and transferring as much of his momentum into his attack as he could manage. “Erste Streik!”
He had been pressing the attack rather forcefully against Rosa, but when Kai came blitzing at him out of nowhere, the werebat found himself on the receiving end of a grievous slice. Though he knew he still didn't get fully through his hide, Kai was confident that he had made him feel that one several times over, and if the roar he heard in response was any indication, he had been quite successful.
The beast turned in a fury, and gave him one in return, catching him along the arm with his claws and leaving a deep, stinging gash there. He tried to bite at his throat, but Kai managed to shove him away just enough to throw the attack off. “To think mere food is giving me such a hard time! I'm going to enjoy tearing out your throat, boy!”
“But I need my throat!” Kai found it hard to keep up with this guy. He was quick, way quicker than Kai himself, and if not for the fact that Kai's weapon was big enough that moving it to stop an attack didn't require as much distance, he knew he probably would have been hurting pretty badly by then. “Besides, your buddies are almost all gone. Can't you just go and get a nice steak somewhere, instead of eating people?”
“All gone?” The beast tried to bowl him over, but Kai out-bruted him somehow. “You speak as if I cannot simply make more. This just means I have to share less when I dine tonight.”
“Except you're forgetting that you're up against a team,” Rosa said as she stabbed into the creature from the side. “We're a lot more dangerous than a lone, defenseless teenager, you know.”
Snarling, the werebat took a wild swing at her after that, but she managed to duck out of the way. “Insolent rabble, pure and simple!”
“Why Gundarakite kids?!” Kai went on the offensive again, trying to get the creature off of his balance. “Why rile up an already tense situation?”
“I care little for this 'tense situation.' I just go for the people who won't be missed. Efficient, and rather elegant, in its simplicity, wouldn't you agree?”
“Man-eating scum!” Rosa aimed a stab at the creature's shoulder, her blade coursing with cold energy, but he managed to dodge back just in time to avoid having his arm severed, though it did leave a deep slash that bled profusely. “This ends, tonight!”
“Only for you, my dear.” Turning with preternatural quickness, the creature hit Kai with a haymaker just as he was closing for another attack, that knocked him through the air and into a wall over twenty feet away. “Now, how about a sample?” He then pounced onto Rosa, using his vastly superior mass to pin her to the ground, roaring right in her face as he bared his dagger-like teeth. “Neck meat is always so tender and juicy, but perhaps I should start with a thigh, just this once?”
“Like hell!” Though the wind was temporarily knocked out of him by the force of that attack, Kai retrieved his sword a few seconds later, and charged like a bolt at the werebat. Finding just the opening he needed, he carved several inches into the beast's hide, and succeeded in knocking him off of Rosa, huffing for air at the exertion needed to do so.
Rolling with the force of Kai's attack, the werebat still teetered a bit as he regained his footing several feet away, and snarled viciously as he looked at them. “Persistent little pests, aren't you? But no matter; I'll deal with you another night.” Spreading his wings, he pushed off of the ground with his powerful leg muscles, and soared up into the air, attempting to flee from the battle.
“Damn...he's getting away!” Rosa coughed as she got back to her feet. Rodric had sliced open the abdomen of the creature he and Kai had been fighting, and was now attending to Nicolai, who was still breathing heavily on the ground but looked significantly better already. “We'll need to come up with-”
“I've got this.” Spitting out a bit of blood from a nasty gash in his mouth caused by that impact against the wall, Kai glanced her way. “He's not getting away.”
Opening her mouth to most likely ask what he meant, Rosa looked more than a little surprised as Kai's armor shed its disguise, dropping its illusion of dark blue clothing. Covering him in hawk-branded, full-body steel, and folding out its razor-sharp wings, the Talon plate armor glinted in the light of the flawless moon overhead. “You sure you want to do that here?”
“Protecting these people comes first.” Kai's voice rang with that slightly metallic sound it held when his helmet was up and active. “Just be ready to beat feet out of here when I get back.” And with that, he launched himself into the air, and flew like a bullet towards the retreating werebat.
For his part, the lycanthrope looked wholly and unpleasantly surprised when Kai closed the distance in no time flat. At first, he tried to just flee, but when it became apparent that the intercept course was basically inescapable, he turned to brace for impact. “What's a dog of Falknovia's military doing all the way out here?!”
“I don't have to answer that.” The creature met his initial charge, but Kai could feel him giving way a bit; it seemed that those last few attacks had really taken their toll. “Just as my friend said, this ends tonight.”
For once, the man-bat didn't have a witty retort, instead concentrating his all into trying to fight off his foe. His claws slashed in a flurry, and he delivered more than a few gruesome bites, but even the attacks that went through had considerably less effect than before. The creature seemed to realize that Kai was not only faster now, but a lot tougher, and started trying to strike at him from odd mid-air angles. Blade clashed with claw high in the air, and more than once Kai felt himself nearly get sent plummeting back to the earth, but he never relented, always sailing back into the fray.
The bloody, frenzied melee came to an end when Kai managed to catch the werebat in a moment of weakness. Putting every bit of his weight behind his sword as it slammed into the lycanthrope's midsection, Kai followed through on the attack until they were both crashing towards the ground, and then pushed off of the creature in the last second or two before they would have hit, letting his wings carry him a few feet away to a safer landing as the werebat slammed into the dirt of the street in a bloody pile.
Letting first his helmet, and then the rest of his armor meld back into “clothes,” Kai suddenly realized just how exhausted he was, and fell over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. His wounds stung, and he became painfully aware of how many bites he had suffered. “The rest of you...okay?”
“Right as rain,” Rosa replied, walking over to examine his wounds. She had apparently already been healed, as the cuts she had suffered had all vanished. “You look like hell, though.”
“Then I did my job.”
“That's a job you can keep,” she said with a laugh. “Now, come on over here so Rodric can have a look at you.”
Once Rodric had healed them all up, they escorted the boy to his home – with a stern warning to stay inside at night when people were vanishing – and then set off on their way again, with Kai discovering that he didn't at all care for the taste of belladonna. With as large of a group as they had dealt with, Nicolai found following their trail back to their base of operations laughably easy. As suspected, the werebat had not been operating out of the Gundarakite district at all, instead holed up in a comfortable manor house that seemed startlingly devoid of the usual number of servants and attendants for such a lavish estate. Blood stains here and there hinted at what had happened to the original occupants. A number of goons remained on the grounds, though the team managed to dispatch most and send the others scattering with relatively little difficulty.
The cellar of the manor provided the remaining evidence they needed to wrap up this situation. For the werebat seemed to have been rather dutiful in the preparation of his kills for long-term storage; human corpses hung in various states of preservation like so much salted beef, well over a dozen, and all of them appearing to be young men of around the same age as the one they had saved that night. The fact that they had all still been alive when he started feasting on them, if the werebat's inclinations had been any indication, made the scene all the more bone-chilling.
By the time they finished exploring the grounds, it was still late in the night, with at least another couple of hours until dawn. So they stuck around; as Rosa had thought, more toughs had shown up as if for guard duty, so they were able to clear out a bit more of the rabble before the first lights of dawn filtered into the sky. As the job was more or less complete, it was time to head back to their inn.
“There's definitely something vile at work here,” Rodric said quietly as they walked, and even then his soft voice seemed to resound in Kai's ears, with the deathly silence that surrounded them.
The silence was suddenly broken by a scream, this time of a male voice. “That's just two or three streets over!” Nicolai said, his ears practically perking up.
“Alright then, let's go.” Rosa looked at each of them quickly in turn. “Kai, you stick next to Rodric. Nicolai, you're with me. Be careful.”
Heading into action in pairs, the team found an entire gang of people awaiting them. A full squad of no fewer than ten thugs cordoned off a side street, each one of them looking much bigger and stronger than the ones they had just fought. In the center of the street was a frightened-looking teenage boy, stumbling backwards away from a slender giant of a man with wild hair, and the two hooded figures who stood at his back like a pair of hounds. The man himself was bare-chested and bare-footed, wearing only pants that looked a bit baggy on him, though he bore strange markings along his chest and arms, which were currently crossed in an arrogant manner.
“...o use running, you know,” the tall man was just saying to the boy as Kai got within earshot. “I have a nice Dementlieuese wine that goes great with rib meat, but you're going to make it all tough and stringy with your panicked breathing.” His eyes caught sight of them as they approached, and he lifted his gaze their way to take them in; the boy was backing right towards his companions, anyway. “And just who in blazes are you? I'm busy now, so come back la-”
About half of his goons had turned around to intercept the new arrivals, but Kai and Rosa slammed into them like a crashing wave. However, neither managed to drop one right away; instead, all of the men started to mutate like the one Kai had fought before, taking on the facial qualities of a bat and becoming feral and wild. The melee quickly became a tangle, with Kai and Rosa each fighting several toughs at once, while Nicolai darted among them with his short blade and Rodric hung back to keep an eye on the big guy and his two other henchmen, the latter of which had moved forward to seize the boy.
Though he was busy fighting, deflecting an axe here and there and using the momentum to carry himself into a swipe of his own, Kai caught a glimpse of the leader's face. He didn't look concerned in the least; rather, he looked amused if anything. The smart thing for him to have done would have been to retreat with his prize while the fight was going on; why wasn't he running? Disabling first one, then a second, of his foes, he tried keeping an eye on the man as well. There was something very, very not right with him, and Kai could practically smell it.
Kai saw the tip of Rosa's sword appear through the throat of one of the men, and she dispatched another with an almost casual flick of her blade across his neck, just as Nicolai put both the blade he had been using and a dagger he had drawn into the kidneys of two more. The fighting was furious, but a few moments later they had dispatched all of the lackeys, and now only the leader and his two cloaked hounds remained. One of their arms, apparently hairy and very thick, covered the boy's mouth to keep him from screaming again, but his eyes remained wide in terror.
“Well, well. It seems I've found some interesting prey tonight.” The man's voice was slick and dangerous, and a light of pure hunger suddenly filled his eyes. “It looks as if that wine can wait; we'll be bringing home a melange tonight, gentlemen. Make sure that whelp stays alive, though; he'll be dessert.”
The hooded figure who was holding the boy captive clubbed him on the side of the head, and let him collapse into the dirt of the street, then threw back his hood, along with his fellow. Whereas the men who had just been killed bore some bat-like features, these two looked literally as if someone had stuck a bat's head on the body of a man. Their eyes burned with feral rage, and they roared out as they tore off their cloaks and charged into the fray.
“Stay...on your toes...!” Rosa managed out as she did just that, nimbly managing to avoid getting clawed, but only barely. Nicolai harried the same enemy from his blind spots, and together they managed to strike a few crushing blows on their foe, but he kept on attacking.
Kai wasn't having a much easier time. He and Rodric teamed up on the second of the two creatures, with the priest having finally drawn a sword, that he seemed very adept with. Considering that Kai could tell that he wasn't hitting as hard as normal himself, he hadn't expected that Rodric's blade would pierce the creature's hide very well – so it was a surprise when he actually noticed it recoiling almost as much from the priest's blade than from his own weapon.
A cry from Rosa and Nicolai's direction drew his attention suddenly, and he glanced their way when he had a chance to see the short man reeling back from a vicious bite into his shoulder. But rather than collapse, or even take another step back, he just glared up at the creature, and dashed around one of its swinging claws to put both of his weapons into its rib cage to their hilts. “Take that, you ugly sonuvabitch!”
Rosa finished the job as the thing reared back in agony, putting her sword right into its throat, but then another sound tore through the street, a vicious, bloodthirsty howl. It came not from either of the two beasts, but from the tall man himself. He had thrown back his arms, and his muscles suddenly had grown to dwarf even those of his two pets. They were practically beasts, and his other servants mostly human, but he was something else...something truly between. The same facial structure as theirs, but perfected; leathery wings had grown up along his arms, and his hands were wicked, clawed things. Clearly, he was a creature that had been made to do one thing above all else – kill.
Still pinned down by the assault of the remaining henchman, Kai could only watch as the werebat bounded over to Rosa. Despite that last strike that had helped fell the creature, Nicolai looked to be in no condition to continue fighting; several long gashes along his arms were visible from claw rakes, and he clutched painfully at one leg as he dropped onto his back. Which was most likely why the werebat all-but-ignored him for the time being, leaping towards Rosa and attempting to tear her apart.
“What luck,” he spoke, his voice still smooth enough despite his transformation to seem unsettling. “I usually find women all fluff and no real substance, but you look to be a strong one. I'm sure your blood will be delicious.”
“Not...a chance!”
The creature he was still fighting took a swipe at Kai as his attention was diverted, and despite being clearly on its last legs, it managed to put quite a bit of hate into it, raking him across the side of his neck. It cried out in pain as Rodric stabbed it again, though, and turned its attention toward him.
“Can you handle the rest of this?” Kai asked his comrade around the monster.
“Yes, I'll be fine.” Rodric's voice was relatively unruffled, and he did indeed seem to be just dandy.
“Good. 'Cuz I'm gonna go play.” Disengaging from that fight, Kai broke into a full-on rush as he headed for the werebat, clearing his mind and transferring as much of his momentum into his attack as he could manage. “Erste Streik!”
He had been pressing the attack rather forcefully against Rosa, but when Kai came blitzing at him out of nowhere, the werebat found himself on the receiving end of a grievous slice. Though he knew he still didn't get fully through his hide, Kai was confident that he had made him feel that one several times over, and if the roar he heard in response was any indication, he had been quite successful.
The beast turned in a fury, and gave him one in return, catching him along the arm with his claws and leaving a deep, stinging gash there. He tried to bite at his throat, but Kai managed to shove him away just enough to throw the attack off. “To think mere food is giving me such a hard time! I'm going to enjoy tearing out your throat, boy!”
“But I need my throat!” Kai found it hard to keep up with this guy. He was quick, way quicker than Kai himself, and if not for the fact that Kai's weapon was big enough that moving it to stop an attack didn't require as much distance, he knew he probably would have been hurting pretty badly by then. “Besides, your buddies are almost all gone. Can't you just go and get a nice steak somewhere, instead of eating people?”
“All gone?” The beast tried to bowl him over, but Kai out-bruted him somehow. “You speak as if I cannot simply make more. This just means I have to share less when I dine tonight.”
“Except you're forgetting that you're up against a team,” Rosa said as she stabbed into the creature from the side. “We're a lot more dangerous than a lone, defenseless teenager, you know.”
Snarling, the werebat took a wild swing at her after that, but she managed to duck out of the way. “Insolent rabble, pure and simple!”
“Why Gundarakite kids?!” Kai went on the offensive again, trying to get the creature off of his balance. “Why rile up an already tense situation?”
“I care little for this 'tense situation.' I just go for the people who won't be missed. Efficient, and rather elegant, in its simplicity, wouldn't you agree?”
“Man-eating scum!” Rosa aimed a stab at the creature's shoulder, her blade coursing with cold energy, but he managed to dodge back just in time to avoid having his arm severed, though it did leave a deep slash that bled profusely. “This ends, tonight!”
“Only for you, my dear.” Turning with preternatural quickness, the creature hit Kai with a haymaker just as he was closing for another attack, that knocked him through the air and into a wall over twenty feet away. “Now, how about a sample?” He then pounced onto Rosa, using his vastly superior mass to pin her to the ground, roaring right in her face as he bared his dagger-like teeth. “Neck meat is always so tender and juicy, but perhaps I should start with a thigh, just this once?”
“Like hell!” Though the wind was temporarily knocked out of him by the force of that attack, Kai retrieved his sword a few seconds later, and charged like a bolt at the werebat. Finding just the opening he needed, he carved several inches into the beast's hide, and succeeded in knocking him off of Rosa, huffing for air at the exertion needed to do so.
Rolling with the force of Kai's attack, the werebat still teetered a bit as he regained his footing several feet away, and snarled viciously as he looked at them. “Persistent little pests, aren't you? But no matter; I'll deal with you another night.” Spreading his wings, he pushed off of the ground with his powerful leg muscles, and soared up into the air, attempting to flee from the battle.
“Damn...he's getting away!” Rosa coughed as she got back to her feet. Rodric had sliced open the abdomen of the creature he and Kai had been fighting, and was now attending to Nicolai, who was still breathing heavily on the ground but looked significantly better already. “We'll need to come up with-”
“I've got this.” Spitting out a bit of blood from a nasty gash in his mouth caused by that impact against the wall, Kai glanced her way. “He's not getting away.”
Opening her mouth to most likely ask what he meant, Rosa looked more than a little surprised as Kai's armor shed its disguise, dropping its illusion of dark blue clothing. Covering him in hawk-branded, full-body steel, and folding out its razor-sharp wings, the Talon plate armor glinted in the light of the flawless moon overhead. “You sure you want to do that here?”
“Protecting these people comes first.” Kai's voice rang with that slightly metallic sound it held when his helmet was up and active. “Just be ready to beat feet out of here when I get back.” And with that, he launched himself into the air, and flew like a bullet towards the retreating werebat.
For his part, the lycanthrope looked wholly and unpleasantly surprised when Kai closed the distance in no time flat. At first, he tried to just flee, but when it became apparent that the intercept course was basically inescapable, he turned to brace for impact. “What's a dog of Falknovia's military doing all the way out here?!”
“I don't have to answer that.” The creature met his initial charge, but Kai could feel him giving way a bit; it seemed that those last few attacks had really taken their toll. “Just as my friend said, this ends tonight.”
For once, the man-bat didn't have a witty retort, instead concentrating his all into trying to fight off his foe. His claws slashed in a flurry, and he delivered more than a few gruesome bites, but even the attacks that went through had considerably less effect than before. The creature seemed to realize that Kai was not only faster now, but a lot tougher, and started trying to strike at him from odd mid-air angles. Blade clashed with claw high in the air, and more than once Kai felt himself nearly get sent plummeting back to the earth, but he never relented, always sailing back into the fray.
The bloody, frenzied melee came to an end when Kai managed to catch the werebat in a moment of weakness. Putting every bit of his weight behind his sword as it slammed into the lycanthrope's midsection, Kai followed through on the attack until they were both crashing towards the ground, and then pushed off of the creature in the last second or two before they would have hit, letting his wings carry him a few feet away to a safer landing as the werebat slammed into the dirt of the street in a bloody pile.
Letting first his helmet, and then the rest of his armor meld back into “clothes,” Kai suddenly realized just how exhausted he was, and fell over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. His wounds stung, and he became painfully aware of how many bites he had suffered. “The rest of you...okay?”
“Right as rain,” Rosa replied, walking over to examine his wounds. She had apparently already been healed, as the cuts she had suffered had all vanished. “You look like hell, though.”
“Then I did my job.”
“That's a job you can keep,” she said with a laugh. “Now, come on over here so Rodric can have a look at you.”
Once Rodric had healed them all up, they escorted the boy to his home – with a stern warning to stay inside at night when people were vanishing – and then set off on their way again, with Kai discovering that he didn't at all care for the taste of belladonna. With as large of a group as they had dealt with, Nicolai found following their trail back to their base of operations laughably easy. As suspected, the werebat had not been operating out of the Gundarakite district at all, instead holed up in a comfortable manor house that seemed startlingly devoid of the usual number of servants and attendants for such a lavish estate. Blood stains here and there hinted at what had happened to the original occupants. A number of goons remained on the grounds, though the team managed to dispatch most and send the others scattering with relatively little difficulty.
The cellar of the manor provided the remaining evidence they needed to wrap up this situation. For the werebat seemed to have been rather dutiful in the preparation of his kills for long-term storage; human corpses hung in various states of preservation like so much salted beef, well over a dozen, and all of them appearing to be young men of around the same age as the one they had saved that night. The fact that they had all still been alive when he started feasting on them, if the werebat's inclinations had been any indication, made the scene all the more bone-chilling.
By the time they finished exploring the grounds, it was still late in the night, with at least another couple of hours until dawn. So they stuck around; as Rosa had thought, more toughs had shown up as if for guard duty, so they were able to clear out a bit more of the rabble before the first lights of dawn filtered into the sky. As the job was more or less complete, it was time to head back to their inn.
A Raven's Feather, Part Fin
Thanks for reading this far. This is the final piece of A Raven's Feather. I hope you'll check out more of my work ^_^.
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The next day, after they had slept until early afternoon, their investigation resumed. Nicolai came back with the news that people had seen two shapes fighting in the sky over the town the previous night, one of which had seemed to be some sort of bat creature. No one had quite been able to make out the other one, besides the occasional glint of something metallic. Rosa informed Boyar Marinescu of their findings in that manor house, and he pulled some strings to get the town militia to go in force, clearing out any remaining thugs and retrieving the bodies of the victims for proper burial. The man was as good as his word; according to Rosa, he had been very pleased with the results, and had paid them a bonus on top of their agreed-upon salary.
To be on the safe side, the team conducted another search that next night. If there were more goons involved in the killings, then they had decided it best to lay low for a while, as the streets were clear of any such activity. Kai would have probably preferred to stick around for at least another week, just to make sure, but he also knew that mercenaries, in particular outsider mercenaries, could only count on gratitude for so long. If he stuck around, even to try and make things safer for the locals, he would wear out his welcome before much longer, now that they knew he was a warrior; warriors had a bad habit of drawing trouble.
That night, as they got back to their inn – Marinescu had paid the owner quite handsomely to actually allow them re-entrance after dark – they divvied up the reward in the same private room as before. More money than he had seen in some months, and enough supplies for each of them to last at least another three weeks; it was hard to argue with that result.
“Ahhhh...sweet, sweet money,” Nicolai said as he ran his hands through his share of the pay. “Hello, wolf-fangs. How I missed you so.” The man's grin was almost sickeningly cheerful.
“Looks like I won out, after all,” Kai said to him with a triumphant smirk.
Nicolai furrowed his brows, and frowned in response. “What do you mean, 'you won out?'”
“Well, as I recall it, I was the one who chopped that werebat like a piece of firewood. So that means I made you smile.”
“Yeah, right. You and the Boss, you mean,” he said with a snort, and looked to Rosa. “Right?”
“Actually...” Rosa's grin was sly and conspiratorial. “While it's true that we fought him together, it was Kai who flew after him and made the kill. So I'd say that, yes, he wins.”
Nicolai's jaw dropped a little, and he looked for the world as if he had just been utterly betrayed. Rodric laughed, more heartily than he had thus far on the trip, and patted the shorter man's shoulder. “She's got you there, old-timer.”
“Bah!” Nicolai shoved Rodric's hand away, but the motion was clearly only half-hearted. “Bastard can't just do his job, he's gotta expect congratulations for it. Well, you took so long that nearly all of us got bitten in the process. If you'd been a bit quicker about it, maybe we wouldn't have had to eat that awful wolfsbane. Thanks a lot, you slacker.”
“You're welcome.”
Muttering to himself under his breath, as Rodric continued to laugh, Nicolai gathered up his portion and poured it into one of his packs. “Bloody Falkovnian labar,” was the last thing Kai was able to make out as the man left for his room.
“Good night, Nicolai!” Rosa called after him a grin.
“On that note, I think it's time for me to retire as well.” Rodric wiped his eyes a little, still chuckling a bit. “Don't stay up too late, now. We've all had quite a busy few days.”
“Of course. You know how responsible I am,” Kai said while leaning back in his chair, propping his arms behind his head. With a wave, Rodric gathered up his things, and then he, too, was gone.
Rosa had already put her share away, her pouches arranged neatly on the floor with one shoulder strap looped through each of their clasps, and she shook her head a bit as she looked towards the door. “I'd say that's the most fun those two have had in quite some time.”
“Those two?” Kai looked at her in surprise. “You're including Nicolai?”
“Of course I am,” she said with a quiet laugh. “He acts like he swallowed a whole cart full of lemons at once, but he enjoys the back-and-forth as much as we do.”
“And what about you?” he asked with a roguish smile. “Have you been having fun as well?”
“Actually, yes.” She smiled back, and nodded once. “It's not often that I get to travel with a soft-hearted Falkovnian runaway who can't take anything seriously. It's done wonders for my mood.”
“S'what I'm here for, Leader.” Drawing in a deep, relaxed breath, Kai laughed to himself, and then set about packing things up as well. “It's been a blast for me, too. I don't often get to work in a group.” She must have noticed the wistful tone he had accidentally infused that with, because she grew quiet. Just as he finished with his packing, he noticed her scoot her chair over towards his, and he looked back to her once more. She looked...concerned. “...Rosa? What is it?”
She clearly hesitated for a moment, but then she drew in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second or two. “You know...people like us, we don't get to live like normal human beings. Friends, family, peace and quiet...so much of that takes a backseat to just surviving, sometimes.”
He nodded in response, looking towards the surface of the table for a moment. “Yeah. It's the price we pay for our freedom, I suppose.”
“Freedom...” she dwelt on that word for a moment. “I suppose that's one way to put it, after all.”
“Is something on your mind?” It was a stupid question; of course something was on her mind. The conversation was practically dripping with subtext. When he looked back to her, she had opened her eyes again, and was looking straight at him, studying him again. But not quite in the same manner as before.
“...I do enjoy our banter,” she began, “and I respect you as a warrior and comrade.”
“That goes double for me, Rosa.” Polished sapphires; he had been right on the money with that one.
“But you and I, well...we're not couple material.” She seemed as if she wanted to look away at that, but she held her gaze fast to his own, not breaking eye contact.
He gave a nod. “Of course not. You're too classy for a lazy oaf like me. And, besides, you have your team, and they mean the world to you. I'm just here because a job needed doing, after all.”
It was her turn to nod. “Adventurers often don't have the luxury, anyway. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow.”
“True enough. Though that's why I always say you should enjoy the here and now; since you can only do what you can do, anyway, getting consumed by worry about the future is just silly.”
“I'm glad we understand each other.” She gave a half-smile. “That means you won't read too much into what I'm about to do.”
Before he had any time to respond, she leaned over and kissed him. Whatever he had been about to say vanished quite conveniently, and he happily let it evaporate back into his mind. Words, after all, were not his strong suit.
When he awoke, the moon still hung brightly in the sky, filtering through the high window of the room. The nightmares had come back – they had been bothering him more often as of late – but he had known they would likely rouse him. He didn't even wake in a cold sweat, anymore; it was amazing what a person could get used to. Leaning up a bit in bed, he rested on his elbows and looked around the room.
Rosa was still there, slumbering away blissfully, hopefully in much sweeter sleep than he had known. Her hair was fanned out behind her like red silk, and she wore a peaceful expression on her face that he found relaxing. Tomorrow, things would be back to business as usual, but for right now, he could pretend that he was a normal person, and that this was his world.
Letting his body settle back against the mattress again, he closed his eyes for a bit, and started an abbreviated form of his mental routines. It was only a few minutes before sleep started casting its veil back over his senses. He felt calm enough; turning until he could feel Rosa's body warmth again, he let himself drift back into slumber. For now, everything would be just the way he wanted it.
They all slept in that morning. The innkeeper had been instructed to awaken them if Boyar Marinescu sent word, but no such notification came, so they were able to get a nice, extended rest. When Kai woke up the second time, Rosa was gone, but her spot next to him was still warm. He debated just lying there for a few more minutes, but the smell of steak and eggs won out shortly after, and he tossed the sheets back, getting up and dressing.
He arrived in the common room to see his three companions all sitting at the same table as before. Only Rosa had food; apparently Nicolai and Rodric had already eaten, so Kai ordered some for himself and readily joined in their idle conversation. Rosa spared him a warm smile every so often, but beyond that things were much the same as they had been on the previous day. He didn't mind that, not one bit.
Around early afternoon, they had packed all of their bags, and were milling about the stables, checking on their mounts and generally getting ready to leave. Nicolai was still in a prickly mood, while Rodric encouraged it by poking fun at the man every so often as they talked. Kai just sat on a stool next to Merc's stall, and watched the display, chuckling quietly every so often at their antics.
“So, what are your plans from here?” Rosa's voice suddenly next to him brought him out of his spectating, and he looked up at her with a smile, standing and brushing his clothes off a bit.
“Well, I think it's back to Lamordia for me. There's something there that needs funding, and I seem to have acquired some capital. How about you, Red?”
“I think we may have some work in Invidia,” she said thoughtfully. “Reliable information says that the Gundarakites are making things interesting, so we'll poke around and see if anything worthwhile comes up.”
“Invidia, huh? I'm sure you won't be bored, at least.”
Rosa was quiet for a moment or two; those blue eyes trained on his own, and he tilted his head a little curiously, prompting her to speak. “You know...you could come with us, if you want. That is, if projects in Lamordia can wait for a time.”
Kai smiled a bit. “That would be a lot of fun, but I'm going to be heading through Borca. It's probably not a good idea for someone as irreverent and impetuous as I am to spend much time in a place like Invidia, anyway. Not to mention the fact that if someone did get a good look at my armor the other night, there might be trouble coming to this area before too much longer.”
She gave a quiet laugh. “You're probably right about that. Does this project involve your childhood dream?”
“Something to that effect.” Her knowing smile made him smile back. He was going to miss that smile. “I'm sorry.”
“Don't be,” she said with a shake of her head. “You have to do what you feel you have to do. That's what I believe, anyway.”
“I agree.”
“I do have a question for you, though.” She took a step forward, and poked him in the chest. “Does the ten-foot wall of merde between you and what you really feel ever come down?”
“On rare occasions, yes. I know a certain redhead who got through it smelling like roses.”
Her grin up at him was genuine, and she slugged him in the arm playfully. “I meant what I said last night, you know. What I said in the meeting room, that is.”
“I know you did. And I still think you're too classy for a lazy oaf like me. We aren't couple material.”
“...Would you do it all over again?”
“In a heartbeat.”
Her hand fell from his chest, and she wrapped both arms around his body, hugging close against him. “You take care of yourself, Kai. And if we ever have need of some Falkovnian thuggery, or an abominable bear-man...”
“Provided I'm not neck-deep in trouble, I'll be glad to team up with you again,” he said as he hugged her against him.
Giving a short laugh, she sighed a bit, and then pushed him away gently. “Good. But don't expect a repeat of what happened last night. You know you really aren't my type, when it comes down to it.”
Feigning a look of shock and dismay, Kai acted hurt. “What? Tall, dark, and incredibly handsome?”
“Not at all,” she said with a sly smirk. “Humble.”
Tossing his head back, he gave a great guffaw. Yeah, he was going to miss being around this woman.
Some minutes later, the four of them mounted up, and rode slowly towards the western edge of Verde Terasa. It was a beautiful spring day, with puffy clouds high up in the sky, and a light breeze blowing the scent of nearby wildflowers across the road. Merc actually seemed sprightly for a change.
As the road finally split, Kai rode out separately from the others, turning Merc around again once he was two or so lengths away. “Well, this is me.”
“Alright, then.” Rosa said, bringing her horse to a halt.
“Don't forget, that belladonna's only good for another couple of days,” Rodric called out to him. “Remember what it looks like, so you'll know what to pick should you need more.”
“You're wasting your time, Rodric,” Nicolai said with a snort. “Don't you know a Falkovnian's head is just full of more muscle? He'll probably wind up eating holly, instead.”
“Keep that sunny disposition, Nic.” At Kai's barb, more grumbling.
“Don't get in over your head.” Rosa fixed him with one of her half-smiles, and shook her head a bit. “As if you know how to do anything else.”
“If I do, will you come and rescue me?”
She put a hand over her mouth at his innocent tone, and laughed heartily. “Only if the pay's good.”
“Chances are, I'll be broke.” He grinned widely.
“Then I'm afraid you're on your own, Naustvik.”
“Story of my life, Red.”
Giving a wave, she started to turn her horse and lead the others off, but before she completed the motion, she turned around in her saddle slightly. “Oh, and by the way, it's Lesclide. My last name, that is.”
“Lesclide, huh?” He thought for a moment. “Matches your hair.”
Looking at him quizzically, the joke dawned on her a moment later, and she rolled her eyes. “I may have to stab you for that one, next time we meet.”
And with that, Kai watched them go, turning Merc towards his own path and riding off, the raven feather on his earring wafting a little behind him on the breeze.
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The next day, after they had slept until early afternoon, their investigation resumed. Nicolai came back with the news that people had seen two shapes fighting in the sky over the town the previous night, one of which had seemed to be some sort of bat creature. No one had quite been able to make out the other one, besides the occasional glint of something metallic. Rosa informed Boyar Marinescu of their findings in that manor house, and he pulled some strings to get the town militia to go in force, clearing out any remaining thugs and retrieving the bodies of the victims for proper burial. The man was as good as his word; according to Rosa, he had been very pleased with the results, and had paid them a bonus on top of their agreed-upon salary.
To be on the safe side, the team conducted another search that next night. If there were more goons involved in the killings, then they had decided it best to lay low for a while, as the streets were clear of any such activity. Kai would have probably preferred to stick around for at least another week, just to make sure, but he also knew that mercenaries, in particular outsider mercenaries, could only count on gratitude for so long. If he stuck around, even to try and make things safer for the locals, he would wear out his welcome before much longer, now that they knew he was a warrior; warriors had a bad habit of drawing trouble.
That night, as they got back to their inn – Marinescu had paid the owner quite handsomely to actually allow them re-entrance after dark – they divvied up the reward in the same private room as before. More money than he had seen in some months, and enough supplies for each of them to last at least another three weeks; it was hard to argue with that result.
“Ahhhh...sweet, sweet money,” Nicolai said as he ran his hands through his share of the pay. “Hello, wolf-fangs. How I missed you so.” The man's grin was almost sickeningly cheerful.
“Looks like I won out, after all,” Kai said to him with a triumphant smirk.
Nicolai furrowed his brows, and frowned in response. “What do you mean, 'you won out?'”
“Well, as I recall it, I was the one who chopped that werebat like a piece of firewood. So that means I made you smile.”
“Yeah, right. You and the Boss, you mean,” he said with a snort, and looked to Rosa. “Right?”
“Actually...” Rosa's grin was sly and conspiratorial. “While it's true that we fought him together, it was Kai who flew after him and made the kill. So I'd say that, yes, he wins.”
Nicolai's jaw dropped a little, and he looked for the world as if he had just been utterly betrayed. Rodric laughed, more heartily than he had thus far on the trip, and patted the shorter man's shoulder. “She's got you there, old-timer.”
“Bah!” Nicolai shoved Rodric's hand away, but the motion was clearly only half-hearted. “Bastard can't just do his job, he's gotta expect congratulations for it. Well, you took so long that nearly all of us got bitten in the process. If you'd been a bit quicker about it, maybe we wouldn't have had to eat that awful wolfsbane. Thanks a lot, you slacker.”
“You're welcome.”
Muttering to himself under his breath, as Rodric continued to laugh, Nicolai gathered up his portion and poured it into one of his packs. “Bloody Falkovnian labar,” was the last thing Kai was able to make out as the man left for his room.
“Good night, Nicolai!” Rosa called after him a grin.
“On that note, I think it's time for me to retire as well.” Rodric wiped his eyes a little, still chuckling a bit. “Don't stay up too late, now. We've all had quite a busy few days.”
“Of course. You know how responsible I am,” Kai said while leaning back in his chair, propping his arms behind his head. With a wave, Rodric gathered up his things, and then he, too, was gone.
Rosa had already put her share away, her pouches arranged neatly on the floor with one shoulder strap looped through each of their clasps, and she shook her head a bit as she looked towards the door. “I'd say that's the most fun those two have had in quite some time.”
“Those two?” Kai looked at her in surprise. “You're including Nicolai?”
“Of course I am,” she said with a quiet laugh. “He acts like he swallowed a whole cart full of lemons at once, but he enjoys the back-and-forth as much as we do.”
“And what about you?” he asked with a roguish smile. “Have you been having fun as well?”
“Actually, yes.” She smiled back, and nodded once. “It's not often that I get to travel with a soft-hearted Falkovnian runaway who can't take anything seriously. It's done wonders for my mood.”
“S'what I'm here for, Leader.” Drawing in a deep, relaxed breath, Kai laughed to himself, and then set about packing things up as well. “It's been a blast for me, too. I don't often get to work in a group.” She must have noticed the wistful tone he had accidentally infused that with, because she grew quiet. Just as he finished with his packing, he noticed her scoot her chair over towards his, and he looked back to her once more. She looked...concerned. “...Rosa? What is it?”
She clearly hesitated for a moment, but then she drew in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second or two. “You know...people like us, we don't get to live like normal human beings. Friends, family, peace and quiet...so much of that takes a backseat to just surviving, sometimes.”
He nodded in response, looking towards the surface of the table for a moment. “Yeah. It's the price we pay for our freedom, I suppose.”
“Freedom...” she dwelt on that word for a moment. “I suppose that's one way to put it, after all.”
“Is something on your mind?” It was a stupid question; of course something was on her mind. The conversation was practically dripping with subtext. When he looked back to her, she had opened her eyes again, and was looking straight at him, studying him again. But not quite in the same manner as before.
“...I do enjoy our banter,” she began, “and I respect you as a warrior and comrade.”
“That goes double for me, Rosa.” Polished sapphires; he had been right on the money with that one.
“But you and I, well...we're not couple material.” She seemed as if she wanted to look away at that, but she held her gaze fast to his own, not breaking eye contact.
He gave a nod. “Of course not. You're too classy for a lazy oaf like me. And, besides, you have your team, and they mean the world to you. I'm just here because a job needed doing, after all.”
It was her turn to nod. “Adventurers often don't have the luxury, anyway. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow.”
“True enough. Though that's why I always say you should enjoy the here and now; since you can only do what you can do, anyway, getting consumed by worry about the future is just silly.”
“I'm glad we understand each other.” She gave a half-smile. “That means you won't read too much into what I'm about to do.”
Before he had any time to respond, she leaned over and kissed him. Whatever he had been about to say vanished quite conveniently, and he happily let it evaporate back into his mind. Words, after all, were not his strong suit.
When he awoke, the moon still hung brightly in the sky, filtering through the high window of the room. The nightmares had come back – they had been bothering him more often as of late – but he had known they would likely rouse him. He didn't even wake in a cold sweat, anymore; it was amazing what a person could get used to. Leaning up a bit in bed, he rested on his elbows and looked around the room.
Rosa was still there, slumbering away blissfully, hopefully in much sweeter sleep than he had known. Her hair was fanned out behind her like red silk, and she wore a peaceful expression on her face that he found relaxing. Tomorrow, things would be back to business as usual, but for right now, he could pretend that he was a normal person, and that this was his world.
Letting his body settle back against the mattress again, he closed his eyes for a bit, and started an abbreviated form of his mental routines. It was only a few minutes before sleep started casting its veil back over his senses. He felt calm enough; turning until he could feel Rosa's body warmth again, he let himself drift back into slumber. For now, everything would be just the way he wanted it.
They all slept in that morning. The innkeeper had been instructed to awaken them if Boyar Marinescu sent word, but no such notification came, so they were able to get a nice, extended rest. When Kai woke up the second time, Rosa was gone, but her spot next to him was still warm. He debated just lying there for a few more minutes, but the smell of steak and eggs won out shortly after, and he tossed the sheets back, getting up and dressing.
He arrived in the common room to see his three companions all sitting at the same table as before. Only Rosa had food; apparently Nicolai and Rodric had already eaten, so Kai ordered some for himself and readily joined in their idle conversation. Rosa spared him a warm smile every so often, but beyond that things were much the same as they had been on the previous day. He didn't mind that, not one bit.
Around early afternoon, they had packed all of their bags, and were milling about the stables, checking on their mounts and generally getting ready to leave. Nicolai was still in a prickly mood, while Rodric encouraged it by poking fun at the man every so often as they talked. Kai just sat on a stool next to Merc's stall, and watched the display, chuckling quietly every so often at their antics.
“So, what are your plans from here?” Rosa's voice suddenly next to him brought him out of his spectating, and he looked up at her with a smile, standing and brushing his clothes off a bit.
“Well, I think it's back to Lamordia for me. There's something there that needs funding, and I seem to have acquired some capital. How about you, Red?”
“I think we may have some work in Invidia,” she said thoughtfully. “Reliable information says that the Gundarakites are making things interesting, so we'll poke around and see if anything worthwhile comes up.”
“Invidia, huh? I'm sure you won't be bored, at least.”
Rosa was quiet for a moment or two; those blue eyes trained on his own, and he tilted his head a little curiously, prompting her to speak. “You know...you could come with us, if you want. That is, if projects in Lamordia can wait for a time.”
Kai smiled a bit. “That would be a lot of fun, but I'm going to be heading through Borca. It's probably not a good idea for someone as irreverent and impetuous as I am to spend much time in a place like Invidia, anyway. Not to mention the fact that if someone did get a good look at my armor the other night, there might be trouble coming to this area before too much longer.”
She gave a quiet laugh. “You're probably right about that. Does this project involve your childhood dream?”
“Something to that effect.” Her knowing smile made him smile back. He was going to miss that smile. “I'm sorry.”
“Don't be,” she said with a shake of her head. “You have to do what you feel you have to do. That's what I believe, anyway.”
“I agree.”
“I do have a question for you, though.” She took a step forward, and poked him in the chest. “Does the ten-foot wall of merde between you and what you really feel ever come down?”
“On rare occasions, yes. I know a certain redhead who got through it smelling like roses.”
Her grin up at him was genuine, and she slugged him in the arm playfully. “I meant what I said last night, you know. What I said in the meeting room, that is.”
“I know you did. And I still think you're too classy for a lazy oaf like me. We aren't couple material.”
“...Would you do it all over again?”
“In a heartbeat.”
Her hand fell from his chest, and she wrapped both arms around his body, hugging close against him. “You take care of yourself, Kai. And if we ever have need of some Falkovnian thuggery, or an abominable bear-man...”
“Provided I'm not neck-deep in trouble, I'll be glad to team up with you again,” he said as he hugged her against him.
Giving a short laugh, she sighed a bit, and then pushed him away gently. “Good. But don't expect a repeat of what happened last night. You know you really aren't my type, when it comes down to it.”
Feigning a look of shock and dismay, Kai acted hurt. “What? Tall, dark, and incredibly handsome?”
“Not at all,” she said with a sly smirk. “Humble.”
Tossing his head back, he gave a great guffaw. Yeah, he was going to miss being around this woman.
Some minutes later, the four of them mounted up, and rode slowly towards the western edge of Verde Terasa. It was a beautiful spring day, with puffy clouds high up in the sky, and a light breeze blowing the scent of nearby wildflowers across the road. Merc actually seemed sprightly for a change.
As the road finally split, Kai rode out separately from the others, turning Merc around again once he was two or so lengths away. “Well, this is me.”
“Alright, then.” Rosa said, bringing her horse to a halt.
“Don't forget, that belladonna's only good for another couple of days,” Rodric called out to him. “Remember what it looks like, so you'll know what to pick should you need more.”
“You're wasting your time, Rodric,” Nicolai said with a snort. “Don't you know a Falkovnian's head is just full of more muscle? He'll probably wind up eating holly, instead.”
“Keep that sunny disposition, Nic.” At Kai's barb, more grumbling.
“Don't get in over your head.” Rosa fixed him with one of her half-smiles, and shook her head a bit. “As if you know how to do anything else.”
“If I do, will you come and rescue me?”
She put a hand over her mouth at his innocent tone, and laughed heartily. “Only if the pay's good.”
“Chances are, I'll be broke.” He grinned widely.
“Then I'm afraid you're on your own, Naustvik.”
“Story of my life, Red.”
Giving a wave, she started to turn her horse and lead the others off, but before she completed the motion, she turned around in her saddle slightly. “Oh, and by the way, it's Lesclide. My last name, that is.”
“Lesclide, huh?” He thought for a moment. “Matches your hair.”
Looking at him quizzically, the joke dawned on her a moment later, and she rolled her eyes. “I may have to stab you for that one, next time we meet.”
And with that, Kai watched them go, turning Merc towards his own path and riding off, the raven feather on his earring wafting a little behind him on the breeze.
Those who dream by day are aware of many things that escape those who dream only by night.
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hidajiremi
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Re: Ravenloft: The Shadow Triumphant
Thanks for posting, Chris! Now if we can only get Rachel over here too. =3
Jeremy Puckett
Jeremy Puckett
"Children are innocent and love justice, while most adults are wicked and prefer mercy." G.K. Chesterton
Siblings: An Introduction, and Part One
The second in my series of Ravenloft stories to be completed, "Siblings" occurs before the events of "A Raven's Feather," and deals primarily with the relationship between Kai and his twin sister, Saffi. Though born and raised in Falkovnia along with Kai, Saffi is very much a gearhead, a prodigy inventor who believes any problem can be tackled by her considerable intellect. She's also possessed of quite the fiery temperament, one that often gets provoked by her brother's devil-may-care approach to life. Still, she's the primary creator of nearly all of his arms, including the prototype flight and defense attachments on his Talon armor(that were originally intended for Falkovnia's high command), a fact that hints at there being more than just irritation at her brother's antics underneath her demeanor. This story also has a short section involving Gerhart, Kai's best childhood friend and a former Talon who, while very close to the twins, is no longer part of their lives - reasons for which will eventually be explained in future stories .
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“So, how'd the grocery hunt go, Kai?” Gerhart asked, turning from the table where he and Saffi had been sorting out foodstuffs. The kitchen of the small house that the Stadtfeld twins shared – when Kai was on leave, anyway – was far from fully-stocked, but there was enough to keep from going hungry, especially when Gerhart pitched in. A year older than the twins, at fifteen, he had a home in the city with his mother, but he would often come to the Stadtfeld home to share in a group dinner, a habit that had been going on for some time since Kai had managed to move his sister from the vast dangers of the slums to a place at least somewhat safer. Which was good for the twins, as neither of them had anything beyond basic cooking ability.
Kai grinned a bit sheepishly, and held up the small bag of vegetables he had procured. Most of them had a somewhat wilted, if not barely edible, look to them, as he came to the table and started to place them atop it. “Well, all things considered, I'd say it could have gone a lot worse. Though a group of high-ranking officers apparently came through the market this morning and got all of the good stuff.”
“I suppose that's what we get for letting the late riser do our shopping.” Saffi, her dark hair in two long braids, was examining the few cutting implements they had. Her tone held no bite, however. “But we're almost ready here, so we should be able to get started soon.” Looking up from her work, her eyes lit up in eagerness as she glanced to her brother. She always got excited whenever the three of them were able to spend time together, these days. “Good work, Kai!”
“I agree.” Giving the additions Kai had brought a thorough checking with his pale-eyed gaze, Gerhart nodded and rolled up his sleeves a bit. “These'll be just fine for a good vegetable soup. Would you mind grabbing the pot?”
Crossing to the corner of the kitchen, Kai hefted the cooking pot over next to the table. It was one of Saffi's inventions; a pot that needed only the slightest flame to cook enough food to feed a family of four. There was still a flaw or two with its design, as it once had even erupted into a column of radishes and potatoes in quite the flashy display, but it was reliable enough to use for their group dinners. “Done, and done.” He peered down into it for a long moment, and then leaned back up. “Looks ready to go, too. I'll go grab some water.”
A few minutes later, the soup had been set to cook, and the three teenagers sat around the same table. A cup was flipped upside down between them, and Kai and Gerhart looked at each other seriously, neither flinching, while Saffi's hand rested atop the base of the cup. She glanced back and forth between the two in an equally serious manner, and then finally spoke up. “Well? It's on you, Kai.”
“...”
“What's wrong?” Gerhart said with a slight smirk. “You look nervous, Brother.”
“Please. I've defeated you in the past, and I'll do it again.” Kai shifted his gaze from Gerhart, to the cup, and then back again, and finally seemed to come to a decision. “...Even.”
“So I guess that leaves me with 'odd.'”
Saffi lifted the cup, and the two six-sided dice underneath were revealed. A single dot stared up at them on one, while the other held four dots. “Odd.”
“Again?!” Kai looked flabbergasted. “That's four losses in a row!”
Gerhart leaned back in his chair and laughed. “I've let you call it first every time, so don't blame me.”
“It's simple,” Saffi said matter-of-factly. “Your luck is clearly rotten compared to Gerhart's, Kai.”
“Tell me something I don't know,” he said in a jokingly sullen voice. “Best five-out-of-nine, then?”
Laughing heartily, Saffi picked up the dice, giving them a shake in her hand. “You just don't know when to quit. But even your luck has to change at some point, I guess.”
As she tossed them into the cup, Kai couldn't help but appreciate the genuine smile on her face. They had been through a lot, with a lot still to come, but the fact of the matter was that they were making it. Gerhart's quiet chuckling said the same thing; life was far from ideal for the three of them, but they would find a way to keep going, somehow. So long as they had moments like these.
“How about it, Kai? Want me to pick first this time?”
“No way, Gerhart. You're about to see my luck change in a big way; I can feel it.”
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“So, how'd the grocery hunt go, Kai?” Gerhart asked, turning from the table where he and Saffi had been sorting out foodstuffs. The kitchen of the small house that the Stadtfeld twins shared – when Kai was on leave, anyway – was far from fully-stocked, but there was enough to keep from going hungry, especially when Gerhart pitched in. A year older than the twins, at fifteen, he had a home in the city with his mother, but he would often come to the Stadtfeld home to share in a group dinner, a habit that had been going on for some time since Kai had managed to move his sister from the vast dangers of the slums to a place at least somewhat safer. Which was good for the twins, as neither of them had anything beyond basic cooking ability.
Kai grinned a bit sheepishly, and held up the small bag of vegetables he had procured. Most of them had a somewhat wilted, if not barely edible, look to them, as he came to the table and started to place them atop it. “Well, all things considered, I'd say it could have gone a lot worse. Though a group of high-ranking officers apparently came through the market this morning and got all of the good stuff.”
“I suppose that's what we get for letting the late riser do our shopping.” Saffi, her dark hair in two long braids, was examining the few cutting implements they had. Her tone held no bite, however. “But we're almost ready here, so we should be able to get started soon.” Looking up from her work, her eyes lit up in eagerness as she glanced to her brother. She always got excited whenever the three of them were able to spend time together, these days. “Good work, Kai!”
“I agree.” Giving the additions Kai had brought a thorough checking with his pale-eyed gaze, Gerhart nodded and rolled up his sleeves a bit. “These'll be just fine for a good vegetable soup. Would you mind grabbing the pot?”
Crossing to the corner of the kitchen, Kai hefted the cooking pot over next to the table. It was one of Saffi's inventions; a pot that needed only the slightest flame to cook enough food to feed a family of four. There was still a flaw or two with its design, as it once had even erupted into a column of radishes and potatoes in quite the flashy display, but it was reliable enough to use for their group dinners. “Done, and done.” He peered down into it for a long moment, and then leaned back up. “Looks ready to go, too. I'll go grab some water.”
A few minutes later, the soup had been set to cook, and the three teenagers sat around the same table. A cup was flipped upside down between them, and Kai and Gerhart looked at each other seriously, neither flinching, while Saffi's hand rested atop the base of the cup. She glanced back and forth between the two in an equally serious manner, and then finally spoke up. “Well? It's on you, Kai.”
“...”
“What's wrong?” Gerhart said with a slight smirk. “You look nervous, Brother.”
“Please. I've defeated you in the past, and I'll do it again.” Kai shifted his gaze from Gerhart, to the cup, and then back again, and finally seemed to come to a decision. “...Even.”
“So I guess that leaves me with 'odd.'”
Saffi lifted the cup, and the two six-sided dice underneath were revealed. A single dot stared up at them on one, while the other held four dots. “Odd.”
“Again?!” Kai looked flabbergasted. “That's four losses in a row!”
Gerhart leaned back in his chair and laughed. “I've let you call it first every time, so don't blame me.”
“It's simple,” Saffi said matter-of-factly. “Your luck is clearly rotten compared to Gerhart's, Kai.”
“Tell me something I don't know,” he said in a jokingly sullen voice. “Best five-out-of-nine, then?”
Laughing heartily, Saffi picked up the dice, giving them a shake in her hand. “You just don't know when to quit. But even your luck has to change at some point, I guess.”
As she tossed them into the cup, Kai couldn't help but appreciate the genuine smile on her face. They had been through a lot, with a lot still to come, but the fact of the matter was that they were making it. Gerhart's quiet chuckling said the same thing; life was far from ideal for the three of them, but they would find a way to keep going, somehow. So long as they had moments like these.
“How about it, Kai? Want me to pick first this time?”
“No way, Gerhart. You're about to see my luck change in a big way; I can feel it.”
Siblings, Part Two
Snoring away soundly, Kai was awoken to the sound of a loud crash coming from the other side of the house. Falling out of bed quite ungracefully, he rubbed the back of his head as he got up onto all fours. “Great...so much for dreaming about the past.”
Pushing his legs into his pants, he didn't bother with a shirt, yawning as he headed out of his bedroom. This was just the usual routine, after all; getting awoken by the god-awful sound of something collapsing, or starting, or blowing up, and then giving the customary “Are you still alive?” check-in. He was fairly sure his brain was doing all of this unconsciously, anyway – he was certain that he was at least halfway still asleep. Poking his head into Saffi's lab-away-from-lab, he took a look around, and saw her crouched next to a pile of steel thingamabobs. “Hey, Sis. You still alive?”
“Am I alive?!” Naturally, she looked as if she had been up and dressed for hours already. Assuming she had even slept, though the lack of tinkering sounds through the night suggested very strongly that she had. “Am I ever! You won't believe what just happened.” Finally fishing out what she had been apparently hunting for, she retrieved what looked to be a very ordinary chunk of steel to his eyes, and held it proudly aloft. “I've just stumbled onto a process that will increase the tensile strength of my steel by three-point-one-seven percent!” Far from the bird-legged, somewhat frail girl she had once been, she had turned into a dynamo of a young woman over the past few years. Her hair was now almost always unbound, in a dark curtain that she only swept back with a kerchief while she was working, and she had become tall and strong, though where Kai was broad in the shoulders, she was lean but solid. His sister had grown up – though that excited smile of hers hadn't changed in the slightest.
“That's nice,” he said with another yawn. “What's for breakfast?”
“What's for...you great ox.” She bristled with indignation, giving him a slight glare. “I've just made a discovery that will catapult my standing among the inventors of Ludendorf several notches, and all you can think about is your gut?!”
“My gut is my constant companion. If I ignore its needs, it would be like neglecting to oil one of your grinders.”
“If you ask me, your gut could use a little starving. You've been lazier than normal the past few days. You should come assist me in the lab, and help advance the cause of science.”
“Maybe I'll consider it, after advancing the cause of getting myself some grub.” As Saffi rolled her eyes slightly, Kai turned to go back to his room. Fetching some clean clothes, he went to get cleaned up himself. Though he made occasional wisecracks about her devotion to her work, he could appreciate Saffi's ingenuity; that “shower” device she had rigged up was quite convenient, though he still usually preferred to lounge in a bathtub if he had the time.
After he had made himself somewhat presentable, he headed for the kitchen. Sure enough, it didn't even look as if she had stepped one foot in the kitchen at all that morning. In all likelihood, she had not taken the time to eat anything, herself. “Looks like I'll be having two of my best friends over for breakfast today...bread and cheese.” Fetching several hunks of both from the pantry, he took a big bite of the crusty loaf, and gnawed some more as he headed back to his sister. “Hey, Saff, I'm going out for a bit.” She was hard at work again, peering through one of her big magnifying glasses at that same piece of steel once more, and just gave a wave over her shoulder.
The streets of Ludendorf were only somewhat busy, though the people who were out looked to be actively engaged in their business. He would have preferred to have slept at least a couple more hours, but Kai was up and entirely awake by now, so he decided to just go ahead and tough it out. And he did have business this particular day in town. With any luck, he might even finish up everything soon enough to hit the taverns by early evening. For now, though, he would spend a few minutes just enjoying the morning air.
When he finally arrived at his destination a couple of hours before noon, he stopped just outside the door of the small house, checking his shoulder pack before knocking. A moment or two later, a tall young woman with pale blond hair pinned up in a bun answered the door, green eyes looking out at him through thin spectacles. “Oh, good morning, Kai. You're a bit earlier than I expected, but come on in.”
“Thanks, Katia.” Following behind her as she led the way inside, Kai closed the door behind them and walked on into her sitting room. Lamordian houses usually struck him as rather dull and plain, but Katia decorated with whatever flowers she could get, and actually had several paintings she swapped in and out of spaces on her walls with some regularity, though he had not been able to figure out thus far if there was an order, or if she would just randomly decide what to hang where.
“I've just prepared tea; the usual for you?” When he nodded in response, she headed out of the room and returned with a tray holding two cups and a teapot with vapor streaming out of its top. Once the two of them had taken seats, and each had a full cup, she spoke back up again, adjusting her glasses slightly on her nose and looking over to him. “I trust you've been well?”
“You know me. I get by just fine.” He took a sip from his cup – flavored with a little extra honey – and nodded again. “Tastes good, as always.”
“I hope you haven't been giving Saffi any headache.” Katia just about always looked serious to a tee, so it was hard to tell whether that was meant in jest. Honestly, Kai had long wondered just how the woman and his firebrand of a sister got along so famously. Personally, he enjoyed having a few cups of tea with her, but Saffi was often considerably more animated than he.
“Not more than what's absolutely necessary,” he replied with a slight smile. “After all, the house is usually empty, so I have to make an impact whenever I'm around, right?”
“As boyish as ever,” she said with a shake of her head. “But I suppose I understand what you're saying. As for the matter at hand, you have another deposit to make?”
Serious, and not one to beat around the bush. Katia was an interesting one; he wondered what she was like when no one was around. “That I do.” After another sip from his teacup, he opened his pack and removed a bag full of coins, setting it onto the table between them. “If you would put this in under Saffi's name, I'd appreciate it.”
Looking down at the bag, Katia shook her head again, and then trained her eyes back on him once more. “Without informing her, once again, I take it?”
“If you'd be so kind, I'd prefer it that way.”
“She's going to find out eventually, Kai.” Her look grew even more serious. “And she's going to ask from where it all came.”
“That'll be fine, when the time comes.” He leaned back in his chair a bit, and brought his teacup back up for another long sip. “The sooner she can get her own workshop up and running, the better. That's all that really matters. You know how important it is to her, after all.”
“I do. And I also know how important it is to her that you not put yourself in danger.”
“I've gotta find some way to pass the time.” Letting his head fall back a bit, he looked up at the ceiling for a few moments. “You know how I am, Katia. Sitting around here in Ludendorf would bore the hell out of me. And I don't even fit in around here, anyway; with the exception of you and a couple other people, the consensus seems to be that I'm vulgar and improper.”
“That's where you're wrong,” she said, lacing her fingers together. “I think you're vulgar and improper, too. But I also know that there's more of a person underneath that. I believe that what the people of this city actually think on the matter would surprise you.”
“I don't know about that,” he said with a slight wave of the hand. “Anyway, I appreciate you keeping an eye out for her. I doubt that's the sort of thing that your clients usually ask of you.”
“I didn't befriend your sister because of you,” Katia said with a raised eyebrow, “but you're welcome, nonetheless. Though it would be better if you would just stay around as well. She doesn't say it, but I can tell she misses you when you're gone for months at a time. It wouldn't kill you to stop in more often.”
He was quiet for a long moment, just sitting there with his head resting against the back of his chair. “I know. But there's just so much to do out there. And not enough people to do it.”
Katia looked at him for a while, tapping one finger against a knuckle on her other hand, and then finally finished off her current cup of tea, lifting the bag of coins and carrying it to a table on the other side of the room. “Don't be surprised if I tell you sometime soon that I refuse to keep it a secret from her any longer.”
“I knew you couldn't resist these eyes.”
Letting out a fierce battle cry, Saffi charged headlong at Kai, swinging her sword at his midsection. He blocked it, but she recovered and tried the opposite side, hoping he wouldn't be able to stop the second attack. When he dodged aside, surprising her with his agility again, she switched her weapon to her other hand to block his riposte, and then swung her position out wide, choosing to back off of her assault rather than risk another fierce retaliatory strike.
“Not bad, Saff.” Standing there like a great ogre, Kai hefted the practice sword he held over one shoulder, tapping it a few times as he watched her. Even though they were training, she had the good sense to cover up, leaving only her forearms bare. But Kai, of course, just had to lose his shirt. “I hate getting my clothes all sweaty,” he had said, but he knew damn well he just wanted some of the local girls to happen by their backyard to watch the display again. People often told her that her brother was transparent, but they didn't even know the half of it.
He must have sensed her slight inner annoyance, because he furrowed his thick eyebrows a little, and tilted his head. “What is it? Not ready to quit already, are you? We just started.”
“I know I've asked you this what must be a thousand times already, but don't you think we're wasting time here?” Shifting from her ready stance, she rested the tip of her own practice sword on the packed earth. “Lamordia has a thing called 'guns,' you know,” she said sarcastically. “And I'll be using one of those if I get into trouble.”
Kai was obviously unswayed, though she hadn't really expected him to be otherwise. “Guns are powerful, but they can backfire, and it's tough to hit a moving target. But this,” he said, gripping his sword underneath the hilt and holding it out in front of him, “doesn't have the risk of backfiring or exploding, and doesn't have to be reloaded.”
“You really are an old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud,” she replied. “So you're saying that you only trust the simplest weapon to get the job done, even if it's horribly lacking?”
“I suppose you could put it that way.” He tapped a finger against his chin, looking up in thought. “Though, really, there's nothing simple about the weapons you've made me, Sis. I mean, Schneider and Grimgail, they're marvels of weaponcrafting the likes of which you won't find in many places in the Core.”
“You can stop trying to butter me up.” Lifting her sword again, she pointed it right at him. “Especially since you take such horrible care of my creations that it's a wonder they're still holding together without my routine maintenance.”
“Hey, don't blame me. If I don't thump an enemy hard enough, it won't go down.”
“One does not go around thumping anything with a Saffi Naustvik masterpiece!” She ran at him again, swinging twice, three times, and managing to just barely catch his arm, though the big lug shrugged it off and kept on moving. “Seriously, what do you expect me to do here? It's not like I'm going to be able to knock you out with this practice sword.”
“Just score one good hit on me, and we'll call it quits.”
They battled back and forth for several long minutes. Well, Saffi battled, while Kai blocked and dodged around as if he were just out for a brisk morning walk. It was ludicrous: he knew she wasn't a fighter, tall and strong though she may have been, so all of this was pure silliness when it came down to it. Except...there was something in his expression as they fought. It wasn't just the fact that he was smiling; after all, her brother had a habit of smiling even at the most completely inappropriate times. Rather, she could tell that this smile wasn't trying to hide anything. He was genuinely enjoying himself, engaged in this worthless folly that was just cutting into the time she could have been working on her newest blueprints, and that he could have been using to hunt something down for dinner. She didn't see much of that kind of smile anymore from him.
And so despite her occasional bellyaching, she kept at it, determined to get one good smack in on her overbearing brother before this thing was over with. But he clearly hadn't intended to make it easy on her, whatever his reasons. When it looked like she was barely making any headway at all, she gritted her teeth a bit in frustration, and narrowed her eyes at him. How did one go about getting in “one good hit” on someone who was ex-military, after all?
Just then, it came to her. Starting off into another dash towards him, she looked past him, and her eyes widened just a little. “Hey, Victoria, when did you get here?”
“Victoria?!” Kai's eyes lit up in eagerness, and he actually turned his head to see empty air. Turned his head, in the middle of a sparring match!
Saffi, of course, wasted no time in bringing her practice sword around to whack him in his midsection, and the “oof!” she got in response as he stumbled a little brought a devilish grin to her face. Brandishing her weapon once more, she held it up so that the surface was just a few inches from his head, and then gave him a light tap on the forehead with it. “Looks like I win this round, Mr. Gullible.”
“I'm fairly sure that's cheating.” Though the fact that he laughed in the middle of it suggested he didn't actually feel cheated in the slightest.
“Hey, my house, my rules.” Tossing the sword to the side of the yard, she turned and wiped her brow, heading towards the door leading back into the house. “Anyway, let's go back inside. I'm in dire need of a bath, and you're in dire need of figuring out what we're going to eat tonight.”
“Ja, Hauptmann.”
Pushing his legs into his pants, he didn't bother with a shirt, yawning as he headed out of his bedroom. This was just the usual routine, after all; getting awoken by the god-awful sound of something collapsing, or starting, or blowing up, and then giving the customary “Are you still alive?” check-in. He was fairly sure his brain was doing all of this unconsciously, anyway – he was certain that he was at least halfway still asleep. Poking his head into Saffi's lab-away-from-lab, he took a look around, and saw her crouched next to a pile of steel thingamabobs. “Hey, Sis. You still alive?”
“Am I alive?!” Naturally, she looked as if she had been up and dressed for hours already. Assuming she had even slept, though the lack of tinkering sounds through the night suggested very strongly that she had. “Am I ever! You won't believe what just happened.” Finally fishing out what she had been apparently hunting for, she retrieved what looked to be a very ordinary chunk of steel to his eyes, and held it proudly aloft. “I've just stumbled onto a process that will increase the tensile strength of my steel by three-point-one-seven percent!” Far from the bird-legged, somewhat frail girl she had once been, she had turned into a dynamo of a young woman over the past few years. Her hair was now almost always unbound, in a dark curtain that she only swept back with a kerchief while she was working, and she had become tall and strong, though where Kai was broad in the shoulders, she was lean but solid. His sister had grown up – though that excited smile of hers hadn't changed in the slightest.
“That's nice,” he said with another yawn. “What's for breakfast?”
“What's for...you great ox.” She bristled with indignation, giving him a slight glare. “I've just made a discovery that will catapult my standing among the inventors of Ludendorf several notches, and all you can think about is your gut?!”
“My gut is my constant companion. If I ignore its needs, it would be like neglecting to oil one of your grinders.”
“If you ask me, your gut could use a little starving. You've been lazier than normal the past few days. You should come assist me in the lab, and help advance the cause of science.”
“Maybe I'll consider it, after advancing the cause of getting myself some grub.” As Saffi rolled her eyes slightly, Kai turned to go back to his room. Fetching some clean clothes, he went to get cleaned up himself. Though he made occasional wisecracks about her devotion to her work, he could appreciate Saffi's ingenuity; that “shower” device she had rigged up was quite convenient, though he still usually preferred to lounge in a bathtub if he had the time.
After he had made himself somewhat presentable, he headed for the kitchen. Sure enough, it didn't even look as if she had stepped one foot in the kitchen at all that morning. In all likelihood, she had not taken the time to eat anything, herself. “Looks like I'll be having two of my best friends over for breakfast today...bread and cheese.” Fetching several hunks of both from the pantry, he took a big bite of the crusty loaf, and gnawed some more as he headed back to his sister. “Hey, Saff, I'm going out for a bit.” She was hard at work again, peering through one of her big magnifying glasses at that same piece of steel once more, and just gave a wave over her shoulder.
The streets of Ludendorf were only somewhat busy, though the people who were out looked to be actively engaged in their business. He would have preferred to have slept at least a couple more hours, but Kai was up and entirely awake by now, so he decided to just go ahead and tough it out. And he did have business this particular day in town. With any luck, he might even finish up everything soon enough to hit the taverns by early evening. For now, though, he would spend a few minutes just enjoying the morning air.
When he finally arrived at his destination a couple of hours before noon, he stopped just outside the door of the small house, checking his shoulder pack before knocking. A moment or two later, a tall young woman with pale blond hair pinned up in a bun answered the door, green eyes looking out at him through thin spectacles. “Oh, good morning, Kai. You're a bit earlier than I expected, but come on in.”
“Thanks, Katia.” Following behind her as she led the way inside, Kai closed the door behind them and walked on into her sitting room. Lamordian houses usually struck him as rather dull and plain, but Katia decorated with whatever flowers she could get, and actually had several paintings she swapped in and out of spaces on her walls with some regularity, though he had not been able to figure out thus far if there was an order, or if she would just randomly decide what to hang where.
“I've just prepared tea; the usual for you?” When he nodded in response, she headed out of the room and returned with a tray holding two cups and a teapot with vapor streaming out of its top. Once the two of them had taken seats, and each had a full cup, she spoke back up again, adjusting her glasses slightly on her nose and looking over to him. “I trust you've been well?”
“You know me. I get by just fine.” He took a sip from his cup – flavored with a little extra honey – and nodded again. “Tastes good, as always.”
“I hope you haven't been giving Saffi any headache.” Katia just about always looked serious to a tee, so it was hard to tell whether that was meant in jest. Honestly, Kai had long wondered just how the woman and his firebrand of a sister got along so famously. Personally, he enjoyed having a few cups of tea with her, but Saffi was often considerably more animated than he.
“Not more than what's absolutely necessary,” he replied with a slight smile. “After all, the house is usually empty, so I have to make an impact whenever I'm around, right?”
“As boyish as ever,” she said with a shake of her head. “But I suppose I understand what you're saying. As for the matter at hand, you have another deposit to make?”
Serious, and not one to beat around the bush. Katia was an interesting one; he wondered what she was like when no one was around. “That I do.” After another sip from his teacup, he opened his pack and removed a bag full of coins, setting it onto the table between them. “If you would put this in under Saffi's name, I'd appreciate it.”
Looking down at the bag, Katia shook her head again, and then trained her eyes back on him once more. “Without informing her, once again, I take it?”
“If you'd be so kind, I'd prefer it that way.”
“She's going to find out eventually, Kai.” Her look grew even more serious. “And she's going to ask from where it all came.”
“That'll be fine, when the time comes.” He leaned back in his chair a bit, and brought his teacup back up for another long sip. “The sooner she can get her own workshop up and running, the better. That's all that really matters. You know how important it is to her, after all.”
“I do. And I also know how important it is to her that you not put yourself in danger.”
“I've gotta find some way to pass the time.” Letting his head fall back a bit, he looked up at the ceiling for a few moments. “You know how I am, Katia. Sitting around here in Ludendorf would bore the hell out of me. And I don't even fit in around here, anyway; with the exception of you and a couple other people, the consensus seems to be that I'm vulgar and improper.”
“That's where you're wrong,” she said, lacing her fingers together. “I think you're vulgar and improper, too. But I also know that there's more of a person underneath that. I believe that what the people of this city actually think on the matter would surprise you.”
“I don't know about that,” he said with a slight wave of the hand. “Anyway, I appreciate you keeping an eye out for her. I doubt that's the sort of thing that your clients usually ask of you.”
“I didn't befriend your sister because of you,” Katia said with a raised eyebrow, “but you're welcome, nonetheless. Though it would be better if you would just stay around as well. She doesn't say it, but I can tell she misses you when you're gone for months at a time. It wouldn't kill you to stop in more often.”
He was quiet for a long moment, just sitting there with his head resting against the back of his chair. “I know. But there's just so much to do out there. And not enough people to do it.”
Katia looked at him for a while, tapping one finger against a knuckle on her other hand, and then finally finished off her current cup of tea, lifting the bag of coins and carrying it to a table on the other side of the room. “Don't be surprised if I tell you sometime soon that I refuse to keep it a secret from her any longer.”
“I knew you couldn't resist these eyes.”
Letting out a fierce battle cry, Saffi charged headlong at Kai, swinging her sword at his midsection. He blocked it, but she recovered and tried the opposite side, hoping he wouldn't be able to stop the second attack. When he dodged aside, surprising her with his agility again, she switched her weapon to her other hand to block his riposte, and then swung her position out wide, choosing to back off of her assault rather than risk another fierce retaliatory strike.
“Not bad, Saff.” Standing there like a great ogre, Kai hefted the practice sword he held over one shoulder, tapping it a few times as he watched her. Even though they were training, she had the good sense to cover up, leaving only her forearms bare. But Kai, of course, just had to lose his shirt. “I hate getting my clothes all sweaty,” he had said, but he knew damn well he just wanted some of the local girls to happen by their backyard to watch the display again. People often told her that her brother was transparent, but they didn't even know the half of it.
He must have sensed her slight inner annoyance, because he furrowed his thick eyebrows a little, and tilted his head. “What is it? Not ready to quit already, are you? We just started.”
“I know I've asked you this what must be a thousand times already, but don't you think we're wasting time here?” Shifting from her ready stance, she rested the tip of her own practice sword on the packed earth. “Lamordia has a thing called 'guns,' you know,” she said sarcastically. “And I'll be using one of those if I get into trouble.”
Kai was obviously unswayed, though she hadn't really expected him to be otherwise. “Guns are powerful, but they can backfire, and it's tough to hit a moving target. But this,” he said, gripping his sword underneath the hilt and holding it out in front of him, “doesn't have the risk of backfiring or exploding, and doesn't have to be reloaded.”
“You really are an old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud,” she replied. “So you're saying that you only trust the simplest weapon to get the job done, even if it's horribly lacking?”
“I suppose you could put it that way.” He tapped a finger against his chin, looking up in thought. “Though, really, there's nothing simple about the weapons you've made me, Sis. I mean, Schneider and Grimgail, they're marvels of weaponcrafting the likes of which you won't find in many places in the Core.”
“You can stop trying to butter me up.” Lifting her sword again, she pointed it right at him. “Especially since you take such horrible care of my creations that it's a wonder they're still holding together without my routine maintenance.”
“Hey, don't blame me. If I don't thump an enemy hard enough, it won't go down.”
“One does not go around thumping anything with a Saffi Naustvik masterpiece!” She ran at him again, swinging twice, three times, and managing to just barely catch his arm, though the big lug shrugged it off and kept on moving. “Seriously, what do you expect me to do here? It's not like I'm going to be able to knock you out with this practice sword.”
“Just score one good hit on me, and we'll call it quits.”
They battled back and forth for several long minutes. Well, Saffi battled, while Kai blocked and dodged around as if he were just out for a brisk morning walk. It was ludicrous: he knew she wasn't a fighter, tall and strong though she may have been, so all of this was pure silliness when it came down to it. Except...there was something in his expression as they fought. It wasn't just the fact that he was smiling; after all, her brother had a habit of smiling even at the most completely inappropriate times. Rather, she could tell that this smile wasn't trying to hide anything. He was genuinely enjoying himself, engaged in this worthless folly that was just cutting into the time she could have been working on her newest blueprints, and that he could have been using to hunt something down for dinner. She didn't see much of that kind of smile anymore from him.
And so despite her occasional bellyaching, she kept at it, determined to get one good smack in on her overbearing brother before this thing was over with. But he clearly hadn't intended to make it easy on her, whatever his reasons. When it looked like she was barely making any headway at all, she gritted her teeth a bit in frustration, and narrowed her eyes at him. How did one go about getting in “one good hit” on someone who was ex-military, after all?
Just then, it came to her. Starting off into another dash towards him, she looked past him, and her eyes widened just a little. “Hey, Victoria, when did you get here?”
“Victoria?!” Kai's eyes lit up in eagerness, and he actually turned his head to see empty air. Turned his head, in the middle of a sparring match!
Saffi, of course, wasted no time in bringing her practice sword around to whack him in his midsection, and the “oof!” she got in response as he stumbled a little brought a devilish grin to her face. Brandishing her weapon once more, she held it up so that the surface was just a few inches from his head, and then gave him a light tap on the forehead with it. “Looks like I win this round, Mr. Gullible.”
“I'm fairly sure that's cheating.” Though the fact that he laughed in the middle of it suggested he didn't actually feel cheated in the slightest.
“Hey, my house, my rules.” Tossing the sword to the side of the yard, she turned and wiped her brow, heading towards the door leading back into the house. “Anyway, let's go back inside. I'm in dire need of a bath, and you're in dire need of figuring out what we're going to eat tonight.”
“Ja, Hauptmann.”
Siblings, Part Fin
And here's the end of "Siblings!"
------------------------------------
Some time later, Kai was heading back towards the house after visiting the market, a huge wrapped haunch of meat tossed over one shoulder. As he walked through the center of town, he passed by a store that he recognized well. Clocks of various shapes and sizes hung in the windows, all ticking away merrily, and he noticed that the store was almost entirely empty. This was one of Saffi’s favorite stores, if he remembered properly, but he couldn’t ever remember seeing her buy anything in it. Setting his earlier purchase by the door once inside, he took a look around. It always impressed him to see just how many different clocks the man who owned the shop had built. The portly Lamordian was behind the counter, fiddling away with something, and after a moment he looked up, recognition dawning on his face. “Well, if it isn’t Saffi’s brother. How are you, lad? It’s been a while.”
“Glad to see you still can’t remember my name, old timer.”
“And I’m glad to see you still haven’t learned how far you can carry a single joke.” Adjusting his thick spectacles on one nose, the older man chuckled quietly. “So what brings you in today? I can’t say I’ve ever seen you in here by yourself.”
“I figured that at least one of us should actually buy something from you, as opposed to just always gawking at your handiwork.” Kai walked past the great grandfather clock that sat on one side of the room, and then kept going for a bit. “I’m honestly pretty surprised that she’s never picked up anything in here before.”
“Well, you know your sister better than I do, and even I know how rarely she spends money on anything not directly related to her research. ‘Clocks are only important for people with places to be,’ and all.”
“I don’t know about that first part,” Kai responded, “but the rest doesn’t surprise me at all.”
“Then if I may make a suggestion?” The man got a slight twinkle in his eyes. “Perhaps a gift from her brother would solve that issue.”
“Doubtful.” He kept on walking around the store for a bit, before finally stopping at one clock. Built primarily from a wood that was such a deep brown it was nearly black, it held just the slightest hints of what looked to be silver inlay in the pendulum, but was otherwise finely crafted without seeming extravagant or ornate.
“Do you like that one?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice. It just sort of jumped out at me.”
The clockmaker took a moment to clean his glasses on his shirttails. “I’ve had it sitting on the wall for a while now, so if you want to take it, I’d be willing to give it to you for one-fifty.”
Kai stood there for a moment or two, and studied the clock. It really was a nice piece of work; nothing too elaborate, so hopefully she wouldn’t give him a tongue-lashing over it. “Hm…I do have some extra on me today. Ah, what the hell, why not?”
The clockmaker laughed a bit again. “Aren’t you an easy sell? Let me get it packed up for you.” It only took a moment for Kai to pay him, and as the man walked over to the wall to lift the clock off, there was a certain unreadable something in his expression. Kai had no idea what it could have been; he just assumed that it was because he hadn’t really haggled much for it. After a moment or two, the man spoke back up again. “Actually, you look like you’ve got a lot to carry, so why don’t I bring it by later on today?”
Looking back towards the wrapped haunch over by the door, Kai glanced to the clockmaker once again. “It’s really no trouble, I mean-“
“No, no,” the older man replied, waving Kai’s objection away. “I insist. We’re talking about a complex and delicate piece of equipment. You’re paying me good money for it, so I won’t allow you to bungle and let it shatter all over the street while you’re playing butcher’s assistant.” Giving a look up at Kai that said he wasn’t going to take no for an answer, the clockmaker went on. “Now, run along. I’ll have one of my assistants stop by later this evening when they return.”
“Okay, okay. I appreciate it.” Hefting the meat back to his shoulder, Kai gave a respectful nod, and then left on his way back home.
Dinner was cooking away over the fire, but Saffi was still working in the shop. Kai didn't really complain; it was usually fun to watch her work, when she wasn't griping about his peering over her shoulder, anyway. And it wasn't like she didn't recruit him to help her from time-to-time, “Move this” or “Fetch that” or “Hold this down for just a second” being the most common examples. So he was pretty content to just hang around and be a fly on the wall as Master Inventor Saffi worked her own form of magic on the various indescribable gizmos she had lying around in her small workshop.
At present, she was actually working on his armor, so he was taking a bit more of an active interest. Not getting in the way, of course – she might not wear the armor herself, but Saffi Naustvik needed no guidance whatsoever when it came to the maintenance of said metal – but just keeping watch and trying to pick up little bits of whatever knowledge she would toss out.
“These wings...I swear, have you been trying to fly through the ground?” she muttered to herself as she examined the suit's flight mechanisms. “My masterpiece, and Big Bro just thinks he can tangle in it like he's in any old street brawl...was fur ein haufen-”
“Y'know, that ain't very ladylike,” Kai said while messing with one of her gadgets on a table across the room. It was barely more than a wedge with a little metallic bar balanced on the tip, but no matter how far he would try and tip the bar, it would always return to level.
“I'll keep that in mind the next time I get all dolled up to give a lecture on ballistics and the nature of inertia. And don't touch that.” She hadn't even looked over to see what he was doing, but she had apparently known anyway. “It's a very important experiment in-progress.”
“Phooey.” Flopping back down onto his stool, he wheeled it back over to where she was working, and watched as she checked and adjusted bits and pieces of his armor.
“You really should let me get rid of all of these Talon markings, you know. Makes you stick out like a sore thumb, even more than you already do.”
“You know I can't do that yet, Sis.” It hadn't been the first time she had suggested it in the year since he had left the military.
At his quick response, Saffi stopped working very momentarily, peeking over at him out of the corner of her eye, before returning back to what she was doing. “I'll wear you down on it one day. But for now, I suppose it wouldn't do that much good, anyway. That madman's pretty much got a stranglehold on the symbol of a hawk, so I'd have to completely redesign it. And even then, people would probably still equate 'heavy-armored elite soldier' with 'Talon,' so we really wouldn't make any headway.”
“I'd say you have a point.”
She worked in relative silence for a few more minutes, before her voice sounded again, this time with a bit of a sly undertone. “So when were you planning on telling me that you've been secreting money away to Katia for my eventual workshop?”
That nearly made him choke, and he coughed a few times in an attempt to cover it up, failing miserably. “Well, um...you see...the thing is...”
“Save it.” Her words might have been abrupt, but her tone was far from it. “You really never change, do you?” Setting her tools down for a moment, she looked over at him, quite seriously. “That money is supposed to be for the both of us.”
“I take what I need out of it to get by,” he replied stubbornly. “What I've been saving up for you is just extra. I don't have much in the way of expenses, right? So what's the big deal?”
“And have you ever thought of how it might make me feel to build my workshop on the money you're risking your neck for?”
Kai didn't respond at first. He nearly looked down at the floor, but he forced himself to meet her eyes, and kept his expression level. “If a dream isn't worth risking your neck for, then what is?”
“It's not your dream, Kai. It's mine.”
“And it can't be both of ours?” He shook his head a few times. “You know me, Saffi. So long as I get to travel around like a leaf on the breeze, I'm content. A full stomach, some drunken songs and improper dancing here and there, and a dash of justice-bringing adventure; that's what makes me happy. So why can't I have the same dream as you?”
“I sometimes wonder about that.” Her gaze was locked intently in place, never wavering for a second. “And I worry that you just say those things to keep me from worrying.”
“Apparently, that's one mission I can't accomplish.” He sighed, and laughed quietly, finally looking away. “I may not fight for Falkovnia's military anymore, but I'm still a soldier, Sis. At least I'm putting what I know to good use, and helping some people out in the process.” He could tell she still had her eyes on him, and he just sat on that stool, hands resting between his knees.
It was a few moments before she spoke back up. “Are you ever going to tell me what your dreams are? Yours?”
“...”
The chimes she had strung up throughout the house and linked to a rope at the front door suddenly started ringing, which meant they had a visitor. Kai all but jumped up at the sudden sound, and rubbed the back of his neck a bit in embarrassment. “I'll get it. I know you don't like to move when you're in the middle of complicated work.” When she just nodded, he turned and left the workshop, making his way for the front door.
Sure enough, the clockmaker had sent one of his apprentices with Saffi's gift. Paying the young man for his trouble, Kai took the wrapped bundle into the house, and started to make for the workshop, but thought better of it, and instead stashed it in his room. He wanted it to be a surprise, after all.
When he returned to the workshop area of the house, she gave him a questioning look, but he had already come up with his cover story. “Just had some extra cheese brought over for the pantry. I went a little overboard with breakfast this morning.”
“Surprise, surprise.” She didn't look quite so serious anymore, and even rolled her eyes a little. “Well, anyway, this conversation isn't over, mister, but I should concentrate on this work. So you're off the hook for the time being.”
“Hauptmann Saffi is harsh but fair.”
Not long after that, the two sat down for dinner. Kai insisted that she get out of the workshop more often and go to a party once in a while, to which she looked at him very flatly and inquired as to exactly which parties in Lamordia he was referring. It was no small degree of satisfying to her when she suggested he get married to some placid lady and settle down in Ludendorf, maybe have a child or two to rein him in, and start wearing those pointed caps of which nobles were fond. He very nearly choked on his food; she was fairly certain he actually believed she would try and play matchmaker, as he had a harried look about him the remainder of dinner that was absolutely hilarious.
He finished first, and got up from the table, carrying his dishes to the kitchen. “I'm heading out for a bit,” he said after he emerged once more. “Probably catch a drink down...well, wherever I happen to wander into.”
“Alright. Just behave yourself, as much of a lost cause as that is.” She smiled a bit, and waved as he left the house.
Before much longer, she finished her food as well, and headed back into her workshop area. Her faithful goggles hung on their peg by the door, as did her working gloves; donning them both, she had very nearly gotten back to his armor when she noticed something out of place. There was a wrapped bundle on the table where Kai had been fiddling with her devices earlier. Sliding her gloves off, and lifting her goggles up on top of her kerchiefed hair, she saw a note on the package:
I would say that I hope this keeps you from working all day and night,
but I already know better than that. So instead, I'll just say “Thanks.”
Her curiosity piqued, Saffi opened the bundle carefully, and was surprised to see...a wall clock. And not just any wall clock; she had actually eyed this very one inside Jurgen's store! It reminded her very much of the first clock she had ever been proud of building, though she had to admit that Jurgen's handiwork in that field was far superior to her own. In fact, he had only recently completed this particular clock, and said that it was one of his finest works to date. That, combined with the bit of mithral inlay on the pendulum – there wasn't much, just enough to catch the eye, but it was still there, mithral! – made her jaw drop a bit in wonder. It was a beautiful clock, but she just knew Kai had spent an arm and a leg on it, so she would tell him to promptly return it in the morning. Yes, in the morning; for now, she could sit and admire it for a while. As she further examined it, turning it over in her hands carefully, she noticed that there was an inscription on the back, in a flowing script that she recognized as Jurgen's handwriting:
To my incomparably brilliant sister, Saffi.
May time never dull the clarity of your dreams.
- Kai
She wasn't quite sure how long she stood there. In fact, what shook her out of her daze was that she noticed her eyes tearing up, and quickly wiped them dry. He would never change, her brother, not if he lived to be a thousand years and a day old. His carefree attitude drove her absolutely batty sometimes – often, really – but occasionally, he managed to baffle her in a good way. One day, she would get him to open up to her about his thoughts, hopes, and dreams, if she had to beat them out of him. But, for now at least, she thought she got him, if only a little. Wiping her eyes again, she laughed at herself quietly, and shook her head again.
“...Idiot.”
Kai sat in one of the taverns – he didn't know which one, to be honest, as he had just picked at random – and gazed out at the night sky through one of the nearby windows. He sorely missed the wild revelry he might have found elsewhere, but occasionally it was good to have a quiet night like this one, with just himself, the beer, and maybe a wink or two at that barmaid who delivered the beer, with hair like spun chocolate. Yeah, nights like these were good ones, after all.
In-between his third and fourth drinks, he thought back on the clock. He had checked it to make sure the right one had been delivered, but had then hurriedly re-packaged it, not taking the time to even flip it over as he had not wanted Saffi to wonder what was keeping him from the dinner table. The thought suddenly struck that he should've asked Old Jurgen to personalize it somehow – maybe with something witty or touching inscribed somewhere, or at least her name. After all, while not a particularly large clock, it still had plenty of room on the back for such a thing to be done. It was true that probably would have added to the cost, but he would have been willing to pay the man for it.
“Aw, kacke,” he said under his breath as he downed the remainder of his drink. “Oh well. Hindsight is always perfect, I suppose...”
------------------------------------
Some time later, Kai was heading back towards the house after visiting the market, a huge wrapped haunch of meat tossed over one shoulder. As he walked through the center of town, he passed by a store that he recognized well. Clocks of various shapes and sizes hung in the windows, all ticking away merrily, and he noticed that the store was almost entirely empty. This was one of Saffi’s favorite stores, if he remembered properly, but he couldn’t ever remember seeing her buy anything in it. Setting his earlier purchase by the door once inside, he took a look around. It always impressed him to see just how many different clocks the man who owned the shop had built. The portly Lamordian was behind the counter, fiddling away with something, and after a moment he looked up, recognition dawning on his face. “Well, if it isn’t Saffi’s brother. How are you, lad? It’s been a while.”
“Glad to see you still can’t remember my name, old timer.”
“And I’m glad to see you still haven’t learned how far you can carry a single joke.” Adjusting his thick spectacles on one nose, the older man chuckled quietly. “So what brings you in today? I can’t say I’ve ever seen you in here by yourself.”
“I figured that at least one of us should actually buy something from you, as opposed to just always gawking at your handiwork.” Kai walked past the great grandfather clock that sat on one side of the room, and then kept going for a bit. “I’m honestly pretty surprised that she’s never picked up anything in here before.”
“Well, you know your sister better than I do, and even I know how rarely she spends money on anything not directly related to her research. ‘Clocks are only important for people with places to be,’ and all.”
“I don’t know about that first part,” Kai responded, “but the rest doesn’t surprise me at all.”
“Then if I may make a suggestion?” The man got a slight twinkle in his eyes. “Perhaps a gift from her brother would solve that issue.”
“Doubtful.” He kept on walking around the store for a bit, before finally stopping at one clock. Built primarily from a wood that was such a deep brown it was nearly black, it held just the slightest hints of what looked to be silver inlay in the pendulum, but was otherwise finely crafted without seeming extravagant or ornate.
“Do you like that one?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice. It just sort of jumped out at me.”
The clockmaker took a moment to clean his glasses on his shirttails. “I’ve had it sitting on the wall for a while now, so if you want to take it, I’d be willing to give it to you for one-fifty.”
Kai stood there for a moment or two, and studied the clock. It really was a nice piece of work; nothing too elaborate, so hopefully she wouldn’t give him a tongue-lashing over it. “Hm…I do have some extra on me today. Ah, what the hell, why not?”
The clockmaker laughed a bit again. “Aren’t you an easy sell? Let me get it packed up for you.” It only took a moment for Kai to pay him, and as the man walked over to the wall to lift the clock off, there was a certain unreadable something in his expression. Kai had no idea what it could have been; he just assumed that it was because he hadn’t really haggled much for it. After a moment or two, the man spoke back up again. “Actually, you look like you’ve got a lot to carry, so why don’t I bring it by later on today?”
Looking back towards the wrapped haunch over by the door, Kai glanced to the clockmaker once again. “It’s really no trouble, I mean-“
“No, no,” the older man replied, waving Kai’s objection away. “I insist. We’re talking about a complex and delicate piece of equipment. You’re paying me good money for it, so I won’t allow you to bungle and let it shatter all over the street while you’re playing butcher’s assistant.” Giving a look up at Kai that said he wasn’t going to take no for an answer, the clockmaker went on. “Now, run along. I’ll have one of my assistants stop by later this evening when they return.”
“Okay, okay. I appreciate it.” Hefting the meat back to his shoulder, Kai gave a respectful nod, and then left on his way back home.
Dinner was cooking away over the fire, but Saffi was still working in the shop. Kai didn't really complain; it was usually fun to watch her work, when she wasn't griping about his peering over her shoulder, anyway. And it wasn't like she didn't recruit him to help her from time-to-time, “Move this” or “Fetch that” or “Hold this down for just a second” being the most common examples. So he was pretty content to just hang around and be a fly on the wall as Master Inventor Saffi worked her own form of magic on the various indescribable gizmos she had lying around in her small workshop.
At present, she was actually working on his armor, so he was taking a bit more of an active interest. Not getting in the way, of course – she might not wear the armor herself, but Saffi Naustvik needed no guidance whatsoever when it came to the maintenance of said metal – but just keeping watch and trying to pick up little bits of whatever knowledge she would toss out.
“These wings...I swear, have you been trying to fly through the ground?” she muttered to herself as she examined the suit's flight mechanisms. “My masterpiece, and Big Bro just thinks he can tangle in it like he's in any old street brawl...was fur ein haufen-”
“Y'know, that ain't very ladylike,” Kai said while messing with one of her gadgets on a table across the room. It was barely more than a wedge with a little metallic bar balanced on the tip, but no matter how far he would try and tip the bar, it would always return to level.
“I'll keep that in mind the next time I get all dolled up to give a lecture on ballistics and the nature of inertia. And don't touch that.” She hadn't even looked over to see what he was doing, but she had apparently known anyway. “It's a very important experiment in-progress.”
“Phooey.” Flopping back down onto his stool, he wheeled it back over to where she was working, and watched as she checked and adjusted bits and pieces of his armor.
“You really should let me get rid of all of these Talon markings, you know. Makes you stick out like a sore thumb, even more than you already do.”
“You know I can't do that yet, Sis.” It hadn't been the first time she had suggested it in the year since he had left the military.
At his quick response, Saffi stopped working very momentarily, peeking over at him out of the corner of her eye, before returning back to what she was doing. “I'll wear you down on it one day. But for now, I suppose it wouldn't do that much good, anyway. That madman's pretty much got a stranglehold on the symbol of a hawk, so I'd have to completely redesign it. And even then, people would probably still equate 'heavy-armored elite soldier' with 'Talon,' so we really wouldn't make any headway.”
“I'd say you have a point.”
She worked in relative silence for a few more minutes, before her voice sounded again, this time with a bit of a sly undertone. “So when were you planning on telling me that you've been secreting money away to Katia for my eventual workshop?”
That nearly made him choke, and he coughed a few times in an attempt to cover it up, failing miserably. “Well, um...you see...the thing is...”
“Save it.” Her words might have been abrupt, but her tone was far from it. “You really never change, do you?” Setting her tools down for a moment, she looked over at him, quite seriously. “That money is supposed to be for the both of us.”
“I take what I need out of it to get by,” he replied stubbornly. “What I've been saving up for you is just extra. I don't have much in the way of expenses, right? So what's the big deal?”
“And have you ever thought of how it might make me feel to build my workshop on the money you're risking your neck for?”
Kai didn't respond at first. He nearly looked down at the floor, but he forced himself to meet her eyes, and kept his expression level. “If a dream isn't worth risking your neck for, then what is?”
“It's not your dream, Kai. It's mine.”
“And it can't be both of ours?” He shook his head a few times. “You know me, Saffi. So long as I get to travel around like a leaf on the breeze, I'm content. A full stomach, some drunken songs and improper dancing here and there, and a dash of justice-bringing adventure; that's what makes me happy. So why can't I have the same dream as you?”
“I sometimes wonder about that.” Her gaze was locked intently in place, never wavering for a second. “And I worry that you just say those things to keep me from worrying.”
“Apparently, that's one mission I can't accomplish.” He sighed, and laughed quietly, finally looking away. “I may not fight for Falkovnia's military anymore, but I'm still a soldier, Sis. At least I'm putting what I know to good use, and helping some people out in the process.” He could tell she still had her eyes on him, and he just sat on that stool, hands resting between his knees.
It was a few moments before she spoke back up. “Are you ever going to tell me what your dreams are? Yours?”
“...”
The chimes she had strung up throughout the house and linked to a rope at the front door suddenly started ringing, which meant they had a visitor. Kai all but jumped up at the sudden sound, and rubbed the back of his neck a bit in embarrassment. “I'll get it. I know you don't like to move when you're in the middle of complicated work.” When she just nodded, he turned and left the workshop, making his way for the front door.
Sure enough, the clockmaker had sent one of his apprentices with Saffi's gift. Paying the young man for his trouble, Kai took the wrapped bundle into the house, and started to make for the workshop, but thought better of it, and instead stashed it in his room. He wanted it to be a surprise, after all.
When he returned to the workshop area of the house, she gave him a questioning look, but he had already come up with his cover story. “Just had some extra cheese brought over for the pantry. I went a little overboard with breakfast this morning.”
“Surprise, surprise.” She didn't look quite so serious anymore, and even rolled her eyes a little. “Well, anyway, this conversation isn't over, mister, but I should concentrate on this work. So you're off the hook for the time being.”
“Hauptmann Saffi is harsh but fair.”
Not long after that, the two sat down for dinner. Kai insisted that she get out of the workshop more often and go to a party once in a while, to which she looked at him very flatly and inquired as to exactly which parties in Lamordia he was referring. It was no small degree of satisfying to her when she suggested he get married to some placid lady and settle down in Ludendorf, maybe have a child or two to rein him in, and start wearing those pointed caps of which nobles were fond. He very nearly choked on his food; she was fairly certain he actually believed she would try and play matchmaker, as he had a harried look about him the remainder of dinner that was absolutely hilarious.
He finished first, and got up from the table, carrying his dishes to the kitchen. “I'm heading out for a bit,” he said after he emerged once more. “Probably catch a drink down...well, wherever I happen to wander into.”
“Alright. Just behave yourself, as much of a lost cause as that is.” She smiled a bit, and waved as he left the house.
Before much longer, she finished her food as well, and headed back into her workshop area. Her faithful goggles hung on their peg by the door, as did her working gloves; donning them both, she had very nearly gotten back to his armor when she noticed something out of place. There was a wrapped bundle on the table where Kai had been fiddling with her devices earlier. Sliding her gloves off, and lifting her goggles up on top of her kerchiefed hair, she saw a note on the package:
I would say that I hope this keeps you from working all day and night,
but I already know better than that. So instead, I'll just say “Thanks.”
Her curiosity piqued, Saffi opened the bundle carefully, and was surprised to see...a wall clock. And not just any wall clock; she had actually eyed this very one inside Jurgen's store! It reminded her very much of the first clock she had ever been proud of building, though she had to admit that Jurgen's handiwork in that field was far superior to her own. In fact, he had only recently completed this particular clock, and said that it was one of his finest works to date. That, combined with the bit of mithral inlay on the pendulum – there wasn't much, just enough to catch the eye, but it was still there, mithral! – made her jaw drop a bit in wonder. It was a beautiful clock, but she just knew Kai had spent an arm and a leg on it, so she would tell him to promptly return it in the morning. Yes, in the morning; for now, she could sit and admire it for a while. As she further examined it, turning it over in her hands carefully, she noticed that there was an inscription on the back, in a flowing script that she recognized as Jurgen's handwriting:
To my incomparably brilliant sister, Saffi.
May time never dull the clarity of your dreams.
- Kai
She wasn't quite sure how long she stood there. In fact, what shook her out of her daze was that she noticed her eyes tearing up, and quickly wiped them dry. He would never change, her brother, not if he lived to be a thousand years and a day old. His carefree attitude drove her absolutely batty sometimes – often, really – but occasionally, he managed to baffle her in a good way. One day, she would get him to open up to her about his thoughts, hopes, and dreams, if she had to beat them out of him. But, for now at least, she thought she got him, if only a little. Wiping her eyes again, she laughed at herself quietly, and shook her head again.
“...Idiot.”
Kai sat in one of the taverns – he didn't know which one, to be honest, as he had just picked at random – and gazed out at the night sky through one of the nearby windows. He sorely missed the wild revelry he might have found elsewhere, but occasionally it was good to have a quiet night like this one, with just himself, the beer, and maybe a wink or two at that barmaid who delivered the beer, with hair like spun chocolate. Yeah, nights like these were good ones, after all.
In-between his third and fourth drinks, he thought back on the clock. He had checked it to make sure the right one had been delivered, but had then hurriedly re-packaged it, not taking the time to even flip it over as he had not wanted Saffi to wonder what was keeping him from the dinner table. The thought suddenly struck that he should've asked Old Jurgen to personalize it somehow – maybe with something witty or touching inscribed somewhere, or at least her name. After all, while not a particularly large clock, it still had plenty of room on the back for such a thing to be done. It was true that probably would have added to the cost, but he would have been willing to pay the man for it.
“Aw, kacke,” he said under his breath as he downed the remainder of his drink. “Oh well. Hindsight is always perfect, I suppose...”
Those who dream by day are aware of many things that escape those who dream only by night.