Satsume could feel his strength magnify as Cecily’s voice waned. He had made it through the debilitating effects of the galdr – now it was time to buy his companions time to escape.
Two more Lycian soldiers stepped past their fallen comrades and engaged Satsume. He brought his spear up in anticipation, but did not shift his stance. So far, they had all been blindly rushing at him; if he timed his move right, they would be knocked off balance…
At least, that was the plan until some kind of projectile smacked one of the soldiers in the back of the head, ringing his bell. As the second soldier stumbled over the thrown helmet, Satsume singled out the first one, exploding out of his stance with as much speed as his armor would allow. He lowered his shoulder and roared as he connected with a powerful blindside tackle.
“Hrrrrraaagh!” Satsume’s shoulder plate caught the poor fool with his head down and jerked him sideways. His opponent was lifted off the ground briefly from the force of the hit, twirling around like a ragdoll before finally spinning into the ground. Confident that this one wouldn’t be getting up, Satsume slowed to a stop. Now he only had one left. He turned to his foe just in time to see a flash of steel headed for his neck. Satsume turned away, and the sword edge sang against his armor. The frustrated soldier gave it a couple more hacks, but Satsume’s subtle movements kept the blade from hitting flesh. The blade chimed against his armor again and again, leaving no trace save for a few score marks.
Finally, his opponent’s frustration boiled over, and he came at Satsume with a two-handed, overhead swing. “Die!” he screamed. Satsume craned his neck and avoided the hastened attack, leaving it to impact harmlessly on his left shoulder. He shuffled a foot behind the soldier and reached for his neck. With a twist of his upper body, Satsume drove the Lycian into the ground. The sword flew out of the soldier’s hand as the wind left him.
“Good night, Gracie.” Satsume twirled his spear over his head before driving it down into the man’s chest.
The scene was threating to become chaotic again, what with Cecily’s tune having expired. Satsume stole a glance off to the side; she and Shad were at Paige’s side now, seemingly safe. That’s good, he thought. Now where on earth did that little helmet distraction come from…? His first thought was the Keeper, Yuri; a survey of the street found a bundle of leather and robes a short ways out. After another quick look to Cecily to verify her safety, Satsume raced over to him.
“Yuri!” he exclaimed. “You alright?!” He inspected the Keeper’s body for wounds, but found nothing. The young priest-warrior’s face was seemingly content.
And he was snoring.
“...oh. Right.” Satsume stood up and scanned for any other threats. It seemed that the only event still happening was partways between him and Cecily. An impressive-looking middle-aged man had somehow garnered the attention of the remainder of what Lycians had resisted the lullaby, and was just finishing up. Satsume thought he recognized him from somewhere, but the more pressing realization was that he must have been the one who inadvertently helped him best his two earlier opponents.
One of the soldiers – presumably one that had been brought down by this man – was getting back to her feet. Satsume reached over his shoulder and produced one of his javelins. As she raised her sword behind the man’s back, Satsume skip-stepped forward and let fly. The missile sailed through the air and appeared to miss its target, crossing just in front of the soldier’s face. Satsume heard her squeal in pain and twist away from the javelin at it raced by, dropping the blade and reaching up with both hands to grab at her cheek. He must have just clipped her with it, but that would be enough to keep her from trying to fight again. Regardless, Satsume reached over his shoulder for his second javelin, ready to draw it at a moment’s notice.
“Hey!” he called to the older man. “Do I know you from somewhere?”
"Damn neophytes!" None of the opponents attacking the mercenary had learned anything useful about fighting, and they were telegraphing their attacks like nobody's business. Ambrose's pommel struck a soldier between her eyes right as her shield bashed him in the gut. The air whooshed out of his lungs in a groan, but he regained his breath and whirled to the right in time to catch an axe on the quillions of his longsword. He reached forward to grapple, but ironically, this soldier had experience, or at least some training or instincts. Ambrose gripped the man's ax handle just as he felt the man grab his sword's hilt. The mercenary raised a leg and kicked out with it, smashing his booted heel into his crotch. Having not expected this, the Lycian reeled back, keeping hold of his ax with one hand and his groin with the other. Ambrose had missed the opportunity to strike his head in order to keep a grip on his sword, but a javelin flew from somewhere behind him and struck him in the thigh. From where Ambrose stood, he judged that the thrown lance had cut open the artery. The Lycian was dead without a healer.
A shrill scream of pain had sounded from behind him, as well as the sound of a sword hitting the cobblestone, when the javelin had flown past. He turned around, raising his blade to the quick guard, and noticing the helm-less woman from before, clutching a bleeding gash on her cheekbone. She was surprisingly pretty, though from her scream she'd never been wounded before. Weaponless and facing an experienced opponent, she gritted her teeth, scowling at him.
Ambrose jabbed her in the diaphragm with his right hand, prepped his sword, and thrust the pommel into the exact same spot. She hunched over, then collapsed. She'd be sore thereabouts for weeks, but she'd live. And with that, there were no more opponents. He looked at the heavily armored lefty who'd addressed him. "Hmm... You do look familiar," the mercenary sheathed his sword, rubbing his chin through his short beard. "Bah, we can figure out who's who later," he decided. The mercenary walked up to Yuri and hefted the Keeper up on his shoulder. "Right now we need to make ourselves scarce, before the rest of the army decides to track down the ones who attacked and killed some soldiers in this division. Does anyone know of a place to hide, or should we pick a direction and start running?"
Shad was so distracted by what happened with Alice, he didn't even notice that Paige had succumb to the galdr until Cecily pried him away. He turned away from the pair to keep a watch out. He saw Satsume fighting, which made sense. He seemed the most prepared for the whole thing. A funny thought occurred to him regarding his luck with Lycian nobility. Orica's voice could raise the dead in battle, whereas Cecily's can lure them all to sleep. At least Cecily's won't cause a massive headache. At least, Shad hoped. He didn't even notice it at first, but with Cecily's singing halted, that weight he had felt had passed. But as Shad looked around, he noticed Alice, struggling to fight an soldier with an axe. Shad didn't recall seeing the soldier awake before. Perhaps they snapped out of the galdr faster than the others. If fact, he was forcing her back. Guess it makes sense. She had the advantage from surprise and the galdr, but she's worse in a straight up fight. "I'll be back. I shouldn't be long."
He took a few steps in her direction before an image flashed in his mind. A short red head against a man with an axe. He shook that from his head when he noticed that Alice blocked a swing and was sent flying, landing on her back. Shad's feet moved before he was aware. In his right hand was his Schiavona, in his left was it's sheath. The soldier went for an odd swing, swinging left-to-right diagonally downwards. Shad had rolled to Alice's right and caught the axe against the combined wall of his sword and sheath, sword pointing upwards, sheath touching the ground. He turned his head back and saw Alice and another image appeared again. The soldier retracted his axe and backed off briefly. Tears welled up in Alice's eyes for some reason. "We need to talk." Was his only comment, before turning back towards the soldier. As he stood up, he felt a tug on his pant leg. He turned back to see Alice holding one of her daggers by the blade, offering the handle to Shad. He fastened the sheath to his belt and grabbed the dagger with his off hand.
He slowly approached the soldier, contemplating how to proceed. He knew he couldn't match him in strength. If the soldier decided to recklessly swing again after he was blocked, he would have won out eventually. He had to something a bit underhanded. He moved in to attack, but the soldier blocked his swings with the broadside of his ax. He looked down at his feet. He looked around and saw a patch of dirt. He had an idea. The soldier began his counterattack, but Shad managed to keep away, dodging his swings until the soldier was close enough for the plan to work. He quickly traversed the dirt, pivoted on his left foot and as the soldier approached the dirt, he threw the dagger into the ground, confusing the soldier. Shad then pulled the Schiavona up to his face and focused on the spot. Harnessing the magic of the sword, he used a wind spell on the dirt, specifically dirt the dagger knocked loose, and blew it into the eyes of the soldier. Shad tried approaching, but the soldier covered his eye with one hand and began swinging wildly with the other. Shad took a few steps back and to the left before a brief run. He jumped and dove feet first towards the soldier. Which hurt. A lot. He was low enough to dodge the wild flailing, but aimed it properly enough to take out his right foot from under him, causing him to fall. Shad tried to roll away, but the the soldier dropped his ax and cut into his right shoulder. He still had some strength in his arm, so he got up to a kneeling position and drove his sword into the mans back.
Thankfully for Shad, the axe wasn't embedded and fell out when he got up, but it still hurt all the same. He got back up to his two feet and approached Alice. He knelt down next to her. He opened his mouth, but she stopped him. "I'm sorry. I've been nothing but a scourge to your life." Shad was a bit confused by that. Cass told him the spy was doing stuff to help. What does she mean? "I'm why you have that scar on your right side. It almost happened again, too. You're always tossing your self into harms way defend others." Shad recalled his hallucination from the before. The little red haired girl. The axe wound. Giving away his original signet ring. He even called Eli Alice, as if he subconsciously linked Alice and the little redhead. Was that moment what started his affinity towards redheads? Who knew for sure? "Derailing that meteor spell, trying to distract the church to help Paige, charging that keeper while filled with crossbow bolts. You saved a town that didn't trust you. You made your presence known to try to save Paige. You did it to save someone who just met. You saved a little girl of five and all you got from it was that girl spying on you. And even now, when you knew that girl was spying on her, you still save her. You damn idiot." She says, trying not to cry. She just admitted it. Admitted to spying on him. She knew he was a mage from after they first met. How closely had Alice been following him. She got back up on her own two feet. "It was fun. But my cover's blown. I'm sure you guys can take care of things here. I need to report back to my brother, perhaps do a little damage control for what I've done." She sheathed her dagger and ran to grab the other. She then ran back towards Shad, grabbed his collar, and pulled him down for a kiss. Or at least, that's what it looked like. "Cass told me about needing some information from the Ostian library. If I'm not executed, imprisoned, or on another assignment, I'll try to help you get in. But until you're bold enough for it, try toning down the recklessness. Paige too." She then pecked him on the cheek and ran off.
Shad just stood there, dumbfounded. He turned towards the direction Alice ran off in. "How is this 'we need to talk' if I don't get a word in edge wise?" he said to himself. He looked around, still confused by everything. I must have succumb to the galdr, right? He slapped himself in the face, just to see if he was actually awake right now, despite the pain in his back and the cut in his arm being a clear enough indicator. He ran back towards Cecily and Paige, but saw Satsume with a familiar looking man. What. No. He knelt down next to Paige. "I think Ambrose is back." He said looking in his direction.
(Sorry guys, I'm the worst.
)
"I really do want to talk about this, but if we don't leave now, we might not ever get to. Can you walk?"
"Yes, I can ma-" Ellie began, when a weak cough drew her attention to the wounded soldier behind them.
“New plan. We’re getting you out of here.”
“No problem, lady…ah…”
“Stay there for now, in case this doesn’t work.”
"Right, no problem," Ellie replied as she watched Paige lead the soldier out of the room, and the door shut firmly behind them. "I'm sorry I lied..."
------------
The events that followed seemed to transpire over the course of mere moments and an eternity simultaneously. There was shouting, there was a clash - a tranquil song coaxed Ellie to slumber, but she withstood with what little will she had left; still, she felt more at ease, almost soothed and rejuvenated. By the time her mind had come back to her, she heard nothing. She looked left, then right - no one. She was on the floor now, it seemed, so she stood as she surveyed the room once more. Tucked into a corner were her scattered belongings, which she armed herself with in a feverish rush.
The instant she was ready, Ellie raced to the door and pried it ajar - silence. She peered out into the open tavern, greeted by a few slumped bodies; living or otherwise, she wasn't about to find out. She crept across the tavern floor to retrieve one of her fallen daggers, and made her way back up the stairs to check the rooms. It was entirely deserted, save for the soldier she had dispatched what now seemed like a lifetime ago. She pried the dagger from his rigid grip, her eyes meeting his. Devoid of life, just a tired display of his final, dread-filled moments. She shuddered at the thought, but she shook the feeling and made her way down and out into the street.
It seemed she had missed quite a show, a battle of epic proportions - and new friends, it appeared. She approached the ragged group of ruffians she called friends, and waited for her moment. Shad approached in an apparent daze and took a seat next to Paige.
"I think Ambrose is back."
Ellie turned to face this 'Ambrose' fellow, and chimed in herself. "Yeah, who's Ambrose?"
Smooth, Ellie. No "I'm back!". No "What happened here?". Nice one.
"Um...who are you?" Paige asked.
Cecily blinked a few times from the realization that Paige did not recognize her, before reminding herself that she is not that famous outside of Laus. It is mostly other politically-aligned figures and military leaders that knew of her from Cecily's tenure as a Lausian dignitary to public events, with the occasional middle to lower class citizen being able to recognize her face. She opened her mouth to reply, but Paige got the next word in.
"I-I mean, we should get out of here," the librarian continued.
"Indeed," Cecily agreed.
For a moment, Cecily watched as Paige fumbled around for her weapons, quietly bemused at Paige's insistence to help, before grabbing both hands to stop her. Although Paige was naturally awakened with the Vigor spell, the noble had no idea how long it was going to take for the librarian to be fully reawakened from the sleeping spell.
"Don't rush yourself," Cecily told her. "Let the others shoulder the burden this time."
It took little time before the din of battle faded, leaving the town with a ghostly quiet image. Cecily looped one hand under Paige's shoulder to help the latter to her feet. Paige should be able to stand, but the strength of the after-effects varied with person. At worst, Paige would have to be carried for a few hours until the longer-lasting effects wore off. As she did so, Shad came running back.
"I think Ambrose is back," he said.
"Yeah, who's Ambrose?" another girl, who Cecily never noticed until now, perked up.
"We have more concerning things at hand," Cecily dismissed the two with a raised eyebrow. She had never met Ambrose, but at least he is helping them and not the Lycians.
"Satsume, we should check the..." Cecily began as she took several steps forward (with Paige in tow). "... Stables..."
Which was occupied by sleeping horses.
"Allow me some time with them," the noble sighed. "If someone can put together the equestrian equipment together, I will appreciate it. Surely, we do not have the time for me to learn how to put everything together myself."
"Can you stand?" Cecily asked Paige, loosening her hold on the other to allow Paige to test her limits. If she could not, Cecily gently lowered Paige to the ground and walked over to the stables.
It would be faster for her to use her galdr on multiple horses at once, but Cecily was not so keen on the possibility of unintentionally waking soldiers that are better left asleep. She began her song as she stroked the horse's head from forehead to muzzle, stopping only when she could see the horse open its eyes.
"I am in need of your services," she told the horse.
The horse merely grumbled, which Cecily took to be horse-speak for a confirmation, and began her work waking the next horse in the stable. The second horse was more welcoming of this call to duty, so at least she had the support of at least one horse. However, there were no other horses in the stables, so either some have to walk on foot or they have to find a wagon to hitch. Cecily hoped that they could find a wagon: walking from Bern to Pherae with Satsume was not only exhausting, it also gave her feet great pains. Such is the pampered life.
Paige wasn't sure who this woman was, but she was being pretty helpful. As she was led to the stables, Paige found her weariness wearing off with each step she took. By the time they reached the stables, the librarian was lucid enough to take care of herself. While the horses were being taken care of, Paige took time to answer those around her.
"That's Ambrose over there," she replied to Ellie, "Though he usually goes by Fred. Fred was instrumental in getting us to Santaruz. But none of that matters if we don't get out of here. The Lycian Army should still be busy with Bern; they won't be looking for us immediately. That gives us time to find a place outside the city to hide out and plan our next move."
Paige then looked over to Shad, who still had her things, most notably her swords.
"I'll need my things. I don't think we're lucky enough to be done with all of the fighting."
"Hmph. Seems some of them are trying the stables," Fred muttered, looking at the ladies going off to fetch horses. "Why not? No worse a plan for being obvious. Come on, this way. I stabled my horse elsewhere, and last I checked, it was full." He and Satsume carried the sleeping Yuri between them, with the mercenary leading the way, carrying his legs. It wasn't all that far away, but it was in the opposite direction Cecily and Paige had gone. This stable had been out of earshot of the sleeping galdr, and was more full. Fred set Yuri's legs down and went in. He spent fifteen minutes in there, then brought out two horses with saddles on. Both of them were palfreys, that is, riding animals, but neither were war-trained.
"They'll take you anywhere, except the heat of battle," Ambrose said when he saw Satsume eyeing the beasts. "Now, help me get Yuri onto mine, and you can ride the other one." The mercenary checked the horses, then grabbed Yuri's legs again. He and Satsume got Yuri to flop onto the horse, correctly in the saddle by sheer luck. Ambrose mounted up behind him, keeping the smaller Keeper from falling off the horse. When the other armored warrior had mounted the second animal, they had them canter back to the inn, then on to the stable. Ambrose noticed that, quite unlike Roland, Satsume did not sit a horse well, and further, did not appear as if he could fight effectively from horseback. Yet.
At any rate, Fred and Satsume found themselves at the stable, with Paige, Cecily, Shad, and another figure awakening and saddling two horses.
Shad was almost a bit surprised by Eli showing up all of a sudden. The thought occurred to him that he hasn't seen Eli once since he returned to the inn. Where was he anyway? As he looked at him, the thought of Alice passed his mind again. Why do they have to have the same hair color? They even look like they are the same age. Shad thought to himself. He silently thanked Eli for the different hairstyle, eye color, and gender, otherwise the reminders would be more constant. However, that reminder actually reminded him of someone else. Cass. Before he could go check up on her, he noticed Paige eye his weapons. All three of them. Three? Wait a minute. He looked them over and noticed that at some point he had put Paige's rapier and other sword - Didn't that belong to the monk? When did she take it? - on his waist. He quickly removed them and handed them back to their owner. "I'll be right back. I have to check up on Cass. She was almost as out of it as you were."
He dashed off back towards the inn, ignoring the bodies - alive and dead - littering the street in front of it. He didn't even make it into the door before Cass and Taika stepped out, with Taika carrying a fair bit of stuff. "You sure you remember where we left that horse right?" Taika nodded to the spy. "Good. Be on your way. I need to talk to your student." She said once more as Taika left them to find where the horse was kept. Cass had her serious face on as she turned to Shad, glaring at him. She looked around for a second before opening her mouth. "Where's Alice? I wouldn't peg her for someone to leave you alone."
"She's returning to Ostia. Her cover was blown, thanks to Commander Raul." Shad said, watching Cass perk up a bit. "My spy situation has been taken care of."
"You just let her go?"
"You said she was sympathetic. She is. If she's in Ostia when we get there, she's offered to help us get into the library." Shad told Cass, who looked at him with a hint of suspicion. "Who's her brother? I figured you overheard that at some point."
"A man by the name of Arthur Richter."
Shad's eyes widened a bit. Arthur...? No. It couldn't be. "Damn Lennox. He knew an Arthur Richter. He saw me save his sister. That's probably why Arthur knew who I was. What is he playing at?"
A mischievous grin showed up on Cass's face at that question. She was going to tease him again, he just knew it. "Matchmaker? Put his little sister together with the brave reckless fool who saved her. How romantic~." Shad just took a deep breath, held it in, and exhaled. "Seems like a waste of resources. At least, before you became a public enemy of the church and state." Shad kinda just looked around, trying to ignore that. He turned back towards Cass to see her holding a piece of parchment up to his face. He took a step back and looked at it. There were a few drawings, of coats on them. "Which one do you like?" Shad raised his eyebrow a bit at that question. "You can't keep wearing hand-me-downs. You need a new outfit that was made for you. Pick one." Shad shook his head and picked one. "Okay, that one it is. I'll have it ready for you next time we meet. Try not to grow or put on weight."
"What?"
"Your spy problem taken care of. So I'm not needed here anymore. I'm taking your hooded coat back with me. Oh, and take this." Cass put away the parchment and took out something else. Something metal. It looks...like a basket hilt? It wasn't attached to a sword. "We found this while going through your fathers things. I meant to give it to you earlier, but we've been running around the entire time. It's the actual hilt for the schiavona. Not that, walking stick hilt disguise. If you can find a blacksmith, perhaps they can switch it out for you."
"Wh-...You know what. I don't care. This last few minutes have been utter nonsense. Have a safe trip." He said as he took the hilt and began to walk back. That's when he felt something tap on his back. He turned back to find hilt of the Sacaen sword held out in front of him. He grabbed the sheath and took that sword as well.
As he walked back, Taika came riding up next to him. Well, riding was a rather loose term. Surviving? The duo went back to the stable that girls and Eli were at. Almost immediately after the rest of the guy's showed up. Shad began counting to himself, but still loud enough for others to hear. "Taika and I on one. Fred and Yuri on another. Satsume by himself. That leaves...Cecily, Paige, and Eli to divvy up two horses...but is it only two?" It was then that Shad began intentionally speaking up. "Eli, where's the horse you arrived here on? Did you put it in the stable or did you hide it like we did with mine?"
"That's Ambrose over there, though he usually goes by Fred. Fred was instrumental in getting us to Santaruz. But none of that matters if we don't get out of here. The Lycian Army should still be busy with Bern; they won't be looking for us immediately. That gives us time to find a place outside the city to hide out and plan our next move."
"Well, he sounds like a good guy to have around!" Ellie perked up, smiling gently in Paige's direction. Paige turned away and faced Shad, requesting her belongings before he rushed off in search of Cass. Ellie watched as he ran off, only for Fred and Satsume to rejoin their ranks, with the elusive Yuri in tow - looking somewhat worse for wear.
Not many words were exchanged in the moments that passed. Ellie eyed her companions intently - almost as if she were sizing them up. The way things were now, she had to decide if she could follow them, or turn to helping Bern by herself? What could a lone girl pretending to be a lone boy accomplish, she thought? But would she be forced to come to blows with her own people if she were to stay? She looked to her feet, contemplating as she gingerly dug the toe of her boot into the dirt.
"Eli, where's the horse you arrived here on? Did you put it in the stable or did you hide it like we did with mine?"
Ellie didn't react immediately, lost in her conflicted thoughts for a moment or two before the voice was discernible. Her head snapped up to meet Shad's pondering gaze.
"Uh..." she scanned the stables, somewhat embarrassed it hadn't occurred to her before to find her steed. "It seems someone took off with it... I guess they panicked when the fighting broke out?" Damn, I liked that one... "I suppose I'll ride with Paige, if that's alright?"
She turned her eyes to meet Paige's - they had a few things to discuss as it were; perhaps Ellie could teach her how to handle a horse while they were at it!
Paige caught sight of an unconscious Yuri, but thankfully, he had only fallen under the same sleep spell that she had. She took back her swords and looked over the escape plan. Fred and Yuri were on one horse, while Satsume commandeered another. Cecily had managed to awaken the only two other horses present in the stable. Shad returned with his own horse (along with a passenger). Paige was more than happy to be a passenger with Ellie, leaving Cecily with her own horse.
"More like I'm riding with," Paige told Ellie. The librarian had no intention of riding herself, not after the disaster that was the journey to Tania. She waited for Ellie to get on before climbing behind her. Once settled in for the ride, Paige looked to the others.
"I suspect the battle is happening north or east of us," Paige noted, making note that Tania was fairly close to Bern. "I don't believe Pherae is safe any longer. We could try our luck with Caelin. Unless...someone has a better plan?"
Paige hoped someone had a better plan. Caelin was too close to Santaruz. If news spread of their prison escape, Caelin would likely know of it. There was an alternative: cross into Bern. Paige intentionally avoided that path. She did not believe her work was done in Lycia. Yet, short of marching straight into Ostia, Paige was running out of leads to pursue. Was fate trying to lead her to Bern?
Cecily had rode on horseback before, but they have always been with the assistance of her own staff and retainers. That was not to say that she did not have a good idea how to prepare the horse herself. Among the stacks of saddles to the side of the stable, Cecily found a sidesaddle, which was what she used in Laus.
The saddle was a lot heavier than she anticipated: perhaps the heaviest thing she ever carried in her life (which, to be fair, is not saying much). Cecily struggled with it for a while, slowly sliding it over the horse's back, before going about securing and tightening the girth. She is told that she has good posture on horseback, but getting herself seated onto the horse remained a challenge to her inexperience.
After sliding on and securing the bridle, Cecily placed a stool by the horse and gingerly worked her way from stirrup to saddle. Halfway up, her horse had the idea of starting to walk away, leaving Cecily in the awkward situation of either continuing her way onto the saddle or risk falling off and getting trampled.
She let out a surprised gasp as the horse started trotting, but did not sputter anything further. It may be a horse, but it is still an animal. Whatever they think of, Cecily may never know. She did, however, manage to safety hoist herself to the saddle and command her horse by the reins.
Despite all of this struggle, Cecily managed to regroup with the others in time to catch the latter half of Paige's suggestions as to where to go.
"Caelin? It would only be suitable for hiding for a short time. We should be able to breathe more easily in Bern," Cecily suggested as she brought her horse alongside Ellie and Paige.
Of course, Cecily passed over the mention that she is more likely to be recognized in Caelin: a territory she regularly visited as a Lausian dignitary. She had no idea what or how much this librarian knew that would cause such a stir in Pherae, so Satsume suggested to her, so she quietly preferred to not be separated from the others because of her own issues.
"The church moved into Pharae before I left, remember?" Shad said to Paige. "It's possible the church moved out, but that other unit of keepers was still searching for Fred when we left." He reminded. The church presence must be high in the area. With what Shad now knows, Alice apparently redirected that group of soldiers to Pharae to allow their escape. Which left them without a place to fall back to. Caelin was an option, but Caelin, in the past, had been entrusted to Ostia. "Given Caelin's history with Ostia, it's probably not smart for us to try going there. I don't know who reigns over Caelin now, but they must have close ties to the Ostian royal family."
Cecily put forward the idea of Bern. Bern, huh? Wait. That could work. But how far is it? Shad pulled out a map from his belongings. On this map was how to get to his family's safe house in Bern, which was his original destination. He took the map and laid it down on a nearby box. "My family has a safe house in Bern. If this map is correct, it should be roughly on the other side of the mountains. The only trouble we might run into would probably be bandits attacking refugees. We could stay there and assess the situation." Shad sighed a bit, not really wanting to involve his sister. "Looking at this map though, I think that might be our only option. The sister at the church told me about a missive that arrived from Santaruz, so Caelin must have had gotten it too. We'd most likely have to go through the Lycian and Bernese armies to get to Khathelet and the situation around Pharae is too much of unknown to really risk it. But that's just my opinion."
He grabbed the map and climbed up onto the horse, with Taika grabbing his waist as he did so. That girl has no faith in this horse. He grabbed the reigns with one hand and led the horse over towards others. He then remembered something, when they first left Pharae. "Fred, what caused you to come here to Tania, if I may ask? Now that I remember, you wanted to avoid Tania."
"Had a run-in with trouble here before," the mercenary replied to Shad. Before the curious man could dig any further, he decided to explain a little. "It involved this man," he pointed with his thumb to Satsume, "And Lady Orica of House Tania. And no, I don't know what happened to her. For all I know or care, she's dead. Strong in the arm, that one, but dumb as shit when it comes to tactics on any level beyond a frontal assault. Or perhaps defense."
Fred shook his head, "We can bother with that later. Hyah!" He cracked his reins and spurred his horse into a gallop, heading out of the city as fast as his beast's legs would take him. He heard the others follow suit. When they were on the open road, though, he slowed, encouraging the others to adopt a similar pace, so they could resume their conversation without immediate threat of pursuit. Of course, they would be pursued later, but later was not his concern, for the moment.
"Now then, where were we? Ah, yes, where to go," Fred mulled it over, thought about it once more, and then said, "Bern. It's our only hope for sanctuary right now. We're hemmed in on all other ways, are we not?"
"More like I'm riding with."
"I suspect the battle is happening north or east of us, I don't believe Pherae is safe any longer. We could try our luck with Caelin. Unless...someone has a better plan?"
Caelin was closer to Santaruz than Tania was - and Ellie wasn't sure she liked that plan. Given the fiasco with the keepers mere nights before, word was sure to have made its way there first. She thought briefly, how to push the group to Bern?
"Caelin? It would only be suitable for hiding for a short time. We should be able to breathe more easily in Bern."
That'll do, I suppose.
Shad made a case for avoiding Pherae, leaving not much aside from Bern in their stead - it seemed Ellie was going home.
"My family has a safe house in Bern. If this map is correct, it should be roughly on the other side of the mountains. The only trouble we might run into would probably be bandits attacking refugees. We could stay there and assess the situation. Looking at this map though, I think that might be our only option. The sister at the church told me about a missive that arrived from Santaruz, so Caelin must have gotten it too. We'd most likely have to go through the Lycian and Bernese armies to get to Khathelet and the situation around Pharae is too much of unknown to really risk it. But that's just my opinion."
Shad headed towards Fred, asking him a more personal question - Ellie wasn't listening at this point, her mind instead turning to her family; more specifically, her brother. Perhaps she could reach out and Bern would answer. The group sped up to rejoin Fred as they headed off towards Bern.
"Now then, where were we? Ah, yes, where to go... Bern. It's our only hope for sanctuary right now. We're hemmed in on all other ways, are we not?"
"If we reach Bern, I may know someone who can tell us what the army is up to," Ellie snuck a glance in Fred's direction before turning to look at Paige. "I hadn't thought of it before, but my brother is one of Bern's riders."
Cecily opened her mouth to inquire about the circumstance in which he and Satsume encountered Orica, but the mercenary galloped off before she could speak. She could only grab snippets of the events that transpired among the Tanian nobility, which sounded suspiciously similar to her own disgraceful departure from Laus. Whatever: she could ask about the lady later.
She followed the others out of the city, being sure to pull her traveling cloak closer around herself. Since her previous vacation in Bern, Cecily had to be careful in case there were spies tailing her. Not that any of it was important enough to explain to these people (except Satsume, who is well aware of her situation). Instead, she turned her attention towards Ellie.
"How highly ranked is your brother?" Cecily asked. "It may not be easy to get into contact with him if he is some sort of general."
Having lived in the political world for much of her life, Cecily had her own suspicions as to the nature of this development, but took care not to say too much. She has, after all, fled Laus some time ago: out of touch with the general trends of Elibe's leaders. Her own interactions with one of the advisors to the King of Bern while in the country suggested that the Bernese are looking at the situation in Lycia with heavy caution.
Cecily could only imagine that the Bernese advisors are withholding information from their monarch so as to evaluate the progression of Lycia's activities. At the same time, stemming the flow of information would make it impossible for the king to thoughtlessly respond to the situation.
At this point, it is impossible to tell whether these raids are sanctioned or not. In any case, a statement of whether these raids came at an order or not will paint a bright portrait of the social and political climate in Bern.
"How highly ranked is your brother? It may not be easy to get into contact with him if he is some sort of general."
Ellie pondered for a moment. She hadn't seen her brother since he was recruited, and she knew even less off his standing in the army. Someone had to know his name somewhere though, right?
"I can't say, I haven't seen Leroy in what seems like forever," Ellie spoke glumly. Six years must amount to something. Her mind raced as she pondered on a way to meet her brother, what he would be like now he was a man, if he would even come for her. Was she being silly? No. We can make it happen!
Ellie turned to face each member of their group, hoping that any of their faces would offer a suggestion as to who had an idea; but none did. Her gaze fell to the mane of her steed as they continued on their way home.
Oh, right. Ambrose mentioned having met Orica before. Considering how she acted from the few minutes they were together, who knows how she acted then. And that was just the planning phase of their counterattack. Shad had no idea on how she acted after that, as he didn't leave the village due to a meteor spell he desperately derailed. Even during the planning, she was all gungho about a frontal assault and calling an ambush cowardice. If she was dead, it was probably that mentality that did her in.
The group raced off after Ambrose as he led the way, figuring they were Bern bound. Eli had an idea about his brother in the Bernese military. That had some possibilities, even if Cecily and Eli seemed to already dismiss it. "How far into Bern do we plan on going? Are we going to wait along the border or make our way to the capital or another major city?" Shad questioned. Obviously if they were going to go with Eli's idea of finding her brother, they probably would need to head much farther inward.
Eli's mentions of her brother started to stir in Shad. He'd just seen most of his extended family within the past day. But thinking about using the safe house and his conversation with Roland reminded him of his motivation. "I don't care what we do. But..." he began. He then speaking a bit softer. "...I'd like to see my sister." His face felt hot after saying that, as if he realized he was almost blushing. He put his head down, trying to hide it. He hadn't seen her since before the annexation, having preempted the invasion when he sent her and Wolfram to Bern. He's only known her for two years, but she was his sister. Besides his mother signet ring and his father's sword, she was the only thing they left behind that could be called his.
"I know I'm kinda an extra wheel here, but maybe that soldier Paige freed knew something? Perhaps we can find him and he could give us a lead? You know, to return the favor for freeing him?" Taika chimed in. Shad didn't know what to make of that idea, as he never even saw the soldier, let alone what happened after he was freed. Taika's being really optimistic here. Unless Elimine herself deemed it to be, it didn't seem likely they'd ever run into him.
As the group rode, Paige kept silent. She wasn't happy that their only option appeared to be siding with Bern. Their intentions with Lycia remained unknown. The librarian remained skeptical. It must have been the Lycian in her.
It wasn't until Ellie and Taika started talking about getting Bern soldiers that Paige finally spoke up.
"Family or not, no Bern soldier is about to tell much to a group riding from Lycia. I wouldn't expect a warm welcome. How are we doing this?"
Paige had no idea how true her words could be: she was unaware that Shad had stabbed one of the Bern knights back at the inn.
"Family or not, no Bern soldier is about to tell much to a group riding from Lycia. I wouldn't expect a warm welcome. How are we doing this?"
Ellie thought in silence a hundred horrible ideas before she settled on, what she thought, could very well be the worst moral decision. But it could work.
"Shad mentioned bandits... we could play the part. The army will have to respond to threats near the border, right?" Ellie started, looking bewilderedly at each of her companions. "When the army responds, we can negotiate to send a message; something my brother couldn't say no to."
If everyone was on board, Ellie knew Leroy wouldn't hesitate to investigate if word of his brother reached his ears - after all, his only brother was long dead. The only question was how to raise the alarm without hurting anyone...
"I can't say I like that plan," Ambrose said, frowning. "I know something of armies, I think. Don't they dispose of bandits and deserters rather ruthlessly? I wouldn't think an army, no matter the portion of it that there is, would negotiate in good faith with those they considered 'bandits.'" Ambrose shrugged emphatically. "Perhaps we could pose as mercenaries, or simple fugitives."