Chapter 17: pain of the Ahas
It had been a week since the successful defense of Premer. The royal fleet Herikfer had to be stationed at its harbor in case of another attack from the Ahas, it didn't please neither the admiral nor the lord who had a hard time to get merchant ships to dock or go through the city without being blocked by a warship. One of the few positive outcomes was a rise in the traffic in the harbor district, mainly the red light one, and a boost of morale from both the population and the city's guards as being directly under the protection of the royal fleet, showed that the King Hedi cared about them. If all seemed pretty good on the surface, another problem was brewing as a small group of unknown affiliation was lurking in the shadows of back alleys and a couple of bodies of local thugs had been found dead, either by being strangled to death or by having their throat cut off. In the same shroud of mystery, the rotting corpses of the Ahas that had died outside the walls had all disappeared, along with their gear. Most officials pinned it on looters and farmers who used the bodies as fertilizer while a small minority suggested that it was the work of Ahas stragglers.
"Why is a marine doing patrols in the streets so early in the morning?" a soldier of the naval fleet grumbled as he and a city guard were strolling in back alleys.
"Talking in the third person again? You marine guys are weird." his land companion joked. "But working with an experienced soldier is quite reassuring."
"Well, the admiral said that we should build some rapports, so patrolling isn’t so bad. If it wasn’t for the fact that the sun is barely visible." the marine said, looking towards the rising sun.
Meanwhile on the royal laufer, the flamethrower boat of the admiral, a sparring session was taking place on its deck. Some bored captains decided to test their skills against each other while also betting on who was going to win. So far, the blackboard showed lots of bets being equally put on every contestant. Except for one senior captain who surprised everyone when he accepted to participate and even allowed fellow officers to gang up on him which resulted in lots of bruises and a broken rib for the ten naval officers who took him up. The only one who could have stood a chance was a pirate looking captain, if he didn’t have an eye patch or a peg leg, the rugged man would have dodged the attacks pretty well. Instead, Artin used the literal blind spot to place an uppercut, earning yet another victory.
"How can you be so old and so strong! He could be the grandfather of my grandfather!" A beaten quartermaster exclaimed as he was being dragged to the infirmary with a bruised face.
"Damn, Censo! You almost had him!" A sailor shouted towards the pirate looking captain.
"I must admit that your footwork greatly improved for the last few months but it's still a shame that those foreigners blew off your leg." Artin declared, helping the crippled man to get up.
After a few more victories, captain Artin brushed some dust off his coat and stretched his back, looking like someone who just got off bed. Despite his imposing size, very few managed to scratch him, not even his long beard which reached the base of his thick neck.
“How is it possible to be that strong at your age, sir?” some young sailor asked, in awe.
"Being old means being experienced, son. Now then, shall I leave the stage for the youngsters?" He asked as he noticed that the blackboard was one sided for him.
While the men were fighting, the two women of the entire royal fleet were sitting in the captain's cabin, Afarin being captain of her own ship despite holding the title of admiral. The important officer quickly learnt that her adoptive daughter wasn't an Ahan but was crossbred just like herself though Faldo was more Ahas than human.
"Tell me again, why are you so friendly towards Picha?" Afarin asked with a serious face while rubbing her temples as if she was trying to focus.
"Because he treats me well in bed, unlike everyone else." Faldo replied, with a very innocent look on her cute face.
Afarin Hol had yet to give her name to the adopted daughter, at first she thought that she would name her similarity like her two human children called Valin and Alin, referencing the previous peace efforts of Valiamer-Almer. Despite their mother being part Ahas, those children didn’t inherit any of those genes, or at least, the visible ones.
The tired Hol didn't get the answer she wanted to hear. Again.
"You were a concubine, it was expected. Now, you're the adopted daughter of the royal fleet admiral. People will treat you differently." Afarin explained with a sigh.
"But only Picha made me feel loved." Faldo replied, hugging herself.
"You were his concubine, you only meant sex for him. Your life doesn't only consist in serving food and cocks." The admiral snapped before remembering her excuse to adopt one of Olf's servants. "At least, not for the moment. You are my adopted daughter, your purpose has changed. Now, I repeat the question. Why are you so friendly towards that asshole Picha?"
Faldo hesitated for a second, raising the hopes of her mother, but her answer didn't change.
"Because he treats me good in bed."
The admiral's reaction was the same as the previous times she asked that same question, she exhaled in frustration and slammed her head against the desk, leaving a red mark on her olive skin. She didn't make any progress in the education of her daughter who still tried to get back to Picha. The only other topic they discussed, although briefly, was the adoptive mother's scar on her left forearm. Despite being inexperienced in life, Faldo could clearly see that those weren’t natural, as if those were self inflicted.
"Why the snake in the circle again?" Faldo asked once again after that her adoptive mother accidentally displayed her shameful scar.
"For the last time! Stop asking! You don’t have to know why I have this birth scar." An annoyed Afarin protested before covering it with her sleeve. "I don’t ask how that asshole takes you in bed, do I?!"
Thanks to her loyal men, Afarin always managed to stop Faldo from reaching the port and her marines always brought the would-be runaway back to her mother who always asked why she tried to leave her fleet, with the same result every time.
"I feel like you're doing it on purpose just to kill me with a heart attack." Afarin complained while rubbing her forehead, the number of white hair growing after each escape attempt.
"Why?" Faldo asked with a tilt of the head, that would have melted Afarin's heart if she wasn’t annoyed at the moment.
The admiral's patience had run short but instead of exploding, she deflated, sinking in her chair.
"Never mind. Just… just don't get yourself in trouble until we get in contact with another Ahan delegation to try and prevent an open war. I know you don't care, but your biological mother was sent here for a reason." Afarin declared with a defeated look on her face before getting an idea. "You know what? Your new name will be Afardo, daughter of the fisherman's house: also known as Afar in the Her tongue. I'll make sure that my husband won't make an objection for you to get his name. I'll send the request for the official document tomorrow morning, so that I'll have more time to think it over."
The newly named girl knew very little of most cultures but something made her feel attacked. She frowned.
"Afardo, why does that sound rude?"
"Because in Shashari, it means burden. So unless you behave, you'll be known as Burden in Ahas lands." Afarin told as her face started to wrinkle with a tired look. "I'm too old for this." The mother added with a sigh.
The now named Afardo didn't look happy either, she was ready to protest when a young captain knocked on the door before entering without waiting for an invitation. The admiral looked at him funny as she didn't seem to recognise him, then again, she had around two hundred captains and commanders of small vessels under her command so she wasn't too weirded out. She got up and saluted him, expecting the same but the man didn't greet her properly which she found odd. Young Afardo's eyes lit up at his sight and a wide smile drew on her face, thankfully for her, her mother didn't notice as she was too focused on getting a proper reaction from the intruder, visibly annoyed and frustrated to get such indifferent treatment from a subordinate.
"Usually, one would announce themselves if they meet their superior. From which naval school do you come from? Not Valiamer, that's for sure." Afarin annoyingly said as her ego was hurt by the rudeness.
"That's Balso! He was the one taking me to Picha's bedroom the… " Afardo said before being interrupted by a hand gesture from the male captain.
Afarin frowned at the gesture that she thought was aimed for her, she definitely disliked the young man from this point forward.
"You're from Premer then. That explains. Care to explain your presence?"
The young Premer officer pulled out a letter from under his vest and lobed it at the admiral who almost failed to catch it. The man held a chuckled as he witnessed the admiral fumbling to not drop the badly thrown message. The woman noticed it and was getting more and more annoyed. If she could, steam would come out of her ears.
"Premer officers are still obliged to answer to any superior they are addressing to. So, captain Bal, what is the purpose of your presence here? Answer or I'll have you taken in custody until I'll say otherwise." The woman growled. "Artin, come welcome our guest!" Afarin barked with almost uncontrolled rage.
The senior officer swiftly responded and after no more than a second later, the big man appeared in the doorframe, blocking the exit with his body. The admiral noticed the bruised knuckles of her subordinate and was glad that she authorised the sparring bits but her rage didn't fade, she was still boiling.
"We've got ourselves a mute Premer captain, who gave me a letter." Afarin explained while shooting death glares at the hostile man in front of her.
The captain Artin turned his imposing body toward Balso who couldn't help but to be intimidated by the senior officer's presence.
"Son, politeness is important for every naval officer. Now, answer to the admiral of the royal fleet." Artin calmly said while gesturing to a fuming Afarin.
The Premer man's eyes darted between a smiling Afardo, a trembling from anger Afarin and a stoic Artin, it didn't take more convincing as he soon realized that he was stuck in a room between a raging admiral of the royal fleet and a big burly sea captain who was last seen fighting ten men on the deck of the boat he was in.
"I was sent to deliver this letter to the admiral of Herikfer. The prime minister Merdosa Picha wants to have a word with the adopted daughter who's being restrained on this boat against her will." The man quickly answered when he thought he was about to be jumped on.
Afarin quickly read the letter which was more vitriolic than what the young captain had said, going as far as calling her a traitor working for the Ahas. That word irked the mixed blood woman, who's annoyance couldn’t be any higher. She ripped the paper into pieces and angrily threw them at the Premer man's feet, though they never reached their target as they pitifully dropped a meter away from the woman.
"Call your prime minister, or general, or right hand man Merdosa and tell him to say it to my face next time. Until she gets married, she will be my responsibility and I will take the decisions until then. And if he even suggests marrying her to himself or to one of his goons, I will refuse it." Afarin hissed, baring her fangs which were dripping with poison due to her rage.
The admiral made a sign to her daughter to stay quiet and nodded to Artin to let the man go. She escorted the Premer captain to his rowboat but it was more like forcefully pushing him to walk faster. Her subordinates were surprised to see their leader be so physical and mean towards any naval officer, but they didn't interfere either as they were respectful towards the woman or because they didn’t want her anger aimed towards them.
"Now don't forget to tell your shitty dick of a General that he can go fuck himself, not in a million years will he get any closer to my daughter! And that goes for any of you, understood?!" She yelled at the Premer seamen waiting in the rowboat.
The young captain quickly left on his small vessel, giving a last sorry look at Afardo who innocently waved goodbye at him. Whether it was the maternal instinct or pure hatred, Afarin held tightly her adopted daughter in her arms before calling for her seamen’s attention with a shout. They all stood to attention, some even saluting her with their hand.
"Herik's pride! I require your help. My adopted daughter Afardo will soon be politically married to an important individual. No matter what, keep her away from any and every Premer men unless I say otherwise! She will be the key to our kingdom's prosperity! Keep the key safe and you'll keep the future of the kingdom in good hands!" She roared. "Long live the Heri kingdom!"
Hearing their admiral's roar outside of a battle speech was quite a rare sight but knowing her, the crew decided to go along and cheered with fervour. Afarin then pulled out a letter with the King's seal on it as she felt that she didn't rile them up enough.
"Who are we?!" She yelled, her arms raised to the sky.
Every sailor straightened their back at the same time, feeling a rush as they heard the admiral's raging voice that sent visceral emotions to their very soul.
"The mightiest fleet of the East Sea!" The seamen thundered as they pumped the sky with their clenched fist.
Afarin got goosebumps from their immediate answer, drawing a carnivorous smile on her face as she continued in her momentum, as a fiery passion burnt in their eyes.
"Who do we serve?!" She shouted while waving her letter with the royal seal.
The men all stomped the floor with their feet, creating a booming sound which was exciting their admiral whose eyes looked fierce at that very moment.
"The King Hedi!" Her men answered with even more dedication, staring at the letter as if it was the most important thing in their life.
Being far too familiar with the display, Afarin was eagerly looking forward for what was going to happen. She knew exactly what her men were going to do next.
"And our loyalty?!" She roared, being loud enough that her entire fleet could hear.
"Absolute!" The voice of thousands boomed, which sent shivers down the admiral's spine, making her bare her teeth in a viscous smile.
The crew members on nearby boats heard their screaming fleet admiral halfway through her rally and quickly joined the battlecry with pure zealotry, chanting and shouting a simple word that echoed in the harbour and its surrounding as the entire fleet had gotten the attention of the nearby dock workers.
"Fires of the Heri kingdom! Herikfer! Herikfer!" Thousands of voices thundered.
With goosebumps and hard nipples, the admiral basked in her talent for rallying her men, one of the only reasons she didn’t try to quit or job. She was less pleased when she realised that Afardo had disappeared yet again, thankfully for the mother, the troublemaker had actually joined a group of young captains who were bumping their fist on their chest. Afarin Hol only loved that part of being an admiral as she discreetly rubbed her chest, acting as if she was holding her hand on her heart.
Lord Olf appreciated the noise made by the royal fleet as it covered the ones he made as he was grunting while his set of ornate plate armour was being strapped on him by a squire who closed the straps a bit too tight for the city ruler. The tall and powerful man had an appointment with the small army of the Order that had set up camp not far from his city. With his retinue and a small cohort, he sallied out of the gate at the head of his group, passing by the engineers who were repairing the damaged doors. He proudly wore his ceremonial armour which was painted in blue and decorated with an inlaid gold picture of a water dragon, the symbol of his city. He wanted to impress the ones he was going to meet but something in the back of his mind pushed him to send scouts and archers ahead of him with the order of attacking if there was any hostilities. Olf was surprised to finally meet the small foreign force that had been observing them during the Ahas siege.
"Lord Olf, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." A mage on horseback greeted when the lord's group stopped in front of the tent.
The regal man saluted the spell caster who he recognised from a previous meeting with one of their delegation, though he only knew him as Browning.
"Likewise." Olf replied while looking at the three hundred soldiers in full plate armour, which was way more than his own personal guard.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Browning boasted when he noticed the gaze of his interlocutor. "They could be yours if you accept our deal." he added with a movement of the eyebrow.
The man looked pretty laid back, his shoulders were relaxed and he was lazily holding onto the leash, giving the impression that he was taking the meeting lightly with the lord who didn't mind.
"First, Ahas slaves, and now an army of iron golems? What kind of nation are you?" Lord said with a suspicious look.
Browning chuckled at the demeanour and waved it off as if it was nothing, visibly unfazed by the suspicious ruler.
"The house of Brown has many specialists, Lord Olf. You're also facing one of them, my fellow mages are specialists in their own domain as well." The man boasted. "Mike, Tony, John, Will, come greet lord Olf."
Four other mages left the tent and saluted, none had any magic staff or gems on them which aroused the lord's suspicion. It was common knowledge that mages could cast spells without any of these items, but it required more effort and often resulted in headaches, with temporary loss of sensory feeling at worst. That's why a catalyst was necessary to either contain or store both spells and energy for long periods of time.
"What do you gain from giving all of this to this particular city? Why not Valiamer or Himer which is closer to your Charliemer?"
"Ah, Charlie! It's actually more simple than you think. The Hiport is too small and Valiaport is too far away from any resources that interest us. As for why all the gifts? Having access to your minerals with less taxations is worth the effort. Call this long term investment." The mage chuckled. "Now then, Lord Olf. Why did you come in person?"
"It's a matter of goodwill and trust, sending an emissary can easily backfire."
Browning shrugged at the answer that he still thought of stupid. His fellow mages suddenly felt homesick at the mention of the Charlie outpost, clenching the fabric near their heart.
"If you say so. Well, shall we discuss the terms of our trade route while on horseback or while sitting comfortably around a table?" The mage proposed, showing the tent with a jerk of the head.
Lord Olf didn't trust the spell caster, instead he raised his hand to politely decline. That action didn't seem to have bothered the interlocutor either way, looking mildly interested in their own conversation.
"I prefer staying on my horse, it isn't everyday I get to see such an impressive magical army."
"If you say so. But you should hurry up before my lord gets impatient and decides to look elsewhere, taking back all the advantages we've proposed to you." Browning pushed.
"I'm not worried, as we speak, diplomats are heading to Charliemer to handle the negotiations in my stead."
The mage let out a chuckle and gave a sly grin. It was his cue to start being aggressive. His English accent was quickly replaced by a Herik dialect spoken by Lord Olf: Meeri.
"We are well aware of this, but if they ever accept, they will be the ones in charge of collecting the taxes and receiving military aid against the Ahas invasion. Not you, nor your city. Don't make a decision that you would regret."
"That's where you're wrong. We still have some assets against them, and the key to our success is well secured and more than likely unaffected by bribes. The delegation is only going to smooth our relations without accepting to let you have access to our resources."
Feeling like he was negotiating with a wall, Browning barely managed to hide his irritation and impatience.
"You're still going to refuse our generous offer, aren't you? Well, it's quite a shame really. I guess we'll be on our way back then. Have a safe trip, Lord Olf of Preport." The mage replied while giving a wide smile that showed his perfect dentition.
The spell caster gave a hand sign to his colleagues who waved at the immobile army that immediately formed a column. The small group of the Order simply left, leaving their empty tent behind as they were gone in a matter of minutes. Olf had a bad feeling as the last sentence of the mage echoed in his head, making him frown as he watched them leave so quickly. Receiving no news from his scouts, the master of Premer decided to return as well. On his way back, as he could finally see the wall from the edge of the forest, his mind wandered as he remembered that he never said anything about removing the enemy corpses at the base of the ramparts. But then again, that was probably the work of his serfs because leaving rotting corpses was asking for disaster to happen, no sane ruler would want to start yet another wave of plague in the kingdom.
As he turned to his followers, he found himself surrounded by Ahas dressed with rags and armour taken from the aftermath of the siege, some clothes were even stained with dried blood. Without any hesitation, the lord drew his sword and charged at the nearest ambusher, who only had a broken sword as a weapon, and slashed at the enemy's torso, bending it inward and making an horrific cracking noise as the sword man was thrown back a few meters. The rest of the lord's retinue didn't have his luck as dozens of Ahas had appeared from underneath their horse, those unlucky animals had been stabbed which made their rider fall off. The attack had taken most of them by surprise but the chaos was only beginning as those who fell were quickly stabbed to death by anything that was sharp, one could notice that one of the attackers only had a broken knife. Olf knew that he had to act quickly before they were slaughtered, he spotted a small group of his men that were holding off, he joined them while swinging his sword at any enemy in his path, trampling some and knocking down most of them.
"My Lord! They're everywhere, we're surrounded!" A horseman with a spear cried as he saw his lord approaching.
"We need to regroup and repel them! Everyone, on me!" Olf screamed as he stabbed an Ahas in the back.
His escort followed his command and converged towards him with some casualties on the way. At this point, he had lost a fifth of his men in the initial attack. Once a good amount of horse riders were at his side, launched a breakout charge. That's when he noticed the corpses of the scouts and archers he had sent earlier, they had been mauled to death and piled up near the edge of the forest.
"We will rescue those who have been cut off by charging at the enemy while their backs are turned!" The lord declared as he didn't feel like abandoning any of his men.
He lead the charge with determination, even trampling an Ahas who stood on his path, he didn't look behind but he knew that the person was incapacitated as he heard the horrific sounds of broken bones. Once they were far enough, they turned and charged towards the ambushers who were surrounding the rest of Olf's forces. Some enemies had stopped attacking and took a defensive position by forming a spear line but most of those weapons were broken or were even missing their metal tip. The charge was successful enough to divert most of the ambushing force to repel the horsemen but they were numerous enough to not suffer any lack of manpower. As the cavalrymen clashed with the poorly armed Ahas, the defensive line didn't panic nor flinched even as they were being mowed down, hacked and cleaved, spewing their stinking guts and blackened blood all over the place.
"They may be outnumbering us, but we're stronger than them!" Olf shouted as he slashed an Ahas in the throat, making the body lifelessly drop on the bloodstained grass.
With his assault, he managed to save a handful of soldiers who were closer to the edge of the forest. The cavaliers followed him as he was going to lead another cavalry charge, he repeated the process until he retrieved everyone of his men who could still stand or ride. As he retreated towards the city, he took the time to look at the remaining of his battered retinue. His followers were all exhausted and bloodied but they were still breathing, for him it was all that mattered as he would let his city healers handle the rest later. In the end, of the hundred cavaliers that escorted the lord, around thirty of them perished in the ambush, which both saddened and relieved him, but regrets were beginning to invade his mind.
"What about the Ahas, my lord?" a horseman asked as they were galloping towards the main gate.
The nameless horse rider looked tired, with small cuts all over his lower body.
"We will send guards to deal with them and possibly find the rest of their troops." Lord Olf said as he looked behind him. "I will bury my men in my city."
He was more than surprised to see that the Ahas were dropping on the ground like lifeless puppets. He slowed down his horse and made a U turn while avoiding his unsuspecting followers in tow, thankfully for them they easily managed to stir away from their leader. The attackers were all lying down, some in uncomfortable positions like an upside down V or with their head bent at a ninety degree angle against a tree. Lord Olf wasn't an expert in Ahas anatomy but those poses wouldn't be doable under normal circumstances, feeling lucky he decided to go investigate alone after sending back the rest of his retinue, reassuring them if they protested. As the lone man approached the path filled with corpses and surrounded by dense vegetation stained with blood and gore, he heard something from behind some thick bushes.
"Wait… Are you sure we took the right turn, Marcus?" a high pitched voice muffled by a metallic helmet asked.
Lord Olf faintly heard the person and raised his sword, ready to strike down the one who was walking his way. He waited for the stranger to appear from the hiding spot, only to find two people with a satchel, one was clearly a human peasant who was extremely tall while having muscles almost twice the size of the average citizen and carrying a woodcutting axe on his shoulder. The other one was some sort of mercenary with a sword in a sheat dangling on the right hip, said person wore minimal armour yet sturdy one that looked like it came from Hedicart's blacksmith district judging by its advanced forged techniques that showed small decorations on the breastplate. The pair quickly stopped when they saw Olf with his arm raised.
"Holy cow! That's some impressive armour!" Exclaimed the mercenary that sounded like a woman under the helmet.
"Um… greetings, Lord Old. Was this your doing?" the peasant asked while trying to not stare at corpses.
Olf didn't let his guard down since he wasn't sure of the affiliation of either of these two strangers but he recognised some Ahas accent coming from them. Their Meeri was a little odd, spoken like a foreigner.
"Where did you come from? Are you affiliated with the Ahas?" The man asked, pondering whether or not he should strike them down.
The two exchanged a look as they jumped at the mention of Ahas, the mercenary looked at the sheathed sword then at Lord Olf's which was already raised.
"We've traded there before, we have some knowledge about them. Now we were checking if there was no woodcutter's cabin in the forest. We're looking to create a small business in Premer but we weren't sure if we needed some sort of permit." The armored stranger replied calmly.
Feeling like he had the edge, and mostly because his arm was getting tired, Lord Olf lowered his sword but was still ready to attack. He had already dealt with wannabe merchants a few days ago, refusing their more-than-likely stolen goods.
"You don't sound like you're from coastal regions. Our policy is to privilege local enterprise when it comes to natural resources, unless you work for a Premer citizen, you won't be able to harvest freely. We don't want to ruin the balance of our economy."
The mercenary seemed thoughtful, rubbing the chin of the well crafted helmet.
"So, as long as it's under a local citizen, we'd be clear to go. We only have Ahas slaves at hands and our funds are pretty limited. Is there any way to circumvent this policy? Though we won't give you our slaves since they cost us a lot of money and they haven't got to work yet."
Olf perked up at the mention of Ahas and remembered why he was there in the first place. He looked at the corpses which emanated putrid smells with some maggots gathering around open wounds that were spewing bile and other disgusting fluids.
"Well since you're some kind of travellers, I guess I could employ you as mercenaries or auxiliaries. As you can see we've recently been attacked by Ahas. From your knowledge of them, I'd like you to tell me what you can gather from this aftermath."
"Now?" The high pitched mercenary hesitantly asked.
"Now, while it's still fresh." Lord Olf ordered while putting away his weapon, confident that these two won’t try anything fishy.
The pair nonchalantly shrugged. The masked swordsman prodded a nearby corpse with the foot, which immediately made the wound squirt blackened blood, spilling on the leather boots. The putrid odour was too much and the mercenary quickly opened the helmet to puke away from the corpse.
"First time seeing a battlefield, blondie? Well, the smell is pretty bad." Lord Olf said while watching the person vomit, amused by the situation.
"That's not how corpses work!" The blondie protested after vomiting.
The peasant, on the other hand, seemed to be unfazed by the sight as he picked up a severed arm and looked inside, inserting two fingers to part away the muscles and bones. He pondered before dropping the limb on the floor with a wet thud.
"They seem to have been long dead, more than a day that's for sure. The body is cold and flaccid, as you can see. We haven't really dissected an Ahan corpse before, so I'm not too sure about it." The big guy calmly explained, seemingly unfazed.
"Cold you say? Interesting. I should have brought a scribe with me." Lord Olf regretted as he spotted a corpse in a robe, a former scribe.
Thankfully for him, the blondie raised his hand and showed some rolled up parchments and a vial of ink from the satchel, typically carried by itinerant merchants. Lord Olf Premer agreed to let the person write but he was still surprised to find a literate mercenary who carried writing material with him.
"By the way, what are your names if you have one? It'll be easier to call you by something other than 'you'." The city ruler asked, feeling more at ease with competent people around him, especially on the aftermath of a battlefield.
"I'm Smith and the big guy is Gogh."
"A son of a blacksmith, that explains your armour. But the word Gogh doesn't ring a bell."
"It's a small town from another continent, Lord Olf.'' Smith explained as Gogh didn't seem to know the answer.
"Well, it isn't out of the ordinary to meet a pair of travellers from such status, most merchants I met were weavers, wealthy farmers and sons of nobles who travelled with serfs or bodyguards. Though I've never heard of literate bodyguards."
Marcus Gogh was no forensic expert but having dealt with cutting injuries made him somewhat knowledgeable, not to mention a couple of unfortunate critters that were killed during lumber enterprises. For some unknown reason, the young man appeared calm and collected, being ankle deep in a pile of guts. He inspected a torso without touching it, when he pushed it on the side with his axe, he noticed a metallic point that was protruding from the back. He decided to leave the thing stuck inside the body as the smell was getting nauseating and the torso was leaking blackened blood. During that time, Smith was writing down the information while trying to not throw up.
"Are spears supposed to be able to penetrate leather armour?" Gogh asked.
"Even cheap leather armour can stop a thrusting sword, as for a cavalry spear, they're not made to pierce but to knock over. Wait, was it a rhetorical question?" Lord Olf answered, realising that Gogh may have tested his knowledge for some reason.
"Then what could pierce leather armour and go so deep in it?"
"Pierce it? Iron arrows? But how deep are you talking?" Lord Olf asked while getting closer to Gogh who pointed at the metallic tip, the nobleman looked at the shape and recognised the design. "That's an armour piercing ballista bolt. That's odd. We didn't have a ballista when we were ambushed. It was only during the siege a week ago."
It didn't take them long to realise that something was definitely wrong, from the rotten corpses to the odd injuries that couldn't have been done during the surprise attack. They quickly linked it to the previous Ahas siege, since some bodies had burnt marks and crushed organs while their armour looked fine if not dented, as if to hide the fatal injuries.
"That's quite some necromancy fuckery." Smith declared in a tongue Olf didn't understand.
"What did he say?"
"Smith said that it's the work of a necromancer, lord Olf."
"Then that puts the Ahas army out of the picture, I highly doubt that they have strong competent mages. That leaves either the Order or someone from the city. I don't think that there's a spy in the royal fleet but I can never be too sure. Did you say that you have Ahas slaves?
"Yes we do, is there something with it?"
"Then use them to gather information for me, I'll give you some permits for sending them to work in the different parts of the city. This kind of slaves is rare but not out of the ordinary, they should blend in without too much problem."
"I don't intend on disrespecting you, lord Olf. But why would you trust us?" Smith asked after finishing taking notes.
"I don't fully trust you, after all we only met a few minutes ago. But I know that outsiders will have a more neutral point of view and beside, you're sons of men with status travelling with foreign slaves, that says a lot about you. You'll have to report directly to me when you have good information, I'll compensate you and might reward you with citizenship. How about that?"
The peasant and the mercenary shared a look, talked in a foreign language but from their body language, they seemed to be arguing over whether or not they should accept. To Lord Premer's surprise, the person in armour, who he thought was some kind of bodyguard, was quite bossy as he authoritatively pointed at Gogh with a finger and the big man seemed compliant. After a brief moment, they turned to Olf and nodded.
"It's an honour to work for you, Lord Olf Premer. We swear to complete the mission you bestowed upon us." They said at the same time.
"Then it's settled. But before we go back to my castle, I'd like to know your race, Smith."
Not even surprised by the request, the person took off the helmet to reveal the face of a woman who was slightly younger than the lord, she was indeed a blonde with a nice slick haircut. She also had some glasses which reminded Olf of the director of the mage school.
"The elder daughter of a rich blacksmith, I'm impressed. I supposed that with your age you're also married to someone important?"
"As a matter of fact, I am, he's the head of a somewhat successful business. Now then, lord Olf. As you can see I'm purely human. Even M… Gogh is human despite his appearance."
Marcus Gogh scratched his head with visible embarrassment. Olf was pleased enough with what he'd learned today and took back his new information gatherers, offering some gold as payment for the work they did while investigating the battleground. Though he failed to restrain himself to present them to the nobles at his court, he knew that it was for his best interest to keep their identity a secret but having met such interesting people got him way too excited.
"This is Fordo, from a wealthy blacksmith." Lord Olf declared, looking at Karen. "And this is Goghso, from a far away town. They will be my guests in Premer, I hope you'll treat them well." He said, presenting Marcus and Karen who bowed their heads.
Meanwhile, a messenger from Valiart arrived in the city after taking a two day trip, he was grumpy after being sent to deliver one single letter that didn't have any importance for the well being of the kingdom. If it wasn't for Lord Alm who saved his father's life during the plague, the messenger would have refused to do the job, though the pay was supposed to be good too.
When he had to take a rowboat to get on the vessel of the admiral of the royal fleet, he realised that maybe the letter he carried wasn't that useless. But it still felt a bit weird, since the important man who sent him wasn’t ruling over a maritime city, but a hub town that didn’t directly interact with any naval fleets.
"Hello, quartermaster. I'm looking for the admiral Afarin Hol, I've got a message for her." The still a bit grumpy courier asked an officer with a long cape.
The man quickly directed the messenger to the captain's cabin where a screaming woman could be heard from behind the door. He felt that his mission was probably going to be difficult but he gathered his courage and knocked.
"Come in!" The woman shouted.
"Admiral Afarin, I have a letter from Lord Alm." He announced as he walked in.
To the messenger's shock, the admiral was standing on her desk while another woman was holding a handful of letters with Lord Alm's wax seal on them. The courier knew that Afarin was a female officer who wasn't entirely human but he didn't think she was old enough to be his mother, which was weird considering that normal admirals were usually old, experienced people. The messenger realised that the younger person was an Ahas, from her skin colour and her fangs, he quickly hid Alm's letter he had behind his back.
"I… I can come back later?" He asked, ready to leave.
"If you restrain her, I'll pay double the fee!" The admiral yelled from her desk.
He shrugged and lunged at the Ahas girl who had her back turned to him, she didn't see him coming. Thankfully, she was easily subdued with her hands tied in her back while she was lying on her stomach. She was grumbling and struggling in vain.
"Well, thank you, messenger. You take gold or Herik currency?" The mature woman asked, opening a drawer he couldn't see.
"Herik currency, please. Also who's this Ahas woman?" He asked but realised that she had stopped listening to him.
The thankful Afarin pulled out a pouch full of coins with the head of the king on them and carefully threw it to the messenger who easily caught it, checking if it was the right amount. His look of surprise seemed to have brought a smile on the old lady's face, the white strands in her hair making her look even older.
"And that's for keeping you silent from what happened here. Don't mind my adopted daughter's behaviour, you know the reputation of Ahas, right?"
"She's an Ahas?" The young man innocently asked.
The generous client nodded.
"She's part Ahan but she's more snake than human. By the way, since you're here, how's Lord Alm? I heard that Valiart is in political turmoil with the disappearance of the king's brother."
The messenger was so used to having quiet or nonchalant clients that he was surprised to have such a long conversation.
"And here I thought you were an out of touch old woman!" He laughed and so did she. "He's fine, he was quite busy with treating the injuries of a fight between nobles who accused each other of kidnapping."
Finding the young messenger charming, she took a liking to his forwardness despite his lack of naval rank. Or maybe it was her maternal instinct, she wasn’t sure.
"Typical. Also don't disrespect your elder, I may be thirty four but I'm not deaf yet." Afarin giggled with a warm smile. "I could be your parents' aunt of all you know."
The messenger laughed and bid farewell to the admiral who he had imagined was a loud mouthed person but he was pleased to see that he was wrong.
"Have a nice day, admiral. I hope the letter was worth the trouble."
"If it's from lord Alm, they always are. Have a safe trip."
The admiral was more than happy to receive news about the lord's adopted children, Abfir and Ehilrt, who had yet another misadventure
Chapter 18: under influence
It had been a week since Jacob's breakdown, Abby had been relentless with Daniel's attention, hugging him more than usual while whispering her fantasies to him in hopes of him fulfilling them. To Jack's amusement, they acted like a cute couple though it was more one sided with Dan trying to stop her from being too physical when the young man vowed to be chaste for a year. But one day he had to step in when the insatiable woman barged in the living room wearing nothing but a candy g-string and a lustful expression on her face that would put sex maniacs to shame. She pounced on the poor man who was lying on the couch but got caught midair by Jacob who, with her momentum, threw her on his back, carrying Abby like a bag of potato.
"I'll take care of her, bro." He said to Daniel before leaving with the horny girl.
The startled man was relieved as he didn't know if he'd survive another wild ride with the lust driven woman who changed personality after his oral session in the showers. She had often jumped on him, begging him to kiss her again and again. The annoyed Jacob threw his cousin on her bed and she landed softly but gave him a hateful glare with a growl. He snapped his finger at her to stop her from doing anything, she growled a bit quieter so he snapped again and she went silent.
"I'm not letting Daniel become the next Arthur, Morena!" Jacob protested, remembering the poor man.
The tan Abby threw her pillow, with a frown, that the man easily dodged by stepping aside.
"My name is Abby!" She barked before getting snapped at, calming her for a short moment.
"Daniel isn't your fuck toy! He's our friend!" Jacob sternly reminded his cousin.
Abby's mind was still fuzzy, despite not completely understand what was going on, she still felt anger towards the person who stopped her from feeling Daniel's touch.
"I know!" She replied with frustration.
"No, you don't! You're back into sexual overload mode! Your parents won't pay for another therapy, Abby!" Jacob snapped back at her reaction.
She was ready to lunge at him, tensing the muscles in her legs but the finger snapping technique calmed her impulse, it was always stopping her train of thoughts in an instant.
"I'm not crazy!" She whined.
"Then stop acting like a crazy nympho, what did Daniel do to you to send you into a sex maniac mode again?"
The mere question sparked another wild fantasy in Abby's mind, imagining Daniel exploring her body, with his tongue entering her warm slit to scrape her walls.
"The same thing my ex boyfriend did to me, he kissed me on the lips." She replied, fondling her chest while daydreaming of Daniel's tongue.
"God damn it, Dan!" Jack yelled, shaking his fist in the air like a comical villain. "Why did you let him do that? You know you're weak when men do that to you."
Abby slid her hand down her candy string, rubbing her moist entrance with her juice mixing with the sugar and leaving a nasty stain on her bedsheets.
"He wanted to please me, there's nothing wrong with that. Unlike Arthur, he knows how to use his hands. I want him to lick and kiss me more, I want his tongue." She explained with a moan.
"Oh my god, Abby! Stop being a hoe!" Jacob exclaimed while rolling his eyes.
It took a few more finger snapping before the girl came back to her senses and stopped touching herself, every time she reached for her nether region, he would make that sharp noise that stopped her in her tracks. After being tamed like an animal, Abby let out a groan as she realised what she was doing, also the candy string was soaked with her juice and she didn't like the sticky feeling on her crotch. She lifted her hand to her face to hide her embarrassment, having forgotten that her hand was sticky.
"I did it again, didn't I?" She asked, annoyed.
"Yes, just look at you. Go take a cold shower and try to not fuck it up again."
With a sigh, Abby lazily leaned back on the bed and reached for a shirt that was lying on it, she mechanically put it on with a sad look on her face. As the realisation was slowly sinking in, Abby felt some shame for her recent acts of luxury through the week, it was only visible with her frown.
"Can't promise that, but I'll try my best. We should find a substitute for Dan. I feel bad for hooking him up on daily romps."
"We?!" Jacob exclaimed, offended.
"Yeah, it was your idea to let us meet after so long. I may not be in love with Dan, but I'm not a bitch either. I want him to be happy, and so do you, right?"
"Look, he's an adult, he can make his own decisions and he doesn't need our help to find love. You two aren't horny teenagers anymore."
She was about to reply to him when they heard a knock on the door, it was Daniel who announced himself before entering. Abby was always happy to see him, so her frown quickly turned upside down.
"I heard screaming, are you okay?" He asked before noticing Abby's choice of clothing, which he couldn’t help but find appealing.
Young Daniel repressed a boner and focused on Jacob who already had his phone to his ear. Abby used the distraction to get a clean pair of underwear and some pants, she was struggling to put on the jeans over her well rounded ass that when she finished, she noticed that Dan and Jack had come to an agreement and were shaking hands. The woman secretly cursed that she shrunk the clothes in the washing machine.
"I feel like I missed something." She declared with some uncertainties, feeling slightly uncomfortable with a tight pair of pants.
Dan turned to her and gave her a beautiful smile that made her heart flutter.
"Jack explained everything to me, I agreed to never eat you out until you get yourself sorted out." He declared with a lot of good will, though it sounded a bit weird.
Abby's heart melted and she couldn't help herself but let out a thankful 'aww'. Jacob was ready to snap his finger to stop the wild girl but he didn't need to as Daniel took the cute woman in his arms, giving her a hug and whispering something in her ear that made her shyly smile. He broke the embrace and kneeled in front of her, to the surprise of the other two.
"Abby, will you be my girlfriend from now on? Ever since I rejected your proposition, I kept regretting it with every moment we spent together."
Abby went silent, shocked and overwhelmed. She began breathing rapidly with tears in her eyes. Daniel remembered that he promised his friend and himself to never make her cry unless it's from joy, so he was hesitant on how to react. She held his face with both hand, gave him a long passionate kiss on the lips and before Jacob could applaud, she said with a voice torn by pain:
"I can't. I can't reciprocate your love. I let go. I just want to have a casual relationship. I want you to experience more in life than being wedlocked with the first girl that you slept with. Dan, I don't want you to get hurt because of me or my work. I love you too much for you to waste your life on me." She managed to say before her sorrow took over and she began crying uncontrollably.
The two young men moved in and hugged her as rivers of tears ran down her beautiful cheeks. Daniel decided to be mature on her decision and half-heartedly accepted it, only wanting her happiness as she wanted his. He had to let go of her like she did for him, putting aside his selfish desire so that they could still be happy without being together. Jacob empathised with his weird cousin but didn't hold grudge with his best friend as he understood their feelings, he too had a crush on a girl he still hasn't proposed yet. The crying Abby wished that the moment would last forever, being held close by those she loved, but she slowly came to peace with herself and with every drop she let out. And for what felt like a very brief moment, the group hug ended ten minutes later.
"Let's get something to eat." Jack proposed while low-key expecting for his cousin to say something lewd.
With a last snort, Abby rummaged through her luggage and pulled out a CD box with 'MOVIE' written on it by a sharpie. Daniel remembered it as he was the one who wrote the word and who burned movies on it.
"Movie night? I've got some good stuff there." Abby told them, smiling smugly at Dan.
The boys felt like letting her decide and went along. The first film she had selected was one of those King Arthur stories with a big budget. Abby, who was sitting between them, absentmindedly rested her head on Daniel's shoulder while Jacob was her footrest. They pampered her as much as they could, taking snacks directly to her mouth and massaging her calves. Jack wasn't too comfortable giving massages to his cousin but with the recent event, he let it slide for the time being. The trio slowly forgot their problem for the duration of the movie, grim faces turned into smiles and laughs as they commented on the absurdities of the plot.
"Dude, I could beat this guy easily." Abby declared.
"Yeah sure, everyone could beat him." Jacob replied, rolling his eyes.
"You're stronger than me, so maybe it's plausible?" Daniel proposed.
At the end of the session, their wounds had closed and could begin to heal over time. Jack let the other two go to sleep in Dan's bedroom, who became used to lying next to a gorgeous naked woman, Abby would snuggle against him with her butt turned towards him. They adopted a routine where she would hug him for a moment before turning her back to him, sleeping back-to-back, that was of course if she didn’t mount him for some late night fun.
Daniel realised that he may never sleep with her as his girlfriend but at least it was as his girl friend. Somewhat at peace, he quickly fell into slumber and had a lucid dream of a future with her as a wife, then everything faded to black and he found himself bound to a chair, incapable of moving his body. He was in a pitch black place, filled with a constant ringing in his head that clouded his thoughts. A feminine floating figure appeared in front of him, the noise stopped and a bright green aura bathed the womanly silhouette that approached a few metres in front of him, she was three times taller than him and with well defined curves.
"A Man? Who are you?" The mysterious person asked with a voice composed of a thousand feminine ones echoing in his mind.
Dan tried to turn away from the blinding bright light but he was still immobilised.
"Daniel, but who are you?" Dan tried to say with his mouth but only his thoughts resonated in the room.
His answer didn’t please the entity as the young man could feel an enormous pressure on his body.
"You aren't the one I need. Forget about this encounter." The multiple voices said in unison before the figure disappeared in a flash.
Daniel woke up in a sweat and noticed Abby, emitting a faint green aura, squirming as if she was having a vivid nightmare, she whimpered and shivered. He turned toward her and hugged to comfort the girl who got calmer with a purr as the lights quickly faded away. He suddenly got a splitting headache.
"Don't get in my way again." A voice said while a buzzing sound could be heard until it disappeared with a popping sound.
He didn't know what it meant but if it was to protect Abby, he'd do it again in a heartbeat. Not wanting to let his guard down, he stayed awake to see if anything unusual would happen but after some time he fell asleep, spooning the beautiful girl in his bed.
Let's see the bright sight of this world!