Chapter 79: Briefing (Patreon)

I slept the last few hours of the night away in front of the door. There was a constant low hum of activity in the building, but it didn't disturb me too much. I did wonder, before I drifted off, how many people there were in the company. There were a couple dozen beds, but patrols seemed to leave and come in at all times of the day and I could only assume that the beds were shared.

Maybe I'd ask in the morning.

I was only bothered once. I was jolted awake by the door opening an inch and bumping into me. When no familiar voice spoke I shoved it closed, meeting a little resistance as I did so, and was rewarded by the sound of someone stumbling outside. A grumpy, “Shove off!” sent them scrambling away, and I could go back to sleep. Damn mercs. I’d thought they had better discipline than that, but clearly curiosity could overcome anything. Maybe I should tell Lalia, I thought. Make it her problem. But, nah. I wouldn’t be there much longer.

Rallon showed up what most would have considered monstrously early. But he was a military man, kind of, and waking up before sunrise fit my image of him perfectly. He had Lalia in tow, bleary eyed but looking much less hostile than normal, as well as Rib and Pot, who both looked downright friendly.

Rallon himself was unarmed and unarmoured. Having only three companions with him and closing himself in with me in such a small space, from his perspective he must be taking a big risk. His tightly controlled expression and body language showed as much, as did the subtle but distinct scent of fear coming off him. This meeting, and what he wanted from me, must be capital-I Important to him.

"Lady Draka, thank you for coming to meet with me on such short notice," he said. We were back to 'Lady' now, apparently, up from 'Madam'. I couldn't say that I disliked it. Rallon seemed like a decent enough man, but no matter what my relationships were with his people the one between the two of us was all business. If he was a lord, it was gratifying that he put me on the same level. That, and we both knew that I had good odds of being able to kill him before anyone could react, so he might just be trying to butter me up. Also something that I approved of. Flattery had always worked well on me, even when I was all the way human.

I could be diplomatic too, if I had to. At least I could try. “Lord Terriallon,” I said. “Rallon. I’m sorry if I was a little intense the last time we met. I was not having a good day. I’m sure that you understand.”

“Indeed. Then, to be quite honest, you did make me concerned. You were behaving much more like one would expect from a… well, a dragon. I’ve seen you as far more reasonable than the stories would lead one to believe, and it is good to see you more like what I hope is your own self again.”

“Thanks. I do feel more like myself. But no matter how I behaved, I did one thing right. I promised you a favour for your hospitality, and I intend to honour that. It’s a bonus if there are bandits or raiders involved.”

“Ah, Garal gave you the basics, then. Good. Let’s get to it, then. Lalia, the map, please.”

Pot and Rib were each carrying a large candle which they set down on the desk, while Lalia rolled out a map twice as long as it was wide. It took me a moment to understand what I was seeing, but once I realised that they had the sea up and the mountains down on the map, it became clear. Going by the coastline and the mountains, it was pretty obviously a map of the area south of the city, with the north, to my left, being bordered by the forest and the south fading out and marked ‘To Duchy of Happar’. The focus of the map was on roads, canals, and settlements, with many of the settlements in the south-west, as well as many stretches of road, marked with red.

“This map shows every attack we know about in the last month, along with the date of the attack. You’ll notice that the density of the marks is higher in the south, decreasing and becoming more recent as you move north. As I’m sure that you can see, the number of attacks is far too high for a single band of bandits of any reasonable size in such a short time. Reliable witnesses have also indicated that the attackers were better equipped and more organised than one would expect from regular bandits, leaving us with only two real possibilities. Either someone has gathered a large force of outlaws and equipped them in a very short time, or they’ve taken a long time but refrained to attack, or we’re dealing with not bandits but organised raiders, most likely from the Happar. While Karakan is not at war with Happar, relations are quite strained at the moment. There have been some small skirmishes along the border, and I would not put it past them to send troops across into Karakan’s farmland under the guise of banditry. It might not even be a central decision. Their border commanders have always been an unruly lot. No matter who is behind this, it forces us to pull patrols from the north to reassign in the south, which we can ill afford with the increased number of refugees coming down.”

Skirmishes along the border? That was like, small, limited battles, right? Should I tell Herald about that, or would Lalia already have done so?

And refugees? What?

Either way, first things first. “You want me to find them,” I guessed.

“Correct. Our patrols have spotted groups of riders that we believe must belong to this force, whoever they are, but they always fall back, and I will not have one of my patrols lured into an ambush. And while I intend to go south to deal with this problem, as is my duty to the city under our contract, I want to know as much as possible before I do so. Most importantly: where, how many, and how well supplied and equipped they are. I believe that you are uniquely suited to finding out some or all of these things.”

“You’re right. I am.” And the fact that sending me meant that he didn’t have to risk a single one of his own troops probably weighed pretty heavily, as well.

We spent the next hour or so going over the map, with Pot, Rib and Lalia describing the terrain best they could and showing which areas were farmland and which were hillside pastures or light woods. Mostly we discussed likely areas for the raiders to be camped, based on where the latest attacks had happened. Or, more accurately, they talked and I listened. It wasn’t as easy as just drawing a line from the edges of the raids to some point. You had to consider ease of movement by foot or by horse, following roads or going through different types of terrain. Since I knew jack and shit about things like that I kept my mouth shut and tried to remember what the experts told me. I had intended to ask about the refugees in the north, but there was never a good opening. It wasn’t really relevant to the matter at hand, anyway, and after a while I forgot.

“So you see why sending out scouts by horse would be a fool’s errand,” Rallon said. “In the area they’ve likely operated from these last several days–” that being the hills to the south-west of the city, not all that far south of where the road went that lead to the mountain village we’d rescued “–it is easy for them to hide even a large camp, and their sentries would be likely to spot our scouts before the reverse. But you, ah, you’re a whole other creature, aren’t you? Flying by night you should be able to find them wherever they are, and I’m told you’re stealthy enough that you snuck into a trolls’ den while they slept. That is precisely what we need!”

“But, Draka,” Lalia cut in, “just recon, yeah? If they start losing patrols, or if they get attacked in their camp–” she gave me a very pointed look “–they may either fall back or escalate.”

“Lalia!” Rallon turned to her, looking less than pleased. “I’m sure that Lady Draka does not–”

“No,” I interrupted him. “That’s fair. I definitely might have gotten rid of some sentries or a patrol or two if I got the opportunity. I don’t like people who prey on the innocent. But no attacking them. Got it.”

Rallon’s expression softened at my defence of Lalia, and he turned back to me. “In that case, once you’ve returned with a location for us we can discuss terms for you joining the attack, if that is something you might be interested in.”

“I’ll hold you to that. Just one question: where are the Cranes in this?”

“The Cranes.” Rallon’s sour expression spoke volumes about what he thought of them. “They are patrolling the coast, ‘guarding from pirates and sea raiders,’ as Larrallan calls it. Useless cravens and a waste of the city’s money, the lot of them. Needless to say, they will not be helping us.”

“Didn’t they raid the first bunch of valkin that Mak and the others found?”

“Yeah,” Lalia said. “And I heard they lost two men doing it. How the hell they managed that I can’t imagine. It’s probably better for us if they’re not with us.”

There wasn’t much else to say. I would leave that night and stay out until I had enough to go on for the Wolves to strike in force, or until I gave up. Considering how bad that would be for my pride, I didn’t see that happening. Rallon offered to clear the way for me to move into the cellar if I preferred. I told him no, with my thanks for the offer, but if they could get some of those fish Garal brought me last time I’d sure appreciate it.

They came through. Of course they did. Fresh as anything, too.

Gobbling down twenty pounds of fish wasn’t a great idea if I wanted to have a productive day, but it was only morning and I was stuck in that little room until after sunset. The fish were just as delicious as I remembered, and I ate with relish and gusto, telling myself that this way I could just sleep the day away and then not need to eat for the whole mission. It was a win-win-win situation.

Of course, once I was done, splayed out on the floor about half an hour later and happily drifting off into torpor, Mak and Herald came to talk to me. Pulling myself together was hard and completely clearing my head was not happening, but I did the best I could.

Herald sniffed the air, looked at the long crate, empty except for the straw lining the bottom, and smiled at me with clear amusement. “I see that you had a nice breakfast.”

I’d gathered myself with a little more dignity on the floor and raised my head to look at them. “Mmm, Garal found me some great fish. Are you two here to talk about something?”

“You’re going to be gone for a couple of days, right?” Mak asked, sticking with Karakanian. She took the chair while Herald sat on the desk. Uncertainly kicking her feet, which barely dangled off the ground, Herald looked uncharacteristically girlish.

“I’m guessing at least two days, yeah,” I answered. I figured that if she didn’t want to use her so-so Tekereteki she must want to talk about something serious.

Mak took a quick breath and continued. “We know that we can stay here until you’re back–”

“We want to go out!” Herald blurted. “We cannot be cooped up here day and night with little or nothing to do, not while we are in the city!”

“I… don’t think that’s safe,” I said

“It will be perfectly safe,” Herald countered. “We will go out during the day, with plenty of people around, and be back here long before nightfall.”

“And we’ll have Lalia with us, or Garal, or both,” Mak said. “You said that you’d be comfortable with us returning to the city once Tam and Val were back. Well, Garal and Lalia are as good at fighting as Tam and Val, probably even better against people. We’ll be no less safe with them.”

“I guess…” I really couldn’t think of a good counter argument. I was pretty sure that if I just told them no they’d do as I said, but I honestly wasn’t comfortable controlling them like that when I couldn’t justify it. “What about Ardek?”

“We figured we’d take him along.”

“We may as well get used to moving around the city with him,” Herald said. “If he is to become part of the group, we cannot very well leave him here while we go around.”

“You’re okay with that? Him being part of the group?”

“He’s got a lot to learn before I’d count on him surviving a real fight,” Mak said with just a little too much spite in her voice, “but until we’ve got the Blossom’s head on a pole I think we need him.”

“Yeah, alright. Fine. Just, be careful. At least two Wolves with you, arms and armour, stay around other people, all that.”

“Yes!” Herald said brightly. “We promise!”

“Going to go check for a letter from Maglan?”

“As soon as I possibly can,” she confirmed.

“And we need to talk to the innkeeper at the Favour,” Mak said. “That’s our inn.”

“Herald’s told me.”

“Good. We need to talk to him about our mail. It’s odd that there’s been nothing at all these past weeks. Tam and Val aren’t the only ones we’re expecting letters from.”

“Alright, just, again. Be careful. If there’s one place anyone would be looking for you, it’s there.”

“But it’s also a popular place to stay for adventurers, many of whom know us by name or by reputation. There’s no need to worry. I promise.”

“You don’t need to keep laying it on, I already said okay,” I said and laid my head on the floor. I wasn’t really sure how I felt about them coming to ask permission. Herald, at least, was supposed to be a free woman. But at the same time, I couldn’t deny that I savoured the respect and deference they showed, and that was hard to ignore.

I did still worry about them. I couldn’t know how vindictive and reckless the Blossom and her people were. I knew practically nothing about them at all. But between going with their equipment, taking skilled fighters with them as escorts, and staying in public places, I really couldn’t argue against them. And they probably would go stir crazy if I insisted on them staying inside for days with the city just outside.

Herald hopped off the table, happier than I’d seen her for weeks, and knelt by me. I lifted my head slightly to look at her, and she grabbed me by the cheeks and kissed me right between the eyes. “Thank you, Draka,” she said. “For everything. Be careful, will you?”

“Do not fight, please,” Mak added. “Only scout.”

“Everyone seems to think that I am addicted to fighting,” I grumbled. “I will not reveal myself unless I absolutely must. I promise. Now let me sleep, I have a long night ahead of me. Are you not tired?”

“We had a nap,” Herald said, “and now Rib is… helping us stay up.”

“Be careful with those vials. I do not like how attached Rib is to them.”

“We will. Come, Mak. Let her sleep.”

With that they left the small office, and I drifted off into content, dreamless sleep.

*****

“Draka. It is time.”

I woke slowly to the sound of Mak’s voice. She was not in the room with me, I realised, and I felt a pressure against my feet. Blinking my eyes open I looked around, and found myself again splayed out across the floor, my feet against the door which Mak had pushed open a crack to be able to speak to me.

Outside the open window the sky was dark, the opposite wall warmly but faintly lit by the streetlights.

“Mmm, I am awake. Thank you, Mak,” I said, and got my feet under me, stretching to relieve the slight stiffness in my back and limbs. I wanted to stretch my wings, but the room was too small. “Where is Herald? I would like to say goodbye.”

Mak opened the door the rest of the way once I had moved. She grinned at me. “Stuck in a game of cards. She will not admit that she has lost every hand, and will continue to lose. I will get her.”

Mak left and soon returned with Herald in tow, who looked very annoyed. “I will learn that game,” she insisted.

“You know the rules well, and some strategies. But you cannot bluff, so you will lose. When your cards are good, you look like a child given a new toy,” Mak teased her.

“Then I will learn to deceive,” Herald said, frowning.

“You have not learned in seventeen years. But I wish you well.”

“No face for cards?” I asked.

“Face, hands, shoulders…” Mak said. Herald just kept on frowning.

“I am going,” I told them to change the subject. “Were you out?”

“Yes,” Mak said, suddenly a little cagey. “We have things to tell. But they can wait.”

I looked at Herald, who gave up her frowning and nodded. “Nothing important enough for you to worry about on your mission.”

I began to order them to tell me, but cut myself off. “I trust your judgement,” I said instead. “We can talk when I get back.”

Mak went to check outside the window, while Herald walked up to me and put her hand on my neck familiarly. She looked worried. “Be careful,” she said. “No fighting. Or at least, come back immediately if you get hurt. Promise?”

“Yes, fine. I promise. If I get hurt in any way I will return as fast as I can. And you two be careful. If you feel at all threatened outside, return here.”

“We will,” Mak said from the window. “The alley is clear.”

“I will see you two soon, then. Be safe.”

“You too,” Herald said, while Mak nodded.

I heard Mak take a deep breath as I shifted, the only sign of her surprise. It was still fairly new for her to see, and I was curious what it looked like from the outside. I drifted over to the window, and instead of going down into the alley and making my way from there I pushed, making a bridge of darkness between the window and the neighbouring roof that I stretched across.

Once there I looked back to the window where the sisters stood, looking after me. I shifted back, bobbed my head at them, and spread my wings. With a leap I was airborne, climbing in a spiral up over the city. Most of it lay dark, with only some buildings, squares and the largest streets being lit at night. The Wolves’ HQ was one such building, with its lit yard and the large lights in front of the entrance, and it would be easy to find on my return.

To the south the sky was covered in a mass of clouds. Even here the stars were hidden in patches, the moon in and out of cover, but there was enough for me to see by. When I’d reached high enough that the roofs blended together into a dark mass I turned south and west towards the mountains. I was excited. For all my worries about my humans, I still looked forward to this. I couldn’t touch the Blossom yet, but these bandits, or raiders, or whatever they were, I could find them. I was sure of it. And they were going to get what was coming to them.