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An Unorthodox Arrival
Ala left Kendrick’s position, and lay down to slip into reverie for a few more hours. She became fully conscious again as dawn approached, feeling well rested. She rose and pulled on her mail, tabard and cloak, then went to see if Caerel was awake and approachable yet. Before she got there, she noticed consternation at the edge of camp in the direction of the spring, a guard called something, like a warning. She ran over, drawing her blade. A very pale skinned beautiful woman with turquoise hair stood naked in the spring’s head water, looking a little annoyed. The guardsman stood a few yards from the edge of the headwater, looking worried, his pike levelled at her.
“Lady Alagariel, please tell this mindless barbarian that I’m not here to hurt him,” Talathiel called to her crossly.
“Guardsman, it’s alright, it’s Mistress Talathiel, she’s a friend.”
The guardsman was flustered. He raised his pike.
“Sorry milady, she just suddenly stood up out of the water…” then he realised he was looking at a naked woman, and quickly turned round.
Talathiel was completely unfazed by her nakedness, but Ala took off her cloak and wrapped it around her anyway.
“Thank you dear. I’ll unpack my things in a moment.”
Ala wondered how she could possibly have anything with her, being stark naked, wearing only some silvery looking jewelry.
“You have things with you?” Ala asked, looking around if she had missed anything.
“Yes of course. You didn’t think I had planned on running around here naked did you? Not that I would particularly mind, but it would be disconcerting for the humans.”
She held up her hand, where there was a fairly large silver ring.
“For some reason the gods have decreed, you can only wear silver when travelling the waters… \textit{ye shall carry only that which in argent is held…} or something along those lines, anyway. Poetic nonsense, but it’s true. You can only bring along things enclosed in silver.”
She twisted the top off the ring, taking out a tiny piece of what appeared to be delicate and very thin silk cloth.
“So, we put our belongings inside silver. Is there a private place among the ruins?”
Ala nodded through her confusion.
“Come along then.”
This was becoming stranger and stranger. Ala had already been told by Gladiuth that Talathiel was rather more of an accomplished wizard than she let on. Ala was no expert but she was quite certain that the rather fanciful tales she had heard about wizards attributed the ability to travel rapidly through magic to only the very greatest of sorcerers. Such things only really seemed to happen in myths and faery tales. They walked to the ruins where Talathiel found a spot out of the sight of the camp. She unfolded the silk cloth, which you could stick your hand in from one side. She pulled out a chemise, a kirtle, hose and high leather boots, as well her green-blue gown and a matching cloak, a small dagger, a pack and a myriad of other small items. All of it was of a quality that Ala could only gawk at. Kind of like her own sword, she realised. Was everything elven so spectacularly fine? Talathiel then proceeded to get dressed, when she finished, she looked expectantly at Ala.
“I think we should go and speak to Caerel, Mistress Talathiel.”
“Oh yes. I almost forgot. The child is in command. Wonderful. We’d best make the most of it. Oh well, lead off.”
Caerel was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Ala smelled a perfume… vanilla… on the air. Myrthe had been rather close to Caerel not long ago. Not that that was surprising. He had to do a double take when he saw Talathiel.
“Ah… uhm… Mistress Talathiel? How in the name of Guanshiyin did you get here?”
“Alagariel asked me to come. It’s hardly important though is it? Why did you ask me, Ala?”
“Remember that glow on the horizon last night, Lord Caerel? Guardsman Kendrick pointed out to me that you could see the pinpricks of light from the top of the ruined tower. I climbed up there to verify his sighting. At least twenty points of light. Campfires I’d say. As to why I called you… well I had a feeling… and there were the campfires”
“Twenty campfires. That could be two hundred men,” Caerel exclaimed.
“I understand Ala. See. I knew you’d know when to use it. There is an elf in there, I knew it! Well, I suppose it begins then.”
“What begins?” Asked an exasperated Caerel.
“I have no idea, boy. But it definitely begins here. Also, it is something that is worth marking the beginning of, I am also certain of that much,” said Talathiel.
Caerel shook his head, confused.
“Does my grandfather know you’ve come?”
“Not yet. Yesme will tell him. Though of course she won’t know what the specific reason is, or where exactly ‘here’ is, as I knew neither of those things when I left. Can you lend me a horse young Lord Caerel?”
“Yes. We have spares. We lost men,” he said the last part bitterly.
“We should find out more about the forces present here,” Ala said. She looked around. “This is a good, defensible spot, and a patrol without the supply wagons could get to Thetwick from here in quite quickly. The route is a little convoluted, on horseback, you can run it just as fast. But, considering the proximity, perhaps we should keep our campsite here and ride reconnaissance?”
Caerel considered for a moment.
“Yes. I think that’s a good idea. I’ll lead the patrol, Lady Alagariel, Priestess Myrthe, Guardsman Matt, Lieutenant Hieronymus and perhaps Mistress Talathiel will join? Brugor can maintain command here. We’ll ride in an hour, make sure everyone is fed and readied.”
Ala noticed that Caerel wasn’t leaving Hieronymus in a command position. The young man once again impressed her with his astuteness.
Talathiel obviously felt quite ready and made herself comfortable on a large rock. Ala got two bowls of breakfast porridge sweetened with honey and a water skin and joined her, offering her one. The things she had found in the burned farmhouse sprung to mind.
“Thank you, dear child. I suppose I better have something to eat, travelling the waters is taxing. Shame human fare is so bland.”
“You don’t like breakfast porridge.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve travelled over land and been subjected to it. I’ll manage,” she said poking unenthusiastically at it. “If only it had some river cress or perhaps some crab or fish. Oh well.”
“You… actually want… food… that comes out of the river… all the time?”
“The sea is fine too. Why is that odd? You do understand that I’m a water elf, do you not, child?”
“Perhaps I understand a little more what that entails now.”
“Good,” she said, taking an experimental bite.
“May I show you some items we found near here? I think they must be elven in origin.”
“By all means. The humans are still milling about anyway and getting through this is going take a few minutes,” she sighed, resigned to waiting as she poked at the porridge.
There was no malice about the way she said it. She just had a sort of patient parental distance to humans. The same way farmers thought of… livestock…? Ala wasn’t sure that was accurate, but she wasn’t far off, she was certain. Talathiel generally spoke of humans much as if they were farm animals, Ala realised. She shook the thought off and ran to her pack and grabbed the mail and the destroyed cloak.
Talathiel looked at both silently for a moment. She folded out the mail, which Ala hadn’t yet done. When she did, mail leggings and gloves fell out. Ala had thought it was only a hooded coat, but it was a complete suit. That meant it was maybe a third of the weight of the mail she was currently wearing.
“This is mythryl, a full set. I’m no armourer, but the quality is excellent, even by elven standards. Mythryl is almost indestructible, or so I’ve heard accomplished warriors claim. Where did this come from?”
Ala told her the story of the safe hole in the burned farmhouse.
“Show me that other thing?”
“It’s certainly elven. Even fire elven preference as far as colours go. This pattern… it’s something that is usually worn by elven warriors, battle dancers. The patterns are based on weapons drill footwork. I don’t know much about weapons, but some schools of warriors show their philosophy in the patterns they wear. Someone more knowledgeable in such matters might be able to tell you which school it is, or was. This is quite far gone though, whatever it was sprayed with is very destructive, add in a damp hole and well, I don’t think it’s salvageable.”
Talathiel lifted the sleeve of Ala’s tabard and felt the mail she was wearing between her fingers.
“You should put on this mythryl. It’s much better and lighter than what you’re wearing. From what you’ve said, it can hardly be anyone’s birthright but yours. The blackness is just encrustation from whatever was being worn over and under it when the previous owner expired. It’s some sort of acid residue. It’s inert now, but it did trickle in between the links. The last owner will not have had a pleasant death I’m afraid. But it’s elven, it’s excellent and from the tale you’ve told it’s yours if it’s anybody’s. We’ll wash off the encrustation at the spring, with a little magical help if necessary. Then I’ll help you put it on. Come along now.”
Ala dutifully followed her to the spring. She left the porridge bowl sitting on the rock.
They were almost late to go, but the armour had indeed cleaned off easily though Ala had to concede the Talathiel might be helping it along with some unnoticeable magic. The suit was much lighter than her own mail and also had a very complex pattern which combined with the decreased weight was much more form clinging. She was still wearing an unmarked tabard over it, like before, but she saw Caerel, Matt and even Brugor look at her a little differently when she approached.
“That suits you rather well,” said Myrthe, as Ala mounted Fulgor.
Ala felt a little self-conscious but the mail was much more comfortable than her previous set, even though she had been rather proud of it. Talathiel mounted her loaned guard horse, an energetic gelding. Caerel led off, heading towards Thetwick again. Ala made sure she was riding next to him, as she was the only one who knew the terrain. There hills between Maiden’s Tower and Thetwick were quite steep in many places, which mean that the route on horseback had to switch back quite a few times. Ala made for a rise which overlooked Thetwick, from where they should be able to overlook the village, and probably get a good view of the area where she thought the campfires should be. It had occurred to her that there might be a lookout post on the knoll they were heading for.
“Lord Caerel. This place I have in mind. If I was on the other side, I would have stationed some lookouts on it.”
“There’s not much we can do about that, Lady Alagariel.”
“Agreed, just thought I should mention it. Perhaps Matt can show off his skills and sneak up there and tell us. I’ll go with him.”
“We can give it a try I suppose.”
Ala halted around a mile from the knoll, and rode over to Matt.
“Matt, the knoll I want to go to is around a mile away. If I was the enemy though, I’d have a lookout up there. Do you think you can scout it?”
Matt looked around.
“What are you looking for?” Ala asked.
“Buildings, streets. Crowds. It may have escaped your notice, but I learned how to sneak around in cities.”
“Look, I’ll come with you most of the way. You can’t tell me you’ve never snuck around undergrowth?”
He frowned at her, “oh alright, alright. Maybe once or twice. How hard can it be, anyway?”
They dismounted and headed to the top of the knoll.
Matt led the way up the hill, Ala following several yards behind him. Despite his protests he was very good at moving without disturbing anything. Even at twenty yards he often managed to choose spots that made her almost lose track of him. The feel of her new mail was nice, she felt a lot more mobile. The regiment had equipped Matt with a sword and he had a crossbow across his back. Hopefully, the guard had also invested some time into teaching him how to use them. With around a quarter of a mile to go, Matt signalled for Ala to hold back. She waited patiently until he waved her forward a little. They continued like this for a bit, Matt sneaking a little further, beckoning Ala on when he decided the coast was clear.
Eventually they reached the crest of the hill. There was no one there as far as they could tell. From their vantage point they could see the commons which were full of military style campaign tents. Ala took a mental tally, and decided that the camp was easily big enough to house a few hundred men. As they were taking an inventory of the situation, they suddenly heard voices. Ala and Matt dived down into the undergrowth and froze. The language was common, and these men were definitely from Oakharrow. They couldn’t see who was making the sound, but there were at least three of them. The men were recounting the previous night’s drinking, it seemed.
“Roderick certainly had a bit too much ale last night,” said the first voice.
“Not just him.”
Voice number two.
“Well I was fine this mornin’.”
That was number three. That would be Roderick.
“Nah you weren’t. I could see your eyes. Your head was hurtin’.”
Number one again.
“Mine was anyway,” said number two.
The chatter was useless. Ala would have liked a useful conversation to eavesdrop on. Now they just had to wait until they could sneak away. Or until they were found. The men proceeded to compare just how much they drank. Then the conversation turned in a more interesting direction.
“Those men who came with the priests don’t seem to drink at all,” said number two.
“Yeah. Bunch of religious arseholes if you ask me.” said Roderick.
“They don’t talk either. I asked one of them where he was from, just to make conversation like. He said it was none of my business.”
“I don’t even think they enjoy takin’ a bit of pleasure with the women. They do it with the same dour look they always have.”
“Wonder what the Count has in mind. He’s sure gathering a lot of men here.”
“I think he’s going to take Thetwick back from the Taladarians.”
“He’s already got it, you nonce! We’re standin’ in it.”
“Yeah, well they’re gonna be wanting us out in’t they? They’ll come. The Count wants to be ready.”
“I think it’s gonna be bigger than that,” said number one, “I think he wants to cross the Ford. Ya know, into Taladaria proper?”
There was a moment of silence as the other two men digested that.
“Think that’s why they been gatherin’ the womenfolk from the farms?”
“Whaddya mean Fred?”
“Well, I saw a bunch of them religious nutters dressed like farmers leavin’ towards the Inn day before yesterday? They had a bunch of women with ’em. Y’know, like the ones we had to bring in from them poor buggers’ farms we burned.”
“Dunno what that’s all about. These fellers have big plans. Too much fer me ta follow.”
“It’s gonna be a while till we’re back in Oaks then, I reckon.”
“Yeah, I reckon it is. Could be a whole campaign ‘tween now and then. There’ll be plunder tho’. Always plunder in war, says me da.”
“Yeah… we’ll watch each others’ backs and go home all the richer!”
“I’m all for that! Roderick?”
“Me too.”
The men seemed pleased with that prospect. They were again silent for a moment. Ala and Matt were in a depression under a patch of berry bushes. Ala wondered whether it would be best to ambush these men. If they wanted an overview of the village and the campsite, they really didn’t have any choice. They would stand around until they were relieved by others. She didn’t think Caerel would make do with her word that an attack was out of the question. The young man had too much to prove not to want to be absolutely certain. She would need something more to convince him they had no choice but to wait for Taladaria’s Regiment to arrive. The Duke would probably even have to send a message to the king to let him know that Oakharrow was annexing Thetwick. A general muster of all the militias might even be called, something even Ala had never seen in her two centuries. If the King of Selinus was actively involved, it was likely that that was what would happen. It sounded like all the ingredients one needed for war.
Ala turned her attention back to the situation at hand. She and Matt could lie under the bush for ages and hope the men wandered far enough to slip away. There was no way of knowing how long that would take. They could sit in their present spot until there was a shift change for all she knew. She decided to do something rash, being passive didn’t agree with her. She whispered to Matt as she got up.
“Let one get away.”
She stood up straight, dropped her hood, unslung her shield, drew her sword and stepped out of the bush.
“Hello boys.”
The three men startled. She had appeared around five yards from where they were sitting. None of them had weapons drawn. She had her first good view of Thetwick now too, beyond the field with the encampment. There was significant work going on on the construction of a palisade and surrounding ditch.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” she said.
“One at a time you draw your swords with your left hands and put them on the ground. Then your shields. You first.”
She gestured at the closest of the three men.
He growled at her with an evil grin, “you think you can take us elf girl? I bet you’re the one we were told to look out fer. I think we’re going to have ourselves some fun with you… and then, after that, we’ll even collect the bounty, too. Whaddya say fellas? This our lucky day?”
Ala decided that his voice made him speaker number one. He had some teeth missing. He stepped backwards and wanted to draw his sword, going straight into an overhead swing. Ala stepped in, lifting her shield high, moving forward far enough to be under the descending hilt of his sword. His attack was interrupted by doing that of course and he didn’t have the time to recover his blade to defend himself before Ala rotated her hips and put the tip of her sword into his armpit, sliding almost a foot of sword into his body, piercing his lung for certain and possibly cutting his windpipe and the top of his heart. She rotated back, the way she had come, extricating her blade as the man teetered over backwards and fell. She calmly watched the other two men, who were now facing her with swords drawn too.
“I’ll kill you one by one if you force me to,” she said calmly, “drop your weapons.”
The men didn’t react other than looking angry and uncertain. Then she saw their look change, they looked pleased. Something was happening behind her. She heard movement. There must be reinforcements coming.
She stepped sideways, opening the distance between the two remaining men and herself, and permitted herself a look round. There were a further four men approaching, about ten yards away. They were clearly not Oakharrowers, these were more of those religious warriors, she decided. Better armed and armoured, well fed and muscular.
There was no sign of Matt though. Either he had slipped out in between the two groups, or he was still hiding under the bush, though she couldn’t see him. One against six that made, and they were aware of her. Also at least two were aware that she had dispatched their colleague with relative ease. That would make them wary. Capture was not an acceptable outcome in her opinion so she decided she was going to fight them, come what may. With some luck Matt was still around somewhere and would be able to shoot one at least with his crossbow. She continued to reverse, unfortunately, the remaining men seemed to have some idea of what they were doing.
“Why don’t you just give up? You’ll only have to feel some hard blades, not sharp ones, girl,” threatened one of the newcomers.
They all had their shields at the ready now and they were staying line abreast, with their blades leading. She knew she had to get round the end of the line, turning their line abreast formation into a row of them to be dispatched one by one. She decided she needed all the help she could get so she concentrated on her fire, and engulfed herself and her sword with the hottest flame she could summon. She saw the men’s eyes widen as she did that.
“Shit…” cursed one of the Oakharrowers, “she’s a filthy witch to boot!”
She stepped in towards the man on her right hand, at the end of the line. Just before the blades met she stepped in with her left leg, putting her shield forward and pushing it up against the right hand man’s blade. He frantically tried to scramble away from the flames. He was one of the two remaining Oakharrowers. His friend on the left also tried to stab her with his sword as she continued her move around the man’s shield arm and raised her sword, keeping contact between the man’s blade and her shield while also trying to keep the man between her and his comrades. She made a diagonal cut from top left to bottom right. She had stepped far enough around him that he couldn’t get his shield in between it, the cut hit him in the face digging deep into his head. There was a fizzling sound from the flames as he fell and her sword came free more easily that she expected, thanks to the searing heat. He fell over backwards. The last standing Oakharrower was next in line, though the other four men were trying to come round too. She knew she was in trouble as the religious soldiers managed to close in at her left. She managed to drop the last Oakharrow man with another diagonal cut, but the four religious soldiers worked together well.
When fighting a group of attackers, the accepted technique is to manoeuvre in such a way that you only have to fight one opponent at a time. These men obviously knew that and were probably aware that they might be individually outmatched. So they did their very best to support each other and keep Ala from singling one of them out. They almost managed too. Ala was being forced backwards towards a large boulder and she was about to do something reckless to break out of the encirclement when one of the men toppled forwards with a crossbow bolt in his back. It had bloody taken Matt long enough. It also gave her the opening she needed. She had been getting excited, and the flames along her sword reflected that burning brighter and hotter than before. She moved around again, side stepping even further to the right, feeling the blade easily slicing through the mail the man was wearing. He sort of yelped, obviously trying to stop himself from doing so. These men were tough and driven, even yelling when you had just received an excruciating cut and burn was apparently an unacceptable sign of weakness, even if it was likely to be fatal. The two remaining men shared a look, and one nodded to the other. One ran down the hill while his companion threw himself at Ala, essentially sacrificing himself to give his companion time to escape. Ala cut him down easily after his clumsy swing. She decided not to go after him, though she yelled after the running man.
“Tell the Marchmains! Alagariel is here and I’m coming for them!”
It had been one of her closest calls yet. Her tabard had multiple cuts in it which could have been fatal had it not been for the superior quality of the elven mail she was wearing. She decided to find Matt quickly and head back to the group. She found him under the bush where she had left him, still staring down the crossbow’s sights.
“Hey Matt, what’s going on?”
He just looked at her. She realised it must have been the first man he’d ever killed. All those years as a thief in Duilhac and he’d never killed anyone.
“Matt, they would have gotten the better of me if you hadn’t fired.”
He slowly nodded, a blank look on his face. He didn’t say anything.
“Come on, we need to get back to the others. It won’t be long before they send a patrol up here. Maybe we can ambush it.”
She pulled him to his feet, and looked into his eyes. He wasn’t taking it well.
“Look Matt, you probably saved my life. Thank you. The man you shot is one of those religious rapists. You heard them talking. You did what needed to be done. We have to go now.”
She pulled him behind her down the hill. Eventually he matched the pace on his own.
“I managed not to really hurt anyone all that time in Duilhac, Ala. Now I’m supposedly with the good guys and I’ve already killed someone…. he even had his back to me.”
Ala had given the subject a lot of thought over the years and had settled on a philosophy that allowed her a way to deal with it. She’d adjusted it a few times, but the result allowed her to sleep well at night. She stopped and looked Matt in the eye.
“It doesn’t get any prettier Matt. Unfortunately, it does get easier. Also, I don’t see any other solution. Those who are not prepared to use violence will always be subject to those who are. I will not be subjected to men like that. I am prepared to kill to avoid it. I am prepared to kill so that others are not subjected to it. It means of course that I rate my judgement more highly than I do that of these people I detest. I see that as unavoidable. My conscience is the only guide I can see in that. I hope… this… philosophy is of some use. It helps me come to terms with it. I can only hope that it might help you do the same.”
Matt looked thoughtful, as if he was digesting what she had just said. She wondered if he was going to be quite ready to take that all in so soon. He was silent for a few moments…
“Is that really it? All there is to it?”
“I don’t know. Not for sure. But it settles my mind to think of it in those terms.”
Matt became quiet and thoughtful, his earlier nervousness ebbing as they walked back the rest of the way.
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