Chapter 7 - Grand Company (part 2)
Leoric halted his horse and withdrew the long rifle from its place. Holding his breath, he looks into the tree line, "I have nothing of value, so you can stop wasting your time and face me or leave." he shouted into the distance. A small female came out of the forest, leading two horses, one with a lutra pup riding on top. The girls breed could not be discerned, as she had a thick hood covering her face, part of her ankle length green and cream color dress. Leoric assumed it to be the pup's mother, her five foot stature, being his frame of reference, though she would be tall for the Otter kin breed, perhaps a descendant of the sea faring line. Lowering his rifle, "What brings a mother and her put out this way, turned away from Lamenthra as well?" he asked. The girl turned her head to look in the direction of the city, now two hours ride to the south. "I have no desire to go back there." a faint growl could be heard on her breath. Keeping the weapon low, he pulled back the single action hammer, "You are no lutra, girl. Show me your face." Lifting her head slightly under the hood, a faint blue glow illuminated the left side of her feline features. "You will put that weapon away. We are but children and no threat to you." He sat for a moment, only once before had he seen that same glowing eye. A sly smile crossed his face, "So that is what has changed." looking into the forest behind her, "You can bring him out as well, child." "NO ONE SHALL CALL ME CHILD!" she screamed at him, the glow beneath the hood brightening like a fire. Deep in the shadows of the trees a second blue glow appeared with the sound of a distant growl. Pointing the rifle to the distant blue dot, "I don't know what has truly happened to you or your father, princess, but if you wish to leave this place without a scene you may just want to come with me." aim locked on the unknown object, "I am betting he wants to take you north, what better place to hide a missing princess and her beast than a circus? And I could use a good show stopper." Stepping into the light, the great wolf-beast moved to his master's side, towering twice the height for the feline. Leoric dropped his weapon, unwittingly letting it cascade to the ground. Eyes wide mouth agape, "The old legends are real. Is it true?" thinking to himself, this bit of information could be useful to me. The tides may be turning. Locking her gaze on him, "Do you truly know who we are?" Leoric froze as an immense crushing weight bore down on his chest, as the two stared him down. He desperately resisted direct eye contact, squeezing them shut. "If the rumors are true, you would be the next in line for the throne of Lamenthra, and he the fabled weapon. If you are here, the attack mentioned by the guards must have been successful, and the reign of the Ussesa clan had ended." The deep booming voice of Noroscureil brought his attention and gaze, "What would you gain by helping an exiled queen?" unintentional locking eyes with the beast, leoric found himself unable to speak. A moment passed before Noroscureil broke off his gaze and fell to the ground coughing blood beside Assilsasta. Unfazed she looks at him, "We will go north... with you." she said. A smile crossed Leoric's face as plans formed in his mind. "On word of caution my little princess, you may want to bridle your attitude. You are no longer royalty in the eyes of the people; you will only be a fugitive from whoever is now in charge." Looking down at the ground she says, "I don't want to be royalty. I want to be forgotten, to be free of what they thought I was to be." "I am sorry, but they need you, and him. Without the weapon and its key Lamenthra is defenseless." he said. "Now my company is this way, if you truly wish to come. We will feed and clothe you, but you will have to do your share." looking up at the boy, "Does he have and skills? Or is he but a servant that escaped with you?" Pulling her hood off, "he is my responsibility; I will care for him out of my share." "Very well then, Let us move. I have to break some bad news to our troop, and introduce our new beast tamer." He watched her climb onto the shoulders of the giant wolf, and they continued down the road in silence. --- Marco sat close to the fire, his pocket size book open in one hand, other outstretched toward the flames. He mumbled words as he read them from the ancient script, and attempted to from symbols with his claws and fingers. Rewarded with nothing more than a puff of smoke, he slapped the book shut in this hand and groaned. Dementia sat beside him on the log, looking over at the activity in the little clown camp. She wore a basic dress of the shadow temple maiden, with a dark lavender top and long red skirt, tied with a huge bow on the back, just above her tail. "Fire magic is not your strong point, is it brother bear?" "I just finished translating this one. I wonder if I am getting the pronunciation wrong or the hand gestures." Looking down at his staff he growled, "Someone doesn't feel it is necessary for me to know." Looking up at him, sun glinting off her hazel eyes, "With the hours you spend in those books, one would think you knew everything
written. By the way, Ithaurot tells me Leoric is coming back, and there is someone with him. He won't tell me who, he seems ill at ease, whoever it is." Marco looked down at Demy, "What do you expect? He went to find us work. It is either our new employer or some new stray he has decided would make a good addition to the troop. We are down two acts, and it is hard to sell a four act show these days." As he spoke his mind was invaded with an ethereal voice with a simple word run. Looking up he saw Leoric, the somewhat short and rotund badger kin, followed by the strangest sight he had seen in a long time, what looked to be a kitzen teen riding a giant feral wolf, leading two more horse. Looking on the voice came back louder, almost physically ear numbing RUN. Looking around for what might cause the spirit of his staff to offer such words, another unusual site caught his attention and caused him to grab the staff and stand. Dementia had no shadow cast by either the sun or the fire. Demy' shivered as her own companion went silent. --- "Captain, the caravans are starting to question the closing of the gates." The solder kneeled before the dark furred feline sitting at the head of the console table. "Any word of the whereabouts of the little princess or the weapon?" he asked hands folded in front of him as he leaned on the table. "No, Sir" "Get out of my sight until you have news that is useful." Around the table sate beast men of several breeds. An older reptilian spoke up, "The soldier is no fool, It I unwise to keep the gates closed. It will foster suspicion in the other nations. We should continue to act as if all is well." A large dark brown Gyas Bear kin Belted out, "All is not well, If we open the gate and the new of the coup were to get out, or the fact that the weapon is missing. We would be a mercy of any army." A hystrix stood and shouted, "Our army has been well fortified. We can hold back any invading force." Pounding his fists on the table the dark kizen stood up and shouted above the din of the representative. "SILENCE! The gates will remain closed until the weapon and princess have been returned, and the beast destroyed. I will not risk what we have gained for the pocket of any of you fool nobles." Turning his back to them, "Our army is
strong, but they have never been battle tested. Those of our enemies have seen war and conflict. They have seasoned units ready to engage Lamenthra. We will hold our ground as is. No get out of my presence." As they left he spoke to Himslef loud enough for them to hear, "It is a miracle this city-state has survived this long under the direction of coward kings and fool nobles." --- As the small band moved into the camp, the now screaming voice in Marco's mind. He grits his teeth and growls just under his breath, "Be quite, we can deal with this. It's only a girl and her dog." Dementia sat frozen in place, arms wrapped around herself tightly. "I don't like this." The pair dismounted their animals with another unnoticed figure getting off one of the horses, and walk to Leoric's ornate vardo. Both Marco and Demy strain to see who or what the third figure could be, not paying much attention to the riding animals. Marco was brought back to the beasts of burden as the voice in his head warns, You fool, he has seen us. Marco finds himself subconsciously taking a defensive stance with the greenman hathorn staff raised in front of him. He watched as the wolf-beast walked toward the fire ring. It looks as if it was headed directly for him. As it came into view they could now see the worn and scarred body. Beginning to rethink his 'stand my ground' philosophy, Marco ran through what spells he had memories while fumbling in his empty pocket for his book. Marco swiftly began to recite a spell of binding to root the beast in place. Visible energy leapt from his staff as he felt the greenman spirit add in his own effort. His jaw dropped as he watched the mystic power drawn into the glowing cuffs and collar as the beast pounced from his place only yards away landing in a semi kneeling position inches from
Marco. Looking into the hollow or the empty eyes socket, mesmerized by the deep wounds of battles long forgotten, Marco was pull back to reality as a voice shouted across the clearing, "Noroscureil." He felt a blast of hot breath as the beast before him stood to a full three feet over his head, before turning to walk to its master. Through the entire ordeal, Dementia sat frozen in place, unable to lift a hand to help. ---- Evening was drawing on, the twin suns ducking behind the trees. Leoric had gathered the members of his performing trop to the center of camp. Metkatho and Metkatha, the twin frilled reptilians, sat close to the fire feeding off its warmth, while Marco, the albino gyas bear-kin stood behind the two, on his guard from the earlier events. Dementia, a felis feline, sat in a darker recesses not far from her vardo, still shaken unable to get Ithaurot to do more than whisper warning to her since the arrival of the three new companions. Cassidy, a hystrix porcupine-kin, separated herself from the others on the opposite side of the fire, cleaning her show blades while the squirrel-kin clown trop manages to gather around the fire between the group and the loaner. Leoric Stood before them, "I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?" Metkatha spoke up, "I think we can all see the good news." pointing over at the strantreo. A kitzen girl, no older than thirteen years stood with her hands on the shoulders of a Lutra Otter-kin pup, much younger than her. Behind the two, sitting like a feral dog breed was an oversized Wolf-beast that had nearly attacked Marco. "I don't know if they are good news. The dog attacked me. I just have a bad feeling about the three of them." Marco said with eyes locked on the giant Wolf beast. Speaking just loud enough to hear from the shadows Dementia said "We agree with Marco. Ithaurot and I do not see it as good." Looking back at the two, Metkatha refuted "More Performers means more show, and more ticket sales, meaning more money for us all. What could be bad about that?" Before Marco could respond Leoric interrupted "Well that is not up for debate at this time, and really not an issue either way. So, I will start with the bad news. Lamenthra's gates are closed, and we will not be performing for the Princess or the crowds here this time around. Our next best bet is the ave city of Featherfall." Looking up from her work Cassidy asked "Can we make it on the supplies? That's a week out." "And there is the rub folks; we will have to take a job with a caravan heading north." Leoric noted. "With that in mind, I have taken these three into the trop. As you can see the beast has strength to spare, the girl is his handler. On the rout I expect you all to help these two get some sort of Beast Tamer act together." "And the kid, Beast food?" Cassidy came back. "Well, that is her attendant, as such not your issue." he said looking Cassidy squarely in the eye. "He will be maintained out of her cut, and is not to interfere with the working of the trop. So it should not bother you Cassy." Leoric responded. Barely above a whisper, had Cassidy mumbled, 'whatever"? "Shure it is formidable, but what happens if she is not able to stop it next time that thing decided one of us is the target?" The concern in Marco's voice was apparent. "From my understanding, he is not able to attack without direct orders from or in defense of Assilsasta here." Stepping out of the shadows Dementia asked "Assilsasta, is that not the name of the princess?" she eyed the kitzen girl from the distance. Leoric Laughed. "It is a popular name here in Lamenthra for that reason. Now with that aside, Metkatho and Metkatha, Place yourselves down the road toward Lamenthra and find one of the caravans that were turned away. Most should be headed to Featherfall with the harvest festival come up." The twins got up to leave on their new mission, with the usual complaint for Metkatho. "They always send up out into the cold. Why not send the gyas; he is made for this weather." Mounting their shared horse Metkatha reached down, "Come brother, we can find ways to stay warm." Cassidy stood up, "We done here?" without waiting for an answer she retired back to her vardo. With suspicion and ideas running through his head, Marco went to his vardo, pulling some books from a roll tied to the side before disappearing into the small space. Leoric looked to Dementia, "You can retire for the night. These three will take the full nights watch." Turning to the trio "you can use that vardo over there for the time being. It belongs to someone who is not with us right now. You will need to provide your own when we get to a village where one is available. I will take the cost out of your cut until it is paid for. For now, tend the fire and keep watch for intruders." Turning to leave, "One last thing. You might want to keep that main under wraps until we are out of the Lamenthra region. It is kind of identifiable if they are looking for you." Sitting on a log by the fire, Isaiah Looked at Assilsasta, "Is this a good idea? They don't seem to like us much." Sitting by him tossing an arm over his shoulder she pulled him close. "We don't have much choice. It is either this or continues on our own. Here we both can learn more about the real world, Also, as Leoric said; it will be easier to hid Noros in a circus than on the road alone." Looking at him with a smile on her face, "besides, his plans lineup with ours for now." --- Walking back to his vardo at the far side of the camp, Leoric grabbed one of the rodent clowns. "If you wish to see the next summer alive you will take this message to the guild. The beast has left its cage." The badger-kin dropped him from shoulder height. "Now go!"