30, fall 513
I was standing outside of the gate to syliras talking to the trembling old man.
"please, please, you must find my daughter good sir."
"alright now, just tell me everything you know about the day your daughter turned up missing and what you know about this man."
" we were camping," said the fat old man. His bald hair and his poor clothes gave him a homely impression, and his stench gave me the idea that he had not bathed for moths. "it was two days ago, i simply woke up and she was gone! rumor has it that a slave caravan had been around the area picking up little girls one can only imagine to start a brothel, but i do hope they're not Zith."
i wondered why this man simply did not go to the syliran knights, but i can imagine this man more than likely had a guilty past and was wanted for some small crime. "alright calm down, just show me to where you were camping." the idea of helping out an obvious criminal really goes against his code, however cash was cash and he wasnt above helping out a few honest people who needed a way around the law.
Wolfy, my own trusty war dog led the way for him and his fat new employer, sniffing out bushes and finding just about everything he could find to pee on. a few people would pass and wolfy would give a low snarl and bear his fangs if they were carrying some sort of weapon, this was a nuisance for me and often gets me in trouble, but wolfie's violent side could not be curbed. the man he won him from must have done a number on his sense of innocense most pups are born with, but it sure as hell made him a good fighter.
My suspicion for this man grew and grew as he spent more time counting his money every time someone would pass. "afraid someones gonna grab your change old man?" i asked the old man shot his glance up at me with a surprised look on his face. i suppose the man wasnt much for talking, mustve tuned out the sound of the world a while ago.
"well you know how it is, a fool whos foolish with mizas should be wary of daily surprisas." he gave a friendly smile which i returned, i was always quick to enjoy a friendly rhyme or two. "here we are, just around this tree, this was when she was taken from me."
the burn marks on the ground from where the fire was lit still scorched the earth, but that was the only sign that was left behind from the night, no tire tracks, no footmarks other than the mans, not even a shred of clothing left by the men who took the girl. Somewhere over in the bushes wolfy picked up a scent and was back on the trail heading towards syliras. I stopped as we approcached the halfway point of inevitably reaching the sylirian gate and called for wolfy. wolfy returned to my side about 5 minutes before the old man caught up with me.
i shoved the old bald sweating man up against the tree pinning him with my right forearm "alright what are you not telling me! im gonna give you a minute to explain yourself before i start taking fingers." I pricked one of his fingers with Tidus.
"okay! OKAY!!! please dont hurt me!" i loosened my grip. "a long long time ago i lost way too much money in a gambling debt to my cousin. when i said i couldnt pay him back he took my daughter from me, when i went to go pay him back he told me he already sold her into slavery please i just want my daughter back."
the old man was sweating and a tear rolled down his cheek, his heavy breathing and violent odor were too much for me to handle so i loosened my grip and let him drop from the trunk of the tree. " heres the deal. you double my pay, take me to your cousin, and i dont report you and your gambling friends to the syliran knights."
"deal." wolfy gave an intimidating bark at the old man who fell backwards as i began to walk back in towards the gate.
old fools like these arent worth my time, i thought to myself as we headed towards the cousins apartment complex. when i finish with this man i should look into a more serious mercenary position maybe in some other city. the thought of being hired by some big shot mercenary clan was enticing to me and all the pay that would follow was rewarding in and of itself.
approaching the cousins house Flare knocked on the door and a callous old man with greasy black hair and what seemed like a permanent snarl answered. he was 5"4 and had the same stench as the fat old man he was helping. I drew my sword and put it on the short man's kneck " you are to tell me where i can find this mans daughter, answer now or you will die in a bloody mess on your front door, and dont even think about yelling for the knights, because ill tell them all about your little gambling stint youve been running and youll meet the same fate as I."
moments later we were inside the mans house as he was looking through address books and papers that were strewn all about the place. "so who are these people anyway." i asked the old callous man
"they run a whore house in ravok, they come through the cobalt mountains looking for anyone they can get their hands on to sell outside the city walls for a cheap price, here we are." the man held up a piece of paper that had some writing on it. "Wallace Everton, 9985 Roshin district, here youll find the man who will tell you where a good place to head off the slave caravan would be."
"and this man's still in town?"
"Aye! never leaves the place, runs a pretty good business finding whores for the good people of Ravok."
"come on." i motioned to my fat old employer who had been shaking in his boots since we stepped into his cousins house, apparently there was a great factor of intimidation that came with being in this mans cousins house. spineless freaks like this really do make me sick.
"Flare Baneson" i shouted knocking three times on the door, 9985 was the place. "I've come to ask about a girl.
"she aint here" barked an old voice from inside the house. "go look somewhere else.
"you have five seconds to open up or i burn the place to the ground." silence followed that, so liquid res was thrown all over the mans door and after stepping back ignited, Wolfy began barking and yelping at the flames and the door flew open, an old man opened the door and came charging at me with a longsword in his hand, i blocked it and disarmed him with a blast of air that shot out of my feet. the man fell on his knees and threw his hands up in the air in a motion of surrender. "start talking. where are the girls and how can i stop them from reaching Ravok." seconds later they were inside the mans house and he was showing them a map of the Kabrin road.
"if you leave now you may be able to head them off here," he drew a line on the map. "this is where the slave caravan picks up the girls taken from syliras and trades them with a Ravok slave caravan."
bolting down the road wolfy and i were in a race against time to meet the trading point,the road seemed like a blur as my speed picked up with my excitement, the slave caravan left only 2 hours before our conversation with Wallace who had one hell of an arm on him despite his age, and he also promised me if i retrieve the girl I may work for him as a mercenary, but i have to kill of all the slave traders as that is much better business for him.
finally my dreams as a child of doing good and helping those in need, fighting on the side of justice and using his skill to aid a poor soul were all coming to fruition, I couldnt wait to be hired by Wallace and do more work as a sell-sword.
I saw the slave caravan when i stopped ontop of a hill to catch my breath. therre were two stables both being pulled by a single horse they were being operated by only three men of each stable, but one of the men from the ravok stable holding an battleaxe who was keeping an watch had the looks of a man who wasnt afraid of a fight, the other five including the two drivers were easy kills. he stormed down the road with wolfy following and started by shooting a fire ball at the man with the battleaxes face, he was surprised and the horses were startled and started up, there was one girl in the caravan so as I ran past the horse in the Sahovan caravan i sliced off its leg so it couldnt escape, but an arrow hit the back of my calf as i chased down the second caravan. "wolfy, stop that horse." i said to my noble war dog as i sat on the ground. wolfy began sprinting after the caravan whos driver had immediately lost control of his horse and was traveling in a serpentine pattern down the road.
I turned to face the five men, one of which shot another arrow at me which i deflected with my sword, i retaliated by throwing a fireball at the man, it hit his cape and he fell off the caravan trying to put it out. the cracking of his legs assured that that man would no longer be a problem. i snapped the arrow off at the hilt and pushed the rest of it through the muscle of my calf. looking up i saw the next four men charging at me, but i let gaseous res flow thin out of my body and take the shape of a storm cloud, as the men got closer i shot lightning bolts down on the men, however the man with the battle axe was kelvic and turned into a snake right as the lightning bolt was coming down, he morphed back into a man and began walking over to me. I shot a fire ball at him, but he blocked it with the broad side of his battle axe, picking up speed he let out a battle cry and swung the his axe up high in the air preparing to lower it on me, but i rolled to avoid the hit, his axe was dug firmly in the ground, but I drove his sword through the mans head going under the metal of his helmet.
I heard the sound of wheels coming towards me so i turned around and stood up putting all the weight on my healthy leg, as the horse approached i let it run through the wall of fire burning the hairs on his body, its face gave a macab snarl as it approached me. On his hind legs it stood only feet from me, so i used tidus as a walking stick, took another step forward and drew the sword through the horses stomach.the driver of the caravan began to flee but met a fireball and next, his demise.
The girls remained in their caravan and were afraid of coming out, so wolfy was sent to comfort them. there were three of them. makes sense considering any type of slave caravan running through sahova larger than this would surely be stopped by the syliran knights. It was only an hour before a caravan holding some friendly people passed by and took them back to syliras. My employer was waiting at the gate and was overjoyed to meet his daughter,he tossed the three gold mizas to Flare as pay for a job well done.
walking back to Wallaces house was rough on my knee, but it was worth it to see the mans face full of surprise at the sight of me. "come in, sit, lets take care of that knee."
"ill be taking that job wallace."
"i suppose you will, after all you killed all my old employers, and youll need someone familiar with the worst parts of syliras if youre trying to get a job killing folks for money." |