277: Messenger
Hari wasn’t outside for long as he returned with Luis and Gilain. For probably the first time, Gilain looked genuinely nervous. Even when Lily had beaten him and we were threatening his life, he looked relaxed, but now was different.
“Gilain, we have discussed it, and we’ll agree to you joining us, under the condition you take an oath right now and swear on your class that you’ll not discuss anything you learn about Trevor, or in relation to Trevor, outside of people who already know, or those given direct approval by Trevor Ashmoon,” Hari said.
Luis looked surprised. “This won’t get you out of dealing with the diplomatic fallout of the assassination attempt, and I will need you to come to the palace as soon as you return to the capital,” he added.
“Which won’t be long; we need to resupply Micca,” Hari said.
Gilain appeared to be taking it very seriously, as he looked to be deep in thought, before finally he spoke,
“Normally, I would never agree to something like this. To swear on my class over something so broad is a danger, as the more experienced of you know, but there is something happening here, starting in this Kingdom, that I feel I need to be here to see. Things are changing, and you seem to be the chaos that is causing it,” he said.
I didn’t know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult honestly, but he carried on.
“For that reason, I agree. I, Gilain Redblade, swear on my class and life that I will not discuss what I learn about Trevor, or anything I learn in relation to Trevor, outside of people who already know or those given direct permission by Trevor Ashmoon,” Gilain said firmly.
There was a strong shift in the air; the only way to describe it was as though something incredibly important had locked into place.
“I suppose it’s too late to say it now, but I’m sure you’re aware your own conclave is not going to be happy you’ve made such an agreement,” Luis said.
Gilain spat on the floor. “If not for promises made, and oaths formed centuries ago, I’d have killed the blithering old fools myself already.”
This was a surprising comment to hear from him, and it seemed I likely wasn’t the only one who thought so, as Luis just looked surprised and no one said anything except Clacks, who just let out two loud chirps, then threw a fish bone out of her nest.
This action completely broke the tense atmosphere as Jen tried desperately to hold back a laugh, and failed horribly.
“Right, now that’s done! It’s time to train,” Gilain said happily, all seriousness of before vanished.
He was followed out by Hari, Luis, and Jen.
Pulling out the soup I had been slowly drying, there had been something I really wanted to ask as I had been curious about it for a while,
“Liane, when do you actually train?”
This caused Milo to snort in laughter, but it was an honest question, because I saw Milo studying constantly, but not Liane.
“Honest answer, usually during watch, it’s the perfect time to practise my stealth, but places like this are best. Using stealth with adventurers, guards, and merchants around and being able to avoid their detection is really good experience, and I’ve had some interesting quests unlock since spending time with Lily,” Liane said.
This was the first I’d heard of that, and I was very interested in it, but I didn’t want to be rude.
“I see the conflict in your eyes,” she laughed. “Nothing too special yet, but Lily teaching me tricks is absolutely influencing my class, and I’m excited for it.”
“I feel like Hari is the odd one out then. Milo is learning from Sylverith, Jen is working with Crisplet, you Lily...” I said.
Milo shook his head. “Not at all, you’re overlooking the fact your presence or your food is providing us with resistance to powerful auras. As a warrior, that’s an invaluable skill when facing a dangerous foe.”
I let out a sigh. I really didn’t think it was the same, but I really didn’t recognise the value in my ability to ignore auras; I knew that.
“If you want to help him out, find yourself a rock dragon and befriend it,” Milo laughed.
“They’re a real thing?” I said, shocked to hear it.
Milo shrugged. “They used to be, I don’t know if they still are. Sylverith would know; they are true dragons so she’d surely keep track of it, though I imagine if one does exist, it’ll be buried under the ground and living in the bedrock.”
Now my mind was just imagining a giant dragon travelling underneath our feet.
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***
The next morning we left early, getting on the road just as the sun rose. Hari’s plan was to avoid the traffic of the road, but we quickly realised we just joined it instead, as the camping area was a buzz of activity at this time of the morning.
“Hello, travellers!” A voice yelled out from behind us as we were getting the horses out.
Turning around, I saw it was one of the guards of the campgrounds approaching us. He had a giant smile on his face, so it was very disarming.
“Hello!” Hari said, taking the lead.
“The name’s Temor. I wanted to enquire about these houses you’ve built,” he said, pointing to the one we stayed in.
It was only then I noticed that Milo had built several others, much more basic stone huts for people a little further away, or I guess they might have had their own earth mage, but it felt familiar.
“Oh, about that, yes, we’ll remove them before we leave today, that won’t be a problem,” Hari said.
“Well, actually, about that!” The man quickly blurted out.
“We wanted to know if they could stay longer, or even permanently actually. We have a lot of travellers here who don’t have a tent, thinking they are close to the city and don’t need it. Having a place for them would be very handy,” Temor asked.
Milo joined in the conversation now. “Unfortunately, these ones won’t be permanent. I make them with pretty weak mana, so even if I were to not bring it down, it wouldn’t last longer than a week. Though, I could reinforce it so you get a few months, and if you want to work out a deal, I could be paid to do a permanent one on our way back to the capital. I’d make it more like your barracks over there.”
Temor’s eyes lit up. “If you could! We don’t have a lot of funds here, but I’m sure we could organise some coin to pay you out of our repair funds. We’re always looking to improve where possible.”
“I tell you what, I’ll give these four I made a couple of months, then for a few silver, I’ll come and make a permanent structure on our return to the capital,” Milo said happily.
Temor held out his hand. “You’ve got a deal.”
It took Milo only about twenty minutes to walk around and reinforce the mana. I could even feel it, like the walls were filled with a liquid stone.
I was actually feeling pretty proud of myself and my ability to sense mana recently. I was certainly getting better. I was distracted by Clacks who gave my finger a peck and a chirp.
“Sorry,” I muttered, pulling out a small fish without thinking.
Soon we were on the road, and I couldn’t help but let a small laugh out as we pulled onto the road and had to wait for several wagons to pass before we could turn on ourselves.
“So much for avoiding all the people early in the morning,” I said to Jen.
She had a slight smirk on her face. “He does this all the time, not realising all the other groups are led by people just like him, who want to make the best of the daylight hours and start early.”
Looking out over the fields, everything looked so lush and green, but the thing that dominated the horizon at this point was the tree. I was fairly sure its canopy was above us now, or very nearly so, and we were not going to arrive at Elarith Vale until late afternoon.
“Has a branch ever fallen on someone?” I asked.
Jen nodded. “Yes, though they usually claim the god has taken them when it happens. Personally, I wouldn’t want to die from a falling branch.”
Something I noticed while we moved towards the tree was it felt as though the mana had shifted. The best way to describe it was it felt warm, like sharing a moment with friends; it was hard to describe.
Looking ahead to where Crisplet was with Milo, I was concerned about the mana hurting him. Pulling the nest up to look inside, I saw Clacks inside like a puffed-up ball after she had finished eating her fish.
“Clacks, how are you feeling?” I asked.
All I got was a soft chirp back before she closed her eyes again, so I figured that was a good sign.
I took the fish bone out of her nest so it didn’t end up getting thrown at some official when we arrived and turned into some giant issue.
Amusingly, after having so many wagons scared to pass us prior and needing to pull over before they would, it seemed this close to the city any fear of going around us was gone. It was likely due to the much larger road, but we had several wagons happily move past us, hugging the far side of the road.
All of them were staring at us as they moved, while all the merchants were happily sitting in the open. This was probably like the Troy situation where they wanted the notoriety.
Milo, likely overhearing me, dropped back, “How is Clacks? Still no issues?”
“No, doesn’t appear to be. She’s asleep now and just ate,” I explained.
Milo nodded, “The mana has shifted now. I’m not sure if you feel that, so if there is going to be any discomfort, it would be now. Crisplet said he’s fine.”
“I haven’t seen any Grumfel, though I suspect it’s because all the plants here are too high,” I laughed.
“If you develop that mana sense, you could spot the ones that are close to you, but there are less, but there certainly are some,” Milo said.
It was early afternoon that I got my first proper fear that our entry to Elarith Vale wasn’t going to be as seamless as I’d hoped.
On the road ahead of the caravan sat a man wearing a finely appointed green robe along with a single guard. The guard didn’t look anything special; from what I could see, it looked like hardened leather armour, a small shield, and a sword.
Jen, having spotted them as well, commented, “Priest from the temple by the looks of it.”
Liane had the glassy look come over her eyes that I’d started noticing as her using decoy.
I also couldn’t help but notice Luis was nowhere to be seen right now. At some point, he’d faded away as well, though I really had no idea when.
Seeing the man approach Hari, the caravan came to a halt. From the back here, he didn’t look hostile or angry. The guard was just staring open-mouthed at Gilain and Crisplet and didn’t have his hand anywhere near his weapon, so perhaps it was nothing.
I regretted thinking those words instantly as Liane appeared back on her horse.
“A priest from the temple has come to deliver an invitation to Lord Ashmoon, from the head priest in the Temple of Life. Apparently, he received a feeling or something that you were coming and needed to meet each other,” Liane said.
“What, right now?” is all I got out.
I never got a response. Hari called from the front, “Trevor! Mind coming here for a moment?”