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After several hours the sun began to set. Thane had recovered the prize from his earlier hunting trip and had enough time to remove the valuable pelt and some of the more useful bones before burning the inedible meat. Kisha went to help at the wayfarers inn as she usually did when the larger merchant caravans came through. But this time, she found herself serving food and mugs of beer and ale to groups of mercenaries rather than the usual merchant clientele. Thane saw Mahs following his father around as he talked with the mercenaries and their leader and Sarah had disappeared to go talk to their teacher Maria.
Once Thane finished with his work he walked through the town. Everybody was on edge with the mercenaries around, and the local farmers avoided eye contact and distanced themselves from both the visitors and Thane. Even though it was over, the entire town had yet to relax.
When Thane reached the wayfarer’s inn, it was half empty. There were no villagers inside, only a trio of women that Thane assumed were part of a merchant caravan, and Castor was sitting with Maria and the three from the mercenary group. He was surprised to see that Lance was not wearing his helmet, and was a bit shocked and slightly nauseated by what he saw. It was not that he had a hideous appearance, quite the opposite. He had shoulder length blonde hair and a handsome, you could even call it a beautiful, face. It was like some knight in shining armor or fairy tale prince had leapt out of some young woman’s story book and was sitting in the corner sipping ale.
Yes, it was definitely nausea, not jealousy at all.
Thane went to talk to Kisha who was behind the serving counter when Castor called out to the two of them. “Thane, Kisha, come sit with us for a moment.” The two of them pulled up chairs and sat next to the table. “Maria and I have done our best to raise you kids since your parents passed on.” He paused for a moment to laugh, “At least I would like to say that, but you two have done a fine job of supporting yourselves for the past few years. I’m just sorry you had to grow up so fast.” Kisha tried to speak up but Castor silenced her by raising his hand motioning for her to stop, “That being said, I think you have outgrown this town, your talents are wasted here. Tomorrow morning Marcus and his mercenaries will be leaving back to their home base, I want you to go with them.”
The two were silent. They had often talked about leaving with the twins, but never really had any plans as to how. They often talked about being traders, adventurers or guards, but never took any action. Thane felt he knew the answer to this question, but he decided to ask anyway. “Why now?” After looking over to Marcus he added, “and why with them?”
“Marcus is an old friend of mine and I trust him. As to why now, I’m sure you noticed already how on edge the town is. You put on quite a show earlier today and the people that live here are simple farmers. Until today they likely thought of you guys as just kids who like to play with swords, but the men you fought today weren’t just an untrained mob. They were soldiers, and you overwhelmed them while you were outnumbered four to one. Even if the townspeople became comfortable around you again, they would still talk. And when the rumors spread, people will come looking for you.” He sighed and leaned back in his chair, “I’m not sure where you found the confidence to start that fight, you never had anything to compare your strength with besides each other.”
They both looked over to the Teacher, Maria. She had been more than happy to tell them how strong they were, and what it meant to be able to cast third circle spells. When Castor followed their gaze he let out a second heavier sigh. “I’m not saying you have to join Marcus’ group, if nothing else he can provide transport and point you in the right direction.”
“I owe him at least that.” Marcus interjected. “Whatever you decide, I will assist you.”
Castor’s children soon joined the table, with Mahs and Sara sitting next to Kisha and Thane. He repeated to them what he told Thane previously. Unlike the previous two, the twins seemed excited at the prospect rather than hesitant.
“So…” Mahs spoke up, “What exactly does your mercenary company do?”
“We take jobs and requests, contracts from free cities mostly. Usually we are contacted and given job details and will look for volunteers or assign people to the task. Bounty hunting, caravan escort, private security, monster hunting, that sort of thing. Anything that needs a blade, magic, or any kind of force to resolve. It is dangerous work, and you lack the freedom of a freelance adventurer, but it is quite well paying and you have the company backing you to make sure you get paid properly. We also have the bonus of having royal backing. That is why we have Lance here as a Kingdom liaison.”
Thane sensed something a bit off so he spoke up, “Why does a mercenary group have Royal backing? What is it that the Kingdom military can’t do itself that it needs mercenaries for? You even have an unusual amount of troops.”
Maria smiled, “I told you he was observant.”
Lance was next to speak up, “I’ll explain it. How much do you know about the situation with the kingdom of Ascalon, our neighbors to the West?”
“Little to nothing, we get some news from travelers passing through, but they usually come to and from the South.”
“As you may know, a little over twenty years ago tensions among the four kingdoms almost broke out into several wars, or one large war depending on your perspective. Peace was brokered, but old hatreds don’t die easily. A few years ago, in order to keep the peace, Reolve and Ascalon created a demilitarized zone running along the border. No fortresses or soldiers within several dozen miles, but there are still people living in this area. The local town militias and a few free cities managed to keep the land safe until recently. Once a few aspiring bandit kings and warlords realized that we could not prepare a military response, they began to organize. While the Council of Lords was debating how to respond, or even if they should respond, the King pulled the funds to hire a merc company. We find volunteers for Marcus and he trains them and leads them in the west. It’s treading a thin line since they are employed by the kingdom, but not part of the military.”
“What if they claim you are breaking the treaty?” Thane asked.
“Then we pull the troops out. By that time it won’t matter. A response would tae news to reach the Ascalonian houses, then the issue would have the issue go through their bureaucracy, a response would be created, the official response would be sent to Reolve, and then the King would have to send a reply. The entire thing would take months. By then the issue would be taken care of.”
Marcus interrupted, “You won’t be needed for that job. I won’t stop you if you want to volunteer, but I think you would be wasted on common soldier work. If you’re confident I would most likely send you on monster and magical beast hunting. There are always a few nasty creatures that cross over from the Silver Wood. Nothing too dangerous, you won’t be hunting any dragons, hells, even the wyverns of The Crowns were hunted to extinction a decade ago.”
Gailwyn spoke next, “I think they understand Captain.” She looked over to Thane and the others, “The four of you are all very talented, as the Captain said, your talents are wasted in this small town. One last thing we can offer is practice and training to help you hone these talents. Since the captain is indebted to your master, we would be more than happy to assist you. As one who has earned her second name from the Attican council, I would be more than happy to assist you with your magic.” She pushed back her chair and stood up. “We should be going now, Captain, before the men start to wonder why you’re taking so long.”
“Right, we will be leaving around noon, and will arrive at the Stone Fox fortress before sundown. You will have some space on a wagon for your things, plus whatever you can pack on a horse. I hope to see you with us tomorrow, and I hope even more that you would consider joining us.” The three mercenaries gave a short bow before retreating from the inn.
Thane just now realized there had been a full mug of cider sitting in front of him the entire time that was growing warm. He picked it up before asking the others, “What do you guys think? What should we do?”
Mahs was the first to reply eagerly, “We join them of course. This is what we have been waiting for. We can join them, make a name for ourselves, and move on. Think of the reputation we can get working for the crown, even as a mercenary. All the times we sat around a bonfire, discussing setting out for adventure, and now a perfect opportunity drops into our lap!”
“I agree” his sister Sara added, “It sounds like a good way to earn money.” She smiled at Thane, “Better than selling pelts anyway. Monster hunting can be quite lucrative. Not only do you get the bounty but we have Thane here to cut them apart to get the valuable bits.”
“You mean dismantling? Or harvesting depending on what exactly you are doing.”
“Yeah that!”
Castor motioned to his children, “You two should get ready to leave then. I’ll stay here for a moment to talk to Thane and Kisha.”
“”Yes Father”” they replied in unison.
Once they were out of the Inn, Castor addressed the two of them, “You can’t blame them for being eager, their position is slightly different from yours. Despite being a year or two older than you guys, they still live with their Father. They don’t have their own place in the world. You two however have already made your own life. You make your own money and provide for yourselves. Since Kisha is coming of age soon, the town has been incessantly talking about when the two of you are getting officially married.”
The cider Thane was drinking made a large spray in front of him and he began coughing the excess liquid out of his lungs. “No we’re- *COUGH* She’s like a sister.” Kisha was stunned as well but remained silent.
Castor laughed, “Feelings can change boy, friends become lovers and lovers become friends, or enemies. In fact, your father and I once loved the same woman, to the point where it almost became a serious fight.”
“Wait, who did-”
“Neither of us won in the end. We wound up marrying different people. The last time we saw her, you were still an infant.” He sighed, “But back to the matter at hand. Whatever you decide to do, whether to join the mercenary company or find something else. You can even remain a simple hunter but you should leave this town, no, you need to leave this town. Maria and I will be leaving soon as well.”
“What? Why?”
“Your father and..us...there are many people that would call us heroes, but heroes make enemies. I’d hoped to tell you the full story one day, and I will when we meet again, but right now we don’t have the time. The short version is that we played a key part in stopping the war two decades ago, but not everyone wanted peace. My brother set us up at this village here to retire, and we hoped nobody would ever find us.”
Maria spoke up, “That plan went to shit the moment the old knight’s mercenaries came into town. There is no way to keep every villager and mercenary from spreading the story. So we have to move on.”
Thane was a bit surprised to hear the usual calm teacher get this irritated but he hid his surprise. “Kisha, think it over. I think we should go with them. If we join the company we can stay with Mahs and Sara, but you may end up fighting humans again.”
After a bit of idle chat Thane and Kisha prepared to leave, but Castor stopped him, “Go ahead Kisha, I still need to have the conversation with Thane that I promised him.” He steepled his fingers and looked at the boy as Kisha left. “I’m going to make this quick. I’m not going to tell you to never use it again, but I will tell you to be cautious and control your emotions. Do you even know what you looked like today?”
“What I looked like?”
“The mana you absorbed today was not aether. Your anger pierced right through the aetheric wall and drew mana from...somewhere else. My guess is it was chthonic. It altered your appearance slightly. Reddened your hair and eyes, darkened your skin slightly. In other words, you pulled a bit of the demonic realm into your body just so you could teach some thugs a lesson.” he paused for a moment to watch Thane’s reaction, he was silent and pondering what he just heard. “We’ve never told you this before, but that technique is not unique to you and your father. Your father once told us it was a forbidden technique.”
“Before you ask, neither Maria or I know why it is forbidden or what the worst is that could happen. I will tell you that as far as I know, only two people have ever survived that technique. You and your father. He more or less mastered it and could use it briefly without damaging himself. Whatever sort of constitution let him survive and use the technique seems to have passed on to you.” He placed his hand on Thane’s shoulder. “You are your father’s son, your relation to him is both a blessing and curse. Like I mentioned before, he made some friends and enemies, don’t mention his name lightly.”
Maria gave a small laugh. “His father? What about his mother? Could you imagine what a stir it would cause if they knew he was the son of Aille of the Masque?”
“Don’t mention any of us lightly. We traveled the world and made many friends and enemies. Mentioning us idly could help or harm you, so be careful. Or better yet, be your own person without using the weight of names.”
Thane parted with Castor and began to head home. It was all happening so fast. Up until today, the most consequential decisions he had to make was if he should hunt for meat or fish. The most dangerous thing he had encountered was a wild boar. Today he fought a group of armed thugs that would have killed him had he made a single mistake, and would be making a decision that could affect everything in the foreseeable future. To make things worse, he was now concerned about the voice he heard during the fight. At first he assumed it was his own inner thoughts, but if he really pulled demonic mana into his body, it could have been something else.
He let out a heavy sigh and looked up at the sky. The sun was completely down now and the stars were shining brightly.
I guess I’d better pack things up.
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