A Winter's Tale part 2

There is a rush to bar the doors and windows as I take a deep breath and look around. It doesn’t take me long to notice that Talion is missing, and I curse under my breath. Maybe he was a double agent after all, and his exile was a cover story? I shake my head at this thought. Father would’ve known on some level. I take another look around at who is in the alehouse, hoping that the civilians were able to escape. Luckily, there’s only a handful of people who stuck around, not counting those of us who were fighting in the square The air is thick in anxiety and the sound of tables and chairs being propped up against openings. Nobody says anything for what feels like a lifetime.

	“Soona, you’re pretty calm about this, seen something like this before?” The barkeeper addresses the woman with the glave. The looks on their faces remind me of the look my father has when he gets serious, and I pay close attention to their conversation.

	“Bandit raids aren’t uncommon in the south.” Came her reply, shifting her glaive from one hand to the other.

“Aye, but these aren’t bandits we’re dealing with.” The Bartender was quick to respond, shifting a glance towards me before muffled voices shifted all of our attention. One of the men barring the door called for help and removed the fortifications to allow a group to come inside. A woman with two children, a boy and a girl, cautiously walk inside. I notice quickly that the woman is their mother, all of them with brown hair and similar facial features. Another woman follows behind them, though her hair is a darker brown. Her hazel eyes briefly lock with mine, but she also pushes inside as Talion enters the alehouse. A part of me sighs is relief to see that he had rescued a couple citizens, but that relief is quickly pushed away as the bartender points at Talion and says, “They’re Cantorian.”

	The room goes silent for a heartbeat as everyone turns to look at Talion. “I do have a story, but it has nothing to do with this attack.” He seems unfazed by the implied accusation, his face steady on the task ahead. “Innkeeper, you know this place, do you know a way out?”

	The Innkeeper regards Talion, but seems momentarily satisfied that the male Cantori is looking to defend these people. He turns his gaze away from Talion and to Isla, who had been standing off to the side. “Follow me.” He turns and heads for the kitchen, and we all follow. “In the last war, we built tunnels to ferry goods underneath the city during a siege. We’ve always kept them maintained, hoping not to use them again. Unfortunately, it’s hard to build a tunnel in the middle of the city, so you’ll have to go to the doctor’s place.” Isla seems to nod and walks towards the front of the group. “We’ll hold them off here as best we can while you all escape.” He looks back through the doorway at the other men who are readying their weapons.

	“We can help you fight them-” Talion starts but is instantly cut off.

	“No, I’d rather you see them to safety.” Both men stare at each other for several heartbeats before Talion gives a slight nod. I recognize the respect each men silently give to each other before the silence is broken by the smelly man rummaging through the kitchen stores for some potatoes.

“Lets go.” Talion takes the front as the group exits the alehouse into the burning city. We hesitate for a second before Isla points us towards a direction and the group moves. I allow myself to fall behind to protect our rear and help keep the group at a good pace. Houses burn and bodies litter the streets as Isla directs us to our destination. We are all looking out for any potential survivors but not waiting around long enough to become victims ourselves., though one of the roguish men in dark clothes rummages through some fallen soldiers to find a mace.


We approach an intersection and Isla advises us to go straight, however the sounds of combat draw our attention to the right. The man with the awful smell steps forward to help but is stopped by Soona. I freeze in place, but Talion rushes forwards with smelly man following behind. We’re able to see the soldiers fighting with a couple members of the city guard, but the soldiers kill the guards before Talion and his companion are able to assist. They quickly rush back to us before the soldiers notice and we push on. We follow Isla Another block or two before she turns a corner and lets out a horrifying scream. She rushes back behind us as those of us with weapons round the corner.

	“Talion! That’s a face I thought I’d never see again. You’re a little far north for someone in exile.” A regiment of soldiers block our path, a row of eight archers stood with their bows drawn and pointed at us about 30 feet away. Behind them was a row of eight swordsmen, their weapons drawn, as they look prepared to charge. In front of both rows was a man who definitely carried a commanding rank in the Cantori military. I stepped between them and our charges, prepared to close the distance when Talion walked forward.

“You’re awfully far south from the north. Let them pass, take me instead” Talion extruded confidence as he took a step forward. I stepped with him but remained a half step behind, not sure if he thought we couldn’t take out these soldiers or if he was attempting to find a way out with minimal blood shed. I could hear the archers in our group take aim at the opposition. I readied myself to spring at the slightest hint of deception, but allowed Talion the room to talk us out of this situation.”

	“You think you’re that important?” The man’s smug look almost made me throw up. Whoever he was, I’m sure Father made his life hell if he ever served with him. I would’ve delighted in charging him and removing his head from his shoulders, but given Talion’s...rapport with this fuck face, I knew my focus was going to be on thinning the herd.

	“I am to you.” Talion’s serious features as he took another step made me believe he had a plan, though a small part of me didn’t trust it.

	“Let’s make a deal.” The commander flourished. The tension in the air was thick as both sides stared at each other, waiting for a false move to spring on the offending group. “You put your weapons down, and we will take you north to be back with your family.” Without hesitation, Talion lowers his weapon to the ground and raises his hands. A million thoughts run through my mind as I grip my blades tighter. I can feel the look of disgust on my face as I stare at the side of Talion’s head. He’s absolutely lost his mind. “Pits could use more fighters, mines could use more workers, brothels could use more whores” I clench my teeth and prepare to charge when Talion takes another step forward, with the smelly man close behind.

“Why the savagery? Is this what things have come to?” Talion seems unwavering, even in the face of all these insults. Either he has the patience of Errol, or exile has clouded his judgement in a real fight.

“Obeying orders? Following directions is savagery?” He lets out an audible noise. “I was hoping exile would fix that arrogance...FIRE!”

	My body is already in motion before the signal is given. I cartwheel forward to throw off the aim of the archers as they loose their arrows, several bolts flying past me in the air. I register a series of sounds as the party takes action to either return fire or attempt to dodge the arrows as their commander slips behind the line of soldiers. The smelly guy, the tall bald man, and I rush into the lines and I’m able to snake in between a pair of archers and a pair of swordsmen, slashing my swords through an archer on the way in. The tall man’s attack is dodged by a soldier, and the smelly man easily parries an attack and unbalances the soldier. I see a blade headed for me and move out of the way, and one of our archers looses another arrow into the chest of an enemy. The smelly man smashes an enemy in the head with his quarterstaff, and the tall man misses with a slash of his sword but smacks his opponent in the head with the pommel.

In the mele I’m able to hit a glancing blow on the swordsman who attacked me, and Talion and Soona rush towards the commander. The tall bald man blocks another attack with his shield. As Talion runs up to the commander, he is attacked but Talion’s flinch reaction is too slow to block the blade. The smelly man, however, has his quarterstaff in just the right position to knock the blade away from Talion. I notice that an arrow did strike Talion in the chest and that he seemed a little shocked by the seeping wound. He refocuses with a slight nod to the smelly man and returns his focus to the commander. One of the swordsmen run past me and I’m unable to gain his attention, hoping that the three men behind me are able to take care of him before he reaches the civilians.

My opponent sees me momentarily distracted and is able to slash me on my arm. The smelly guy and Soona both land incapacitating blows on soldiers, but Talion takes a hit from the commander before parrying his next attack. The tall bald man rushes the commander and swings his spear but the commander is able to move out of the way. My next attack is somewhat slowed by my injury, and I’m yet again unable to get a deadly hit on my opponent. Talion’s swing is too close to the commander and he is able to block the attack with his elbow. My opponent attempts to take advantage of an opening but I knock his blade aside and position myself to take advantage of his momentum, slashing at a soft spot in his armor. My opponent falls to the ground and I’m able to take stock of the battlefield.

The archer and both shadowy guys have dealt with the soldier who broke towards the civilians, while the tall man is able to turn aside all of the attacks directed at him. I’m somewhat taken aback at the combat prowess of our little group as they’re able to block and parry attacks from the soldiers and commander with some ease. Even Talion’s wound, after initially slowing him down, seems to be bothering him less now that combat focus has taken over. Another flurry of blades see more soldiers fall, but the tall bald man drives his spear through the commander. He is able to lift the commander up and charges at a nearby wall, striking it with the tip of his spear and pinning the commander. I look around for any other combatants but see that they have either been dealt with or had run off, and rush over to meet with the rest of the group

Isla looks over Talion’s wounds, temporarily patching him up. I note that we don’t have time to wait around and we continue on. The tall man attempts to bring the commander with us on his spear but the commander slumps off in a heap on the ground. We arrive at the house and Isla leads us to a cellar and a hidden door with a ladder. I notice the tall man shaking and check on him, but he assures me that it happens all the time. The smelly man is looking for medical supplies and we go to help but it soon becomes clear that the place has been cleaned out. He also offers to head down first to check if the coast is clear and as he moves out of sight we hear him scream. The dark brown haired woman says that the Cantorian should go next and I agree, brandishing my sword as I make my way down. I get to the bottom and see nothing but the smelly man laughing and call back to the rest of the group to make their way down.

I grab my traveling gear from Isla and we walk for a little while in silence. Part of me is perfectly content to remain anonymous, but another part of me is annoyed by the fact that I have fought two battles with these people and outside of Talion, I don’t know anyone’s name. My father always said that in order to find people to trust, I must be willing to give it to them first. Deciding that it’s clear that any potential cover I would’ve had is far gone, I speak up and ask for everyone’s name.

The tall bald man introduces himself as Winterborne, and that he’s the last protector of Ori. That is all Winterborne claims, so as the silence begins to settle I tell everyone my first and last name, and about my story and how I left Cantor. One of the shadowy men asks if it was our people that attacked Alcyine, and I hesitate for a few seconds before saying that they are not my people any more. The archer speaks up and introduces himself as Connor Hawk and that he’s an explorer and that he tries to stay out of trouble. The smelly guy introduces himself as Melcross, or Mel for short, and he doesn’t really care what we call him or about any of what’s going on. The shadowy gentlemen introduce themselves as Ozzy (the one with the daggers) and Nass (the one who picked up the mace, but had been using a bow), but they claim that anything else is none of our business.

	Talion wonders why Ozzy was right behind him at the beginning of the fight, and Ozzy claims that he wasn’t sure if Talion was the enemy, since he is Cantori. I ask Ozzy if he thinks the Freelanders are all innocent or if they have their fair share of bandits and troublemakers, thinking of all the times Father was sent away to deal with minor disputes or when merchants would be attacked before they entered Cantor. Ozzy claimed that he was just being careful but I noted that he seems to have no problems with me even though I was also Cantori. I also noted that hopefully since we have been fighting against what appears to be the military that we had proven that we fight with them in this...whatever this is.

	Our tense moment is broken up by the mother introducing herself and her children. She introduces herself as Diana, and her children as Rikard and Taliyah. The dark brown haired woman introduces herself as Femki, which I note is the name of Isla’s friend. I smile to myself, glad to have been able to keep them together through the siege. Femki goes up to Soona who is using her glaive as a walking stick and asks her who she is. Soona says that she is a fisherman from Eastport, but that seems odd to Femki, but nothing more is brought up about it and we return to the comfort of silence.

Soon we reach a hatch, and Connor volunteers to be the one to go up first. He pops open the hatch and looks around. Not really seeing anything, he climbs back down to tell the group. Ozzy and Nass climb up and out of the hatch, and we all follow suit. When we get up there, they seem to be attempting to blend in with the surrounding forest, though we’re in a clearing and they stick out. Isla climbs up a hill to get a better look at Alcyine, the smoke billowing out in the night sky. The town is a beacon against the horizon, flames licking the tallest towers of the city. Talion sees the destruction and attempts to go back to try to save everyone he can.
“I know it sucks, believe me I want to save as many people as I can too. But going back into town at this point is suicide, and we haven’t done our jobs yet.” I point over to Isla, Femki, Diana, Rikard, and Taliyah. “They need to get to safety, and with an invasion going on we need your fighting skills with us.” I plead to Talion, surprising myself in the process. There have been nights that Father had come home after I was supposed to be asleep and I had listened to him confess his troubles to Mother. One of the things that he constantly sought her wisdom for was the weight on his shoulders when he couldn’t save everyone. Mother knew that Father had to make hard choices, and that attempting to save everyone on missions could be dangerous. I wonder if he would’ve been proud at being able to convince Talion?

We discuss the best course of action for the group. There is some suggestion to head north in an attempt to maybe out maneuver the invasion force, but I knew that the resupply lines would discover us and I didn’t think we’d be able to escape once the main force caught wind of us. I figured our best course of action is to head south out of the range of the advanced scouts who would be looking for survivors. Word of a siege would eventually reach the ears of the leaders of the Free Hills, but it was in Cantor’s best interest to delay that as much as possible.

We traveled for many hours on a road in front of the dense forest. By this time it was well past daybreak, and we were weary from battle and lack of sleep. We sang traveling songs to keep our spirits high and our journey was uneventful. When we finally put enough distance between the group and Alcyine, we traveled into the forest a ways to make camp. The scouts would be looking for people hiding in the woods, but we wanted to use the cover of the canopy to give us enough cover for restful sleep. I looked at my companions and saw the strong desire for sleep, but watches needed to be set up to ensure the safety of the party. Thanks to my father’s training, I was no stranger to long days of heavy travel and fighting, so I offered to be the first watch. Once we agreed on watches and the rest of the group was sound asleep, I took the time to inspect my armor. A few scrapes from the battle but otherwise nothing to be concerned about. The cloth patch in front of my sigil had torn, revealing the twin swords of my family’s sigil. I fish around im my pack until I find the Alcyine patch that I had bought at the festival. I run my thumb over the blue threads of the sigil’s background while I find my sewing supplies. With a thread and needle in hand, I carefully placed the patch over my family crest and got to work.