Chapter 20: Devil's deal
In the morning, as everyone was eating breakfast, Daniel told his friends about last night's encounter. His best friend was wearing the bare minimum, just his boxers and a white T-shirt. Meanwhile, the fit woman was in a creamy towel that she used to wrap herself after her quick shower. Jacob had an eyebrow raised the whole time, thinking that his best friend may have had some really weird nightmares. On the other hand, Abby looked more concerned and her frowning face made her look like she was doubting him, with her half moon glasses making her look more attractive to Dan's eyes. When he was done explaining, the kitchen was silent.
"What do you think? Am I imagining things?" Daniel asked, feeling the gazes penetrating him and judging him.
Jacob sipped his cup of coffee and was about to say something but Abby was faster. The man didn't mind the girl talking in his stead.
"I had a similar dream last night, a green woman came to me and proposed that I'd work for her in exchange for my wildest desire. Obviously, I refused." Abby bragged, shrugging as if it was no big deal though something betrayed her confidence.
Yet another awkward silence happened, this time interrupted by the toaster which finished grilling the bread.
"Well, looks like you're dreaming of weird shit. Should I book a therapist for you both?" Jack jokingly declared, glancing at his cousin.
The other two ironically laughed while giving him a bad look, Daniel took the toast for himself and proposed the other slice to Abby who politely declined with a small wave of the hand.
"Look, I know we've been through some weird stuff recently, but to the point of inventing some kind of astral entity…" Jacob continued after getting his toast then began buttering it.
Abby had gotten up and was near the coffee machine, she shrugged again while filling her cup with coffee after proposing it to the other two. The boys shook their head as a no, their answer didn't bother her either.
"Dude, if I was allowed to, I'd show you all the weird shit that I know." Abby declared over the buzzing sounds of the machine pouring coffee.
"I don't want to see your collection of freaky porn." Jacob replied with a giggle.
Daniel, who was already daydreaming, wondered what would be freaky for Abby but he put a hand on her shoulder to prevent her from throwing his toast in the face of the buff man in underwear. Instead of teasing the girl, he decided to side with her while also retrieving his own food.
"Bro, if Abby saw it too, there's a chance that it was real. Maybe there's something you can tell us about the green woman?" Dan said before asking Abby.
The woman annoyedly sighed and went to her room to fetch her PC, she displayed an image from a folder titled PUBLIC, right under another one named NOt PrON. The black and white picture was of some kind of woman in a grey suit with her face blurred out as if something tried to erase the head. The person was sitting behind an empty desk with her hands and legs crossed, giving off an aura of supreme authority. Despite that, she looked pretty average with a tan that would rival Abby's exotic charm though the only bits of skin in display were her neck and hands. Jacob noticed that it wasn't an average office chair but an old looking one that she was sitting on and chuckled at the idea of giving such cheap chair to an employee. The whole decoration in the room gave off an air of freshly opened business from the early twentieth century.
"This woman is calling herself Miss Brown or B for the close friends, her first name varies depending on the country, it's a known fact that she's the big boss of her company that branches out in many sector, from pharmaceutical productions to firearms distribution." Abby explained, showing pictures of the different business to the guys.
The guys easily noticed that some pictures were from different times, the first ones where in black and white, then some were discoloured. The quality of the images seemed to improve after a while, showing recent companies that looked more modern with their minimalist design.
"On a regular basis, files about her own existence disappear from the Internet wether it's a rival company's doing or her own that does it, we aren't sure. There are various reports on her physical appearance, some say that she looks young other say that she's old, from teenager to grandmother.
Abby clicked on a subfolder where there were hand drawn pictures of the elusive woman, mostly stained by ink, bloods and smudges. Jacob felt like he recognised one of the young portraits from one of many hookups, but seeing the older faces made him give up on the idea of ever having had sex with such woman. As for Daniel, he was more fascinated by Abby's resources and the fact that the pictures made it look like those were drawn at different stages of the businesswoman's life, if only those didn’t put such an emphasis on her bright green eyes, which were hypnotising the more he stared at them.
"But there is one recurrent thing, the colour green." Abby explained with a serious expression, meeting the bright blue eyes of Daniel by the way.
Jacob whistled at the picture, approving of the dress code from the first image of the woman in her grey suit. His reaction intrigued his friends who turned to him, waiting for an explanation.
"That's a lot of stitches on her dress, I can see that's some expensive fabrics. She's got good tastes at the very least." The man said, looking closely at the screen. "Too bad she has a shitty old chair."
Abby groaned at the remark, Daniel felt a bit useless as he couldn't add anything that could help. His eyes wandered around the room, then he remembered that maybe the redhead Amy knew something about her own boss, feeling like he needed to do something, he dialled her number. It rang a few times before the person picked up with a few static sounds.
"Can't believe there's actually a signal out here. Who dis?" Amy declared, being relieved while sounding worried at the same time.
"Daniel Tonq, we… talked before?" He hesitated, looking at his friends.
He remembered that he actually got her number because Jacob was deleting those of his flings but didn't want to be taken aback if one of them tried to call him for some reason, so Dan ended up with a notebook filled with all the phone numbers and the names of the girls Jack had slept with. He realised that he might pass as someone creepy for not getting her number by herself.
"Thick D? How did you… never mind. Lemme guess. Want another threesome with your big friend? I'll have to disappoint you because I'm kind of abroad." The girl explained before grunting and making sounds as if she was doing some physical activities though the moans made him blush. "Wait, don't you have like a girlfriend from the Argo? Why are you calling me? Just so you know, I'm not a home wrecker, or anything."
Abby, who had been quietly listening, took the phone from Daniel's hand before he could do anything. All of this under the amused look of Jacob who was still remembering Amy's body and trying to not get an erection, especially because in front of him was his cousin.
"I'm not his girlfriend, bitch!" She angrily exclaimed, wishing that she could strangle the ginger.
Daniel quickly took back his belonging while shooting Abby an annoyed look, who pulled out her tongue in return.
"Right, well, why are you calling me then? I'm a bit busy." Amy replied, annoyed and still making weird noises with her mouth.
"You work for the Order, right? What can you tell me about it?" Daniel managed to ask after getting rid of his fear of sounding creepy.
"Feeling like working with the good guys, huh? What do you want to know that the Argo doesn't? Be quick though, we'll talk compensation later."
Daniel looked at Abby who wasn't sure of what his intentions were, as she was too concerned with the fact that he was calling some of the rival company and it didn't help that she caught him with his dick deep in Amy's ass the other morning. Jacob, in the meantime, suppressed his memories of Amy as she did left an impression on him during their intercourses, but now his erection was under control.
"What can you tell me about your boss Brown? I think some instance visited me last night."
The man waited for the answer, he only heard groans and angry distant hissing noises for a moment before an out-of-breath Amy came back on the phone, panting heavily.
"Back! Brown? Never met her personally. Only dealt with one of her doubles. Gal is pretty reserved. Slightly out of touch. And can be straightforward when need be. Don't know about the real deal. Anything else?" She hurriedly told, breathing loudly between each sentences.
"What would happen if I, hypothetically, pissed her off?"
Amy took a deep breath and managed to quickly calm her breathing, swallowing the saliva that was accumulating in her mouth.
"Judging by you talking to me, you didn't do that. It's simple, you get very hurt and eventually die when she feels like it." She replied with a cackle. "If you want more info, how about working for the Order? I have to go now. If you or your buddy want to hook up, I'll be back in the US in a couple of days if I can get out of the quagmire I got myself into. Hell, even your not-girlfriend is invited."
It was a bad time for Abby to sip her coffee as she immediately spat it out, to the dismay of Jacob who had to clean it. On the other hand, Daniel laughed and so was Amy.
"Sounds like my prank worked. Right, I'm hanging up. Cya, Thick D." The redhead cheerfully said with a wink that nobody saw over the phone call.
Jacob had quickly cleaned the mess and turned to his best friend with a serious look on his face, clearly annoyed by the situation.
"I'm not going to have sex with her and why did you call Amy, of all people!?" Jacob and Abby protested at the same time, which weirded them out.
"What?" The trio exclaimed, confused by their synchronisation.
After the awkwardness gone, they finished their breakfast quietly while Abby turned on some jazz music on her computer to set up some relaxed mood. Jacob went to his father's office, his relation with his crush seemed to have warmed to a point where she would go out of her way and hang out with him at the coffee machine during breaks. The working Abby was slightly bothered to hand over her Dan who had to be prepared to visit the world of Avila, though she already did her part by sneakily vaccinating Daniel in his sleep, but her superiors wanted him to be strong enough to survive the different environment. To the young man’s dismay, his training started with the muscular agent Sword who had him run on a treadmill for hours without any breaks, thankfully another agent in-training was there so that they could encourage each other. Ivana, the trainer, was taking none of it.
"Oi! Enough chitchat, worms! Less talking and more sweating!" Agent Sword barked, whipping them with her words.
"Cut us some slack, Sword!" The trainee replied, out of breath.
"Shut up, Fox. And you, Blue Boy, pump those legs! They won't be kind with you in the other world."
Daniel earned the nickname of Blue Boy mainly because of Ivana who kept calling him that way, other agents soon imitated her after hearing her rant about a newbie who she had "accidentally" beaten up. Meanwhile, Fox was a pale young man who looked quite frail, he was fresh out of high school and had been recruited by some agents working there. The teenager was clearly not cut for physical exercises, but managed to survive the ordeal. From Dan managed to understand, the fragile boy was more of a linguist, being able to translate a hidden message, written in one the many languages of Avila, that an Argo recruiter put in the school's library.
After what felt like an eternity, the pace of the treadmills slowed down to finally stop, to the reliefs of the trainees who struggled to stand on their two legs. Sword looked pleased, a chronometer in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.
"You managed to surprise me, worms. I thought you'd give up after the first hour, but you managed to keep running for three and a half hour. How do y'all feel?"
"I'm going to throw up my lungs… " Daniel managed to complain.
"Well, drink some water, that'll do. Too bad I'm in possession of the only bottle here." Sword declared, her master plan revealed.
Fox managed to groan in between heavy breath, he had it worse than Daniel as he was collapsed on all fours. Dan stumbled towards Ivana who lightly pushed him backward, he pitifully fell on his ass with a defeated look on his face.
"Oi, is that all? How did Morena even got a liking on you?" The muscular woman disappointedly asked to herself.
Daniel got up with difficulties, however his efforts didn't impress his trainer. After getting in a semblance of a fighting stance, his fists in front of him, Agent Sword raised an eyebrow. Meanwhile, Fox wheezed and collapsed with a loud thud, still breathing to the relief of his coach who decided to check on him just in case. Dan used the distraction to lunge forward with all the strength he had left, managing to get within reaching distance before getting slightly pushed back once more.
"What did you think would happen?" Sword mocked, waving the prize he wanted.
"This?" Daniel replied, holding the bottle in his hand.
The woman's eyes widened before looking at her now empty hand before turning back her attention to Daniel who seemed to be about to collapse from exhaustion. Looking clearly surprised, Ivana's face went through a lot of emotions, from surprise to anger, passing by joy and sadness.
"Looks like I'm getting rusty. Good job, Blue Boy. You earned it. Fox, you'll have to work more on your stamina, though." She declared before turning towards the locker room to get more water for the high schooler.
Dan finally collapsed on the floor after managing to take a sip of the liquid of life.
ely necromancy. Very few had managed to raise the dead and those who could, used it to learn more about how the organs worked, like a vivisection but on a moving cadaver.
"A couple of foreigners named Goghso and Fordo are here, my lord." A guard declared as he stepped into the room.
"Let them in, and make sure nobody else comes to disturb the meeting." Olf replied with a small wave of the hand to dismiss the person.
"As you wish, my lord."
The two foreigners entered soon after that the guard left, one big man who looked more like a modest peasant than someone important, followed by a lightly armoured person who carried a sword on the hip. They saluted him, the mercenary looking individual removed the helmet to reveal a familiar feminine face.
"Greetings, Lord Olf. We managed to finally set up a proper base and we have processed all the informations we managed to gather." Goghso, also known as Marcus Gogh, said before pulling out a parchment.
"Proceed." Olf replied while absentmindedly look at the woman known as Karen Smith, distracted by the craftsmanship of her glasses.
Marcus cleared his throat before speaking while Karen met the lord's gaze, beginning some staring contest with him.
"We decoupled the informations we gathered with the ones you already knew and that are in your archives. An Ahan ship did dock in your harbour two weeks before the siege, its occupants disembarked during the night but were never seen again. Now, the following informations are only rumours but… most have in common that some fighting occurred, wether it was infighting, thugs, or an ambush, some damages were still visible."
"Nothing new, here." Olf declared, bored but maintaining eye contact.
The woman crossed her arms and grunted, her attitude did surprise the lord who wasn't used of such manners in front of him, or at least not from people below his regal status.
"Well, yes. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but the previous counsellor of the Order here arrived around the same time, with clothes, gears and slaves. Ahas slaves. It's either a bad timing or some botched plan. We also heard that an Ahan delegation should arrive here to investigate, should we get involved with them too?" Karen interjected, trying to distract the lord from their intense staring contest.
Olf seemed impressed by the fact that the two foreigners managed to learn that the delegation was expected, he raised his eyebrows before exhaling loudly from the nose.
"I don't really trust those snakes to be of actual use, but if you could observe them, it would be quite beneficial. Anything that I don't already know? I'd like to remind you that I'm employing you to gather good informations, not hearsay."
Marcus was quickly flipping through his notes to answer but Karen was faster, she made a sign to her colleague that she got everything under control, her eyes still locked with the city ruler's. Olf was slightly amused by their display, especially the defiance of the woman no older than him.
"Of course. Well, we do have informations about the Ahas investigation team. They are humans, numbers unknown, but they're accustomed to these lands. Also we have got some leads, but the trail is cold since it happened so long ago, digging into those will require some resources. Thankfully, we encountered some people who worked for the Order too, from what we could get, there's some infighting among themselves." Karen declared, hellbent on winning their impromptu competition.
They actually got this information thanks to their Argo contact who gave them leads on where to investigate.
"Well, that's interesting. What else can you tell me about them?" Olf replied, more fixated on gazing upon the woman's eyes.
"Most of them were human men, the small minority is composed of beast people, two dog-like and one rat-like. No defined type of clothing, no defined type of job, no defined status. The only reason we can be sure of their faction is their accent. Though the beast people were passing themselves for slaves." Karen reported, having learnt more of the Herik language to keep a long conversation. "The human men were... all referring to someone as, either Mother or Traitor. As for the very few who call the person Mother, they acted pretty fanatical."
One of the interviewed people bit their tongue upon realising that they leaked informations to strangers, the man almost bled to death and was sent to a doctor.
"Erem or Raitr? Their leader is supposed to be referred as Lester, nothing in common. The Order does sound in turmoil. Keep investigating." Olf declared before standing up, resigning to win the staring contest with the blonde woman who nodded at him as some kind of acknowledgment for his efforts.
The lord walked to a chest sitting behind his throne and took out a silver necklace that he handed to Marcus who looked at him confused.
"This is a token of my trust, present it to the royal scribe and he'll give you your citizenship. That way you'll be able to start your workshop. Keep doing a good job and I'll grant you a small bit of land." The man explained with a serious look on his face. "Don’t forget to give it back once it's done."
"Thank you, Lord Olf. We'll do our best." The two foreigners replied before being dismissed by a hand gesture.
As they left, Karen looked concerned, getting favours that easily from a medieval lord felt unreal, but not as satisfying as beating the powerful man in a contest of determination. From her knowledge, they would have to give a lot of money or fought in a war to be permitted a plot of land. On the other hand, Marcus was quite pleased, in less than a month, they were able to secure themselves a comfy position, though they still had some logistic troubles. After getting all the hassle done for their citizenship, they headed for their base of operation where Woso was checking for the Nth time the records of birth and family lineage. He was in the old headmaster's room that had been transformed into the archives room.
"Ah, there you are, humans. I received news of the harbour group. Apparently one of our men got caught in a fight with some other slaves and was killed. He only has a brother who's in the tailor district. Thankfully, his parents have passed away during the raids, that should ease the logistics." The Ahan declared while still holding a parchment of birth records. "How was the meeting?"
"That's tragic, we should be more careful, it's the fourth death in two weeks. We don't have unlimited resources." Karen grumbled at the Ahan who looked unfazed.
Marcus nodded in approval of his colleague's opinion. Despite being more friendly towards the Ahas, to compensate with Karen's lack of sympathy, the big man was still invested with a mission.
"That's why we should resume the reproduction operation, I let it slide before because we had to regroup and count heads, but now most of the paperwork is done." Woso protested while putting back the papers where they belonged.
Karen glanced around and noticed that the whole room was cleaner than when they left, except for one minor detail, a lone boot badly hidden behind the desk. Meanwhile, Marcus was too distracted by thinking about their new citizenship that he didn’t notice anything.
"Are you that horny?" Karen bluntly asked, surprising both men.
"I don't understand the last word." Woso slowly replied, as if he was talking to a child, though the last bit sounded familiar for some reason.
Marcus, who was more knowledgable on the Ahas tongue, decided to translate it, to Karen's annoyance of being out bested by him, as she ground her teeth while the man was translating and explaining in details the implications of the word. Woso laughed at the end before sitting at the edge of the desk, and with a grin of disdain, he said:
"I'm not into human women, if that's what you want to know."
Karen groaned while Marcus chuckled at the misunderstanding.
"No! Never mind! And besides, having more people means more mouths to feed and more places to house them. I can barely tolerate when my nephews are visiting, so having toddlers is out of the question." Karen reacted, she was letting out her English accent making it more difficult to understand as she got more irritated.
Her patience was running short as she was beginning to get homesick and wasn't too fond of such low living conditions, especially the lack of running water. Her colleague seemed to be better at handling the lack of basic sanitation, finding that washing himself with a bucket of water was good enough.
"You humans may copulate less than us, but we still have that need. I'm fine, but I caught some of our youngest one going at it not long ago." Woso explained, glancing at the boot he failed to hide. "Going to the brothel is a no go, and if we openly allow them to have sex, it'll become a logistical nightmare."
"Can't they just use contraceptives or something?" Karen proposed, while being visibly bothered by the conversation.
"Well, there are other ways of satisfying one's sexual need without impregnation. Do you have a menstrual periods? What about using other orifices?" Marcus hesitantly asked.
The last question clearly horrified Woso whose face went pale and eyes widened. His look of utmost disgust felt weird for the two humans who thought that very little could create such reaction to people living in the middle age, even less for a race centred about reproduction. Karen walled herself in silence.
"What in Masague are you talking about?! Don't tell me you're one of those degenerates that fucks anything with a hole! You disgust me!" The Ahan exclaimed, trying to not throw up at the idea.
"Well… I mean… you don't have to put it in the ass?" Marcus hesitated, struggling to hold a giggle from his unintentional pun. "What about… you know?"
Woso's disgust grew even more.
"No! Sex is with the genitals, nothing else! What do you think we are, animals?!"
His reaction was obliviously not taken well by the other two who shared a look of concern, they were aware that the mentalities were different, some races were more extreme in their beliefs, but it was still shocking for them. Karen gasped and Marcus grunted in disproval.
Woso and most infiltrated Ahas were yet to be educated about their own sexuality. Thankfully, some people who worked at the breeding district were there to guide them.
"Let's forget about this and look for an alternative. So, about our meeting with the lord, we got more backing from him. We'll get a more legit business running, so we'll be able to transfer one of our teams there. If everything goes well, we might resume your breeding program." Karen reported after getting over the culture shock.
"Some good news. I'll notify the rest of the teams, anything else?"
"We'll have a meeting tonight, gather the team leaders instead. We'll decide on the next course of action of the following weeks and ask for your input. Until the reinforcements arrive, we'll have to rely on ourselves." The big man decided as he read in his colleague's mind.
His action didn’t bother the woman who proceeded in giving more detail. As he could see that Karen was taking care of the organisation, Marcus knew that he wasn't needed anymore and decided to check on the other Ahas occupying the abandoned orphanage. The gentle man actually got along with some of them, mainly those who were more experienced in life, meaning any of those who were born before the siege of Premer and whose hatred for the other races were under control. For some reason, he got close to a male Ahan who used to be a battlefield doctor.
"Greetings, human. Do you need more information about Ahas biology? Or do you have more to tell about human anatomy?" The Ahas said with a note book in his hands.
"A couple of foreigners named Goghso and Fordo are here, my lord." A guard declared as he stepped into the room.
"Let them in, and make sure nobody else comes to disturb the meeting." Olf replied with a small wave of the hand to dismiss the person.
"As you wish, my lord."
The two foreigners entered soon after that the guard left, one big man who looked more like a modest peasant than someone important, followed by a lightly armoured person who carried a sword on the hip. They saluted him, the mercenary looking individual removed the helmet to reveal a familiar feminine face.
"Greetings, Lord Olf. We managed to finally set up a proper base and we have processed all the informations we managed to gather." Goghso, also known as Marcus Gogh, said before pulling out a parchment.
"Proceed." Olf replied while absentmindedly look at the woman known as Karen Smith, distracted by the craftsmanship of her glasses.
Marcus cleared his throat before speaking while Karen met the lord's gaze, beginning some staring contest with him.
"We decoupled the informations we gathered with the ones you already knew and that are in your archives. An Ahan ship did dock in your harbour two weeks before the siege, its occupants disembarked during the night but were never seen again. Now, the following informations are only rumours but… most have in common that some fighting occurred, wether it was infighting, thugs, or an ambush, some damages were still visible."
"Nothing new, here." Olf declared, bored but maintaining eye contact.
The woman crossed her arms and grunted, her attitude did surprise the lord who wasn't used of such manners in front of him, or at least not from people below his regal status.
"Well, yes. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but the previous counsellor of the Order here arrived around the same time, with clothes, gears and slaves. Ahas slaves. It's either a bad timing or some botched plan. We also heard that an Ahan delegation should arrive here to investigate, should we get involved with them too?" Karen interjected, trying to distract the lord from their intense staring contest.
Olf seemed impressed by the fact that the two foreigners managed to learn that the delegation was expected, he raised his eyebrows before exhaling loudly from the nose.
"I don't really trust those snakes to be of actual use, but if you could observe them, it would be quite beneficial. Anything that I don't already know? I'd like to remind you that I'm employing you to gather good informations, not hearsay."
Marcus was quickly flipping through his notes to answer but Karen was faster, she made a sign to her colleague that she got everything under control, her eyes still locked with the city ruler's. Olf was slightly amused by their display, especially the defiance of the woman no older than him.
"Of course. Well, we do have informations about the Ahas investigation team. They are humans, numbers unknown, but they're accustomed to these lands. Also we have got some leads, but the trail is cold since it happened so long ago, digging into those will require some resources. Thankfully, we encountered some people who worked for the Order too, from what we could get, there's some infighting among themselves." Karen declared, hellbent on winning their impromptu competition.
They actually got this information thanks to their Argo contact who gave them leads on where to investigate.
"Well, that's interesting. What else can you tell me about them?" Olf replied, more fixated on gazing upon the woman's eyes.
"Most of them were human men, the small minority is composed of beast people, two dog-like and one rat-like. No defined type of clothing, no defined type of job, no defined status. The only reason we can be sure of their faction is their accent. Though the beast people were passing themselves for slaves." Karen reported, having learnt more of the Herik language to keep a long conversation. "The human men were... all referring to someone as, either Mother or Traitor. As for the very few who call the person Mother, they acted pretty fanatical."
One of the interviewed people bit their tongue upon realising that they leaked informations to strangers, the man almost bled to death and was sent to a doctor.
"Erem or Raitr? Their leader is supposed to be referred as Lester, nothing in common. The Order does sound in turmoil. Keep investigating." Olf declared before standing up, resigning to win the staring contest with the blonde woman who nodded at him as some kind of acknowledgment for his efforts.
The lord walked to a chest sitting behind his throne and took out a silver necklace that he handed to Marcus who looked at him confused.
"This is a token of my trust, present it to the royal scribe and he'll give you your citizenship. That way you'll be able to start your workshop. Keep doing a good job and I'll grant you a small bit of land." The man explained with a serious look on his face. "Don’t forget to give it back once it's done."
"Thank you, Lord Olf. We'll do our best." The two foreigners replied before being dismissed by a hand gesture.
As they left, Karen looked concerned, getting favours that easily from a medieval lord felt unreal, but not as satisfying as beating the powerful man in a contest of determination. From her knowledge, they would have to give a lot of money or fought in a war to be permitted a plot of land. On the other hand, Marcus was quite pleased, in less than a month, they were able to secure themselves a comfy position, though they still had some logistic troubles. After getting all the hassle done for their citizenship, they headed for their base of operation where Woso was checking for the Nth time the records of birth and family lineage. He was in the old headmaster's room that had been transformed into the archives room.
"Ah, there you are, humans. I received news of the harbour group. Apparently one of our men got caught in a fight with some other slaves and was killed. He only has a brother who's in the tailor district. Thankfully, his parents have passed away during the raids, that should ease the logistics." The Ahan declared while still holding a parchment of birth records. "How was the meeting?"
"That's tragic, we should be more careful, it's the fourth death in two weeks. We don't have unlimited resources." Karen grumbled at the Ahan who looked unfazed.
Marcus nodded in approval of his colleague's opinion. Despite being more friendly towards the Ahas, to compensate with Karen's lack of sympathy, the big man was still invested with a mission.
"That's why we should resume the reproduction operation, I let it slide before because we had to regroup and count heads, but now most of the paperwork is done." Woso protested while putting back the papers where they belonged.
Karen glanced around and noticed that the whole room was cleaner than when they left, except for one minor detail, a lone boot badly hidden behind the desk. Meanwhile, Marcus was too distracted by thinking about their new citizenship that he didn’t notice anything.
"Are you that horny?" Karen bluntly asked, surprising both men.
"I don't understand the last word." Woso slowly replied, as if he was talking to a child, though the last bit sounded familiar for some reason.
Marcus, who was more knowledgable on the Ahas tongue, decided to translate it, to Karen's annoyance of being out bested by him, as she ground her teeth while the man was translating and explaining in details the implications of the word. Woso laughed at the end before sitting at the edge of the desk, and with a grin of disdain, he said:
"I'm not into human women, if that's what you want to know."
Karen groaned while Marcus chuckled at the misunderstanding.
"No! Never mind! And besides, having more people means more mouths to feed and more places to house them. I can barely tolerate when my nephews are visiting, so having toddlers is out of the question." Karen reacted, she was letting out her English accent making it more difficult to understand as she got more irritated.
Her patience was running short as she was beginning to get homesick and wasn't too fond of such low living conditions, especially the lack of running water. Her colleague seemed to be better at handling the lack of basic sanitation, finding that washing himself with a bucket of water was good enough.
"You humans may copulate less than us, but we still have that need. I'm fine, but I caught some of our youngest one going at it not long ago." Woso explained, glancing at the boot he failed to hide. "Going to the brothel is a no go, and if we openly allow them to have sex, it'll become a logistical nightmare."
"Can't they just use contraceptives or something?" Karen proposed, while being visibly bothered by the conversation.
"Well, there are other ways of satisfying one's sexual need without impregnation. Do you have a menstrual periods? What about using other orifices?" Marcus hesitantly asked.
The last question clearly horrified Woso whose face went pale and eyes widened. His look of utmost disgust felt weird for the two humans who thought that very little could create such reaction to people living in the middle age, even less for a race centred about reproduction. Karen walled herself in silence.
"What in Masague are you talking about?! Don't tell me you're one of those degenerates that fucks anything with a hole! You disgust me!" The Ahan exclaimed, trying to not throw up at the idea.
"Well… I mean… you don't have to put it in the ass?" Marcus hesitated, struggling to hold a giggle from his unintentional pun. "What about… you know?"
Woso's disgust grew even more.
"No! Sex is with the genitals, nothing else! What do you think we are, animals?!"
His reaction was obliviously not taken well by the other two who shared a look of concern, they were aware that the mentalities were different, some races were more extreme in their beliefs, but it was still shocking for them. Karen gasped and Marcus grunted in disproval.
Woso and most infiltrated Ahas were yet to be educated about their own sexuality. Thankfully, some people who worked at the breeding district were there to guide them.
"Let's forget about this and look for an alternative. So, about our meeting with the lord, we got more backing from him. We'll get a more legit business running, so we'll be able to transfer one of our teams there. If everything goes well, we might resume your breeding program." Karen reported after getting over the culture shock.
"Some good news. I'll notify the rest of the teams, anything else?"
"We'll have a meeting tonight, gather the team leaders instead. We'll decide on the next course of action of the following weeks and ask for your input. Until the reinforcements arrive, we'll have to rely on ourselves." The big man decided as he read in his colleague's mind.
His action didn’t bother the woman who proceeded in giving more detail. As he could see that Karen was taking care of the organisation, Marcus knew that he wasn't needed anymore and decided to check on the other Ahas occupying the abandoned orphanage. The gentle man actually got along with some of them, mainly those who were more experienced in life, meaning any of those who were born before the siege of Premer and whose hatred for the other races were under control. For some reason, he got close to a male Ahan who used to be a battlefield doctor.
"Greetings, human. Do you need more information about Ahas biology? Or do you have more to tell about human anatomy?" The Ahas said with a note book in his hands.
Chapter 22: menace
It was time for a change, Daniel had some free time after his training session, and with his security clearance, he managed to get access to some useful information on his future mission. Having heard that he'd finally visit Abby's workplace that was supposed to be in a third world country, he decided to learn as much as possible from it so that he wouldn't be a deadweight for her. His first priority was to learn the local language, he said that to the archivist who gave him a perplexed look.
"Blue boy, it's another world, you'll have to be more specific." The archivist explained with his palm on his face.
The person was a broad man who could easily flip over a car, though his strength was hidden under a shirt that was a few size bigger than it should have been. Despite his imposing frame, he spoke with a small accent of unknown African origin.
"Um… what's the Heri kingdom's language?"
The black man seemed pleased with the slightly more precise question.
"We noted three languages, with some variations depending on the regions. The central one is the Her. The one for the remote mountainous dialect is called the Koart. The coastal regions speak Meeri, it's pretty easy to learn and most merchants use this one when visiting Heri. Have you learnt Shashari yet? The Ahas we work with, are more centralised, so knowing this one is as important as the other."
"So… the port of Pre would be using the Meeri, right?"
Judging that the new guy wasn’t as stupid as the first impression gave off, the archivist pretended to shoot him with his finger-gun.
"Exactly, Blue boy. Don't worry too much about the alphabet, we have translated every major language on Avila and the literacy there isn't great. As for the pronunciation, they have the phonetic alphabet with them. If you need help, there's an anthropologist who can teach you how to speak properly."
"Oh, thanks. Anything else I should know?"
"Well, when you'll be deployed, don't forget to bring condoms and imperishable foods such as salt and sugar. From experience, I'd recommend some tissues and a hand towel, it's pretty hard to get a good shower there."
Daniel made a mental note and went on to find the different language books he needed. After some time, he got his hands on the ones he was looking for, he even found some kind of magic book though he couldn't read it as it was written in what he could guess was either Spanish or Portuguese. The young man tried his best to learn one of the languages but some of the words were hard to remember. Despite what the archivist said, Daniel thought that Meeri wasn't as easy as the worker said.
"How the hell did they even manage to translate all of this?" He said to himself as he was rubbing his temples in frustration.
As his concentration was fading away, he'd remembered some fictions where the protagonists could learn in an instant, that though made him envious. His daydreaming was put to an end when a tall woman standing in front of him, she looked rather intrigued by him, or more specifically his bright blue eyes. Like most women of the Argo that he met, she looked quite healthy though her haircut was quite interesting, being crimson red with thick braids going down to her shoulders.
"You're Blue Boy?" She asked with a thick countryside accent.
Daniel sighed at his nickname before raising his head, finding himself very close to her face. She was clearly looking him deep in the eyes, her pupils were dilated.
"Ya look like a husky! Do you also bark?" She loudly laughed, holding her sides.
Being slightly annoyed for being interrupted, Daniel decided to do something he never did and would probably regret immediately.
"Want me to wag my tail?" He coldly replied as he tilted his head sideway.
The unnamed girl didn't find the answer funny and grope him by the collar, lifting him slightly from his chair.
"Watch your tongue, buddy. Or I'll cut it out and make you eat it." She threatened, still with a thick accent.
Daniel could see her own crazy blue eyes radiating with hostility, then suddenly a glint of malicious intent showed up. For some reason, he had instinctively grope her collar as well, which might have impressed the crimson redhead but she showed her dominance by strengthening her grip.
"Blue Boy, ya got something on your face." She declared as if it was of upmost importance.
He hesitated for moment, trying to figure out if she was bluffing or not. After a short struggle of determination, he gave in to the curiosity.
"What do I have?" He finally asked.
"Ma face!" She yelled with a very pronounced accent from Alabama.
She head butted him, making him recoil in pain while loosing his grip. Daniel responded by cussing which prompted a shush gesture from the violent crazy girl. He was thankful that she didn't break anything but wondered if every women in the Argo were always that violent.
"First lesson, don't believe everyone. Second lesson, my name's Kota Leek and if you ever call me kossa, I'll break yer fingers."
Kota cracked her knuckles to accompany her threat. But Daniel was more and more confused by the situation, he still felt some pain from the sudden attack.
"What?" He asked while rubbing his face.
"You aren't from Scandinavia, are you? Damn Swedes." She monologued.
"What?"
Visibly having a few loose screws in her head, Kota snapped at him with a growl.
"Say what again, motherlover. I dare you, I double dare you." She threatened with her fingers imitating a pistol.
He narrowed his eyes in defiance and uttered the forbidden word. Kota raised her fist and when he thought she was about to punch him, she took his hand to shake it.
"You've got balls, Blue Boy! Farmer had his doubts about you, but now I can see that you have potential. Next time you see Sword, tell her that Kota recommends your enhanced training. You'll thank me later." She spoke with her accent diminished.
"That's cool, I guess? So… " he hesitated.
"Ya need something? That reminds me, you managed to pass Sword's first test and get well with Morena. What's so special about you? You look like my farmer cousin Billy, sadly he died when he tried to mount one of the cows." She said with her heavy accent coming back at irregular intervals.
"And I thought Abby was weird…"
Kota laughed for some reason before gently punching his shoulder. Daniel got a flashback of when Ivana was trying to kill him and he realised that most women in the Argo were crazy in a somewhat violent way. Still, he admitted that most of them were quite pretty and interesting looking, especially the redhead in front of him.
"Right, you're her not-boyfriend! Almost forgot. Tell you what, that bitch is crazy. She broke her last boyfriend's dick while totally-not-having-sex-during-work." Kota giggled while putting the last part in quotation with her fingers. "Rumours say that she managed to get a sleeping agent in the royal army of some Eastern kingdom."
"The Heri Kingdom? I'm going to be sent there in a couple of weeks. Ivana has chosen Abby to come with her, and since I'm her assistant, I'll be tagging along." Daniel explained, surprised by the crimson girl's behaviour.
The crazy red girl looked more menacing with her eyes shooting an evil intent as she bore her teeth with a growl. Despite being distracted by her interesting hair colour, which he found sexy, the young man noticed that something was off with her denture, she had very sharp pointy teeth which were unnaturally white.
"Ya crazy mother lover! I'm from the team of the Koshani kingdom! My guys will be on a diplomatic mission to the Vayran kingdom which means that we'll make a pit stop by one of those harbour! Valia-whatever. Yo, I need to speak with Sword and the brass! See ya around, Blue Boy!" Kota exclaimed before dashing out of the archive room, under the judging look of the archivist who was at his desk near the entrance.
Daniel stared in disbelief as he was trying to process all the information, after a quick investigation, mainly asking to the archivist what the crazy woman said. He got such a long explanation that Dan only remembered that Kota's alias was Fang, she mainly worked in northern kingdoms where she got some magical makeover to better blend in with the population as a demi-human. There was also that she was the daughter of Farmer's ex wife.
"Wait… what's Farmer's position in this company?"
"We work in regions, there are about ten of them. He's responsible for the western coast. What you need to remember is that he's the one calling the shots where you're going."
"That's good to know…"
"Also, here's my number if you need more information, name's Tyler." The archivist said with a wink.
Daniel graciously accepted the number with a smile, he clearly understood the intent.
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." He said, while creating a new contact on his phone. "I'm more into girls, but if you want to hang out, I won't mind."
Tyler reciprocated the smile and returned to his own task. Dan didn't feel uneasy from the ambiguous situation, instead of being bothered by it, he went back to his studying which made him wonder if the two people he interviewed had similar troubles with the languages and if he'd meet them again. He decided to set a goal to achieve by the end of the day and it was to become good with the new languages. Thankfully for him, he realised that some words of Meeri sounded vaguely French, he remembered that his french lessons back at school were somewhat fun. It gave him the idea to translate the Meeri language into French which actually worked, though he still had to learn Shashari. Daniel was glad that some words were the same in both tongues, mainly those about navigation terms.
Hours passed quickly, Tyler interrupted Dan who was still his nose in a book with a sky blue cover. The archivist made it clear that it was getting late and that most of the rooms were about to get closed. Daniel thanked him before quickly exiting the building by the main entrance where Jacob was waiting in his luxury car, another Bentley.
"Abby is busy, so I'll be your taxi. No need to thank me, bro." Jacob laughed when his friend entered the car. "Dude, why do you always look like shit when I come to pick you up?"
"Ha. Ha. Very funny. I got beaten up by Amazons. What about you? You look like someone who didn't have sex for weeks." Dan replied with an obviously fake laugh.
"Hey!" The other protested. "Tonight I ordered some Chinese food since I didn't know when you two would come back."
The driver put on the ignition and left his parking spot.
"Sounds good with me. Say, does the name Kota ring a bell to you?"
Jacob raised an eyebrow to show that he was gauging him.
"I may have slept with lots of girls, but I think I'd have remembered such weird name. Why do you ask? Met another cute red head and wondered if I'd hooked up with her?"
Daniel was clearly taken aback by Jacob's accurate statement, recoiling in the back of his seat.
"How did you know it was a redhead?"
"Back in high school, you had crushes on a lot of redheads. And yet you decided to fuck my cousin who's nothing of a ginger."
Dan gave him a wry look to show that he was a bit annoyed that his friend brought that up again. Still, he could understand why he was still holding that against him, after all, if he had a best friend fucking with a member of his family, it would make things very awkward.
"Anyway… how was work?"
"Well, there was this Spanish company that was interested in buying shares of my dad's company. Marronas, they called themselves. Sounds like a dessert or some shit." Jack ranted while still focussing on the traffic ahead.
"That literally means brown. That's a shitty name for a company."
"Yeah, well Rose seemed to be suspicious about them. Like, she noticed that they had concealed weapons on them, some even had the same tattoos on the back of their necks. By the way, did you know that Rose has got a diamond tattooed on her right arm?"
"Wait… is your dad involved with some kind of cartel? That doesn't sound good." Dan asked, ignoring the trivia about the secretary.
It was time for a change, Daniel had some free time after his training session, and with his security clearance, he managed to get access to some useful information on his future mission. Having heard that he'd finally visit Abby's workplace that was supposed to be in a third world country, he decided to learn as much as possible from it so that he wouldn't be a deadweight for her. His first priority was to learn the local language, he said that to the archivist who gave him a perplexed look.
"Blue boy, it's another world, you'll have to be more specific." The archivist explained with his palm on his face.
The person was a broad man who could easily flip over a car, though his strength was hidden under a shirt that was a few size bigger than it should have been. Despite his imposing frame, he spoke with a small accent of unknown African origin.
"Um… what's the Heri kingdom's language?"
The black man seemed pleased with the slightly more precise question.
"We noted three languages, with some variations depending on the regions. The central one is the Her. The one for the remote mountainous dialect is called the Koart. The coastal regions speak Meeri, it's pretty easy to learn and most merchants use this one when visiting Heri. Have you learnt Shashari yet? The Ahas we work with, are more centralised, so knowing this one is as important as the other."
"So… the port of Pre would be using the Meeri, right?"
Judging that the new guy wasn’t as stupid as the first impression gave off, the archivist pretended to shoot him with his finger-gun.
"Exactly, Blue boy. Don't worry too much about the alphabet, we have translated every major language on Avila and the literacy there isn't great. As for the pronunciation, they have the phonetic alphabet with them. If you need help, there's an anthropologist who can teach you how to speak properly."
"Oh, thanks. Anything else I should know?"
"Well, when you'll be deployed, don't forget to bring condoms and imperishable foods such as salt and sugar. From experience, I'd recommend some tissues and a hand towel, it's pretty hard to get a good shower there."
Daniel made a mental note and went on to find the different language books he needed. After some time, he got his hands on the ones he was looking for, he even found some kind of magic book though he couldn't read it as it was written in what he could guess was either Spanish or Portuguese. The young man tried his best to learn one of the languages but some of the words were hard to remember. Despite what the archivist said, Daniel thought that Meeri wasn't as easy as the worker said.
"How the hell did they even manage to translate all of this?" He said to himself as he was rubbing his temples in frustration.
As his concentration was fading away, he'd remembered some fictions where the protagonists could learn in an instant, that though made him envious. His daydreaming was put to an end when a tall woman standing in front of him, she looked rather intrigued by him, or more specifically his bright blue eyes. Like most women of the Argo that he met, she looked quite healthy though her haircut was quite interesting, being crimson red with thick braids going down to her shoulders.
"You're Blue Boy?" She asked with a thick countryside accent.
Daniel sighed at his nickname before raising his head, finding himself very close to her face. She was clearly looking him deep in the eyes, her pupils were dilated.
"Ya look like a husky! Do you also bark?" She loudly laughed, holding her sides.
Being slightly annoyed for being interrupted, Daniel decided to do something he never did and would probably regret immediately.
"Want me to wag my tail?" He coldly replied as he tilted his head sideway.
The unnamed girl didn't find the answer funny and grope him by the collar, lifting him slightly from his chair.
"Watch your tongue, buddy. Or I'll cut it out and make you eat it." She threatened, still with a thick accent.
Daniel could see her own crazy blue eyes radiating with hostility, then suddenly a glint of malicious intent showed up. For some reason, he had instinctively grope her collar as well, which might have impressed the crimson redhead but she showed her dominance by strengthening her grip.
"Blue Boy, ya got something on your face." She declared as if it was of upmost importance.
He hesitated for moment, trying to figure out if she was bluffing or not. After a short struggle of determination, he gave in to the curiosity.
"What do I have?" He finally asked.
"Ma face!" She yelled with a very pronounced accent from Alabama.
She head butted him, making him recoil in pain while loosing his grip. Daniel responded by cussing which prompted a shush gesture from the violent crazy girl. He was thankful that she didn't break anything but wondered if every women in the Argo were always that violent.
"First lesson, don't believe everyone. Second lesson, my name's Kota Leek and if you ever call me kossa, I'll break yer fingers."
Kota cracked her knuckles to accompany her threat. But Daniel was more and more confused by the situation, he still felt some pain from the sudden attack.
"What?" He asked while rubbing his face.
"You aren't from Scandinavia, are you? Damn Swedes." She monologued.
"What?"
Visibly having a few loose screws in her head, Kota snapped at him with a growl.
"Say what again, motherlover. I dare you, I double dare you." She threatened with her fingers imitating a pistol.
He narrowed his eyes in defiance and uttered the forbidden word. Kota raised her fist and when he thought she was about to punch him, she took his hand to shake it.
"You've got balls, Blue Boy! Farmer had his doubts about you, but now I can see that you have potential. Next time you see Sword, tell her that Kota recommends your enhanced training. You'll thank me later." She spoke with her accent diminished.
"That's cool, I guess? So… " he hesitated.
"Ya need something? That reminds me, you managed to pass Sword's first test and get well with Morena. What's so special about you? You look like my farmer cousin Billy, sadly he died when he tried to mount one of the cows." She said with her heavy accent coming back at irregular intervals.
"And I thought Abby was weird…"
Kota laughed for some reason before gently punching his shoulder. Daniel got a flashback of when Ivana was trying to kill him and he realised that most women in the Argo were crazy in a somewhat violent way. Still, he admitted that most of them were quite pretty and interesting looking, especially the redhead in front of him.
"Right, you're her not-boyfriend! Almost forgot. Tell you what, that bitch is crazy. She broke her last boyfriend's dick while totally-not-having-sex-during-work." Kota giggled while putting the last part in quotation with her fingers. "Rumours say that she managed to get a sleeping agent in the royal army of some Eastern kingdom."
"The Heri Kingdom? I'm going to be sent there in a couple of weeks. Ivana has chosen Abby to come with her, and since I'm her assistant, I'll be tagging along." Daniel explained, surprised by the crimson girl's behaviour.
The crazy red girl looked more menacing with her eyes shooting an evil intent as she bore her teeth with a growl. Despite being distracted by her interesting hair colour, which he found sexy, the young man noticed that something was off with her denture, she had very sharp pointy teeth which were unnaturally white.
"Ya crazy mother lover! I'm from the team of the Koshani kingdom! My guys will be on a diplomatic mission to the Vayran kingdom which means that we'll make a pit stop by one of those harbour! Valia-whatever. Yo, I need to speak with Sword and the brass! See ya around, Blue Boy!" Kota exclaimed before dashing out of the archive room, under the judging look of the archivist who was at his desk near the entrance.
Daniel stared in disbelief as he was trying to process all the information, after a quick investigation, mainly asking to the archivist what the crazy woman said. He got such a long explanation that Dan only remembered that Kota's alias was Fang, she mainly worked in northern kingdoms where she got some magical makeover to better blend in with the population as a demi-human. There was also that she was the daughter of Farmer's ex wife.
"Wait… what's Farmer's position in this company?"
"We work in regions, there are about ten of them. He's responsible for the western coast. What you need to remember is that he's the one calling the shots where you're going."
"That's good to know…"
"Also, here's my number if you need more information, name's Tyler." The archivist said with a wink.
Daniel graciously accepted the number with a smile, he clearly understood the intent.
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." He said, while creating a new contact on his phone. "I'm more into girls, but if you want to hang out, I won't mind."
Tyler reciprocated the smile and returned to his own task. Dan didn't feel uneasy from the ambiguous situation, instead of being bothered by it, he went back to his studying which made him wonder if the two people he interviewed had similar troubles with the languages and if he'd meet them again. He decided to set a goal to achieve by the end of the day and it was to become good with the new languages. Thankfully for him, he realised that some words of Meeri sounded vaguely French, he remembered that his french lessons back at school were somewhat fun. It gave him the idea to translate the Meeri language into French which actually worked, though he still had to learn Shashari. Daniel was glad that some words were the same in both tongues, mainly those about navigation terms.
Hours passed quickly, Tyler interrupted Dan who was still his nose in a book with a sky blue cover. The archivist made it clear that it was getting late and that most of the rooms were about to get closed. Daniel thanked him before quickly exiting the building by the main entrance where Jacob was waiting in his luxury car, another Bentley.
"Abby is busy, so I'll be your taxi. No need to thank me, bro." Jacob laughed when his friend entered the car. "Dude, why do you always look like shit when I come to pick you up?"
"Ha. Ha. Very funny. I got beaten up by Amazons. What about you? You look like someone who didn't have sex for weeks." Dan replied with an obviously fake laugh.
"Hey!" The other protested. "Tonight I ordered some Chinese food since I didn't know when you two would come back."
The driver put on the ignition and left his parking spot.
"Sounds good with me. Say, does the name Kota ring a bell to you?"
Jacob raised an eyebrow to show that he was gauging him.
"I may have slept with lots of girls, but I think I'd have remembered such weird name. Why do you ask? Met another cute red head and wondered if I'd hooked up with her?"
Daniel was clearly taken aback by Jacob's accurate statement, recoiling in the back of his seat.
"How did you know it was a redhead?"
"Back in high school, you had crushes on a lot of redheads. And yet you decided to fuck my cousin who's nothing of a ginger."
Dan gave him a wry look to show that he was a bit annoyed that his friend brought that up again. Still, he could understand why he was still holding that against him, after all, if he had a best friend fucking with a member of his family, it would make things very awkward.
"Anyway… how was work?"
"Well, there was this Spanish company that was interested in buying shares of my dad's company. Marronas, they called themselves. Sounds like a dessert or some shit." Jack ranted while still focussing on the traffic ahead.
"That literally means brown. That's a shitty name for a company."
"Yeah, well Rose seemed to be suspicious about them. Like, she noticed that they had concealed weapons on them, some even had the same tattoos on the back of their necks. By the way, did you know that Rose has got a diamond tattooed on her right arm?"
"Wait… is your dad involved with some kind of cartel? That doesn't sound good." Dan asked, ignoring the trivia about the secretary.
Chapter 23: troubled waters
The sea was getting rowdy as some storm was coming, bringing dark clouds from the south. The quaint harbour that was usually bustling with life had a lack of it since the morning, only the dock workers and slaves could be seen scurrying around. Anticipating the worst, the boats had their sails put away and their valuable cargo being tightly strapped. Any person who wasn't focused on their important task could have spotted the admiral throwing up above the trailing, thankfully for her, the crew was too busy.
"I hate this period of the year." A seaman could be heard grumbling.
"Less ranting and more working! We still have a lot of cargo to secure! You two, make sure the anchors are good!" A quartermaster barked.
They were at the beginning of the winter season, the air was changing and the coastal towns and cities had it rough even if they were accustomed to it. Unlike Valiamer, Premer didn't build some sort of hangar to shelter most boats. The capital city Herikart may have the best technology of the kingdom, but Valiamer was the capital of the navy which went above and beyond to preserve it, such as building a shelter for their boats to protect from the storms accompanying the winter's arrival. The vessels would be stored in a hangar built on water so that they could be quickly deployed right after when the sea calmed down.
"That's why I hate being outside of Valiamer's reach. Can't have shit in Premer." Hol Afarin grumbled as she stumbled to her cabin, narrowly avoiding a sailor carrying a crate.
When she reached her private quarters, she found her daughter strapped to the bed, like most of the furniture and anything that could be moved. A guard had been staying in the room, making sure that Afardo wouldn't manage to escape and avoiding as much eye contact as possible. Hol came just in time before the strapped girl could undo a knot that was too close to her hand.
"Ren, good job. The other will need your help with the foresail." The admiral said before slapping her daughter's hand.
"Some of us are wondering who will this girl be married to?"
Afarin looked at the guard with unknown intent, starring at him long enough that he looked away. She had no clue on who she was going to marry Afardo with.
"Right, a soldier like myself shouldn't be knowing such important information." Ren said before taking his leave. "I’m sure your brilliant plan will succeed, admiral."
The female admiral calmly watched him go, when she was sure that she and her daughter were alone, she collapsed on the bed as well as on Afardo's body. There were some protests from being crushed.
"Get off of me!"
The officer couldn't help but pitifully groan, looking young for a fraction of second.
"I hope you treat your children better than this." Afardo protested.
Afarin felt a bit sad, remembering her own kids who were far away, in a private school in Valiamer. Her husband, who was a captain of a garrison, was the one who actually raised them. Her only interactions with her family was through letters, like the ones on her desk.
"I don't even raise them. Now stop struggling, a storm is coming. It's going to get rough."
"A what?"
"A storm. Lots of clouds and wind that make the sea very violent."
"What?"
"My gods! Do I have to explain you everything?! Were you born yesterday?!"
"Many nights ago. Don't know when, it was in a dark and humid place that smelled weird." The daughter told, without emotion in her voice as if it had no significance.
The mother hugged her adopted daughter while wearing a sad expression on her face. She was about to plant a kiss on her forehead but a violent shake made the woman fall on the strapped girl. The hull of the ship creaked while the ship rocked wildly for a short period of time before everything calmed down. Afarin stopped firmly holding Afardo and struggled to get as her legs were shaking. Her face was pale, her lips were trembling. She ran outside to throw up over the ledge. The senior captain Artin walked to her, holding a piece of paper to her.
"Admiral, our scouts had detected a huge wave coming our way, looks like it outran the message."
"Artin, can you give me a report on the situation in a bit? That wave threw me off guard."
"Understandable. Some young officer even broke his nose as he fell on a box. Tell me when you're ready."
Artin seemed unfazed, he was on the deck and saw the disaster coming. He had shouted to the others to brace themselves for the impact. The only thing thing breaking his impeccable image was a starfish that had landed on his left shoulder.
"Alright, I'm good. Artin, the letter."
"Yes, first wave should hit in an hour. Dark clouds should arrive in half a day. The rest of the scout team will remain on standby while the messenger will deliver this message. The messenger shall return to its squadron at once."
"Which scout team is it? I thought we sent three of them."
"Yes, Vaso, Censo and Reso, if I recall correctly. That's Vaso's."
"The one sent to the East? Shouldn't Reso's team be the one to deliver the report? It should have come from the south."
Right as the admiral finished her sentence, two more messengers arrived in a hurry, they came from the other scout teams, delivering the same message.
"Flotilla belonging to the Order in sight. About 40 ships, all armed with ballista-like weaponry. They haven't responded to our signals. Possibly hostile." the two messengers declared, without opening their letters.
"Have you engaged? If not, disengage. The storm will take care of them." Artin immediately replied while sending them off with a wave of the hand.
"Don't you dare lose any men from these foreigners. You aren't allowed to die without my order!" Afarin added as the two men were already running to their respective vessel.
The admiral and the senior captain exchanged a look, seemingly both on the same page, knowing exactly what was going to happen. They looked at horizon expectantly.
"The Order has showed its true colours, Valiamer should be safe, but it'll add more… problems to the negotiations with the Ahas." Afarin thought out loud.
"Your wish to rekindle the relations with the Ahas is benevolent, admiral, but isn't it too much work?"
"We may have naval superiority, but if they put their mind into it, they could overwhelm us on land battles. We can't erase that threat, they'll outnumber us and outlive us. Haven't you encountered any Ahas before?"
"Ahas don't like water. The only one I met before the siege was your mother, how is she doing lately?"
"She got promoted to director of a district in an important city of Ahas lands. Funny how I'm the only child of their union. Now isn't the time for chitchat, we've got preparations to do. You should already be on your way to Lord Olf to talk about the hostilities from the Order."
"Shouldn't the admiral of the royal fleet handle such important matter? A mere messenger wouldn't suffice."
Admiral Afarin gave him a sheepish look before sighing.
"Guess I'll have to deal with that shitty dick. I mean Merdosa Picha. Keep an eye on my adopted daughter. She needs to be married to an Ahan."
Captain Artin made an approving grunt and escorted the woman back to the harbour. She had four marines in tow to act as bodyguards, to distinguish themselves from any other soldier, they wore a full plate helmet painted in red and purple, the colours of the sails of the admiral ship. As she walked towards the throne room, people could see her weird way of walking, as if she was drunk but it was the effect of being on a boat for a long time.
"Admiral Afarin Hol demands an emergency meeting with the lord of Premer! Don't make me wait or you'll be acting against the safety of Herik." Afarin declared before entering the throne room.
Two of her guards each opened the doors of the room to let in their officer while the other two marines were holding back a very confused Merdosa Picha, who attempted to draw his sword. Lord Olf was in the middle of a meeting with some kind of mercenary and a peasant, these two jumped of surprise as they were standing near a map on the table next to the throne. The armoured one reached for their sword but Olf waved his hand for the person to stand down.
"This is already an important meeting, and unhand my general!" Olf ordered with annoyance in his voice.
Hol nodded at her marines to release Picha who was understandably pissed at his treatment. The soldiers regrouped around their swaying admiral. The Premer officer shot a death glare at the Valiamer one who was slightly taken aback but kept her composure in front of her men.
"Is that how mixed blood treat others? Explain yourself." Picha spat.
Hol's hair dressed on the back her neck as she was torn between fear and anger, her fists were visibly shaking. Thankfully for her, one of the marines grunted, which reminded her of why she was there. In the back of her mind, she secretly thanked her men for always being helpful to her.
"Our scouts have encountered a flotilla from the Order, they didn't respond to our signals and are deemed hostile. Another report says that the storm will arrive in less than a day. In case the flotilla is a forward expedition, we would suggest preparing some additional defences. Their armaments are different than our usual encounters." She listed while still trying to contain her mixed feelings.
Olf raised an eyebrow to fake his surprise, his general understood his thought and chuckled. He hasn't shared any information to the royal fleet about the Order's ambush a few days ago as it didn't concerned them directly nor did he trust the admiral to do anything about it. Then the lord stopped his acting as he remembered something.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they're heading towards our maritime cities. Valiamer should be safe, but I doubt Himer will be. The royal envoy should arrive there soon!" Lord Olf realised. "Let's hope the storm will take care of them."
Thanks to the insistent look of her marines, Afarin kept her cool and gathered her thoughts. She stayed focused on the lord of the maritime city, completely ignoring everyone else. She closed her eyes to think of what she had to say next, she didn't have her officers to back her up or think of a plan.
"That's the problem. We too are likely to get damaged by it unless we move north to avoid the brunt of it. That means leaving Premer without naval support. The fact that Minmer is also vulnerable doesn't help. We need a fast messenger to deliver new orders to the other part of the royal fleet stationed in Valiamer. Since the King himself is busy and probably unaware of the situation, it falls upon me to command the Herikfer."
Picha observed the scene for a moment before turning to the admiral who didn't even glanced at him, which made him a bit frustrated.
"Where's Faldo? Is she still held in your ship?" Picha asked, vainly looking behind the admiral.
"None of your concern." She coldly replied without even looking at him. "Her name is Afardo Hol now and soon enough, she'll get a new name. With a bit of luck, she'll be far away from from your filthy hand, whatever-your-title-is." Afarin declared while feigning disdain and keeping eye contact with Olf.
The lord could feel the tension between the two, he was getting annoyed by their petty argument and constant nagging, though he understood his trusted general's attitude towards the mixed blood woman who rose in the ranks in such a short time. He cared not for his former servant, while they were distracting each other, he summoned a scribe to his throne room while still having his two informants with him. Afarin's bodyguards reacted when the doors opened but quickly relaxed when they saw the newcomer. The person was scrawny looking and dressed in a typical crimson red robe adorned with the insignia of Premer and other royal symbols. He carried under his arm the tools and paper necessary for the message. In tow was a man wearing purple clothing was quietly stretching his legs, his height was close to Markus who was being quiet all this time, his peasant-like outfit made him easily ignored by the rest.
"Ready to serve, my lord!" The scribe declared, setting up his writing material on the table nearby.
Olf nodded towards Afarin who was shaking internally while Picha was fuming. The only calm people were the marines and the other two random people who still weren't introduced to Afarin and her men.
"Admiral, your message." The lord coldly commanded to get the attention of the woman. "I'll expect you to pay the fee."
Hol Afarin cleared her throat, the sound echoing in the silent throne room as she had rehearsed the message in her head on her way to the throne room.
"Herikfer stationed in Valiamer is to be sent to protect the maritime cities, Minmer is to be prioritised over the other cities further southwest. Expect open hostilities from the Order kingdom. Reinforce defences is strongly advised. You are to protect them with your life. Regroup with the main fleet when given the Order by either the King or myself." The admiral quickly said, walking over the scribe. "Make three copies."
The person wrote quickly and efficiently, it agreeably surprised Karen who could write as fast as him but only on a keyboard, she nodded approvingly with respect. Once done, the scribe was about to use the Premer seal when Afarin handed her own that she always carried in her pocket.
"Herikfer requires this to be trustworthy. I'll keep one of the three copies. You know the procedures for such order?"
"One for the sender, one for the capital and the rest for the fleet. Here, three. Don't take me for a fool, admiral." The person scolded while applying the seal on the fresh wax on the letters. "I expect payment." The scribe said while extending his flimsy hand that was reluctantly filled with a bag of gold.
The messages were given to the man dressed in purple who had finished stretching, he delivered one to Afarin and then sprinted towards the exit. Having no more reason to stay in the room, the admiral stormed off as well, her marines right behind her hurried steps. She had held a sneezed that came out as a snobbish sigh. Once she was gone, Karen turned to Olf.
"She's a bit of twat, isn't she?"
"Nothing surprising, coming from a half Ahas. So, back on topic. You were saying that you found an underground hideout full of beast people, right?" Picha said while going back over a map of Premer.
"Their affiliations are unknown, but they could interfere with the actually crisis." Markus politely replied while pointing the location on the map.
The sea was getting rowdy as some storm was coming, bringing dark clouds from the south. The quaint harbour that was usually bustling with life had a lack of it since the morning, only the dock workers and slaves could be seen scurrying around. Anticipating the worst, the boats had their sails put away and their valuable cargo being tightly strapped. Any person who wasn't focused on their important task could have spotted the admiral throwing up above the trailing, thankfully for her, the crew was too busy.
"I hate this period of the year." A seaman could be heard grumbling.
"Less ranting and more working! We still have a lot of cargo to secure! You two, make sure the anchors are good!" A quartermaster barked.
They were at the beginning of the winter season, the air was changing and the coastal towns and cities had it rough even if they were accustomed to it. Unlike Valiamer, Premer didn't build some sort of hangar to shelter most boats. The capital city Herikart may have the best technology of the kingdom, but Valiamer was the capital of the navy which went above and beyond to preserve it, such as building a shelter for their boats to protect from the storms accompanying the winter's arrival. The vessels would be stored in a hangar built on water so that they could be quickly deployed right after when the sea calmed down.
"That's why I hate being outside of Valiamer's reach. Can't have shit in Premer." Hol Afarin grumbled as she stumbled to her cabin, narrowly avoiding a sailor carrying a crate.
When she reached her private quarters, she found her daughter strapped to the bed, like most of the furniture and anything that could be moved. A guard had been staying in the room, making sure that Afardo wouldn't manage to escape and avoiding as much eye contact as possible. Hol came just in time before the strapped girl could undo a knot that was too close to her hand.
"Ren, good job. The other will need your help with the foresail." The admiral said before slapping her daughter's hand.
"Some of us are wondering who will this girl be married to?"
Afarin looked at the guard with unknown intent, starring at him long enough that he looked away. She had no clue on who she was going to marry Afardo with.
"Right, a soldier like myself shouldn't be knowing such important information." Ren said before taking his leave. "I’m sure your brilliant plan will succeed, admiral."
The female admiral calmly watched him go, when she was sure that she and her daughter were alone, she collapsed on the bed as well as on Afardo's body. There were some protests from being crushed.
"Get off of me!"
The officer couldn't help but pitifully groan, looking young for a fraction of second.
"I hope you treat your children better than this." Afardo protested.
Afarin felt a bit sad, remembering her own kids who were far away, in a private school in Valiamer. Her husband, who was a captain of a garrison, was the one who actually raised them. Her only interactions with her family was through letters, like the ones on her desk.
"I don't even raise them. Now stop struggling, a storm is coming. It's going to get rough."
"A what?"
"A storm. Lots of clouds and wind that make the sea very violent."
"What?"
"My gods! Do I have to explain you everything?! Were you born yesterday?!"
"Many nights ago. Don't know when, it was in a dark and humid place that smelled weird." The daughter told, without emotion in her voice as if it had no significance.
The mother hugged her adopted daughter while wearing a sad expression on her face. She was about to plant a kiss on her forehead but a violent shake made the woman fall on the strapped girl. The hull of the ship creaked while the ship rocked wildly for a short period of time before everything calmed down. Afarin stopped firmly holding Afardo and struggled to get as her legs were shaking. Her face was pale, her lips were trembling. She ran outside to throw up over the ledge. The senior captain Artin walked to her, holding a piece of paper to her.
"Admiral, our scouts had detected a huge wave coming our way, looks like it outran the message."
"Artin, can you give me a report on the situation in a bit? That wave threw me off guard."
"Understandable. Some young officer even broke his nose as he fell on a box. Tell me when you're ready."
Artin seemed unfazed, he was on the deck and saw the disaster coming. He had shouted to the others to brace themselves for the impact. The only thing thing breaking his impeccable image was a starfish that had landed on his left shoulder.
"Alright, I'm good. Artin, the letter."
"Yes, first wave should hit in an hour. Dark clouds should arrive in half a day. The rest of the scout team will remain on standby while the messenger will deliver this message. The messenger shall return to its squadron at once."
"Which scout team is it? I thought we sent three of them."
"Yes, Vaso, Censo and Reso, if I recall correctly. That's Vaso's."
"The one sent to the East? Shouldn't Reso's team be the one to deliver the report? It should have come from the south."
Right as the admiral finished her sentence, two more messengers arrived in a hurry, they came from the other scout teams, delivering the same message.
"Flotilla belonging to the Order in sight. About 40 ships, all armed with ballista-like weaponry. They haven't responded to our signals. Possibly hostile." the two messengers declared, without opening their letters.
"Have you engaged? If not, disengage. The storm will take care of them." Artin immediately replied while sending them off with a wave of the hand.
"Don't you dare lose any men from these foreigners. You aren't allowed to die without my order!" Afarin added as the two men were already running to their respective vessel.
The admiral and the senior captain exchanged a look, seemingly both on the same page, knowing exactly what was going to happen. They looked at horizon expectantly.
"The Order has showed its true colours, Valiamer should be safe, but it'll add more… problems to the negotiations with the Ahas." Afarin thought out loud.
"Your wish to rekindle the relations with the Ahas is benevolent, admiral, but isn't it too much work?"
"We may have naval superiority, but if they put their mind into it, they could overwhelm us on land battles. We can't erase that threat, they'll outnumber us and outlive us. Haven't you encountered any Ahas before?"
"Ahas don't like water. The only one I met before the siege was your mother, how is she doing lately?"
"She got promoted to director of a district in an important city of Ahas lands. Funny how I'm the only child of their union. Now isn't the time for chitchat, we've got preparations to do. You should already be on your way to Lord Olf to talk about the hostilities from the Order."
"Shouldn't the admiral of the royal fleet handle such important matter? A mere messenger wouldn't suffice."
Admiral Afarin gave him a sheepish look before sighing.
"Guess I'll have to deal with that shitty dick. I mean Merdosa Picha. Keep an eye on my adopted daughter. She needs to be married to an Ahan."
Captain Artin made an approving grunt and escorted the woman back to the harbour. She had four marines in tow to act as bodyguards, to distinguish themselves from any other soldier, they wore a full plate helmet painted in red and purple, the colours of the sails of the admiral ship. As she walked towards the throne room, people could see her weird way of walking, as if she was drunk but it was the effect of being on a boat for a long time.
"Admiral Afarin Hol demands an emergency meeting with the lord of Premer! Don't make me wait or you'll be acting against the safety of Herik." Afarin declared before entering the throne room.
Two of her guards each opened the doors of the room to let in their officer while the other two marines were holding back a very confused Merdosa Picha, who attempted to draw his sword. Lord Olf was in the middle of a meeting with some kind of mercenary and a peasant, these two jumped of surprise as they were standing near a map on the table next to the throne. The armoured one reached for their sword but Olf waved his hand for the person to stand down.
"This is already an important meeting, and unhand my general!" Olf ordered with annoyance in his voice.
Hol nodded at her marines to release Picha who was understandably pissed at his treatment. The soldiers regrouped around their swaying admiral. The Premer officer shot a death glare at the Valiamer one who was slightly taken aback but kept her composure in front of her men.
"Is that how mixed blood treat others? Explain yourself." Picha spat.
Hol's hair dressed on the back her neck as she was torn between fear and anger, her fists were visibly shaking. Thankfully for her, one of the marines grunted, which reminded her of why she was there. In the back of her mind, she secretly thanked her men for always being helpful to her.
"Our scouts have encountered a flotilla from the Order, they didn't respond to our signals and are deemed hostile. Another report says that the storm will arrive in less than a day. In case the flotilla is a forward expedition, we would suggest preparing some additional defences. Their armaments are different than our usual encounters." She listed while still trying to contain her mixed feelings.
Olf raised an eyebrow to fake his surprise, his general understood his thought and chuckled. He hasn't shared any information to the royal fleet about the Order's ambush a few days ago as it didn't concerned them directly nor did he trust the admiral to do anything about it. Then the lord stopped his acting as he remembered something.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they're heading towards our maritime cities. Valiamer should be safe, but I doubt Himer will be. The royal envoy should arrive there soon!" Lord Olf realised. "Let's hope the storm will take care of them."
Thanks to the insistent look of her marines, Afarin kept her cool and gathered her thoughts. She stayed focused on the lord of the maritime city, completely ignoring everyone else. She closed her eyes to think of what she had to say next, she didn't have her officers to back her up or think of a plan.
"That's the problem. We too are likely to get damaged by it unless we move north to avoid the brunt of it. That means leaving Premer without naval support. The fact that Minmer is also vulnerable doesn't help. We need a fast messenger to deliver new orders to the other part of the royal fleet stationed in Valiamer. Since the King himself is busy and probably unaware of the situation, it falls upon me to command the Herikfer."
Picha observed the scene for a moment before turning to the admiral who didn't even glanced at him, which made him a bit frustrated.
"Where's Faldo? Is she still held in your ship?" Picha asked, vainly looking behind the admiral.
"None of your concern." She coldly replied without even looking at him. "Her name is Afardo Hol now and soon enough, she'll get a new name. With a bit of luck, she'll be far away from from your filthy hand, whatever-your-title-is." Afarin declared while feigning disdain and keeping eye contact with Olf.
The lord could feel the tension between the two, he was getting annoyed by their petty argument and constant nagging, though he understood his trusted general's attitude towards the mixed blood woman who rose in the ranks in such a short time. He cared not for his former servant, while they were distracting each other, he summoned a scribe to his throne room while still having his two informants with him. Afarin's bodyguards reacted when the doors opened but quickly relaxed when they saw the newcomer. The person was scrawny looking and dressed in a typical crimson red robe adorned with the insignia of Premer and other royal symbols. He carried under his arm the tools and paper necessary for the message. In tow was a man wearing purple clothing was quietly stretching his legs, his height was close to Markus who was being quiet all this time, his peasant-like outfit made him easily ignored by the rest.
"Ready to serve, my lord!" The scribe declared, setting up his writing material on the table nearby.
Olf nodded towards Afarin who was shaking internally while Picha was fuming. The only calm people were the marines and the other two random people who still weren't introduced to Afarin and her men.
"Admiral, your message." The lord coldly commanded to get the attention of the woman. "I'll expect you to pay the fee."
Hol Afarin cleared her throat, the sound echoing in the silent throne room as she had rehearsed the message in her head on her way to the throne room.
"Herikfer stationed in Valiamer is to be sent to protect the maritime cities, Minmer is to be prioritised over the other cities further southwest. Expect open hostilities from the Order kingdom. Reinforce defences is strongly advised. You are to protect them with your life. Regroup with the main fleet when given the Order by either the King or myself." The admiral quickly said, walking over the scribe. "Make three copies."
The person wrote quickly and efficiently, it agreeably surprised Karen who could write as fast as him but only on a keyboard, she nodded approvingly with respect. Once done, the scribe was about to use the Premer seal when Afarin handed her own that she always carried in her pocket.
"Herikfer requires this to be trustworthy. I'll keep one of the three copies. You know the procedures for such order?"
"One for the sender, one for the capital and the rest for the fleet. Here, three. Don't take me for a fool, admiral." The person scolded while applying the seal on the fresh wax on the letters. "I expect payment." The scribe said while extending his flimsy hand that was reluctantly filled with a bag of gold.
The messages were given to the man dressed in purple who had finished stretching, he delivered one to Afarin and then sprinted towards the exit. Having no more reason to stay in the room, the admiral stormed off as well, her marines right behind her hurried steps. She had held a sneezed that came out as a snobbish sigh. Once she was gone, Karen turned to Olf.
"She's a bit of twat, isn't she?"
"Nothing surprising, coming from a half Ahas. So, back on topic. You were saying that you found an underground hideout full of beast people, right?" Picha said while going back over a map of Premer.
"Their affiliations are unknown, but they could interfere with the actually crisis." Markus politely replied while pointing the location on the map.
Let's see the bright sight of this world!