WW Chapter 108: Reintroductions (Patreon)

“Two dozen equipped soldiers, approaching from the front,” Basil was the first to call out.

“Another dozen from behind.”

“Movement on both sides as well. Making contact soon.”

“This has to be the Duke’s response to our arrival,” Basil concluded. “Everybody, weapons ready, not drawn.”

Ezra did as he was commanded, falling into the same position that he had been in when they passed through the border check. However, at nearly the last second, he remembered that he had a deadline to respond to Tilly.

“Great to hear from you, if you can hear me. I’m a little busy right now. Maybe try in a few hours?”

As he said it, he felt a popping of air pressure around his head, the words seeming not to carry more than a meter away from him before they disappeared. Then, that presence he hadn’t really noticed at first was gone. He shook his head and focused on his immediate surroundings. Basil was, by far, the best scout among the delegation, so everybody implicitly trusted whatever he said was happening. Even so, it didn’t take long before Ezra could hear the tromping of feet coming through the forest that they traveled through.

“Stop in the name of Duke Ember!”

The command came from ahead, and the column did as they were told. This time, Jhas stood along the left door while Basil remained atop the brothers’ carriage. With the command came the appearance of the soldiers ahead. Each of them wore fine chainmail armor, with greaves, shields, and quality weapons that wouldn’t look out of place on a Pseudo-Knight.

In the lead walked a man who had a sword strapped on each hip. He obviously had a soldier’s discipline, but, for some reason, he wasn’t wearing a helmet. His black hair was slicked back, showing his severe widow’s peak. He smiled ever so slightly, both of his hands resting on the pommels of his swords.

“Identify yourselves,” he called out. “Again, by the authority of Duke Ember, I, Pseudo-Knight Gaius, represent his will in ensuring that his borders are maintained sovereign.”

“Pseudo-Knight Basil, sworn to Duke Brayton,” Basil said from where he squatted on top of the carriage. He had an arrow nocked on his bow, but his hand wasn’t drawing the string.

“Ah, then you are exactly who I was looking for,” Gaius said as he strode forward. He removed his hands from his blades and stretched out a hand with a wide smile. “What an honor to meet a representative of one of the other Dukes of the Kingdom.”

Basil jumped down from where he stood and wrapped the other man’s forearm in a tight grip. Ezra could see the faint flickers of a shroud in both men as they seemed to take their measure of the other. It didn’t escalate past that, though, and seemed to be more of a simple verification that what the other said was true.

“From here, we have a bit over a day’s journey to reach the capital,” Gaius said as he took in the delegation.  That he invited himself so casually had Ezra's teeth on edge, but he remained silent. “If you push hard today, we can be sure that we all arrive tomorrow well before the doors into the city are closed.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. Thank you, and you can be on your way.”

“Oh, don’t dismiss me out of hand,” Gaius said with a smile. “What kind of a host could you call my Lord if I didn’t make sure to escort you all to his home, expediently and safely?”

“In accordance with the Fidelius Accords, we would be happy to accept your escort,” Hector said from inside the carriage. As he spoke, Jhas reached up and opened the door to allow the man to step out of the carriage. Ezra hadn’t noticed until then that Hector was no longer wearing travel clothes but instead a well-tailored suit with a half-cape and boots polished to a mirror shine. While he was well dressed, it looked stupid to be dressed that way when there weren’t any people around. He hopped down from the carriage to step closer.

“Now, how about all of you get on with the traveling? I have to say that I’m quite done with the incessant rattling of the road and would prefer a better bed.”

“Of course, Master Hector,” Gaius said with a wide smile. “That is, of course, the esteemed individual with whom I have the privilege of speaking, is it not?”

“Yes, yes. If you insist on following the Accords as your Lord has told you, then do so. However, let’s start traveling already.”

Hector didn’t say anything more before he waggled his fingers in a surprisingly foppish way before hopping into the carriage. Jhas closed the door as Gaius sized up the carriage, the escort, and everything else. After a short moment, he swept into a stately bow that Ezra couldn’t help but give an appreciative nod to. He was well trained, and Ezra wouldn’t be surprised if he learned that, before being a Pseudo-Knight in service to the Duke of Ember, Gaius was a minor noble.

“Your Lord’s wish is my command, especially since it is the desire of my Lord as well to ensure your quick, safe passage to his city.”

At that, the man turned on his heel and started walking away, giving quick, easy commands to his men as they fell in step along every side of the caravan. Just a few short minutes later, the delegation was moving again, and Telemachus settled up to Ezra.

“What crawled up Hector’s—”

Before he could finish the thought, Ezra snapped an elbow into his friend’s ribs. His darker-complected doppelgänger scowled at him as he shook his head. He had a pretty good idea as to why the young heir to the Duchy would be purposefully hiding his actual attitude. Ezra himself had done something similar when he was younger in the slums, pretending to be dumber than he was to put people off their guard. He wasn’t sure how much help that would be against Pseudo-Knights who had been trained to know what other nobles were doing, but he wouldn’t begrudge Hector the attempt.

With the presence of the new guards, the hurried but comfortable environment that had surrounded the delegation disappeared. In its place, there were constant glances in every direction as nobody trusted the newcomers, and the newcomers took great pleasure in looming over the visiting guards. In Ezra’s mind, it seemed like they wanted to start a fight, and it was weak of the Brayton delegation to let things go the way that they were, but he wasn’t the politician and, in general, didn’t know anything about how these things would work.

When twilight approached, Hector breezily commanded for everybody to continue for another hour, which was what they did. It was only when night had truly fallen that he allowed his guards to break out their tents and other supplies. While the delegation prepared camp, Ezra kept one eye on the guards from Ember, wondering what they were going to do. As they marched, he realized that each man and woman carried a pack, but not nearly enough to contain tents for each. Instead, when there was a call for breaking for the night, each person went to a spot between two trees, wrapped some ropes, and, in short order, had a sack hanging between two trees. They called them “hammocks,” and, though they looked strange, it seemed they were comfortable.

Meanwhile, each of the soldiers that Ezra knew was setting up their tents and beds. While the soldiers from Ember ate cold rations, those from Brayton set up cooking pots over fires. It was the first time that Ezra had considered how differently a separately organized military might organize themselves, and a part of him wondered which he would prefer to do in a given campaign. For how long they had been traveling, and with as many people as they had, he liked having the comfort of the wagons, tents, and so on. But, if he had been traveling with Chloe without stopping at inns the way that they had been, the way that the Ember troops moved seemed to be a pretty good option.

As soon as he sat down with his bowl of warm stew, Ezra was reminded of what had initially taken his attention before the appearance of Ember’s troops. Tilly’s voice again rang in his head, just as he pulled his spoon up to his mouth.

I gave you a couple hours, you ingrate, and I won’t be able to do this again for another couple days at least. I’m so glad I could hear your voice. Having enough time to actually plan what I was going to say this time around meant I could focus on what was most important. I’m glad you’re safe. I really appreciated your letter, and I’m looking forward to the next time we can see each other. It might be a while, though, because I guess, now that I’ve gained some control over my mana, I’ve got some pretty good potential. I’m being sent to Fidelius, and won’t be returning home for at least the next—

Evidently, she hadn’t quite planned everything perfectly, because Ezra could feel the very second when the spell cut off on her side, even though she was still talking at a surprising clip. Without having been able to prepare himself, Ezra looked around, put his soup away, and stepped a few meters away from the closest person as he started to speak.

“Hi, Tilly. I’m currently in Ember Duchy, on some mission for the Duke. However, I might’ve been a bit of an idiot, and might be able to come visit you not long after I get back from this trip. I can fill you in on the details some other time, but the result is that I may have lost my job. Glad you’re safe, and hey, looks like you’re almost talented enough to keep up with me.”

While he was debating whether to say something about the awkward semi-confessions that they had made to each other in their last letters, the decision was taken away from him. The faint popping of air went around him, and he was left alone again. Now, without warning bells going up all around, several people noticed his departure, and Telemachus stared at him while raising his eyebrows.

“Stop that,” Ezra waved him off. “My girl learned how to use magic to talk to me from this far away.”

“You’re calling her your girl now?” Telemachus asked with a smirk.

“Yeah,” Ezra shrugged, feeling a creeping blush crawl up his neck as he said it. “While we aren’t going to be able to see each other anytime soon, we’ve at least decided to consider being something more than just old friends.”

While Telemachus obviously wanted to continue to press, he returned his attention to Luna. “What do you know about sorcerers being able to cast magic?”

“Basically nothing,” she said with an apologetic shrug. “I’ve only been trained with divine magic, and you’ve seen I’m not particularly good at that.”

Ezra sucked on his teeth, having expected that answer, but still somehow hoping for a different result. Then, he looked down at his food and made a decision. He ate it quickly, while his three closest friends here watched with rapt attention.

“Leave off,” he grunted as he scarfed down his food. The looks burned, but he didn’t pay them any more attention.

Telemachus didn’t say anything, but made progressively more ridiculous faces at him as Ezra ate. After a short while, he was finished and moved his bowl to the side.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said, as he walked off to find Jhas. In short order, he found the illiar hiding in one of the wagons. Well, hiding wasn’t exactly the right word, but he was avoiding being seen as he hunched in the corner. The subtle glow the man constantly emanated was enough of a tell that Ezra knocked on one of the wooden support beams to call his attention. When Jhas saw him, he smiled and waved for Ezra to come in.

“What can I do for you?” he asked, his smile faintly shining with the light of his body.

“Tell me everything you know about magic and how it applies to aura.”