Eydis
It didn’t take long for Sev, Freya, and Eydis to reach the campsite of the remaining members of the Rescar Clan. What followed was a flurry of hugs and overall happy exclamations.
Maybe two dozen left of the clan had numbered in the hundreds before that disastrous night. Eydis didn’t know most of them very well, since mostly those who were either hunters who were rarely home or never lived in the main settlement from the beginning remained. Either way, fewer had survived than Eydis had hoped.
After all the greetings, Eydis, or rather Freya, told their story. It hurt Eydis to lie to them like this, but there was no way to tell them the truth and come out unscathed.
“That is our story. What about you people? We heard that the clans are deliberating a Kirhen,” Freya asked casually.
“There is no deliberating left,” a woman named Samira said with a wide smile. “Most clans will join us on our march to vengeance.”
“Oh, so the meeting is over already,” Freya said surprised.
We are too late, Eydis thought and signed at Freya, “We need to know more, maybe I can still talk them out of it.”
“You are right, it doesn’t really matter. Eydis is wondering about what happened to you guys after that day?” Freya completely ignored what Eydis had signed and changed the subject.
What is she doing? Isn’t this exactly why she came here?
“Mostly working for this day, to be honest,” Sev replied with a shrug. “We did a lot of mercenary work for other clans, trained, and made friends.”
They started telling stories of the last years and that quickly turned into reminiscing about past times.
Eydis was subsumed by the feeling of home and shared some happy memories of her childhood, as others did the same.
Freya mostly kept out of it, only faithfully translating for Eydis and listening in. It was hard to push down the feeling of guilt for Eydis for having brought a spy into their midst, but she managed to by just embracing the conversations.
The hours melted away as they drank, ate, and talked until the woman named Samira said, “You must be exhausted after your journey and here we are keeping you into the night.”
Sev quickly picked up on that and added, “Oh yeah, how the time flies. Let’s get you two settled for the night and we can continue tomorrow.”
Eydis wasn’t that tired, she was an augmenter after all, but she could see that some of her clan members were, and even Freya was starting to look a little bit sluggish.
Their resting place was a simple piece of fabric put up between a few trees and some blankets on the ground. It was still quite warm even though the night had already arrived in full force a while ago so sleeping this exposed didn’t matter to Eydis. She had done similar in the last couple of days anyway even if a bath and warm fireplace would have been appreciated.
Sev put some extra wood on the low-burning fire and bid them a good night a little bit later.
They shared the place with two other women who helped them get settled and then quickly went to sleep. Eydis couldn’t do that right now though and nudged Freya. The spy turned in her blankets and looked at her with a questioning expression.
“Why didn’t you translate my words?” she signed.
“Because they were foolish,” the spy replied in sign language. “You don’t just arrive at a place and start asking important questions or try to force your opinion on other people. That is an easy way to make people suspicious. We need to integrate ourselves at least slightly before we even touch that subject.”
“We don’t have time for that! The decision has been already made. If we do not change their minds now then they will attack the kingdom and hundreds will die,” Eydis’s form suffered under her frantic movements and Freya frowned as she tried to correctly understand her.
“Calm, Eydis. It will take at least a month before the clans assemble fully. We have enough time to integrate us for a couple of days before starting to ask questions and feel out our possible avenues of action.”
“So what? We are just gonna play happy family until we can stab them in the back?” These kinds of situations were when Eydis missed her ability to talk the most. You just couldn’t be as sarcastic or emotional while relying on sign language in her experience.
“Yes. Tomorrow I will send word back that the attack is indeed coming and then we will just lay low for a while,” Freya replied, completely ignoring Eydis’s comment. “You must understand that we are not here to reconnect with people. We have a job and if that means burning every bridge, we have ever made then that is what I will do.”
Eydis wasn’t there for that, and she was sure that the spy knew that too. There was no trust between them, they barely knew each other after all. But even if they had known each other for years already, Eydis wouldn’t have been sure if she deserved trust right now. She didn’t know where she stood herself so why should anyone trust her?
“Isn’t it too early to send notice? Shouldn’t we gather more information before we risk our cover by contacting the others?”
Freya raised an eyebrow at Eydis and smirked. She could feel the heat rise in her chest at the expression that a parent would give to their child. “Don’t worry about that. We will be at no risk.”
Eydis wanted to ask how she could be so sure but bit back the question. The spy didn’t trust her that much was clear so she would never tell her something that could threaten her organization anyway.
“I was wondering about the story you told about us,” Eydis changed the subject. “How much of that was true about you?”
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“Nothing.”
“It didn’t feel like nothing.”
Freya chuckled happily. “Then it was a good lie, wasn’t it?”
Eydis frowned at the spy but didn’t reply.
“Let’s go to sleep. We will need our energy tomorrow,” Freya finally signed and snuggled into her blankets. Eydis turned away from Freya and pulled her own blanket up.
Why did I have to be stuck with someone like her of all people? This is all confusing enough without having a shadow that censors everything I say. Maybe she is a way back? Someone placed with me to remind me of the life I am risking?
Those and many other thoughts plagued Eydis until she finally rolled herself to sleep.
The next morning came way too soon and even though Eydis could push away the exhaustion with a little mana she didn’t want to face her own doubts. There was little she could do though; the sun was up and the activity in the camp around her meant that she wouldn’t get any more rest.
With a sigh, she forced herself up and over to the rest. They sat around a pot on a fire and laughed while having breakfast.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Sev said with a smile from his tree trunk.
Sleepyhead was not really the right word for her right now considering that she barely got an hour of continuous sleep. Eydis simply nodded at the others and took a spare spot at the fire. Samira, the woman from yesterday, handed her a bowl of stew.
Eydis gladly took it and eyed the woman while eating. She was tall and athletic, with tanned skin and a hard expression. Her brown curly hair was bound back in a tight braid but still somehow looked wild. She was pretty.
“So, is there something to do today?” Freya asked from the other side of the campfire.
“Not much, we are preparing to go home but it will be a couple of days yet. We will join up with the parties of the closer clans before marching to the village,” Sev answered between two bites.
“Home? Where is that now?” Freya translated Eydis’s question.
“The same as it has been. Our old village has been decided to be the staging for our army. Something about a symbolism,” Samira said while stirring the pod.
Home, Eydis thought, and a pang of pain ripped through her innards. Was it really home? It was the place where she grew up every winter and left as spring came.
She wasn’t sure. Even if her people tended to value places with a long history, Eydis never cared for places. Home wasn’t a certain area of dirt; home was where she felt safe.
“Yeah, it is only right that we start our vengeance from the place where we were wronged, don’t you think?” Sev added with a smirk.
“I don’t know. Maybe they just want to find peace and not be pulled out of their graves by vengeful thoughts,” Eydis signed but again Freya didn’t translate her words correctly.
“It does have a certain poetic justice to it,” Freya said. “I think you made a good decision on the staging ground.
Eydis couldn’t help but scowl at the spy. Of course, she thought it was a good idea. She now knew when and where the clans would gather. A place that Michael knew as well.
That wasn’t why she was annoyed, though. Freya was just doing what Eydis was supposed to. What really vexed her was that she continued to censor what Eydis was trying to say. This was not how she imagined her homecoming to be.
Sure, everyone was happy for her to be here, but she felt a strange distance from them. Whether that was because she couldn’t directly talk to them or something else, Eydis couldn’t tell.
She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts. She only got here and of course; everything wouldn’t instantly go back to the way it was.
“Ha, you really think you could take Eydis? This calls for a little reality check, right Eydis?” Freya laughed.
“What?” Eydis signed back, having missed the last few seconds of the conversation.
“Sev here is saying that he became quite strong in the last years, and he is the strongest in the clan,” Freya explained with a grin. “I told him that you would thrash him, so that title should belong to you.”
Eydis glanced over to the man. He had an amused expression on his face. “I am not sure if the training you would get as a Telios servant helped you improve in combat. I am sure you can beat me in where to put my fork though,” he taunted her in a companionable way.
The other clan members chuckled and looked over to Eydis to see her reaction. A wide grin plastered itself on her face as she began to sign, and this time Freya translated to the letter.
“You would be surprised.”
Eydis and Sev stood panting in a cleared ring. Both of them were drenched in sweat and focused on each other.
“What the hells were you? A battle servant or something like that?” Sev asked between two heavy breaths.
Eydis grinned at the man but didn’t even think about signing a reply. Sev would use that chance to beat her down without an ounce of remorse.
They were in their sixth round already. The first round had been a near instant win for Eydis, due to Sev not considering her a threat. After that, they had proven on much more equal footing.
Now though they were both working on fumes. The three fights after the first had been spectacular with both of them going all out but now there was barely any mana or strength left in their limbs.
Multiple moves blinked through Eydis’s mind but each of them was risky in her current condition. It would be a gamble either way. She would just have to go for it.
Eydis fell into a low stance in a moment and readied to charge. She would throw her ax at him and then duck under his block and blind swipe to get behind him.
Before she could even take the first step a gentle wave of mana stopped her.
“I think that is enough for now,” Ill’irian said with a fatherly smile. “This victory would mean nothing in your state and if either of you hurt yourself that would be a great loss.”
Eydis looked at Sev who slowly nodded and let his shield fall to the ground. Eydis followed his example by putting away the training weapons and then stepping over to him.
“You are still as fierce as I remember,” Sev said and reached out his hand to her.
“And you still fight like an arrogant idiot,” Eydis signed back and grabbed his arm. He smiled when Freya repeated her words.
“A draw then.”
After cleaning up they were joined by the elder druid.
“What brings you to us today, Elder Ill’irian?” Sev asked.
“Oh, I just wanted to see how our lost relatives are being welcomed. I must say I didn’t expect you to fight to the death already,” the druid explained.
“I was just testing her a little. She is alright,” Sev said with a smirk.
“We can finish what we started if you wanna find out.” Eydis cracked her knuckles, and everyone probably knew what she signed even before Freya spoke the words.
“Haha no, I am fine. Everything hurts already,” Sev deflected. He then turned back to the druid and said, “It is nice of you to check in on us but that is not all you came for.”
Ill’irian smiled and nodded. “Indeed. I wanted to ask if I could join you once you leave for your old village. You are the only group that will go there directly after all.”
“You are joining the war?” Samira perked up.
“I get the feeling that the gods want me there, so I will follow.”
“We will be happy to have you, Elder Ill’irian. It will be a couple of days until we leave but we will keep you informed,” Sev said politely.
“Good,” Ill’irian said, stepping closer to them. “Now come here and let me help.”
Warm mana flowed through Eydis as the druid blessed them. It wasn’t the same warmth as Sola’s mana had, it felt more alive. Eydis guessed that it was life affinity as that was somewhat ‘common’ among the druids.
A poke pulled Eydis’s attention toward Freya. The woman was watching her carefully and signed, “You held back on him, right?”
Eydis shrugged and replied, “He is good.”
“But not that good,” Freya continued her sentence, but Eydis simply shrugged again.
“I think it was a good idea not to bruise his ego overly. Makes the next weeks easier if he is more intrigued than pissed,” Freya signed on.
Everything was about the mission. Maybe it was good that Freya was here with her. It meant that Eydis could focus the next weeks on understanding where she stood between Reen and her clan, while the spy did what she was supposed to.
Eydis watched the clan members joke and laugh and memories of Geron, Sola, Michael, Solon, Kiran, and all the others came to mind.
I will decide before anything else happens, she told herself. I have to.