Keeping my shield-strapped back close to a tall smokestack, I observe one of my men as they leap the gap across two buildings. The security of Uenfarmao are clueless and the people out on this late night are less so. Gripping my spear just in case, I turn to the quiet sound of studded sandals striking and running up the tiles of this roof. The partially bare and armoured man kneels before me, his spear at an awkward position and his shield trapped by his knees.
"Report." I order as I motion for them to stand.
"The rumours are certainly correct, our target was operating around here." he explains and I frown distastefully.
"I cannot blame you for not coming to understand what I have, but I am aware. Is there anything more to what you have found?"
"That which we seek came into town with the assistance of a local farmer. The revelry of the bars and inns have seen to it that these boasts reach our ears." he explains before I wave him off to resume his duties. Ensuring my gear is within my tight grasp, I leap the distance to the outer wall in a single bound. Landing with not a sound, I rush up the finer details of the defensive stone and perch from a statue.
"It will take too long to look through each farm but it is incompetent to only move after looking into one..." I mumble under my breath as I try to consider what our best option is. The target is spoken of in one phrase commonly, divine beauty that like you have never seen before. Locks of pure gold thread and skin that sparkles under the light of day. Shining on even into the dark of night that serves me and my kin so well.
Looking below, I spot a mindless hand as it adjusts the torches lighting up the gates below me. Swiftly, I swing away with the rustle of my cape matching the wind. The sound of guards on patrol alerts me further and I dive down towards the ground, a collection of magic-rich wire keeping me from it. Waiting for the stone to no longer ring with the sound of boots and shoes, I coil my way back up.
"If we can find the name of the farmer." I remark as I turn my head towards the shadow moving about in the dark. Rushing over to them, I slide to a stop an am saluted as they lodged the blunt end of their weapon into the roof for support. Balancing myself perfectly on an unused post over an alleyway, I glance to my compatriot as he seemingly idles.
"Upper Ascendent." he greets as a creature of the dark lands on the length of my spear without a care. Delicately, I stroke its feathers, spooking it away with a squawk of utmost terror. I climb up onto the roof proper and approach my fellow as he reels in an admittedly amusing means to gather information. An enchanted can and a simple wire.
"I am told of a farmer delivering the target through here before they parted ways." I say as I let my cloak get caught on the gentle air. While I cannot see it, the plume of my helmet is likely the same as the one I am observing on my fellow ahead of me. Single hairs going wayward or all of them banding together to better resist the mild force of nature.
"This establishment holds nothing of interest. Unless you find yourself doubting your oath of celibacy." my fellow remarks with both a humoured and serious demeanour.
"I need word to spread to find the name of a farmer, seek your brothers out and ensure my order is relayed." I tell him as I look down towards the pedestrian-clogged roads of the town of Uenfarmao.
"Shall I allow the right of force as well?" my fellow asks as he reaches for that which I shall not give.
"No, we have a whole town to glean mutter and yell from, lest you wish to absolve yourself of our order." I tell, warning him in the event his discipline proves lacking enough. Silently, my fellow salutes and vanishes elsewhere into the town as I try to read the lingering memory of the clouds. Yet, for all the talk of such power being here, our target has no trace in them. Her strength is so vast but so contained as to be indecipherable with the land itself.
"Upper Ascendent Attonidas!" one of my calls with a dangerous pitch to his tone as he almost clumsily lands.
"Quiet." I caution as I offer a hand to help him up.
"I have a name and place." he says once he's caught his breath.
"Are you able to point me to it?" I ask as my lower steps up to attempt to make use of the information he has.
"A veteran turned farmer, a man called Sanoukou." he explains as I spot the rolling waves of land that denote the edge of a farm. Slowly nodding as I contemplate my next move, I look to my lower and turn him back towards the city.
"Gather everyone, meet me at the agreed-upon point and I will return with a way for us to journey." I explain to my lower before I pat him on the back as he leaps away to other roofs to find the rest of our number. Flashing my magic ever so briefly into the night sky, I make it clear to the others not to come find me. I leap down from the walls and land in the rustle of the tall grass. Sprinting off through them, their lengths part away as if only a breeze is coming through.
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The mud barely squelches and the metallic underbelly of the continent rings out to only the deaf. Flipping over a fence then leaping into a roll from a rock, I keep my spear at the ready. Testing the ground and space rapidly approaching my feet before moving on to the next thing in my way. Sliding under a heavy wall meant for cattle, my skin and gear remain spotless and I pole-vault onto a barn.
A young farmhand comes stumbling out of it with a young woman in his hands. The pair giggle at each other playfully and I sheath my weapon as best I can before I turn to the homestead. My ears are as open as ever, I wait for the wind to carry a hint of identity into my mind. I turn down towards the couple as the satisfied woman prods at the worries of the soon-to-be unrested young man.
"Won't Sanoukou have your head, darlin'?" she asks as she tempts him further with her body. Leaping from the barn and sliding down a sloping field, I roll back to my feet and spot the fences keeping this field barely isolated. Slotting my foot against a post, I leap for the homestead and swing around its weather vane until I reach a stop.
"Mr. Sanoukou, we think something's got out into the garage!" a worker hollers from the light of the homestead's porch as I creep to the roof's edge. A large man comes into view, a deceptive body that hides much power but would otherwise make you think he is unfit. Moving off of the roof as the moonlight brightens the night, I slip ahead of the farmer as he goes to check the disturbance. A rodent squeaks past me and I wait for him to be thoroughly in the dark.
Walking out into the open behind him, I grip my spear and shield well as the man turns around. I surprise him, barely. The veteran's knuckles tighten and his jaw squares with his shoulders. He knows what I am but he still can't help but be on edge.
"You best be getting off my farm." the landowner warns as I look the dark area over for anything he might use as a weapon. I doubt his ability to hurt me, but I cannot be certain and should not be certain of it lest my pride blind me.
"Golden lightning found its way into your care, though, I doubt it remains so."
"I ain't telling you a thing, that girl needs no trouble from the like of you politician-funded mercs." the veteran spits distastefully, his booted foot rubbing the saliva into the darkening dirt to emphasise his point.
"I am no mercenary."
"Your kind fights for a paybag, you most certainly are." he sneers and I shake my head gently.
"The Why's to why we fight aside, I ask you about the girl. Where is she, which way did she go?"
"Your backside." he curses as gravel crunches beyond the garage walls.
"Mr. Sanoukou, you find it?" a farmhand asks as I slip out of view barely as he comes into the open.
"Not yet, Anovius, you go on inside and have something to eat." Sanoukou tells them before the interferer heads away.
"None of you are in danger." I explain as none of these people are amongst those we are required to kill.
"I've seen otherwise with your kind." Sanoukou states as he takes several steps to close the gap. He stares me down through the slits in my helmet and he crosses his arms, tensing them up to show what a field can build a man to be.
"Then hold my spear until I am ready to depart." I tell him, handing over my personal spear, something I should not part with unless I die.
He takes it into his grip and tests the weight before its edge is intentionally practiced near my exposed body. The farmer nods and points it down, slitting it into the ground with little effort before he then expects the same of my shield. I hand it other and disgrace myself further for the sake of the job and he carefully inspects the war-bronze mixture. Though contradictory theologically speaking, the carvings of Undwote present catch his eye the most.
"In your grip or on it, right?" he asks and I nod as my initiatory oath rings in my heart. In bloody victory, should you fall and your allies remain in good enough health, return atop your shield.
"Where is the girl?" I ask again as Sanoukou drops it carelessly to the ground, his booted foot pushing it through the dirt towards me.
"I already told you that I am not answering." Sanoukou reasserts as he leans against his machine. I sense it over with my arcane power and catch a lingering peculiarity, it feels like a breeze... A dreadful, powerful one born of a hurricane on nature's warpath. Uprooting all that it passes over, only granting peace to those who are so lucky to keep under its clear eye.
"With but a finger flashing, I can have my lowers on your farm in moments. Every guest, animal and worker within our grasp but no firm grip. The shadows will take in their blood and your stubbornness will be to blame." I bluff and the farmer steps closer until his nose is nearly against my helmet.
"I've had enough of that saying, evil being excused because a good man will not sell out another. I am not to blame, your kind is." he snorts like one of his many beasts of the field otherwise dozing off for a peaceful night of sleep.
"Do the details not ring clear to you? Golden lightning, resplendent skin and kingly hair. She is not as vulnerable as you think she is." I elaborate as I set aside my cloak to show off a scar branding my left bicep. The mark of a man acting to redeem his honour before the faces of his elders. A job like this needs skill, but, also those who are more willing to die for it.
I am sure we will lack the strength to bring people back on their shields, let alone have them left to do so...
So many of us have come to this town, into this otherwise simple life of the farmer and the market. All for a girl that has the Senate terrified, the people of the land in awe and the skies brighter than ever before. I will not concern myself with the finer details, all that I know is that for a grand sum of wealth, we are to remove a wonderous woman. Words can only say so much but I am otherwise led to believe that all of our hearts shall quiver although oaths stay our fatherly weapons.
"I am very confident that if you do find her, with or without my help, she'll have you all as charred corpses."
"She's travelling with a man of the windy lands?" I ask, making his expression falter and I nod, retrieving my spear and shield.
"Neither are lacking, I'm happy to know." Sanoukou sneers as I turn my back on him.
"Then pray for our salvation, one who was able to leave it all behind." I beg with a reserved tone as I leap into the dark of night once again, a trail in my lungs of all places.