Chapter 7

I made my way outside of the city. Directly east were some rolling hills. The road split up in a roughly northeast and south-east direction both following the valleys between the hills.

Just east of the split was the militia's training ground, A flattened area with an obstacle course on one side and a bunch of training dummies and arrow targets on the other side. As it was free at the moment it was probably the best place to summon my troops. the only ones there were a couple of privates doing some maintenance or getting things ready for this evening.

I focused on the skill and 10 humanoid skeletons rose from the ground. All looked to be slightly different in colouration and some had what looked like bones that had been broken and mended while they were alive.

After rising up they shuffled into formation. Two rows of five armed with simple short spears. I practised a little bit in ordering them around and found that I could order them mentally but the further away I was the longer it took for them to respond. And that it was straining to give individual orders that way while ordering the whole unit at once was a lot easier.

After asking one of the privates for help I found that I could delegate troops to someone, but they had to shout the orders as a normal unit commander would.

After about two hours of practice, I headed back into town. the unit following me two abreast. I heard there was a good blacksmith not too far from the gate. He only settled about two months ago but was already making a name for himself.

I got a few strange looks from people because of the skeletons behind me, but when they saw that the guards were fine with it they just shrugged and went about their business.

I quickly made it to the smithy. The sign outside was in the process of being painted by a young dwarf. Like everything about the shop, he was taking his time to make it as exact as possible. Big shop in front where all the wares were sold. And from what I could tell a sizable blacksmith out the back as I heard at least ten different hammers beating metal.

I had the troops wait outside while I went in and ordered 10 long spears and 10 shields. The shields were simple wood, with a band of metal around the rim. Shaped like an oval and with a small cutout on one side to be able to make a shield wall and have the spear a bit tighter to the body.

Just as I was about to leave a strange-looking dwarf entered the shop. His hand looked a bit more clawlike and had scaled up to the elbows. He also had a red bony mohawk like crest on top of his head instead of hair. he still had the big bushy dwarven beard though. If I had to hazard a guess he was part kobold.

He came up to me and asked “That your piles of bones outside laddy?”

“Yeah, those are my troops, who is asking?” I replied noticing that he was smiling so I didn't take too much offence to his tone.

“I'm Thalin Fireblood. This is my shop your standing in.” And he looked at the pile of weapons and shields behind me on the counter. “I see you came to the right place to get outfitted.”

“Yeah, I heard nothing but good things about this place, which giving the timeframe since you arrived was another plus in my book.” I reached out to offer him a handshake. “I'm Drakon the leader of the newly minted Death Stormers mercenary company.”

He took my handshake “A new mercenary company you say. I suppose you're the one the commander spoke of when I went to him with a request this morning.”

“Probably as the commander and I go way back.” Seeing the funny look he gave me I added “He was a part of my families adventure group before settling down here after their deaths.”

“Sorry to hear that laddy. It's always hard to lose loved ones.”

“It was a long time ago, just before the founding of this city. They were killed protecting the first fleet.” I let out a small sigh. “They went out in the way they would have wanted protecting me and the rest of the colonists. So even though it's sometimes hard, I like to remember them by doing what they did best. Protecting people.”

“Yeah, I heard from the commander that you were a bit of an idealist. I went to him this morning to ask if my daughter could become an armourer for the militia, as some of her milestones are slanted that way. He told me he didn't have an open spot at the moment but that there was a newly created mercenary company in town. One who was commanded by someone who had no prejudices to any race. ”

Looking a bit proud at the praise the commander had given me, not that he would say those things to my face mind you. “So I'm guessing you want us to hire your daughter then?”

“Sort of. I would like for you to take her on as a trial for now. I heard about your first mission. If you try her out, at least until you get back here for the caravan. I will give you the cost of those items behind your back to you. And outfit any other troops you have gathered in the meantime as well.”

“Sounds like a good deal. But I would like to meet your daughter first. Make sure we like each other before we spend a couple of weeks on the road together.”

“That makes sense. Meet me out back in a few minutes. I have a few things to unload first.”

“I'm in a bit of a time crunch at the moment. if you want me and the troops ould give you a hand.”

He nodded and we made our way to the smithy where we found a wagon that had piles of ingots stacked on it. With the extra hands, we made quick work of it.

Thalin disappeared for a few minutes then came back with what I assumed was his daughter trailing behind him.

The girl looked to be about my age. She looked to be a catkin. Catlike head with whiskers and cat ears. But instead of fur, she had scales which depending on how the light fell on them ranged from blue to greens and reds. The only thing that showed that she had dwarven blood is that her arms and legs were much more muscled than catkin usually have.

“This is my daughter Aura. As you can see her mother was a catkin, combined with my heritage I would say she inherited the best of all worlds right.” At that, the girl blushed and smacked her dads head. “Like mother like daughter. I'll let you two get acquainted.” And with that Thalin went back to work at one of the forges.

“So your dad said you were looking for employment.” and she nodded.

“Tell me a bit about yourself.” And motioned towards some benches at the side of the workshop so we could sit down out of the way.

“Well as you just heard I'm Aura. I'm a technomancer. My class is pretty unique.” As she started talking about her class some of the shyness melted away. “I tinker with things and am an armourer, focusing more on repairing and maintaining rather than forging like a true blacksmith. Some of my milestones deal with that, and that's why my dad tried to get me a position in the militia. I also have one Milestone that asks me to build my own automatons. And for the last few weeks since my awakening, I have been working on a couple of mechanical wolves. They still need a good amount of work before they are finished.”

That sounded promising in my mind. Repair and maintenance of the troops' armour and weapons, and maybe some exotic troops to add to the mercenary company later as well.

I spent a bit of time explaining to her about my class, the mercenary company and what our first mission was.

“As your dad said, we can do this on a trial basis. For you as well as for me. We are leaving in the morning. Our quartermaster Grim is already gathering supplies. We should have enough spare food to feed one extra. But you might want to pack your own tent and such.”

“Oh don't worry I have my own small cart and a pony to pull it. It was one of my first inventions, built before I was awakened. It looks like a big box on wheels, but I can fold it out into a full workshop. And a can easily set up some poles with a cloth to make a tent on top so I don't have to sleep on the ground.” I could see the glint in her eyes as she talked about the thing as if it was her baby. “For combat, I use a crossbow that I designed myself. And for close combat, I use an axe of course.”

“Ok, you are hired. Meet us at the training ground in the morning. Say around 10 o'clock. If you are interested, we are getting some practice against the militia this evening. You can tag along if you want.”

“Can't, if we are leaving tomorrow I will have to use all the time I can to get everything packed. I'm guessing you never travelled much with women before, we always take ages to pack.”

With that, I stood up and said my goodbyes. The skeletons are now armed with long spears and shields. I also decided to keep the short spears and repurpose them as javelins for now.

I got some lunch and then made my way back to the training ground.