“You’re telling me that wendigo is what’s been killing all my cattle?” Lord James Winchester said skeptically. He wasn’t a very impressive-looking man, standing at around 5`10 he was quite a bit shorter than Arya and barely as broad. He wore plate armor, the only one in his band of men to do so. Even so, it was obviously of poor quality, nothing compared to that worn by the royal guard. He was followed by three ‘knights’, who wore mail shirts that went down to their knees and carried swords and shields. The two dozen or so men at arms that stood in three ranks behind him were armed with spears and shields.
“That is correct, James,” Cassandra said, the man frowned at the use of his first name but let it go. The girl in front of him was the royal princess and she could do whatever she wanted.
“It…” he waved a hand at the farming hut, “ignored all the people and killed the cattle instead?”
“That is correct,” she confirmed, confidence apparent in her every motion.
“But why?”
Arya shrugged, “why do demons do anything? We couldn’t tell you the answer. For all we know, maybe it knew the people were keeping the cattle penned up and fed. Killing them would mean a loss of an easy source of food. Anyways, shouldn’t you be thanking us for solving your problems instead of questioning us?”
Winchester’s face went red, “I’ll have you watch your tone girl. Back when my father was king, no one would dare talk to me like that.”
She scoffed, “Good thing he isn’t a king anymore. Hell, your house doesn’t even own this fief.”
His face shifted from an angry red to an unhealthy shade of purple. It looked like he was about ready to burst a blood vessel. The knights that stood with him began to draw their swords, willing to fight for their lord’s honor. Cassandra shot her an irritated look, “Quiet, Arcturus. There is no need for violence.”
“He shouldn’t have called me girl,” she said, crossing her arms. Cassandra rolled her eyes. She could be prickly about such matters.
“I’m sure he meant no offense,” she said, hoping the man would catch her hint and apologize. To her relief, he did and gritted out an apology that everyone knew he didn’t mean. She shrugged internally, many of the lesser nobles had no love for their betters.
“In any case, we’ve killed the demon and saved you the trouble of having to do so yourself,” Cassandra said.
“Is it possible for us to see it? Wendigo fangs have some rather fascinating properties.” Winchester explained.
Val’s face scrunched up in disgust. It wasn’t common knowledge, however, wendigo fangs had incredibly aphrodisiac abilities. She found its use rather distasteful and had pushed her father into outlawing its sale. If Cassandra knew about what he was asking after, it didn’t show on his face.
“Unfortunately, the beast was destroyed utterly in combat. Our magician,” she pointed at Val, who looked at the man with obvious distaste, “Vivian Valentine, incinerated it instantly when we were attacked.”
Winchester’s brows shot up and Val winced visibly, it seemed Cassandra wasn’t aware of their properties. Wendigo fangs alone were inert; they needed to be burned and ground up into a powder to have any effect.
“Truly?” he asked with barely contained excitement. He leered hungrily at the four of them and Val couldn’t take it anymore.
“Luckily, I was able to counter the effects before anything… unbecoming could happen,” she said with an arched brow as if daring the man to continue with his train of thought. The disappointment on his face almost made her laugh and Cassandra gave her a confused look that vanished in seconds.
“I see,” Winchester said. He at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “Very well then, I thank you for your services and extend my humble hand in gratitude. Anything that I could give is yours.”
“There will be no need for that.” Cassandra said, “we are guardians, after all, it would not do for us not to serve the people.”
“But even so, all I ask is that you stay at my estate for a night, so that I may show my thanks.”
“No thanks.” Val said quickly before any of them could agree, “we’ve delayed our mission enough by staying here an extra night. We’ll be riding for a while after this.”
The others gave her surprised looks and even glares. They had spent far too long away from the comforts of home. Even if Winchester couldn’t live up to the expectations of what they were used to. It still would be better than the poor villages they’d been staying at before.
“I see.” he frowned, “very well then. I will be going now. My men will be missed at their homes. There is still much work to be done on the farms.”
They said their farewells and Winchester made a circle about his head with his hand. The soldiers did an about-face and began marching in the other direction. The moment they were out of earshot, Cassandra turned around, eyes red with anger.
“Vivian!” she hissed, “what in Passion’s name was that?”
“What do you mean?” Val asked, offended.
“The lords here already hold no love for us. Why would you shut him down so fast? At least try to sound diplomatic about it next time! Not to mention we could have rested and restocked at his castle.” she said.
“I’m not sure if you could tell,” she said pointedly, “but that lord was trying to take advantage of us.”
“What!”
Illia nodded happily, “yep. I could smell it off of him. I’m a little disappointed he didn’t try anything there and then.”
“Don’t sound so happy about it!” Arya said aghast.
“Ignore her,” Cassandra said, “explain yourself.”
Val quickly brought them up to speed on the effects of Wendigo fangs. Cassandra’s face fell as she lectured.
“I’m surprised you of all people would make a mistake like that,” she said, looking at Cassandra.
“Why? I’m no magician or alchemist. My knowledge of such things is only academic and rarely ever focus on aphrodisiacs.”
She shrugged, “I just thought that being a princess would mean you’d have to be able to identify them. You know, in case anyone tried to roofie you at a feast.”
“That has never occurred to me.” Cassandra frowned, “how available are these things.”
“Pretty common on the black market. Hell, I bet you could get some in the Leviathan underground the night we get back.” Val said.
“Looks like someone’s interested. Is there anyone, in particular, you’re thinking about using it on?” Arya teased.
“USING IT ON!” she squawked, “no, I hadn’t even thought about that before you mentioned it. What is wrong with you!”
Arya shrugged, “nothing, I was just thinking.”
“Thinking what!”
“How much fun it’d be to stuff some of that into Alex’s drink once we get back. See how long I can tease him before he snaps,” she said dreamily. The other girls gave her looks of pure disgust.
“M-moving on.” Illia stuttered, “let’s get on the road, we’ve wasted a day already.”
The hours passed and the wagon rolled at its steady canter. Val was the first to fall asleep, rightfully so after expending so much energy fighting Gideon. Cassandra wasn’t the most knowledgeable about magic but even watching the combat had seemed exhausting and gut-wrenching. The next to drop was Illia for a very similar reason. She’d gone to get Winchester the night before, the little help he’d been. The little elf girl had pulled two all-nighters in a row and was curled up into a ball on top of her suitcase.
Arya returned to her homework from the moment she’d finished packing and loading her gear. She grumbled and cursed to herself quietly as to not disturb her teammates while silently shooting Cassandra pleading looks. Looks that she chose to ignore until Patch finally fell asleep.
“What?” she asked.
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“I need help,” Arya said pitifully.
Cassandra rolled her eyes, “what could you possibly need help with? This is all work we’ve done in class.”
“Yeah well I still need help,” she said, when the princess went silent and she realized asking wouldn’t get her anywhere she turned her puppy eyes on full blast. “Please?”
The two stared at each other for almost a minute before Cassandra finally gave in.
“Fine.” she huffed, “out with it.”
Arya brightened, “What are the apex species of the north, midlands, and south? I know Gigacat is the apex creature but she doesn’t count.”
“The southern dragon, midland Enki, and northern unicorn,” she said confidently.
“Really, a unicorn?”
“Yes, we wrote a whole paper on why they were arguably the most powerful land creatures to ever walk the lands. Did you not do that one either?”
“No I did it.” she paused before admitting, “well actually Alex did it and let me copy off of his.”
Cassandra let out an exasperated sigh, “do you need for me to explain why unicorns are apex predators?”
“Not unless one of these papers asks me to explain my reasoning,” she said and thumbed through the thick sheet of assignments. “Crap.”
Taking that for a yes, she straightened out her travel outfit and began reciting lines like she’d memorized them, “We shall start from the south and make our way up. The Draconis Ignis, commonly found around the volcanic ring of the great waste south of Varus, are the largest and most aggressive of all known dragons. A full-grown male will grow to three hundred feet in length and almost double that in wingspan. While females will grow their entire lives and to this day, it is unknown if the passing of time affects their bodies. However, it is the special attributes of their fire breath that makes Draconis Ignis stand out from the other members of the Draconis genus-”
“Slow down!” Arya hissed, “how fast do you think I can write?”
“Write?” Cassandra asked, annoyed at the interruption, “just memorize the lecture and write it down afterward. Where was I?”
“Hold on! Not everyone has your infuriating gifts,” she said, still writing.
Cassandra scoffed, “nonsense, anyone can memorize passages. It’s just that most do not try hard enough.”
Arya bit down on her tongue in frustration, even after being friends for more than a decade. She still found some of the royal princess’ habits rather annoying. Whether she just didn’t realize how much smarter she was than the average person, or just didn’t care, the facts were that few people in the entire empire could keep up with her in any academic field. Shaking her head she looked back up from her paper to see Cassandra looking at her expectantly. “-did you get that?”
The sigh that came from her could only be called explosive.
/-/
Four guards stood atop the tower with two on the ground below. The iron portcullis was slammed shut and they made no move to open it at the sight of us. Their faces managed to seem both terrified and relieved at the same time. None wore any kind of metal armor or carried swords. Spears were the weapon of choice, simple, easy to make, and even easier to use.
“Who might you be when you're at home?” One of the guards challenged. He wore a wolf's skin cloak. The wolf’s mask and its upper jaw served as a cap for the wearer.
I snorted, “they certainly aren’t ones for procedure up here in the north.”
“We aren’t even that far north.” Silver said, “still haven’t passed the Forever Fall Forest yet.”
“Damn you! Answer me or we’ll have your heads!” the man roared.
“I doubt it.” Noah muttered before saying louder, “we’re the team from Leviathan that you sent for.”
The guard turned to one of his fellows, “did we ask for help?”
The other shrugged, “you’re the watch captain, shouldn’t you know this kind of stuff?”
They were silent for some time before finally, the captain said, “I’m going to need some kind of proof. Wes can’t just let anyone in, with raiders and the like nearby.”
We all turned to look at Silver, he looked back with a blank expression, “what?”
“You’re supposed to have everything we need to get in.” Sam whispered as to not be overheard, “that’s what Ms. Mallory told us.”
“Mallory? She didn’t give me anything,” he whispered back.
“Did you ask?” Alex asked.
“Well…”
“Of course he didn’t.” I sighed, “fine. Does anyone have a better idea?”
“We could just give him a random paper and hope it works,” Alex suggested. Silver scoffed.
“As if that would work.” I had been hesitant of the idea before but out of spite, I found myself agreeing with Alex.
“Noah, hand him one of your letters,” Sam said.
“Fine.” Noah sniffed and rummaged through his bag. The guards watched us with suspicious eyes until Noah tossed the carefully folded message into the air and guided it into the guard's hands.
“Showoff,” Alex said.
Noah grinned back, “says you, you use those clones of yours all the time.”
“That’s different.” he said, “I use them to woo women and make life easier. You’re just doing it to look cool.”
“What?”
I snapped my fingers between their faces, “Hey we’re on the job now. A little bit of focus would be appreciated.”
“Sorry,” they said and immediately quieted down. The captain held the paper way too far away from his face and examined it.
“Ah yes, words… I understand these words for I partake in reading all the time,” he said flipping it around and tilting his head. For some odd reason, he seemed rather nervous and embarrassed. Seeing my chance I asked, “So we’re good to go, right?”
Relieved, the man nodded vigorously, “Of course, of course, seeing as I have checked this message extensively. I will allow you in.”
The two guards on the ground began pulling on ropes, hoisting the portcullis high and letting us entire. The men watched with slightly less suspicious eyes as we passed onto the bridge.
“Hmm, that’s odd,” Sam said as we walked. His eyes were firmly locked on the stones below us.
“What?” I asked.
“This bridge definitely wasn’t built by humans.” he said, “or at least these humans.”
“How can you tell?”
“It's of a far better quality than it has any right to be.” he said, rapping on the waist-high border, “this is marble.”
Alex looked unimpressed, “So? My house had marble too.”
“Marble surfaces perhaps, but the foundation wasn’t made of it. That would be too expensive, even for your family. Not to mention the weight.”
“Big deal.” I said, “doesn’t change our objective, so why bring it up.”
“Because,” he said, “the tower we just passed through wasn’t nearly as well made.” I opened my mouth but he put a hand up, “I’m getting there. That means that someone or something killed off or drove away the original builders. Which doesn’t bode well for us.”
“Can’t be anything we won’t be able to take on.” Alex said confidently, “We’ve got the best overall combat record in our year.”
Silver scoffed, “A fat lot of good that was against Sarah. I heard she mopped the floor with you clowns.”
“That was only because someone,” I glared at Noah, “decided to ditch me when we had her two on one.”
“C’mon man, we had her four on one and still got crushed. Me being there wouldn’t have changed a thing.”
I sniffed, “still would’ve been nice.”
“Halt!” a new guard shouted. We stopped and stared up at them. The gate into the town was opened; however, a dozen guards hefted spears in our direction and four more stood on the tower with crossbows trained on us.
“Are you fucking serious?” I muttered.
“Stand and be recognized.”
“But you have no idea who we are.” Alex protested, “you wouldn’t recognize us at all.”
“We’re the team from Leviathan.” Silver said, “We already showed the letter to the man at the gate.”
“Leeson?” he asked, “didn’t know he could read. Very well then, it wouldn’t do for us to keep you waiting.”