"In a mercenary company, there ain't no such thing as dead weight. Everybody gotta carry their own weight. Even the kids could scour the field for loot when we're done, at the very least!" - Bjork Lorner, Commander of the Vanguard Legion mercenary company, circa 1 FP.
"Remember, be a good girl, and wait for us here."
Erycea had kept her mother's words in her mind. She listened obediently even when old granny Ursula brought her down a dark hole in the ground. There were rooms down there, in the dark, under the ground, where they were to stay.
The rooms in question were dank, humid, and hot, unpleasant to be in, and they stank all too much of soil and sweat. Even so, the little girl remembered her mother's words, and remained quiet in the room.
She behaved herself even when others - some her age, some younger, others older by a bit - cried in the dark, helped when the adults tried to calm the other kids down as best she could.
One time Bors - a half-orcish boy two years older than her - panicked and just would not calm down and even hit the adults that tried to calm him down with his fists so Erycea took matters to her own hands and laid Bors flat with a punch to his chin, just like her mother taught her.
The hit dazed the boy and he seemed to return to his senses when he got up, as he cried and apologized to everyone. Such cases were fortunately rare, though, and most of their underground stay was calm, if uncomfortable.
While the rooms where Erycea and some of the adults stayed at stank of sweat, when she wandered around a bit out of boredom, she smelt the strong scent of blood from other rooms.
Someone from inside the room waved at her, gestured her to come, and even though the stench of blood and other unpleasant smells were strong, Erycea could still smell a hint of a familiar smell from within.
She carefully walked over - on all fours - while taking care where she placed her hand and feet, so she did not accidentally step on someone, until she reached the source of the familiar scent.
"Auntie Dacia?" asked the little girl as she looked at the haggard, yet familiar face of the middle-aged woman that lay before her.
"Little Ery," said the woman, who looked older than her actual age of early forties as she gently raised one arm and rubbed the little girl's head, messing up her snow-white hair. "Can you be a dear and get auntie something to drink? It's by that table on the corner."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Sure, auntie!" said the little half-breed girl cheerfully. Her mother had told her to be a good girl, so she would.
Carefully, Erycea went to the corner, where a pitcher of water and some mugs were placed atop a table. She flipped one of the upside-down mugs, then held the pitcher with both hands and filled it three-quarters full of water.
She carefully held the mug in both hands as she walked back - on two legs this time - with her tail stretched out for balance. When she got back to Dacia's side, she gave the mug to the woman, who carefully grasped it with both hands before she drank.
Erycea kept Auntie Dacia - and a few other uncles and aunties, big brothers and sisters she vaguely remembered - company for the next while, her presence seemingly lightening up the dour mood in the room. Everyone was also happy to rub her head or scratch her chin when she was nearby.
A while later, she heard footsteps that approached the room, and looked towards the entrance to see old granny Ursula and big brother Loren. Granny Ursula seemed to sigh in relief when she saw her, as apparently she had been looking for Erycea for the past while.
"Don't blame her," said auntie Dacia from behind her. "The kid just tried to help us as best she could… and having her around helped us take some weight off our minds."
Erycea heard murmurs of agreement from some of the others in the room, and even Loren helped persuade granny Ursula to let her come over from time to time, to help in her own way.
Granny Ursula had grudgingly agreed.
From that day, Erycea came over to help when she had time. Sometimes she helped get water for them. Other times she helped carry the bags and cases for the healers and herbalists that visited. She was strong for her age, so it was within her means to do so.
As the days passed in the underground chambers familiar faces were added to those who lay down in the room that stank of blood. Faces she remembered well, others she remembered vaguely, many more were crammed into the room.
Her parents came to visit from time to time, and her mother always reminded her to be good before she left again, so Erycea always behaved herself. She tried to make herself useful, even if only in a small way.
On the last day she spent under the ground, she saw the healer uncles busy at work. Some of those who came from above smelt freshly of blood, some insisted on being treated just in the middle of the corridor so they could get back to the fighting as soon as possible.
Erycea saw how big brother Loren worked on auntie Grün, who was bleeding and had pieces of stone all over her arms and legs, and helped fetch more bandages when he ran out halfway into his treatments.
She saw auntie Sera carried on a stretcher, half her face deformed into an ugly bruise that had begun to turn purple. She fetched clean water for the healer to rinse some cloth in and carefully clean the injury on auntie Sera's face.
Her mother had limped along and made big brother Loren treat her leg right in the corridor. Erycea had come over and gave her mother a big hug, ignoring the blood and other icky things that were all over her mother's clothes. That had brought a smile to her mother's face.
Later she saw grandpa Hogarth carried in, unconscious and bleeding from the head, and helped bring the healer's medicine case as she rushed over to the unconscious old man.
Big sister Nicole was carried in even later, part of a spear still in her gut. Erycea had helped hold her hand - even when Nicole's grip turned painful for a moment - when the healer pulled the spear out and started to work on her wound.
Erycea had stayed with big sister Nicole as she cried after the doctor told her something the little girl didn't get, something about pines? The little girl cuddled the young woman's side and helped calm her down, until they both fell asleep.
Before she fell into slumber, Erycea only hoped that when she woke up, her mother and father would still be there for her.