Geren! Been awhile! Stop by the army’s Davied headquarters sometime today if possible.
Geren collapsed into one of the seats in the Last Stand Mercenaries’ main lobby, exhausted. He and Shaugh had been sparring for most of the morning, something they didn’t get to do as much these days unfortunately. With the free time today, they relished the chance to get their blood flowing with an opponent of equal measure. It was a bonus that everyone else was gone, enjoying their time elsewhere.
Shaugh set a pair of cold drinks down on the table next to his chained gauntlets that he had removed after their battle, taking a seat with his drink and sliding the other to Geren. The mugs were large, and the juice was a tangy orange over ice. Perfect refreshment to recharge.
Geren took a large swig of his drink and let out a deep sigh when he was finished. “Whew. Good workout, gotta say I’m impressed you can still keep up with me. What with only being a part-time merc and all.”
Shaugh raised an eyebrow, the only part of his face visible with the mug up to his lips. He set it down after finishing a swig of his own. “Don’t have to be doing merc contracts to stay in shape, you know. Sure, my skills can get a bit rusty if I don’t practice, but strength and stamina are something anyone can maintain with the right regimen.”
“True.” Geren leaned back and stared at the high ceiling. “One of those ‘out of sight, out of mind’ things I guess. Don’t get to see you in action as often anymore, so my mind fills in the gaps by incorrectly assuming you’re falling behind somehow.”
“Hey, if nothing else I’ve gotta stay in shape to teach a lesson to the occasional knucklehead who starts trouble at my place. A good beatdown does a lot more than a ‘sir will you please quit being drunk’. Other patrons tend to get a kick out of it too.”
Geren laughed and brought his chair forward, resting his elbows on the table. “Yeah I imagine so. Speaking of, Burnttoast has the place under control today?”
“Yeeeaaah, he’ll survive without me for a day. Why, whatcha got?”
“A missive from Gabe. I was planning on heading to the army HQ when we were done here, if you want to tag along.”
He pulled out the letter he’d received from an army messenger earlier in the morning.
Geren! Been awhile! Stop by the army’s Davied headquarters sometime today if possible. I’ll be in my office here in Wallesen all day, and my Davied echo crystal will be available. I’ve got some news for you and figured I’d check in with what you’ve got going on as well.
Shaugh gave a wide grin. “Sure thing. I can tell him how I fought you to a draw. Seriously though, important business or just catching up?”
Geren shrugged. “Probably a bit of both. He’s the one who asked to meet though so I imagine he has something important to relay, even if it’s just something minor. I reckon I’ll catch him up on everything we’ve had going on here while I’ve got the chance also.”
Shaugh nodded. “Yeah, good idea. Alright then, less talking and more drinking so we can be on our way.”
The pair arrived at the gates of the army’s Davied headquarters about thirty minutes later. Geren provided his credentials to the soldiers at the gate. They nodded curtly and opened the gate for him and Shaugh to enter, each utilizing a chain pulley on either side of the gate to lift it up. The pair held the entryway up just long enough for Geren and Shaugh to pass through before lounging back down in a pair of seats nearby. They needed to resume looking listless and disinterested with gate duty. Geren figured it was a requirement in the job description.
Entering the fort’s main lobby, Geren looked around to identify where he was heading. One long, continuous walkway snaked around the round-walled interior of the main lobby all the way to the fourth floor. Several oval hallway entrances were visible on every floor, causing the facility to take on a hive-like appearance.
The room he was heading for was on the second floor, west side. He and Shaugh began to walk that direction but stopped when they heard a voice call to them from the opposite side on the ground floor.
“Hey, Boss! Shaugh, too!”
Geren looked over to see Jonas walking towards them, waving a friendly hand.
Jonas quickened his pace and caught up to them. “Didn’t expect to see you guys. I’d have had one of you meet with Goat had I known you had business here today.”
“Well, it was unexpected business. Gabe contacted me this morning after you’d left.” Geren replied.
Jonas nodded understandingly. He relayed the information he’d gotten from his meeting with the army’s scribe, Goat. When Jonas finished his recap, a cloud of uncertainty hovered over the three men.
“So…” Geren muttered, rubbing his chin. “The order Goat received to draft the contract was signed with the High King’s seal… Definitely smells of Skrell, which makes sense.”
“But what’s the deal with the third party?” Shaugh followed up. “He seriously had to leave the contract at a drop-off point for some shady dude to grab it?”
Jonas nodded, looking troubled. “That’s what he said. Whoever it is, they were from out of town. We figured that much out by reading between the lines. Could have been Skrell himself, but…”
Geren shook his head in agreement with Jonas’s hesitation. “Wouldn’t make sense, like we discussed yesterday. So it must have been someone he hired to act as the liaison to wash his hands of any direct involvement.”
Jonas adjusted his spectacles. “I was thinking you may have some luck with the city guards, possibly. About anyone they’ve seen enter Davied within the last couple of weeks that they don’t recognize, or anything like that. Oh, also—Goat was very apologetic for causing us any trouble. He tried his best to keep the language in the contract vague so as to not be too incriminating while still fulfilling his order, but his hand was forced when the initial draft was rejected. He told me everything he knew, however, in hopes it would give us a lead.”
“Right…” Geren muttered thoughtfully. “I’ll do some more investigating—the guards at the south gate like me, so I’ll check with them. I trust you let Goat know how much we appreciate his efforts?”
“Of course.” Jonas said with a laugh. “Though he did make it clear it wasn’t really a favor to us so much as it was him simply doing his job. You know how he is.”
“Yeah, and I know how you are too.” Geren jabbed a finger into Jonas’s chest half-jokingly, half-commandingly. “Now take. A. Break. It’s supposed to be a day off.”
Jonas sighed, but shook his head with a slight smile. “Okay, okay. I will say, however, that it isn’t my fault Goat wasn’t available yesterday. Technically this was just yesterday’s work being completed late.”
Geren glared at Jonas, though he did crack a smile himself.
“That said,” Jonas began, “you’re right. I’ll leave it to you two from here. But don’t either of you go spending your entire day off working either.”
Jonas departed back out the front of the building, and Geren and Shaugh resumed their trek towards the room on the west side of the second floor. Ascending the stairs, they cut left shortly afterward into one of the many hallways that dotted the facility.
This hall was decorated with dozens of doors on either side. The doors were all near enough to each other that it was obvious the rooms behind each door were not very large. They didn’t need to be—each one was a simple room with nothing but a pedestal, two chairs, and an echo crystal.
Geren and Shaugh continued down the tunnel-like hall with their boots echoing around them in a rapid pattern that sounded nearly like a trotting horse due to their steps being out of sync. Stopping short of the end of the hall where the steps lead up to the west side of the third floor, their goal was the second-to-last door on the right.
Opening the door, they stepped into the small room. These rooms were never locked, as the military wanted to make sure the crystals could be quickly accessed in emergencies to send messages to the appropriate parties across the country. The crystals themselves simply sat on the pedestal, which was nothing more than a simple stone pillar about three feet high with a bowl-like recess in the top that the crystal rested within. It wouldn’t do to have them locked up or affixed into a specific place somehow, as they were sometimes removed for mobile communication purposes. This did mean that it was theoretically possible for someone to simply grab a crystal and leave. However, it wouldn’t be worth much, and they’d also then have to deal with escaping the fortress.
Each pulling a chair up, Geren and Shaugh sat down on either side of the crystal, the door to Geren’s right and Shaugh’s left. The plain, stone room was just barely big enough to accommodate the two men. They were designed with the intent of fitting as many communication rooms as possible, alongside the idea that there was rarely a need for multiple people to ever need to use one of the rooms simultaneously.
Geren reached out and laid his hand on the strange device. Like all echo crystals, this one was specifically attuned to a similar one that was its partner. There were two known crystal mines on Venterias—one in the mountains near Daineado’s capital city of Saeone to the far northeast, and another in a cave within the forests of south-western Trausen. Almost exact opposite sides of the continent, which Geren always found strange.
Chunks of crystal mined from those places were sometimes used in jewelry or other decorations, but were most commonly used to create the communication devices known as echo crystals. The exact magical properties within were still relatively unknown, but the crystals could be attuned to each other through essence channeling. Holding two chunks of crystal close together and channeling essence through them—as if one was trying to activate a rune—would activate the pair and synchronize their essence. Once the process was done, channeling essence through one of the crystals again in the future would allow it to take auditory input signals and echo them out from its partner crystal.
The discovery was revolutionary to long-distance communication and had sparked a fierce debate amidst leaders across Venterias as to how the crystals should be properly handled and a system of control implemented. Geren had been amongst the constituents who were in favor of commercializing the crystals so anyone could purchase a pair for their own uses. The technology would have allowed him to potentially open a mercenary branch in another country, or even enable communication with team members who were out on duty. In the end, the Council mandated that usage of echo crystals be strictly limited to the official militaries of the continent leaderships, third parties who were performing a contracted service—with an official request needing granted by the Council to allow echo crystal usage for that service—for one of the continent leaderships, and authorized healers and doctors who held no allegiances and had to complete a thorough screening process.
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Geren channeled essence into the crystal from his fingertips, feeling the energy leaving his body and powering the crystal as he spoke. “Geren, leader of the Last Stand Mercenaries located in Davied, checking in for an appointment with General Gabriel of the Frelerian Military. I received a missive from the general requesting this appointment.”
He stanched the flow of essence as he finished speaking, though he kept his hand resting on the crystal in preparation to send further messages. Shaugh and Geren shared a look while they waited to hear a response.
“No need to be so formal. It’s just me.”
Gabe’s voice echoed around the small, stone room. It sounded slightly distorted but also higher-pitched, like someone singing from the other side of a closed window. An effect of the sounds transmitting through the crystals.
“Me too! Just so you know.” A voice with a softer touch on the ear and more energy came through the crystal as well shortly after Gabe’s voice had faded away. More feminine than Gabe’s, but not too greatly so, the voice was similar to Serana’s but slightly deeper.
Geren smiled. He channeled through the crystal again. “Lyranna too? Great, so we both brought a friend!” he replied, winking to Shaugh. The burly man announced himself while Geren maintained his channeling, his uniquely deep but smooth voice seemingly gliding across the slick stone of the walls and floor.
Gabe and Lyranna’s laughter mixed together in their response before Gabe continued speaking. “Nice to hear from you both! Hope the restaurant is going well, Shaugh. I’ll let Lyranna give you an update, Ger, on her business before we get into the reason I reached out to you today.”
There was just a brief pause before Lyranna’s voice replaced Gabe’s. “Right. So to start off… I’m now a Colonel! I’ve done my best to become trusted and important, getting a high rank as fast as I’m able. Just like you asked.”
“Entirely on her own merit too, I might add.” Gabe’s voice interjected. “Sure, I try to pull a string or two here and there to help her out or put in a good word to the other generals on her behalf, but her ascension through the ranks is thanks to her own abilities and hard work.”
As the words faded away, Geren felt as though he could almost sense Lyranna’s blushing at the praise through the crystal.
“Great job,” he began, “and keep it up. I’ll let Lyght know; he’s still bitter about you joining the army. It’ll make him feel better though knowing you’re getting the recognition you deserve.”
Anytime Lyranna’s name would come up in conversation around the guild, Geren felt a tug of guilt pull at his conscience when he thought of how upset Lyght was with the situation. Lyranna had wanted to try and do something more outside of the mercenary company to help make a difference in Freleria as she had explained to the others when they had been informed, but it had been Geren that actually suggested she join the military. Unofficially, since there was no paperwork, she was given a long-term job with no completion date. Join the Frelerian army, rise up the ranks, and give the Last Stand Mercenaries another powerful ally that had access to military resources and could possibly get into the ears of the other generals and the King. The situation let Lyranna pursue her goals for bettering the country outside of mercenary work while giving Geren—and Gabe—a good resource to utilize. Everybody benefited, save for the other Last Stand members who weren’t privy to the details of her enlistment—Lyranna’s own sister Serana included.
“So he still doesn’t know, huh?”
“Nope. Only Shaugh and Jonas.”
“Probably for the best.” She sighed. “Anyway, that’s not all I’ve got. You’ve heard the talk of Outlands beasts coming across the border?”
Geren nodded, then realized only Shaugh could see. “Yeah,” he said, stifling a laugh at himself, “we’ve got some firsthand experience actually. Maris had a job for an Irontail recently, and Lyght & Feros ran into another one in the mountains while on a separate job.”
“Well this won’t be breaking news then I don’t guess.” There was a hint of disappointment in her voice. “But, I’ve had similar encounters. I was stationed to patrol the areas where our border connects with Daeinado and the Northern Outlands recently, north of Serafah. My squad had five separate run-ins with such beasts in a three-week period. Three Irontails, one Truumda, and a Sourscythe.”
“A Sourscythe?” Shaugh asked incredulously as he placed his hand on the crystal. “Hell, never seen one of those things in person. I’d hoped they weren’t real.”
Laughter from Gabe escaped the echo crystal. “Oh they’re real unfortunately. Geren and I had run into one on that foray into the Northern Outlands eleven years ago. The tales are true, too—scythes for arms, pores that emit the foulest smelling gas on Venterias, ugly as can be.” His voice took on a more serious tone as his laughter died down. “Not the kind of thing you’d really want encroaching into civilized territory...”
Geren rested the rhythmic tapping he had been doing on the side of the crystal while thinking. “By the Architects, what is going on out there in those accursed lands? Have these creatures run out of prey to hunt in their usual grounds? Are there territory disputes pushing certain species away? What are the odds they’re running from something out there that we don’t even know about?”
Silence for a moment, before Gabe spoke up again. “All good questions. That’s why I wanted to check in and make sure you were aware. It’s good to know that you guys have encountered a couple further north from where Lyranna was stationed also… I don’t like it, but it’s good to know.”
Geren smiled inwardly at how similar Gabe's words were to his own when speaking to Lyght the previous day. Despite the years they'd been friends, he still found himself surprised occasionally by their similarities.
“So what’s the plan?” Shaugh asked.
“We haven’t discussed with the other nations yet… King Aylen didn’t want to let there be any doubt that our borders are secure.” Gabe seemed to scoff slightly at the thought. “I’ll get his approval to ask around though—I have a crystal that connects to Tross along the southern Garreghais border. I can check if they’re seeing similar activity from the Southern Outlands. There’s also a contact I’ve got in the Daeinado military who I can—hopefully—trust as well to corroborate for the Northern. We may need to start sending some scouting parties out… I know we’ve been trying to avoid that the last few years for good reason, but we need to know what’s happening out there.”
“Agreed.” Geren said plainly. “Let me know if you need anything from me. I’m not comfortable sending my crew members out there, but I’ll go myself if you ask.”
Gabe’s voice was audible for a split moment before Lyranna’s voice broke through instead. “We’ve got it covered, Chief! You’ve done your time. Let us do ours. This is a Frelerian border issue at the root of things, and we’ve got to start learning how to take care of ourselves without mercenary help. Weird as that is to say…”
Geren smirked and shook his head, sharing a look with a Shaugh. “Her initial enlistment in the military may have your fingerprints on it, but you can tell her heart’s really in it huh?” Shaugh asked with a slight grunt and a smile of his own. Neither man had their hand on the crystal.
“Yeah. She’s earnest, all right… was always her best trait, willing and eager to help anybody that needs it while also trying to keep her own duties from burdening others.”
He returned his hand to the crystal. “No, that makes sense. I completely agree—just remember I'm here as a resource you can utilize if needed. Before we get into the reason you reached out, Gabe, we’ve got stuff to discuss as well building on what Lyranna had mentioned about the Outlands beasts.”
The two men filled Lyranna and Gabe in on what had happened recently. The rumors Shaugh had heard at his bar, members of the Black Knuckles at the farm, the defeat of Barsh, Skrell’s visit and Jonas’s follow-up with Goat, and Lyght’s report on the possible raw rune. It felt nice to Geren to openly discuss all of the events out in the open. It was a bonus that it was with someone like Gabe specifically who had some real power to potentially do something, or at the very least the resources to properly investigate.
“Hmm…” Gabe’s voice came through as a low drone from the echo crystal. “Vangren did indeed have two Architect relics stolen… That’s unfortunate it's leaked out amongst the general soldiers and spread across the continent though. Next time you get news like that, corroborate it with me as soon as you can if you’re able. May save you guys some trouble.”
Geren and Shaugh gave a grunt in unison through the cyrstal.
“Thank you for taking care of Barsh. His crew was small and mostly stayed contained to their territory, but he’d been a thorn in our side for a while nonetheless. Just couldn’t spare the resources to track him down. I was aware of Skrell’s inquisition—he’s been charged with investigating the area from Council Citadel through northern Trausen and most of Freleria. The other generals are covering the rest of the continent with their own assigned sections. His visit to you definitely seemed intentional though, and with more than a little bit of hostility… I can check into it. Tell Jonas his sleight of hand is greatly appreciated. Whatever the situation, we can’t have the Frelerian army being suspected of colluding with anyone regarding stolen property of the High King.”
“Hey, we can’t have The Last Stand Mercenaries being suspected of that either, you know.” Geren replied with a chuckle.
Gabe responded with one of his own. “Ha, of course. There’s a bit of a difference in scale there though, but I am glad you got him off your back too in any case. I’ll look into the other things you mentioned as well. Even if they were deserters, the border guards to the south need to be aware of the Black Knuckles’ movements. And I’ve been investigating a lead on something with raw runes on the black market actually, so I’ll include Lyght’s report in my notes.”
“Sorry to lay all that on you, but it’s been awhile ya know?” Shaugh chided. “Besides, gotta keep you guys busy since we’re out here doing all the real work.”
“Very funny.” Lyranna said with a sarcastic, dry laugh. “Now, the General has something a bit more exciting to share. Actual good news to take a break from all this gloom and doom talk.”
“Well I thought you becoming a Colonel was both good news and exciting but maybe that’s just me.” Geren responded with a smirk Lyranna unfortunately couldn’t see. He leaned back—as much as he could anyway in the too-small room—with one arm across the back of his chair, satisfied when the only response that came through the crystal was a raspberry sound.
Gabe’s voice came through next. “Alright then, now that we’ve got all of our jokes out of the way… wait, we do, right?”
“What did the Feroxi say to the—” Shaugh began.
“Great! Thought so. Anyway, there’s going to be a tournament in Senaire fairly soon. Well, soon-ish at least. They haven’t formally announced it yet, since King Haydel is wanting to get the behind-the-scenes affairs in order to make sure the city’s prepped for the influx of people, which is why we’re privy to it. Figured you’d want to send a few people down for it—wanted to give you a chance to get a head start on training and whatnot.”
“Senaire, huh?” Geren mused, meeting Shaugh’s eyes. “Down in southern Trausen… pretty far away, but we could swing it. Do you know the rules and prize pool or any of that yet?”
“Unfortunately no, we’re just looped in on the existence of the event itself since Freleria will be assisting with security. Some of our court nobles and the like will be attending. To spectate, before anybody has a clever quip about them fighting.”
“You know us too well!” Shaugh bellowed with a laugh.
“It’s going to be at the end of summer. They’re trying to finalize the exact dates it’ll run for.”
End of summer, huh… We’re in mid-spring right now…
“Plenty of time.” Geren said with a nod. “This’ll be fun. It’ll be a good way for my crew to blow off some steam and take their minds off of things. I’m sure we’ll have more than a few people that are eager to show what they’ve got. Thanks for the early notice.”
“Anytime. I believe that covers everything; I’ll get started on looking into those things you mentioned.”
“Appreciated. Well, we’d better get back to enjoying our day off. Those don’t come around often, you know.”
“Ha! Well, enjoy the reprieve, guys. Pleasure talking with you. I’ll follow up once I’ve got some news or a lead of some kind. The front desk at the Davied office there knows you have open permission to use my crystal, by the way, so just contact me if you need me. Can’t guarantee I’ll be available, but worst-case scenario I'm out and you waste your time.”
“Bye, Boss! Bye, Shaugh!” Lyranna’s voice followed soon after Gabe’s.
Geren and Shaugh said their goodbyes and sat for a moment. When no more sounds came from their crystal, they got up to leave. “Well, back to the hall.” Geren said. “Wonder how everyone else’s days are going?”