12 Tagsibol, 891 ED
Oraw, 12:33
Gorteau Plains, Empire of Tyrman
Traveling with a trader proved to be a very dull affair. Of course, Gogo had already suspected this, but I had yet to learn the lesson. But after nearly five hours on the open stretching plains to the west of Shiinor, I had to admit that I was bored. In such situations, I might have passed the time with a conversation, but Gogo didn’t seem too interested in talking, and the other three members of our group were strangers.
Reiner walked mostly in silence, his eyes straight ahead and his shoulders held back in a stiff position. I wasn’t sure who he thought he was performing for, putting up such a dignified stance. Behind him, Anko and Liber held positions to the left and right of the trader. They were incredibly disciplined, I thought. They never allowed more than five feet to stretch between them and the man they guarded. And still, they didn’t utter a single word.
“Your companions aren’t the chatty type,” I commented, moving close enough to Reiner to start a conversation. “Did we offend them in some way?”
Reiner cast a quick glance behind him at the two massive warriors, then gave a shrug. The gesture was disinterested, almost disdainful. Certainly not the type of attitude one would take toward the help they’d hired to guard their life. “They cannot speak.”
“Why is that?” I asked, glancing back at the warriors. They didn’t seem injured. “Were they cursed?”
“In a way,” he replied, and a thin smile curled his lips. “Have you heard of the Warlords of Kimande?”
I nodded. It wasn’t a new part of Ahya, but I had created the system fairly recently. When a warrior was defeated, the victor claimed the right to that warrior’s life and would absorb them into their army. You could tell the strength of a warrior by counting his followers. Warlords formed pacts with each other through the usual methods.
“Well, their last Warlord instructed them that they were not to speak,” Reiner said delicately. “They follow that order to this day.”
“Wait,” I said, suddenly confused. “They are Thrall Warriors?”
“But of course,” Reiner said. “Why else would they be so obedient?”
“Fair point,” I said quietly, then moved away. Something about the exchange rang oddly in my mind, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Resolving to put some serious thought into it later, I picked up the pace, moving to walk beside Gogo. Apart from turning to acknowledge my presence, she made no other motion to greet me.
“What do you think of the two Kimande warriors?” I asked her. This time, I was smart enough not to look back at them. “Reiner’s just told me that they cannot speak.”
“Probably an order from their Warlord,”
“That’s what he said,” I agreed. “But what Warlord would give such an order? If they respected their opponent, they’d make them a fighter, wouldn’t they?”
I couldn’t quite figure out what the meaning of Gogo’s look at me was, but I knew it wasn’t good. “Have you ever been to the Untamed Continent?”
I was about to reply that I had, as I’d designed it. But something told me that it wouldn’t be wise to do so. “No, I haven’t. But I’ve read about the Warlords of Karima and Kimande. I know how the system works.”
Gogo shook her head. It wasn’t quite in a pitying way, but it was close. “If you’d met enough Warlords in your time, or even heard stories from the twin nations, you’d know that not every Warlord was an honorable sort.”
“What do you mean?”
“Some Warlords do not defeat their foes to increase their power. Some do it only for the pursuit of wealth.”
“Wealth? What are you talking ab-”
“Oh, use your brain, Tuck,” she snapped. For an instant, her mask of calm indifference slipped away to show the anger underneath. “If you own a person’s life until you yourself are defeated, what would stop you from selling them? Under Karimande law, they are your property, after all.”
“I wouldn’t sell anyone,” I replied at once, hurt that she’d think so low of me. “That’s just wrong. I wouldn’t disrespect them like-”
“That’s the point,” she replied shortly, cutting me off again. “You have respect. But not all Warlords do.”
Now I did glance back at Anko and Liber, frowning. “You mean to tell me that Reiner is not their Warlord.”
“Not really, no,” Gogo replied. Our eyes met, and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing.
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“They’re slaves. Their Warlord sold them off to Reiner, and he’s using them as mindless servants.”
It was enough to make my blood boil. In fact, my hand was already resting on the hilt of my sword, ready to stabilize it so I could draw it. But Gogo, seeing my action, nudged me painfully in the ribs to shock me back to my senses. “Don’t you dare.”
“You expect me to do nothing while there are two enslaved men within a dozen feet of me?” I asked. Now my anger was the one that showed the hottest. “I’m not going to let that weasely bastard get away with slavery. Not if I can help-”
“It won’t do any good!” Gogo hissed. “You will not free them by killing him!”
“How could you possibly know that? He’s their Warlord now, isn’t he?”
“No, actually, he’s not. He’s just the man that their Warlord sold them to. They don’t recognize him as a warrior.”
“Even better,” I growled. “That means they won’t care if I kill the man holding their shackles.”
“If you attack Reiner, they will be forced to defend him,” Gogo said, and she actually grabbed my right forearm with one of her own, stopping me from drawing the sword. I tried to break free.
Contested Grapple Check: 7 (+2) = 9 [Failure]
Gogo’s grip was like iron, and I couldn’t shake it off. “They will fight you, Tuck. And even if you kill Reiner, the fight will not end.”
She was right, of course, even if I didn’t want to admit it. Kimande warriors followed the orders of their Warlords until the breath left their bodies, and even past that in some extraordinary cases. Even after Reiner was dead, they’d fight to avenge him, slavery or not. We’d have to kill Anko and Liber to survive. And I wasn’t even sure we could win against them. They seemed like capable warriors. Of course, as soon as I began to mentally compare them, information flashed across my field of vision.
Anko Moyo
Level 8 Barbarian
Chaotic Neutral
Liber Boyo
Level 8 Fighter
Neutral Good
Reiner Larsson
Level 4 Wizard
Lawful Neutral
I guess that settles that, I thought, releasing my grip on the sword’s handle. Gogo and I might be able to defeat Reiner in combat, but even that would be a close call. There was no chance in hell we could take on the brothers. Gogo noticed my move and released her own grip, though she continued to watch me closely, making sure I didn’t try to attack.
“Bastard,” I snarled, glancing at Reiner again. The Welsik trader didn’t seem to notice my glare, but Anko and Liber certainly did. I met their eyes, one at a time, and they must have read enough from my expression to realize that I knew now. Slowly, almost unnoticeably, Liber shook his head.
“There’s nothing you can do,” Gogo repeated. “At least, not yet.”
“Not yet?” I asked, whipping around to look at her so fast that I cricked my neck. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean, we’re about to cross through an area filled with dangerous beasts,” she said, her voice so low that only I could hear it. “Anything could happen out here.”
And the thought of that possibility, however, faint, was enough to put a smile on my face. I quite liked the idea of the stuck-up trader being devoured by some magical beast. I didn’t even care that it would go against my contract with the man. If he died, Anko and Liber wouldn’t be enslaved, and we could make it to Milagre on our own.
“Look,” Gogo said suddenly, her eyes narrowing. She pointed off to the northeast. “Something’s moving over there.”
“That’s directly on our path,” I commented. I strained my eyes, but couldn’t make out any details from this distance, not having Gogo’s sharp eyes. “What do you think it is?”
“It doesn’t look like a winged creature. And seeing as I can spot it from this far away, it’s got to be a large creature at least.”
“Let’s hope it’s just a plains lion,” I said. I didn’t really fancy the idea of fighting a magical beast while distracted by my anger at Reiner. “Should we try to move around it, just to be safe?”
Gogo opened her mouth to reply, then hesitated, and let out a curse. “Well, that’s not an option anymore. It’s aware of us now.”
Off in the near distance, in the direction that Gogo was staring, we heard a dull roar. At the sound, Both Anko and Liber moved forward to stand protectively in front of Reiner, pulling short curved blades from under their cloaks. Reiner didn’t draw any kind of weapon, but he did at least look around, mildly surprised as he came to a stop.
“Here it comes!” Gogo called loudly back to the other three.
“What kind of beast is it?” Reiner’s thin voice floated back through the cool plains air.
“We’ll let you know when we see it!” I replied.
It didn’t take us long to find out. At first, I thought my guess had been correct by sheer luck and that it was a plains lion running to our position. It certainly looked like a lion. But once it got closer and I could start to make out details, I saw the flickers of light that danced off its hide and its dark blue color with a shock of white fur that formed the main and at the end of its tail.
“Son of a bitch!” I cursed. I drew my sword, but just then couldn’t think of any way to fight the creature charging at us. “That’s a damn Thunder Lion.”
A magical variant of a lion, the creature was as rare as a diamond. It was infused with electricity, and the element would only make it stronger. It was also incredibly fast, able to attack multiple times in a turn, and its hide was thick as hell. And that was just counting its non-magical abilities, like the ability to set off a small area bomb of lightning or stun anything that hit it.
Thunder Lion
Challenge Rating 11
“We’re so fucked,” I muttered, barely loud enough to let Gogo hear. “Of all the monsters we could have run into out here, and we had to get the fucking King of the place?”
Unfortunately, I wasn’t given much more time to complain. When it was about three hundred feet away from us, it stopped its advance and crouched low. It was getting ready to pounce, I thought, and reactively leaned to the side. It didn’t even occur to me that the distance between us was too great for any normal beast to clear. Instinctively, I knew that monster could. And sure enough, it threw its massive body into the air as soon as I had the thought, and flashed across the open plains towards us, a roar of challenge rippling from its maw.