The train arrived at the station with a lurching halt, and the sound of grinding metal announced their arrival in Stormwatch. Axel’s group had already packed up their gear and left the train along with the crowd of people. As the group walked, several people were giving Aria dirty looks as she was asked on the second day not to play in the casino anymore as she was affecting business. Axel had to deal with that pouting for the remainder of that day.
When the group arrived, their wagon was already unloaded, and the Pollox was being guided off the carriage. Jareth took charge of the beasts and hitched them to the wagon. When everyone loaded up, the group headed into the city.
Getting through the inspection was a process but it did not take too long. Axel was frisked by a female guard who gave him a little more attention than he felt was necessary, but he held his complaints as they needed to be in the city for a day for Jareth to make some trades. Stormwatch was much different from Greenhaven as instead of platforms taking people everywhere, there were larger platforms that took people between the different elevations of the city.
Jareth drove the wagon with ease that told Axel he had been there many times before, as he neither asked for directions nor slowed down to look for street signs. It took the group about ten minutes to arrive at a large marketplace when Jareth then jumped off the wagon and looked over at the group.
“This should only take about an hour, then we can leave for the hunting trip,” Jareth said while heading to an old-looking shop. “If you need anything, get it now while you can.”
As everyone had spent the last two days going through maps and supplies that they needed, everyone broke up into groups of two. Axel was shopping with Sky this time, and they headed into the shopping area that held smithing and tools.
Sky moved from building to building in happy little dances before going into one and starting to pick through tools. The shopkeeper was a Thalaxian and seemed to greet Sky as she nodded her head. Sky then moved through tools and bars of metal, putting some to the side while turning to the shopkeeper and shaking her manipulators at them. Axel really could not tell the gender of the large spider being.
It was kind of strange as the only noise was the movement of feet, objects being picked up or put down, and Sky at one point slamming her manipulator on the counter in what Axel guessed was a heated negotiation. Money was then handed over to the shopkeeper, and Sky bagged up the bars of metal into a storage bag that seemed to be bigger on the inside.
“You all good, Sky?” Axel finally asked as the silence was starting to get to him.
‘Huh? Oh!’ Sky seemed to realize that she was having a mental conversation with the shopkeeper and left Axel out. ‘I am sorry, Axel. It is a habit to enter the local hive mind when talking to my kind. I didn’t mean to leave you out of the conversation there.’
“It’s fine,” Axel replied and lifted the bag that Sky filled with a small grunt of effort as all the weight was still there even though it looked like a normal bag. “Let’s start heading back as we are getting close to the time we need to return.”
Axel led the way through the door when he noticed several Aurelians were hanging around the rooftops near the shop. All but one were in ratty armor and not the greatest maintained weapons. There was one in very nice armor with, from what Axel could see, a well-crafted blade on his hip. This city was known to have a high population of Aurelians and Vortans due to the terrain. The issue Axel was having was the ones in the area were watching him and Sky walking in the street.
‘Think we may have some trouble,’ Sky sent and set up a link between them.
‘Yeah, there are about six of them above, and they are not being subtle about it,’ Axel thought back.
As Axel was talking to Sky, a pair of Aurelians landed and blocked the path ahead while another pair blocked the way back. Axel could see that there was a pair on the roof with bows ready. Axel stopped and waited for the one in front to say his piece.
“So you are Axel Thunderstrider,” the one in a nicer set of armor started. “You have a nice bounty on your head.”
“So I have heard,” Axel replied slowly back while sending to Sky, ‘I will disrupt the two on the roof and fight the front two. Block or take out the pair behind.’
Axel looked around in a deliberately slow manner. “I am guessing you are here to try to take the bounty?”
“Yes, my men here will take you down quick...” The man started when his vision filled with the sight of a bag. The armor on his chest made a cracking noise from the weight and strength of the throw.
Axel then heard the thunk of arrows above hitting something, and the light above went out as Sky made a shield above them. Axel then peeked out and connected the pair of archers, causing them to yell in surprise and make a loud smack as they slammed into each other.
After Axel linked them, he avoided a wind blade from the last guy in front as he was making exaggerated motions, basically telling Axel where the near-invisible blades would be going. Axel charged forward and moved in a zigzag motion to avoid getting hit but was still tagged a couple of times. His healing took care of it in moments as this opponent did not seem to be well-trained.
As Axel arrived, he controlled his punch and knocked the Aurelian out with a likely broken skull, but he was breathing in the end. Axel turned and saw that the archers were still struggling to remove themselves from being stuck. Sky seemed to have dealt with the last pair by sending spikes into the joints of her opponents, disabling their ability to move.
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“Well, that went well,” Axel said to Sky as he removed the bag from the well-armored man, but Axel was sure that he was not getting up again as the armor was only pretty looking as this was caved in from the bag.
“Sky, can you create a rope to bind them?” Axel then asked her. “These seem more like the desperate than murderous types.”
‘Axel, are you sure this is not going too easy?’ Sky asked while creating the rope. ‘Do you think they won’t just come back with more or better fighters?’
“That is a possibility, and if they do, they die,” Axel said and looked each of them in the eye while only channeling a tiny bit of berserk. “I can’t blame someone down on their luck, and it will be worse for them as they will now need to get supplies to heal. They are very lucky to get this break, and if I find out they were the ones leading the next attack, I will find them.”
Axel saw each of them shake in terror and huddle together. Axel then turned away and deactivated berserk, noticing the usage time had dropped from two minutes to one minute fifty-five seconds.
‘Axel, you know you are very scary?’ Sky sent, and Axel looked to see she was partially hiding in an alley, peeking out at him.
‘Sorry,’ Axel thought back to her. ‘I am trying to find a balance with my life now so that I can live with my actions.’
‘Alright, but just don’t look at me like you did them, please,’ Sky sent back and quickly moved to catch up.
“How long will those ropes last?” Axel asked out loud after they had traveled a few blocks.
‘At my current level and how far we are moving from them,’ Sky said and thought for a moment. ‘I think about four more minutes.’
Axel traveled the rest of the way, regretting a bit that he killed the one man, but given the situation, there was not a lot he could have changed being outnumbered given his knowledge at the start. Axel also did not realize when they surrounded him that most of them did not seem to be better than cycle two with poor training. Axel and Sky arrived at the wagon first, so while he waited, he used his memory to relive the fight, finding flaws he could not see in the moment.
Pearl and Larimar were the next to arrive and seemed a bit surprised to see Axel and Sky there before them. When they arrived, Pearl tossed two heavy bags into the wagon and looked Axel over.
“Can’t go a couple of hours without a fight?” Pearl said and pointed at a few spots of blood on Axel’s shirt. “Do you need a chaperone wherever you go?”
“Just a couple of bounty hunters that me and Sky dealt with,” Axel replied and gave a careless shrug, trying to make it look like nothing while he still was working through the fight.
Larimar began to ask questions about it, but Axel just replied with generic descriptions as he did not want to talk about it in detail. As Axel was being badgered, Aria and Lyra arrived, each holding a bag stuffed with supplies that his group decided to get independently from Jareth and his nieces. Jareth was the last to arrive and motioned for everyone to hop in.
“We are wasting sunlight,” Jareth called from his driver’s seat. “If we leave now, we can make it to the village we want before night according to what I heard from the local merchant.”
Axel stayed out of view as he had already been noticed once, which surprised him, but sometimes bad luck happens. The wagon arrived at the main gate a short time later, and after a quick inspection, they were let through the massive gate. Axel could see the walls had many scars along them, much like Greenhaven. The city looked just as amazing as when he could see it from the train, with the many layers each almost a small city in its own right.
Just as the wagon turned a corner and would lose sight of the city, Axel saw a gigantic beast swimming through the air. It was a Sky Whale from the west, a gentle beast that could carry people over long distances. Axel had only ever seen a few as they traveled over his village when they were heading into the city that lived in the deep jungle. They tended to only be raised by large wealthy groups, and getting a ticket on one, according to his mother, would need the profit from an entire hunting season.
Then with a swish, the Sky Whale and city vanished from Axel’s sight, and the jungle thickened quickly. With the city out of sight, Jareth had the Pollox pick up the pace to a loping jog and pulled out his pipe, turning to look at the people in the wagon.
“Aria, do you mind scouting as we are not in a caravan this time?” Jareth asked, then looked at Pearl and Larimar. “You two take turns on watch. Axel, Lyra, and Sky will partner with you two as they don’t have the most experience with this, so try to learn from them.”
“Sure,” Aria chirped and shot out the back, taking wing without looking back.
“That’s fine,” Pearl replied. “I will take the first shift. Sister, you can take the one after lunch, and we switch at dinner.”
“I can work with that,” Larimar said and pulled out a bedroll to get comfortable. “Axel and Lyra will work with me while Sky tries to keep in contact with Aria, so we don’t lose her.”
With jobs assigned, those who were not on shift tried to relax, and Pearl started going over the job with Sky and Aria. According to Pearl, it was normally preferred to have at least two Aurelians for this assignment as it made shift work easier. The morning went by quickly, and they only stopped for a short time for lunch before cleaning up. Axel sat in the driver’s seat with Jareth to have a better view, and the afternoon was going much like the morning when Axel noticed off in the distance the sound of many feet.
Axel also noticed that Jareth stiffened to the sound but showed no other reactions. When he looked in the back, Larimar was going over duties, not seeming to notice anything or at least reacting to the sound Axel heard. When Axel looked back at Jareth, the merchant was back to normal, smoking his pipe with his usual smile on his face.
Something felt off, so Axel began to pay more attention to the surroundings for any beasts or bandits. Something came of his vigilance when they were getting to a break in the trees ahead that meant they were getting close to the village. Axel noticed that the foliage in several locations was misplaced and reached over the back of his seat, giving his team the hand sign for an ambush.
Pearl and Larimar were unsure what the hand symbol meant as it was not the standard storm sign, but Sky sent them both a message, and they shared a look before getting into positions. Aria strung her bow swiftly, Sky created a lot of sharp spikes, and Lyra loosened her blade. Pearl donned her armor as she had removed it to be more comfortable while not on watch, and Larimar slid to the back of the wagon. Jareth then reined in the Pollox and hopped off, seeming to start checking the axle of the wagon for damage.
Axel kept his posture relaxed and could see at least two shadows shift unnaturally on the right side. With his hand still over the back, he signaled that there were two on the right and unconfirmed more. Aria slipped out of the back of the wagon like a shadow and moved to get a better look. Sky did not set up a link as she was again setting up multiple spikes and could not spare the thought power but did relay to Axel.
‘Aria says there are five on the right, four on the left, and two hidden in the trees behind,’ Sky told him. ‘She is not sure if she was spotted coming out of the wagon, but they likely know.’
‘Fuck it,’ Axel sent to Sky back ‘Tell Aria it is time for plan F as I really don’t think these are friendly’s’
Axel then heard a happy squeal from Aria ruining any chance for stealth on her end and a heat built quickly into a ball of white flame. Aria rounded the corner and yelled “Plan F for FIREBALL!”