Chapter 37

Barak Made his way through the halls of the outpost, walking through the main corridor that came from the training area, he turned the corner stumbling upon Levant, Aster and Brie, the three were about to go into one of the side passageways, the one that led to Amon’s office, they stopped when Levant spotted Barak heading towards them,

“Finally up eyy”, Levant jokingly said towards barak,

“you know it can’t be helped, we had a hell of a party last night, so much so that that lightweight Polaris is still outside sleeping it off, I think”, Barak said pointing back the direction he came from,

“should’ve figured, he can’t help”, Levant said shrugging his shoulders,

“I’m pretty sure that if he was that plastered you had something to do with it”, Aster pointed out,

“seriously you guys need to stop doing that to him, you know he can’t handle that much drinking”, Aster continued,

“he’s the one that does it to himself, I just don’t stop him”, Levant replied, Aster put his face in his palm,

“You’re just as responsible then”, Aster said,

“oh I know”, Levant replied,

“where you guys headed now ?” Barak asked the two of them,

“we are going to drop off this at Amons’s office for yumi, Why got something in mind ?”, aster replied, as he showed Barak the armor,

“yeah was just thinking about heading into town, scope out the place and actually see the guild headquarters”, barak answered,

“but all that after I go and have a shower”, he added on,

“sounds cool, I was actually thinking about doing that myself”, Levant answered,

“what are you about Aster”, levant asked,

“yeah that bath sounds like a good idea, you reek of drugs and alcohol”, Aster pinched his nose and turned away,

“ I meant going into the capital blockhead”, Levant said,

“Obviously we have to go, how else would we know where to go once we decide to storm it”, Aster said,

“Besides he dropped in on our home base, so why don’t we do the same”, aster continued,

“okay great so we have a plan, I’ll go take a shower and wake up pol while you guys take care of whatever it is you have to take care of”, Barak replied,

“well that was rather short”, Levant whispered,

“he’s probably hungover, you know how he gets”, Aster said, putting his hands behind his head continuing down the corridor, brie had a look of concern on her face but continued on also,

“Lev come on, we’ll have plenty of time to talk on out way to town”, Aster said,

“ugghh I guess you’re right”, Levant said following the other two, After a series of turns they arrived in front of Amon’s office, and without knocking Brie opened the door, Amon sat there, this time the room was surprisingly well lit, he had a cigar in one hand, and the other hand on a map laid out on the table, he blew smoke from his mouth, it smelt of burnt wood lingering in the air, A somber feeling emanated from the room, from him, the three of them shuffled in the room, with Aster and Brie standing directly in front of his desk, while Levant took a seat on the couch, his gaze slowly drifted from the map on to the two people who now stood in front of him,

“This is an unexpected visit, I was expecting everyone to be hung over this morning”, Amon said, taking his eyes off of his visitors ad looking back down the map,

“Can’t be hung over if you were never drunk in the first place”, Aster said, his gaze now shifting on to the map that was in front of Amon,

“is that a map of the capital”, Aster said, running his finger along the edge as he took a closer look at the map,

“Of the capital and the surrounding area, why”, Amon answered, moving the red and white square pieces around the map, as if they were opposing each other,

“we are thinking about heading into the capital, just need it for directions”, Aster said,

“oh doing some reconnaissance before your big fight, smart”, Amon said, looking back up at Aster again,

“look on the shelf the maps are over there”, Amon pointed to the bookshelf on the opposite side of the room from the door, Aster had been slightly unnerved, his first meting with Amon he seemed much more relax, albeit he was high, but the man in front of him now seemed much more reserved and in control,

“we also brought some armor for you to give to yumi, turns out this one here is a huge help, I’ll have to thank Yumi for finding him, when I see her later”, Brie blurted out, Amon leaned forward onto the table, pressing his chin into the palm of his hand, his eye looking up and down at Brie,

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“I must say Brie, you’re looking extra astonishing today”, Amon said,

“ugghh”, Brie said, stepping a bit behind Aster,

“relax, it’s always fun when I tease, you”, Amon said, Levant sat back quietly in his seat, his eyes trained on Amon,

“well if you do see Yumi tell her to come see me, I haven’t seen her since we finished with the presentation last night”, Amon said,

“what really, that’s strange”, Brie said,

“well, I’m sure she’ll turn up somewhere”, Amon replied,

“you sure do seem to have a lot of faith in her”, Aster pondered, Stepping away from the desk and looking at the bookshelf, the maps had string tied around the middle and end of them, as they were rolled, on the string at the end had tags with the names of villages written on them, his hands jumped from scroll to scroll,

“Ahh this one”, Aster said, picking up a scroll, with the tag that read, Drach(capital), and surrounding areas,

“well from what I’ve seen it’s a lot like you and your little clique, once you fought and lived alongside someone you become almost fully aware of just how capable they are”,

“Almost ?”, questioned aster,

“yup, and that’s simply because people don’t stop adapting or growing so there’s always room for a surprise or two later on in life”, amon continued,

“well I can’t deny that, your closest friends can be the ones who surprise you the most”, Aster said, unrolling the map,

“well thanks for the map”, Aster said, heading through the door,

“by the way, if you are going to the capital, stop by the Redwing Cafe, they have the best food in town”, Amon said,

You coming Lev”, Aster asked,

I’m going to stay behind for a minute, got a question I want to ask’, levant responded,

“okay suit yourself, I’m going to wake up Mr. lightweight, that’s sleeping outside”, aster said as he walked off,

“amon, sir if you need me I’ll be back in the workshop”, brie said as she took off down he corridor, as both of them left,

“so what do you want to know ?”, amon asked,

“well for starters, somethings been bothering me, why the hell would you and yumi not help aluric in the first place, he’s your brother and, quite frankly yumi is terrified of him, so what happened between you three ?”, levant asked,

Amon let out a loud sigh,

“ she is right to be terrified of him, he might be my younger brother and I still see him as the snot sniveling kid who used to cry and beg me to help him, but truthfully he is one of the most gifted fighters to ever grace this continent and his natural blessing just makes him all that stronger”, amon said, taking up the cigar once more,

“well I guess I can tell you it’s not a secret, it’s just a question no one wanted to ask us”, amon answered,

“From what I know Yumi and I have two entirely different reasons for Standing up against Aluric”, Amon explained,

“oh, that’s surprising I would’ve thought that you two had the same reason, since there seems to be a lot of history between you three”, Levant surmised,

“hmm, you seem to be the happy go lucky type, but you might be more perceptive than I thought”. Amon reckoned,

“anyways, the reason I’m so opposed to what my brother is doing, goes back to how we became orphans, about twenty four years ago. Aluric couldn’t have been more than four or five at the time, both our parents were killed, our father and mother was the king of that times personal bodyguards, however the current king we have now, Alexandar Dracht, was the former kings younger brother, Alexandar was hungry for power, so he did what many kings in history have done, he usurped the throne from his brother, it was a bloody takeover, Alexandar wiped out his brothers family from his wife to all of his children, he made sure to leave no threats to his reign”, Amon explained,

“well shit the current king of this country is an absolute savage”, levant exclaimed,

“but as you might have guessed, in doing so our parents were also killed, and because they were so fiercely loyal to his brother, Alexandar made a public example out of them for anyone who would try to rebel, so now that my brother decided to aide them in taking over this country, it’s something I simply cannot forgive”, Amon finished explaining,

“ you seem awfully calm for someone talking about his parents death”, Levant stated,

“i prefer to keep my emotions on a tight leash around others”, Amon retorted,

“and what about yumi ?”, levant asked,

“ well for a long time she and Aluric were like two peas in a pod, they had tendency to run off together on one mission or another, we all were apart of the Artemis Guild, but it was more of a means to an end for me, and more of a lifestyle for the two of them, anyways, after Aluric decided to aide the royal family in taking over the continent, Yumi initially agreed with the idea, as long as it meant she was next to Aluric, and at first when those kingdoms armies opposed them she was ruthless, spilling probably even more blood than Aluric, many called her Arma guerre scion, or in other words, the war goddess’ descendant, but throughout all of that she didn’t lose herself, she drew a clear line and never took the life of civilians, so when aluric started to do so, she opposed him and left, and as cold as my brother can be he will always have a soft spot for her”, Amon finished explaining,

“so basically both of you realized he was fucked up and decided to bail”, Levant responded,

“in a way yes, though some took longer than others, but I guess it was because she…….”, Amon stopped himself from talking,

“that’s all huh”, Levant said as he headed to the door,

“i answered you’re question now answer mine”, Amon requested,

“why do you seem so tortured on the inside ?”, amon asked,

Levant said nothing walking out of Amon’s office,

outside in the training area

Levant entered the training area, shielding his eyes from the brightness of the sun, he saw, Barak, Aster and Polaris, huddled together at on of the tables, all looking down at something,

“so how far do we got to go to get to the capital ?”, Polaris asked,

“well from what I can see, this is where we are, Ibis Outpost fourteen, to get to the capital, we have to go through the forest, Korsana forest, from there we should come to a clearing, and off to the Left we should see the walls of the capital, all in all, should take us four hours going there and back, taking out the time we use to explore the capital”, Aster explained,

“damn that is close, if they ever decide yo attack this place, we aren’t going to have much time to prepare”, Barak said,

“now that you mention that, this has me a bit worried, there is a massive fortress, Ibis fortress on the edge of this forest, and it’s closer to us than the capital is, from what I saw earlier, Amon is planning to stage his army to fight in the fields that are next to the forest, but that would put the fighting directly in between the capital and the fortress, leaving us to be attacked from both sides if we aren’t careful”, Astre examined,

“true, but it beats trying to fight and capture a massive fortress, I mean the whole point is to defeat Aluric and his lackeys, which would stop them from continuing he war”, Polaris said,

“so he’s betting on us and them beating Aluric before, the troops from the fortress can come is as cavalry, I never took him for a betting man”, Levant said,

“so what, if it comes to that we make room for Aster to make a giant wall blocking them off, even if they got some heavy hitters it will still take some time to get through a giant wall”, Barak said,

“well we can stand here and ponder on the possibilities all day, but that gets us no closer to the capital, so I say lets go”, Aster said, all four of the boys headed to the top of the wall and as they were about to leave they spotted Yumi jumping over the wall headed back into the base.