No Rest for the Wicked
As soon as Remy rejoined Logan, the three of them made their way through the Alteep to its Eastern border. The villager itself was slow, as if everyone just wanted to spend time with their families after the scares of the prior day.
At this point Gregor made sure he had the map supplied to him handy, although there was a trodden dirt road trailing out into the distance. As they set off, Logan found neither of his compatriots looking back, even a single time. Both had a steely resolution emitting from their eyes, and not for the first time, Logan wondered about their respective pasts. Although he would rightly consider them friends and comrades, he had just met them yesterday.
By the time that Alteep had faded to a bump on the horizon and still no conversation brewed, Logan gave in. He thought that maybe offering a little about himself might kick start things, but was once again hesitant to reveal his true origins.
“I’m sure you two are wondering where I came from. Apparently, Jeremiah had found me out in the Inaug Forest only a couple weeks ago. I can’t seem to remember much about my old life beyond my name, so if you’re curious, imagine what I feel like. Now that I’ve opened the can of worms, does anyone else wanna get in this?”
Gregor looked over and gave a nod. “I’m Gregor Greatwood, son of Mayor Grenneth Greatwood. I have spent much of my life training, following a Codex I found as a child. That is why my physique is so honed, much of my spark has been diffused through my corporeal form.”
Huh, that explains why his soul is so unique I guess.
“Well that’s pretty damn cool. What is a Codex, exactly?”
“Huh, well Logan, it is… a mystic book, I suppose. It instructs one on certain Abilities and ways to harness one’s soul. They are often made by those who have a Blessing that deals with knowledge or intuition.”
“Neat, that’s good to know. Amar, do you have anything like that to share?”
Amar glanced behind her shoulder. Since Jeremiah’s passing, all the life she had been filled with yesterday had left her. Even though her determination was evident, Amar still looked a large margin more fragile than previously.
So when she just shook her head and continued walking, it wasn’t completely unexpected. Lapsing back into silence, the three young adults and one young Rizzel continued their journey.
----------------------------------------
Several hours later, the group reached a fork in the road. Gregor, utilizing the map, declared that they were to follow the leftmost path, and they continued on. However, not even fifteen minutes later they were still walking down the road, when Gregor saw a shadow of a man creep out of sight.
Then a cold woman’s voice said, “Give us all you got, we want your money not your lives, but if you try and make a move we won’t think twice.”
Gregor sighed, then said, “Unfortunately, we have some need for our possessions, so we find ourselves at an impasse here. Could we pay a toll, and just move on our way?”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Ah, that is rather unfortunate, because we don’t care a lick about your needs. Consider yourselves lucky to live and drop your belongings where you stand.”
Gregor shook his head and got ready for combat, while motioning for the other’s to do the same. Together the three of them grouped up side by side, as a stream of bandits trickled out from the foliage into plain sight. From their well fed bodies and well crafted, if patchwork gear, Gregor gathered that they had been waylaying travelers and merchants at this pass for quite some time.
Putting a stop to their reign of this road would benefit Alteep. It was the least they could do to clear the trash on the way out.
Once the last of the bandits entered the road, it was an eight on three fight. The would-be highwaymen carried mostly spears, with two holding standardly made shortswords. However, they clearly lacked more than the most basic training. Definitely not the worst odds Gregor had been in, and with the support he had at his side he would be more than willing to take on twice the number.
“When you’re all bleeding out in the dirt, you better go quietly kids.”
Logan spoke up for the first time.
“Yeah, let's save the witty banter for some fights with tension, shall we?” Apparently, he too thought little of their opponents.
Then Amar chimed in as well, saying, “Boys, please shut up and fight.”
“That’s what I jus- ah fuck it, she’s right.”
All three of them were in accordance. It was time to dispose of these bandits.
----------------------------------------
As the fight began, Gregor launched himself at their enemies at a speed that Logan struggled to even see. The effects were immediately obvious though, as Gregor had barreled his way past two of the thugs knocking them over, to engage their leader off the rip.
That left Amar and Logan-
-And Me!-
…And Remy, of course, to deal with the other five who hadn’t been other five who hadn’t been occupied, and both of them had the same idea. As one, they harnessed control over the foliage at the edges of the dirt road and restricted the movements of their foes. Human targets found it a lot harder than the abominations to shrug off the wrapping greens. Then, Amar and Logan laid into them.
Amar summoned a bear claw from both hands and started wailing on three of them, while Logan punished the other two with his sword. Thankfully, both of them had the sense to use the blunted sides of their respective attacks, and though the bandits were left bloody and unconscious, they would most definitely live.
The first two guards Gregor dropped had regained their feet, but upon seeing their compatriots' plight quickly dropped their own weapons at their feet and dropped once more to their knees.
-Haha, weak!-
So true little guy, so true.
Gregor himself stood over their disarmed leader, and then said, “We will gather them up and take them with us as we enlist. It’s less than a day's journey so we should be able to keep them in line. Hopefully, it will give us some priority as we arrive.”
“Aye aye captain, at your command.”
At that Gregor gave him an eye roll, and the trio waited until their attackers roused until cajoling them back to their original path. There would be no rest for the wicked.
----------------------------------------
The rest of the day passed in similar silence, but the prisoners added a palpable tension to the group. That was why all three of the group from Alteep let out sighs of relief upon seeing the next town over appear, only an hour before the sun was to set. Or maybe their asses are as sore as mine.
Looking at both Gregor’s sculpted muscle, and Amar’s lithe form, Logan doubted that was the case, and therefore kept his complaints to himself. If wouldn’t do to ruin his new friends’ opinion of him, by marking himself as a whiner. Still, Logan wasn’t sure if he managed to keep his gait steady by the time they were walking into the village proper.
However, something stood in their way that marked this village as distinct from Alteep. This village, which Gregor had called Restel, had a close to ten foot wooden palisade surrounding it. Logan didn’t much see the point, as the abominations would have easily torn through or climbed its fence, but maybe they had other issues here.
A guard stopped them at the end of the road, and with a few quick responses Gregor managed to get them all inside, and some of the guardsmen to handle taking the bandits to a holding station. By now, the sun had almost finished its descent below the horizon, and the three of them were still recovering from the day before. They decided to enlist the following day, and spent some of their coin renting three of the last remaining rooms at the local inn.
The three ate a meal in the silence that had hung over them all day in the common room, before excusing themselves back to their individual rooms. All three had important thoughts of the future and the past on their minds, and not enough trust yet in their hearts to share their worries.