Fantasy The Queens Guard

[Soviet Panda]

"I ain't saying it." he said right as Exodus shot off. So, shouting it this time, he says "I ain't saying it!" before booting Sven to get going. It was a hopeless race. Hrothlander horses weren't bred for speed. They were bred to carry Hrothlanders, and to plow through the snows of the mountain. So, it was no wonder that he came last, and that Sven was trotting by that time. And, as if to drive the point home, he says again "I ain't saying it." before trying to have Sven keep up with the rest.


It was a silent ride, aside from the snorting of horses and their hooves pounding on the dirt road. Luckily it wasn't a cobble road, otherwise the clanging of hirse shoes against rocks would fill the air. Nothing worse then that noise. And it would have been a rather uninteresting ride, had the wyvern not landed in front of them.

 

[Nexmaroc]

The Alexandrian hills


The girl -- and only her, if you asked Haren -- yelped as the wyvern landed roughly. The beast turned its head back towards them and gave them what Haren swore was a snort of smarmy derision. Stupid beast. You wouldn't be snorting so mighty if I had a bullwhip. Now that he was closer, he could take a closer look at the riders. He recognized them from their discriptions in General Aurum's reports. Exodus the Wind Dancer. The Hrothland Savage, Buras and his mighty horse Sven. Lady Reina "The Mace" Kavot. Queens Guard, all three. And here he was, a Celaisan knight, in Alexandrian territory, on a wyvern, with a slave.


Shit.





"Hail! I am Lieutenant Haren Cabot of Celaise, sent to guard the royal ambassador to her highness Queen Margaret. My party intended to stay the night in the village of Sunspan when an army of undead lay siege to it. We did our best to save the village, and Ambassador Aurum Bhalest is still there fighting."


He looked down at the slave girl, who had started to peek out curiously.


"During the evacuation, I rescued this girl. If you can see, she has been marked with the brand of slavery. I intended to take her to your queen, for surely your people would not hold slaves, and have become terribly lost. So..."


He shrugged sheepishly. "Can one of you point me towards your capital?"

 

[shadowz1995]

Lennex's attention completely turns to Aurum now rather than the entire group as a whole. This man had almost killed him but at the same time....with that much power surely he must have a fair amount of currency no? " I am sworn to no one here. I had recently finished protecting some type of mage from this countries soldiers. He payed me well and I came to this city looking for more work. Well, before you turned most of it to cinders. I just need to know two things prior to hiring. The job and the pay. I should also warn you that the pay must be worth the effort and danger of the job. So....provide me with those two details."


Lennex has no idea why this paladin would want to hire him. He is clearly very skilled and even older than Lennex is. Lennex did notice that he looked....sick. He appeared to be in pain and rather unfocused. But A job is a job if the pay is worth it.

 

[Soviet Panda]

Sven whinnied and shied away from the wyvern. It wasn't often that the horse was close to such a creature, and so wasn't used to, nor liked, the smell of it. Getting control over his horse, he stares at the man sitting on top of the beast. A Celaisan, holding a girl. He doubted that this was anything threatening to the queen. A single man can only do so much without sneaking. And the girl in his arms probably wouldn't have helped much either. If this was some sort of assassination attempt, this was the strangest one he has ever heard of.


"Well. Looks like the messengers weren't lying." he said. "Follow the road. Make sure the guards see you before landing. I doubt many would like a wyvern suddenly showing up in the courtyard." he continued. That said, he booted Sven to a trot, which the horse was only to happy to do. "Come on now. We got dead to kill."

 

[Nexmaroc]

Sunspan


"50,000 pieces of gold if you aid Alexandria against this necromancer." Aurum said. Aurum liked mercenaries. They often too smart for politics.


Aurum looked at the smoldering ruins around them. If the necromancer was as powerful as the warriors believed, then this was not the place for a defensive battle. They didn't have the numbers to turn to offensive, and he was in no condition to fight. He could barely stand at the moment. At least they had gotten the villagers out.


"Someone needs to warn any nearby villages before they are put to the sword. Otherwise, I suggest that we retreat to the capital for now and regroup."


Aurum didn't even want to think about how long of a walk that would be.


Crnaea, Alexandria


Matthis ran through the castle, not caring who he woke. A letter to the queen, sealed in wax with the royal symbol of Celaise, clutched tightly in his hand. It had to be a declaration of war, it just had to be. No one sent letters in the night otherwise. He'd heard the stories. There was going to be war, and everyone would die, which meant that he would die and there would be fire and dragons and...


He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. It could be nothing after all. Celaise was far away from here, and the bird had probably gotten lost once or twice. That had to be it. Unless it wasn't. In which case pissing himself was a reasonable course of action. Still, there weren't no knowing until the queen said so.


Matthis hated having to give messages to the queen. Not because he hated her, which he didn't, but because he always felt like she was going to tan his hide she was frowning at him so much. He was a small boy, and she towered over him just like his big sister Dana, and that frown looked just like when his sis had caught him sneaking cookies out of the kitchens. Never were the pots so clean as when Dana was mad at Matthis.


Finally, he made it to the queen's private chambers. Two huge guardsmen flanked the doorway, glowering at him. He almost soiled his trousers then and there.


"U-urgent m-message for the queen. From Celaise."


@GrieveWriter @Beowulf @SirDerpingtonIV @Enolx @shadowz1995

 

[yoikes]

"Retreating to the Capital? And letting this necromancer travel wherever he want to be? By the time we meet him again, he will have a million undead as his soldier." Skylar shook her head, obviously disagree and dissatisfied with Aurum's plan. "We cannot let him pass Sunspar, or whatever left of it, or many more people will die."


She looked around, fully understand that this place is not fit for a defensive battle, but maybe...


"We can ambush him. Guirella tactic. Hit and run, hide behind the rubbles and distract him while someone else attack from behind. We are the only one left in Sunspar, no civilian will be harmed." Skylar grinned. "Reinforcement will come. And when they come, that's when we will launch an all out attack. When he's busy, you kill him with your magic, Aurum."

 

[shadowz1995]

Lennex shakes his head, his armor clinking lightly as he does. "Skylar this man is out of commission for some time. He is no condition to walk by himself much less fight. Your friend here smells of blood and he looks like he is struggling to stand as it is. Your plan will not work without his power." Lennex had fought many battles with many people. He can easily tell when someone is putting up a strong front. Aurum's consciousness looked like it was fading in and out during the conversation. He is pale and he smells of blood. There is no blood upon him so Lennex assumed it was his own. Lennex's thoughts race as he begins to think about the pay and job. 50,000 gold.....that's enough to have him set if he was smart about it. But the necromancer was powerful. Lennex knew that and apparently so did Aurum.


"Hm.....alright paladin. I'll accept your job. I expect half of the money upfront and half upon completion. Should I fail or die before at least it isn't a complete loss on your part. My name is Lennex. I'm known as The Dark Sentinel. Your job will be completed and I have never failed a mission before. Just tell me who I must report to." Quick and to the point. His title, renown, and guarantee. The line has been recited many times in the past and Lennex's dark voice doesn't even hint at a lack of confidence. "I won't ask any questions sir. As long as I get payed, I will follow your orders to the letter."

 

[Enolx]

A few hours outside of Crnaea, Alexandria





Exodus let out a laugh when he heard Buras say "I ain't saying it." After enjoying the ride for a bit, Exodus slowed down Shaheed and rode beside Buras. " I'm sorry buddy, I don't make the rules," Exodus said knowing full well that he did make the rules in this situation " But a loss is a loss. Now tell go Renia the words I'm dying to hear." He was about to spur Buras on, but just then a wyvern landed.


Exodus pulled his legs free of the saddle and waited primed to leap. He watched and listened as the man introduced himself. The man said that his name was Haren and that he was a warrior of Celaise sent as a guard for an ambassador. That was fine, Exodus had no issue with that, but why was he not with this ambassador. Haren then said that his group planed to stay in Sunspan, but was attacked by undead. Exodus' question was answered by that sentence, and it told him that the information they got about Sunspan was correct. Exodus assumed that Haren was sent ahead to provide a message in the ambassadors stead, possible due to the ambassadors death. Then Haren said that the ambassador Aurum was till fighting. It took a second for Haren's words to register, but when they did Exodus could not control the grin that was spreading on his face. "So Aurum is here," Exodus said to himself " I was not aware of this. This is something I should have known."


Exodus returned from his thoughts of Aurum when he saw a girl with a Celaise slave mark appear from under the Haren's clothing. Haren quickly explained how he rescued the girl and how he was going to take her to the queen. The trust Exodus once had for the man vanished even when Haren then timidly asked for directions to the capital.


Exodus was not sure what went through the hrothlanders, but Buras talked about messengers and then gave Haren directions before trotting off. Exodus just looked at Buras riding off unable to control the shocked expression on his face. " Either Buras got some message that I didn't, or he doesn't even question that this guy is lying," Exodus said to himself " Since in the baths he only talked about Sunspan and I got that same message, it must have been the second option. Do hrothlanders not lie?" Exodus quickly got control of himself before addressing Haren. " I hope you realize how bad this situation looks for you," Exodus said " Now that you know where the capital is, I will escort you there to make sure you are telling the truth. You will fly at a low height, while matching my speed, and if I feel like you are trying to escape or plan something, I will kill that wyvern and drop you from the sky."


Exodus then turned to Reina and said " I need to make sure that he is telling the truth, and get orders if he is or kill him if he's not. Sunspan is still about twelve hours away, there is a nice place to set up camp a few miles away. Be sure to stop and rest, killing your horses and yourselves wont help anyone. Speaking of that, please get along while I'm not there and make it to Sunspan in one piece."

 

[Soviet Panda]

The two reached the place Exodus described rather easily. It wasn't to ard to find, a good spot to settle down for the night was hard to miss when oe travelled a lot. It was a bigger surprise that no other travellers were there before them. Not that he was complaining or anything. And this was certainly better then camping in the swamps. He was grateful that those marshes had only been a short way out.


He even volunteered to do the cooking for dinner. That turned out to be soup made from some unlucky creature he had caught. And just by sitting still for several minutes before lashing out at the poor creature. Guess that was one way to get your food, if not the most ideal. But this was all for a reason. A hrothlander reason. He did not forget about the fight he and Reina nearly had. He would continue that after they had both eaten. It was simply more preferable to not fight hungry.

 

[Happy Red Mage]

The road to Alexandria, quiet, dreary and most importantly...tranquil. You'd expect someone to attack us enroute but with my information I know that my hired guards outnumber the bandits and are capable of handling themselves. Sadly, I have to





"I don't get you plan Delg." The writer looked up from his writings and stared evenly at the red haired girl in a white hood. She had a red lance with golden trimmings sitting on her lap. "It's quite easy Alesha...or do you prefer Ardane?" Delg asked the girl as she huffed. "Just obey my orders and once all this is through, you can have her back." Ignoring her response, Count Delg returned to his writing, despite the movement of the chariot his handwriting is still legible.


Sadly I have to sacrifice a few of them to make me welcome. I've hired bandits to ambush us and take down a few men.


Suddenly the carriage stopped and the sounds of combat could be heard. "Alesha, slaughter them, don't break character." She nodded before exiting the carriage with her lance.


With this bandit attack, the guards I've hired will respect Alesha and give her a reputation as a bodyguard, a highly skilled vanguard that meets their opponents head on, a contrast to her assassin nature, making her ineligible to be an assassin. Hopefully I can plant her in the guard very quickly.


Delg snapped the journal shut and stepped out of the carriage. Alesha was finishing up on her task, sliding the last bandit off of her lance. "We move forward, there might be more bandits out here. We have to get to Alexandria quickly! Alesha! Man the front." He commanded. The journey to Alexandria resumed.