Night with the Cannibals

[Fidelis]

CLOSED TO MADYRN

Staring at a mercenaries notice board, blue-green eyes scanned the through the leaves of weather torn pieces of parchment. Every job on the board was months old and possibly taken by someone else, leaving little Aeryn Lambert with nothing to do but stare at the papers until something that was recently put up caught her attention. That’s right Aeryn was indeed a girl, but because of her height and thin build easily passed off as a young male with clothing on, and thanks to her messy self-barbered hair no one could really tell the difference because her facial features were hidden behind the random chunks of white bangs. So as long as her appearance made her male she would be referred to as a “he” until exposed*. Until that happened Aeryn would take more interest into what seemed to be posted recently and anonymously on the board.

He left a reply for whoever made the post, along with all the information requested. Nodding satisfied to finally have the chance of getting more job experience Aeryn made the move to leave. It was the point where he turned to walk away from the notice board and get some food that Aeryn had the misfortune of walking into someone taller.

Looking down at him was a well built man, who was maybe around six feet two inches tall, with a condescending stare the moment he took note of Aeryn’s tattered cloak, and from what he could see from under the cloak, slightly colour faded clothing, along with the hair cut. In comparison to his features of nicely groomed with decent clothing, and what looked to be proper equipment for actual battle; Aeryn looked like a traveling beggar. Then again that’s how everyone looked in the eyes of Lourun “The Mighty Mercenary.”

Lourun decided to ignore the boy making a remark about his manners. “You’d think lowly street rats would show a little respect to people of a higher class.”

Normally, Aeryn wasn’t one to pick a fight, but he wanted to until he caught sight of the man leaving a reply to the anonymous posting. Walking away he thought to himself, ‘How funny would it be if he gets killed on the job.’

Knowing the poster asked for two people for this particular mission, Aeryn would have no problem finding a reason to just shove Lourun off a cliff or make him drown during the mission, and just deal with the rest himself.

* From now on referring to Aeryn as a male until she’s exposed.

[Madyrn]

Madyrn watched the exchange carefully, from a bench a safe distance where he drew no attention. The boy had a sass to him the elf could detect in the way his eyes followed Lourun, and Madyrn liked the spirit. Besides, the Scara Scourge wanted to recruit the young and malleable - Aeryn fit the bill rather nicely.

Lourun, meanwhile, would serve as the actual helpful mercenary. It was a carefully crafted ploy, one that would serve to manipulate the young boy and simultaneously get some riches for the Scourge vault.

Madyrn leapt up gracefully, quickly walking toward the desk. "You, boy!" he yelled, loudly enough for Aeryn to hear. Simultaneously he slid in next to Lourun and snatched the two papers away from the bulletin board. "Join me and the large one, here!"

His eyes were cheerful, reflecting the mid-morning sunlight that lit up his youthful, elven face. Lourun looked at him incredulously, but Madyrn placated him with a smile until Aeryn finally joined them.

"This," he said with a pleased smirk, "was posted less than an hour ago. By me. Greetings, I am Madyrn Baelystadi, and I work for the Scara Scourge."

He paused for initial reactions, expecting trouble from the young one. When neither made a move to hit him or leave, Madyrn continued. "Now we don't have the greatest of reputations around these parts, I realize, but sure as my eyes see the great Lourun before me, I tell you that the Scourge pays very, very well."

The elf plucked at his shirt, a silk fabric clearly found in one of the city's more expensive establishments, making his own point credible. "This is a basic job as far as we're concerned. We hoof north for a day and come across a village of old-fashioned types. We take a minor heirloom of theirs that does them no good, and give it over to my bosses, who can actually use it. We don't hurt anybody, and neither of us get hurt. They don't even carry weapons."

Finding help was much easier when some information was withheld. Besides, the fact that the village was filled with cannibals was not important; cannibals eating their enemies was just a myth.

He paused again and watched Laurun, a massive greatsword strapped along his back, shuffle slightly. "You two, meanwhile, get paid five thousand gold apiece."

At this Laurun immediately nodded, his interest clear. "Sounds about right to me, elf. 'A good price for a good man' is my policy, and your price sounds just about right!"

Madyrn smiled and nodded, appearing genuine and pleased. Inside he laughed at the buffoon, a mere small-time mercenary in Scara Brae who thought himself worth the money. Madyrn didn't understand why such resources were being spent, but he said nothing.

Looking to the other, younger man, who still had the boyish look of a child, Madyrn tilted his chin up. "And you?"

[Fidelis]

Aeryn was really not in the mood to start talking to random people, or even talk to anyone in general. Being sociable was not exactly his forte. Aeryn was more of a listener, and a conversation killer since he almost never had anything to say. However he had to make the exception since Madyrn was looking for some form of approval.

“Sounds good,” he said quietly as he moved his head out of Madyrns grasp. Thank the gods that was over with.

As it seemed, the point about how much they were to get paid was driven home since both the boy, and the more experienced mercenary agreed to the entire mission.

“Hah, you sure the boy would even be suitable for this sort of mission?” said Lourun looking at Madyrn as if he was insane. “I really doubt the boy could even lift a sword.”

The white haired boy stood there not saying a word as the man made the remark. Lourun laughed and patted the boy’s back sending him forward a little. Aeryn caught his balance and straightened looking up through the messy bangs and glaring at Lourun. It was obvious regardless of whether they were to work together or not, Aeryn wanted to lop off Lourun’s head and hang it in front of the gates to the city. Arrogant men were about the only people who could set his temper flaring without having to try.

Shaking off the urge to murder the other mercenary he looked towards Madyrn for further instruction assuming that he would be the one leading them. Despite the fact that the man was part of a greatly disliked group of people within Scara he provided Aeryn and this gigantic oaf a job, with a very generous sum of money that would help a lot. Aeryn, needed new sets of clothing anyways, and it wasn’t doing him any favours that he was being looked down upon by people like Lourun.

Lourun could sense the hostility coming from Aeryn and smirked. A little boy couldn’t do much damage to him physically, or mentally. The man believed that he was impervious to anything; after all he was THE Might Mercenary. He looked over at Madyrn.

“So what is the first order of business,” he said crossing is arms patiently waiting for a reply.

He assumed that they would be starting work almost immediately, seeing as he’d just appeared an hour after posting his announcement for help.

Aeryn on the other hand couldn’t help but wonder why anyone needed help stealing something from an old-fashioned village which has people who do not carry weapons.

[Madyrn]

"The boy comes with us, and if you want your money, we will all co-exist amiably."

Lourun hardly balked at this, but it wasn't for him that Madyrn had said it. He was trying to build a bond with the boy, however small, so he could use it in the future.

"Our first order of business is to stock up on some travel supplies and get moving," he said, golden eyes meeting those of the white-haired boy, a hint of playfulness in them. "We'll camp when it becomes dark, and it doesn't look like any of us have the supplies for a suitable meal. I'll handle the finances of it all, you two just need to be patient. Meet me at the gates of the city.

And Lourun," he said carefully, but still with respect, "be nice to Aeryn."

He left them to their devices and headed to a shop not too far away that he was familiar with. Madyrn often entered this place under the guise of being a tour guide around the island, so he'd earned a discount and a false friendship with the proprietor. After a few minutes of choosing some meat and bread and a massive blanket, he left.

It hadn't taken long for him to gather everything, so he walked to the gates and met up with the others there. He handed the blanket to Lourun and carried the pack of food on his back.

"We head north until nightfall. Let's set a steady pace!"

[Fidelis]

The two watched as he left before glaring at each other. It wasn't socially acceptable to start a fight in the middle of the streets, so neither made the move to punch the other out.

Aeryn took a seat on a bench not too far away crossing one leg over the other. The man just stood there arms crossed waiting. He had no real plan to co-operate with Aeryn. A little brat like him should have just been enlisted with the guard rather than out here working with stronger men like them.

The white haired boy sat in his place, really not caring by this point. The minute Lourun made a mistake to turn Madyrn against him; Aeryn would take the opportunity to just dispose of him if their current employer did not.

The moment the elf returned they both got up from wherever they were resting and walked over to him. All three began to make their way northward. Aeryn was suddenly curious about how long it actually would take for them to get there. He started to drift into a daydream as they walked ignoring Lourun and his tall tales about being in the middle of the sea with a tiny boat fighting off a sea monster then once he had it’s head was paid a huge sum by the queen for making the seas safer.

[Madyrn]

The three left shortly afterward, Madyrn leading the way and setting a reasonable walking pace. Scara Brae City faded away behind them as they moved, traveling along a dirt road often used by caravans to the smaller towns. They weren't delivering goods, however, and hadn't the same good intentions.

Conversation was nil. Lourun was more of a talker than the boy, but the things the large mercenary had to share were irrelevant and needless. He spoke of past adventures, of the many times he'd traveled at sea and on land - even of one particular instance where he'd been aboard an Alerian airship, but none of it interested the elf. Madyrn and the boy shared a few knowing looks, as if they were both tiring of the droning hum of Lourun's voice.

As time passed Lourun ran out of stories to tell, a fortuitous thing. Soon the only noise they had was the careful trot of boots on soil and the whisper of the wind through the grass. It was approaching dusk and the sky was turning orange, the sun large and retreating over the horizon.

"Break left," he said simply, and the group moved from the established road and wandered into a nearby copse of trees. It was a miniature forest, so they walked through for five minutes before coming to a clearing that would serve as their campground.

Lourun had experience in this regard and insisted on setting the camp, so Madyrn gave him some supplies and left him to it, using the opportunity to take Aeryn aside and speak with him.

"For five-thousand gold, I expect at least a little conversation," he said amiably. Madyrn's eyes and smile made him appear the most harmless and gentle of people, and he gave no indication whatsoever that this wasn't the case. "Tell me a bit about yourself, Aeryn," he said, giving Lourun a quick glance to make sure he wasn't paying attention to them. "About why you live the mercenary life. Surely someone your age should be learning a skill... Blacksmithing, or whatever it is that appeals to you."

[Fidelis]

Aeryn was off in his own little world, taking in the wonderful amounts of silence that fell upon the group. He was relieved that pea brained oaf was finally done talking for a change, and then…

"For five-thousand gold, I expect at least a little conversation…"

'No amount of money is worth talking to people,' thought Aeryn in the attempt to salvage what was left of his on going “I-refuse-to-talk-to-you- mode.” What would you know the elf just wouldn’t give up.

"Tell me a bit about yourself, Aeryn…About why you live the mercenary life. Surely someone your age should be learning a skill... Blacksmithing, or whatever it is that appeals to you.”

Oh for the love of bread… WHY?! Didn’t Madyrn see that talking wasn’t exactly Aeryn’s forte? Even if he had enjoyed blathering on and on it certainly wouldn’t have been about what his interests were. It would have been more about… the sky, the stars, how both were completely silent and did not bother him about little things like why he picked to live the life of a mercenary. But that would be too rude.

So the boy decided to entertain the man who was trying to make him more sociable. Luckily it seemed Lourun was too busy enjoying the fact he was just so superior to everyone else with his experience that he wouldn’t even notice them talking.

“I don’t like to be stationary,” said Aeryn his voice loud enough to be heard, but enough to mask the femininity that it had. “It’s boring.” He lied. Of course Madyrn did not need to know that, and felt a little bad that he had to since well the man did try to be nice. However, the strange interest that the elf had on the boy was disturbing. Not that Aeryn noticed it at all; he was too busy feeling bad about lying to a gentleman like Madyrn.

‘Damn these womanly feelings of guilt!’ thought the white haired boy staring ahead. ‘Just keep lying he’s a stranger, and strangers aren’t to be trusted, then you’ll be safe for the most part.’

[Madyrn]

Madyrn watched the boy carefully, an inner tic in his mind nagging at him, begging the elf to draw his kukri and bury it deep into Aeryn's eye, pluck it out and take a big bite. He stifled the urge.

"Well, Aeryn, the alternative is walking through the night and becoming too exhausted to overwhelm these natives to the north. I'd rather not die by blunt trauma from a stick."

Despite his words, which might have seemed harsh in a literal sense, Madyrn's smile lit up his face and the slightest of chuckles made it seem a joke. "Ease up. We only have a little bit longer to travel and we're all hungry, so we'll eat and get some rest. For such a sum of gold, we should all be happy that there's so little work and travel involved."

The elf turned to check on Lourun, but he seethed inside. The boy was acting his part, surely, behaving like a spoiled brat who was too good to make conversation with his elders and betters. Madyrn regretted bringing him along, believing he couldn't turn the boy to become a member of the Scourge. No matter.

In a matter of minutes they were seated around the campfire, logs surrounding a pit that was obviously a popular stop for travelers. They roasted meat on a spit and split it with a crude knife, eating without plates or utensils.

After that they would rest and resume their walk come sunrise. Madyrn hoped Aeryn and Lourun would be useful enough to help him grab the bauble in the village, an egg-shaped magical relic. It was sacred to the villagers, which meant they would defend it with all of their strength.

In reality, this item was capable of manipulating minds, of swirling emotions and thought into one and clouding truth from the target. The Scourge desperately wanted such power in their hands.

[Fidelis]

Aeryn personally wanted to cut out Lourun and Madyrn’s vocal chords then stuff it into their ears, but that would have wasted time. Besides two full-grown males against one little person like him was not exactly the kind of trouble he wanted to get into.

Thankfully everything was nice quiet and relatively peaceful in their campgrounds, except for the thoughts of physical mutilation and murder going through Aeryn and Madyrn’s minds. Lourun loved himself too much to care about what the others wanted to do. He did have a plan in mind for this particular mission, but of course he had no intention of telling his two ‘comrades’ anything. Giving a big loud yawn he flopped over in his place to sleep arms behind his head.

The boy stood up to move away from the sleeping mercenary, but instead looked down at him. It was just so easy to silence him right there and then. Grant it he had the experience, more than Aeryn did, but what if he’s a real threat? The man clearly had no partners with him signing that document to go item hunting. Who’s to say he might actually try to mess things up so that he had the rewards for himself? Shrugging it off Aeryn forgot about the thoughts of attempting murder and decided to rest bundled up in his cloak. Curled up just incase there was a cold breeze that went through the camp grounds, and subconsciously placing his hand on his throwing knife just in case he needed it.

The sun rose the next morning, and Aeryn had a foot planted into his back to wake him up. Lourun looked at him smugly.

“You sleep like a woman,” he said kicking to roll the boy along to force him to wake up.

Aeryn would have jumped up, if he even knew how to jump up from a sleeping position, to gut him if he hadn’t been rolled into a tree.

He groaned, holding his stomach after having it pushed into a piece of living wood. He did not like this method of waking people up. It invaded his personal space and made him grumpy. Getting up he moved away before he was picked up and shaken. Aeryn didn’t need any form of paranoia that could cause him to become an insomniac.

Fixing his cloak so it draped properly around his shoulders Lourun took the opportunity to criticize his feminine behaviour. As he ran his fingers through his hair, combing back the unevenly chopped locks of white, Aeryn was forced to do something unusual.
“Will you shut that bloody thing you call a mouth,” he said firmly with a slight strain of anger. “Do something productive instead of standing there like a stupid piece of meat and help clean up the camp.”

Lourun for the first time had nothing to say. The boy had never said more than five words at a time or nothing at all. Now here he was telling him to shut up and work? Who is even teaching him to not give any respect to an obviously superior person?

Before he could grab the boy and threaten to knock out his baby teeth, Aeryn had already left his position (just about three or four steps away) as if nothing happened, and was busy folding blankets. Folding things made it easier for him to calm down and focus on that rather than to listen to people. His thoughts trailed off onto their mission. Madyrn didn’t tell them what was so special about this heirloom they were about to steal. In fact he really didn’t say much at all except that the Scourge wanted it, but didn’t say why. Naturally this piqued Aeryn’s curiosity, but he knew that in a profession like this one, it was best just to do the job no questions asked.

He suddenly muttered to himself remembering something Madyrn said the night before. Luckily Lourun was too busy grooming himself to care about his self ramblings.

"Village of old fanshioned types killing people with sticks," he said to himself. "That doesn't make any sense at all. Wouldn't they be relatively friendly to strangers who stumbled across thier town?"

[Madyrn]

The morning sun peeked out from behind a distant row of mountains, shining warm against the group's front as they made their way down the road once more. The patient plodding of steps against the ground's rubble accompanied the chirp of birds and the rustling of wildlife, of wind and nature's heartbeat.

For the moment their strife was settled, and the three walked side-by-side on the wide road. Deep grooves in the dirt signified a century's worth of caravan wheels, a reminder to the world that Scara Brae was a closely knit and interactive region.

Madyrn stopped at a time when they sun was beyond the peak of the mountains, making it almost noon. "We're here," he said.

He could see it, anyway, with his elven eyes focused far off into the distance beyond a regular human's range. Rows of long logs sharpened into points surrounded the village, bound together by crude, ancient rope. A battered door offered a portal inside, and it was swung open. Madyrn imagined the village only closed it at nighttime.

"We'll arrive at the gates in less than fifteen minutes. You've both been recruited as bodyguards to me, in case this does not go very well. We needn't worry too much, but stay on your toes."

Madyrn was off in his guess and they arrived at the village in ten, entering. It was small, as expected, with huts of grass and straw constructed all around. The villagers were capable and the homes were sturdy, having withstood all manners of weather.

Wandering about and doing their daily business, the villagers didn't pay much attention to the newcomers. Natives of the big city often came through this village to purchase spice and local herbs, which the villagers harvested as a means of getting by.

"Follow," he mentioned, leading the way.

At the center of the village there stood a building unlike the grass huts. It was made of stone, mud and wood, a veritable fortress in comparison to the homes which surrounded it. It was crude and fragile, guarded at the door by a tanned, balding, unhandsome human guard who held a large pointed stick.

The human didn't say anything initially, but Madyrn noticed the subtle shake of the man's bristled chin. "Greetings," the elf said, his golden eyes shining. "I need to head in there for a moment. I have your elder's permission to examine and appraise your heirloom."

Madyrn's smile and vocal grace made him appear the most unassuming and trustworthy of all Althanas's people. Primitive but intelligent, the guard was not convinced. "Password," he said, a thick muddling accent around the words.

"Now!" Lourun bellowed, lunging past Madyrn to grab the man's head in one massive, powerful hand. The villager tried to raise his pointy stick, but Lourun grabbed it in his free hand and snapped it like a twig.

"What are you doing?" demanded the elf.

Lourun glared at him, fire in his eyes and a clear thirst for blood in his bloated throat. "You wouldn't have hired us if you thought this would be peaceful!"

Madyrn struggled to maintain his composure as villagers began to stop their daily activities, taking notice of what was happening. Lourun had the villager's face in his hand and seemed all too capable of crushing his skull like a tin can.

He turned to Aeryn. "Get in there and grab the egg. I'll try to diffuse the situation, but be quick about it!"

[Fidelis]

That was it, now Aeryn lost his patience with the man.

The white haired boy thought about taking out his anger on a villagers pot. How can someone be so stupid?!

He glared at Lourun on his way into the hut. He managed to find the egg in the middle of the mud caked walls of the straw roofed hut. Tilting his head he gently plucked the egg off of the pedestal it was sitting on in the centre of the room, and slipped it into the bag he had under his cloak.

He sighed in relief that no traps had been set off. Then again it was just a little hut what could they really set up inside it.

(sorry really short)