Completed Alternate Payment

[Szesh]

The barracks that housed Captain Bronmarch and his men were impressive. Tall, square, stone, they were a testament to the strength of the guard. It was easy to find, especially after asking for the captain by name, and Szesh landed with surprising grace before the gates.

The soldiers by the door had already stepped up with their spears, having seen his approach from the air. They were not immediately hostile, but showed reasonable concern at the creature that had come from the sky. Szesh slowly and calmly produced the bounty note. "Bronmarch."

The men looked at one another. "The captain is a busy man. If you have questions about the bounty I suggest you-"

"I completed the bounty." He indicated the two swinging bags of cloth at his hip. The edges were frayed and obviously torn from some other material.

"Right... well then, you can speak to-"

"Bronmarch," Szesh repeated, stepping forwards slowly, and staring down at the pair from well above their heads. He stopped just short of the tips of their spears with fathomless black eyes reflecting their nervous faces. "Please."

He was escorted through the gates and across a courtyard. He drew many eyes. He was used to this. They reached a solid pine door, and he was told to wait outside. He did so, and soon enough, he was called inside.

| Heike Eisen |​

 

[Heike Eisen]

((Captain Bronmarch))​

Captain Bronmarch was not one for meetings. He was not one for the politicking that often went on in them from his fellow guard captains, they who had aspirations of rising either through the ranks to perhaps the loftiest position of Lord Commander or rising in their social standing within Alliria's Inner City. All that mattered to such men was that things looked good. Looked good so that they looked good. The state of the city, the various incidents which transpired therein, need not truly be good for this veneer of efficacy to have its false luster. And Bronmarch despised this sort of attitude.

He was a man who lived to work, despite the "perks" afforded to him due to his station. He was blessed to have a wife who understood and children who loved him even though it may have appeared to them that he seemed only to be home when the sun was not in the sky. Once these officer meetings adjourned, Bronmarch did not stay for talk nor food nor drink. He always left promptly, off to attend to the needs of his men and the concerns of the people of Alliria. This he knew would keep him frozen at the rank of captain forever, but he was fine--quite fine--with this.

Today, though, upon leaving one such officer meeting Bronmarch had barely any time to don his armor within his chambers at the barracks before a runner informed him that he'd a visitor. A bounty hunter. Hmm. News before he could make his inspection of the new guard recruits. Excellent.

Bronmarch had his armor on, all but his helm which rested on his desk. Daylight shined through the open curtains of the window behind him. He stood in front of his desk, ready to leave but sparing of perhaps the five or ten minutes to receive this news.

And he picked up his helm and tucked it under his arm and called to the door, called to the bounty hunter who wished an audience, "You may come in."

Szesh

 

[Szesh]

Szesh stooped through the door and into the room. It was nice. Not exceptionally nice, but far from falling to pieces. It spoke to an efficient occupant, one that had little time for excess or decoration.

The Captain himself was just about what he'd expected. An armored, average human by the looks of him, although Szesh was not the best judge of "normal" for other races. He seemed old enough to have served for some time, yet young enough that he could still enter the fray himself if needed.

Szesh approached the armored man, offering the now quite crumpled bounty notice. He then undid the satchels at his belt, and similarly offered them to the captain. "Two catalysts," he intoned quietly. "The third... with others. Perhaps other hunters." He never did learn where their pursuers had come from, nor why they sought the same treasure.

He waited to hear the Captain's reply, but it was clear why he was here. The reward promised was considerable, but Szesh had some questions for the captain before he would accept any payment.

 

[Heike Eisen]

((Captain Bronmarch))​

A Draconian. This a recognition not of surprise, but of observable fact. Alliria was the most cosmopolitan city in the world, and Bronmarch had seen a vast array of people from all across Arethil. The most common of races, certainly, but as well Draconians and vampires and trolls and dark elves and similarly rare--even maligned--people as well. Bronmarch cared not a lick for the appearance of someone. No, all that mattered to him was the content of their character: did they wish to do good in the world (even for selfish reasons) or did they wish to do harm?

And this Draconian had done good.

Bronmarch recalled the bounty as soon as the catalysts were presented to him. The Elbion contract concerning three such stolen items. He seemed to Bronmarch that he had only just put up those bounty notices.

"Well done," he said. And he gave a call to an attending guardsman outside of his chambers and instructed the guardsman to fetch the appropriate sum of gold--two-thirds of what was offered. The guardsman disappeared from the doorway and set about through the barracks to complete his task.

Bronmarch accepted the catalysts and set them on his desk.

"Perhaps the third will show up in its own time," Bronmarch said. "I do not know how leaving a job unfinished rests with you, Draconian, but I suspect that this matter will work itself out, should the speed in which you yourself found these two be any indication. With any luck this property will be en route to Elbion as soon as the morrow."

Szesh

 

[Szesh]

Szesh nodded stoically at the praise. The captain did not mix words, and he appreciated this. He also appreciated the lack of tension at his appearance, and his gratitude was reflected in a relaxation of his own posture. In general, Szesh preferred not to leave a job only partially done, but given the nature of his departure, he was quite content to leave the third catalyst well enough alone.

The gold, once his sole motivator, was now merely a distant thought. He was not here simply to take payment and leave, he could not let this chapter end in such a way. "Captain, there was another. A woman who knew you. She helped retrieve these but... there was an incident, and we were separated." Not a lie, but not an entire truth, either.

He paused, making sure that the guard who had left to fetch payment was out of earshot, and spoke more quietly. "What do you know of Heike Eisen?"

 

[Heike Eisen]

((Captain Bronmarch))​

His initial reaction was surprise and wariness, a slightly guarded rising of his shoulders. But it became clear that Szesh was not here to entrap Bronmarch for his working relationship with a vampire. The wariness faded.

Bronmarch set his helm on his desk and said, "She is a very committed woman."

He crossed his arms. Regarded Szesh in a new light, knowing now that Heike had decided to work with him. Bronmarch suspected that he would not be here--for one reason or another--if Heike had not judged him to be of worthy character.

"When she first came to me, she was absolutely desperate. I don't know how she learned about me and I have never asked, but find me she did--here, as it so happened, working into the night. I could tell she was a vampire without her having to say it, and I could likewise see that she was severely bloodstarved. Yet she nevertheless dropped to her knees and spread her arms wide and begged for me to trust her, to help her find guilty men and women from whom to feed and that she might bring to justice. There was...terror in her eyes. Though she had thrown herself at my mercy she did not want to die, not entirely. I say not entirely because I could see--or at least I thought I had seen--something in her eyes that might well have welcomed it, had I decided to run her through."

Bronmarch clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

"She knows she is a vampire, but she does not think of herself as one. To this day she sees herself as a knight, upholding her vows, despite all that happened. She told me her story. Of Reikhurst, what happened--this before I had heard it officially. I'm not sure if she's told you or not."

A short pause, then he summarized this thoughts.

"Yes. A very committed woman, and one that I trust. Why is it that you've asked?"

Szesh

 

[Szesh]

Szesh fidgeted as Captain Bronmarch's story reached the part about Heike bringing the guilty to justice. Perhaps she would have attacked him anyway, once she learned the nature of his past, or maybe she would have seen his exile as punishment enough. It was impossible to know, and nothing in the Captain's story gave him much hope. Still, if there was a chance, this man would know it.

He had asked because, in spite of himself, he had grown very fond of Heike. She was the closest thing he'd had to a friend in decades, and while their relationship had lasted merely the span of a few days they had forged a bond through battle and shared experience. A bond which he had broken suddenly, harshly, and unwittingly, when he snapped an innocent neck. His foolishness could not be taken back, but perhaps the consequences could be adjusted.

"She was a true comrade," he began, "But I made a mistake, and she now sees me as 'guilty,' and would have my head." The words were difficult to say out loud. Anger had been a useful tool in the past, but he did not feel anger towards her. Even towards himself it had lessened.

He also knew in telling his story that he was admitting guilt, however vague, to a man of the law. Hopefully this Captain had a more regional jurisdiction for his own oaths, for the crime had taken place well outside the boundaries of Alliria. Perhaps bringing the valuable objects would also earn him some favors. "If you know her... I would ask your advice. How might I atone, in her eyes, with less than my life?"

 

[Heike Eisen]

((Captain Bronmarch))​

Captain Bronmarch dipped his head down for a moment. Considering. Running what Szesh said over in his head a few more times, registering it. He knew what it meant for a woman like Heike Eisen to see Szesh as guilty, but as it currently stood with what little the Draconian revealed, Bronmarch could do nothing of it--such was its vagueness. For all Bronmarch knew there could have been some sort of terrible misunderstanding; perhaps Szesh had been duped and framed for something he did not truly do.

So Bronmarch merely gave a nod with his bowed head. Said, "I see," then lifted his head and his gaze back up.

"We've been working together for...a few years now, Heike and I. Sometimes she disappears for a long time and comes back, but, yes, a few years sounds fair."

He crossed his arms.

"Once, after examining the bounty board, she came to me. She had decided to go after some petty thug who had been intimidating shopkeeps in the Shallows. Asked me for all I knew and I told it. She came back about two days later. Said there should be three fellows being brought in for burglary, vandalism, assault upon innocent persons, the like. Somewhat surprised I said, three? And she replied, yes, three, but not including the original malcontent. Did he get away, I asked. And do you know what she said to me, Draconian?"

Spoiler: A similar deal struck in Hellsfeld

”You should not have let him go,”

I made a deal. I honored it.

"She said she let him go. She called it an accordance--a deal. Made that thug talk about those three others of his ilk that no one really knew about or were too afraid to speak out against. That, in exchange for her dropping the specific charge against him."

Captain Bronmarch chuckled lightly. "Of course, the man still had a bounty on him--Heike had only given her word about her pursuit. Man tried to get out of the city but was caught about a week later."

And Bronmarch finished with: "Point is, that's something about the law where she's from, and she holds to it. If she can make an accordance with someone who's guilty in service to some kind of greater good, then she just might."

Szesh

 

[Szesh]

Szesh listened raptly to the Captain's story. For all of his "honor-bound" history, his code of ethics had never once compared to Heike's rigidity. He had taken his soldier's role seriously, believed firmly in his duty to his people... but hunting someone across the world for a crime? It dawned on him that, ironically, that was his literal current job description. Of course now he was not motivated by honor, but by coin and (quite often) lack of anything else to do.

He thought on the words. Thought on them for so long that he was startled by the sound of the soldier coming back with the payment. The gold did not give him joy, but it would provide for necessities... and perhaps allow him to live less violently for a time. The sound of it being set down behind him brought him back to the present, and he bowed his head towards the Captain.

"Thank you," he said simply, for both the advice and the coin. He sincerely appreciated that the Captain had not asked him to explain why Heike had turned on him in more detail. He turned and moved to the gold in one step, stooping down low to reach it. It had been neatly arranged in a few solid bars, much more practical than coins for an amount of this size. He reached for it, paused, and then took exactly half.

"The rest is hers," he said, standing back up. He did not know if Heike would come back here, and suspected she had little use for gold, but the gesture felt... right. He only had the second catalyst because of her aid, and besides, the guard could always use it if she did not claim it.

Before he left, he asked one just one more question of the Captain. "Her home... Reikhurst... where was it?"

 

[Heike Eisen]

((Captain Bronmarch))​

The rest is hers.

Bronmarch spared a glance to the amount left by Szesh. Looked back to him. Said, "I'll inform her when next she comes."

He didn't know if she'd take it. Likely not, if her history concerning bounties was anything to go by. But he would nonetheless allow her to make that choice.

Then the Draconian had another question.

Bronmarch reached for his helm on the desk and tucked it under his arm again. Said as he did this, "At the mouth of the Sayve River, at the eastern edge of the Allir Reach. You can see some of the southwesternmost peaks of the Spine from there, so I heard. And, so far as I know, the city remains abandoned to this day."

He said another thing, after a small moment's worth of consideration: "I don't know what happened between you two...but I wish you the best, Draconian."

Szesh

 

[Szesh]

”Szesh,” he said, indicating himself with a large, silver hand. ”And, thank you.”

He turned to leave, ducking through the door and exiting back into the sunlight. It was warming, and the sky did not look as gloomy as it had when he entered. He could see storm clouds in the distance, though. Rain would be here before long.

He would bank his gold, perhaps invest it in a few items first, and then venture East. He felt an apprehension as he contemplated his next moves, but he did not doubt this was the path to take next.

It was as she’d said. No one truly chooses, fate pulls and you follow. This was his Only Possible Journey.