"Not by water," she said a little more sharply than was strictly necessary. Was it a trick of the light, or did she look a little....green...in the face? She absolutely was not terrified of the ocean, and that was that. She just felt a little ill when she was on the water. "If you want to coast up to
the Spine and meet up with us there, that is all on you, Willis," she added. It would keep the randy man out of her way for a little while, anyway. There was no way she would voluntarily subject herself to days spent on the waves, vessel rolling gently beneath her feet...
She felt like throwing up already.
She made her way around the desk in the front room, scowling at the paperwork scattered about it. A dozen contracts currently underway in the manner of the Rei; small, specialized units of people performing specific tasks that they were hand picked to deal with. It proved to be a profitable business model, since the call for full
companies of soldiers were limited in the world today.
"You two, stop your stupidity for a minute and listen," she snapped at the twins. She shifted through the papers the secretary had scattered all over the desk, and caught movement out of the corner of her eye. A man of average height, wearing black leather, had stepped into the room from the yard. Without missing a beat, he spun on his next step to head back the way he came. "Don't fucking move,
Tian." If she had snapped at the twins, then this was a veritable roar.
The man stopped, one foot not quite to the ground.
"Coin, I will cut loose a small portion of the agreed amount. Supplies you must buy, here to gather in the morning." She looked up sharply at the former assassin standing in the door like an idiot. She was removing coin from a box under the desk, the lock open. The short stacks of silver were far neater than the rest of the desk. "You, Tian, will accompany us. Go and find Alek, and Toothless while you are at it." She scowled at the last name, but it was something that could not be avoided. Not all things could be dealt with via steel and bow.
"Sure, yeah, whatever," the black clad man replied, face hidden in perpetual shadow no matter how the light fell on him. "I mean, yes sir, Captain sir," he replied and then quickly ducked out before there could be any retaliation. She stared after him, eyes like augurs.
And then looked around the room with a scowl. A single appraising look to Willis, and then a disdainful sniff. "Well? Take your coin and leave! Here, in the morning before sun up." Rude or not, it was a clear dismissal. She settled into the seat behind the desk, muttering about the absence of the young woman that was supposed to be doing this job, but was clearly not here.
---
The daunting reaches of the mountains towered high overhead, their snow-capped peaks far above the clouds. The plains warrior had never really been into these reaches of the world, sticking to the lowlands that were much more familiar to her. There, it was warm. Here, there was a bite to the air of an evening that she did not like very much.
Dancer shifted under her. The animal was a gelded roan, his coat smooth and lustrous. She loved the horse, which was no surprise given her upbringing. She did not like to fight from horseback, which
was a bit strange of a horse warrior. The beast looked splended with his saddle, a unstrung wood and horn horsebow in a scabbard on one side of the beast, and several short spears on the other. A buckler, small and light, rested on the pommel of her saddle, within easy reach should she need it.
She had changed from the minimalist attire in the city to something more befitting her purpose here, wearing a leather jerkin and trousers with light chain. Nothing so heavy as to hinder her, but certainly more sensible than the revealing things she wore in the city. On her back, the great two-handed sword that she preferred as a
weapon sat on her shoulder, shifting and clanking with each step the horse took.
Two weeks on the road. She did not know if the others had become saddle sore yet, or not; that at least was not a problem for her. She would have spent the entire nine day journey by water offering up everything she had ever eaten to the gods of the seas, spiteful things that they were. This, at least, was something she was well accustomed to.
The ridges and hills around them were forested, mostly in pine trees further up and the broadleafs down here, in the valley. The road was one of only a few that penetrated into the heart of the mountains, heading to Mericet and Molthal in the north and Belgrath in the south. It was a major trade route from Aliria to either of those places, and many times on this journey had they been forced off the road to allow traders to pass by, their wagons laden with goods from those distant places. The caravan guards did not look best pleased to see even their small band on the road, and hands had always been near weapons when the two groups passed each other by.
"Shouldn't be too terribly far now, boss," the black-clad man said, not for the third or fourth time. This stretch of road looked every bit as much like any other. "Small village, but not a soul in it."
She grunted in acknowledgement, looked to the others with a grim face. "About time," she muttered.