Fate - First Reply Hammerhead

[Mieri]

The fight had started fast, and had ended even faster.

For their part the Rangers did everything they should have. A dozen thralls were felled by the time Mieri managed to turn around, her fist crashing into another one of the mindless slaves before she kicked yet another. By the time even a single minute had passed the fight was entirely over.

Caeso called out to her, his voice laced with sarcasm.

She turned her head.

Half her form was splattered in blood and guts, thrown at her when Caeso's magic had crushed their foe. Eyes practically rolled out of her head as a hand came up to wipe at her face. "Har har har."

Mieri said, stalking over towards Caeso and their captive. Some of the Rangers moved down the slopes, quickly disarming any of the remaining thrall who were still struggling on the beach. Her fingers flicked out, splattering Caeso with some of the blood on her palm as she stepped past him.

A second later Mieri squatted down in front of the Kivren. "Hey! Hey do you speak common?"

She couldn't exactly speak fish.

 

[Caeso Diemut]

Mieri. Smeared with blood. A fitting look for the occasion. Or mayhap it would have been, if such a crimson coat had been born of her own doing. Some of it might have been, he would give her that.

The blood flicked onto his armor didn't bother him. The eye rolling, however, did. It was a terrible and unbecoming habit for anyone to adopt. At least she was effective enough that such a gesture did not come off as baseless bluster.

She asked their captive her question.

And, right as she did, the Kivren began to Sing.

Or tried to. Caeso swiped his left-hand sword to the Kivren's throat, the steel just barely kissing aquatic flesh. The Kivren stopped. Caeso said, "You would be wise to refrain from such tricks, else you will never hear the sound of your own voice again. There are more Kivren than merely you to question. Do not test me, beast."

Still pinned by the continuous crush of Caeso's magic, the Kivren's flattened face shifted from Caeso to Mieri and back to Caeso.

He shook his head. "You are regarding the wrong person. I believe you owe her an answer."

The Kivren, with great effort, turned his face and his gaze back to Mieri.

And, strained and cautious, he said in Common, "...yes."

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

Mieri squatted patiently in front of the Kivren, just smiling as Caeso proceeded to play the role of 'Bad Guard' as she called it. Her expression never changing even as his sword flickered pass her and pressed against the fish-man's throat.

His answer finally croaked out, and she smiled a bit wider. "Wonderful!"

She said with all the cheer of a stage performer.

"Now, I could threaten you. I could tell you I'll crush your ribs, break your bones, knock out all your teeth if you don't answer my question." Her hand rolled into a wave, as though she were dismissing the thought. "I could tell you I was going to kill you, but there isn't really much point is there?"

A shrug rolled over her shoulder. "Even if I did torture you, you'd probably just tell me lies to get me to stop."

They didn't have days for an interrogation, they didn't have time to verify any information the Kivren might offer. "I know that, you know that, but my partner here..."

She jerked her thumb at Caeso.

"He's a bit more traditional." Mieri gestured to the sword. "But it's okay!"

The Initiate chirped. "Because it's my turn to talk! We made a deal and all."

"So, I'm going to make you an offer." She said simply. "You tell me what I want to know, and I'll make sure you walk out of here."

 

[Caeso Diemut]

Caeso kept his composure. He of course had his opinion about whether or not Mieri's efforts thus far were worthwhile. But said efforts had only just begun to unfold. Kress, did she sound out of place though, like a fairgrounds entertainer during some jubilant celebration instead of a person the Kivren captive ought to take seriously.

The Rangers had formed a circular perimeter around them, all keeping keen watch of their surroundings. Two Rangers in particular had been tasked with confirming the kills while their brethren had their backs turned, and these two went about to the bodies of the thralls and were systematically jamming daggers into their chests.

The Kivren's mushed face remained a forced neutral for a while, as he seemed to be contemplating what Mieri had said. Then, with effort against the pressure of Caeso's continuous pinning Forcewave, his face slowly curled into a sneer. One of disgust, for it was that Kivren had an aversion to other races which perhaps matched, or even exceeded, that of the Anirians.

"Land-dweller...Song-fodder." And his sneer split open into a derisive grin, showing sharpened teeth, and in saying the next word was he clearly brought much delight, "Prey..."

Caeso increased the pressure upon the Kivren, depressing his chest and neck enough that he visibly struggled to breathe. "We all seem to have forgotten our manners, for introductions have slipped our minds. Shall we start there? Caeso Diemut, of House Diemut, soon to be bestowed of the title of Dreadlord."

He released that additional pressure, allowing for the Kivren to breathe only with as much difficulty as before. "And you, beast?"

Hateful eyes found Caeso. But the Kivren said, "To you, I will be...Ixn."

"Good. We are beginning to approach a level of understanding."

Then Caeso looked Mieri's way.

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

Mieri only stared in silence as she noticed the press of Caeso's magic against the Kivren's chest. Her lips thinned ever so slightly as she watched the fish-man's scales bend inward. The anguish on his face causing a slight pit to form in the small of her stomach.

She did not like torture.

It was one thing to kill someone in a fight. In battle it was kill or be killed. It was a natural instinct to want to stay alive.

Something like this though? Causing pain when someone was vulnerable and helpless? That just didn't sit right with Mieri, and it never much had. Her fingers wove together as the Kivren finally choked out a few words, introducing himself. "Mieri."

She chirped with a smile.

"So." The initiate continued. "We know you're looking for something."

Doubt, or what Mieri thought was doubt, flickered over the Kivren's face. As though he couldn't quite believe that the dry-landers would know anything. He frowned, and then spat at Mieri's feet.

"You know no-"​

"IXN!" Her voice boomed suddenly, and the Kivren flinched. "Think."

She hissed. "Your people are surrounded, you've been captured. There is no escape, there's no point in resisting. Tell us what you're looking for."

The creature grinned wide.

"It is you who will not be able to escape."​

 

[Caeso Diemut]

The unmitigated audacity of their captive.

"Quite the bold declaration," Caeso said, "from one in your position to us in ours."

"We...are born of the sea." Still Ixn spoke in a manner that suggested a distate for even having to use the Common tongue. Yet what softened the sourness of this disgust was the chance to gloat. "And you are not."

Caeso slid a small glance Mieri's way. He did not want to make assumptions about the vagueness Ixn had spewed. They needed to press him further.

Still he had the patience to allow for Mieri's delicate interrogation. They had time for her experimentation...for now. The tried and true methods, the very same that had produced the most capable battlemages Arethil had ever known, were always in reserve if all Mieri extracted from Ixn were bluffs and gloating.

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

"Well we're not in the sea, dummy." Mieri said, her voice filled with such confidence that it was almost insulting.

Still squatting in front of the Kivran she let out a chortle, her head shaking as if she couldn't quite believe Ixn would be so stupid.

"Do you not even realize that?" She laughed. "We're standing on land."

Mieri mocked. "Idiot. Do your stupid fish friends even know that?"

As she continued Caeso would easily notice that this was not how Mieri normally spoke. She never made fun of others, she had never showed a mean spirited or unsupportive bone in her body. This was entirely, completely out of character.

"Like, come on." She gestured. "There's nothing but sand here! What do you think? You're going to drown us with some splashes?"

Mieri laughed. "I can't believe you're so stu-"

Before she could finish Ixn bellowed over her.

"WE WILL FIND THE PYRAMID AND YOU WILL ALL BE FINISHED! FOOLISH CHILD! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND YOU ARE DOOMED!"​

The kivren's voice bellowed out in the clearing, his voice echoing loud enough that even some of the Rangers turned their heads. Mieri only smiled, her head turning as she looked at Caeso with a wide grin.

 

[Caeso Diemut]

"You should know," Caeso said to Ixn, "that the unraveling of your kin's plans began with your final words on Arethil."

And when Caeso saw that spark of dreaded realization in Ixn's eyes, he crushed the Kivren's chest with a powerful concentration of Force. Thick snaps of bone sounded, blood painted the rocky outcropping like a tomato squashed beneath a boot, and when the Forcewave pressing Ixn's body down was released his head and neck fell away from his flattened and tattered chest, a dull thump in the dirt.

Caeso stared at the corpse with contempt. He was almost insulted. Was this, this, the best that the Kivren had to offer? This, for a mission which to them was surely one of great risk? What a lackluster performance.

"He was everything you said of him. In the end, a beast cannot rise above his lowly station," Caeso said to Mieri. That Ixn fell so readily for so simple a ploy was perhaps inevitable.

And only then, when he tired of glaring down at the corpse, did he look to her. "Good work."

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

Blood splattered over Mieri's face a second time, and she froze completely.

The words spoken by her companion were utterly lost. A numb ringing echoing in her ear as she stared at the pressed corpse in front of her. Her eyes set forward, her vision became blurry, and she remained there, silent. Until finally she whirled around.

"WHAT THE FUCK, CAESO!?" Mieri demanded, her hand whirling up to point a finger at her companion.

"He was talking!" She contented. "You didn't have to kill him!"

It was rare to see Mieri upset, rarer still that she showed it so vehemently. "We could have gotten more out of him!"

The excuse was a flimsy one, and deep down she knew it too. Yet the fact didn't upset her any less. The Kivren had been...not innocent, but certainly not a threat. They had pinned him against the wall, held him there. He was a prisoner.

She had promised.

Mieri knew that only a few minutes before she had killed another one of the creatures herself, but that...it was different. This just felt wrong.

 

[Caeso Diemut]

Why did he bother to compliment her?

"Doubtful. You fooled him once. Yet even beasts may learn." This was the first and less important point to address.

Caeso absently tossed away his swords and they hung in the air for a moment instead of falling to the ground. The weapons whirled upward and sheathed themselves on his back.

He turned to face Mieri fully then, stepping toward her. His mass and his height loomed, and sharply did he look down on her.

He kept his voice low, mindful of the Rangers. They did not need to be privy to Dreadlord business, and corrections of wayward allies was a delicate affair. It was improper to expose to the open air what was, in this case, between himself and Mieri.

"Take hold of your faculties, Initiate Mieri," he said, voice straddling the line between whisper and growl. "Or have you forgotten Commander Teritus's orders?"

More pointedly.

"Have you forgotten what you are being made for at the Academy?"

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

Tension immediately wound tightly in Mieri's gut, and as her fellow Initiate tossed his swords to the side she half expected for him to come at her.

Her fingers had balled into fists, and she could practically feel her muscles reverberating within her as Caeso stepped forward. His hushed growl filled her ears, and she stared up at him. The Initiate's knuckles slowly turned white as he rebuked her.

The temptation to drive her fist into his face rising with every passing second.

Eyes flickered briefly to his side as he invoked the Commander's name. The Rangers standing there half watching the back and forth between the two Dreadlords. Mieri's teeth snapped shut. Cutting off an outburst that would have put an Obanian socialite to shame. The better part of her remembering to hold to some sort of decorum.

"Fucks you." Mieri hissed.

"I'm not being made into shit." She pointed at him with her finger. "I'm a person."

Then she whirled around and stepped away from him, intent on not burying her fist in his face.

 

[Caeso Diemut]

Caeso watched Mieri step off. Profanity, as always, was the mark of the inelegant mind grasping at straws. And if she therefore had no better argument than raw indignation, and no will to stand before him and defend it, then he would consider it a victory and move on.

Caeso wheeled around. Called out, "Sergeant Gainsborough!"

Begrudgingly, Sergeant Gainsborough glanced over and then made his way down into the shadow of the rocky outcropping. Attempting to head off and take control of the conversation, he said, "We're done here, and we're moving out."

"I require a map."

Sergeant Gainsborough scoffed. "Bold of you to ask of—"

"I'm not asking."

And it was here that Sergeant Gainsborough's brow slanted dangerously. He said slowly, "I do not take orders from you, Initiate. You...belong...to us. The men and women of the Guard. Understand?"

They stared at one another for a time, like two competing bulls sizing one another up.

"Think what you will," Caeso said icily. "But see that a map finds its way into my hands."

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

Mieri stalked off to one of the small inlets, fingers curled tightly into fists. Under her breath she muttered a string of expletives, her feet kicking into the sandy ground. Slow, heavy breaths filled her longs as she stomped back and forth.

Then suddenly a hand touched her shoulder.

"Hey we're mov-"

Before the words could even be finished Mieri whirled around. Her palm slapped away the hand that had touched her, darting away from the figure it was attached to. Shocked flickered over the Rangers face at how fast Mieri moved. "Oh."

She said quickly. "Sorry."

Her face twisted through a range of emotion, shifting eventually to a half forced smile.

"I'm coming." She said. "I'll be there, it's fine. I'm coming."

Mieri said quickly, the Ranger staring at her for a moment before he simply dipped his head in a nod and walked away. For a second the Initiate stared after him, teeth sinking into her lower lip. A quiet growl escaped her, fists practically shaking.

Then a quiet sigh escaped, head shaking as she began to head back over towards the others.

The rage suddenly gone from her face.

 

[Caeso Diemut]

Sergeant Gainsborough did not bring the map to Caeso himself. It was actually Ranger Dix, and Caeso figured as much. Gainsborough seemed more than just sold on the new hierarchy concerning the Guard and the Dreadlords. If Caeso's reckoning was right, Gainsborough actively despised the Dreadlords, or anyone gifted with magic really. This interpretation was clear enough to be forged by the look on Gainsborough's face during their "discussion," the seething character of his gaze when he was saying to whom the Dreadlords now belonged.

It had better not impact the mission.

Right as that thought flickered through Caeso's mind, Mieri returned from her venting walk. The Rangers were all moving forward again, and Caeso had the map provided by Dix in hand.

"Glad to see you've returned," he said perfunctorily. They had gotten along well enough on their previous mission, but that had been a relatively simple matter. The circumstances of the Hammerhead Isthmus were different, enough so to provide the space into which a wedge between their likewise differing worldviews and personalities could be driven.

So long as the taint of the "new way" of the Academy did not drive Mieri to compromise their mission, then all else would be tolerable.

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

"Glad you can feel other emotions other than 'murder'." Mieri said as she stepped up besides Caeso, the tone cheerful and chipper but the words themselves more than a little bit bitter.

She made a quick face at the other Initiate, and then turned her attention to the path ahead.

Unsurprisingly it was really just more of the same as before. Some rocky outcroppings, a few palm trees and other 'lighter' plant life, and then mostly sand. It was about all one could really expect from an Isthmus like this.

Mieri stalked forward, the incident before entirely forgotten even as spots of blood still painted her clothes. "Whats that."

She asked, pointing at the map in Caeso's hand.

 

[Caeso Diemut]

Still simmering over their disagreement, was she? No need to stoke embers back into a fire.

He was unfolding the map when Mieri asked her question about it. Yet as it turned out, one look at the map was enough. "Useless."

Caeso folded the map back up, stepping over a large stone in the dirt as he did. "What we require is not a map of towns, roads, and landmarks, the typical stock, but one of a specialized kind: a topographic map." He snorted. "Charming—an occasion which would have suited Soleil's gift, and yet she is not here. Such are the vagaries of fortune."

Vel Anir lagged behind Alliria with regards to cartography, especially in the case of topographic maps. Dreadlords with the gift of geomancy were of course being put to their proper purpose, and hiring foreign mages for the task of sensing and drawing to scale the shape of the land had its own considerations. It made sense, now that Caeso was thinking further on it, that if one person out of this whole detachment of Guardsmen would have such a detailed and specialized map it would be—

"Commander Teritus," Caeso said, coming to a stop. He looked to Mieri. "We must away from the vanguard, return to the Line, and look over his map."

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

Mieri blinked for a second, considering Caeso's argument and slowly nodding her head. If what the Kivren had said was true then his kin were looking for a Pyramid.

Such a thing would be rather difficult to miss, by the general populace. This of course meant it would most likely be buried somewhere on the peninsula itself. Her frown only deepened however as as Caeso came to his ultimate conclusion.

A visible cringe ran over her features. "Yeah...."

She said slowly, glancing over towards where Sergeant Gainsborough was walking.

"I don't think that's going to happen." Mieri more than doubted that their direct commanding officer would let them go anywhere. The man had been less than cooperative so far, and that wasn't going to change any time soon. Especially if the two Dreadlords he despised asked to countermand orders.

Her gaze slowly flickered back to Caeso.

"But..." She offered. "I think we can still get a good look at the Commander's map."

Mieri said, a smile growing on her face. "We just have to break a few rules."

 

[Caeso Diemut]

An astute point from Mieri. Caeso had been banking on the likelihood that Sergeant Gainsborough would leap at the opportunity to be rid of them, even if it was just for a relatively short while. Yet, as Mieri pointed out, it was equally likely, probably even more so Caeso had to admit, that Gainsborough would with scarcely contained glee deny any such request for leave just to spite them. Honestly, it was a miracle a map of any description made it into Caeso's hands.

A matching smile grew on Caeso's face. Thinking, of course, of preemptively spiting the good Sergeant through clandestine means and getting their way regardless of his authority.

"On this, we are in league."

He walked along the rough terrain of the Isthmus. Casual. They could have been talking about anything, so far as the nearby Rangers were concerned.

"Tell me what you've in mind."

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

"Sometimes you have to go forward, to go back." Mieri said cryptically, glancing around to make sure that none of the Rangers were close enough to overhear them speak.

Even before the Revolution she had never really been much for following the rules.

There had always been punishment of course, but she could take a beating better than most. A fact she was quite proud of, and the staunch rebukes she'd received at the Academy had only ever served to harden her resolve.

"We volunteer to scout ahead." He said, motioning back towards the soldiers. "Then when we're out of sight we double back."

It would require no small amount of finesse, and if they got caught they would no doubt be in a heap of trouble, but it was the only way she thought this would work. "Get back to camp, steal the map, and then..."

She trailed off, with a vague wave of her hand.

 

[Caeso Diemut]

Caeso gave it some thought. Thinking deeply, but concealing such from his face and his gestures. Any wayward eyes from the Rangers would just him striding along, eyes set and focused ahead, seemingly alert and scanning for threats.

"Sound," Caeso said. "Nightfall will give us the best cover."

The Isthmus, though lacking in significant tree cover, nevertheless offered patches of rough terrain to conceal movement (like the very outcropping from which they sprang their ambush on the bygone Kivren). Still, it wasn't ideal, and even if the Rangers couldn't have eyes everywhere across the whole expanse of the Isthmus, the cloak of night would help tremendously.

But sneaking away from the Rangers would prove to be the easy part.

"Commander Teritus will have the map on his person. The Line is meant to consolidate into three camps come the night, and it is an easy assumption that he will have his tent in the center camp. However..."

And now the hard part.

"...that still means we must sneak into an Anirian field camp, replete with Liadain's most watchful sentries and experienced soldiers."

No mean feat, certainly. Seemed only a mixture of planning, improvisation, and sheer luck could make it happen without a hitch.

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

Mieri let her shoulders roll in a shrug. "Nothing the two of us can't pull off."

The confidence in her tone was utterly astounding, as though there was no possible way that they could fail.

"The key will be speed." She said, still trying her best to keep her voice down. Something that seemed to come at great difficulty to her considering that she was still speaking at only just below a whisper. "The longer we're in camp, the more chance there is someone will catch us."

As much as they made fun, the Guard was no joke.

Sentries were well trained and more often than not encampments were well protected. In more familiar territory most Anirian armies even tended to build palisades around their camps, though Mieri doubted that was being done here on the isthmus.

Mieri suddenly snapped her fingers.

"A distraction!" She whisper shouted. "Something that will draw a few eyes."

That would give them a slightly better chance at least.

 

[Caeso Diemut]

"It would have to be a grand distraction indeed," Caeso said. And, preferably, something which didn't send every sentry around the camp into high alert. On that note, he glanced up to the unhelpfully sunny sky, "Where are those Initiates with their vaunted weather magic when at last the occasion truly calls for it? A sudden gale would have engendered the disorder we need."

A few Forcewaves among the wind to throw sentries and equipment into disarray added into a stormy night, and the thread of the enemy would soon be forgotten as the Guardsmen scrambled merely to find sanctuary for braving the elements.

"As it stands, our task is one which will require quick wits."

And then another possibility struck him. Mayhap an evening squall wasn't the only thing which would draw copious attention.

"Or...we make them think that they are under attack."

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

Mieri snapped her fingers in Caeso's direction. "Now you're talking my language."

They wouldn't have to kill anyone.

A few shouts of alarm, some fires set on the edge of the camp. Chaos was sown quickly even among the ranks of the organized. All they had to do was make the Guardsmen think the Kivren were attacking, after that the rest would take care of itself.

"If we 'attack' the furthest point from the Commander's tent eyes will be drawn there." Mieri pointed out. "I can set some fires."

She mused, then quickly asked. "You could make wind with your force, stoke the flames."

It would do some damage, but not enough to really harm anything.

Though if either of them were caught, or their plan was somehow found it both of them would likely face far more severe consequences. With something like this, Prison was not entirely out of the question. They would have to be careful. "A few unconscious guardsmen after that and..."

Boom, perfect.

 

[Caeso Diemut]

"...the map is ours." And, furthermore, the fate of this pyramid the Kivren were so engaged in finding. Some clue, some oddness in the terrain, might well give himself and Mieri the edge in finding it. Bringing down the hammer onto the anvil and wiping out the Kivren was one thing, laudable enough in its own right—claiming or destroying whatever prize the Kivren sought would be a greater triumph.

This, Caeso anticipated, would not be of any concern to Commander Teritus. He had his mission, and seeking out some fabled pyramid, lest there be Kivren already swarming within, would be a waste of time—derelict of duty even. If this pyramid was to be discovered and investigated, it would solely be up to Caeso and Mieri. And if they could find it, surely some significant Kivren force could too, and with many heads could they retroactively prove their venture a worthwhile one to any naysayers.

Alright. First steps first.

"Let us go and 'volunteer.'"

Caeso forged ahead, catching up to Sergeant Gainsborough in the Rangers' loose formation.

"Sergeant Gainsborough, Mieri and I would like to scout ahead." Gainsborough immediately turned a dubious look onto him, and Caeso explained further, "As a matter of tactics, it would prove efficient. Resistance south of Maratan is expected to be light, of course, and what doubt remains of our capabilities after what you have all witnessed? Between your Rangers and the two of us—"

"What's your game?" the Sergeant said, eyeing the two Initiates warily. "I know your kind. Conniving. So what is it? Chasing glory?"

Mieri

 

[Mieri]

Mieri had never been a good liar. A fact which most of her fellow Initiate's were more than well aware of. If you wanted to keep a secret, you kept it as far away from the Auburn Pugilist as you possibly could. "No, sir!"

She answered blankly, the chirpy enthusiasm now having fully returned to her voice.

"We're just trying to do what it takes to get the job done." She continued, walking the fine line between truth and lie. "Plus..."

The chipper tone of her voice faltered slightly. "Well, you haven't exactly been secretive about not wanting us around."

She gestured towards the sergeant. "We can do both our jobs and get out of your hair, sir."

For a few seconds it seemed as though the man would deny them, offer some cutting rebuke or another insult. Yet after a moment he simply spat on the floor and shook his head. Looking at Mieri first, then to Caeso. The doubt still evident on his face.

"Fine. Do it. I'm not technically disobeying the Commander and I'm sick of looking at you lot."​

The Sergeant scoffed, and under his breath added.

"Should've never been added to the Guard."​