Private Tales Into The Wilds

[Jorg]

Velefor

Jorg stood patiently waiting just off the docks with two horses fully loaded down with supplies. The beasts were fine looking anomals, the sort that most would have paid a little more for just to have. Jorg had chosen them specifically, knowing exactly what traits would be needed out where he and his charge would've going.

The Ixchel Wilds were a place filled with mysteries. One of the few places that even Allirian Cartographers generally didn't want to Wade into. For all the knowledge of man, the Wilds still remained largely unexplored.

Of course, that was really only true to fools and idiots.

The fact of the matter was that the Wilds had its own teeming society and life. Elves, Naga, even a few others who did as they pleased and when they pleased. It was through them, he guessed, that rumors of an abandoned city had reached the woman who'd hired him.

Jorg was from Mallian, a city on the far side of the Wilds. Many people thought it the only truly civilized place in Epressa. Jorg himself wasn't too sure about that, mostly because at first chance he'd abandoned his place in "civilized" society and joined a mercenary company.

Things had...not gone well.

That was why he was here no, prepared to act as a guide for a woman he had never met nor rightly knew anything about at all.

"Should be fun." Jorg said to one of the horses as he patted it's nose.

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

It had been a long journey and countless weeks spent aboard several ships to get Gabby to her destination. Not to mention a fair bit of coin and coercion on her end to secure such passage. Many a crew outright refused regardless of payment, though her perseverance had eventually proven fruitful. Evening was settling in, the last few rays of light dipping beneath the trees, while the rippling pool of blue beneath the vessel babbled quietly as the ship neared the dock.

The final stretch of her trip yielded a smaller boat, much less of a charter and more of a it'll get there, don't worry, characteristic to it. Slowing to a stop Gabrielle noticed what she presumed to be the man she'd hired. He seemed to be with purpose, and also in possession of a pair of horses and supplies, notably one without rider.

Bidding the tiny crew a farewell as they finally reached port, Gabby stepped off and onto solid ground, pleased to have concluded that chapter of her journey at last. She carried with her a backpack with the last of her supplies, food and water, gold, and some tools she had brought along. At her right side were several small pouches tied to her belt. On the left, a modest blade tucked within a sheathe.

A polite smile and a quick waive was made toward the man she presumed was to be her guide. "Hello there."

 

[Jorg]

Jorg tipped up his head as a woman's voice called to him.

She had stunning bright red hair that would have marked her out as a stranger in any city East of the Spine, and a smile that couldve knocked over a horse.

His hand raised for a second, though quickly dropped so the horses didn't start walking forward. "Greetings!"

Jorg spoke the common tongue with a strange sort of accent. The R's were rolled and even a single word seemed almost stretched out when he spoke.

"Miss Selana I presume?" He had done these sorts of jobs before. Usually it was a rich merchant son or an overeager scholar trying to get a better look at something lost and old. He was pretty sure that she counted among the latter group. "I'm Jorg."

He gave her a short bow. "If you're ready now we can start, if not I have an Inn prepared where you can rest until you're ready."

He tried to be nice and accomidatiting, that's how you ended up with more gold in your pocket.

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

It seemed her assessment was correct. By her estimate he was a few years her elder. Even mounted atop his horse he was clearly larger in stature and held the appearance of someone with a rough background. Hopefully that was also indicative of his capabilities both as a guide and as a warden, should the circumstance arise.

"Delighted to meet, Jorg." She said with a tip of her head. "No need to wait, there was hardly much to do but rest while on the water. And I'm quite eager to be off, truth be told."

Finding things to do with her hands to spend her time was the biggest challenge. Now that she was at least on land again, the last thing she intended to do was sit around and waste more time. She approached Jorg, gesturing towards the saddled yet riderless horse to his side. "This one is to be mine I assume?"

It certainly pleased her to see that he had saw fit to supply them, thus saving some time in doing so herself after arrival.

 

[Jorg]

"It is." Excellent, he had hoped she would say something of the sort.

Jorg had hated the Inn hed stayed in the night before, and unfortunately it was the only one in town. The beds had been uncomfortable and he was fairly sure that a rat had attempted to nibble at his toe in the middle of the night.

With a gentle hand he tossed her the reigns, offering a smile. "She's fairly tame, though not sure how she'll be once we get into the jungles."

It was always a crapshoot with horses.

At times even the ones who had been trained for it got spooked. The strange sounds and cries that often echoed through the jungle could spook even the best trained warhorse, something that Mallian had discovered ages ago when the city had attempted an invasion of some of their distant competitors.

The entire venture had failed horribly. "It'll be about five days journey to the ruins."

More if it rained, but he decided not to mention that to her.

No one ever liked to hear possible bad news.

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

Gabby wasn't exactly a seasoned veteran when it came to horseback riding. She was no worse off than the average rider, but she certainly wouldn't be showcasing her talents in that arena to much applause. Still, his warning did not discourage her any. Better to be prepared than unaware. "I'm sure she'll do great." Gabrielle stepped up and saddled the horse, settling in after a moment or so, taking the reins as Jorg passed them to her.

She checked her bag, her footing, and the tied down supplies before nodding that she was ready. "Five days it is." There was no inherent deadline for her to meet, so there wasn't any pressing need to encourage the man to find a faster route. After all, the trip back to Elbion was more of a drag on her than the trek through the jungle.

"Do you get many out this way?" She asked as they started off. Her curiosity was twofold in that she was judging whether or not the pilgrimage would be fruitful, as well as to gain any kind of insight as to past excursions he may have participated in.

 

[Jorg]

The question was an awkward one, mostly because the answer was; 'yes but most of them get killed fairly quickly'.

Jorg decided not to answer that way, and instead purse his lips for a few seconds as if he had to actually think about it. "Not as many as you might think."

His father had told him that diplomacy was basically just fancy lying. You didn't have to tell people the truth all the time, just enough that they actually understood what they were in for. Politics was like that. It was why he hated it.

"The Wilds are not kind to strangers." He explained as they set off on their journey. "Most don't know the proper way through themselves, so they'd rather go somewhere that's not quite as dangerous."

Or they got eaten. "Most people tend to stick to the coast around here."

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

She gave the horse a gentle pat as they rode. If ruins weren't dangerous themselves, or in hard to reach places, there wouldn't be much to find, let alone recover. A dangerous trek meant there was likely something of value to discover. Perhaps the coin invested would not have been in vain after all.

"The coast a sight may be, but there are plenty back home that needn't require a lengthy trip to visit. I much prefer the sight others have rarely seen." Or touch.

Gabby wasn't a stranger to peril, not that she sought it out, but she had found herself in more than one unfortunate situation during her travels and excursions. Shed escaped beasts, staved off ravenous creatures, even put down a vampire that had its fangs set on a meal that she had no intention of becoming. She was confident she could handle herself, though Jorg's presence certainly helped boost confidence.

"Do you know anything about where we're going?" Perhaps if he had brought others there they may have been loose lipped about their findings or intentions.

 

[Jorg]

They were the words of an explorer, had he guessed right? It seemed so, but he supposed that he would find out soon enough.

"Not as much as I would like." He said in all honesty. The Ruins were spoken about fairly often in Velefore, but no one had actually been there. All those who had made it there didn't come back, though just how anyone knew they made it there in the first place was somewhat of a mystery.

Fools and rumors went together like butter and bread his father used to say.

"The Wilds are spotted with Ruins like these." He explained. "Most of them are teeming with traps and monsters."

He reached up and stroked at his beard gently. "This one has supposedly been here even before the Wild Elves."

Which would make it several thousand years old.

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

So it appeared he wasn't familiar with their destination other than the path to reach it, and a rumor as to its age. No matter, if it wasn't well known even by those familiar with the surrounding area that gave her hope that there would be something worthwhile to discover, traps and monsters be damned.

"Needn't worry much about traps so long as we keep alert. Monsters on the other hand, well, I trust you've bloodied your blade once or twice?" After all, part of his pay was to keep her safe. And sure, she had a small weapon at her side, but it wasn't exactly meant to slay beasts with. More for scaring off a would-be thief than anything.

Still, she had her magic, not that it was something she flaunted around just because.

 

[Jorg]

He smiled. "Once or twice."

His father had made sure he was well trained even before he'd left Mallian, and after...well after he'd learned how a fight really went. His fingers tightened on the reigns for a second in memory, but they quickly released.

"So." He began. "What makes you so interested in these ruins?"

Jorg asked. "Most people wouldn't think a pile of rocks would be worth traveling through the Wilds for."

As they spoke the path before them would find to the left and then bend into the jungles ahead. Heat seemed to radiate from the wood, foliage sprawling outward and towards them.

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

The answer was simple really. For most it boiled down to the idea of vast wealth in the discovery and trade of lost artifacts. For Gabby though the thought of selling what didn't belong to her was a breach of principle. What she was after was more an understanding of history and the preservation of such artifacts.

She turned to Jorg and smiled, "And that's precisely what makes them worth the trouble." Nothing ventured, nothing gained as the saying went. "We can't learn from past civilizations without understanding them. And to understand them one has to find them. Nobody has ever discovered anything without exploration."

Even if the ruins had nothing to offer in the form of tangible artifacts, the very structure itself, what little of it may be left in tact, would surely provide insight to the ages long since forgotten. And that was equally spectacular.

 

[Jorg]

Called it.

A smug smile pulled across his lips, though he tried to hide it from her by briefly looking to the left as though something might be over there. After a few seconds he managed to wipe the expression clean, glancing back at her. "I see."

"Well, I'll get you there." He told her as the canopy up ahead began to crawl over them and block the sun. "I can promise you that."

What would happen once they were there? Well that was a wholly different question. "I do need to return by the twentieth day though."

That would give her ten days at the ruins, more than enough. If they went beyond that...things would get more dangerous for her than she might expect.

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

She did the math, ten days? That should more than suffice, assuming these weren't some sprawling ruins that spanned a great distance, or were overly perilous to traverse within. Not that it was out of the question, but most places she had visited in the past were three to five day journeys at their lengthiest.

"I will see to it that you are not delayed from your future business." Whatever that may be.

If it came right down to it she could likely make her way back on the last leg of the trip if he provided her some bit of instructions, or landmarks to look out for.

Regardless she wasn't overly concerned. It was plenty of time.

"Oh, I apologize!" She reached to her side, unlacing one of the small pouches that were intended for Jorg. "This is yours." Gently she tossed it over to him, the jingle of metal against metal within would be obvious as to what the contents were.

Nobody worked for free.

 

[Jorg]

"Thank you." There was no business of course. Once the twenty days were up his curse would kick into effect.

He would spend three nights in the form of a wolf, killing and eating whatever was around him. Which would of course, include her.

Jorg caught the pouch as she tossed it over to him, grasping it and feeling the weight for a second before opening it up and counting the golden coins. A smile touched his face, and he quickly made the sack disappear into his saddlebags. "Thank you."

He said with a dip of his head.

The jungle had now grown up all around them, the canopy up ahead closing up the sky and the trapped humidity hanging within the air.

"So, where are you from?" He asked, deciding that idle conversation might help pass the time as they made their way into the Wilds.

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

Gabrielle returned the nod, noting his satisfaction with the payment.

"Elbion." She answered. "Quite a ways away." The other side of the world, really. The time it took to simply make it here was rather astounding. She wasn't sure as to whether or not he was familiar with her home or its whereabouts geographically. She had learned never to presume what anyone knew or didn't know about the world around them. It was after all a vast place, and impossible to know everything there was to know. Education also varied greatly from place to place so she never took it upon herself to assume such things.

"Back home my family are builders. Pretty well known there. But they tend to keep to what they know, what's familiar. Old traditions and that sort of philosophy. I'm looking for more than that."

She was also the only one in her family capable of using magic, but that wasn't important to the narrative.

 

[Jorg]

He let out a whistle. "That is quite a ways."

Jorg had never been to Elbion before, mostly because it was more than a continent away. The closest he'd managed to get was Alliria, and even that had only been a short trip by sea. He'd heard the stories though, the magic school and all.

Mallian had no such thing. If you knew how to do magic you were generally speaking on your own. You had to learn, and if you did, you could use that ability to you advantage.

If not? Well...

"Interesting." Jorg said, actually meaning it too. "There's something to be said about creating things with your own two hands."

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

And then some, she thought to herself.

"It has served my family well enough through the years." Enough so that they were recognizable, well off, and generally wanted for nothing. Her family estate was sizeable, though they employed no servants. Her sisters had taken up their own identities, the eldest sibling opened her own bakery, whilst her middle sister chose to instead marry into another wealthy family and bear children.

To Gabby, the idea of child bearing gave her the chills. It seemed a permanent sentence, closing the door to so much in life. It simply wasn't for her, though baking and selling breads was hardly an inspiration to her either. But to each their own. Her sisters seemed happy with their choices and thus she supported them in it.

"What about you? What made you decide to take up this sort of work?"

 

[Jorg]

"Boredom." It was probably a surprising answer, but he wasn't one to lie.

Usually anyway.

"My family is...quite wealthy." That was an understatement. As the Duke of Mallian his father had trade rights for the entire city, not to mention the lumber industry and...pretty much everything else. "I had an easy life, and eventually that pushed me away. Joined a mercenary company, ventured West."

He shrugged his shoulder. "I got taught some pretty hard lessons and well, here I am."

A smile touched his lips.

"Not exactly a tale for the bards." Mostly because he'd left out all the juicy parts.

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

"Certainly not your typical line of work to sate wealthy boredom, though I suppose neither is..." She gestured to her surroundings, "--all this."

Traversing across the world in search of artifacts lost to the ages by quite literally risking life and limb to do so wasn't exactly the career path for the daughter of two prominent engineers, but there she was, all the same.

Gabby pursed her lips and blew the hair that had begun to cling to her face, beads of sweat beginning to roll down the sides of her temple. The heat wasn't overbearing, but it was certainly noticeable now that they'd been riding some time.

She turned slightly, reaching for and lifting the flap of her bag as they continued through the jungle, retrieving her waterskin to draw a few sips from the refreshing liquid within. She extended her hand, offering it to Jorg with a smile.

 

[Jorg]

Jorg glanced at her, frowning for a moment as if he hadn't exactly expected such kindness from her. Most of the people he lead through the Wilds were stuck up pomps who basically wanted to be carried through the woods.

"I...uhh thanks." The Mercenary said as he reached over and grabbed the waterskin. He took a modest sip, though not more than he needed.

Water was surprisingly precious in the Wilds, mostly because the places you could go to get some were also the same places the monsters went. That made going there extremely dangerous, and it was why he had packed extra.

"I tried a few other things first." He continued, trying to amuse her a bit now. "Horse racing, sailing, cat training."

Jorg shook his head. "None of it was any fun."

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

Gabrielle tucked the waterskin back into her bag, making sure it was secured before turning back to Jorg. A smile formed on her lips as she listened to him recant his prior endeavors in the name of earning coin, in particular the cat training.

"I suppose there's a certain level of excitement in trekking into the jungle with foreigners from distant places, coin to burn and time to waste, wondering if each time some foul beast will crawl out of the shadows to make you regret your choice."

It hadn't deterred her yet at least.

"Those are the tales for the bards though." She shot him a quick wink.

 

[Jorg]

He chuckled, smiling for a brief moment. "Are they?"

Jorg pursed his lips, reaching up to slowly stroke at his beard for a few seconds as if he were considering something.

"Well if that's the case maybe I've just never met a bard to tell the tales to." He had met monsters, hell...in the eyes of many he was a monster himself. That was really the problem, if he ever told his story, the real one, he'd end up getting lynched.

Best not to. This lady would probably run off screaming if she knew what he actually was. "Know any you can send my way?"

A smirk touched his lips as he looked a ther.

 

[Gabrielle Selana]

"Adventure, peril, treasure, defying death. Sounds to me like the ingredients of any bard's song." Though she'd never heard a tale that she didn't believe to be embellished vastly beyond any shred of truth. But that was the fun, right? The entertainment behind the story, rather than the tale itself.

"I know of a few, though none that would venture out this far for a telling. They'd sooner cook up a fantastical story in their own head than spare the time for such a trip. I think perhaps that's why they prefer to hear other folks stories, and then rewrite certain parts for dramatic effect."

The woman raised an eye, offering a suggestion of her own. "Perhaps becoming a bard could be your next endeavor."

 

[Jorg]

Another laugh barked from his lips. This girl had some fire to her, and he quite enjoyed that. Conversation was the key to Kingdoms his father had always said, and this girl could most certainly hold a conversation.

That was something. "Trust me. If I started to sing even the monsters of the Wild would be scared away."

He smiled to himself.

"Best not to make your ears bleed, we've a long way yet and you'll need them." Listening out here was almost as important as seeing, at least in his experience. "Besides, I like this line of work. It suits me."

He reached up and patted his armor. "Bards don't get to look this great."