Private Tales The March of Progress

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka's snort cut through the silence and suddenly all eyes swivelled to her. She seemed to have forgotten where exactly they were because she even begun to laugh.

"You sound like a herd of elephants wherever you go!" she recalled the previous day, wondered too how the poor forest looked after he had crashed his way through it. The Tsi'lagi shook her head and made her braids and beads and feathers dance. "If you intend to go, I will go with you. Someone needs to stop you getting yourself killed and making this war worse."

 

[Vass]

A shrug rolled over his shoulders. "Managed to sneak up on you well enough."

Vass reminded her, though he didn't mean it as an insult.

There was no doubt that killing the King...no, Assassinating him would be hard, but he was up for it. The Commander stared at him for a moment, as if he were considering the whole thing in the back of his mind. After a moment he nodded.

"Do you agree?"​

He looked at the Representatives first.

All five of them looked to Vass, then to Ahsoka. He saw the same weariness in their eyes as the Captain had held, and yet after a moment they all nodded. Some more reluctant than others. Yet they all agreed.

"And you?"​

The Commander said, regarding the Elders.

 

[Ahsoka]

The Elders seemed to be weighing Ahsoka up as much as the humans were weighing up Vass. As far as she was concerned it was decided already as was clear from how she had begun already to string her bow. When the humans asked their question however the Elders glanced at one another then nodded.

"Yes, send the two of them to try and end this quietly. Ahsoka... has methods of communicating with us if they need us," there were a few surprised glanced from the younger men gathered and Ahsoka shifted uncomfortably at the reveal of her gifts. When one of the elders sons murmured something to his brother her cheeks flushed and she gripped her bow tighter.

"Let's go then. Best to get this over with quickly."

 

[Vass]

Vass nodded. Ahsoka was eager to get going, and he could well understand that. The task ahead of them wouldn't be an easy one. Yet before they left, the mercenary opened his mouth again.

He glanced around at the group. "Right...anyone have a crossbow?"

The answer he received was more silent stairs.

A loud sigh echoed out behind him, one of the other Red Hundred smacking his own face in disbelief. After a moment the same man shook his head, grabbing Vass' shoulder and turning him forcefully way from the council that had gathered.

"Time and place, Lad."​

The man told him.

"Time and place."​

Vass was about to voice an objection, but before he could the other Mercenary forced him forward and motioned for Ahsoka to follow.

As the three of them detached themselves from the Representatives and Kings, the Mercenary began to speak more candidly.

"We can set out a map for the two of you through the Camp. The King is well protected by a Guard of twenty men. Excellent warriors, even by Elven standards. Rumor is some of them are spellswords, though we're not quite sure what sort."​

 

[Ahsoka]

"We're not elves," Ahsoka mattered quietly under her breath. Only Vass, stood next to her so close, would probably be able to hear it. However she shut her mouth and listened to the rest with a small frown. A map would be useful but it wasn't navigation that concerned her. It was the mention of spellswords. Mages. Her skin crawled. Her magic worked in very different ways to mages did and whilst it was powerful in its own right it wasn't fireball throwing.

"Very well," she nodded and folded her arms over her chest. "We'll try to stay undetected."

 

[Vass]

Vass let out a slight chuckle as Ahsoka objected, but he said nothing as the mercenary continued to explain.

"If you're careful you can avoid them all together, there's patrols on the east and west side, but they don't, seem all that bothered by the north."

A slow nod tipped his head. "We'll circle around the camp then."

The other soldier tipped his head in a nod.

"If you're in and out quick, shouldn't be a problem. The King is paranoid, but not enough that he has the whole camp staked out just yet. We'll get some of the Hundred on perimeter patrol, just use a cel'mir call to get them to ignore you."

"Aye." Vass said with a nod. The Cel'Mir was a bird found only in the deep reached of the Falwood. A place that most rarely traveled. "Crossbow?"

The man let out a sigh, but after a loud whistle, a motion, and a few minutes later Ahsoka and Vass found themselves once again trekking through the forest. A crossbow was slung over Vass' shoulder, and he walked with a jovial confidence.

"Could have pulled this off on my own, ya know." He said with a smirk.

 

[Ahsoka]

"A few hours ago you plummeted off a cliff and swam through rapids," Ahsoka said bluntly as she walked by his side towards the camp. As she stepped she fiddled with her bow; checking the string, the arrows, the curve of the wood. She seemed satisfied after the fifth check and then held it loosely in one hand, an arrow ready and waiting in the string.

"Unless you are part something other I would imagine you're not feeling 100% today," she snorted. Even she was bruised and her bones and skin were far tougher than his. "Besides, I prefer to know a job is being done properly," she sniffed but the smile that tugged at her lips said anything but.

 

[Vass]

"Oh it'll be done properly." Vass said as he hefted the crossbow which was now slung over his shoulder.

"I might not be one for running through the jungle." The Human admitted. "Nor crashing gracefully into rapids."

She was of course, totally right.

His body still felt like it had been utterly put through the river, like multiple people had taken a bat to him and made sure he walked away bloody and bruised. Everything ached, but somehow the determination behind all this drove him onward.

They were stopping a war after all. "But this? This is why I joined the Hundred."

Vass remarked as they continued to trail forward. The path they cut was more direct than when they had left, and it took them only a short while before the camp finally came into view once again.

 

[Ahsoka]

"To assassinate people?" she raised a brow in obvious doubt. If that was the career path Vass wanted, the army was not the place for him. Ahsoka might not have dwelt often in the outside world but the times she visited and spent amongst them she had learnt enough to know there were certain places a person went when they wanted someone else to ... vanish.

The Tsi'lagi stopped when the camp finally came into view. Memories of the last time she had been then rose into her mind and her nose wrinkled. The way Vass had brought them they were sure to be seen or caught more quickly.

"This way," she tilted her head to the left. "There's a better way." Wordlessly she led him round to the far side where the stores were. In the wall was a hastily repaired hole. Of course when her people had arrived they had scaled, but she wasn't sure Vass would manage it so gracefully as the others and she had noticed this last time. Carefully she peeled back the wooden slats to reveal a dark empty alley beyond.

 

[Vass]

Vass didn't object as he was lead around the side of the Camp. Unsurprisingly, it was the portion that wasn't watched by the Red Hundred.

"Alright, follow me from here on out." He told her.

The last time she had done this they hadn't been spotted save for a quick eye, but this time they wouldn't be going to a Prison tent. The King was well guarded, and much further away from the forest. They would have to make their way carefully, and Vass had a plan for that.

Quickly they moved along the city streets, wandering through the alleyways and moving until they reached a small unassuming tent. There were large bins of water stacked everywhere, and within the tent was a long clothesline filled with dozens of articles of clothing. "Find something that fits you."

He told her quickly.

"And a helmet, or a hat." Even if it was uncomfortable, they needed something to squish her ears down.

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka was content to let him take the lead once on the other side of the small hole. They had flowed through this camp blind aside from the Dreamwalkers communicating with her what they knew of the place from the other Realm they wandered. But you couldn't see people in the Dreamscape and people were what they needed to be alert for now. Her nose wrinkled long before the same to the laundry tent and she was practically pinching it when they passed the heap of clothes destined for the soapy water barrels.

"They should just set fire to those," she muttered quietly. There was no saving something that smelt of dead skunk.

So it was no wonder she looked equal parts horrified and angered by the suggestion she dress in them.

"No way!" she stared in disgust at the shirts and breeches.

 

[Vass]

Vass shot her a flat look. "Yes, way."

The Mercenary insisted.

"This will work better than skulking through the camp." He had no doubt that she could manage most of the way, but as soon as they got closer to the inner encampment things would change. Torches would be everywhere, soldiers stationed all over the place.

There was no way in hell that they were sneaking much further. "Do you want to say we failed because you refused to put on some clothes?"

Vass asked.

"Because we can go back." He pointed to the tent flap.

 

[Ahsoka]

If looks could have killed, the one Ahsoka fixed upon Vass now would have flayed the skin from his back whilst he was still conscious so she could torture all the little parts of his insides that really hurt. Then, she let out a frustrated breath and shoved past him to the pile of clothes. Something was muttered under her breath in her native tongue but by the tone it was nothing Vass would want to hear. She preferred when he was being stupid to speaking sense.

That almost made her more angry.

She put her bow down with a bit more force than necessary and then begun to remove her clothes. None of them would fit under the weird breeches and shirts these people wore, not without alerting anyone who gave her a second look to something being off. Quickly she redressed and then picked up a wide brimmed straw hat the farmers just beyond the wall wore to keep the sun off their eyes and jammed it over her ears with a wince.

"Happy?"

 

[Vass]

Vass stripped only his shirt off, deciding that more than that probably wouldn't be necessary.

He would have just worn his Red Hundred uniform, but they weren't allowed this deep inside of the camp. Someone would likely call him out if he went running around in that thing, so it was best to try to blend in like Ahsoka.

A few seconds later, as he tugged on another tabbard he glanced over towards his companion. "I am."

He told her.

"Keep your head down." Vass said as he plucked his sword up from where he had leaned it against one of the bins. Quickly he buckled it onto his belt. "Let me do the talking if anyone stops us, alright?"

The crossbow was quickly slung over his shoulders, drawn tight in place as his shoulders rolled. This was it, the last few steps they had to take.

Then they would kill a king.

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka sighed and fidgeted with her hat as she trailed after him. The straw itched at her ears where they were pinned beneath the rim and she kept adjusting it in the hopes one section might not itch as bad as the rest.

With the bow slung over her back and her dark complexion she blended in surprisingly well with the odd other farmers dressed in similar attire who were milling about with rabbits or pheasants slung over their shoulders, hurrying to the cooks tent or coming out of it with orders. Nobody gave her a second look despite her fidgety nature.

Then suddenly she stopped, her head snapping to the right and her nostrils flaring slightly. Then a frown furrowed her brow.

"Mages," she said softly. "Using magic." It could have been a harmless little spell to light a fire but it made her skin crawl all the same.

 

[Vass]

Vass glanced over towards Ahsoka.

He wasn't entirely sure how she knew...maybe some trick that she had, but he only nodded and stepped a bit closer to her as he whispered. "The King has ten court mages."

The Red Hundred had been informed of them, or rather, the Commander had dug it out of the King after a long discussion about his security. The Hundred of course had it's own mages, though they were few and far in between.

Those with magic didn't often tend to mercenary work.

"We'll be alright, none of them can read minds." That was what the Commander had said anyway. Gently he grabbed Ahsoka, continuing to lead her towards the inner encampment. Eventually the line became clear.

The tents around them were nicer, the soldiers a bit better outfitted.

It was almost like a city, with the change passing over as they walked.

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka made a strangled, angry noise as he grabbed her arm and hurled her on.

"I am not an oxen," she huffed at him but then quietened down as the tents began to change. Twice more she felt the use of magic tingle over her skin, the last time almost causing her hat to come off from just how hard her long ears quivered. It was certainly more than just fire magic. Perhaps a group of them were training, or maybe it was all the same mage, it was hard to tell. There wasn't really a signature that came with magic that was individual to each person - at least, not that she knew how to detect.

"Pompous bird," she muttered about the change in décor and atmosphere. "How do people stand having a king?"

 

[Vass]

"Most of them don't have a choice." He commented quietly.

Arenholm was a democracy, or rather, it claimed to be one. There was no King that ran the city, but instead a doge who ruled over the place. He was elected by the city council, who themselves were elected...though there were dubious claims to such things.

The system was hardly perfect, but no one held absolute power like they did in these lands. "When you're a peasant in a village, it's hard to resist a knight on a horse."

He said quietly as they cut down another corridor of tents.

As they moved beyond the next corner the space in front of them opened up. A large ring sat around an even larger tent, which could have been called a Canvas palace. Two doors arrayed on either side of the massive tent, each guarded by four soldiers. "That's it."

He said quietly.

"That's where he is." Vass frowned, Watching as a patrol of guard stalked just ahead of them.

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka scrunched up her nose; she still couldn't think of a reason why they wouldn't at least try. But then, her people had a history of fighting for their freedom in a bloody and horrific manner. If the Elders chosen did not do their job even old maids were not afraid to lose their life to rid themselves and their people of a tyrant.

She peered over his shoulder with ease when they hid down a side street and peered out at the tent that was to be their target. She made a soft, thoughtful noise then ducked back into the safety of the other street and pondered their best move.

"Could we go around the back of the tent? Or we have to find a way to distract them to slip inside."

 

[Vass]

For a minute Vass didn't say anything. He simply watched the tent in silence.

Causing a distraction was certainly a choice, and maybe not the worst one, but it would almost immediately make everyone and everything in the camp go on high alert. They would have people tense, on the lookout, and that meant getting out would be all but impossible.

"I think..." He frowned. "I think I have an idea."

Briefly he glanced towards Ahsoka. "But It's going to be hard."

Fingers tightened for a moment, and then he looked to the tent again.

"We need to lure him out, get him into the open. Then...well then take a shot while he's out here." Vass knew it would be hard, all but impossible, but it was also the only way he could see that they could make this happen. "I'm guessing you're better with a bow than I am with this thing."

He gestured to the crossbow. "So I lure him out, and you take the shot."

Plus, it'd be somewhat...harder for her to do the luring.

 

[Ahsoka]

It was a solid plan. Probably a better idea than sneaking in or causing a distraction, but...

"I don't like the idea of you going alone."

It was dangerous and she would have no idea if something bad had happened to him inside. She could end up waiting out here for hours whilst the Spirits knew what could be happening to him. If he didn't come back, what would the Hundred do? Would it cause problems amongst the leaders they had left behind? Would war still happen?

"It's not very... safe."

 

[Vass]

Vass glanced at her for a moment.

The irony of her not wanting him to walk into danger was not lost on that moment. He might have teased her about it if she wasn't entirely correct. By doing this he was essentially sticking his neck into a guillotine. Yet he didn't see many other options.

"Needs to be done." He argued quietly.

"Just wait until you see him come out." Vass said. "I'll try to get clear."

There would undoubtedly be chaos after, but...Vass would have to weather that as best he could. There wasn't any other way to get this done. The King wasn't going to come out on his own, and neither he nor Ahsoka would be able to get into the tent.

Not without anyone noticing. "After you take your shot, get out."

He told her. "Don't stick around and wait for me, alright?"

No need to risk both their lives, and Ahsoka could cut through the camp twice as fast as any human. With all the chaos she should be able to make it out.

 

[Ahsoka]

"I don't like this," Ahsoka said flatly and her eyes looked as dark and as cold as jet rock. That didn't mean she was going to waste her breathe trying to dissuade him anymore though. She, like Vass, knew that this indeed was the only way in which they could complete their task. She would just have to try and somehow... save the stupid boys neck. Hopefully he would give her some time to think that puzzle over whilst he went into the lions den itself.

"Good luck."

Without another word she shifted past him and begun to scale her way up onto the straw roof of one of the farm buildings that had been turned over into a storage shed for the royal servants. From there she would have a clear view of the entrance to the tent and could make her shot.

 

[Vass]

"Neither do I." Vass said quietly, though he knew it didn't much matter.

They had one shot, one small chance to perhaps save thousands of lives. If that meant he had to risk his? Well then who was he to be selfish about this. A shrug rolled over his shoulders as Ahsoka pulled herself up and away.

He watched her for a moment, and then stood up and moved into the light and out of the alleyway.
"Hey!"

Vass called out to the guards.

"Hey fellas!" Their heads finally turned. "I'm from the Red Hundred! I need to talk to you! Our scout just came back...I think...I think my commander might have been talking to the Elves."

He knew the risk he was taking. Knew that he was endangering some of the others, but that didn't matter. It was the only thing that he could think would draw the King out. The only reason he had to be here, and judging by the reaction of the guard...he was right.

Within seconds of stepping away from Ahsoka Vass was rushed into the tent.

 

[Ahsoka]

Ahsoka wriggled along the thatched roof on her stomach until she was in the perfect position then knocked her arrow and waited. A small frown drew her brows down beneath her straw hat as she saw Vass disappear inside and she silently sent a prayer to whatever Spirits were watching them right now.

* * *
​

"I knew those bastards were untrustworthy," muttered one of the guards who was escorting - well, dragging - Vass down the palacial tent corridor to the main area where the King was gathered with his key entourage. Two mages lounged with a look of boredom against the walls but the rest were simple men.

"Well go on, tell 'em what you said," the man said, shoving him forward.