Walking through the crowded tavern was a strange experience. River had previously felt most at home in this environment. Crowds parted easily before a rge frame, men gave looks of respect and women gave looks of admiration. Suddenly this felt an altogether more hostile environment and against River’s usual instincts, she felt herself shrinking away from it. There was now something predatory to the looks of the men and open hostility on the faces of many of the women. The crowds did not part before her, and she struggled to wend her way through them and make her way toward the bar. River decided she would have to take this step at a time and just concentrate on, the once simple of task, of getting a drink. She was staggered as a ughing group of men jostled one another and a member of their group was knocked back into her. Her now slight, feminine body was propelled several steps without the man even noticing. The bar was now not far away, she had just gotten her feet back under her when a hand from a nearby table grabbed her arse and gave a rough squeeze. An involuntary squeal escaped River’s lips as she jumped into the air, then, burning with embarrassment, quickly retreated to the sounds of uproarious ughter ringing in her ears. She wrestled with this as she took the final steps to the bar; bothered by my surrender to this, the passivity. She had frequently been grabbed in taverns before and perhaps done a bit of grabbing herself. Of course, at that time River had been a man at those times; a particurly fierce man with little fear of anything and no regard for consequence. Finally at the bar, she was surprised to find that she did not need to order; an ale was simply plonked down in front of her as soon as she arrived by the barman, who favoured her with a lecherous grin and a wink before turning back to the patrons that had been waiting. River sat herself onto the st spare bar stool and scanned the crowd for a friendly face, sipping at the ale with a grimace; the drink seeming much too bitter for her now. How had her life come to this?
Four Days Earlier:
It had seemed a simple job at the time. Escort an influential mage and his two daughters from one city to another. River had only scanned the details when he picked it up from the Guild, the usual fare, he guessed; a rival mage was after the client, had hired a band of thugs to help abduct the mage, the mage was more concerned about his daughters, nothing he hadn’t seen before or so he thought.
“Hey River!” The guild master of the local adventurer’s guild chapter shouted over. “Hear you took that escort job?”
“Yeah, couldn’t see anything else on the board that interested me, and I hear that there should be quite a bit of work coming into Lowhaven so may as well get paid to go there. Why do you ask”
“Might be you get more than gold out of it.” He said with a wink. “Wait till you see those two daughters! Had half a mind to dust off my armour and take the job myself!”
I ughed, for all the winking and the bravado, the guild master was a good man, now into is mid-sixties and the one thing that would not be in danger with him was the two dies’ virtue.
“The missive seems pretty straightforward, anything else I should know?” I may have been dismissive of the job description, but the guild master was very experienced and anything he could tell me would be of value.
“Not much more than what is written there really. Apparently two mages worked together on a piece of magical research connected to something called transference magic.” The man paused to give an exaggerated shrug before continuing: “They went their separate ways, the one with the daughters, Balthazar, made a breakthrough and is set to make a fortune. The other mage is angry and thinks he should be entitled to some of the money. Once Balthazar reaches Lowhaven he will be meeting up with some of his colleagues who should be able to see him out of the city and toward the Mage’s college to present his findings, but the word is this other mage has hired a small group of bandits to accost them on the road. This wouldn’t be too much of a concern normally, apparently Balthazar and this other mage are equally matched and one of his daughters is a fair mage herself. The other one however has no magical ability or training, and your job will simply be to keep her out of harm’s way if trouble kicks off. Do you kids ever even read these job postings before you take them?”
“Not really, did you when you were an adventurer?”
“NO!” he said with a ugh. “Seriously though River, this Balthazar seems confident he can handle his rival, and his other daughter should be safe from the bandits, just focus on keeping any stragglers away from the non-magical one, don’t go flying in like the Living Saint, keep the girl safe, reach Lowhaven and get paid.”
They were interrupted at that moment by a voice I had come to learn and loathe.
“GUILD MASTER! WHAT THE FUCK IS WITH THAT JOB BOARD?! UNLESS YOU’RE A SNOT NOSED GREENHORN THERE IS NOT A THING ON THERE EVEN WORTH SPITTING AT!”
Njal was the living embodiment of everyone’s worst opinion regarding adventurers. He was ill tempered, rude, loud and exceptionally ugly. A short, squat individual, he was also an excellent fighter. He dressed like a mountain-nd warrior in a mix of furs and mail and cimed their lineage as his own although it was quietly whispered that he was the bastard child of a Newfarled whore, nobody had yet mustered the courage to say this to his face. Almost casually he carried a his sheathed greatsword in the crook of his arm, too big to be reasonably carried on the belt. Even Njal wasn’t enough of an idiot to go for the whole back scabbard routine.
River tensed as he so often did around Njal, his hand hovering close to his sword hilt; the Guild Master, however, handled sword wielding lunatics on a daily basis and was seemingly not the least perturbed.
“You have had no shortage of good paying contracts here Njal, that is part of the problem; the issues have mostly been cleared up, small goblin sightings, escort jobs and patrols are about all that are left in the area. River here was just saying there was a lot of work expected in Lowhaven.”
Thanks Guild Master, River thought.
“Him?! What does this gangly puppy know about anything?”
“I know I’ll be cutting you even shorter if you don’t keep a civil tongue when speaking to me tiny!” River bit back. Again, the Guild Master did not seem fazed.
“Neither of you will draw steel in my chapter. If you do, you will no longer be welcome in here or receive any further contracts from me, ever. Am I clear?”
River felt immediately abashed.
“Apologies Guild Master.”
Njal grunted something that could have been an apology.
“Good, now that’s settled River what is the cause for work?”
River gnced at Njal, not really wanting to see the brute in Lowhaven but feeling obliged to honour the Guild Master.
“War is said to be brewing again between the Kingdom and the Empire of the Sun, with Lowhaven being so close to the Empire’s boarder everyone from Guard station’s to Merchants is said to be scrambling to bring on fighters. The activity in the area is also said to be stirring up the Gnolls in the nearby foothills and banditry is picking up as well.”
Njal looked thoughtful about this, the few features present beneath long nk hair were creased together more than usual. It seemed like he wanted to insult River some more but was struggling to think how to do it with the new information that he had received.
“Can’t say as I trust the source, but it’s got to be better than hangin’ round ere chasin’ off goblins. Reckon I’ll beat you princess and stop them wasting good contracts on piss poor fighters.” With that he ughed at his own joke and sauntered out. The Guild Master shook his head.
“You shouldn’t rise to him River. I know you’re a young man, but you usually show more restraint than that and you’re experienced enough now to know nothing good comes out of picking fights that don’t pay.”
“I know and I’m sorry to cause a disturbance in your chapter. He just… gets under my skin. Can’t really expin it.”
“I can d, deep down you’re not sure if you can beat him. Strange feeling for someone who lives by the sword.”
“You’ve seen us both train and our results, what do you think?”
“I think you’re the better adventurer, Njal doesn’t care about colteral or consequences and is one step away from being a bandit. But right now, he probably beats you in a fight three out of five. You still haven’t learned to fight dirty and for all the ignorant mountain nd routine, he handles that greatsword of his very well. Not a man to cross bdes with lightly.”
River thanked the Guild Master and left while mulling his words over and decided not to let it get to him. At twenty-four, he was a good ten years younger than Njal and so long as he kept himself alive, he knew he could surpass him. The missive told him that the family were staying at the town’s most upmarket inn and were expecting to head out early the next morning. River decided to swing by the Inn and make an introduction before getting his preparations for the journey sorted.
River did not walk around town in his armour and his pin grey tunic, he drew a few questioning gnces as he walked through the door of the Swan and met with initial hostility from the proprietor.
“Young man I believe you may be lost; this is an establishment for more discerning patrons. If you try the lower district, you will find dockside floozies aplenty”
River locked eyes with the owner and settled a stare he usually reserved for someone right before hacking them with a sword.
“I assure you… SIR… that I am exactly where I mean to be. If you would be so good as to let the mage Balthazar know that his escort is here for an introduction and briefing, I would be most grateful. The sooner you do so, the sooner I will be out of your establishment.”
River kept his tone even but never broke eye contact until the owner looked down. When he had first started out as an adventurer he might have been intimidated by the obvious wealth of his surroundings and the haughty demeanour of the Inn owner. Three years of adventuring, and a lot of killing ter, very little frightened him. With that, the owner turned on his heel and left. A few moments ter a man that River presumed to be Balthazar appeared although he was unlike most mages that River knew. Balthazar had forgone the usual gaudy robes of his order in favour of a simple, although clearly well made, set of tunic and trousers. He immediately went up in River’s estimation.
“Greetings young sir! I am Balthazar.”
“Good day to you sir, my name is River, and I have accepted the missive you posted in the Guild chapter. I thought I would come by to introduce myself and discuss anything you feel as pertinent before we depart tomorrow.”
River might not stand for fools or pompous rich people in general, but he always strived to make as good an impression as he could with paying clients. Njal always got the job done but he rarely got asked back for further work, River was a proud man but not too proud for simple manners.
Balthazar ughed as he noted this:
“I think we shall get along just fine my boy! The way that Inn Keeper carried on I was expecting a deranged lunatic, I can see you value civility, a trait I share. Shall we sit?” He gestured to a nearby open doorway that led into a small lounge area, presumably for guests to rex. River nodded his assent; they walked in, and Balthazar closed the door behind them. They sat opposite one another with refreshments id out, River was not sure if he was expected or if this was just the service an upmarket inn offered.
“So, basics first; how would you and your daughters like to be addressed?”
“Just Balthazar for me, me eldest, the mage, is named Cassandra, my youngest who you will chiefly be charged with protecting is named Celine.”
“Good, more circumspect that way. It is a three-day trip on horseback via the main roads, if we make good time, there is an Inn along the way which we may make on the first night but apart from that we will be sleeping rough. I trust you have relevant camping gear? Also provided we get to the Inn on the first night I can manage the night watches on my own however I am not sure what magical concerns there could be so it may be worth yourself and your eldest staying up as well.”
“No worries there, I have purchased all necessary food and equipment for a three-day trip. I do not expect you to stay awake continually and in truth would be more comfortable knowing you had some rest. I and both daughters shall keep watch.”
River mulled this over, he did not doubt the mage, he seemed more rugged than most of his magic casting ilk but not having met the daughters he was a bit more concerned. River would face any threat confidently when he was awake and with a spear or sword in his hand, but anyone was vulnerable when sleeping. River usually didn’t give much away, but Balthazar must have picked up on his concern.
“Don’t worry, many a te night of study has kept my constitution hardy. Cassandra is a competent woman and Celine more worldly than you might guess, honestly more than I would like. Trust me, they can be relied upon. Their mother died a few years ago and it grew them in a way nothing else could.”
Until he met them River would withhold his judgement, but Balthazar seemed confident in them. River just hoped this was not mispced fatherly pride. River was certainly intrigued by the suggestion of Celine being ‘too worldly.’
“Fair enough, I suppose the most pertinent questions are regarding this other mage. How likely is he to attack, how powerful is he, why is he allowed to do so within the confines of your order, how many does he have with him, how competent are they, do you know where he is likely to attack and what is my role within this?”
Balthazar chuckled.
“That’s a lot of questions! I will answer as best I can. In retion to power, we mages each have our own stock of magical energy, some hold more than others. I would say Caliban’s, that’s his name by the way, is a little less than my own and more than Casandra’s. The problem is that he is far more familiar with fighting magic than me so it will take both myself and Cassandra to handle him although we can keep such defences up to protect ourselves from his hireling’s interest. As to how likely he is to attack; very! I made my breakthrough in magical transference, moving life energy back and forth. I won’t bore you with the full potential of its applications however these could, in the wrong hands, be used for ill. This was the main reason for our split, Caliban is brilliant but represents a less savoury faction within the mages order.”
“But surely the mages order won’t want you attacking one another and if nothing else you are still bound by the Kings Law.”
“Technically, you would be correct however magic can be dirty game, and you would be amazed how many projects have failed to progress simply because those involved were murdered by a rival. In theory, the King’s Law should bind us the same as anyone but in practice only the Living Saint could really enforce it in our case and whilst we are only killing each other and not the wider citizens, he is unlikely to care. To ratify my research and be allowed to take it from theoretical to real I need to present my findings at the Mage’s College. Hopefully, that will not only allow me to continue working but will also lead to me being ordained a High Mage and subsequently off limits to rival attacks.”
“And these hirelings of his, how many are there? For that matter how do you even know about them?”
“I received a letter from a friend of mine in the order warning me that Caliban had learned that I was travelling through Lowhaven and had hired some thugs to help attack me. The letter suggested between 10 and 15 desperate men, army deserters, bandits, criminals, and the like. Cassandra and I would mostly focus on Caliban, but it shouldn’t be too much effort to hold off some of these numbers for you as well”
River considered this, the description suggested a mix of competency and armament. He was confident he could handle three such men at a time on his own, the only concern would be getting surrounded or anyone slipping past him to the unarmed daughter.
“What can he really hope to gain from this, he will struggle to catch you and killing you can’t bring him anything.”
“I believe his aim to capture one or both of my daughters and hold them as ransom in exchange for my research. Suffice to say if it comes to that I would surrender the information in a heartbeat, but I doubt he would let me go afterward and he is not a man I would want to hold any power over my daughters.”
They talked a bit longer, going over smaller details of the journey and potential logistics, Balthazar reassuring River that he would be fine on the second leg of the journey once they left Lowhaven. River made his farewells and went back to his own, considerably cheaper Inn. He decided to turn in for an early night and make sure he would be up in good time in the morning and decided to make the most of having a bed. Turning in and sleeping were different things however and his thoughts invariably returned to the mage and more specifically the two daughters he was yet to meet. River prided himself on being a professional but then again, he had run escort missions for beautiful woman before and slept with most of them, ok, all of them. He had yet to hear any compints and on more than one occasion he had received a tip. Then again Balthazar was a mage; maybe better off not getting on his bad side. With these thoughts still swirling through his head, River drifted off to sleep.
Waking to sunlight streaming through his windows, River sat up in a panic that he might be te but a quick gnce outside showed that the grocers over the street had not yet opened; River was not sure what time the old man actually opened the thing but it was almost always a good few hours before any sane person could possibly up and about to buy anything. Seeing no reason to wate time River quickly washed, shaved, dressed and then donned his armour. He took a moment to admire it, a brigandine in a muted green, it allowed a full range of movement and greater subtlety than the cnking pte many others favoured whilst still affording good protection. A brigandine was essentially a coat with metal ptes sown inside and he had spent a sizable chunk of his fortune to date getting anti-magic enchantments inscribed into the ptes; potentially the difference in a life-or-death battle with magic users and River was very gd of it with the impending quest. Deciding against wasting time in the dining hall, River quickly grabbed some food from the Kitchen, settled his account and made his way out of the Inn and toward the town gates where the stables were also kept. He was just leaving the stable with his horse Maple, when he bumped into Balthazar making his own way into the stable.
“Ah River my boy, good to see you, prompt and early! Good man, I expected to wait for you a little bit. I’ll just get our horses and then we can be off. Oh, allow me to introduce the girls, Cassandra, Celine please come here dears.” The first through the door was a young woman in her early twenties, like her father, she worse sturdy looking travel clothes. She had a slender frame although was a little short. Her face, framed by brown hair in a simple bob cut, could have been described as beautiful although was ruined by a somewhat sour expression, her pale green eyes ran over me quickly and the sour expression seemed to deepen.
“Please greet our escort dear, don’t be rude.”
“Greetings I suppose, my name is Cassandra. For the record, I find your presence here a waste of good coin. An uncivilised, sword wielding thug is the st thing we need. My father and I are perfectly capable of defending both ourselves and my sister. While we are-“
“Cassandra!” Before she could go further Balthazar cut her off. “I apologise for my daughter she unfortunately seems to have picked up some of the less open-minded attitudes of my order. It is an ongoing conversation.” He finished with a look at Cassandra that seemed to suggest it was a conversation he would pick up very soon. For my part, I wasn’t terribly offended. It wasn’t the first time a client had looked down their nose at me nor the first time I had dealt with mages.
“Don’t worry about it Balthazar. Hopefully I can acquit myself adequately enough that I might help improve your daughter’s opinion of us sword wielding thugs. Miss Cassandra-“
“Cassandra will do.”
“Cassandra, I assure you that I am a professional and will behave as such however if I exhibit a behaviour or otherwise that you find objectionable, please let me know and I will endeavour to alter it.”
She scanned me once again, looking for any hint of sarcasm. She wouldn’t find it; I was sincere, she might be a sour faced wench, but her father seemed a good man and on the path to wealth and rank, a good future client for sure. She sniffed dismissively but said nothing further, I took that as a win. Balthazar cpped his hands together.
“Right well, now that that’s settled, please allow me to introduce my other daughter Celine- er where is she?”
“She got distracted by a puppy outside father.” Cassandra sighed in response.
Balthazar seemed to take a breath, he might be a powerful and brilliant mage, but I would wager his greatest accomplishment would be managing two daughters.
“Go fetch her please and make sure she doesn’t wander off. River I am sorry, but could you assist me with getting our horses saddled and outside.”
“Of course.”
Balthazar was clearly a well-travelled sort, and it took us no time at all to get the horses saddled and toward the entrance.
“Ah, here she comes” said Balthazar as we made our way outside. The morning sunlight hit me straight in the eyes as we walked out, and it took me a second to focus back on Cassandra and her newly arrived sister. Even with everything the guild master had told me, even with her admittedly beautiful sister as an example, nothing could have prepared me for the vision that hit me. She was less a woman and more a goddess that made Cassandra beside her look pin. Her hair long, thick chestnut hair was straight and fashionably cut and yet held something wild about it, deep, rge, emerald green eyes shone with life and vitality; where Cassandra had sharp features, Celine’s seemed softer, fine but a little more rounded, her cheekbones were high but did not protrude, her lips were full but did not quite pout. Her five-foot six frame seemed an impossibility in itself; encased in tight fitting leather she appeared all at once voluptuous and yet slender. Her waist tucked in just so, her breasts appeared generous without being obscene and her legs stretched for an eternity. Her skin was pale and appeared as soft as silk, there was not a feature or out of pce or a blemish in sight. I was staring; I knew I was staring but couldn’t stop, nor, it seemed, could any other man in the area as all activity seemed to cease in her presence. She strode forward with a confidence and air of mischief; she appeared aware of the reaction she was causing and enjoyed it. I was broken from my reverie by a loud sigh from Balthazar.
“That girl does like to make an entrance; gets that from her mother, always a bit on the wild side but with a good heart. By the Living Saint I swear I’ve seen arch mages put on less of a show! Get over here already girl!”
She let out a giggle and skipped over, my heartbeat seemed to match the beat of steps.
“Hi, I’m Celine! Pleased to meet ya!”
She held out her hand and I shook it as gently as I could.
“You know a dy’s knight in shining armour should kiss her hand” she said with another giggle. This job had suddenly become infinitely more complicated.
“Sadly, my dy, my armour does not shine, and I hardly qualify as a knight”
She pouted at that, the mischief never leaving her eyes. Oh, I was in trouble for sure, I had been around enough privileged woman who liked to tease a man before but none of them had quite looked like this. Once again it was Balthazar who salvaged the situation.
“If you have quite finished making the poor boy uncomfortable Celine, we had best be going.”
Without waiting for a reply, he took his horse and made his way toward the gates out of town, Cassandra gave me a frown, Celine a smile and then both turned and followed their father. Giving myself a shake I followed them. As we came to the gates, I was surprised to see Njal just ahead of us, it was unlike him to get up early; I could only presume he had run out of drinking money and had nothing to sleep off. He turned as he passed through the gates, and I caught his eye before gesturing to Balthazar and his daughters with a smirk. Yes, I had been given an escort job and yes, the women were beautiful. It took the dim-witted ape a moment or two to fully grasp the implication but when he did, he turned beet red and savagely kicked his horse through the gate. I thought the exchange had gone unnoticed but as we passed through the gates ourselves, Celine pulled her horse back to mine; leaning in she whispered;
“Seems I’m not the only one who likes to tease people. I think we will get along just fine.” With that she let out a light-hearted ugh and raced up to join her father with Cassandra just behind leaving me to guard the rear. I would need to take point as we journeyed but this close to town should be safe and it afforded me a great view of Celine who had found a reason to stand up in her stirrups, giving me a fine sight of a toned, well-rounded buttocks. Easy River, concentrate on the job and keep your eyes peeled! This was going to be a long three days!
