The Destiny of Nephe-chapter 4
Finally got another chapter done tonight. Hopefully the next one will be up within a few days or so.
The Silver Ashes
The time seemed to drag on. Before too long three months had passed and Lily hadn't found a single mission to occupy her time...well, none that weren't posted in the mercenary guild. After she had left Lor's bar, she had gone in search of the people that were looking for her. It turned out that they needed a bodyguard to escort them from that village all the way up North to Faelel. She didn't really want to do that. That usually brought back memories-most of them too painful for her to even want to recall. But they had offered her ten gold hawk bits as payment so she really couldn't turn down that offer. She was tight on hawk bits and needed to pay rent again within the next five months to Lor if she wanted her little apartment at his place secured through the end of Winter.
Lily sighed as she looked at the board posting in the small village that she was in currently. She knew that she would have to return to the Capital sooner or later. She was hoping later rather than sooner. Sighing, she had diverted her path from going more up North and went South instead, towards the Capital. All the way she grumbled how she hated that she was doing this.
Within hours, she had gotten into Morcliff and into the mercenary guild without any problems or alerting the Guard to her presence. That seemed a littl too easy for her to handle. Though she was glad that she did get in easily. She walked over to the board listings and stared up at them. There weren't that many up there at all. Sighing, she started to reach for one when a voice rang out from behind her. “Hey, old crone. I didn't think you would come back here.”
Lily's hand twitched briefly and she spun around to tell off whoever it was that called her an old crone. Her eyes widened as she saw Namir standing behind her, his hands behind his head and a smirk on his lips. “If I am an old crone, then what the hell are you?” she asked him bitterly. “You are much older than I am.”
Namir snickered slightly at her comment. “You seem much older than I do,” he told her in a teasing tone of voice. Lily raised an eyebrow at him but didn't remark on that. “So, what cat drug you into here, Lily?”
Lily shook her head slightly. “Nothing dragged me in here, idiot. I came here on my own. I need the jobs.” Namir snickered at that remark. She shot him a glare and turned her attention to the other mercenary that stood behind Namir. “And who the hell are you? Namir, I thought I told you not to get another partner. Remember what the last one did to you?”
Terakanis ignore the harshness in the female mercenary's words. He looked calmly at her before anwering. “Terakanis, if you really need to know that,” he said, his voice soft enough so that only the three of them could hear. “And I know about what happened to my partner's last partner.”
Lily nodded her head and started to reach for a piece of paper on the board when a random mercenary grabbed it a few seconds before her. “Hey!” she yelled at the mercenary but he took off before she had a chance to hit him.
Namir laughed at the look on her face but it was Tera that took pity on her. “Maybe that wasn't the best one you could have taken? Even i considered taking it but it isn't worth it once I read it carefully. You are one of the best mercenaries in all of Elysium. Surely you can get a better one.”
Lily shrugged her shoulders. “Perhaps so, but it seems that hard missions like the ones your partner and me did back when Mæster Devareaux was ruling. It seems that nowadays the current Mæster isn't really concerned about us mercenaries anymore. It seems we have out-grown our usefullness in that last war that we had.” She inclined her head slightly in a snotty way, as if scorning the Mæster's decisions that he was seeming to make.
Namir shrugged his shoulders slightly. “Well, it seems all the good ones are taken anyways. You should have gotten here about three hours ago. There were some pretty good ones up before most of those hard-headed mercenaries got to them.” He nodded his head towards a group of large, beefy men that sat around a big, round table, each of them holding a tankard that looked like it was carved out of the stump of a big tree.
Lily shuddered slightly. “Next time I shall remember to get moving into here before dawn instead of right at it.” She spun on her heels and sat down at the closest, empty table. Namir followed her and sat down next to her, folding his arms on the table and staring at her with a cheesy smile on his face. Tera looked back and forth at the two of them before taking a spot behind his partner and looked around the room. “What do you want?” she asked the elder mercenary, raising her lone eyebrow slightly.
“Just admiring your beauty,” he said to her, widening his smile. What happened next he didn't expect. Instead of a verbal assult, she lifted a hand up and cuffed the side of his head so hard that he fell out of his seat.
“Your sweet talk isn't gonna work on me, old man,” she said to him in a strained tone of voice. She turned her chair away from him, her head inclined up high so that she was staring at the ceiling.
Namir sighed and got back into his seat. “Old man my ass,” he muttered under his breath. “Alright, then I guess you don't wanna come with me and Terakanis on the mission that we got.”
That got Lily's attention. She turned her gaze down at Namir for a few seconds before looking over at his partner, Tera. “So, what is this mission that you two are going on?” she asked the half-elf, not wanting to talk to the immortal about the mission that she was starting to consider joining in on.
Tera looked down at Namir and saw that he had a hurt look on his partner's face before answering the female mercenary's question. “Unknown. All it said was to meet someone in the Nephe forest.”
Lily snorted. “Something like that isn't really worth it, right?” She looked over at Namir, taking no notice of the look on his face, and then looked back at Tera for the answer.
The half-elf shrugged his shoulders slightly at her. “Maybe or maybe not. The reward is for 100 gold hawk bits-half when we get to the meeting site and half after we finish the mission.”
That made Lily's eyes widen. “A hundred?! Even the Mæster himself wouldn't approve of something like that.” She shuddered and forced herself not to make the sign against evil. Something seemed very wrong about that mission. She looked at Namir and saw a look that was a familiar look. She knew that he wouldn't back down from this mission-even if it meant him dying. Sighing, she rolled her lone red eye and held out a hand towards the immortal. “Alright, I agree to go with you on this mission...but only to keep you two safe. And that's it! I mean it. I have a bad feeling about it but I am not about to let you two go on it alone.”
Namir stared at the hand for a few moments, observing it carefully. He took note of the small scars that were on it. They weren't visible to the naked eye but he knew that they were there. Nodding his head, he firmly took her hand, feeling the callouses on her palms and fingertips which indicated that she preferred her swords still over anything else when she got into fights, which was more often than she should but less than he normally got into. “Deal,” he said, a smirk on his lips. Behind him, Tera rolled his eyes and gave Lily a pained look.
“Don't worry, Terakanis. He won't dare to bite me. I bite back...and harder than he usually does. Last time I think I drew blood,” Lily said, matching Namir's smirk and doubling it. Tera shuddered slightly at her response to his look that he had given her.
“Alright, shall we leave this place?” Namir said. Without waiting for a response, he dropped Lily's hand and walked towards the exit door of the guild, Lily patiently following after and Tera scrambling to catch up to his partner.
The Silver Ashes
The time seemed to drag on. Before too long three months had passed and Lily hadn't found a single mission to occupy her time...well, none that weren't posted in the mercenary guild. After she had left Lor's bar, she had gone in search of the people that were looking for her. It turned out that they needed a bodyguard to escort them from that village all the way up North to Faelel. She didn't really want to do that. That usually brought back memories-most of them too painful for her to even want to recall. But they had offered her ten gold hawk bits as payment so she really couldn't turn down that offer. She was tight on hawk bits and needed to pay rent again within the next five months to Lor if she wanted her little apartment at his place secured through the end of Winter.
Lily sighed as she looked at the board posting in the small village that she was in currently. She knew that she would have to return to the Capital sooner or later. She was hoping later rather than sooner. Sighing, she had diverted her path from going more up North and went South instead, towards the Capital. All the way she grumbled how she hated that she was doing this.
Within hours, she had gotten into Morcliff and into the mercenary guild without any problems or alerting the Guard to her presence. That seemed a littl too easy for her to handle. Though she was glad that she did get in easily. She walked over to the board listings and stared up at them. There weren't that many up there at all. Sighing, she started to reach for one when a voice rang out from behind her. “Hey, old crone. I didn't think you would come back here.”
Lily's hand twitched briefly and she spun around to tell off whoever it was that called her an old crone. Her eyes widened as she saw Namir standing behind her, his hands behind his head and a smirk on his lips. “If I am an old crone, then what the hell are you?” she asked him bitterly. “You are much older than I am.”
Namir snickered slightly at her comment. “You seem much older than I do,” he told her in a teasing tone of voice. Lily raised an eyebrow at him but didn't remark on that. “So, what cat drug you into here, Lily?”
Lily shook her head slightly. “Nothing dragged me in here, idiot. I came here on my own. I need the jobs.” Namir snickered at that remark. She shot him a glare and turned her attention to the other mercenary that stood behind Namir. “And who the hell are you? Namir, I thought I told you not to get another partner. Remember what the last one did to you?”
Terakanis ignore the harshness in the female mercenary's words. He looked calmly at her before anwering. “Terakanis, if you really need to know that,” he said, his voice soft enough so that only the three of them could hear. “And I know about what happened to my partner's last partner.”
Lily nodded her head and started to reach for a piece of paper on the board when a random mercenary grabbed it a few seconds before her. “Hey!” she yelled at the mercenary but he took off before she had a chance to hit him.
Namir laughed at the look on her face but it was Tera that took pity on her. “Maybe that wasn't the best one you could have taken? Even i considered taking it but it isn't worth it once I read it carefully. You are one of the best mercenaries in all of Elysium. Surely you can get a better one.”
Lily shrugged her shoulders. “Perhaps so, but it seems that hard missions like the ones your partner and me did back when Mæster Devareaux was ruling. It seems that nowadays the current Mæster isn't really concerned about us mercenaries anymore. It seems we have out-grown our usefullness in that last war that we had.” She inclined her head slightly in a snotty way, as if scorning the Mæster's decisions that he was seeming to make.
Namir shrugged his shoulders slightly. “Well, it seems all the good ones are taken anyways. You should have gotten here about three hours ago. There were some pretty good ones up before most of those hard-headed mercenaries got to them.” He nodded his head towards a group of large, beefy men that sat around a big, round table, each of them holding a tankard that looked like it was carved out of the stump of a big tree.
Lily shuddered slightly. “Next time I shall remember to get moving into here before dawn instead of right at it.” She spun on her heels and sat down at the closest, empty table. Namir followed her and sat down next to her, folding his arms on the table and staring at her with a cheesy smile on his face. Tera looked back and forth at the two of them before taking a spot behind his partner and looked around the room. “What do you want?” she asked the elder mercenary, raising her lone eyebrow slightly.
“Just admiring your beauty,” he said to her, widening his smile. What happened next he didn't expect. Instead of a verbal assult, she lifted a hand up and cuffed the side of his head so hard that he fell out of his seat.
“Your sweet talk isn't gonna work on me, old man,” she said to him in a strained tone of voice. She turned her chair away from him, her head inclined up high so that she was staring at the ceiling.
Namir sighed and got back into his seat. “Old man my ass,” he muttered under his breath. “Alright, then I guess you don't wanna come with me and Terakanis on the mission that we got.”
That got Lily's attention. She turned her gaze down at Namir for a few seconds before looking over at his partner, Tera. “So, what is this mission that you two are going on?” she asked the half-elf, not wanting to talk to the immortal about the mission that she was starting to consider joining in on.
Tera looked down at Namir and saw that he had a hurt look on his partner's face before answering the female mercenary's question. “Unknown. All it said was to meet someone in the Nephe forest.”
Lily snorted. “Something like that isn't really worth it, right?” She looked over at Namir, taking no notice of the look on his face, and then looked back at Tera for the answer.
The half-elf shrugged his shoulders slightly at her. “Maybe or maybe not. The reward is for 100 gold hawk bits-half when we get to the meeting site and half after we finish the mission.”
That made Lily's eyes widen. “A hundred?! Even the Mæster himself wouldn't approve of something like that.” She shuddered and forced herself not to make the sign against evil. Something seemed very wrong about that mission. She looked at Namir and saw a look that was a familiar look. She knew that he wouldn't back down from this mission-even if it meant him dying. Sighing, she rolled her lone red eye and held out a hand towards the immortal. “Alright, I agree to go with you on this mission...but only to keep you two safe. And that's it! I mean it. I have a bad feeling about it but I am not about to let you two go on it alone.”
Namir stared at the hand for a few moments, observing it carefully. He took note of the small scars that were on it. They weren't visible to the naked eye but he knew that they were there. Nodding his head, he firmly took her hand, feeling the callouses on her palms and fingertips which indicated that she preferred her swords still over anything else when she got into fights, which was more often than she should but less than he normally got into. “Deal,” he said, a smirk on his lips. Behind him, Tera rolled his eyes and gave Lily a pained look.
“Don't worry, Terakanis. He won't dare to bite me. I bite back...and harder than he usually does. Last time I think I drew blood,” Lily said, matching Namir's smirk and doubling it. Tera shuddered slightly at her response to his look that he had given her.
“Alright, shall we leave this place?” Namir said. Without waiting for a response, he dropped Lily's hand and walked towards the exit door of the guild, Lily patiently following after and Tera scrambling to catch up to his partner.