The Hesitant Swordsman - With Blood Orange and Olde English Mead
Author: Jon
Rating: PG
Challenge: Olde English Mead #10 - To thine own self be true.
Blood Orange #1 # Lest we Forget.
Toppings: None
Extras: None
Word Count: 852
Story: Separate Paths
Notes: And on and on goes the recruiting. If I'm honest, I'm starting to get a little bored of these myself. I imagine most of you folks are too. Might spice things up with something a bit different for the next bit. Ah well. We'll see.
“No,” Conall Magar said simply. “Thank you, but no.” The swordsman was sitting in the small room he’d taken as lodging, eyes glued to the book he was reading. It hadn’t taken Emala and the Golem very long to track the swordsman down, since he’d been at the very first place they’d looked, but they had found a somewhat more significant issue - he didn’t have any interest in joining their mission.
Emala rubbed the back if her neck. “If it is a question of pay-”
“Pay, yes.” The swordsman waved his thin, finely boned hand through the air. He looked the part. Fine clothes, without any of the silly additional lace or ornamentation that could get hooked during a fight and get you killed. A tall, lithe build - not powerful but fast. And the sword sitting on the table next to him was wondrous, a piece of art made to kill.
He continued, “But only part of the problem. I don’t know you. I have no reason to trust you and every reason not to. The last job I took turned out badly. Did you hear about it?”
Emala looked at the Golem, who shook his head. “No,” she replied, “We weren’t aware that you’d had an issue recently.”
Conall smiled bitterly. “I was hired by people, much like yourselves. They lied about the job and about themselves. It turned out rather than guarding a gentleman hiding from a marriage he did not want, I was guarding one on the run from the law for a long list of...unpleasant crimes. The people who came searching for him were officials of the city he had been in previously. It was fortunate I did not kill any of them defending him, or I would have hung with him. As it was I was...humiliated in several ways, and lost a great deal of money.”
“I’m sorry to hear about that,” Emala replied after a moment. “I would ask you to reconsider though. While we have no way to prove our intentions to you, we’d be happy to try and earn your trust in someway.”
He considered. “Explain the job to me again.”
“An expedition,” The Golem replied. “We believe we can access an old world facility called Decado. Emala here has gotten access to it. If you’ve heard of Deacdo, you know it has been found before but the people who found it couldn’t defeat the security. Between Emala’s access and my knack for bypassing Sun Time technology and defences we believe we can succeed where previous attempts have failed. Payment is not based on the result, however. Your job, and that of most of the others we are hiring, is simply protection. We have some enemies who would prefer to see us dead and the areas we intend to travel through don’t have much civilization, so are likely dangerous.”
The swordsman tapped his fingers next to his blade. “Tell me of these enemies.”
The Golem paused for a moment. “That I cannot do. I apologise, but we too have our trust issues. I’m sure they would pay handsomely for information regarding our current and future locations.”
Conall laughed. “To thine own self be true, eh? I cannot exactly argue when I have, myself, been shown to be rather lacking in trust. Still, I’m sure you can understand why I am loathe to agree to fight those if I have no way of knowing their strength.”
“Strong,” Emala replied. “We won’t lie to you about that. They’re powerful.” She smiled. “But we’ve beaten them before. With the aid of yourself and our other new allies, they should pose less of a risk. My associate and I have lost friends to fighting before.”
The Golem touched something under hist coat. Emala wasn’t sure if he meant for anyone to hear him mutter, “Lest we forget,” but she was sure that Conall wouldn’t be able to hear it.
Conall paused and then shook his head. “I am sorry. As tempting as such an adventure sounds...”
Emala nodded. “We understand. If you change your mind we will be here the rest of the day, and possibly be waiting until tommorow morning to set out.” If Sskaris wasn’t too likely to end up being arrested again, or Raziela to do something odd enough to draw too much unwanted attention to them... “But I can’t guarantee we will be. Today would be better.”
He nodded. “Thank you, I will think on it. But I do not think I will change your mind.”
The Golem and Emala left after a few more pleasantries. “A shame,” The Golem said as they left, “He looks suitable. Ah well.”
Emala sighed. “I would be happier if we had more people who could simply fight. Bar whoever has joined up with Lethia, it’s only really you and her who are skilled at close combat.”
The Golem shrugged. “Our next two visits, Pedah Tzur and the Kamela’s, are both fairly close combat orientated. They should be useful. Assuming we can get them.”
Emala smiled slightly. “Let’s go wring out Pedah Tzur then.”
Rating: PG
Challenge: Olde English Mead #10 - To thine own self be true.
Blood Orange #1 # Lest we Forget.
Toppings: None
Extras: None
Word Count: 852
Story: Separate Paths
Notes: And on and on goes the recruiting. If I'm honest, I'm starting to get a little bored of these myself. I imagine most of you folks are too. Might spice things up with something a bit different for the next bit. Ah well. We'll see.
“No,” Conall Magar said simply. “Thank you, but no.” The swordsman was sitting in the small room he’d taken as lodging, eyes glued to the book he was reading. It hadn’t taken Emala and the Golem very long to track the swordsman down, since he’d been at the very first place they’d looked, but they had found a somewhat more significant issue - he didn’t have any interest in joining their mission.
Emala rubbed the back if her neck. “If it is a question of pay-”
“Pay, yes.” The swordsman waved his thin, finely boned hand through the air. He looked the part. Fine clothes, without any of the silly additional lace or ornamentation that could get hooked during a fight and get you killed. A tall, lithe build - not powerful but fast. And the sword sitting on the table next to him was wondrous, a piece of art made to kill.
He continued, “But only part of the problem. I don’t know you. I have no reason to trust you and every reason not to. The last job I took turned out badly. Did you hear about it?”
Emala looked at the Golem, who shook his head. “No,” she replied, “We weren’t aware that you’d had an issue recently.”
Conall smiled bitterly. “I was hired by people, much like yourselves. They lied about the job and about themselves. It turned out rather than guarding a gentleman hiding from a marriage he did not want, I was guarding one on the run from the law for a long list of...unpleasant crimes. The people who came searching for him were officials of the city he had been in previously. It was fortunate I did not kill any of them defending him, or I would have hung with him. As it was I was...humiliated in several ways, and lost a great deal of money.”
“I’m sorry to hear about that,” Emala replied after a moment. “I would ask you to reconsider though. While we have no way to prove our intentions to you, we’d be happy to try and earn your trust in someway.”
He considered. “Explain the job to me again.”
“An expedition,” The Golem replied. “We believe we can access an old world facility called Decado. Emala here has gotten access to it. If you’ve heard of Deacdo, you know it has been found before but the people who found it couldn’t defeat the security. Between Emala’s access and my knack for bypassing Sun Time technology and defences we believe we can succeed where previous attempts have failed. Payment is not based on the result, however. Your job, and that of most of the others we are hiring, is simply protection. We have some enemies who would prefer to see us dead and the areas we intend to travel through don’t have much civilization, so are likely dangerous.”
The swordsman tapped his fingers next to his blade. “Tell me of these enemies.”
The Golem paused for a moment. “That I cannot do. I apologise, but we too have our trust issues. I’m sure they would pay handsomely for information regarding our current and future locations.”
Conall laughed. “To thine own self be true, eh? I cannot exactly argue when I have, myself, been shown to be rather lacking in trust. Still, I’m sure you can understand why I am loathe to agree to fight those if I have no way of knowing their strength.”
“Strong,” Emala replied. “We won’t lie to you about that. They’re powerful.” She smiled. “But we’ve beaten them before. With the aid of yourself and our other new allies, they should pose less of a risk. My associate and I have lost friends to fighting before.”
The Golem touched something under hist coat. Emala wasn’t sure if he meant for anyone to hear him mutter, “Lest we forget,” but she was sure that Conall wouldn’t be able to hear it.
Conall paused and then shook his head. “I am sorry. As tempting as such an adventure sounds...”
Emala nodded. “We understand. If you change your mind we will be here the rest of the day, and possibly be waiting until tommorow morning to set out.” If Sskaris wasn’t too likely to end up being arrested again, or Raziela to do something odd enough to draw too much unwanted attention to them... “But I can’t guarantee we will be. Today would be better.”
He nodded. “Thank you, I will think on it. But I do not think I will change your mind.”
The Golem and Emala left after a few more pleasantries. “A shame,” The Golem said as they left, “He looks suitable. Ah well.”
Emala sighed. “I would be happier if we had more people who could simply fight. Bar whoever has joined up with Lethia, it’s only really you and her who are skilled at close combat.”
The Golem shrugged. “Our next two visits, Pedah Tzur and the Kamela’s, are both fairly close combat orientated. They should be useful. Assuming we can get them.”
Emala smiled slightly. “Let’s go wring out Pedah Tzur then.”