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Post by Stage on Mar 30, 2018 23:09:33 GMT
The woman briefly entertained the idea of throwing the man from the saddle and seizing the reigns herself, but there were far too many unknowns: how the horse would react, if the others were as swift, the terrain. It was too risky an idea for a threat she did not yet know existed. She would play things out for now, though noted how non-combative this men seemed compared to the others.
"I hope to find a new life. I know others who had gone there after their troubles in the north grew too great. I am imitating them I suppose."
Those people had been pirates, fleeing from the Lexian navy after the Pale had broken their ring apart, but Arkos did not need to know that.
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 30, 2018 23:32:24 GMT
Akros clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he continued riding. "An interesting life choice. I'm not going to prod your decision, as it is yours and yours alone. It is not something I would do, nor is it something I think I could do. You are brave to have abandoned so much on your past; it must have been difficult to leave behind the world you were so familiar with."
After a few minutes of travel, the party eventually reached a small outpost, with walls made of the surrounding wood. A small tower, roughly two stories, rose from the center of the outpost, and an orange glow filled the interior. A pair of heavily armored men kept watch atop the walls, who opened the main door into the encampment. The riders trotted into the small camp, which consisted of little more than a central bonfire, the tower, a wash, and sleeping quarters. The soldiers dismounted their steeds and went back to their quarters to rest, while Akros dismounted his steed, tying the reins to a nearby rail. He turned back to look towards the woman.
"Stay here. I'll be back shortly." He turned and ran over towards the central watchtower's base, and began to carry out a conversation with the guard posted in front of it. The wooden gate serving as the entrance to this camp was slowly sealed shut as the guards up top resumed their patrols.
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Post by Stage on Mar 31, 2018 0:22:59 GMT
Though she remained faced towards Arkos as she dismounted the beautiful mare, the woman in black observed her surroundings with her peripherals. She noted no apparent weaknesses in the camp, aside from perhaps the wooden walls. Should she need to make an escape, perhaps a fire would provide the chaos to mask it? She wonder if she had the time to reload her pistol, but the presence of guards discouraged this. It would surely look suspicious.
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 31, 2018 0:31:18 GMT
It did not take long for the red robed man to finish his conversation. After what felt like a minute or two at most, the man hustled back to where the woman in black stood, examining her surroundings.
"Alright, we have clearance to see Junn," Akros stated hastily as he caught his breath. Clearly he was not the physical sort. "Let's get a move on. The sooner we get the questioning done, the sooner we can get you back on your way."
Akros then began to jog back towards the tower, gesturing for Temned to follow.
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Post by Stage on Mar 31, 2018 1:06:11 GMT
As she followed, the woman in black tested her injuries, flexing and tightening muscles subtly. Each still ached, but had numbed from the white hot burn of their conception. They could be made manageable.
"Pardon me," she told Arkos, pausing. Retrieved the jug at her hip, she uncorked it and took a long swig. Wiping her mouth and returning it, she explained, "I was parched."
It was not water of course, but vodka, one of Alisdre's favorite drinks. They made it strong. It was good for dulling pain among other things.
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 31, 2018 1:44:19 GMT
"No problems," Akros replied. The duo soon passed by the heavily armored guard who stood steadfast by the entrance to the tower. The guard gave the woman in black a gesture of respect as the duo moved inside.
The interior of the tower of quaint and simplistic, with only a few chairs and one table in the lower story. A single flight of stairs led from the lower story to the upper floor, which the duo traveled up. The second story was even more sparse, consisting of several open windows for looking out into the world. A pair of soldiers stood guard, watching for potential threats approaching the camp. Akros moved past the two, before pushing open the door at the end of the hall.
"What is it?" A figure grumbled, sitting at the other end of the room at a simple wooden table. The figure glanced up, revealing a grizzled old man with solid white hair and an eyepatch over his left eye.
"Captain," Akros gave the captain a quick bow before gesturing to the woman in black. "We found a traveler within Freyr-Lunge's territory. Her name is Timned. She says she is from Migma."
The man sighed, before he gestured for Akros to leave. With a final bow, he walked backwards out the door, before closing it as he left. The figure glanced up disinterested towards Timned. He gestured for one of the seats in front of the table. "Have a seat."
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Post by Stage on Mar 31, 2018 1:50:52 GMT
After slinging the bedroll from her back, the woman sat lightly in the chair. She leaned far forward, feinting anxiousness. "You must be Junn. I was told I need to answer some questions before carrying on."
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 31, 2018 1:54:17 GMT
"You would be correct in that assumption." Junn leaned down towards his table, producing a pipe, before lighting it up and inhaling deeply. He then pulled the pipe out of his mouth, blowing a cloud of smoke into the air, before he continued. "And Akros told you correct. It is standard procedure to interrogate travelers through this region. So I will begin with a straightforward question: why were you passing through Freyr-Lunge's territory without permission?"
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Post by Stage on Mar 31, 2018 2:03:02 GMT
"I did not know it was your territory," was all the woman could offer.
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 31, 2018 2:04:47 GMT
"We have guards that patrol the borders," Junn offered as a rebuttal. The white-haired man's eyebrows furrowed deeply. "Am I to assume you are so unobservant to have missed them? Or were you willfully ignorant to their presence?"
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Post by Stage on Mar 31, 2018 2:21:23 GMT
"Is it so unbelievable I missed them? I moved at night, through the wilderness. Migman days can be dangerous. A great animal stalks the sky. Open land is very dangerous. I did not feel safe moving during light."
That was not completely untrue. There were massive, winged animals that watched clearings and game trails, but there were also bears, wolves, and smaller flying creatures that prefer night. It was because of men she avoided the day.
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 31, 2018 2:25:47 GMT
Junn huffed, seemingly distrusting her verdict but nonetheless accepting it. He scribbled something down a piece of paper in front of him before he moved along to the next question. "Allow me to ask you a more important question then - what are, or were, your previous political and regional affiliations back in Migma? We will be cataloguing this for future reference, so speak clearly."
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Post by Stage on Mar 31, 2018 2:43:43 GMT
"My affiliation was to the coin," the woman said. She gestured to her dark hair. "I am neither Lexian or Noraagean, but I traded with both. Silk and silver. My birth nation is called Faxialon, but I am the only one to arrive on Lemuria."
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 31, 2018 2:51:56 GMT
"So you're a freelance," Junn stated, his tone dripping with disgust. He hastily scribbled something down before he resumed the discussion. "Very interesting that a traveler from the north would decide to come down to Freyr-Lunge territory and conveniently neglect our border guards' presence. Especially true since it sounds like you're some kind of traveling merchant. Sounds like maybe you got a stake in this more than you're letting on."
Junn took in another inhale from his pipe before he exhaled through his nose, the cloud of smoke making him appear like a wyrm breathing flame. "Maybe because you got something to hide?"
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Post by Stage on Mar 31, 2018 3:43:58 GMT
The woman stared at Junn silently. When she finally spoke, her voice was low, careful, as if she could be heard all the way in the north. The lie she crafted had to be exquisite, and attitude is what would sell it.
"The Lexians," she began gravely. "They are not good people. Not to their citizens. Imagine what they are like to foreigners. A man there, a solider they call Osprey, he thinks he is better with women than he is. When he is told the truth, he becomes unhappy. Lexians, they are all very fair. Even brown hair is rare there. Mine? It is unique. A novelty to him. One he wanted. I told him no. He did not accept this, so I had to fight back, and now they chase me as if I am the criminal. Their power reaches far in Migma. That is why I flee it. They have no influence in the south."
It was a lie crafted from piece of truth. She had been approached many times before due to her raven hair, once by Osprey, who was infamous for his womanizing. It was said he had a bastard son in Sund. Of course, he had not pressed the matter. He would be dead if he had. The woman in black was unsure others were so fortunate.
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 31, 2018 3:58:03 GMT
"So you trespassed into our territory in order to escape the jurisdiction of another faction," Junn pondered aloud, scratching his chin. He seemed to be attempting to put all the pieces of this puzzle together, writing down everything to make sure he was interpreting her words correctly. Once he finished his notes, he glanced back up towards the woman, his brow heavily furrowed.
"I am afraid this situation is above my rank to settle." Junn shuffled his notes and placed them as a stack under his right arm. "We will be sending you to Freyr-Lunge immediately in order for the king and his council to settle this matter of interstate politics."
Junn clapped his hands together, as the sound of footsteps drew closer, presumably being the armored guards the woman in black had seen outside...
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Post by Stage on Mar 31, 2018 20:53:37 GMT
Before the guards could open the door, it flew outwards, catching one of them in the chest and the other on the chin. They staggered back, armor clanging loudly, singing of their unbalance. The woman in black swept out of the room like a ghastly specter, the chair that she had been seated in only moments before held up like a weapon. Flat-footed, the guards had no way to defend themselves as she hurled it at them, pushing them even farther down the hall. Their legs knocked against the bottom edge of a glassless window, so, tumbling backwards, both plunged from the second floor to the ground below.
The woman in black, who had sprung up the instant Junn had decided her fate, whirled on him, empty pistol in hand. She pointed it at his forehead.
"Move and I'll kill you," she bluffed. "If you know what this is, you know it can put a hole in that patch before you stand up. Do you understand?"
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 31, 2018 21:53:48 GMT
Junn smirked, offering no verbal reply; instead, he loosed a terribly deafening roar from his mouth, before he body suddenly swelled to over a foot his original height. His appearance took on a reptilian form, covered in thick brown scales, and his head extended in length to around a foot long. A pair of armored wings spread outwards, and a thick, spiny tail curled from behind Junn. A powerful, scaled hand gripped down on the woman's hand, talons sinking into her skin.
"I'd like to see you try," Junn snarled, a cloud of steam rising from his serpent-like jaws.
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Post by Stage on Mar 31, 2018 22:14:07 GMT
The woman's eyes had gone wide as the captain began his transformation, but they narrowed into furious slits as his claws pierced her flesh.
"Churt!" she accused, pulling away from Junn at the expense of the thin skin on her hand, bloody and raw from her fingers to her wrist as she tumbled back. "Demon!"
She kicked his desk over from the ground, hoping to slow him some as she scrambled for her bedroll. She grabbed two items from it as she slung it over her back: her sword and an ornate flask of silver.
Shoving the flask into a pocket, she held the black blade ready in her uninjured hand and took off for the stairs. She had to get out of here. She would not be at the mercy of another king. Kings and emperors had only proven to be foul things.
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Post by Orcus on his Throne on Mar 31, 2018 22:24:41 GMT
The woman could hear shouting and communication happening from the outside window, followed by the sounds of people running towards the tower. Footsteps from the lower story were audible, as the familiar voice of Akros became audible, seemingly grumbling in an irritated manner to himself.
Behind her, Junn loosed another deafening roar and smashed the desk of his way before stomping towards the doorway. The hulking draconian beast smashed open the door frame to make room for his new size. As the woman made a break from the stairs, the draxon captain's jaws filled with an orange light before he exhaled a stream of red-orange fire towards her legs, intending to cripple her so she could no longer escape...
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