Fan Fiction ❯ Kingdom Come ❯ Order Behind Chaos ( Chapter 9 )

"There it is!" Alavaria pointed at the large stone walls in the distance with some excitement. "That has to be it. No town could have such fortifications." They casually walked up to the large stone gatehouse that loomed over equally massive iron-strapped doors.

 

"Approximately sixty approaching. They appear heavily armed, but alone!" The call floated across from one guardhouse to another. A city guard looked out of a small window and saw the group moving leisurely towards the city. Though they appeared armed to the teeth, and clad in an unfamiliar version of full plate, they were indeed by themselves, with no horses or as much as a pack mule. Where could did such people have come from? The sale of armor and weapons was tightly regulated, especially the latter. No one should be able to get such a ridiculous amount of personal weaponry. They looked like they had a whole armory each! He signaled to the man next to him. Crossbows were picked up, winched tight and loaded. Crossbowmen moved to their firing holes, weapons at the ready. He took another look at them and hailed the newcomers. "Halt and identify yourselves strangers!"

 

Eferlon sighed. "This isn't a time of war. It's the middle of day. Why are the gates closed? With an army sitting on them no less."

 

"Do you support the Blade or the Aegis?"

 

"The what? We've just arrived here. What do you speak of?"

Homleck stepped out of the small tower and onto the ramparts above the city gates to view these curiosities. "Which side do you support, good .. sirs?"

 

"Sides? No, wait .. we aren't on any sides. We just reached!"

 

"They're clearly foreigners," his lieutenant whispered. "It would explain many things."

 

Homleck waved him away, leaning over the parapet again. "Very well then. Of course you may enter, provided you do not bring in any weapons."

 

Maero blinked as several of his soldiers began to protest, but Maeror calmly motioned them to silence. Alavaria sidled over to Eferlon who was eying all the soldiers above.

"Do you think it would be safe to go in?"

 

"I think so. It's not like humans can set a trap for us," he told her softly. "But we can't bring them," indicating their escort, "or they'll make trouble."

 

Maero and his brother joined them after several seconds. Also giving the soldiers quick looks. "So what's the plan?"

 

"Encamp. We will go in and see what is up with these people."

 

"But .. !"

 

Eferlon was already moving away from the city. He pointed to a small flat area of plains slightly southwest of the city gates. "Set up a camp there." After he reached the spot, looking around, he started to remove his weapons and armor. Alavaria followed his lead, and in a few seconds there was a near, but impressive, collection of metalwork on the ground. Eferlon plucked his sword out of the heap and drew it. Facing towards the city he lifted it up and slammed the blade into the ground. Gathering ambient heat with a few threads of Fire he set a small flame atop the metal hilt. It danced slightly as a sudden gust of wind assailed it, but did not go out. Stretching on of the threads slightly, Eferlon wound it around his left arm. Observing carefully, Alavaria did the same thing with her sword.

 

"Alright then," she said cheerfully. "If the fire goes out, then come looking for us. Humans can't sense our use of this for some reason, so just follow these lines. We'll pull them along."

 

"This is a rash idea," broke in Maeror. "So many of them. One might be easily overwhelmed by such numbers."

 

"Not quickly, however."

 

Eferlon left while Maero caught up with his brother. The soldiers both surrounded them, waiting for orders, as Eferlon and Alavaria hurriedly beat an escape. Just a couple of minutes later they were back near the large gates. The guards didn't recognize them and, after a quick check, waved them through. Alavaria heard one of them wondering where the "foreigners" had gone. "I think they expected us to keep our armor on," she whispered to her colleague. "That might not be a good sign."

 

After moving down several streets, she realized why they had been so thoroughly dismissed. "We're not dressed like powerful outsiders."

 

"I see," muttered Eferlon. "How troublesome, especially since mortals place such emphasis on how one looks."

Alavaria grabbed Eferlon and tugged him into an alleyway before a police patrol, which had been giving them considering looks, decided to take action. It was probably because they both looked too shabbily dressed to belong with all the nobles and merchants that frequented areas near the city center. "We need to fix this somehow." She gave a small hop. "Got it!"

 

Carefully searching her memories, she pulled up some of the things that she had seen a week earlier, while they were in New Silversea. Carefully drawing a thread of Light around herself, she made a copy of what Althea has been wearing that day. Spinning slightly, she made sure that the details were correct. "What do you think?"

 

Eferlon reached out and touched her arm in response, shaking his head as his hand seemed to disappear. "Not quite there."

 

"I was getting to that bit!" she insisted, weaving threads of Air into her creation. "Ok, I think it should work now." Taking hold of her sleeve she found it solid. "Now we need to find a tailor or seamstress to make something more .. real. And less likely to set off anti-magic alarms.

 

"They can't detect it. Remember?"

 

"I was hoping you wouldn't, but in any case we're going shopping!"

 

Half an hour later Alavaria was searching for a money changer. "Figures," she said, searching the marketplace. "They've practically got a unified currency here. Oh, hmm lets try that!" She pointed towards a small building that apparently was owned by the "Mole Mining" company.

 

"Is that what I think it is?"

 

"Yep," she replied, moving to the building next to it. "A goldsmith wouldn't mind trading our coins for local currency, though our coins are likely to be purer."

 

"Ah. Ok then. Go and get it changed then." Eferlon handed her the small bag of money that they had brought. She ducked into the small shop and emerged several minutes later, tossing the bag at him. It felt only marginally lighter.

 

"So now you can get those clothes done?"

 

After another hour, Alavaria finally got down her clothing order. Eferlon's had only taken a few minutes, by contrast.

 

"So long and it will still take several hours to get it all done," he sighed. "Humans are bothersome." A person walking nearby gave him a surprised look before walking off chuckling.

 

"Since it won't be done any earlier than tomorrow morning at least, we'd better try and rent a room at an inn or somewhere."

 

"Oh alright." Eferlon moved off towards a small shop and stuck his head in. "Which way is the government center? Ah, that way? Thanks."

 

Pointing to his left he started down the road. With a puzzled expression, Alavaria quickly followed, catching up easily while he tried in vain to squeeze though the packed crowds.

 

"Shouldn't we be going to visit them yet?"

 

"We're getting somewhere close by. Doubtless someone will be looking at where we stopped. Even if we won't be there for very long, it will still be a good base area." Alavaria blinked.

 

Moving to a smallish building, Eferlon quickly got the two of them a neat room. "We better get something to eat first and then think about what else we might need," he told her levelly.

 

"I don't understand why you are so concerned about eating, sleeping, and all that. We're fine without," she protested, but in a low tone. A scrape could be heard faintly.

 

"Consider it a bonus then," he replied, equally softly, catching something from outside. Flinging a hand towards the door he flung it open with what was practically a rope of Wind. There was a sharp thud and cursing. Alavaria turned in time to see someone's foot as they fled. "A spy?" she asked.

 

"Likely just someone with no manners. Of course there might be interest in two foreigners who take a room in such a good area. Given the state of their government, we would do well to be careful. But first to rest." He watched bemusedly as she surveyed the room. "Please tell me you didn't tell him that we're … "

 

"Sorry to disappoint you, but yes, I did. It doesn't matter really. I'll keep watch for the first half."

 

"It's not that dangerous .. right?"

 

"Seriously? I don't think so, but better safe than sorry."

 

The next morning, Alavaria prodded him awake. Stretching, he look a look out the nearby window. Rich sunlight poured in, but when he looked out all he got a was a direct look at the sun. "Agg!" he shouted, jumping back, covering his eyes. "That really hurts!"

 

"For goodness' sake," she muttered, grabbing him and preparing the proper spell elements. "That was really silly of you." Sending the healing energies into him, she quickly helped undo the damage to his eyes as well as stop the pain. Rubbing his watering eyes, he thanked her. "Let's get back to the seamstress before you hurt yourself any more," she said chidingly.

 

"How was I to know that that would hurt?" he retorted, annoyed. "We don't have a sun up .. "

 

He stopped abruptly as they heard a soft knock on the door. He opened it up a crack and peered down at the small child that was about to knock again. "Hello," he said in a friendly tone. "Why are you knocking on our door?"

 

She looked at him and at Alavaria, who was moving in the background, for a while before answering. "You weren't coming down, so, after a while, Dad said I should check if you want, you know, breakfast." Picking up courage upon seeing that the big man did not appear displeased, she continued in a less timid manner. "The cooks here are good. There's .. "

"Alright, alright," interrupted Alavaria, pushing Eferlon away from the door and smiling at their little messenger. "Thank you very much. We'll be down in a while so run along now." As the child nodded and started down the stairs, she closed the door and faced a rather annoyed Eferlon. "Looks like we've got something to eat," she said brightly. "Then we'll see about those clothes." He nodded as she deftly wound Light and Air around herself. After doing the same, he cracked open the door and took a look before stepping out.

 

Upon getting their clothes, after eating, of course, they returned to their room. "I'm sorry, but we paid so much for this?"

 

"What do you expect? It's expensive stuff and had to be done quickly." However, she frowned while examining her dress. "Still, you have a point." Drawing again from the Spring, she deftly spun a small net of Light and Air, like a many spider webs overlaid on one another. Slowly it drew in upon itself, and when she was done, there was a small emerald that dropped into her hand.

 

Eferlon picked it up and looked closely at it. "Flawed," he told her.

 

"Obviously," she said, making more. "No one would waste perfect ones." With another thread of Wind she tied them onto her dress in various areas. Tugging again at the Spring, she took out a long thread of Light, colored like gold, and "sewed" it into the fabric. Changing quickly, she then released the energy bound in her earlier clothes, throwing it out the window as it began to shimmer and break into fine specks of magic that evaporated. Stepping back from the windrow she saw that Eferlon had already finished changing and was waiting impatiently for her to finish putting everything away.

 

A flick of Wind sent their various things hopping into a small chest in a corner. The lock snapped shut as Eferlon wound a long bit of Air around the wooden box to keep everything safe. "Are we all done? Ala- ?"

 

"Oh!" She was jerked back. "No worry, I didn't get the sun in my eyes."

He made an unamused sound. "Very funny. Can we finally get on our way to the administrative center?" "Yes. Of course I can't refuse such a nicely put request."

As they made their way down the stairs and through the packed streets, Eferlon was wondering about the current political split. Shortly after reaching the large gate in a protective wall, he observed a large central courtyard. There was an elegantly crafted building, standing imposingly, facing towards the east. Flanking it on each side were smaller, and plainer, buildings, each proudly bearing a banner. He tilted his head slightly to get a better look.

 

"Armies of East General Interior Security, AEGIS" with a large white tower shield on each end, decorating the left building.

"Battalions Leading Assaults on Defensive Emplacements, BLADE" decorated with a long, simple sword on either side, on the right one.

 

"What is this?" he wondered aloud, though softly. Almost immediately a person from the crowd stepped up and extended his hand. "Why hello!" he said brightly. "You must be here to support our worthy cause!"

 

"They're here to join us!" A young woman approached them from the other side. "No one in their right mind would go along with you people."

 

Hand still stretched toward Eferlon, he laughed. "If I didn't know better I'd think you were .. attacking us!"

 

As they continued to argue, Alavaria and Eferlon slowly moved away and continued on their way to the main building.

 

"I think that answers your question about what is happening here," broke in yet another person who was leaving it.

 

"We're not involved in it," Alavaria told him firmly.

 

"I know! You'd have gone there," waving to a bannered building, and then the other. "or there, if you were intending to join a side. You've clearly just arrived. Am I right?"

 

"So, who are you exactly? Are you with any of them?" Alavaria asked instead of answering.

 

"I'm just a .. well actually we're just glorified clerks," he explained, pointing out several other people leaving the buildings. He continued talking as the small group moved inside. "Decisions are made by the government officials, not us. We just, you know, carry out what they implement."

 

"I see," murmured Eferlon, looking around the large lobby area. Their `guide' lead them towards a large spiral staircase, and they began to go up. "So what's up with the large banners outside?"

 

"Oh, those," was the reply. "They're in `serious discussion' about what stance to take regarding the recent military actions of the Frontier Lands Alliance. They are under strong suspicion of masterminding coordinated efforts by non-regular forces. Privateers mainly, raiding along the coastal areas. Our main armies are all held down in defensive positions and can't respond quickly enough to small pinprick attacks. Though," he added, "there is the possibility that the FLA was intending to use these mercenaries to create a beachhead for assault."

 

"But the argument is over .. ?"

 

"Meh. One side wants to adopt a defensive posture, crush any possible invasion and demand peace on their terms. The other wants to reply the FLA's provocations with a full scale attack now, planning on an unprepared foe. Both sides are pretty much deadlocked, being of equal strength. Needless so say, neither side had any thought of yielding any time soon."

 

"No chance for peace?"

 

"The FLA seem to look down on us. They only give non-answers, basically, that they have nothing to do with the attacks. At the same time, they're commencing military buildup really blatantly. Spy reports indicate no attempt at stealth."

 

"Ah, I see." Eferlon took a look down a corridor as they passed it. Several people were leaving a room as some others moved in.

 

"By the way, did you not bring any escort? Surely people of your stature .. "

 

"They made too much fuss over being forced to leave off their arms for us to deal with quickly."

 

"How unfortunate."