[Flashback]To deliver what they wish (Xalet)

[Waheed]

509 A.V. , 24th of Fall, 8th bell 3rd chime.

It was a slightly chilly day, the autumn leaves were beginning to change color as it signified the beginning of a new season. A welcomed change that meant the end of the blistering heat, and yet at the same an omen that meant the eventual coming of the harsh winter cold ‘Autumn and Spring are just the peace before the storms after all, Summer heat and Winter colds are ordeals more treacherous than facing the blasted wildlife’ Waheed thought as he stood outside the city, feeling uncomfortable despite still being within the City’s borders and thus travelling the roads protected by the knights. Usually at this time he would be delivering messages and parcels from home to home, shop to shop and a mix of the both. Today, however, was quite a different thing.

Looking at the parcel in hand, the box seemed quite unimportant, but the opposite was truth. Gulping heavily and then looked at his scimitar which hanged at his side, he felt like he was carrying something that would get him killed ‘It was something of the Knights after all’ It was to be delivered to an outpost manned by the knights, something that promised a small reward both of coin and of reputation ‘Reputation was undoubtedly more important than coin’ indeed, for reputation braught something more important to any business, customers, and customers meant more coin for Waheed to spend on food and drink, to pay his rent ‘Don’t screw this one up and you could establish a steady flow of customers’ Once more he gulped and silently prayed to Yahal, the god of purity, to grant him strength to carry out this delivery.

Of course, the knights did not let him go alone. An escort was assigned to him in the form of one of their squires, a large Akalak by the name of Xalet. As if the Purple man’s size wasn’t intimidating enough, he looked like he can handle another knight without much difficulty. In his silent prayer to the god he added a request not to get in trouble with the big man ‘Oh Yahal, may you watch over us always’

[Xalet]

Xalet's instructions had been quite clear, and although some of them did not make much sense, he dared not question them. His Patron, Sergeant Irine Braklin, was a woman of great culture and eloquance. She was more apt to talk a person down than to stab him to death, but her words had been strong and direct.

"Escort the courier to the Eventide Outpost one days ride to the north. If he attempts to open the package, slay him. If he attempts to run away with the package, slay him. If he attempts to give it to anyone else but Sergeant Garrik, slay him. Report back immediately with the results after the task is complete."

Those were her words, and there certainly was a lot of 'slaying' in them. Up until this point, Xalet had never had to slay anyone. He done some restraining, some injuring, and even some knocking out, but never had he taken another person's life. Could he do it? He'd have to, that was the order. His nervousness was hidden by the vast array of old hand-me-down armor he wore. Every bit of it was dented somehow. The plates were tarnished, the mail was missing links here and there, the unseen cotton gambeson was more of a yellowed brown than the white it had started out as. His abilities were well noted, however. 'A well rounded soldier' Sergeant Braklin often said, skilled in both offense and defense, as well as the Knightly skill of riding a horse.

Xalet approached upon his horse, looking down at the Benshira that was Waheed. Inside he hoped, prayed to Priskil, "Let this man simply deliver the package. I wish to not even know what is worth dying over." Priskil was quite good at finding hope in dark places, perhaps the entire mission would be completed without a hitch.

"Courier Waheed." the Akalak said finally in his deep, softly volumed voice. When Xalet spoke it was merely above a whisper, though the depth of his tone was almost bottomless. For a moment he paused, almost as if that was the entirety of the introduction. Finally he added, "I am Xalet, Squire to Irine Braklin. Let us begin. We should arrive by sun down." Now that was the end. Xalet was never known for holding long conversations right off the bat, especially not with strangers. The topics that he enjoyed he could talk about for bells and bells, but when dealing with Knightly business he was as direct and brief as they came. With that he simply began his horse at a slow walk, moving toward the north.

[Waheed]

As he looked at Xalet, his presence on the horse made the Akalak more intimidating and although the Akalak's plate armor was worn and old, it was still something far more effective than Waheed's own leather armor "It is a pleasure to meet you Xalet, I hope this will be a pleasant journy under Yahal's guidence" He said flashing a sincere smile, as the squire began to move torwards the north slowly, Waheed walked alongside on his two feet and sighed as he looked at the package with concern and curiosity.


After a few bells passing he the humdrum of the walk beginning to irk him, he was never used to deliver items to such a distant place. He looked at his giant companion and asked 'Er....So whats it like being a squire of the order? Is it difficult?' other than being protectors of Syliras and its territories Waheed knew so little of the knightly order sworn to protect the land and uphold Sylir's tenants, despite being such an influental force so many things about them were shrouded in a veil of secrecy. It was given though, even forces of sworn to protect with chivalry and honor have a need to keep things secret, less forces under guidance of the darker gods took advantage.


At one point Waheed considered, very briefly, to join the order. His mother's health had prevented him from considering any further, after her passing his fathers broken heart had done the same till his passing and by then ha had already discovered his niche as a courier for the city, already knowing the city to a good degree had made it an enjoyable job.


His eyes darting around once more, Waheed notice the many tree's the surrounded them, the Kabrin road was one well traveled and Sylira's was quite well located on its path as many a visitor from Zelitiva and all the way to Riverfall have stopped at Syliras to restock as they travelled. The Sight of this many trees unnerved Waheed though 'many a thing could be hiding behind them' He thought, a truthful thing, there could be curious critters, ferocious animals or bandits. But the Knights made sure the roads were usually well protected from such things.


The knights were still but living beings though, they weren't gods, it would be presumptuous to assume they would be completely safe despite the knights efforts 'Even a small crack is all an insect would need to penetrate' He thought as he got more nervous, he stopped looking around and just stared at the road, saying to the Akalak " I fear that I may be paranoid, my eyes are unused to seeing so many trees" But Paranoia has the habit of being ones savior instead of their doom as a pair of eyes looked the traveling pair from a distance

.

[Xalet]

OOCMessing around with changing up my post frame. After a while of silence it was easy to determine that Xalet was a quiet man. The 'strong, silent' type perhaps? He seemed content to ride onward with little to say, his eyes simply staring ahead into the distance. His body rocked slowly at the slow gait of his horse. His hips moved appropriately to reduce the impact the ride would have on his back. It seemed that the man was fairly well versed in the proper technique and posture for riding an animal over a long period of time. Meanwhile the truth was his gaze poured out over everything in front of him, not simply staring blankly into the distance but actively watching. Watching the movement of the trees, watching the ground for wear and tracks, and watching the man next to him in his peripheral. "Depends on your preparedness. The studies can be. The physical aspect can be as well. It is not easy. But life is not easy." he responded after a moments pause. That question was actually not one he had often gotten. Typically it was worded in the fashio of 'what's it like being a squire', rather than questioning the difficulty of the entire process. "To an honorable man, it would be simple. To a dishonorable man, it would be torture." he made it a point to stress. A chime or two went by before Xalet addressed the man's concern. He took into consideration the distance they had traveled, as well as the surroundings. Over the years Xalet had been apart of Patrols throughout the bronze woods man times, typically to learn the geography for the day when he would be a Knight himself, part of a Wing tasked keeping the territory surrounding Syliras safe. "We are probably come up to the Hot Springs now, they would be to our west. The Bronze Woods is well patrolled, we shouldn't encounter many problems." Of course, what Xalet wasn't about to mention was the stories and legends that went along with the Bronze Woods. There was a certain mystery to that huge expanse of forest. "Is being a courier hard? There are many people within Syliras, but also several in the outposts to the north and south. I would imagine all wish to communicate with one another without traveling directly. There is work to be done, after all." After what seemed like two bells of travel Xalet suddenly pulled on the reigns of his horse, causing the creature to come to an abrupt stop. The light had grown much more prominent above now, streaming it's luminance down upon the ground beneath. There, in the road possibly two hundred yards ahead was a figure, apparently with his or her back turned toward the pair. Xalet's eyes narrowed as if he was sensing something wrong, and if Waheed was perceptive enough, he could most likely tell this. Although the Akalak made no mention of any information he had gleamed, he clicked his heels against the sides of his horse and began moving forward once more, closing the distance between the pair and the being.

[Waheed]

Waheed had listened to the Akalak’s words, of how life a squire can be hard. A good man can apparently get through it without too much trouble, but a man of lesser ethics appeared to face a form of oblivion ‘As expected, even a squire seems to be of a different caliber than a man such as myself’ He sold himself short, as if thinking his own troubles are less of that of a squire. But Waheed would be called admirable as well, dedicated to his work as a courier, working many bells a day traveling back and forth to deliver parcels and letters.


‘The Springs to our west, must remember that for when I find myself back here’ He thought, always good to remember a path, even if you might not travel it till sometime later. He gave a brief chuckle when Xalet asked him of his own profession ‘I suppose you could say it is difficult, as you said there are many people within the city. More often than I care to recall I end up running from one corner of the city to another, sometimes delivering to the same person several times a day, quite annoying in a way. But I enjoy it, because of it I know well enough of the city to deliver things at half the time it takes another courier or even you squires. Outside however, even if the roads are safe enough there is no guarantee of arriving to these outposts without a scratch, I’ve heard the tales of how dangerous it can be” A truth really, Waheed didn’t had the advantages a squire had when it came to being prepared, only in recent years had he found time to train with his scimitar. Unlike a squire though no one was there to instruct him, nor did he have enough time to train proper thanks to his duties as a courier “I am simply unprepared”

After a bit of time had passed, Waheed noticed that Xalet seemed to be focusing intently on something in the distance. At the same time he was hit by a feeling of unwariness, his eyes darting around like crazy till they stared at a figure in the distance. Unlike the Akalak, Waheeds power of observation weren’t that trained to see in the far off distance, the figure was vague in his eyes, unable to face which direction they are facing or if it were even man or beast. Only when they got closer would it seem apparent to his eyes.

[Xalet]

"Greetings!" Xalet called out, forcing forth his deep voice into a shout in order to be heard by the figure ahead. Both he and Waheed could see the same thing as they halved the distance that started out between them. A long black cloak fell all the way down to the ground, it's bottom dragging slightly. The baggy rear of what appeared to be a hood could also be observed. A pair of shoulders held the cloak aloft, and from this one could assume there to be a defined shape of a man. Still though the figure simply stood with it's 'back' to the two traveling men, making no attempt to respond to Xalet's attempt to address it. Almost like reflex the squire began to remove the large wooden crossbow from his shoulder while he shared a piece of information with Waheed, "My eyes can see differently than a Human's. The light of one whom draws breath...I cannot see it. The clothing is obscuring my view further." Typically Xalet wasn't one to address problems with a crossbow, but something felt...wrong. The stock rested against the lower faulds of his breastplate as he utilized both hands to yank the cord rearward, maintaining his balance upon his horse with just his strong leg muscles. "I am Xalet, Squire to Sergeant Irine Braklin of the Syliran Knights!? What is your name and business!?" he shouted, this time with less of a cordial tone, now he was clearly looking for an answer. "Answer! Are you a citizen of Syliras!?" his hands pulled a bolt from his bolt pouch and slid the slender shaft down onto the groove cut out for just such a projectile. The distance was now no greater than twenty five yards, and Xalet had yet to receive his answer. Finally the cloaked figure turned, and both Xalet and Waheed only saw darkness amongst the shadow of the hood it wore. With an unusual gait it began walking toward them both, leaving Xalet to draw the butt of his crossbow up into the pocket between his chest and his shoulder, "Halt and identify yourself immediately! Halt! Now, or be fired upon!" the Akalak prayed for some type of response. He did not wish to resort to loosing a bolt under such a circumstance, and thus as best he could with his rather sufficient level of training his finger swept across the trigger and shot the bolt right into the cloaked figure's shoulder. A hearty thunk told the strike was true, something about it was completely unsatisfying. The frame of the cloaked figure shifted slightly, but still it remained standing, now barely more than ten yards from the pair. "Courier...get be--" Xalet tried to instruct the man near him as he drew forth another bolt. In the very moment he did so, the thing before them sprinted directly at him and backhanded his horse right across the face with a 'hand'. With bolt of his hands occupied Xalet's mound reared up and sent the squire tumbling straight to the ground with a colossal metallic thud. "Kah!" he shouted out as his crossbow spilt from his hands. The forward motion of the cloaked figure did not stop, instead in the confusion it yanked the package from Waheed's possession and ran through the man, pushing him too to the ground. Without so much as a word the figure sprinted down the path in the direction the two had come from. Immediately Xalet could tell the speed the thing was moving at was greater than he could ever reach with his armor on. His horse, in the meantime, was spooked and was trotting in the opposite direction. "Courier the package! Don't let that thing get away!" Now it was time to see just how well Waheed could rely on his legs.

[Waheed]

As they approached the figure closer and closer till they stopped a set distance, Waheed could see the figure as clear as day, there was an eeriness to it, when Xalet mention he could not see the ‘light of one’s breath’ from its body that his Akalak’s could do, he felt unease and panic rise as he clutched the package. When Xalet had introduced himself and asked the figure of its name and its business with his crossbow readied upon his shoulder. He had asked again in a less friendly tone as he readied a bolt “Please answer!!” Waheed had shouted to the figure, Xalet now having loaded his bolt and aimed at the figure, demanding an answer.

“Please answer us!! There is no need for anyone’s death!!” But the figure ignored the words entirely as it turned to face them, its hood hiding its face in an inky darkness. When it began to walk towards them in awkward way, Xalet had fired the bolt of his crossbow at its shoulder and had its mark with a thud, but it wasn’t affect by it at all other than a slight slump. Now it was quite a close distance to them. When Xalet tried to warn the panic stricken Waheed the figure simply closed the short distance between them and smacked Xalet’s horse with the back of its hand, the action had frightened the horse and threw the knight off to the ground and using the panic to its adavantage it stole the package from Waheed’s hands and pushed him to ground “BY YAHAL!!” He had shouted as he landed on his rear and saw the figure run.

Following Xalet’s words Waheed stood up, still trembling slightly as he drew a deep breath and simply ran after the thing. His feet were in full throttle as he left the Akalak in plate armor behind and chased after the figure, suddenly it took a left into the woods and Waheed had followed it into the unfamiliar terrain. The forests were different to the paved roads of Syliras in that Waheed compared the forrest to a cluttered house where everything was strewn about and everyone had to make careful steps to not fall. As he slowly drew closer to the figure, pacing himself before he went to a mad dash, he noticed the figure made an awkward jumps over a hollowed tree trunk, as he himself grew closer to it he attempted to do so him, only his leg was cut and he fell face first into the dirt. As he slowly stood he spat the dirt that had found its way into his mouth and felt his hand along his forhead, a small cut on his skin. The figure was getting farther now, and so Waheed resumed the chase, this time going for a quicker run.

He was getting closer to the figure yet again, only inches away from it. But a sudden turn from the figure had Waheed running into a tree, thankfully enough he only slammed into it without much harm and did not fall. It was getting away again and once more Waheed gave chase, this time his scimitar pulled out. Soon, once more he had gotten quite close to the figure, instead of attempting to strike with his blade, he opted to toss it in front of its legs and thankfully it worked, the figure tripping over the hilt and face first into a stone with a loud satisfying crack similar to the sound of cracking wood, for a moment Waheed was worried as the figure lied there unmoving, slowly approaching it and taking the package ‘I better check if its breathing…. I might have killed the thing’ If he had killed a normal being it would have weighed on his heart, for Waheed had never killed another creature unlike the knights who had to do so as part of their duties. Removing the cloak he was engulfed in Shock, utter shock at the sight held before him….. After a few moments he decided to grab his scimitar and returned to the figure, his scimitar raised and swung down at its neck and repeated it twice more. After the dead was done he sheathed his blade, held the package and carried the….head… back to Xalet to show him clearly what he discovered.

[Xalet]

Finally Xalet had managed to climb up to his feet, dragging his crossbow over by him, but not before the thief had made off with the package with Waheed in hot pursuit. Pressing his tongue to the roof of his mouth and letting out a shrill whistle, Xalet proved to have enough of a relationship with the horse now to cause it to trustingly move back over toward the squire. One hand gripping the saddle while the other hand wrapped about the horn, Xalet pulled himself back up and onto the steed before pulling the reigns around in order to see just how far away the chase had gotten. "Hyah!" the Knight-in-training called down to his mount before squeezing the horse's sides tightly, causing the painted equine to go shooting off down the pathway. Thankful for his training in mounted crossbow use as well as controlled riding, Xalet managed to prepare his crossbow as he forced his weight far forward into the saddle. He noted the distance of the two running up ahead, maybe he'd be able to catch them after all. Sliding another crossbow bolt into the groove the Akalak gripped the reigns tightly with one hand while he propped the stock of the crossbow up against the plates of his pauldron. Before he could fire the shot Xalet slowed his horse down to a walk, aimed over the shoulder of Waheed, and prepared to fire. That was when the figure took a sharp turn into the wood line. Hastily bringing his other arm up to flex a finger against the trigger, Xalet fired his bolt prematurely, causing the sharp tip to bury itself into a tree's bark at the edge of the pathway. Tsking himself softly he shoved the spent crossbow back over his shoulder and ramped the speed of his mount back up, charging for the woods. Things were going well until the horse and rider got into the thick brush of the woods. Once there, it became increasingly hard to navigate or keep up any kind of significant speed. The squire had to pay special attention to the course he was steering his horse, as just like the rider trusted to horse to listen to his directions, the horse trusted the rider not to be led into dangerous terrain. Several times Xalet had to stall his forward motion and take a more-about approach, moving around some high roots or some prickling briars. Ahead he could see the movement of the pair, but he also had to recognize that he was too far back to effect the outcome. It was all on Waheed now. That was until the chase had ended. Popping up over a small ridge in the forest floor, Xalet stopped his horse as he noticed the courier approaching him. "What's this?" he asked, although his words were rhetorical. He certainly wasn't sure, and he wasn't certain Waheed could provide any kind of explanation either. "Wood? A wooden man? I've never heard of such a monster, not here. Not in Syliras. Is this some type of magic?" Like it or not, Xalet had been the target of quite a bit of magic in his time, so he had experienced a few different schools first hand. Animation, however, was not one of them, "We...should continue onward to the outpost, and bring that head as well. Perhaps the Sergeant will know what to make of it. Also, good job on the apprehension, courier. It was very fortunate you were able to catch up with that...thing. Perhaps this package is more valuable than we know, as even this thing wanted to get it's hands upon it."

[Waheed]

" I just wish to deliver this and be done with it" He sighed as he hed the head, his blade now hanging at his side. He looked at the package with curiosity 'A wooden man...thing...whatever it was, wanted this thing' He thought to himself, why wood a man of wood want such a thing. He sighed as he walked alongside the squire, his appearance slightly bruised and battared after falling and bumping into a tree while chasing after the woodman.

"I assume the Knights handle such biare things as well? Truly this makes my appreciation for them to grow large, I have enough trouble delivering things, a woodman was not part of that little description" He chuckled, trying to get himself into higher spirits "Forgive me if this is personal, but what made you become a squire? You don't have to answer if you wish" They still had much of the day left and weren't quite close to their destination, if anything after the woodman a bit of conversation seemed to a sound idea.

[Xalet]

"The Knights handle everything." Xalet spoke matter-of-factly as he maneuvered his horse out of the woods. Beyond a few catches here and there on low hanging limbs or a few instances of having to steer his mount around depressions in the soft ground, the years of riding practice seemed to be rubbing off onto the Akalak. Regardless of any confidence he had atop a horse, feeling those hooves on the compacted ground of the roadway was a comforting feeling. "It is this world's nature to be dangerous. Things, creatures, the unnatural appear all the time. A man cannot even live upon the countryside without having the fear of monsters spawned from the very ground itself. So the Knights patrol the area surrounding Syliras, from the Eventide outpost to the Syliran fields to the south, trying to keep the area as safe as possible." he mentioned. Syliras was known as the one city that did not suffer from an abundance of oversized monster animals within it's woods, and in fact, the woods contained some of the most bountiful hunting grounds around. It was thanks to the Knights, a group of some seven thousand men and women that trained for the purpose of maintaining an actual civilization. "It is no bother." the Akalak replied with a shrug, his attention still a bit divided after the most recent encounter. He attempted to juggle ensuring a safe remaining journey with keeping an eye on the courier, "In truth it was my mother. She is Human, which is not so normal for an Akalak. When we came to Syliras there were difficulties for me. As an Akalak. My people require challenge. We require a purpose to strive toward. My mother had a brother within the Knighthood whom allowed me to become a Page at a very young age. Seven years later I had become a Squire. I was unsure if the Knighthood was for me." the next part brought what almost sounded like a chuckle up from the depths of Xalet's throat, "I had no talent in Knighthood. None at all. None with a sword, none with a shield, and certainly none with a horse. It took me years to simply learn the basics. I was fortunate to have met Priskil, the Goddess of Light when my path seemed to be mostly covered in shadows. That is probably more than you wished to hear though." Just as soon as he had started going about his narrative, the large man was silent once more.