27th of Winter, 515.
“Ugh, why can’t it just start snowing already?” The landscape looked barren. Grass and vegetation, from the Kabrin Road all the way up to the skeletal remains of the Bronze Woods, had been trampled under-hoof by countless patrolling knights, travelling wagons desperate to make it inside the castle before the first snows fell, and hunters struggling to pick off the last few animals who’d not made it to hibernation fast enough. The churned mud was a horrible eyesore. He looked away and tried to focus on the road, not that it looked any better. Ser Iros was riding ahead, flanked by two more knights. One was stout and couldn’t seem to shut his mouth – a Sergeant Knight by the name of Ser Stanlinsa, if Ser Iros’ constant respectful yet still insistent requests for the man to shut his petching mouth were anything to go off – and the other, he had no idea.
“I wouldn’t get my hopes up, if I was you. It looks like this is going to be a warm season.” Of course Iros would be the first one to dash his hopes to pieces. Worse still, he couldn’t even disagree. So far, winter hadn’t lived up to its name and he couldn’t see that changing for the foreseeable future. So much for all the snowball fights he’d wanted.
“If I were you, I’d be glad. You don’t want to be out doing patrols in the snow. You ever tried it? For Sylir’s sake, it’s like Morwen herself is tryin’ to kill you!” Ser Stanlinsa’s boisterous voice cut through Iros like a knife, visibly. His posture stiffened like a deer caught in the sight of a Balicani. “Even worse if you get caught in the snow-clearing duties, I’ll tell yah. You probably wouldn’t remember this, Iros, but just after those Shield Games a while back, it seemed like even the First Tier was gonna be—“
“That was only last year, why would I not remember that?” the Akalak cut in with a scowl. “Besides, we’re here.” Mithryn Outpost, even in the late clutches of winter, was busy as ever. Fall had brought more crops than ever before, it seemed, but with a plentiful supply of food also came a hearty number of rodents looking for some free meals before their hibernation. Stormhold was easy enough to hold down, as long as they stopped the creatures dipping deep into the corridors and spreading across the entire castle. Mithryn wasn’t as simple. Squirrels were climbing up the walls and struggling inside by any means necessary. The last thing anyone wanted was a bunch of rodents feeding through all the food supplies and contaminating them with whatever diseases they brought as well.
That was where they all came in. A little extra reinforcement to give the Outpost a little more security. “You’ve got the cages, right?” Behind them all, Tobias rattled the small cages they’d requisitioned from one of the stalls in the Grand Bazaar. Well, if they started slaughtering the animals in the middle of the street, they’d be responsible for cleaning up the mess as well. Besides, there was no kill order. Just deal with the problem. If that meant capturing the squirrels in some cages and returning them to the woods, or taking them back to the Bazaar to be sold off as pets or pelts or meat, wasn’t up to Archailist. Though he did have an agreement with Iros. Every animal he captured would be returned to the Bronze Woods. The others, well, he didn’t want to know. Iros wasn’t known for his compassion in small creatures and the Pycon took any indication to how he’d been treated as a squire this past year, the Akalak was going to roast them himself over a fire and take great pleasure doing so.
Narick and Tobias, two squires Arch had the joy of working with in the past, would be acting on Arch’s behalf. Of both of them, Narick had been the easiest to convince into joining. Dirty sod was always looking for an opportunity to show off some of his prowess and was utterly confident that he could nail a squirrel with his bow. Tobias had been pretty reluctant until Narick had joined. Then it seemed like the mage couldn’t jump in on their little adventure fast enough. Personally he didn’t know what Tobias saw in Narick but hey, as long as the lad was happy and kept his eyes on the squirrels, it didn’t matter. To balance it out, Iros had two knights on his side. Neither of which Arch had ever met before, but if Iros was going to invite someone he could barely tolerate to deal with a few squirrels of all things, then the guy had to be pretty good at what he did, right? “Alright, we each take five cages. That should be enough to deal with the infestation between us. Person with the most squirrels caught at the end is the winner.”
They all stopped together outside of the Gatehouse and exchanged the tiny wood and metal cages. “May the best team win, I suppose.” As much as Archailist wanted to win to save the lives of the small rodents, he didn’t want to cheat Iros out of a fair competition. Well, mostly fair. The knight had two other knights on his side – one of which a Sergeant! Their teams were admittedly a little skewered. But hey, that just gave them all the more reason to work as hard as they could.
“Thank you very much, Squire Archailist. I think we will.” Iros lifted his nose high in the air and tugged on the reins of his mount, turning it on the spot and strolling confidently through the Gatehouse. As much as he might put on a show of arrogance, just before he turned the corner into the Menagerie, Archailist saw Ser Stanlinsa give the red Akalak a firm slap on the back of the head that rattled his helm like a giant bell. So that's why he brought Ser Stanlinsa.
“Ugh, why can’t it just start snowing already?” The landscape looked barren. Grass and vegetation, from the Kabrin Road all the way up to the skeletal remains of the Bronze Woods, had been trampled under-hoof by countless patrolling knights, travelling wagons desperate to make it inside the castle before the first snows fell, and hunters struggling to pick off the last few animals who’d not made it to hibernation fast enough. The churned mud was a horrible eyesore. He looked away and tried to focus on the road, not that it looked any better. Ser Iros was riding ahead, flanked by two more knights. One was stout and couldn’t seem to shut his mouth – a Sergeant Knight by the name of Ser Stanlinsa, if Ser Iros’ constant respectful yet still insistent requests for the man to shut his petching mouth were anything to go off – and the other, he had no idea.
“I wouldn’t get my hopes up, if I was you. It looks like this is going to be a warm season.” Of course Iros would be the first one to dash his hopes to pieces. Worse still, he couldn’t even disagree. So far, winter hadn’t lived up to its name and he couldn’t see that changing for the foreseeable future. So much for all the snowball fights he’d wanted.
“If I were you, I’d be glad. You don’t want to be out doing patrols in the snow. You ever tried it? For Sylir’s sake, it’s like Morwen herself is tryin’ to kill you!” Ser Stanlinsa’s boisterous voice cut through Iros like a knife, visibly. His posture stiffened like a deer caught in the sight of a Balicani. “Even worse if you get caught in the snow-clearing duties, I’ll tell yah. You probably wouldn’t remember this, Iros, but just after those Shield Games a while back, it seemed like even the First Tier was gonna be—“
“That was only last year, why would I not remember that?” the Akalak cut in with a scowl. “Besides, we’re here.” Mithryn Outpost, even in the late clutches of winter, was busy as ever. Fall had brought more crops than ever before, it seemed, but with a plentiful supply of food also came a hearty number of rodents looking for some free meals before their hibernation. Stormhold was easy enough to hold down, as long as they stopped the creatures dipping deep into the corridors and spreading across the entire castle. Mithryn wasn’t as simple. Squirrels were climbing up the walls and struggling inside by any means necessary. The last thing anyone wanted was a bunch of rodents feeding through all the food supplies and contaminating them with whatever diseases they brought as well.
That was where they all came in. A little extra reinforcement to give the Outpost a little more security. “You’ve got the cages, right?” Behind them all, Tobias rattled the small cages they’d requisitioned from one of the stalls in the Grand Bazaar. Well, if they started slaughtering the animals in the middle of the street, they’d be responsible for cleaning up the mess as well. Besides, there was no kill order. Just deal with the problem. If that meant capturing the squirrels in some cages and returning them to the woods, or taking them back to the Bazaar to be sold off as pets or pelts or meat, wasn’t up to Archailist. Though he did have an agreement with Iros. Every animal he captured would be returned to the Bronze Woods. The others, well, he didn’t want to know. Iros wasn’t known for his compassion in small creatures and the Pycon took any indication to how he’d been treated as a squire this past year, the Akalak was going to roast them himself over a fire and take great pleasure doing so.
Narick and Tobias, two squires Arch had the joy of working with in the past, would be acting on Arch’s behalf. Of both of them, Narick had been the easiest to convince into joining. Dirty sod was always looking for an opportunity to show off some of his prowess and was utterly confident that he could nail a squirrel with his bow. Tobias had been pretty reluctant until Narick had joined. Then it seemed like the mage couldn’t jump in on their little adventure fast enough. Personally he didn’t know what Tobias saw in Narick but hey, as long as the lad was happy and kept his eyes on the squirrels, it didn’t matter. To balance it out, Iros had two knights on his side. Neither of which Arch had ever met before, but if Iros was going to invite someone he could barely tolerate to deal with a few squirrels of all things, then the guy had to be pretty good at what he did, right? “Alright, we each take five cages. That should be enough to deal with the infestation between us. Person with the most squirrels caught at the end is the winner.”
They all stopped together outside of the Gatehouse and exchanged the tiny wood and metal cages. “May the best team win, I suppose.” As much as Archailist wanted to win to save the lives of the small rodents, he didn’t want to cheat Iros out of a fair competition. Well, mostly fair. The knight had two other knights on his side – one of which a Sergeant! Their teams were admittedly a little skewered. But hey, that just gave them all the more reason to work as hard as they could.
“Thank you very much, Squire Archailist. I think we will.” Iros lifted his nose high in the air and tugged on the reins of his mount, turning it on the spot and strolling confidently through the Gatehouse. As much as he might put on a show of arrogance, just before he turned the corner into the Menagerie, Archailist saw Ser Stanlinsa give the red Akalak a firm slap on the back of the head that rattled his helm like a giant bell. So that's why he brought Ser Stanlinsa.
