Chapter 12: Arrival and Departure
“There’s no escape from this situation. We’re just fighting to stall it.”
IXH
Kazuki was not happy.
He was never happy, but today in particular he was nearing the point of rage. He didn’t trust Aranea’s plans to get the job done, and he especially didn’t like that she was working with someone he didn’t know without his permission or consent. For all he knew, her “partner” would kill his daughter. Apparently they had some sort of interest in the whore his daughter had run off with, despite the distinct lack of anything interesting about her. And, as much as Kazuki hated to admit it, he didn’t think his daughter would give up this foolishness until that woman was dead.
Aranea’s plans didn’t include killing Isabella, and that wouldn’t do. Kazuki regretted ever bringing her into this now; he was going to fix this as he should have early on, with his own people. In a distant corner of the monastery Kazuki approached a traditionally styled house that other monks tended to give a wide berth. Kazuki was the only one who would ever approach it fearlessly, and he brushed a hand through his greying hair in frustration as he knocked on the door with another. A servant slid the door open and announced him as he stepped inside. The three he was looking for were inside waiting, apparently having been expecting this visit.
Kazuki folded his arms and looked over the three figures before him. “I assume you know why I’m here.”
“Of course,” whispered a hoarse male voice.
“You’ve finally decided to have us take care of this situation,” a female voice added.
“Yes,” Kazuki acknowledged with a nod. “This ridiculous rebellion has gone on long enough. I want you to capture my daughter and bring her back.”
“What about the others?” asked a much deeper, gravelly male voice.
Kazuki looked at the speaker firmly. “Kill them. Let the others escape if you have to in order to ensure your primary mission, but make sure you kill the woman Isabella.” Three grins widened and Kazuki left without another word.
Across the courtyard, hidden away in shadow, Aranea listened through a spider perched on the outside of the house. She turned her head and peered through the trees she hid behind at Kazuki as he left the house and headed back into the monastery proper. So he’s bringing in the Triad, she thought to herself, a frown of irritation touching her features. He is actively fighting against my plans now. This will not do at all. She melted into the shadow and ended up in the hallway to her room, shaking her head.
“Naughty Kazuki, that’s cheating,” she said with a smile as she entered her room, looking to the mirror set up on a stand in the corner of her room. “I’ll need to enlist a little help here, I think. I can’t trust Haruka’s little group to defeat the Triad alone. After all, how would I ensure my own deal goes through?” She moved to the mirror, deciding which favor to call in. She always kept a large number of contacts that owed her, and today one of them would be paying their debt. No matter what Kazuki tried, Aranea was determined to win their little game in any way she could. She hated to lose.
IXH
“My parents aren’t insane,” Suria was saying as they walked along. “They’re just… really overbearing.”
Haruka smirked. “So they won’t be sending people to kill us?”
“Oh, no, no. Nothing like that. They just, um… Well, my dad’s a really important person in the Imperial City, and he and mom have always been very strict. I’ve spent most of my life in one room or another studying old tomes and books.”
“Ack,” Freya said with a shake of her head, “I’d go crazy.” She glanced back to see Isabella, Haruka and Able staring at her silently. “…More crazy.”
Suria giggled as they all nodded. “I never felt crazy. Just… frustrated, I guess. And lonely. I had very little access to the outside world, no siblings and no friends until I became a teenager and was finally allowed to attend the Academy.”
“What kind of academy?” Isabella asked curiously, wondering if it was anything like the one she’d attended.
“The Imperial Academy of the Magi,” Suria said with a smile, “A place with a pretentious title and even more pretentious people.”
“So you at least got to meet other people, then,” Able said, seeking a silver lining.
“Yes!” She nodded, then paused. “Well, for a time.”
“It sounds like your life was like this for a long time,” Haruka mentioned as she looked over at the younger girl. “What made you finally decide to leave only a month ago?”
Suria sighed, clasping her hands behind her back as she walked. “Over time my parents declared all my friends a ‘bad influence’, weeding them out until I had only my best friend left. She was fine in their eyes, so I still got to talk to her.”
Isabella frowned. “And that changed recently?”
“They told me she was a ‘distraction’,” Suria said with more than a hint of irritation. “They forbid me from seeing her again. You have to understand, before Academy, I was in my room all day every day. I couldn’t go back to that – I couldn’t go back to looking forward to my monthly doctor check-up because it was one more person I’d be able to talk to for a few minutes. This was two months ago. I just decided I had to leave.”
“So what are you going to do with your newfound freedom?” Haruka asked, wondering what she would have done had she left at the same age.
Suria shrugged. “I don’t know. Is it weird to be looking for something when you don’t know what it is?”
“No,” Isabella answered honestly. “I’ve been there. Did you ever have any hopes? Dreams? Goals?”
Suria rubbed her head. “Not… really.” She sighed, giving a humorless smile. “I spent so long working hard towards my parents’ goals that I never even thought to come up with my own.”
“They push too much,” Haruka said, keeping her eyes forward. “You can’t let others decide your life for you, though. It’s time to think for yourself. Leaving is a good first step.” She felt Isabella’s eyes on her and looked at her, receiving a smile of support. She smiled in return, taking the woman’s hand as they walked.
“Ruka’s right,” Freya said as she turned around to walk backwards. “You gotta decide things yerself.” She grinned. “Ever thought about bein’ a pirate?”
Suria blinked and tilted her head. “What exactly does a pirate do?”
“Drink,” Able offered.
“Pillage?” Bella suggested.
“Plunder,” Haruka added.
“Drink,” Able said as he looked over.
“Sail,” Bella nodded.
“Fight,” Haruka commented.
“Or some mix o’ those,” Freya said with a wink.
“Drink,” repeated Able.
“Drink!”
“Drink.”
“Aye, an’ sometimes we shepherd sarcastic ingrates across th’ world fer no pay an’ no good reason.”
Isabella beamed at her. “Because you like them.”
“Doesn’t sound so bad,” Suria said with a smile. “Maybe I’ll try it. I might just try any option that comes up.”
“Really?” Able said with a look at her. “That’s how you’re gonna handle being aimless? Aim at everything?”
“Why not?” Suria shrugged. “How else am I going to find something meaningful?”
Able seemed to think about that as Freya nodded. “We could sure use a mage. Deadly on a ship, y’know.”
“Oh, so I’d be valuable, too?”
Haruka smirked. “I’m pretty sure living flamethrowers are valued by every group.”
“Ah, but my ship’s th’ best o’ th’ best!”
“You’re certainly confident about it.”
“Braggin’s part o’ th’ pirate code. But I’m th’ Pirate Queen o’ th’ Eastern Seas, lass, my braggin’s backed up.”
Suria looked at the others, who nodded. “Wow. Okay, this group is pretty odd. We have a Pirate Queen, a Knight-Commander from Areya, and the heir to the Black Sun?” She peered at Able. “All that leaves is you, mystery boy.”
Able raised an eyebrow. “What about me?”
“Maybe you’re super-important, too. I wanna know.”
“So do I.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” Freya said as she moved up a hill, looking back at them with a grin. “For now, we’ve arrived.”
All of them moved up and stopped, looking down into the valley that stretched before them. Tents reached into the distance and hundreds of soldiers could be seen moving between them. Some tents were personal ones, some were huge like a large rectangular one that had to be some sort of mess hall. In the center of the camp stood a square tent that was taller than the ones around it. Two flags were on either side of it, and more versions of that flag were set up all around the massive camp; it was a black flag with a blood red circle in the center.
“You weren’t exaggerating about there being over two thousand of them,” Isabella said as she looked over the encampment.
“Nope. You’re safe ‘ere as you’ll ever be,” the pirate said, winking at her before beginning to lead them into the valley. Mercenaries guarding the camp’s edges greeted her as they passed, heading towards the tent at the center.
As they approached, a woman was exiting the tent. She had a somewhat formal, respectable appearance; she was wearing a black robe-like uniform with a military quality and hard her dark hair up in a bun in the back, with long bangs down the right side of her face. She appeared to be in her late twenties and more or less a serious person. Glasses with thin black frames rested in front of her blue eyes, which focused on the approaching party with surprise. “Freya!”
“Heya, Phelly,” Freya said with a grin as she sidled up to the woman and put an arm over her shoulders. “You an’ my nephew an item yet?”
The woman blushed slightly. “That isn’t really an appropriate topic of conversation, Miss Black.”
Freya laughed, letting go and patting her shoulder. “Sorry.” She looked at the others. “This is my nephew’s second-in-command. She takes care o’ pretty much every detail; one o’ those geniuses.”
The woman smiled. “Genius is a subjective term. My name is Ophelia Morvant; I would really appreciate it if none of you took up the use of ‘Phelly’.”
“I think we can leave it up to Freya to be the annoying one,” Isabella snickered.
“Bah! An’ after I was kind enough t’ bring you all ‘ere,” Freya said with a snort, looking at Ophelia. “Dal inside?”
“Yes, but he’s quite bus-“ Ophelia blinked as Freya brushed past her and swept aside the tent flap, stepping inside. She gave a sigh, looking to the others. “I should have expected that. We may as well all go in.”
They stepped inside to see Freya holding a dark-haired man in a headlock with a large grin as he struggled against it. “Get off me, you old hag!”
“Is that any way t’ talk t’ yer Auntie Freya?!” Freya said as her grin widened.
Two other mercenaries stood to the side and shook their heads as their leader gripped his aunt’s leg. “It’s the way I’m gonna talk!” Freya yelped as he yanked her leg out from under her and sent her to the ground.
“Yer gettin’ better,” Freya chuckled as he helped her up before looking at the others.
Dalgus Bloodmoon was an imposing figure. About the same age as Isabella and Haruka, he was a few inches over six feet tall, a noticeable presence. His hair was as dark as Freya’s but short and spiky, slightly messy to match his scruffy short facial hair. A black band of cloth covered his right eye like an eyepatch, but his left eye was visible, an odd amber color. He wore thick, hardened black leather armor and a large cape that looked just like the flags around the camp. The armor had an image of a howling wolf carved on the front. On his back was the most obvious threat, a five-foot-long scimitar with a blade a foot wide, well-polished.
“Who’re your friends, and why’d you bring ‘em here?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at his aunt.
“Isabella, Haruka, Able, an’ Suria,” Freya said as she pointed to each one in turn. “We got a bit o’ trouble they could use ‘elp with.”
“Ours,” Isabella said with a look at Haruka, who nodded. “There are two groups after both of us.”
Dalgus rubbed his chin. “Isabella Enyo and Haruka Saito?”
The two blinked in surprise and Freya leaned around to peer at Dalgus’ face. “An’ how d’ you know that?”
“We got an odd contract offer the other day,” Ophelia said as she opened the large book she was carrying, turning back a few pages. “A job offer from Areya.”
Isabella stepped forward. “Reis?! What did he ask you to do?”
Dalgus raised his hands in a placating gesture. “He asked us to capture and detain you. We turned it down; the Bloodmoon Company is an army, that’s a job for bounty hunters. I’d normally give a job like that to some of my men, but I didn’t like the sound of this one.”
“That’s lucky for us,” Haruka said, relaxing her hands.
Freya folded her arms. “He must not know we’re family.”
“Wait…” Isabella looked at Dalgus. “He just asked you to detain us? Not take us anywhere?”
The mercenary nodded. “Right. Why? Does that mean something?”
Bella glanced at Haruka, who shared a look with her before speaking for them. “It means he’s coming to us.”
Dalgus cracked his knuckles, grinning. “Sounds good to me. It’s nice when you don’t even have to go somewhere.”
“Speakin’ o’ goin’ somewhere, I gotta be headin’ back t’ my ship soon.”
“Of course. Stay the night, at least. Leave in the morning. I can send some people with you for the trip.”
“You really think that’s necessary?”
“It’s a good idea,” Bella suggested. “Who knows if Reis or the Black Sun will try to attack you to get to us?”
“Alright. Well, I ain’t stupid, I won’t turn it down.”
“Good.” Dalgus looked around with a smile. “You’re all just in time for dinner, so Ophelia can get you set up with some tents and then you can join us for that.”
Ophelia opened the tent flap. “Of course. Right this way.”
Haruka and Isabella looked at Dalgus as the others started leaving. “Thank you,” Bella said for both of them.
Dalgus shrugged. “You’re family friends.”
Haruka smirked. “You’d be surprised how little that means to some people.”
An hour later they were all seated in the mess tent at Dalgus’ table, surrounded by the sounds of conversation and eating from hundreds of people. It was a huge change for all of them but Freya, being around this many people; Haruka, Able and Suria hadn’t ever been in such a large, friendly crowd, so all of them were getting used to it.
For Isabella it reminded her of the celebrations Faust would throw after every victory. She had to fight the urge to go stand out of the way somewhere and watch from afar. Haruka’s hand fell on her knee and Bella looked at her, remembering that the monk had seen a memory of such an event and therefore knew exactly what she was thinking. A genuine smile touched Bella’s face and she squeezed the hand, saying a silent ‘thank you’ for the support, to which the monk nodded.
The Bloodmoon Company was a nomadic army according to Dalgus, so all the tables and chairs they were using were made of lightweight wood that was designed to be easily disassembled and reassembled. He pointed out a large number of carts in the distance that would carry the larger or heavier items, describing how proficient the group was at getting on the move. It was an impressive operation to be sure, a working machine made of over two thousand people. The key, Isabella was sure, was that Dalgus seemed to respect every member of his company. He seemed as loyal to them as they were to him, and there were no signs of him giving himself better treatment as she had seen so many times from leaders. There was a mutual feeling of trust in the camp, and Isabella thought it made the company all the more dangerous to its enemies.
“Loyalty earned is more valuable than loyalty bought,” Dalgus said when she questioned him about it. It was a wise statement, and one she had unfortunately not followed herself.
“When I was a military leader, I followed only cold logic,” Bella said, explaining why this situation felt so different to her. She was seated between Freya on her right and Haruka on her left; Dalgus was at the head of the table to Freya’s right. Across from Freya sat Ophelia, and to her right sat Suria followed by Able. The table was long and filled with others, but these were the only ones who could hear Isabella speak, leaving her feeling more secure about speaking about her past. She didn’t really know Dalgus or Ophelia yet, or even Suria, but she trusted them anyway. It was probably Haruka’s influence, she thought, that made her able to trust so quickly now.
Dalgus nodded in understanding. “Many leaders do. What I find works is that you need to follow cold logic during battle, you weigh it in when making important decisions, and you forget about it during the downtime so you can connect with those that follow you.”
Isabella nodded. “It sounds like a wise way to do things. At the time, though, I didn’t connect with anyone. My men were just sort of… there. I gave them orders and that was it.”
Dalgus leaned his elbows on the table and studied her. “I can see it,” he said. “But you look like you’re ashamed by that.”
Bella smiled humorlessly. “You can tell? Well, I don’t really think I was ever a leader. I lead people, but I wasn’t a leader.”
“You worked for someone else, right? If there’s someone above you, their word is law and you have to work within that if you want to keep your position. It doesn’t leave a lot of room.”
“So you’re saying I did it the way I did because of his decisions?”
“You already know that,” Haruka said, drawing their attention to her but keeping her eyes on Isabella’s. “You only did that because he ordered it. If he’d just ordered you to protect a town and do nothing else, you would have done that and not the other things.”
Isabella smiled. “Well, that’s the problem with making none of your own decisions, isn’t it?” She looked between Haruka and Suria. “That seems to be the cause of many of our problems.”
Suria nodded. “Once you broke free you changed, right? Making your own decisions is important.”
“Well, now we’ve moved on to leading yourself,” Dalgus said with a smile.
Isabella covered her mouth, coughing before continuing, “Isn’t that a part of leading others? A good leader starts with control over self.”
Dalgus shrugged, leading back in his seat. “Maybe. I think it depends on who you’re leading, and how. There’s more than one style.”
“Aye, take me, fer instance,” Freya piped in from beside Bella, leaning forward over her plate. “I ‘ave a lack o’ control o’er m’self a lotta times, but my crew knows I got th’ skill an’ knowledge t’ lead ‘em right.”
“You lead pirates,” Able said from across the table. “If you had too much control you wouldn’t fit in. They respect different things.”
Isabella coughed a few times and shook her head. “My original point was that it comes down to whether or not you respect those you lead. Freya does. Dalgus does. I didn’t. Most leaders don’t.”
“Disrespect can be dangerous,” Dalgus pointed out. “Mutiny has been caused by less.”
Suria nodded. “My father often speaks of people in power losing their positions just because they didn’t seem to respect the public enough. People are weird about respect.”
Bella coughed again, turning away from the table this time and getting a few looks as it went on a bit long. In case you haven’t realized this yet, Bai spoke up in her mind, you might want to leave. Bella nodded, excusing herself from the table as she stood, ignoring their questions or concerns as she stumbled out of the tent and away from the crowded area. Haruka looked after her worriedly, standing up without hesitation; she told the rest of the table not to seek them out before following quickly.
Outside, Isabella made it a fair distance away – at least out of the way from anyone else – before falling to her hands and knees and coughing violently. Her eyes slowly focused on the grass between her hands, catching something glistening there. She touched it and lifted her hand to her face, seeing red on her fingers. She lifted her hand to her face and wiped her sleeve across her lips, leaving red streaks on the golden fabric. She stared at it until a moment later when a hand began rubbing her back. Bella sat on her knees, meeting Haruka’s gaze. “I’m degrading… faster than I thought,” she said softly.
Haruka nodded, blinking her eyes a few times as she took the bloody hand in one of hers, laying her other on Bella’s cheek. “You’ll be fine. You’ve just used your power way more than is good for you over the past few weeks. We have to avoid that from now on.”
Isabella looked down. “I haven’t had a choice. I might not have a choice later, either.”
Haruka glanced away, fighting frustration. “I know… I know, but we have to try. You’re getting worse for every time you use it.”
“There’s no… other… option!” Bella shook her head, folding her arms and gripping the cloth of her robe. “There’s no escape from this situation. We’re just fighting to stall it.”
“Anything,” Haruka said with conviction, “Anything we can get. I’ll fight everything that wants to try for one extra day.” She picked up Bella as she stood. “This situation is what I’ve been working towards. This is the real reason I’m strong – so I can fight this.”
Bella closed her eyes, laying her head on Haruka’s shoulder. “Do you believe in fate, Haru?” she asked softly, mirroring her question from just after they’d met.
Haruka smiled slightly. “Maybe.”
“You’re a good argument… for fate, you know.” Bella took a deep breath, feeling like her lungs weren’t taking in enough air. “What are the chances of… meeting you in a town where neither of us lives,” she continued, pausing to take a breath every few words. “Or of you working hard to be strong… for so long, so you can protect me. Do you really believe that?”
Haruka nodded, watching her carefully as she continued walking towards their tent. “Yes.”
“Then it’s fate,” Bella said weakly, opening her eyes to meet Haruka’s gaze. “Finally working in my favor for once.”
“You deserve it.” Haruka stepped inside their tent, laying Bella on the bedding inside as the blue-haired knight looked up at her.
“You’re… staying, right?”
Haruka nodded as she lay down behind her, wrapping arms around her waist. “Of course,” she said as she kissed her neck softly. “Not going anywhere.”
Bella sighed, closing her eyes again. “Good.” She’d barely finished the word before she was asleep; Haruka, however, would find sleep hard to come by, and she knew it wouldn’t be her only sleepless night.
IXH
Back in the mess tent Freya was giving what information she thought appropriate to the others. She didn’t know everything about Isabella’s condition, but she knew the woman had less than a year left and was getting worse as time passed, so she shared that with Dalgus, Ophelia and Suria, feeling not that they deserved to know, but that they should understand why the formerly nightmarishly powerful knight now needed to be protected.
Dalgus heaved a sigh as he sat back, running a hand over his face. “It’s never people I dislike being put in situations like this.”
“But we can help them,” Ophelia said with a look at Dalgus. “We can at least keep them from having to run.”
The mercenary general nodded. “Yeah… Yeah, we can. I’ll put my army in the way. No one’s going to reach them as long as they’re here.”
“Thanks,” Freya said honestly. “I like these two; I don’t want to see ‘em hurt if I can ‘elp it.”
Suria shook her head. “Isabella doesn’t seem depressed, really; I didn’t notice anything was wrong.”
Freya smiled at her. “You didn’t look deep enough, lass. You’ll get th’ hang o’ readin’ people eventually. But don’t get me wrong – not everythin’s goin’ bad for ‘er. Just ask ‘er yerself sometime.”
IXH
It was some point late in the night, Haruka hadn’t really bothered to keep time. Isabella had woken up feeling better a couple hours ago and after that, well, she’d lost track of time even moreso. Now she lay under her tracing a finger over the scars on Bella’s bare back, remembering the first time she’d seen them, when Bella had teased her by starting to undress. She touched a particularly deep gash on her lower back, following the furrow. “What was this one? It looks like an axe.”
Isabella had her head on Haruka’s chest and her eyes closed, enjoying the odd tingle the monk’s calloused fingers caused. “That was a battleaxe,” she answered. “It would’ve severed my spine if not for my armor. Big guy was swinging it.”
“You must have been mobbed,” Haruka guessed, having seen Bella’s ability to dodge even now. Bella nodded and Haruka continued the search, touching an odd circular scar. “I don’t recognize this weapon scar,” she said as she traced the curve.
“That’s because it wasn’t a weapon. There was a metal spike sticking out of the ground and someone tried to impale me on it. I managed to cut off the top half as he did, but the edge of the pole still cut into me.”
Haruka winced. “That sounds painful.”
“More frustrating than anything,” Bella said, shifting to look point to a scar on her hip. “This one was painful.”
Haruka looked over her shoulder to see the jagged scar, grimacing at its brutal appearance. “I don’t even want to guess what caused that.”
“You wouldn’t get it anyway,” Bella said with a smile.
“So what was it, then?”
“A saw.”
Haruka blinked. “A saw? Like… The type you use to cut wood?”
“The two-person type you use to cut down a tree.”
“How did…?”
“They piled on me,” Bella explained. “Two of them then tried to cut me in half. They got pretty deep into the bone before I got them off.”
Haruka shook her head. “That’s… sadistic.”
Isabella sighed. “I had it coming. That’s the thing, I deserved most of these scars when I got them. Everyone who gave one to me died.”
“No, there are… limits. At some point even revenge or vengeance can go too far.”
“You think so?” Bella moved Haruka’s arm to see the scar on her forearm, one that matched on both arms from the story she’d told Bella the day before. “I think yours are worse. You didn’t deserve any of them.”
“No, I didn’t,” Haruka agreed. “At least, not the ones from training. The ones from missions I deserved, those all came from mistakes.”
“Oh, I have some of those. I guess there’s no way to be perfect in a fight, huh?”
“If you ever meet an experienced fighter with no scars, they’re lying about one or the other.”
Bella smiled. “Mhmm… I can’t wait until I’m done fighting. I’ve never liked it.”
“Never?”
Bella shook her head. “I know a lot of people who are strong enjoy it, but I never reached that point. Fighting is necessary, but I wish it wasn’t. I’m just so tired of it.” She sighed. “I’m tired of… so many things.”
Haruka kissed her head. “It’s almost over. Soon it will just be you, me, and whatever you want to do, wherever you want to go.”
Bella smiled, closing her eyes again. “Sounds perfect.”
IXH
The next morning Isabella, Haruka, Able, Suria, Dalgus and Ophelia all stood at the edge of the camp in front of Freya. A group of eight mercenaries stood nearby with nine horses they’d be taking, talking among themselves as they prepared to leave. Freya was speaking to Suria, ruffling her hair in a manner that would probably annoy most people but just made the nineteen-year-old smile. “Well, Little Red, you an’ I didn’t get a lotta time t’ talk, but if you’re joinin’ my crew later, we’ll ‘ave all the time in th’ world.”
Suria smiled at her, grinning as she tried to fix her hair. “I’m looking forward to it. You’ll teach me all the piratey words, right?”
Freya chuckled. “You bet. Gimme two weeks an’ you’ll be speakin’ like th’ saltiest dog on th’ brine.”
“Right, stuff like that.”
Freya grinned and winked, ruffling her hair again just to mess it up more before moving to Able. “Alright, kid?”
Able tilted his head, studying her. “What are you expecting?”
“I dunno. Sadness? Depression?” She grinned. “A tearful goodbye while ye cling t’ my legs an’ beg me not t’ go?”
He smirked very slightly. “I don’t get sad.”
“Well fine, ye robot, jus’ stand there an’ stare like a statue.”
“Am I a robot or a statue?”
“You’re a robot statue, bastard. Don’t get sarcastic with your elders.”
“Sorry, I thought you were elderly enough that you wouldn’t hear me.”
“Don’t think I won’t beat you senseless with yer own arm.” Freya paused before ruffling his hair too, receiving a glare for her actions that just made her laugh. She waved far too cheerily at him before stepping around him to talk to Ophelia. “You keep lookin’ after me nephew, Phelly. ‘e needs someone smart keepin’ ‘im in line.”
The woman smiled at her. “That won’t be a problem. I learned how to deal with him quite a long time ago.”
Dalgus looked at them with a frown. “I’m right here, you know.”
Freya grinned at him. “So ye are. Wanna medal?”
“Yes.”
“Tough. Losers don’t get medals.”
Dalgus’ frown grew. “Should you be standing this long? Your back might give out.”
“Oho, y’ wanna go now, sonny?”
Dalgus cocked his head and grinned. “What kind of nephew would I be if I hurt my old aunt?”
Freya met his grin, folding her arms. “I been kickin’ ass since b’fore ye were born.”
“That’s kinda my point.”
“Keep that mouth o’ yers goin’ an’ I’ll be doin’ it long after ye’r dead, too.”
“Alright, alright, point taken.”
“Better be.” Freya gave him a playful shove before walking away from that group and over to where Haruka with her arms folded. She watched the monk’s face for a moment. “You alright, Ruka?”
“Not really,” the monk answered honestly, though her face betrayed little.
“You hang in there.” Freya set a hand on her shoulder. “I can see th’ effect you ‘ave on ‘er. My advice? Forget th’ last chapter long as you can an’ enjoy th’ book. You’re makin’ ‘er ‘appy, no reason t’ ruin that with a future problem.”
Haruka sighed. “I’ll try. Thank you for… everything you’ve done for us.”
Freya flashed a grin. “Ain’t a problem, lass. Come visit me sometime, eh?”
Haruka nodded. “I will. Promise.”
“Good.” Freya squeezed her shoulder before walking over to say goodbye to Isabella. The knight already had visible tears and Freya’s face fell at the sight. “Oh, don’t do that, lass, I won’t be able t’ hold out. I gotta tough pirate image t’ protect!”
Isabella smiled, wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry, I just… I’m going to miss you and I don’t know if I’ll see you again.”
Freya sighed, looking at the ground. “That’s ‘arder t’ deal with. I’m just gonna assume you will, alright?” Isabella hugged her and Freya blinked a few times as she patted her pack. “Don’t get all emotional on me. You’re stronger than y’ think; you’ll make it.”
Bella gave a shaky sigh, stepping back and looking at her. “Thank you… so much. We would never have made it this far without you. You’re the best thing to happen to us since this started.”
Freya took Bella by the shoulders, staring into her eyes. “I’d do more if I could. You promise you’ll come see me with Ruka over there, alright? Promise.”
Bella nodded, smiling weakly. “I promise.”
“I’m holdin’ you to that. You try t’ skip outta that, I’ll come find you wherever y’ are an’ drag you back, you ‘ear?” Bella laughed softly and Freya patted her shoulder before turning around, heading over to the horses to climb onto the one waiting for her. As the other mercenaries mounted theirs she turned back to the group, grinning. “You all don’t get into too much trouble without invitin’ me or I’ll never forgive you.”
Dalgus shook his head. “You bring us most of the trouble, like you’ve got a death wish and want to share it with the class.”
“Aye, it’s my job. Everybody dies, an’ I intend t’ deserve it.” She winked at them, giving a last look to Haruka and Isabella before kicking her horse forward and taking off with the others.
Isabella sighed, smiling at Haruka as the monk moved up beside her and took her hand. She looked back to watch Freya ride away, wondering if she actually would make it long enough to see her again.
Freya was wondering the same thing. As she reached the top of a distant hill she paused to look back at the small figures a good ways away. Part of her wanted to stay despite her life being miles away on the seas, but she knew she couldn’t. Instead she said a silent prayer to whoever was listening for her friends before she turned back and continued, riding until they were out of sight, but not out of mind.
If she was honest with herself, they’d probably never be out of mind.