Advent of Solstice

It had been a week since the events that had lead to myself & Astrid's lives colliding into the others - with her now living with us at the manor; father had been mostly accepting of the admittedly odd circumstances with only just an ounce of hesitance; such as what were my intentions with 'adopting' her & how this whole lord / servant dynamic was oriented - which of course I made certain to reassure him of my good intentions and purely platonic relationship with her, I was still only 16 years old after all and I didn't want to complicate manor life or propagate disturbing rumors amongst the hamlets folk with the breaking of any social taboos.

My mothers on the other hand were a lot more discerning. Anne; my biological mother didn't like that she was so close to me, by my side at almost all times of the day - citing that she would be a distraction with my training and interfere with my lordling duties. And my second mother, Veronica; her opinion was much more stigmatized on the matter, claiming that dark elves were a bad lot to associate with & that she was only after my wealth and influence. Whilst Anne & Arthur would spare their concerns for when we were behind closed doors and were otherwise welcoming to Astrid in person - Veronica had made little effort to mask her public feelings on the matter, she didn't treat Astrid badly per se - but she didn't offer any particular warmth or consideration neither.

I thought the dislike of dark elves was only an elvish problem - but if even Veronica is echoing such sentiments then it appears the rhetoric has spread further than I had first thought. However, Astrid didn't seem to mind the looks or various murmurings she was treated to on account of her skin anymore, unlike before when she had been reduced to tears on such accounts - now she seemed to shrug off their detest or indifference without much care. In fact it wasn't just the looks or the exclusionary attitude that she turned a cold shoulder to; but even well intending and polite greetings she might get on occasion whilst escorting me about the hamlet as well. She seemed entirely disinterested with anybody that wasn't me in point of fact, spending all her time in my company and only taking dictation or advice from myself alone - which of course didn't do well to ingratiate herself with the rest of my family, nor the servants or guards that surrounded us.

Whilst all of this is going on in the background; father and I were in talks with various travelers and adventuring sorts about the happenings of Clover Town; the outskirts of which had become alarmingly subdued by bandits & other outlaw types as of late. The 'Iron Belly' crew were toted as the leading group responsible, and had taken in smaller bands of local reprehensibles under their wing to better help overthrow the lawful jurisdiction of the land, and of course to establish their own 'bandit camp' amidst the growingly helpless baron & his dependencies. Or in other words; the baron was helpless to throw the crew out on his own, and was asking for help from the capital that was to take several more days until it would arrive; since we were closer and would arrive sooner it was up to my family to apply assistance in weakening their position and crucially to blockade them from supplies.

Naturally, fuck all of that noise; I was going to be going in on my own again. Father had warned me that there would be consequences of going it alone any more as I had done with the lakeside lot, but I think my reasoning for keeping those undertrained guards out of the harms way of men like Harlont Brand or Orken was still a valid enough reason to abandon fathers plans and supplant them with my own. Well, I wouldn't be going it alone not really, I couldn't manage to shake Astrid from my trail and she had soon caught up to me when I had hopped the manors fence in the early hours of the morning, timing my escape with a switching of shifts between the guards.

"Wait for me!" She cried in a hushed tone as she made to catch up with me, fighting with the bushes and foliage of the overgrowth that we had to pass through to shortcut ourselves onto the established dirt path from Varden to Clover Town. I had tried to convince her to stay at home the night before, but she wouldn't listen to me and stubbornly demanded to come anyway. I had thought about not telling her of my plans, but I figured she would try and find me anyways, as she had found me on many occasions when I had slipped out to do some studying, or in one awkward occurrence; go and take a bath where she had walked in on me in a state of undress. So I figured if she was gonna come and fine me in one way or another, it might as well be when I'm around to help her.

"Stop walking so fast! I only have little feet!" She complained as she breached from underneath a particularly branchy tree limb, sighing I was starting to somewhat regret my decision to tell her at all, perhaps it would have been better to lock her inside, although that just seemed too cruel even if it was for her own good. Despite joining in with my training, she hadn't taken to the sword at all, nor was she particularly abundant in stamina or physical capacity of any kind. Her illusions were her only 'weapon' so to speak; leaving her **** to attacks from multiple locations at the same time. If she was ever outnumbered then she would be an easy cleanup to that group, and while I did have certain defensive capabilities - I couldn't be everywhere all at once.

Breaching from the particularly thorny and thistly stretch of land on the backwoods of my fathers estate; we finally caught up to the dirt pavement that lead directly to Clover Town. The road was often travelled by merchants looking to trade their silks, furs & other materials for our hamlets plethora of vegetables & meats. Elise's family owned most of the caravans that came up and down this road, and had told me that it was seldom disturbed by bandits due to my fathers & hers influence, but if our neighbor Clover Town was compromised then that staple might not remain to be true for much longer.

"Are we there yet?" Astrid moaned as she began to lean on me annoyingly, no we aren't there yet Astrid we still have a good 3 hours of walking before we arrive; shorter had we taken carriages but doing so would have alerted father as to my plans. By going on foot it probably gives us 3 to 4 hours or perhaps more if we're lucky before they realize something is afoot. Not that I felt like explaining any of this to her; she'd just continue asking more and more questions to get on my nerves, even if I did find it a little cute.

"Gimmie piggy back ride!" She demanded with a gasp when she realized she didn't have to walk all that way herself.

"Already? We've barely made it out of Varden!" I couldn't help but laugh when she pouted, giving me puppy dog eyes all the while. "Fine." I knelt down and let her clamber onto my back, I didn't realize that this would be a common occurrence when I had first offered it, but it had become one of her favorite activities to bother me with.

"Just who exactly is the servant here?" I heard her giggle in response as we made our way down the rest of the trail, passing the occasional merchant on their way back to Vardent. We both had our hoods up so as to disguise our appearances, and I had changed out of my usual garb for a more common look that wouldn't arise suspicion. The last thing I wanted was Rivers men telling father as to my whereabouts prematurely; elsewise they'd catch up to us in no time on horseback. Breaking from my thoughts I heard the sound of a carriage being pulled from behind, nervously I peered back but sighed in relief when I saw it was just a simple merchant vessel, a small shabby thing really, its carriage cloaked in torn furs that would barely fend off a light breeze let alone a thunderstorm - and as it grew closer I made way for it by pausing by the side of the road to give it enough space to pass.

"Where are you pair heading?" The driver halted besides us and asked in a friendly manner. He was an older looking man with a grass straw in his mouth & a vacancy of hair atop his exposed head, leaving a reddened and dried out scalp from where the sun had been beating down upon it. He worse brown suspender trousers with an offwhite button up shirt parted at the top revealing an overgrowth of chest hair that blotted out his skin.

"Clover Town." I tried my best to throw my voice ever so slightly, I'm not sure why exactly since he didn't appear to be affiliated with Varden and in all likelihood had no idea who we were. And in fact from where Astrid was facing & given that she had completely covered her skin up with her clothes; I was mostly sure that he didn't know that she was a dark elf.

"Ahh the land of luck, well if you'd like you can hop on in and I can take you most of the way there, it's only one stop away after all." The man offered. I thought on declining him for a hot second, but honestly it would be faster getting there and it'd give me a break from carrying this bundle of burdens.

"That's most kind of you, I'll have to take you up on your offer." Walking to the back of his caravan I pulled the draped curtains apart to reveal the carriage was lined with cured furs from various animals, with a small wooden effigy nailed to the wall. As a hunter, Elise had taught me the differences between the bundles or fur. From rabbits to mink, from deer to bear - although those latter two were kind of hard to mistake even for the layman.

"Just mind that you don't damage the merchandise, other than that make yourself comfortable!" Thanking him once more I offered Astrid a hand getting aboard first and then clambered inside myself. It smelt a little bit musty back here but it was definitely tolerable; and besides the carriage meant pretty much halving the travel time which was going to be of great benefit to dealing with the bandit chief without father clueing up to my antics. With a whip of his reigns the horse made to trotting and we were off.

"If you don't mind me asking; why is it that you pair are making off towards Clover Town? It's had some trouble with bandits recently and the Baron has been lax in dealing with them to say the least; bloody aristocrats am I right?" I chuckled in agreement, I also found it kind of funny that he was saying all of this unknowingly to an aristocrat myself. Although I could definitely see his point; the fact that the baron of Clover Town was this unprepared or incapable of defending its people bore very bad news for the general location; including Varden. If more bandits realize the weaknesses of the kingdoms outskirts then they will flock to the far reaches and exploit whatever they can get away with.

"We have business there with a friend, she hired us to tend to her sheep while she travels up north to sell a portion of her flock." I lied, hearing this the driver made a worried and disapproving noise.

"I can only take you as far as the crossroads; after that I recommend you steer clear as much as you can from the southern entrance and enter from the northern one; the southern entrance is completely taken over by the bandits. The men may wear guard uniforms and stand watch outside the gateway - but they're merely bandits who shake everyone down who enters through their zone of control. Happened to a friend of mine, damned fiends stole all of his silverware, all of his money & even made him part with the horse and carriage. Damned brutes want hangin' but instead they're left to prey on the merchants and unaware travelers while the Baron sits on his fat arse playing chess all day." The driver raged, hearing this was news to me. I knew that they had taken control of the outskirts of town; but to take over even one of the entrances into the town itself? That was even more worrisome, their expansion of control over the area must have progressed a lot since the last report we had received.

"Can you tell me a little more about the situation? Do you know why they chose Clover Town?" It had been a question I couldn't find an answer to; despite the numerous sources that had came and went from our small hamlet - the question of 'why Clover Town?' was never covered. It could be for no real reason at all, but given my understanding that bandits seldom took over preexisting towns due to the certainty that they'd be ran out eventually by the army or other officials - it struck me as odd that this locally infamous group would fly in the face of all self preservation and do it anyway. I asked not expecting for there to be a real answer, however surprising me, the driver spoke up.

"Do you see that wooden talisman rattling above your head?" Responding in affirmation as I looked up at the carving to see it was of a blazing sun bearing down onto what I supposed was a small crib meant for a baby. "That's my religion, the 'Advent of Solstice'. Or otherwise known as the AoS, or just Solstice if you haven't enough time." The driver paused and let the sentence hang there for a moment as I took in the image, I hadn't heard of them before which was strange since we only lived a couple of hours apart and were our nearest neighbors to the north. "For some reason, the bandits have been particularly interested in our churches, if I had to guess a reason as to why they're here it would have to do with something regarding those holy places, speaking of which; one such church still exists within the bandit territory that they have taken over." Hearing this piqued my interest; so far father and I had only ruled that this takeover was for monetary or influence reasons - but if his theory is correct then there might actually be more at play here than a simple power struggle between the law & the lawless.

"You see, we believe that the god Sol will one day grant his seed to a mortal who will proceed to give birth to his divine offspring - spreading his life affirming flames down & across the lands to reach us lowly mortals and bless us with his divinity; that he might bring upon the good times of prosperity and everlasting wealth for all of humankind for the rest of our days. It is true that one day, the sun in the sky will swallow us all whole and bring us into his infinitely expanding realm of light; but until that day comes, his offspring will be said to rule the world and lead it into an age of everlasting peace and harmony." The driver spat out his straw and took a swig from a metal hip flask her had stashed away. "Supposedly at any rate, I'm not sure how devout I am now in my old age. The oneness of humankind is diminished in my eyes every day; how else could Sol allow his followers who bless his name daily to be succumbed to by these nefarious sorts? I suppose I should keep my faith, but it gets harder to sing the praises & echo the sentiments as I get older and wiser to the world." The driver sighed sadly taking another swig.

"Never mind my ramblings lad, the whisky always gets me down." He chuckled, screwing the lid and depositing it under his seat. "It would be nice though wouldn't it? A world where there were no bandits, people could just go about achieving their life's purposes without the fear of others." He asked solemnly.

"Sure would." I agreed, although did I? Wasn't it true that the good couldn't be achieved without knowing the bad? Or that success meant nothing without trials and tribulations; that peace itself couldn't be appreciated without first knowing war? Could it be true then; that a world without bandits and their ilk would be a world without excitement or thrill? If Orken or 'Iron Belly' didn't exist then I would be muddling about my manor still pondering over some old tome or scroll; never having met Astrid or perhaps even Elise for that matter since I met the latter at the Cadets & the former chasing after and then exterminating a human trafficker. If war didn't exist then why would there be a need for military academies? Sidius would still be at home with us instead of out there doing what he loves, and furthermore annoying the shit out of me with his snark. It seems that even if conflict and evil might not be necessary for the human condition to go on; the loss of those negative aspects could still be a detriment towards the overall quality of ones life.

"But I suppose, the shadows are just the absence of light - in time Sol will illuminate all." The man continued to wax poetically, just how much had he been drinking? Although I suppose my thoughts weren't any dissimilar in proximity. For a while after this we travelled and chatted amongst each other about various topics and goings on about the country & beyond; the tournaments that had just finished in the east, the ongoing civil war between the orc clans, the kitsune; a cat-like people & the Salvathi; a lizard-like people who were aggressing against the other, to the halflings who had sculpted a stone table that supposedly mapped out the known world. An eclectic array of information that always interested me; this world was so vast and yet I knew next to nothing of it from my secluded seat of power. I especially wanted to meet a kitsune at least once; to see a real life catgirl would be a dream come true I thought.

Astrid had no intention of speaking to anyone that wasn't me and luckily the driver had either forgotten about her or was simply content with my attention; so for the remainder of the journey it appears that I was to be his sole social outlet.

After an hour or so of travelling, now in relative silence I suddenly heard the driver sound off a command to his horse, whipping at its reigns for it to slow down. Hearing the alarm in his voice I parted the drapes of his carriage and saw that ahead of us was a carriage on fire surrounded by a group of what could only be described as bandits. Masked men with flaunted steel, crowing over the suffering & misery that they themselves self evidently inflicted on the poor souls they were in the midst of looting from. Astrid who had her head in my lap was soon awake and alert, as if sensing my emotions and was now also peering out of the veil towards the destruction that lay ahead.

"The bastards lay a trap at the crossroads! To think that they would be so brazen as to ransack the queens road!" The driver exclaimed, readying to order his horse around. "We'll go west and hopefully not fall into any more traps, whilst they're distracted with that group they'll be less likely to target or even notice us." The driver explained as he began to turn left. The crossroads huh? That was right before Clover Town, right before the bandit camp proper. I supposed that this was our terminus.

"Thanks old man, but this is our stop." The man looked alarmed and was about to say something in response before I clarified. "You needn't worry about us, men like these aren't a threat." And with that I hopped out of the moving carriage and caught Astrid as she followed up by jumping into my arms. Putting her down I waved one last farewell to the driver who through the slight parting in the carriages fabric showed that he was struck by disbelief but nevertheless carried on going. Safely he traversed onto the western path and not before too long he was around the corner and out of sight; having escaped the bandits ire & subverting their attention.

However the same could not be said for us, seeing as the bandits could very much see both myself and Astrid approaching them; and given that it was still in the middle of the morning - could very much see Astrid's exotic skin. With AxM flashing before their eyes like a casino slot machine reading all 7's; they approached us menacingly with greed and spittle littering their practically salivating faces. Eight of them to be precise; whilst the others carried on with their looting of other peoples possessions, we got closer to them without a break in our stride. The closer we got, the more I could also hear the wails of a woman join in with the cacophony of flickering flames & the jeers and boasts of the bandits that celebrated their ill-gotten prize.

"Who's this then? A little brat accompanied by a dark elf! Did you splurge all of daddies money on a sex **** then did you? A little too young for that don't you think? But I remember being young once hahaha!" The mans laughter was course and grating, almost boastful. This idiot really thinks he's in a position of power here? Incredible. Astrid gritted her teeth at the comment but didn't make a move to act on her anger and instead waited on me to act first.

"What's the matter, cat got your ton-" Bridging the distance suddenly I unsheathed my broadsword and sliced open his throat; leaving his tongue dangling limply from the newly made orifice supplanted into his throat. Panicked at first he soon fell to the floor clutching at his adams apple trying in vain to keep the blood inside - for soon the light faded from his eyes & the last thing those dimming orbs witnessed was the butchering of his fellow comrades.

Jumping back out of the way of a joint flanking, I sent several rows of flaming hot spears impaling into the group of poorly formed deplorables with one foul swoop. Hearing their pained grunts was like music to my ears, at first the taking of another's life had been a sickening concept - but those weak notions had been dispelled from me soon enough as I speedily came to terms with this worlds new normal. In this world there was little need for a judge nor jury in matters of banditry and horizontal professions - any man with the power in his arms and the steadiness of ones gut & heart could slay any such individuals whenever he might encounter them. A true green light to vigilantism & subjective justice, if I was to live in this new world I knew I had to adjust to this new normal; and found myself surprised and even a little terrified with how fast and easy the transition from one set of standards to the next had been.

"Over here! We have a mage!" One of the bandits sounded the alarm; having witnessed my destructive capabilities whilst picking the pockets of one of the travelers he or his fellows had slain. A mage? Is that how they saw me? I must admit it was a pet peeve of mine to be mislabeled; I wasn't 'just' a mage any more than I was 'just' a swordsman. I was a mixture, a combination, a synthetization; a spellsword. Hearing his cries summoned the attention of the remaining band who looked over to see their 'colleagues' lifeless bodies being turned into charcoal right before their eyes.

"Circle him! Rush him and don't give the bastard a second to cast his spells!" The evidently self appointed leader commanded, hearing his words the ruffians soon jumped into action. There were roughly 20 of them left at a glance, mostly untrained save for the 'leader' who seemed to at least grasp the fundamentals of warfare, the rest being rookies who were looking to prove their worth to their newly sworn 'Iron Belly' leaders, at a guess. His leadership wasn't to save them however, no matter their course of action the match had long since been decided before they'd even been dealt a hand. Some men at the back were readying their bows; however just like last time Astrid began casting her purple magic that soon had those ranged foes screaming of unearthly transgressors who plundered their minds. With their backline preoccupied I made quick to take out the men looking to flank our back & sides - throwing several wind blades slicing through the open air; colliding with their ample, weak flesh and rendering what was once 'one' into 'two'.

Shocked from my ****; the men who had been ordered to flank us gave pause for thought that soon lead into outright retreat - which was either an indictment to their training or their courage; or perhaps equally likely a praise to their innate sense to tell a winning fight from a certain defeat. Seeing his men begin to falter sent the 'leader' scurrying behind the capsized carriage from whence he had first emerged. Not one to offer mercy to marked men such as these; I of course gave them no quarter - sparing none from my flamed lances that protruded from my palms - hurling them into the backs of this craven gathering. With my androcide almost complete, I rounded the carriage to finish my duties when I beheld the sight I hadn't thought to see.

The leader propped up against the rump of a fallen horse had his knife pressed against a naked nuns throat who he used as a prop, or a human shield from my spells. Looking her over I could see blood and bruises that littered her exposed skin - marks that had been made from steel, nails, fists & feet. What was worse was looking over to her nether regions where the signs of a violent struggle were apparent, a clear stream discharged from her beaten & battered lower form. She had tried to fend them off it seems; and her protests had been rewarded with yet more ****. I felt my blood begin to boil just looking at what they had done; not just the leader but his other men too - who I now regretted deeply for slaying so swiftly.

"Get any closer and the bitch dies!!" The man yelled out, with a creeping crack in his voice that involuntarily sounded upon seeing me round the corner. My face was a cool mask that betrayed the thoughts that were whirling around in my head; I must suppress what I want to do so that I can achieve what I need to do. Calm thoughts, calmer actions; there are questions that must be answered first.

"Easy now, I just want answers. After I'm done with you, you can go back and tell your masters that I've come. I still need at least one of you alive to deliver my message, if not you then I'll send her instead; so do me a favor and speak without reservation." I spoke calmly, holding my hands up in a disarming gesture. He still seemed a little wary so I slowly made to seat myself on discarded step that had broken off from the carriages door. Now sitting across from one another he still breathed heavily but he didn't make to push his demands for me to leave, I could see the cogs whirring in his mind as he weighted up his options.

"W-What message?" He finally answered, his breathing having steadied a little as he sunk into complacency from the lies I was feeding him.

"One step at a time, first I want to know why you're targeting the church of Sol and its members; and don't lie to me because I know that you are - if I detect even a hint of deception I won't hesitate to kill you along with that nun as well." Seeing the fear flicker across his face now that he thinks he has no collateral was an intoxicating feeling; but nevertheless secondary to the information I needed from him. "Now, the truth and only the truth if you care at all about walking away from this conversation." I pressed him. His face twisted and contorted as he visibly battled with the internal conflict; perhaps even bandits have loyalty to their own - or perhaps more likely it is that he is more scared of the consequences than he is faithful to his friends. Picking up on this I assured him further.

"Your masters won't know that you told me, I don't intend to leak your information back into them. However if you care at all about your life; I would highly recommend skipping town and living under a new alias just to be safe. There is no future for you or the Iron Belly crew here in Clover Town; your days are numbered in the single digits. Best use the small amount of time you have left to you by sneaking away from the group as soon as you find chance and moving on to greener pastures." I fed him with what I knew he wanted to hear; and made sure to double down on the notion that he was definitely making it out alive if he listened to me and did as I bid, I could see the dilemma he faced become less and less tense with each passing second I spoke until that small light of hope glimmered in his eyes. I knew then and there that I had him.

"We're... We were told to look for a halfling girl that the church and the nuns were trying to hide, she's important for the boss for some reason. He doesn't let us grunts know why though, that you must believe!" He finished that last part in a panic.

"Don't worry, I believe you, go on. Tell me more." I offered in a calm yet commanding voice.

"And we finally found her, I did that is; this nun here was harboring her inside her carriage, I sent a portion of my men to escort her back inside the camp while we plundered the rest of the prize for ourselves. Harlont is going to reward me handsomely when I return with your message; after that I will take your advice and skip town. Without a crew of my own anymore I'll just be a target for other groups, so I suppose I'll go live out life as a farmer and use the reward money to hire a bunch of farmhands to do all the work for me, doesn't sound like a bad idea, right?" He laughed coarsely and then took a lick from the shivering nuns cheek. "There I can settle down with a nice homely wife and get her to squirt out some ungrateful heirs for me, and spend the rest of my days drinking myself stupid, spinning yarns to the tavern rats and whoring my way through every piece of ass I can still afford! Haha!" The nun wept quietly as he pressed the steel tightly to her throat. For her sake I really needed to wrap this up.

"So you found this halfling; what did she look like? How will I recognize her if I see her?" The bandit blinked and then laughed thinking to himself.

"A real short gal, stacked more than her small frame could support I thought; a real fine piece of ass, perhaps too young for a guy like me though; not that it has stopped me before mind you!" He sickened me to my stomach but still I didn't betray my cool visage, I found it odd how comfortable he had seemed to have gotten; clearly my tone of voice and my poker face had done a good job of disarming him; or perhaps even tricking him into thinking he was amongst likeminded company.

"Anything else? Hair, eye color, other features?" I pressed him for more descriptive aspects just to be sure.

"Blond hair I think, blue eyes maybe, dressed in rags. Oh and she carried some kind of a cane or something, I felt that was important so I let her carry it back into camp." He explained, finalizing his usefulness to me.

"Well, if there's nothing else then we're done here." I made to get up before he quickly interjected.

"What message did you want me to relay to Harlont anyways?" He asked with such clueless naivete that I couldn't help but burst out laughing in his face, seeing his comfortable face drop into disarray was another of my guilty pleasures. Like a pig saved from the slaughter only to trip into a grinder at the last hurdle.

"You actually thought I'd let you go? You killed all of these people and then robbed their cold dead corpses; and if that wasn't bad enough you and your 'merry' band proceeded to gang **** this poor nun! How could you ever think you'd be walking away from this?" I asked incredulously before giving way to another laughing fit from the stupefied look on his face.

"Wh-why are you laughing? I thought we had a deal!" To which I only proceeded to laugh even harder. "Well fuck you then! If I'm not making it out of this then neither is she!" With a sharp thrust of his knife he pierced the older ladies neck and sunk his steel deep into her throat until blood spurted out of her in a fountain of red. Seeing this only made me howl louder and louder, as soon enough it was the bandits turn to howl in his own way. Screaming in pain the bandit clutched at his body that now had his own knife pierced deep within his chest and all the way through one of his lungs. The nun that he thought he had in his arms soon faded away revealing nothing save for the protruding handle that stuck out of the self inflicted cavity.

"Wh-what?" He croaked out in bewilderment, coughing up a clump of blood that soon streamed from the sides of his mouth. As if to answer his question, Astrid walked into view propping up the battered nun hanging weakly from her shoulder. During the brief time that they had been speaking; Astrid had clothed her the best that she could in whatever rags lay strewn about the crash site. "D-dark... Elf?" He coughed up a fountain of blood that soon spotted his face and chest; his eyes rolling into the back of his skull as he began to pass out. Cursing my bad luck I gave him one final kick to his boot as farewell, I wasn't going to have time to **** the damned animal because he'd gone and killed himself prematurely. Annoyed that he had been saved from the fate more deserving of his deeds I sighed in frustration.

"I thought... You said? Why did you end up saving me?.." The confused nun asked weakly as Astrid propped her onto the seat I had up until this point been sitting on myself. Realizing the source of the confusion I knelt besides her and began to cast my healing magic onto her wounded areas as I explained.

"That was all manipulation tactics; I needed him to talk about his orders but I didn't want him to think he had any collateral to levy against me. Sorry if that scared you, you were never in any mortal danger." I reassured her, she moaned in pain as I traced my hands over a particularly deep cut to her thigh.

"I... Ahhh, didn't expect that you were a healer." She winced, then coughing into her hand.

"Sorry, these cuts are pretty fierce but the pain will be over soon." I held her gently, I could see that the doubt she had remaining in her mind regarding me soon dissipated.

"It's my opinion that anyone that goes into the arts of healing must have an honest and kind heart, you're very much different from my first impressions of you I must say. Thank you, for saving me." She smiled, returning her with one of my own I soon saw to the rest of her wounds before standing back once completed.

"I'm only sorry that I couldn't have arrived sooner, I could have spared your fellow..." I sought for the words to say and she quickly clarified.

"Church goers." She finished the sentence for me with a glum and tired look in her eyes. "They were helping me hide Celeste." She then jumped when she realized she had perhaps let on more than she had meant to, but looking at me again she lingered on my one good eye and debated internally about what to say next. Seeing she still needed a little convincing I placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a resolved look.

"My name is Edward Gate, second heir to the Gate family based in Varden to your direct south; we heard tell that a group of bandits, marauders and other sordid types were planning on raiding Varden; digging into these claims a little further lead us to find out that the outskirts of Clover Town had been partially taken over by this same group. Me and my sister here have been sent to rid the town of these animals and restore the settlement back into an orderly and lawful rule, now we know that Harlont and his crew are doing all of this to find halfling; who I now take it to be this Celeste person?" I questioned her, however she looked away despondently; still having doubts surrounding me it seems, or perhaps some secrets cannot be told regardless of familiarity of ones heart or intentions.

"Please, if you know anything that can assist me in ridding these vermin then you need to tell me, I'm an ally to your cause I promise. Whatever you tell me will stay between us three." She looked at me hopefully and then away again, clutching her head as she wrestled with the decision to an almost physically painful degree.

"What you tell me could impact the outcome of my siege to an astounding degree, think of all the innocent lives that hang in the balance between us and them; you wouldn't just be helping me, you'd be helping all of those innocent souls trapped inside the towns walls; not knowing when the day might come when Harlont and his men will inevitably go about the settlement, raising every building and subjecting all of those inhabitants inside to the same deeds he has treated to both you and your friends." Hearing this tears sprung to her eyes as she openly wept at the mental imagery I conjured. Realizing I might have gone a little too far I apologized and made to get up and leave, however I felt a hand clutch at the bottom of my shirt; looking back the tearful nun looked at me once more, her eyes pleading for something that I wasn't quite sure of. Her eyes bore into mine one final time, searching, seeking, looking for something to give her pause for thought. Decidedly finding none, she stood up shakily but with a certain resolve about her.

"V-very well. What I tell you cannot leave this clearing." Nodding slowly I awaited her words with growing anticipation. "Celeste isn't just a halfling girl; she is a child born of our suns seed - a nun in our sanctuary on the isles of warmth far to the south of here became pregnant after a yearly ritual seeking Sol's blessing; the baby that was born and raised in secret became discovered by a pirate group many years ago when they washed up on our shores & lay siege to the sanctuary-" Before she went on I had to interject.

"Hold on, how do you know that this child was divinely conceived? I don't mean to offend; but couldn't this nun have become pregnant the... Standard way?" I inquired.

"You don't understand, the sanctuary is based on a small island off the coast of the southern shores, it is a refuge where only practicing nuns; women in other words, are permitted to live. Women who live there are never coming into contact with men, our rules are this way to ensure the absolute certainty that any child conceived on that island is a gift from Sol and thus fulfills our religions prophecy." She explained. Hearing this I furrowed my brow, if this were to be true then gods must exist in some form or another; my secular brain wanted to renounce her claims or find some other way to explain it rationally. But in such a world that myself or seemingly everybody else knew very little about with any degree of certainty; I felt it best to hold my tongue and listen. Clearly she truly believes what she's saying; as did the bandits that were hunting her church rabidly seeking for the answers I was now being treated to. The least I could do was shut up and listen, I can decide about the finer details later.

"As I was saying, the pirate group that ransacked our sanctuary heard tell of Celeste and her healing powers, they had somehow learnt about our churches prophecy and also knew about Celeste; a group of us managed to escape with Celeste aboard a getaway ship but we had them on our tails. The last we saw of that pirate crew they were sent to the bottom of the ocean by the armies frigates that just so happened to cross paths with them in pursuit of us and thankfully decided to lend us a hand. We heard tell that the whole crew drowned; all of them save for a cabin boy by the name of Harlont." Hearing this it all started to make sense. So that's why he was after the AoS, and why he had been focusing on raiding these churches specifically. However there was just one question that was still bugging me.

"There's just one thing I don't get, why was Celeste caught travelling this way? Didn't you know that this place was Harlonts headquarters? You could have been anywhere; why bring her here?" I asked, she sighed and looked sad all of a sudden, as if the very question itself caused her to reopen old wounds.

"We... Tried to convince her not to; but she has a special ability, ever since she was a small child she had the ability to sense pain in others; both physical and emotional - and she simply insisted on coming to Clover Town since it had the most 'pain' in the region. She... We knew the risks but who am I to deny gods offspring?" She asked me as if I could provide an answer, however I was the wrong one to ask. I would treat her as an equal and advice against disaster; to someone who saw herself as lesser than to this girl then I don't have words to comfort her mistake in perspective. My meaning wouldn't be conveyed & she would only achieve mistaking my rationale for heresy.

"And her mother? Where is she?" I asked, worried that she might be amongst the fallen scattered around us.

"Dead, she died giving birth to Celeste. Sol... Moves in mysterious ways." Or in other words; this is what you say when you don't have an answer. Sighing I pinched the bridge of my nose as I took all of this in.

"She's a kind girl, she doesn't know the horrors of battle, she only wants to save people. I take it she's your age also? She's 17. Perhaps this is fate that you are here to save her, the stars aligning are Sol's doing after all." The nun then looked back at Astrid who had been as quiet as a crypt ever since the carriage ride, the nun then gasped audibly which started a coughing fit.

"And you have a dark elf in your company!" She exclaimed between her spluttering. "It is said that dark elves are connected with space; and in our faith the space faring dark elves are based on the moon! The moon is often misportrayed as an enemy of the sun; or in its opposition - but the truth is that the moon works in tandem with the sun, it is an ally not an enemy! Perhaps you and your friend here truly were meant to cross my path today!" The nun seemed to gain back some of her energy as she started to seek for patterns that might comfort her. Suddenly I heard the sounds of hooves on dirt and the rattle of a wooden wheel, peering around the corner from the capsized vessel I saw a familiar face riding straight for us.

"Over here!" I waved him over, soon enough the carriage rounded the corner and came to a gentle stop, with the old man who had transported here hopping out of the drivers seat and jumping down to come and assist us.

"You couldn't have come at a better time; but why did you return? You were clear of the bandits so why..?" I begun to ask.

"Liquid courage, that and a guilty conscious. I shouldn't have left you kids to these brutes, but now I see I needn't have worried about your safety so much as theirs!" The man surveyed the destructive scene before him, charred corpses and bloodied bodies that lay integrated with the mud that threatened to swallow their cadavers whole.

"Well I'm grateful you returned, this nun here needs transporting into town. Take her to an inn and await my return, there I will make good on my promise and return the girl to you." I said that last part towards the nun who gave me a hopeful look, it was clear that she was putting a lot of faith in me, a lot more faith than perhaps an outsider such as myself was ever typically afforded. I don't know why she trusted me so; perhaps there was something to that sun & moon comment she made but none of that mattered to me. What mattered was that I understood the stakes, what Harlont wants; and how to exploit it for my ends.

"Whoa, I didn't realize you were a dark elf!" The driver suddenly noticed Astrids skin. Astrid herself merely ignored the comment and looked away with a disinterested look on her face. "Most elves dislike your kind, but in our faith the dark elves are saviors! For as long as you reside within lands influenced by the Advent of Solstice; your kind will always be welcomed!" Hearing this she gave him a considering look before blurting a quiet thanks and moving to my back to better take the attention away from herself.

"Can I trust you to do this for me?" I asked of the driver, trying to get us back on track.

"Of course, I don't know the faintest of what's going on here but if you're aiding AoS members then I will definitely lend a hand. I will await you outside the towns square for when you've concluded your business." Thanking him & tossing him a sack of AxM to pay for her lodging, he made to escort the nun into the back of his carriage. Said nun turned one last time and wished me luck & offered her parting gratitude; and in no time flat they were off down the path and heading back towards the western route.

"Well that changes plans, I was hoping to better exploit their perimeter before entering; but the thought of leaving that poor girl alone with that creep for any extended length of time doesn't quite sit well with me. Instead we'll go hard and loud, and try to get to Harlont as quick as possible." I spoke to Astrid, who upon hearing my concern for this halfling girl - shot me a jealous look.

"Looking for more servants already? You're such a greedy lord..." She shot me a stink eye before moving past me and heading towards the outskirts of town that was just off into the distance some clicks away from the crossroads.

"Where are you going Astrid? Let me walk in front, who knows whether or not more bandits might be laying in wait, or what traps there might be!" I caught up to her.

"Yeah yeah, you just want to see this new girl quicker!" She huffed in annoyance. "Greedy lord!" She repeated again. Sighing I positioned myself at the front and made my way towards the disheveled & downtrodden looking houses that spanned the horizon. By now father probably would have figured out that I was missing and would have put two and two together. If I was to finish this mess before 'help' would arrive and slow me down, I had to beeline straight for the man himself.

It was a race against time, two races to be precise. A race to get to Harlont before he gets his hands on Celeste; and a race to defeat Harlont before father and his men arrive. Meanwhile the backdrop of this whole mission had shifted from 'defeat a bandit lord to free the imprisoned town' to 'defeat a bandit lord to save a supposed divine beings progeny'. Life was certainly starting to get a little more interesting I had to admit.