Negotiations

When we reached the foot of the mountain, I looked back upwards to the craggy face that we had descended from. Ahead of us was a long and winding path that stretched to the horizon with hills rolling on each side. The wind shot a blast of sand in our direction, and I had to shut my eyes to avoid the stabbing grains.

Sara pulled out the map that we had purchased before we left Alynthir and examined it as we turned our backs to the coast that was persisting in its attacks on us. She ran her finger over the sheet of velum, stopping at the lines that marked the mountain range. “So where are we now?” she asked as her finger danced around the mountains.

Aladra stepped over and hummed to herself as she looked at the map before stabbing her finger to the west side of one of the mountains, “here” she said confidently. She paused again with a furrowed brow before trailing her finger north and stopping at a spot on the coastline, “I think we need to be going here” it looked as though we would be passing through a town on the way there.

With our direction decided upon, we followed the path northwards, trudging across the beaten dirt as we did our best to avoid the attacks from the sand. We continued forth, feeling the effects of our journey in our legs as they became sore, and a pebble somehow found its way into my boot. The hills began to rise on our west side and protected us from the flying sand to our relief.

A couple of hours of the same rolling scenery passed us by before we reached the town that was marked on the map. It was a troublesome sight, for a town that was large enough to become a landmark, it had become unnaturally quiet. The town was on the coast with a rickety harbour and two ships that lay rotting in the water. The buildings were made of wood, once painted white, the debris blowing in the wind had mostly stripped them to the natural wooden colours. The town itself was mostly abandoned, passing through the street we didn’t see anybody and heard the clattering of doors as the wind blew them open and shut.

Eventually we managed to find an elderly man sitting at the edge of the water as the day passed him by. “Excuse me sir” Sara said, stepping forwards cautiously. He slowly turned his head around with an inquisitive look for the new strangers in the town, “Where is everybody?”

He moistened his cracked lips before speaking with a drawl, “Most of them are gone” he said, his voice sounding sore and broken, “When the raiders came, a lot of us died, it was only the Grimhawks that saved us” he sighed and snapped off some of the decaying harbour, throwing it back to the sea. “Those of us that survived either joined them or fled east over the mountains. There’s just a few of us left here now, we’re too tough for some raiders to beat us down. We ain’t got much here, but it’s enough for us”

Cleo frowned at him, “The Grimhawks?” she asked, I was curious too, I had never heard of a monster by that name in my lessons with Anoir.

He looked back to us, “Criff and his guys” he said as though I was expected to know what he meant, “they go after the raiders when they attack, does a lot more than those fucking nobles, they moved all their money past the mountains years ago”

It sounded to me like the Grimhawks were what the rebels were known as in the west, they were the only groups that I knew of that could be as organised as he made them sound. “Where can we find the Grimhawks?” I asked him.

He glanced from the girls to me, “Oh, just up the road a bit. I think they’ve got some guys in one of the coves, they’ve got a few ships near it” he seemed to either be far more trusting than a person who had lost his town should be, or he simply failed to care.

“Thank you, is there anything that we can do for this place?” I said, looking around at the rest of the town. It was in a pitiful state and looked as though it would collapse within a few more years.

He shook his head and sighed again, “No, nothing can be done for this place. Best to just let it die, we’ll hold out as long as we can” the sound of the wind cut through the silence as we stood there looking down at the old man. “Shame, it used to be a real nice place” he muttered.

I didn’t know what else could be said to him, he seemed to have accepted his lot in life, no matter how much it saddened him. We floated around for a moment longer before Aladra led the way out of the town and continuing on the road.

We followed the directions that the man had given us for hours more, passing more of the drab country until the daylight began to fade. Our party arrived at a hillock that boasted a cave entrance concealed by some driftwood, as we crested the rise we looked out to the distance and saw a number of ships harboured in the distance. “I think this is the place” I whispered as I looked back to Aladra. I wasn’t quite sure why I was whispering, it simply seemed to be the thing to do, being so close to the possible rebel encampment.

She nodded her head and stood to her feet before going back down the hill to the cave entrance, hauling the driftwood out of the way. “Yep, what are you waiting for? Daylight’s burning” she said, ducking her head and entering the cave.

The rest of us quickly followed her, relaxing our eyes to adjust to the darkness surrounding us. Hearing the sound of footsteps in front of me, I followed the direction, waving my hands in front of me until it rested on Aladra’s back and I followed her in the darkness. As we progressed, the glow of light came out from ahead of us, growing brighter until we came out onto a ledge overlooking the open space of the cove.

It was filled with light flickering from torches and glowing steadily from some few crystals. In the cove were dozens of people bustling around, moving crates from place to place, some sat around fires and talking with each other, others preparing food in large pots, others still going in and out of a canvas flap that covered the main entrance. Detailed maps hung from the walls with ink markings, detailing what was presumably the plans of the denizens.

I looked down at the people and began to count them as best I could, I couldn’t get an accurate number as there were presumably some outside, but I came to over four dozen people that I had seen so far. I glanced towards Aladra who was muttering under her breath as she ticked off her fingers. “What now?” I whispered quietly to her.

She glanced back to me, looking annoyed at me interrupting her counting, “The contract was clear enough” she said in the same quiet voice, “we’re gonna have to talk to them” she grinned at me and pushed me in front of her.

I groaned to myself and glanced to the others who seemed ready to follow my lead, though they left considerable space between myself and them. I rose to my full height and moved to the steep incline that led down to the lower level of the cove, the eyes of the rebels drawing to me. I heard a few shouts and one of them rushed out, calling someone’s name. I continued walking downwards and raised my hands as a few weapons were drawn on me.

“Who are you?” a voice demanded as a sword waved uncomfortably close to my face, “What are you doing here?” came another voice. The others in my party remained at the bottom of the incline, a few of the rebels watching them closely whilst most others focused their attention on me. I glanced back and saw Aladra smirking at me, as I caught her eye, she gave me a thumbs up.

“My name is Aucus, I’m an adventurer” I said loudly and held forward my hand which held the adventurer’s ring, “We’ve been sent here on a contract by Prince Orsat, can I talk to whoever is in charge?” I did my best to sound as passive as possible, so as to not anger any of the sharp pieces of metal that were so close to my face.

The canvas flap on the entrance was flung open and a bulky man with a stern face walked in. His face was marked with an ugly scar that ran from his cheek through his stubble, his skin had a sun-kissed colour, and a long mess of brown hair ran down his head. His clothes hung loose on his large build and his shirt was open to reveal a muscular chest that was marred by a number of other scars. “Who’s this then?” he said loudly, sounding frustrated at being interrupted.

One of them moved to his ear to relay what I had told them moments before, as he backed away the man held the bridge of his nose in his fingers as he shook his head. “Fucks sake” he muttered quietly before giving me his attention. “Okay Aucus, let’s get this over with. What do you want? I’ve got things to be doing”

I nodded my head and glanced towards the weapons, “Er, can we lose the knives?” I asked, giving him a little grin.

He nodded his head and waved his hand down, “yeah, yeah, come on guys, let’s show some manners” he said and gestured for us to take a seat at one of the tables. He sat down in front of us and loosened his let which held a particularly large sword. “My name is Criff and I suppose I’m the leader of this sorry bunch” he said gesturing around the room.

“Er, nice to meet you Criff” I said politely, still a little wary of the others that were watching us closely. “I hope that you’re the rebels that they want us to negotiate with, otherwise this is gonna be pretty awkward” I said with a chagrin smile, trying to break the ice.

He snorted through his nose, “rebels” he spat the word with a glob onto the ground, “We’re the people of the land. When the raiders became a problem, we’re the ones that fought them, the nobles ran for the hills with their armoured boys and left everyone else to die” he glowered at me for a moment as he visibly calmed himself. “So yes, if by rebel you mean that we’re the ones who risk our lives to do the duty that those cowards were given. I’m proud to be a rebel”

I didn’t know how to respond to that, I had no experience in negotiating so I simply moved on. I supposed that he would have his own reasons for doing what he had done. “What about the robbing’s on the road?” I asked.

He sighed as he glanced towards the map, thinking of his other plans, “When the western lands became a part of Eldria, it’s treasures were taken by the crown and the nobles and housed in the keeps that were built. The people couldn’t see their treasures anymore, but we put up with it because they remained in their lands. When the cowards fled, they tried to take the treasures of the people with them, beyond the mountains and out of where they belonged. We didn’t let that happen” he said as he crossed his arms. “Everything else that we took is their payment to us for fighting for _their _lands”

It seemed to be a good reason for robbing the nobles, and I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t do anything different if I was in their place. “I don’t really know what to say, I haven’t done this before” I admitted, getting a stern look from Aladra. I sighed and carried on, “but we have to ask that you and your fighters return your loyalty to the kingdom and stop acting as rebels”

“What would you call risking your lives for the people when no one else does? If that isn’t loyalty, then why don’t you tell me what is?” he said, sounding a bit angry at having his loyalty questioned.

I swallowed a lump in my throat, “There are some things that are concerns to the crown” I said as I regained my composure, “Like your meetings with the raiders”

He nodded his head, “Thought your spies would have mentioned that” he grunted, “They weren’t the raiders, they’re a faction on the shale islands that are more peaceful and are more interested in improving their lands rather than raiding us. We’re working on a plan to raise them to power, maybe then the attacks will stop”

I truly didn’t know what to say, he seemed to have a good reason for everything and was far from the dangerous rebel that he had been made out to be. Still though, I had a job to do and had to try to get them to return to the kingdom, goddesses know we would need all the help we could get in the future.

I glanced around at the others in the room before turning back to Criff, “Can we talk in private for a bit?” I asked.

He sighed again and rose to his feet, “We can take a walk on the beach” he accepted, leading me out of the cove. We walked along the sandy shore with the light of the sun glinting off the water as it began to dip below the horizon.

“How many men do you have?” I asked bluntly

He turned his head to me as we walked and frowned, “About eighty adventurers, two hundred or so non-adventurers. Most of them can fight and we’re spread out across the coast” he sounded honest, and I accepted it as truth.

“To tell you the truth, there’s a war coming in the east. We’re going to need everyone that is ready to fight if we are going to survive” I told him, my hand running over the carvings on the hilt of my blade.

“A war?” he said, snorting out a breath of air, “In case you haven’t noticed, there’s already a war going on. I don’t see the point in fighting in the east if everyone here is going to be dead when we get back” he shook his head slowly and looked out towards the sea as he stopped walking, “I’m not taking my men anywhere until we have peace here”

“If we don’t win in the east then they’ll come for the west next, the rest of the world will be dead but you might survive a little longer” I said, getting annoyed by his refusal.

“I’m sorry Aucus, but these people are too important to me. The raiders already took my wife, I’m not letting them have anyone else whilst I can stop them” genuine sorrow ran through his voice as he spoke. “Who is this enemy anyway? I never thought the elves or dwarves were that aggressive”

I was silent for a long while as we both looked out to the horizon, the orange of the sun bleeding across the sky. “Devils” I said in a whisper at last, struggling to get the word off of my tongue, “the shadow gates have opened, it’s only a matter of time until they get out.”

For the first time since I had met him, I saw Criff stiffen and stand uncomfortably on his beach. “Shit” he muttered, kicking a mound of sand. We were silent for a while longer as we watched the sun set in the distance, “Look Aucus, I don’t know if you’re telling me the truth. Goddesses know that the nobles would lie about it to get us to die for them. But, if we manage to get peace in the west, then we’ll head east” he nodded his head solemnly, his fingers fidgeting. “We won’t fight under the command of nobles though” he added sternly, “They’ve betrayed us too much for us to put any trust in them”

I nodded my head in agreement, “Thank you, I guess that’s the best I’m gonna get” I said with a faint smile, looking up at him. “You know you can’t tell anyone about the devils, right?”

He smirked at me, “I know, it wouldn’t do any good to scare these lads with something they can’t do anything about. Can’t have them getting distracted, it’s a good way to die” he agreed. “Come on then, we’ll find some beds for you and your friends to spend the night” he added as he smacked a hand across my back.

“Thank you” I said once more, “Oh, we brought you a clock as a present” I mentioned, remembering the gift that Aladra had told us to buy.

He gave me a confused look, “a clock?” he asked.

I shook my head, “Not my idea” I sighed before we carried on back and returned to the cove, the sun having set below the horizon.