“Fine, whatever you say… and stop being such a baby, the liquid will help you heal faster it’s not that bad.” She said as it fizzed a little more but died down. Screwing the cap back on the bottle she grabbed some bandages and gently wrapped them round his shoulder.
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Mike lapsed into silence, looking annoyed, but mostly with himself. Bernon glanced out the window and sighed.
"Well…..the day doesn't have to be wasted. In fact, this might be a good thing, in a way. One of us can stay here with Mike, and the other one could do a little scouting and scope out the area around Ryker's base. That way we won't be walking in blind." He went over to the fire and took off the hot water, using it to clean Mike's shirt and the dirty bandages. "Who wants to stay here and who wants to head out?"
Tanrial shrugged, “I don’t mind, whatever you want to do. Would you rather spend the day outside or stuck with this baby for the day?” She asked Bernon rasing an eyebrow and packing away her things.
The corner of Bernon's mouth went up. "Oh, I don't mind hanging out here, you go ahead. You're better at stealthy stuff anyway." He handed her a package of nuts and some water. "Take some breakfast with you, and come back by noon to tell us what you find, all right?"
Tanrial smiled a little, “Alright, I’ll be back soon.” She said, grabbing her bow, a dagger and headed out the door.
The sun was now shining brightly overhead, it’s rays shining through gaps in the leaves above. Peaceful, is one word to call the day, it was peaceful. After a few miles of walking in each direction, Tanrial found a small creek running along. Good, a place to fill up the canteens. She turned to head in the opposite direction when a crackle of twinges sounded not the far away. Hurriedly, she climbed the tallest tree in sight, knock an arrow in her bow and waited.
After a moment, a figure came into view. He looked like a soldier, wearing strange tactical gear and carrying a gun. He stopped beneath the tree Tanrial was in, looked around carefully, and waved to someone behind him. Three more soldiers came into view, seeing watchful but not wary. Perhaps they were on patrol, making sure there was no danger in this part of the woods.
Tanrial didn’t fire the arrow, although she did keep it knocked in the bow. They didn’t look dangerous but looks can be decieving. There was muffled mumbling from the guards as they lent down to fill up their canteens at the stream she was just standing it.
She could hear them talking The one who seemed to be in charge sighed.
"Jeez, how long does it take you guys to refill? We have four more miles of border to walk before we can head back and get something to eat."
"You think we don't know that?" one grumbled. "And that's if there's no bandits or crazy woodsmen, which is unlikely. Why don't we just clear out the woods and burn 'em, save ourselves the pain?"
"Because, you eco-terrorist. Burning the woods would hurt a lot more than just bandits. Besides, sometimes the people around here need our help, and as a strong military force we want them to trust and respect us, not hate us. Attacking the locals is not a good idea, period."
Tanrial tried to suppress her smirk, at least if they saw her they weren’t going to kill her on sight, that was a plus. She had to think of a way to get out without being caught. If she shifted she they’d try and attack her, if she shot they’d attack her. She could walk out there, just say she was a lonely traveller going about her way. Tanrial didn’t know how much time passed while she pondered over her ideas.
While she was thinking, one of the soldiers casually glanced up at the treetops. Then he blinked and looked surprised. "There's a girl in that tree, staring at us," he said conversationally.
The others looked up. "Nice going, guys," the captain said. "We could have been killed while you morons admired your reflections. What are you doing up there, kid?"
“Sorry, Sir,” She said, jumping down from the tree and offering an innocent smile, “I was being cautious, you don’t know who could be wandering these woods.” She kept the arrow in the bow but lowered it slightly.
He folded his arms and regarded her. "True enough. What's your name, and where are you from? Are you in need of assistance of any kind?"
She shook her head, “I’m…Eira and I’m from a small village very far from here, Thankyou for the offer of assistance but I’m fine for now.” He gave him another innocent smile.
(Sorry gtg, seeya later)
(Okay, seeya ^^)
"Riiight," The captain looked sceptical. "Well then, 'Eira', if you're a local you should know that this area is private property owned by Mr. Maxwell Ryker, and no hunting is allowed by anyone not employed by said Mr. Ryker. You do know that, right?"
She shook her head, "Sorry, I didn't know, Sir. This is the my first time in this area and I have no clue who Mr. Ryker is. I wasn't hunting, honest, this is just for protection I swear it." It wasn't a whole lie, more of a half truth.
The soldiers collectively snorted with disbelieving laughter. "Okay, now we caught you," The captain said. "What local doesn't know Maxwell Ryker? Nice try, miss, but the jig is up. Tell us why you're really here. Don't be shy, we won't get you in trouble unless you're planning on assassinating Ryker or something."
She rolled her eyes, "Fine, and no. I'm not coming to assassinate him, I'm not that stupid. I'm Tanrial and I wasn't lying when I said I'm not from around here." Her attitude quickly changed from the innocent small town girl from before, to what she would call as her… Eyvn act.
"Tanrial, huh? And? What's your business here, if I may ask?"
(brb, eating supper real fast)
She shrugged, "Just passing through, I'm not trying to cause trouble, for you or Ryker I just want to head home." She lied.
(Okay)
He eyed her suspiciously for a moment. "All right then. Just keep an eye out for trees with white dots on one side of their trunks. They mark the edges of Ryker's territory–the dots point toward the center–and we'd appreciate if you didn't stray too far in. Clear?"
"Got it," She smiled at them, "Thanks for the help." She said, turning back the way she came, and walking away. Once she was out of view, she sprinted the last few miles back to the cabin. She waited outside for a moment to catch her breath before walking in.
Mike and Bernon looked up when she came in. They seemed to have been in the midst of a deep conversation. Mike was looking a little better, but still sore and drained.
"What did you find?" he asked.
"River, about three miles that way," She pointed to the furthest wall, "And some guards." She placed her bow on the table, along with the dagger she had.
Bernon nodded. "Any trouble with them?"
"Nope, just told them I was alone and traveling home. They said to stay on the borders of Ryker's property and not go to far in," She shrugged, "They get a surprise when we show up later."
Mike chuckled slightly. "Yeah. We'll have to remember to be careful when we head back there, I don't know how trigger-happy these guys are."
"Yeah, what about you? How's your shoulder feeling?" She asked, sitting down at the table.
Mike shifted gingerly, testing the sensitivity of his injury. "Not so painful, and the bleeding stopped. Thanks for giving me that tonic or whatever it was. I was too grumpy to admit I needed it earlier."
Bernon had dried Mike's shirt by the fire while Tanrial was gone and even mended the tear made by the stabbing knife. Now he shook it out and offered it back to its owner. "We should probably wait a while before we head out. I hate to say it, but tomorrow's looking like a more realistic time for meeting Ryker, at this point. Unless you have any more potions, Tanrial?"
She sighed, "There's more of that potion, yes but it still would be better if we stayed her one more night."
Mike accepted his shirt and slowly put it back on. "I guess…..after this many delays, an extra day won't really hurt us." He seemed much more resigned to his fate as an invalid now. "It's not like Ryker gave me a deadline on this job or anything. He might not even expect me to come back alive, so seeing me at all could be a pleasant surprise for him."
"In the mean time…." Bernon shrugged. "…we've still got a fair amount of daylight left. Anybody else want to head back to the river and get cleaned up? I'd kill for a nice bath, personally, and we should look presentable when we see this billionaire guy tomorrow."