They also shook his hand with varying degrees of wariness. Rick wasn't much taller or broader than Bernon and Mike, but he seemed to loom over them slightly.
"So," Mike said. "I expect you'll want some kind of payment. I should warn you that we don't have any money."
"That's fine," Rick said amiably. "All I ask is a share in the spoils of war. Think they'll be any good?"
"Probably," Mike replied after some thought. "If you're interested in scientific or military-related stuff."
"Sounds sellable. I think we have a deal."
"Well, that solves that then. Now we just have to wait for the others to arrive, if the letters are delivered safely." Tanrial said, rubbing at her neck.
(Seeya ^^)
"Who else is coming?"
"Well…..we don't exactly know who will show up," Bernon said, "but we sent messages to Tanrial's hometown, her people, a faction of The People's Army, and a couple of the Southern Clans."
Rick tilted his head. "Oh, which clans? The Gator Boys?"
"Uhhh…." Bernon winced. "No. The Pikes and the River-Runners, actually."
"Oh, well, the River-Runners ain't gonna come, I can tell you that. They stick to the Mississippi. But the Pikes–you might have more luck with them."
"And are they good fighters?" Mike asked.
Rick smiled. "I've never met a Southerner who wasn't. What about your folks, Miss? They any good at war?"
"You could say that. They've had centuries to prepare for a fight, adding in general blood lust yeah, I'd say their pretty good at it." She said, shrugging a shoulder, "I doubt they'd miss a chance to fight in a war."
"All right. And how many are we up against? How advanced is the enemy?"
"Ryker has a sizable task force," Mike said. "Maybe a hundred soldiers, plus the ability to last through twenty years of siege if necessary. Oh, and they have roughly two dozen kids with superpowers, although one of our goals is actually to rescue them."
Rick whistled. "Sounds like this is gonna be quite the party. How'd you make this guy your enemy, anyway? Did you used to work for him?"
(ahh dangit I have to go T.T And I may not be back on tonight, soryyy)
"Well, Bernon and I didn't. Mike was sent to retrieve a machine that coincidentally, Bernon had. Bernon found me, Mike found us and long story short we decided it wasn't for the best to give the machine to Ryker left him a fake and ran for it…" Tanrial explained, crossing her arms.
(Damn, don't worry about it, seeya!)
"Oh, a machine? What kind of machine?"
Bernon was about to answer, but Mike cut him off. "Listen, no disrespect, but I don't think we can trust you enough to tell you everything just yet. Sorry, but mercenaries aren't known for their trustworthiness. In fact, I have some questions for you now. What exactly made you spit off from your group? I thought the Southern Clans valued family above all else."
Rick sighed. "Family don't always know what's best. You may have heard of my brother, Johnny Stonehand?"
"Oh, we've heard of him," Bernon muttered.
"He's a good man and I love him, but…. he's had some hard losses in his life and it's been messing with his leadership skills. I didn't like the path he was taking the Gator Boys down, and since he wouldn't listen to me, I ducked out a few months back." Rick shrugged. "That's the long and short of it. I can understand if you keep secrets from me, we've got no reason to trust each other yet. But if you change your mind about filling me in on that machine, lemme know."
"Of course, we'll be here for a while yet so we've got lot's to discuss. We'll definitely let you know what's going on when the time comes." Tanrial said, giving Rick a smile.
He smiled back nicely. "Thank-you. Guess I'll leave you guys to yourselves now." Turning, he walked back toward the tavern, whistling a tune."
Mike gazed at his retreating back. "Well. Seems like we dodged a bullet there."
"At least we know he's not going to kill us or anyone anytime soon." Tanrial crossed her arms.
"True. I think we have enough enemies right now without adding any more."
Bernon glanced at the lake. "Well, shall we do some training or some scouting next? I think both are equally important."
"Scout first, train after. Or while, depends on the training." Tanrial shrugged, placing a hand in her pocket.
Mike nodded. "Okay, sounds good. After we go scouting, I want to show you guys a little combat technique I learned that you might find helpful. It's for chaos management, so you don't get overwhelmed or sluggish in the middle of a big battle."
"Gotcha," Bernon replied. "Let's go then."
"Sounds like fun…" Tanrial said before leading them through the mass of trees and bushes behind them.
Mike found a small path through the woods and started following it. "My grandad taught it to me. It's saved my life more times than I can count."
Bernon glanced at him curiously. "You talk about your grandad a lot. What was he like?"
Mike was silent for a minute. "He was a car mechanic, a good one. He was homeless for most of his life before he set up the repair shop. He and my grandma helped my mom take care of the family, back when I was really little. I had a sister too, named Hailey."
Bernon glanced at Tanrial and spoke to her mentally. Hailey….wasn't that the name he said when he was sleeptalking that one time? Should we ask about her? It seemed like they might've not gotten along.
Tanrial shrugged and rubbed at her neck. Well… we can ask but if he doesn't say anything then best not ask again.
"What was Hailey like?" She asked, flicking her gaze from Bernon to Mike.
Mike didn't look at them, his face unreadable. "Hailey was….a troublemaker. She was never satisfied with her life, and always took things harder than I did. I should have–"
He stopped as if he'd bitten his own tongue and quickened his pace, tension radiating from him like a static charge. Bernon winced and made a cutting motion across his neck. Okay, I guess we shouldn't have asked after all. My bad.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Mike spoke again. "But back to my grandad, he was a great fighter. One of the best. He taught me how to fight when I was five or six, because we were in a rough neighborhood and he didn't trust the neighbors. I learned almost everything I know about combat from him."
"That's good… about the combat thing I mean," Tanrial said, crossing her arms and sighing, "Sometimes I wish things would go back to how they were years ago. Everything seemed so simple."
"Yeah," Bernon said. "Growing up on a farm, I'd give anything to go back to that life."
Mike made a neutral noise. "If I had to pick a time to return to…there was this big old barn in the middle of nowhere that my family lived in for a while. We were trying to get to Canada where it was safer, but we were trapped in the middle of the country for several years. I was ten, I liked it there." He glanced at Tanrial. "Where specifically would you go, if you could rewind?"
(brb, having supper)
"Where? I'm not sure… I visited a town on the coast one summer. That was fun. I met some really nice people there so I guess that." Tanrial replied.
(okay)
"Cool." Bernon paused to look over the terrain. "Maybe after this is all over, some of us can go visit the coast again. It's been a long time since I saw the ocean."
"Yeah, that would be nice. It's been ages since I saw the sea, too." Tanrial kicked at a loose rock on he path.
Mike slowed to a halt and pushed a branch out of his way so he could see into the valley. "Down there is where we found Snatch. On the other side of that ridge up ahead is Ryker's base. Once we get closer, we'll have to be more careful. In fact, we should probably be more careful now. There's no telling if they're still looking for us out here or not."
(gotta go to bed, seeya later ^^)
(Sorry, I had friends come over and we went for a walk, seeya ^^)
Tanrial nodded, "That's true. Ryker's scouts could be anywhere out here." She took a step back as to not be seen by any prying eyes.
Mike gave the area one last look, then turned and started working his way sideways down the slope. "Let's spread out just a bit and stay quiet from now on. Keep an eye out for any signs that Ryker's guards have been here–or are still out here–and let each other know if you notice anything."
(I probs won't be on much since I have beep classes today, sorry)
Tanrial nodded, "Alright, don't go too far off, we don't want to lose anybody and them be to far away for us to help if there is any danger."
(that's okay, my youth group actually meets in like an hour and half so I'll have to leave early as well)
Bernon nodded. "Got it."
They walked stealthily into the valley, stopping every few minutes to check their surroundings. There were no signs so far of any human activity in the area, but they stayed on their guard just in case. At one point they were startled by a large grey canine that ran out of the bushes–maybe a wolf?–but other than that the forest was quiet.
After an hour or two of walking, they reached the far ridge and began climbing up. Now they began to see tracks and old campfires, as if a group of soldiers had camped in this area not too long ago. Nobody was around now, and the tracks were faint. Mike waved for them to press forward.
%20pngg.png)
