“Let's sing our way out of this”

- Isabel Fraire

(XSS-MK1 POV)

I am currently sitting on a bench in the central plaza of the small village named Dedris. My hood and the rest of my clothing are hiding my identity efficiently. Right now I am just watching people. I can see a lot from where I am. Humans are in majority in the town but I can see a few elves wandering about. But right now I am not focused on them. Not even the frequent guards’ patrols disturb me from my thoughts.

I am facing a huge problem.

I am broke.

The money system in the human kingdom revolves around a coin currency called the ducat. Different variations of them allow for different scales of sums to be paid. Basically, 100 bronze ducats give 1 silver ducat, which in turn, for 100 of them, gives a gold ducat.

Since the test of my disguise is complete I thought it would be better to travel by convoy, hidden in the crowd instead of wandering alone. But these things are not free. I need to work on an identity that could explain my poor finances and current clothing.

I am thinking when a small child gives me the answer. He passes by me, humming to an unknown tune.

A wandering bard from a remote village. Perfect. It would explain my movement, and the need for secrecy can be explained by wanting to escape an unwanted marriage for my "love" of the singing arts. I have quite a few songs I could use from the cultural packages given at my creation. They should be easily adapted: the language structure and phonetics are surprisingly close to English. Another similitude that I attribute to our alien overlords.

I rise up from the bench and decide to go to the nearest travel post. I enter the small building. The hall reminds me of an old wild-west saloon, but with stairs on one side leading to an overhang filled with desks. It is filled with a few people sitting at tables, discussing their matters softly. A few of them spare me a glance, curious. I approach the welcoming desk, making sure that my hood still hides my face from all possible light sources, leaving its content in the shadows. Hearing my arrival, the young girl at the desk detaches her attention from the documents on her desk to look at me.

"How may I help you?"

"I'm looking for a convoy travelling east next to the south desert border. Is there any leaving soon?"

She answers me with a bright smile and a joyous expression. My voice sounded fine at least.

"Sure thing. Just let me check the records."

I wait patiently as she takes a huge leather-covered book from under the desk and starts flipping its pages. She stops on one of them and start going over the different hand-written entries on it.

"Ah... There we go: we have one leaving for the hub city of Tirannis. You will have to take a second convoy from there to get to the south. That's the only one available for the moment. The travel will last 1 week."

I nod. This will be good. She sees me agree and continues.

"The transport will leave in the beginning of the afternoon. The fee is 1 silver ducat please. I will also need a name."

The feared part of the conversation had finally come.

"About that..."

She hears my answer. Her reaction is almost immediate.

"I am very sorry but we cannot take a client that can't pay the transportation, food and carriage fees."

Her tone is cold and professional. By the looks of it, she has been faced with similar situations a lot of time.

"It is okay: I can take care of my own food and don't need a carriage. I am just a wandering bard and heard there were bandits on the roads recently. I just wanted safety in numbers for my travel."

I am so busy coming up with a valid excuse that I don't process the person entering the hall behind me. The attendant is hesitating.

"Still, even with this I can't allow you. I am sor-."

A deep voice erupts behind me.

"What is going on here? Travelers giving you trouble again Melinda?"

I turn around. Just in front of me is a tall man in standard leather armor with a blade at his side. His rugged face has a few scars making bald spots in the short brown beard covering his square jaw. He is looking inside my cowl while towering me with his body.

"No sir. She is a bard with no money trying to hitch a ride to Tirannis. No food or special transport. Just travel."

"Hmmm. A bard..."

His eyes are not locking on anything, telling me that his sight didn't get pass the darkness covering my face. It looks like he is sizing me up. I feel slightly uncomfortable under his gaze. He finally steps back and moves to face the receptionist.

"Well I could use a bard to put a little spirit into my men. We just had a long escort mission. Put her on the list. I'll take her free of charge. She will help around and sing as payment."

The woman named Melinda just nods. My benefactor turns to me and extends a hand.

"Greetings. I'm Mike. I'll be leading the convoy."

I shake it gently.

"MK1. Pleasure to meet you. Thank you for your help. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Emkäouane? Strange name. No matter. Don't be mistaken: at the first sign of trouble from you I am dumping you on the side of the road. You heard the deal. Please meet us at the north gate in three hours. You don't, and I'm going without you."

He doesn't even wait for an answer. He leaves into one of the second floor offices as quickly as he appeared; taking the cold aura he carried with him. I can hear Melinda behind me.

"You are lucky ; he almost never agrees to take someone extra. You must have made an impression."

I am given a few documents attesting of my voyage and sent on my way. I still have trouble realizing what just happened. But like Mike said: No matter.

When I present myself at the north gate two and a half hours later I can see the final preparations being made around two normal old-looking carriages and what seems to be a merchant transport.

I quietly present the documents obtained earlier. At my surprise, I am given a place among one of the civilian carriages. Apparently strangers traveling in secrecy are common place because no one disturbs me, or utters a remark on my hooded cloak.

We are quick to depart and the line of carriages and horses starts moving slowly on the roads cutting through the plains' hills. The first day of travel is quite uneventful and most people keep to themselves, sleeping or watching the landscape drift slowly by the small windows. I am left alone in one of the corners of the bench seats. It allows me to work on those calibrations I needed to do to my body, and adapt it to the planet's gravity.

As the sun start to sets down we go off the main road. When we stop, the door opens and a guard gets in, pointing at me.

"You there. Mike asked you to help set up the camp."

He makes a gesture to the others.

"All of you can get down and start preparing for the night. We will eat in an hour."

I get out first. I am guided by the guard to a group of people unloading supplies off the back of some horses. I am quickly assigned to help set up the tents and get some small firewood from bushes around the area. Once the fire is lit people start sitting around it, and eating the food provided. I stay in the back. I don't eat. Obviously.

Suddenly Mike, who is near the center, points at me.

"Hey. We could use a break-away from our tiredness. Sing."

His loud voice and cold attitude turns the people's attention towards me. Some start whispering while looking at me with anticipation.

Of course I expected this to happen. Calibrations are not the only thing I did while in the carriage. I also translated a lot of songs from Earth, that can be sung acapella, or with simple humming.

I sit on a small rock at the edge of the circle of people. Then with a soft and clear voice I start slowly humming "Beautiful Sad" from Han Soo Ji. After a couple of second I start singing the slow and moving lyrics.

Spoiler :

Ref. link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcE4k_Q6-2Q

(Seriously go there and give credit: it's an awesome song)

Late at night

Sunshines are asleep that night

With every star light

Blowing in the air

Hold on

Let me inside your tears

I'm gonna hold you

Just be with me

Stay with me

Darkness is near by me

Sometimes I'm lonely

But I can see

Hold me

Let me inside your dreams

You're gonna hold me

As you loved me

Sometimes

I feel the great times

That we had together

All the time

I won't ask

even though trying to, far away,

I know you are still there with me

Fly away

From your tears make you sad

When the spring winds blowing

You wanna dance with me

Go away

With a flap of the wings

You are still shinning

All in my dreams

As I reach the end I can see everyone pretty much holding tears.

Except Mike. If I didn't know better I would think the guy is a robot. And I would know.

I do a quick bow to show that the song is over. People start to rise up and go back to their tents to sleep; a few of them visit me, thanking me for the song.

I walk back to the carriage that I traveled in and climb on the roof. I sit there looking at the night sky. My identity had held on pretty well. I spent the rest of the night here immobile, enjoying the sight of the stars and the two moons.

The rest of the travel to Tirannis was, just as his beginning, uneventful. I would sing at night during the dinner or after and help around with general tasks. I got to hear a few conversations during that time. Most were centered about personal matters. But one caught my attention. Two adults were discussing wherever they should buy a "house-assistant" when they get to the human capital Lydria. The term used didn't escape my ears. They argued saying that "they" were in short supply for the moment and that "their" price was too high. They continued to discuss the subject but at that point I had already stopped listening.

That was what we were reduced to? Simple pricy household equipment? I am not angry by nature but I swear I could sense my processors heat up for a second.

When we finally arrived to Tirannis Mike came up to me.

"Good job. Here."

He handed me a small purse with 2 silver ducats in it. I look up from the leather pouch holding the money.

"Why?"

"You have no money don't you? And that was some nice singing. Use that to get you to the south. That's where you want to go right?"

I nod in silence. For a brief second I can see a slight smile appear on his face before he turns around and leaves. Who would have thought? The tall cyborg had emotions after all.

I tie the small purse to the belt of my leather pants before venturing deeper in the city.

Tirannnis is much bigger than the small village I initially started from. Busy streets and merchant shops can be seen at each corner, filled with people going on about their day. An occasional elf can be seen, characterized by his long pointy ears and gracious faces. Again I find myself in the center plaza, observing people from a distance, while pondering my options.

And that's when I see him.

A Clockwork.

He is following a couple of what appears to be nobles, carrying a huge load of supplies on a back contraption.

He has a strange look. His exterior is obviously made of iron from what I can tell. Grossly cut plates are put in what seems a patchwork pattern, with the occasional pipe and joint rotor emerging, giving it a strange look to his humanoid form, mix between scrapyard and steam-punk. His face, or lack thereof, consists on a unique bucket-head plate with basic holes for the eyes and mouth. Other than his looks, he seems to be in a pretty good state, despite the occasional spot of rust here and there. After seeing smoke coming out from some of the pipes I change my vision to look at his internals.

He is powered by what seems an internal 2 cylinders engine, hooked up to a complex series of gears that can be nested on and off with gearboxes to give power to the different limbs. A dynamo hooked up to them gives power to his head where the brain is. I have interferences preventing me from fully seeing there. Probably because of the electricity concentration and plates covering it.

I start following him. He is the first one I meet. I need to know more.

The couple in front of him goes to a few other stores, increasing the burdens he is carrying.

While I am keeping myself at a distance from them the clockwork suddenly stops and turns around to look in the crowd. His eyes find me almost immediately.

For a few seconds we stay both immobile looking into each other eyes. He turns away first and continues walking behind the noble couple, seemingly as if nothing happened.

I stay there while they leave my sight.

Should I have talked with him? What could have I told him? What could have I asked him?

I cannot rescue him that's for sure. I don't have the necessary resources to take him with me. From what I understood they are the tools and servants of rich people. A random bard is not someone who can be found in possession of such a thing. The only thing I would achieve is bring suspicion on myself, or get assaulted and robbed. And I still need to get out of human territory as fast as possible.

My thoughts still weighting on my mind, I go to the travel post of the city to register myself for a voyage to the border town of Takar, on the edge of the desert. It will depart the next morning. And this time I could pay at least.

Just like during my short stay in Dedris, I spend the night looking at the stars on a roof. I am still thinking about that strange encounter. He didn't even make one move in my direction. He just acknowledged my presence and then went back to whatever he was doing. The warm rays of the sun take me out of my cogitations.

When I reach the convoy on the east gate, I am surprised. The convoy, while a bit bigger, is protected by a group of disparately clothed and armored people. A big difference from the last mercenaries I travelled with, where a uniform and sense of purposed unity was present.

These guys look like we took people from ten different armies and bunched them together in a group after giving them weapons.

I approach what appears to be the person in charge of the convoy.

"Excuse me? Is this the convoy for Takar?"

The man lift up his nose from what appears to be a shipping manifest before giving me a quick glance-over.

"Yes Miss, it is. We leave in 20 minutes. If you want to reserve a spot it will be one and a half silver ducat."

"Oh no, I am already on the list. I was just wondering about the nature of our escort. I never quite saw the same kind of guards, travelling from the border village I'm from. Until now that is."

The man takes a surprised expression before answering.

"Never saw adventurers before miss? You must have been living in the backwater villages. We have a big merchant ferrying supplies with us so they were hired for protection. I can assure you, they may not look like much but they'll protect you alright."

Before I can ask more questions, he spots something and starts walking away while shouting.

"Hey you! No! The fuckin' merchandise doesn't go there you dimwit! I said the FIRST wagon! Now move it!"

I smile internally at the antics of the man who is now berating the small boy who was loading the boxes into the carriages. Detaching my sight from the commotion, I embark in one of the transports, presenting the documentation I obtained the day before.

Just as my first trip, this one was unwinding peacefully. The first two days were spent in relative comfort, stopping during the night to rest the horses and eat. I shared my singing during these few moments, making sure that my audience saw nothing but a poor bard making her way to more fortunate lands.

I also took the opportunity to chat a bit with these so called "adventurers". Not wanting to look like suspicious, I didn't ask much, but I got the most important stuff out of my conversation with one of their members.

Adventurers are basically glorified mercenaries with standards, and an organization behind them to police and distribute requests. Nothing ground-breaking in my opinion. The ones which are accompanying us are apparently at something called the third rank. Which is a way to say that they are not complete amateurs and have an idea of what they are doing, most of the time.

Examining them, I wasn't exactly inspired with the highest degree of confidence.

On the third day however, trouble showed its head, as I start hearing noise. Not the noise of our transports, or even of their escorts. No, this was a noise coming from far away, in front of us.

I could hear the clinking of metal and faint orders being shouted to get into position. The tiny vibrations remaining in the air did not possess enough details for me to get an idea about who, or what, was ahead of us. My eyes did not allow me to reach that far either.

I got off the carriage, at the surprise of everybody, and started walking beside a guard. He looked at me strangely.

"We have company. About 350 meters in front of us. A lot of people. I can hear them."

I could've told him Satan was his mother and he wouldn't have made a stranger face as he was doing now. He just stared at me blankly. I needed to shake him up.

"Don't just stand there staring at me like an idiot. I have means at my disposal that allow me to sense that far. Now go to your leader and warn him!"

The insult shook him up enough for him to start moving. I can tell he is trying to pierce the darkness of my hood, hoping to find a clue there that could point him toward what these "means" could be. He soon disappeared toward the front of the convoy.

I got back inside to my corner of carriage. The sounds are a bit clearer now. I start to calculate probabilities.

Other transport? Probability ; 43%.

Army patrol? Probability ; 55%.

Bandits? Probability ; 70%.

Considering the state of the hired guards and the sounds of disordered marching, along with the metal chime of swords being drawn and sharpened, this does not bode well.

As we draw closer, the probability of a bandit raid raises dramatically. Just when I was about to warn the adventurers again I can see them arrange themselves in a defense formation. Their weapons are drawn and put into position by their side. They heeded my advice.

And just in time too. Out of the endless hills suddenly rise at least fifty bandits. Fifty seven to be exact. They are dressed in makeshift armor with dented weapons. Some of them still have blood on them. Their unkempt appearance coupled with the look of greed in their eyes confirms my suspicions: they are here to loot us. Killing us seems to also be on their list of priorities. They start rushing our hastily made perimeter as huge wave, not even taking the time to hail us to stop or surrender. At the speed the carriage is going there is no way to escape them.

The two opposing factions clash with the sounds of shouting and blades colliding with each other.

I stay immobile, looking at the status of the battle through the window. In the rest of the carriage everybody is terrified.

The adventurers are winning at first. They hold their ground and push back one or two waves, inflicting losses on the unrelenting enemy. But then I can see what looks to be the bandits’ leaders shout some orders. As soon as he does, they concentrate on one point of the defense formation. They end up piercing through. The carriage in front of us is boarded. We can hear screams from inside. Soon they come back out, holding some people with their blades on their necks. The bandit leader starts shouting over the battlefield.

"Stop fighting or we will kill them!"

Ridiculous. They will kill them no matter what. The adventurers have no incentive to stop. They have the training, equipment and numerical advantage. But just as the order is heard, the squad leader of the adventures orders everyone to stop.

"Drop your weapons. Do as he said."

Looks of incomprehension can be seen through the helmets they wear. But they obey their superior. In just a minute the fighting has stopped. What was that about?

"Round up the people on one side. I want the fighters tied down."

I decide to play along for the moment. I am led outside along with the others occupants of the wagon. We are lined up on the side with those of the first one. Strange. I can see the leader of the bandits overseeing the discharging of one of the merchant transport while one of his man approaches. He is looking at us one by one, checking every one of us. He stops on me.

"You there. Remove the hood."

My cover is going to be blown. I could escape but that would not bode well. The best thing right now would be to eliminate the bandit threat, and gain favor from whoever I will save in the scuffle.

"Hey woman. Didn't you hear? He said off with the hood!"

I am still not moving. I have apparently exhausted the patience of the man in front of me because his dirty hand stretches out, reaching for my head.

My decision is taken. I grab the arm and pull on it. He is not prepared for my fast movement and loses his equilibrium, falling toward me. I use his inertia to flip him. A well placed kick breaks his lower left leg. He is now on one knee, his back facing me, screaming his pain. I grab his chin and place my other hand on his shoulder. A firm pulling motion breaks his neck instantly. His screams dies out, muffled by the loud snapping noise of his vertebrae. I let him drop to the ground in a loud thud.

They all look at me. Enemies and allies alike.

Silence can be heard for a second.

The suddenness of my action has shocked them.

Good.

There is more where that came from.