Saena, City of the Kingdom of Stilyra- Mid Winter 15 years AR

“CITIZENS AND GUESTS OF SAENA, PLEASE WELCOME THE NEXT SPECTACLE TO GRACE OUR ARENA. YOU ALL KNOW HER, SHE FOUGHT AT THE BATTLE OF THE FOREST. THE SHIELDMAIDEN HERSELF, JAES!”

Jaesmin hopped up and down and walked out to a surprisingly full stadium. The arena usually saw its ups and downs in attendance but this was as full as she’d seen it even on such a cold day. They’d been hyping her fight for a week, saying they had something one of a kind for her to fight. Her contract stated that whatever she was fighting today was confidential from even her but the organizer assured her that she’d have no issue besting it. It was technically a fight to the death but the Arena existed to entertain and make money, who would sign a contract to fight if the participants kept dying.

“THE BATTLE OF WILLOW’S POINT!” She yelled out as she waved to her adoring fans, whicht had grown to more than just her friends from the academy and a few creepy older men that kept trying to make a pass on her. Once again the announcer had gotten the name of the battle wrong but she was pretty sure he was doing it for the amusement of the crowd. Dozens of people called out the correction along with her.

“HER OPPONENTS ARE SURE TO BRING A CHALLENGE IN THIS MORTAL CONTEST! A SPECIAL TREAT FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF THE ELVAN THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN SEEN IN THIS ARENA OR ANY OTHER! I GIVE YOU THE SCOURGE OF THE MAINLAND ITSELF!”

“Huh? He didn’t mea-” Jaesmin said to herself turning to look up at the announcers' booth.

“WEREWOLVES!” The announcers finished with a sinister sound in his voice. She gulped as the gate on the other side of the arena began to rise.

“What the fuck are you thinking?”

“You brought THEM into the city?

“KILL THEM ALL SHIELD MAIDEN!”

“Guards! GUARDS!”

“Where’s that lycan we saw earlier?”

“Go get Dame Helga!”

“Victory!”

“Death!”

“VICTORY!”

“DEATH!”

The crowd panicked as the announcement was made and rightfully so but a grizzled veteran took up the legion’s chant. His fellow veterans responded to his yell of ‘victory’ with a collective yell of ‘death’. It didn’t take long for the crowd to take up the chant as well. Jaesmin didn’t know if she liked the situation. Just having thousands of people chanting ‘death’ at the top of their lungs unnerved her.

News had long since spread of the werewolf hordes that had been discovered in remote areas of the isle. It was what made Jaesmin so popular in the arena. She originally came here to fight monsters and earn coin but after it came out that she’d fought alongside the lycans in the Dain and that she was a beautiful, young lycan warrior herself, the organizers for the arena pounced and propped her up like some kind of hero.

And up until this moment, she enjoyed the attention and added coin. What had changed for this moment? It was the two monsters that walked out of the gate and looked around at the crowd, whose chant died off at their appearance.

The two monsters stood at over 7 feet tall, they towered over anyone around. Their fur was torn and matted but it was the first time she’d seen one that wasn’t covered in grime but there was no doubt they were werewolves and not lycans. Both were completely naked and had a feral look in their eyes as they took in their surroundings.

One took off at a four-legged sprint and jumped up the wall in an attempt to get to the spectators on the other side of the chains. Even though they were too strong to get through, the crowd moved like the hand of the gods pushed them up the rows of seats.

Jaesmin took the distraction of the monsters to sprint towards the pillar at the center. It was fairly common for competitors to use it as cover for their flank and Jaesmin would do the same. She knew how fast her opponents could run and didn’t want to be caught in a charge on open ground.

Her movement caught the attention of the second werewolf who roared and, as predicted, charged straight towards her. She looked at the distance and knew she would be able to get there in time. She held her sword across her body so she could point two fingers at the coming monster.

Bright light and a loud boom came simultaneously as she dual cast [Thunder] and [Blinding Flash] at the same time that she closed her eyes. It took time but she’d gotten past the bottleneck imposed by her use of spellsheets. Once she had the fundamentals down she began learning spells in earnest. She still couldn’t pull off feats like Cara but she at least had magic in her arsenal.

She opened them to see the results of her work, the werewolf had come to a stop a dozen paces away, its ears twitched and it was rapidly blinking its eyes. Her strategy was effective but it wasn’t something she could have done at the battle. Doing so would have incapacitated her allies along with her enemies. Speaking of enemies, Jaesmin immediately took advantage of the fact that the monster's acute senses had been overwhelmed.

It was obvious that it could still make her out, even if it was having issues focusing on her. It swiped at her but she caught it on her enchanted round shield, courtesy of Jon. The shield took the blow while only small grooves cut into it, giving the badger painted on its surface a new set of scars. The blow still set her off balance and she fell into a roll. As soon as her feet were under her she pushed off to the side while twisting and swiping blindly with her falchion as she felt something big enough to cause a breeze, flash past her.

“THE SHIELDMAIDEN DRAWS FIRST BLOOD!” The announcer yelled as the crowd roared. She had seen the shadow of the beast move as she rolled but she wasn’t sure if it was coming for her or not. That being said she wouldn’t sit there and let the monster attack her from behind. The wild swipe had gotten lucky and as she rolled back onto her feet the werewolf whined as it struggled on three limbs. Blood ran down its right leg where she’d hit tendon and muscle. She took a quick glance at the second werewolf that was still on the chains but had taken notice of its packmate's cries of pain.

AaAWOoOO!

Jaesmin didn’t wait for it to finish the wavering howl and threw a [firebolt] at the injured monster's face. It caught the blast of fire and heat with its forearm as it instinctively protected its head. She rushed as it desperately rolled on the ground trying to put out the flames on its fur but she was forced to dodged back as the wolf tried to swipe with its right arm. The action caused it to lose its balance with both its left arm and right leg already injured.

Even as it was falling she stepped in at chopped down as hard as she could at the monster's exposed neck. The edge of the blade only sank in two inches but she knew it was enough as the monster collapsed with a damaged spinal cord. She pulled back her sword and slashed again at the side of its neck in an underhanded swing but jumped out of the way as a set of teeth and claws tried to tackle her.

“SHE’S DONE IT, SHE’S KILLED ONE OF THE MONSTERS BUT WHAT WILL THE SHIELD MAIDEN DO NOW?” Jaes looked at the sword still in the monster's neck and at the second monster that was rolling from its failed attack. She drew Drakefang out and stood perfectly still with her eyes closed, “SEE THAT? SHE’S BROUGHT OUT THE DRAKEFANG! A DAGGER MADE FROM THE DRAKE KILLED BY HER LO…”

Jaesmin ignored the exaggerated details surrounding her dagger, the fang wasn’t even from the drake Jon had killed. The magic spread through her as she focused on the most difficult spell she knew, she opened her eyes and whispered its name when she fully cast it, “[Haste].”

She hadn’t used it on the onset because of how draining it was. Once the magic ran its course her body would feel sore and sluggish. She had to make quick work of the second one. It currently was distracted by Arn. He’d made it to the front row and was standing in his lycan form, barking insults at the werewolf.

“A reminder, please do not interfere with the fight.” A less enthusiastic voice came across.

Seeing her opening Jaes sprinted at the beast with her shield in front of her. With haste increasing her speed she shot off like a bolt from a crossbow straight at the werewolf.

It turned around and dropped to brace on all fours while she impacted it like a battering ram, casting [Dampening Ward] on herself a breath before impact. The magic didn’t completely protect her but without it, she’d probably have been seriously injured or at least knocked the wind out of herself. Especially considering she wasn’t just impacting the werewolf. She was also impacting the wall behind it.

It was yet another tactic she’d developed that would be completely useless in a battle. Even if she used it to join a lycan charge, she’d shoot past them and only be able to hit one or two enemies with her shield before she lost her momentum. At that point, the ones she didn’t hit would be all around her and she’d be ripped to shreds in moments. It was strictly a one-on-one tactic.

The crowd watched her as she bounced off the werewolf and the wall and landed on her back a few paces away. She groaned and quickly got to her feet, flinching with the pain coming from her dislocated left shoulder. The werewolf lay on the ground whimpering in pain.

The crowd was silent as she dropped her shield and walked up behind it. She felt the effects of [Haste] wearing off, making her feel even worse. She dropped a knee on the side of the monster's head and before it could respond, she drove the hard monster fang turned dagger into the base of its skull. It twitched slightly as she twisted the blade around and tried not to think about the fact it was the same end that Ser Afgheir had offered her if she refused his training.

She sheathed her dagger and walked over to the wall, and grabbed an iron ring with her left hand and with a jerk of her body, forcefully tore her should back into the socket, casting [Heal] on herself at the same time. Even with the magic it still hurt, it actually hurt worse than having it dislocated but she didn’t dare wait. While she knew for certain the second one was dead as its body reverted to a young woman. She knew the first was still alive. It lay motionless and to any ill-informed, it looked dead but it was still in its monstrous form.

She was too tired now to do any theatrics for the crowd, plus she was pissed at the organizers. To put her one-on-one with a werewolf would have been bad but two on one? She made a point to discuss with her contact how squires fought werewolves 3 or 4 to one and used flanking tactics to defeat them.

Hel’s crusted taint! If it wasn’t for remembering her accidentally disabling Arn with her flash-bang tactic, she wouldn’t have thought of it as a viable tactic, and would probably be a smear of blood on the snow-covered arena floor. She also had him to thank for distracting the werewolf while she prepared her shield-charge technique.

She bent down and thrust her dagger into the skull of the paralyzed monster. She wiped the blood on her dagger off on her pant leg before sheathing it. The now naked human-formed man, also young, lay dead at her feet.

She picked up her sword and after a brief pause, lifted her falchion into the air in a heroic pose. The crowd broke their silence and erupted in cheers. A grin graced her lips as the announcer could barely be heard over the roar of the crowd. Maybe she would do a bit of theatrics and stretched out both arms and screamed in triumph.

She still planned on having words with the organizers and judging by the fully armored Dame Helga that was glaring at the announcers' booth from the first row, Jaes wouldn’t be the only one they had to deal with.

**********

“Thank the gods you’re alright!” Arn ran up to Jaes after she walked into the waiting area outside the fighters’ ready room. He grabbed her by the face and aggressively kissed her. She reached up and grabbed his hand, he was squeezing her head too hard but didn’t break off the kiss. Arn was 17, a full three years older than her but that didn’t matter to either of them.

She dreaded telling Jon about it but she hoped he would understand. Dame Helga told her that it was normal and that Jaesmin was still a young girl. It was good for her to test the waters and not tie herself off to the first boy she had a crush on.

“You! Let’s go!” thinking of Dame Helga, she marched into the waiting room with an angry shout. She was pushing an arena guard in front of her in her lycan form. The guard simply pointed at a spiral staircase leading up and she turned him and kept moving without breaking her stride. The order wasn’t for the guard but for Jaesmin. She handed her bag off to Arn and quickly followed.

At the top of the steps were another two guards but both of them took one look at the irate lycan knight and stepped away from the door they were supposed to be guarding. The knight pushed the guard leading her to the side and kicked the door in.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?!” she yelled as she stepped into the private area for the organizers and other important individuals. Everyone in the room jumped and two guards wearing the colors of Saena quickly drew their rapiers. Dame Helga looked over at the Ducal guards and Duke they took position in front of, “Your eminence, were you aware of what these fools had planned?”

It wasn’t a polite request, more she demanded an answer from the much higher-ranked nobleman.

“You dare spea-”

“YES! I fucking dare! You bring those flea-bitten savages into the city? You risk much and put a citizen of Ederath in danger? And for WHAT? A fucking spectacle?” She looked at each face as she spoke.

“I will remind you that you speak to the Duke of these lands,” The duke himself said, he tried to sound arrogant and aloof but fear crept into his voice.

“And Miss Jaesmin is the one who saved Princess Astrid’s life in the Dain, she was awarded scholarship at the Academy at the word of Prince Erik, and has earned the favor of MY KING!”

Jaesmin watched as the Duke paled. She knew that Dame Helga was playing politics and didn’t really care all that much about Jaesmin’s safety when compared to bringing werewolves into a human city. Although, nothing Dame Helga had said was untrue. She had received a very nice handwritten letter from Queen Katla thanking her and providing an open invitation to visit the Royal family at her own convenience.

“Favor or not. You overstep yourself. I should have you-”

“What?! You should have me what?” Helga snapped back but continued in a level tone, “Careful Duke, my prince is already coming… Prince Erik and his knights have sent word. They’ll be here soon. Then we’ll see how much your title matters. Who is in charge of the monsters?”

A scared older man that looked like he’d seen his fair share of fights hesitantly raised his hand. Dame Helga walked over and snatched him by the collar, “Show me where you keep the monsters.”

“Those were the only two we had!”

“We’ll check and if you hide any and I find out…” Helga left the threat unsaid as she pushed him to the door, “You want to play with the wolves, Duke? Take off the frilly garments and join the legion, if you’ve got the stones for it.”

“Umm, Miss Jaesmin,” one of the organizers addressed her before she could follow the knight and captive out, “You’re winnings and a gift from his eminence and the young lord.”

She took the bag of coin, rolled parchment, and the dress that was offered before giving the Duke a bow and her gratitude. Dame Helga may have been fine with insulting a duke but Jaesmin wasn’t about to. As she did a bright light darted into the room and snatched Jaesmin’s face in a hug.

Solara had been coming and going these past few months. She’d never be gone long but it just so happened that the fairy was on her trip to wherever she went on that day. Which Jaesmin reflected was probably a good thing for the Duke. The fairy never interfered with her fights but she also held no love for werewolves.

Jaesmin inspected her winnings when she got to the waiting room. She got a flat fee and a cut of the ticket sales. She smiled as she saw the slip detailing how much she’d earned. It was surprisingly Ederathan and would be considered quite risque by Stilyran standards. The note from the Duke’s youngest son made it apparent he was trying to sleep with her. She passed the slip and dress off to Dani as she unrolled the parchment.

“You made 30 gold in a single fight!?” Dani sounded incredulous but she was holding the proof in her hands.

“And a horse,” Jaesmin said while holding up the document.

“With parchment?” Cara asked, taking the document from Jaes to inspect it.

“No. It just says I can pick out any horse that I want and the Duke will pay for it, as long as it doesn’t have a pedigree,” She shrugged, it didn’t matter much to her. She might even go for the most expensive one and sell it when she went to Ederath. Either that or she’d look for a decent warhorse to give to Leofrith.

“Well at least you can treat your old friends when they get here, just don’t forget about your new ones,” Dani winked.

Jaes gave her a smile and nod but her mind was now elsewhere. She felt anxious about talking to Jon but one of her biggest concerns was she hoped they had word from Leofrith. She knew he went to Novaria and he was probably caught up doing something there but she thought he’d at least write.

**********

“There it is!” Erin yelled from ahead, Jon walked out and could see her hanging off the side of the caravan with a goofy smirk. She waved at him while holding on and he waved back, confused. They’d added leather straps to hold onto and put nails into the floor for added grip. It was necessary, considering it was now a common occurrence

“So that’s Saena?” Karli asked trying to see the city ahead while maintaining the wagon's course. She may have been told to drive as a joke but Jon didn’t see any reason why she shouldn’t. She knew horses, knew how to keep them calm and take care of them and their harnesses. She’d also agreed to go with to Jon’s land after she was freed.

“No, that’s actually Verona. Saena is just on the other side of the river though,” he said as they passed the road to Sentia. He chuckled, they kept coming back this way. Suddenly something grabbed him by his hair, “Ah!”

He looked up to see Tira looking down at him from the roof of the caravan. He grinned up at her, with how tall he was she was less than a foot above his head, she leaned further over the edge to kiss him, “What’re you doing up there?”

“Aren’t you cold,” Aethred asked while looking up from the passenger bench. She glanced over at him and kissed Jon again, “Not trying Jon’s bit, I saw what you did to him.”

“We didn’t… that was just a…” Jon felt a bit flustered at that. Apparently, half the convoy of wagons thought they had been having sex. He tried to explain that it wasn’t the case but they noticed the bite mark on his neck. He got rid of it with [Heal] but they still made fun of him for it.

“A hickey!” Jon groaned as the proof of why he was annoyed was yelled back to him from the wagon ahead. He could hear laughter, both from the knights upfront and some of the slaves behind. They all knew they’d be going free and only a few kept up the act by calling him master.

“Seriously Tira, how aren’t you cold?” Karli looked up at her. It was a good question, judging from the wagon in front, there was a layer of snow on the roof.

“I lived with no clothes in a cave, this is better,” She answered by leaning further out and pointing at her breastband.

“Na ah, how is it better? That barely counts as clothing,” Erin asked as Aethred helped her climb aboard. That afforded two other improvements, a simple step, and a place to grab a hold of while they climbed on as it was moving.

“Could take off and still not that cold,” Tira said nonchalantly, then waggled her eyebrows down at Jon.

“That’s alright,” Karli responded quickly, she’d gotten to know Tira and already knew that she had a different perspective on showing skin.

“I believe you,” Jon said and felt his face feel a little red because of how she was looking at him.

“Prove it,” Aethred said looking up at Tira, Erin grabbed his ear, “Oww… don’t give me that look, I’m not trying to sneak a peek! We’ve all seen her naked befor- owww. Stop pinching me.” Aethred squirmed and quickly retreated inside when both of Erin’s hands and one of Tira’s started digging their nails into him. Jon switched places with Erin and leaned out the side to see the city, he felt a hand rub his.

“Jon, come up.”

“Ahh, I’m not sure if it’ll take both of our weight,” He looked at the boards that made up the roof.

“It will,” Erin said

“How would you know?”

“Roland said that they built it a lot stronger than they needed to,” she shrugged. Jon looked at the framework again and compared it to his visions. It was pretty heavy-duty.

“Sooo, up!” Jon extended his hand and with her help he was soon riding on the top of the carriage.

“Hey, where are you going?” Aethred asked when Erin jumped down.

“My carriage!” Soon Erin was on the roof sitting on a blanket and after a minute, she was joined by Willow. Passing travelers gave them strange looks or laughed as they waved. The walls of the city grew larger and larger as Jon told Tira about the last time they were there. She giggled at the story. It was actually nice up there, even with the chilly air. Not long after their new way of travel was invented, they had to get down as they went in the gates. Rather than

“You know that’s kind of nice up there,” Erin stated as she hopped down from the roof, “We should add a ladder to the back to make it easier to get up there though.”

“I know! Imagine in the summer, laying up there in just a breastband. Taking in the summer sun. Not to mention when adventurers set camp for the night, it’d give whoever’s on watch a good view,” Willow said, hopping down next.

“Women laying out in their underclothes? People riding on top of carriages instead of in them? Drink that’ll give old Afgheir a run for his money. Got to tell ya kid, looking forward to seeing what comes out of your lands,” Finn walked back to them and handed Jon a sheet of paper. Jon slumped his shoulders, it was directions to the slave yards. He needed to go there to put up his slaves for the night.

“We really need to get to Ederath,” He said with a sigh, “sooner everyone’s legally freed the better.”

“We really should look into buying a few fucking more of ‘em,” Aethred said with Karli staring at him from behind with her mouth open. Aethred looked around and read the mood. Being tricked into buying slaves was one thing, but intentionally buying them was another, “as in we go down there and see who you can buy that knows something useful for your land and then free them too.”

“He’s kinda right you know, worst case, you spend some coin a few more people get their freedom. Best, they get their freedom and we get someone willing to help us build something worthwhile,” Erin said as she crawled up into the caravan again with a finger raised, she came back a few seconds later with a piece of parchment, “Let’s see of 154 slaves, 71 are willing to follow us and of the remaining 83 that plan on leaving, 24 of them said they’d come back after they go to get their families… Tira told me you were stressed about all this, we’re both Halladsons. Anyways that’s 95 people plus Jaes, Leo, and us that’s 103. Well, if you’re sticking around?”

The question was directed at Willow, “I’m an adventurer, sounds like an adventure to me.”

“Can I see that?” Jon asked and she passed him the sheet. Besides the numbers, it also had a list of each slave that was willing to come with and what their profession was.”

Finn gave out a whistle behind him and pointed at a point halfway down the sheet. In total Jon’s new village would have a total of five prostitutes. Granted that didn’t mean they would stay in that profession. Most of the others were simply marked down as laborers. With a few marked down as masons, builder, baker, and two marked as ‘Mini Tira with horses’ and ‘best driver ever’, those, of course, being Karli and Roland.

“Umm.. thanks,” Jon said and handed the list back to Erin. She was back to scheming again but he actually needed that now.

They made it into the city and after parking the caravans, storing the chest full of coin with the merchants guild, and checking with Ser Hallry to ensure they wouldn’t break any of Ederath’s laws with their plan, they set out. Erin and Willow were going to find Jaesmin and Cara while the rest led the soon to be freed slaves to the slave yard. Jon felt a little sick considering what he was about to do.