《The Wolfram Chronicles》Chapter 20 - Collecting Lara
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He was directed towards the home and workshop of Lara. After dropping off the crates of enlistment papers, the Wyverns could easily take off from the Square. The flight proved to be a far faster one as well, taking no more than ten minutes, and upon touching down in front of the house, Vance was met with the same reaction as Franz as Lara rushed out to see two massive creatures filling up the street.
"Afternoon, Lieutenant." Vance greeted, tapping the top of his head in a half-salute.
Lara stood there, a mixture of shock, awe, and surprise preventing her from moving. Her lips trembled, her mind awash with questions, all of which seemed to fade away as her gaze met those sea-blue eyes. A strange calm came over her, her paralyzed state vanishing as Lara's eyes were locked on Vance's own. Smiling down at the young blonde, Vance gestured her to the second Wyvern, a green-scaled creature with a pale belly whose eyes matched the colour of its scales.
"You're likely to learn all you need to do the moment you mount your partner over there," Vance suggested.
Though he said that, he was unsure if the Wyvern in question would even consider allowing Lara to mount her. A slight frown tugged at the edge of his lips. With a bit of a fight, he managed to hide his worry as Lara approached in silence. If worse came to worse, he'd just have her hop up on Magic. But, just as the thought entered Vance's head, the green-scale went and nudged her head into Lara's chest, as if it had chosen her as her rider, prompting Lara to look over both excited and lost for words.
"Seems she likes you? Which is good, means we'll have an easier trip to Luna." Vance noted before he undid his harness, holding him to Magic. "So, you all packed and ready to go then?" He asked.
Now somehow finding her voice, Lara turned to face Vance, "Yeah, didn't have all that much in the first place... I mean... I did, but... Heh... ha~ I don't think I'd be able to lift the whole building." She joked nervously.
Vance shook his head, "No, no, I doubt we'd be able to do that." he reached over, grabbing a few items, "Come on; I'll help you with your things," Vance replied with a chuckle.
Lara nodded, walking past towards the building before suddenly stopping in her path, "WAIT!"
"What?!" Vance's left hand instinctively went to the scabbard, thumb pressed against the guard, ready to push the blade free.
"Is it okay to just leave them here? Unattended?"
Vance paused, dumbfounded, "Uh... yeah? They should be fine for a few minutes, and it's... wow, right, don't do that again. Please, that gave me a bit of a fright, haha."
"Oh! I'm sorry, I just get so damn worried about things, then I start to think and question stuff, and I just have to get my words out before I lose track of everything I have going on in this here head of mine, haha!" Lara replied, scratching the back of her head with the same nervous laugh.
It seemed she had a few quirks about her that would make her quite the addition to Vance's growing circle of friends and contacts. With a small wave of his head, he dismissed her worry aside.
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"It's fine, Lara, don't worry about it, let's just get your things," Vance said.
Nodding her head, she looked to Vance then the Wyverns, "Okay... so long as they don't go trying to eat anyone."
"They won't. Trust me, they're not like normal animals. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say they have the intelligence of humans in some capacity."
Lara cast her gaze to the floor, pondering such suggestions, before shaking the thought off, "I... alright, let's go then, I'll take your word for it since you've been around them longer than I have."
Without a second word on the matter, the two walked into her home. The moment they walked through the door, Vance noticed how much emptier the room was compared to last time. Lara had been working fast, packing up virtually all her things in preparation for the move to a new town and a new life-- the latter of which was a bit of an understatement.
"Here it all is!" She announced, dragging in several boxes and bags.
Raising a brow, Vance let out a bit of a chuckle as he saw how much she intended to take with her. "You know... as strong as the Wyverns are, I don't think they can carry all that." Vance joked, walking up to gauge the weight of each box.
"Oh... really? I thought-"
"I was kidding, Lara. I'm sure they can carry this all well enough. We'll just need to spend an hour or so securing each bag to our mounts, though, but I'm sure the weight isn't going to hinder them much." Vance explained.
Having tested the weight of each item, he found they were likely far lighter than the crates he had just delivered, so his assumption was based on that trip. "Come on then, help me with this."
Grabbing the first of the pile of duffle bags, Vance emerged back out into the sunlight, but as the light assaulted his eyes, what he heard caused him to pause.
"You there! Yes, you! Don't just stand there gawking like some chicken with its head cut off!"
Snapping his head around, he came to spot the owner of the voice, a large round stomached man dressed in the uniform of the Kendirewen Lancers. A quick scan could tell this man was an officer by the intricate details on the collar, lapel, and pips via his shoulder epaulettes. Atop his head was a powered wig from a bygone era, though the foul scent now reaching Vance's nose made him shiver and visibly gag at the scent his heightened sense of smell was getting.
"Yes? Can I help you?" Vance asked, straightening up.
"Yes, you can help me by giving me one of these majestic creatures!" The man demanded.
Vance raised a brow, "Excuse me?"
"You heard me, peasant! I'm ordering you to give me this one. Here." As he went on, he reached out towards the Green-scaled Wyvern, but before something the Wyvern could react with hostility, Vance halted snapped out, grabbing the man's wrist.
"And? Why should I listen to you, hmm?" Vance replied, his grip slowly growing tighter by the second.
Pulling away and down, the man rubbed his sore wrist. "Unhand me, cretin! I didn't permit you to touch me!" He hissed.
"And neither did I give you permission to touch my friend here." Vance retorted with a snarl.
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He was practically staring daggers into the pungent man before him, causing the man to look more sheepish than he had before. Vance was towering over the man, staring him down, weakening his resolve until finally, the Lancer coughed.
*Cough* "Erm... Yes... well... I suppose I could buy it?"
"Not. For. Sale." Vance growled, tone sounding more ominous than before.
It was only by the intervention of Lara that the dark mood of Vance was quickly dissipated. "Sorry!~ Uh... m-my commanding officer here is just here to pick me up, and these are our mounts... haha." Lara said, trying to make up a sort of excuse.
Neither man broke eye contact with each other, only a tiny grumble from the Lancer until finally, and with a loud harumph, he relented. "Hmph... fine! Keep your damn mount, but don't think this is over. You've made yourself a dangerous enemy here this day, peasant." He warned, his own voice sounding as foreboding as your cliche villain.
Vance was already questioning that cliche as he was well aware of such things from the books he'd read on earth. But to see one appear before him? Like this? He could finally see why the protagonist in all those tales seemed agitated by meeting such an individual. This whole ordeal had his blood boiling, his anger flaring, and his mind racing to put the pig down before he could do cause trouble for him or those he would come to care for. Everything screamed this would be trouble and would likely further increase the workload he already had, filling up his too small a plate.
As the man turned to walk away in a huff, Vance reached for his blade; a creeping darkness came over him for a second, but as the darkness came to overwhelm him, a light shinned over him, stopping him from making a fatal mistake. Releasing his grip on his sabres sheath, his hands clenched into fists as he bit his bottom lip.
"Thank you... Julia..." Vance whispered under his breath.
Looking up, he watched the Lancer walk away, wondering if he and Julia made the right call in letting him go. The Lancer would likely come back to haunt him, much like a mysterious individual going by the name of E. Another potential enemy outside of the current ones would make things far too risky.
"Are you okay?" Lara asked.
Vance blinked, snapping back to reality as he turned to face Lara. "Yes, fine... thank you. Right, well, let's get these bags hooked up, shall we? Come on then; I'll show you how this all works." Vance said after giving his head a small mental shake.
For now, his primary thought was on getting Lara back to the castle, but later, he'd have to make sure to keep an eye out for the Lancers and their vile leader. Vance did not doubt in his mind the man was up to something and wouldn't take no for an answer, no matter who it was coming from. The nobles of this country tended to be like that, which was part of the problem Kendirewen faced as a Kingdom. It relied too much on a failed system that believed those with a title somehow qualified an individual to lead armies. Either way, Vance wouldn't need to worry about this problem for the immediate future, as it was just him and Lara getting her stuff packed and secure on the Wyverns.
Turning back to the task at hand, Vance made short work of most of the heavy lifting, quickly hoisting the weightier items up and down like they were pillows, causing Lara to stare in bewilderment at the spectacle. She didn't know how to respond to any of this. First Wyverns, and now she was faced with the prospect that her commander was somehow superhuman. It didn't sit right to her and to Vance... well, he'd just gotten used to it and didn't think so much on the risks associated with people seeing a fraction of his powers. If anything, he hoped it'd alleviate the concerns of his new subordinates-- although it seemed to have the opposite effect.
Just as they loaded the last of the items on the Wyverns, Vance heard what sounded like footsteps of dozens of individuals marching down the cobbled streets towards them. Vance turned, spotting no one and nothing nearby, but waged a guess he was likely hearing the echo coming down from one of the nearby street corners.
"Mmm... that's not good," Vance mumbled under his breath.
Lara looked up from strapping down the last of her items, "What's up?"
Vance didn't bother to look at her, merely keeping his eyes fixated on the source of the noise, prompting him to frown. "Trouble... seems that smelly little fellow had more than a few friends willing to do his dirty work for him."
Lara shot up, immediately going into a state of panic, "Oh shit! W-what do we do now?!"
Vance eased her down with a wave, "Easy; you won't have to do anything... instead, I want you to head to Luna."
Lara looked puzzled, "And leave you?"
"Exactly. Don't worry, your new friend there knows the way. Just leave steering and travel to her, and you'll reach Luna in a few hours." Vance replied.
"But what about you?!"
"I'll be fine, now go!" He shot back, "You don't have much time... and I have to get a few answers..."
Lara hesitated for a second, she looked to Vance then to the Wyvern. She wanted to stay and fight but was unarmed and had no real combat training beyond shooting and cleaning a musket. Vance, on the other hand, looked and carried himself as a veteran warrior and was armed.
Vance could see the hesitation in her eyes and gave her a reassuring smile, "Relax. I'll be fine. If things get bad, Magic here will rush me out faster than you can count to ten." He told her.
Nodding her head, she quickly secured herself into the harness and snapped back to Vance, "I'll see you soon, yeah?"
"You know it," Vance replied.
Lara smiled, trying her best to dispel her worries as her mount kicked off the ground and into the sky, carrying with it a heavy load. Vance watched her leave awhile longer before turning to spot a small platoon of heavily armed men. Surprisingly though, instead of soldiers, they appeared more like highwaymen or bandits, prompting Vance to raise a brow and scoff at the sight.
"Really? Well... I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised. That smelly little fellow didn't seem all that clean from our initial meeting." Vance observed, turning to face the group. "Well, time to say hello."
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