Corwin had thought that he was used to living in the wilderness. However, it turned out that living in said wilderness was much more comfortable when one had a cabin roof over their head. It may have also helped that he didn’t have to share a sleeping area with a large group of rowdy mercenaries.

Luckily, due to his job promotion to preparations chef, his sleeping arrangement was moved to be closer to the river so he could quickly clean himself before attending his duties. However, with this new tent, came new roommates. His new tent-mates were a pair of sisters, who absolutely terrified him in all the worst ways possible.

Their names were Erina and Kari, and even though they were a full 8 or so years older than him, they had decided that teasing him was the most mature and productive use of their time. Kari had long, black hair which she kept in a tight braid. Tall and lithe, she seldom spoke, preferring to communicate only when necessary. Her counterpart, Erina, was almost the complete opposite in terms of personality. Never afraid to have her say or offend anyone, she spoke more than enough for the pair of them. Red haired, and a head shorter than her sister, she was the reason, at least he believed, that his teasing had begun.

For one, like all the mercenaries in the camp, they seemed to lack a sense of shame. It wasn’t uncommon to see a whole bunch of them, men and women, bathing together in the river. When he had tried to find a private space to change his clothes and bathe, he had been sorely disappointed to find that privacy was very much lacking in the camp. Upon noticing his search for privacy, Erina hadn’t stopped teasing him about his embarrassment at bathing with others, mocking him constantly by asking if he wanted them to section off a piece of the river, or to give him a private changing tent. Kari didn’t comment, but would play along with Erina when she dramatically turned away to ‘give him space to change’.

However, they hadn’t gained the prized riverside accommodation by means of their teasing or looks. Although women were far in the minority for the mercenary make-up, they were far from the only women at the camp- or for that matter the prettiest. Much more important than that, they were the group’s stealth and scouting leaders. They had been relatively tight-lipped about their particular role in the company when Corwin had taken the chance to ask them, but from what he could gather from Scully and Nigel, the two were the go-to members when covert infiltrations were required.

Unfortunately, although Corwin suspected that it might have been by design, this had led to him paying the price for underestimating their combat abilities.

Seeing him wake up early one morning to complete Keane’s daily warm-up requirements, Kari had asked if he would mind her joining him. After seeing her efforts keep pace with him in their laps around camp, he had fallen further into the belief that all her skills lay in the area of scouting and legwork. Oh, how wrong he had been.

After arriving back in front of their tent mildly out of breath (and she looking like all they had done was stroll leisurely around the camp), Kari had suggested they cool down with a light spar. Feeling confident in his abilities, Corwin had accepted without a second thought.

Only seconds later, he was on the ground, disarmed, and thoroughly in fear of his tentmates’ deadly speed and precision with her daggers. She had obviously told Erina about the whole ordeal, and from that day on, the two had taken it in turns to jog around camp, then duel with him.

In the few days he had been in their tent, he had yet to beat either one of them even once. He had managed to get a few strikes on Erina, but the only reason for that was that she seemed to fight by the maxim “give flesh, break bone”. Though his fights with Erina lasted a lot longer than his fights with Kora, it was her fights that ended in him having to visit Keane for a patch up the most.

It seemed, that for all his combat prowess, Keen’s role in the group was as the healer. Surprised that he had shown his non-republican weaving to his fellow mercenaries, upon asking, Corwin had found out that Keane wasn’t the only non-Republican member of the company. They were immigrants from Teneré who had, for one reason or another, sailed from their homeland to the neutral country of Coaevi, and then applied for citizenship in Animar.

The Republic, Keen had told him, gave all the migrants extensive questioning on their real purpose for moving to the Republic. It was only after they were satisfied that they weren’t letting spies or ‘undedirables’ into their country that they gave him a special licence to liver here. But it wasn’t as simple as that, Keane was required to meet with city officials at a designated time every few months to perform a routine ‘check-up’ and to see if he had kept his record clean. Not to mention the overt and blatant bias and barely concealed disgust that the Republican public showed when they knew of his identity. That was why, he, like the rest of the Alliance migrants, had joined the travelling company that welcomed them all, regardless of their beginnings. They still preferred to keep their past a secret from outsiders, but it was no secret between the company members.

Illegals were a different matter though. If Corwin was found to be able to use Alliance style weaving, and without any license, then he would be seized by the guard immediately, under suspicion of espionage.

***

The day after the meeting started very differently to usual. Instead of being one of the only people up when he awoke for his morning workout, Corwin was surprised to find that the camp was buzzing with activity. People were packing up tents, gathering supplies, and equipping themselves with armour and weapons.

As Corwin was still marvelling at the level of activity, Scully took that moment to pass by.

"Ya better get ready kid, the boss didn't kid around when he said we leaving at the crack of dawn! And you ain't gonna have a chance to re-equip or redo your armour or packing on the way- at least until we make camp. Prepare yourself for a rough few days, kid- you're expected to be on guard at all times- and you are probably going to have to take a night watch at least once or twice during the trip,"

Luckily, Corwin didn't have much to pack, as all that he owned was packed into the sack he took with him from his parents house. Not to mention, he didn't currently own any armour.

"Don't stress, I nearly shut me pants on me first expedition as well," reminisced Scully, taking Corwin's hesitation to be anxiousness. "It's fairly straightforward, and a large part we don't see that much action-the hardest enemy we fight is boredom!" He broke into a cackling laughter at that.

"Thanks for the advice, Scully. Maybe I can help with the entertainment this time round," Corwin joked.

"Ye might provide more entertainment than ye realise, I've heard about your morning bouts. Some of me mates have started up a betting pool, actually. I'm thinking of starting a wager myself, so ya better start improving for my sake!"

Corwin joined in with Scully's laughter. He could see how it would be funny to watch the newest member of the group get viciously beat down, especially when he underestimated his opponent.

"Wait, does that mean that there are people who are rooting for my victory?"

"Naw, they just bet on how long you'll last! I think the latest was a little over a few minutes!"

At that, Scully left him to get his affairs in order, cackling all the more harder as he passed. With a small smile on his face, Corwin re-entered the tent and started to read himself for the journey.

***

Only a few hours into the job, Corwin could absolutely see why the boredom could drive the mercenaries insane. They have been sitting in the back of the wagon for the past few hours, with nothing to do but watch the scenery slowly receded into the distance.

Luckily, or unluckily, Keene was in the same wagon-and he made sure that Corwin, although still bored, had things to do.

For almost the fifth time they had sat down in the wagon, Keene quizzed him on all the information that was, according to him, 'necessary to know'.

“Tell me what sects are, and what are their weaving specialities are”

“Do we really have to go through this again? I’ve told you almost 3 times already!”

“Corwin. This knowledge might save your life one day. And who knows, maybe you’ll visit your homeland one day?”

Corwin groaned and rolled his eyes. For one, it wasn’t exactly his homeland…

“Fat chance of that happening! Tensions are already high enough that The Republic feels it necessary to recruit people ‘just in case’ of a war. A leisurely vacation over in a potentially enemy country doesn’t sound like a relaxing break to me!”

“But that’s exactly why it might save your life one day- if you ever have to fight a member of The Alliance, you’re going to hope you know exactly what their capabilities are!”

Although agonising, Corwin could see Keane’s point. Obliging, he started to repeat what he had been taught about weaving in the Alliance.

There were 3 types of weaving in The Alliance; however, it wasn’t categorised like so. The ‘schools’ were separated into three ‘sects’, each teaching a singular style.

There was the ‘internal’ school, which focused on using weaving to supplement their martial arts, empowering their strength or steeling their defence. This was the sect that Keane belonged to. Healing, or more accurately speeding up natural bodily restoration, was a more abstract section of the internal sect.

Secondly, there was the 'imbued' school. They primarily used weapons of all types- blades, ranged, blunted weapons, ect- and strengthened them with their weaving. Due to the vast variety of weapons, the weaving is consequently very individualistic and could differ widely from practitioner to practitioner.

Finally, there was the subtlety school, the school which Corwin's father would have belonged to. This sect, like their teachings, was shrouded in mystery. Generally used as assassins, practitioners utilised a wide variety of skills and abilities to confuse, trick, or manipulate their opponents.

Corwin finished with a sigh.

"All right! Are you satisfied now?!"

"Very. But that's not gonna stop me from quizzing you tomorrow, just to make sure you've completely understood it."

Corwin growled in frustration as the men listening on in the wagon laughed alongside Keane.

****

A little past lunchtime, the mercenaries finally met with their employees.

The merchant trade group had three caravans, which were clearly full to the brim with cargo. Upon noticing their presence, they had sent over a representative to fetch the boss.

As the boss went over to the merchants to finalise the contract, the dragon's tail group took the opportunity to stretch their legs and relieve themselves.

Corwin took his cue from the others, stretching languidly as he massaged the aches on his backside resulting from the hardwood floor.

"Hey! We didn't get a chance to fight this morning. Wanna make up for it now?"

Even without turning around, he knew that it was Erina who was behind him.

"Are you sure you want to do this, in front of the others- not to mention the traders?" He didn't mind fighting in front of the other mercenaries, but the merchants were also looking on in curiosity. Corwin didn't want to be the one to ruin their first impressions.

"Nah, are you kidding me? These guys lap it up-they even told me that there's a betting pool on the way over here. I sure as shit wanna get in on that!"

She cast a dismissive glance over at the merchant's caravans.

"Those old stuffies can shove it- although perhaps it'll make them feel safer in their hiring of our services!"

Corwin couldn't see a reason to refuse so he started shucking off his travelling year and grabbed his training blade from his sack.

A small crowd had already started to form in a circle around them, and bets were being placed. It was a little mortifying to hear that some thought he'd be downed in the first few seconds, but then again, he was the newest member of the group. Not all of them had seen his earlier fights, clearly.

Seeing his readiness, Erina didn't wait.

Unlike her sister, Erina used a greatsword-an oppressively heavy 2-handed weapon which she used to significant effect. Admittedly, this was a little strange for someone that specialised in reconnaissance missions, however, he had seen her practising with small throwing daggers as well.

Like he had come to expect, she charged in with a devastating swipe angled diagonally downwards to the left. Quickly, Corwin jumped back out of range.

Although the sword had been magically blunted, he knew from experience that he still wouldn't be having a good day if he was hit.

With the end of the greatsword now angled at the ground, he dashed in, sword at the ready. Seeing her grin, he quickly realised the trap- but too late, the pommel of her greatsword was already thrust in his path.

Barely managing to block the hilt of his blade, he was still winded by the force of the thrust. Frantically retreating, he could see her swinging her blade into position. He was out of posture, off-balance, and there was nothing he could do to block her next swing.

"OY!! STOP THE FIGHT!"

Immediately ceasing her swing, Erina looked over and cringed to see the boss bearing down on them. Corwin similarly panicked when he saw his saviour.

"Look, I don't mind you having a rumble, but pay some mind to the surroundings! I was trying to get a deal done, and all I could hear was you lot cheering and yelling."

"Sorry, boss" sheepishly replied Erina.

The boss interjected before Corwin could echo the sentiment.

"It's fine now; the deal is sorted. But, they want to say a few words to the lot of you, so pack this up and head over. Now!"

Slowly, amidst murmurs of discontent, the group slowly made their way over to the merchant's caravan.

Finally catching his breath, Corwin placed his training sword back in his pack and ran to catch up with Erina, who was already on her way over.