Chapter 2 - Foreign Forces

“Down, girl, down.” Quara was more than surprised when her mount suddenly reared up startled. Especially because her orni, Untai, was a war-breed antelope and normally pretty composed.While calming her steed with a few strokes between the elongated black horns, she looked over the head of the beautiful white animal and saw something unexpected on the street before her. A young girl with the typical yellowish-golden taint of the locals was curled up to a ball in front of Untai.

Jamming her left foot into the stirrup Quara swiftly dismounted; the layered plate armor, making a high piched clang and light reflected of the pale metal. Putting her one hand on the head of her bladed mace, she slowly walked over to the girl while her eyes scanned the surrounding groups of people. While the most of them were shocked by the accident, there was open aggression readable in the faces of a few. Whatever she were to do now, she would have to act cautiously.

“Do you need help getting up?”

Behind the two of them Quara’s soldiers began forming a small cluster; ahead of them all was of course Shahrzade Greengarden. The High Paladins personal acolyte and substitute voice, of the Empire and the church. A beautifull woman with dark honey coloured skin, regal features and long deep brown hair, braided from her neck to the point of reaching her butt. The way she was sitting on her orni, in an expensive looking red coat, with two loaded pistols and a saber in the belt, she looked like the prime example of nobility. She regarded Quara with a questioning look as if to say, what was taking her so long. While frowning in anger Quara looked back to the girl, she was scrawny and her nose looked like it had been broken several times.

“Get up, girl you need to clear the way.”

Even though she tried to get up Milinda let out a squeal and fell back on her behind, when she saw the troop of soldiers gathering in front of her. Scared and shivering Jinx still hang on to the girl’s body, when Quara grabbed her by the wrist and forcefully dragged her upwards. When she saw the creature Milinda was carrying, Quara’s demeanor quickly changed from helpful to outright hostile letting lose of the wrist she pushed the girl and her creature away from her.

“What by Ethos is this thing?”

First Milinda was too confused to answer but after a moment she started stammering.“I. It. That’s Jinx. I. I saved him!”

The iron clad paladin was visible grossed out by the bright orange animal, a dark look on her face she reached for the haft of her mace. Fearing what she might do to her furry friend, Milinda crept back from the angry woman.

"This does not look like local wildlife, is this thing breach-born?"

Quara's fingers trembled as far as she was concerned all breach-born creatures were dangerous, there was no telling what this thing was capable of. Before she could act though, a small stone landed a few centimeters in front of her and skipped over the street. She swiftly scanned the crowd and finally settled on a dirty adolescent boy. When the boy realized that she was looking at him, he gulped but set a foot forward, half in fear half in defiance.

"Get away from that girl and her pet, you mean bitch!"

A older woman seemingly, somehow related to the boy tried to drag him away visibly terrified, but a man in his mid-twenties placed a hand on her shoulder and raised his fist towards Quara.

"The boy is right! Let the girl in peace! She didn't do nothing!"

More people joined in now, rallied by the courage of the two. The few dozen city guard that were around didn't do much to keep the people in check, in fact they looked ready to join in the fray. Given the foul mood, most of the Sibalien soldiers were on edge, some of them even readied their weapons, preparing to fight if their commander gave the order.

Yet before the situation could escalate, the unmistakable sound of marching boots could be heard from up ahead. A troop of ten soldiers, accompanied by Queen Sophia Mathir and a black haired Magi, were quickly approaching. The queen looked impressive for her age, even though she was already over eighty years old, her hair had still retained most of its original black colour with only a few thick grey strains. Sophia’s face did not show the typical wrinkles one gets from laughing or smiling, indicating a rather cold outwards personality. And just as hard as her appearance looked, her voice cut through the noise of the crowd.

“What is going on here? I forbid anyone from causing a scene in my town!” Her grey eyes were piercing the Sibalien men and women like icy spears. It was only when the queen recognized the small figure cowering on the ground that Quara saw something like a glint of fear disrupting the old woman's perfect mask.

“Rajeev, get the girl away from the street!”

One of the soldiers a man with prominent belly and the first strains of grey in the hair quickly stepped over to the girl. Quara noticed how a thick sweat pearl made its way down his nose; he was a pathetic excuse for a soldier. Not one of her subordinates would have dared to show such fear in front of an opposing force. All the while cautiously glancing over to the soldiers on their ori he carefully grabbed the girl by her shoulders and escorted her away. Quara could hear some of the words whispered between the two.

“Milinda, what were you thinking you stupid girl? Get back to the mansion, will you?”

She brought her attention back to the queen, curious on how this situation would play out. Even though the people of Zembia clearly outnumbered them more than twenty to one, with Rajeev gone there were only a few trained soldiers left and Quara's unit persisted of fifteen mounted iron-clad soldiers and five priests of the Order of the Erupting Sun. Not counting the Lady Greengarden and herself of course. So if it came down to it she was sure they could take on most of them, but maybe it would not come to this, maybe.

Quara was surprised when after a very long and drawn out moment of dangerous silence Shahrzade moved her mount away from the soldiers and towards the queen's entourage. She led her ori about three arms-lengths before them, dismounted and followed with an elegant bow in one fluid motion.

"Queen Mathir, I am terribly sorry for the commotion my subordinates have caused here. I am Shahrzade of the Greengardens, High Acolyte of the Order of the Erupting Sun and voice of both crown and church, as such I assure you my Highness that situations like this will not arise again. Of course we will, if you so wish, pay the necessary reparations for this unfortunate incident."

The queen's brows furrowed and her eyes scanned the soldiers and people around them. A questioning expression was visible, as if she hadn't found what she was looking for. Stepping forward and signaling her escort to stay behind, she quietly addressed Shahrzade.

“What is the meaning of this? Where is the emperor? Are you playing me for a fool?”

For maybe half a second a belittling smile crept up on the lips of the high acolyte, before disappearing behind a professionally neutral expression. When she answered her raised voice was loud enough, that even the people on sidewalks could hear her clearly.

“The Emperor had other matters to attend to, matters that could not be left unattended. Because of these very unfortunate circumstances, I am, on behalf of the High Paladin, authorized to carry out any and all negotiations regarding the future of the Sibalien, Zembian relationship.”

Queen Mathir's eyes tightened in to small angry slits, which left no doubts of her thoughts about the news, but retaining her royal manners and cold personality she simply regarded Shahrzade with a small bob of her head.

“Very well than I can only assume that the Emperors other matters are indeed of grave importance. But let us not tarry on this for now, please let no one say I am a bad hostess. I will be awaiting the Orders envoys in my mansion.”

With not another word she turned on her heels and walked away, most of the armed men she had by her side following her. Only two people stayed a while longer one was a young soldier with dark and hateful eyes the other the beautiful Magi that had watched the whole ordeal but had remained quiet until now. They made a step forward while the soldiers forcefully grabbed his glaive's hilt, looking like an animal ready to pounce. When the Magi opened their mouth, the voice coming out was darker than Quara would have expected.

“For all of you that have not understood it, the Queen is inviting to a banquet. And of course we are expecting you to turn up in the proper clothing. Not in armor and armed to the teeth. It is not like we invited an invasion force right?”

A dangerous glint in the eyes, the Magi turned away and placed one slim hand gently on the soldier’s shoulders. The two of them walked away from the Quara’s troop hand in hand, but not before the young man turned his head and spit on the ground in front of her. As an answer Quara simply placed a closed hand on the hilt of her mace as if to insinuate him to try it.

On their way to the queen's mansion the reception they had received by the town’s people had become more and more hostile. While the streets were decorated with all manner of flowers and colorful ribbons, more than once parents would hide their children behind the back when the soldiers were riding past. Apparently the news about the incident had spread as fast as a wild fire. The mansion that Queen Sophia inhabited was not very impressive; when she was still a child, Quara had begged in front of way more ostentatious buildings that were only inhabited by some rich lady or lord. She smirked by the thought of how often the door guards had beaten her bloody trying to get her poor ass away from there.

She jumped of her mount and turned around to her unit, in a harsh voice she started barking orders.

"Come on you wimps down from your Ori and stretch those legs! We've got a banquet to attend to and I expect all of you to look your least threatening, if such a thing even is possible."

The soldiers shouted in agreement whilst grinning truly devilish, it was in fact terrifying enough that one of the stable hands instead of approaching them turned in his motion and walked back the way he came. Illit the highest ranking priests of the group had already turned her attention towards one of the remaining men and was dangling something in front of his eyes that looked suspiciously like a silver piece.

"So, here is how this goes you will take care of my ori and afterwards you'll find me at the banquet because I'm damn thirsty if you catch my drift. Sound good?"

While the young man was trying to explain how he wouldn't be able to get in, Quara, who was generally supportive of her soldiers leisure time, had already turned her attention to something else. Lady Greengarden was busy quietly talking to another stablehand, when Quara approached her. Coming closer she could see spots of tiny colorful scales on the man’s skin, which identified him as a changeling. A human born close to an open breach sometimes ended up with odd non-human like features. As for all breach things Quara had no love for them. Practical as she always was, she grabbed the man by the shoulder and shoved him in to the mud.

"Get out of here scale face, before I ram my boot up your arse." With a nod she addressed the Lady of Greengarden.

"I don't think he will bother us again, my lady; we have to talk." Shahrzade slightly raised one of her plucked eyebrows; it was not clear if it was directed at Quara’s strained expression or at her actions.

“I can't say that wasn't efficient, although rather unnecessary, Quara. Very well then, what is it that you want?"

"My soldiers will need time to prepare for the banquet, any orders or plans regarding the situation?" She glanced over to the soldiers and back to Quara.

"The changeling said you were to set up camp on a festival ground to the north from here. Do so and then join the banquet lose the armor for now but come strapped. I one the other hand will join the queen now."

Having given her orders Lady Greengarden left Quara standing in the stables and went into the mansion by herself, still carrying both pistols and her saber; she clearly had no intend of giving either of them up.

Blackwell

Even though it was already summer the weather was uncomfortably wet and cold up here in the mountains, so it came that the place Quara’s unit was sent to, resembled more a swamp than a meadow. The grass was destroyed by the heavy usage during spring and the wheels of large wagons had left deep tracks making the place uneven and less than suitable to set up camp.

Quara's second in command Gellius Blackwell, the bastard son of a Sibalien Paladin, rode up to her side.

"Ho, boy, stay. Quara by all the respect I have for you, there is no way the troop will be happy to set up camp on this . . . field."

His eyebrows tightened by the thought of it, most of their equipment would get dirty and possibly unusable. Already he heard some of the soldiers complaining; apparently they had grown soft from the few days they had spent in a brothel before coming into town. Looking back at the group, Quara seemed to have decided to take these matters into her own hands.

"Gell, do you remember what we did back in Gemdrey? Well guess what we are doing now!" The unit roared up in excitement when Blackwell gave the order to sit up and turn back towards the town center.

. . .

The Flying Leech was quiet this morning, most of the usual customers had left early to see the arrival of the Sibaliens. But some of the early drunks already sat at the tables and a few people hadn't even bothered to get out of the bed before midday. So it was only logical that the handful of people in the tavern were quite surprised when the door crashed open and a group of heavily armored soldiers came rushing in. Gellius pushed past a surprised barmaid and climbed onto a table in the middle of the room much to the dismay of its current occupants.

"Here by I declare that this building is seized under order of Paladin Quara of Greycastle sixth unit, second battalion of the army of the order of the erupting sun. We will temporarily occupy this building for the remainder of our diplomatic mission. Every civilian is advised to vacate the property."

The room was silent for a while, until one especially drunk man stood up, walked towards the table and addressed the second in command in a slurry tone. "Who do you think you are? Coming in here and wanting to take my . . . ah . . . beer! If you're a man come down from the table and fight!"

With a quick downwards glance Gellius assessed the potential threat, instead of coming from the table he gesticulated towards one of the soldiers.

"Karba!"

A broad shouldered man of impressive size stepped forward and came so close that the drunken man could feel his breath on the top of the head.

"You better do what the officer says."

The man took one look at Karba than back to Gellius and did the only sane thing possible, he dropped his mug and as straight as his drunken state allowed it he ran out of the building. More than a few of the other customers followed his example, as they did not want to find out when exactly the soldier's patience ended.The owner of the tavern an older man with a badly bend back was staring at them in disbelief.

"Of course you horse fucking bastards, leave me all alone with the soldiers! Maybe you also shove my damn daughter their way while you're at it? And you come out'a hiding you stupid girl they'll find you anyway!"

A girl in her early twenties came from behind the counter; she was wearing a similar outfit as the other barmaid, which had already left the building. The old man walked towards the table Glen was standing on.

"So, you coming down from there so we can talk. I understand you lot want a room?" Before Blackwell could answer he was interrupted by is commander.

"No, we do not want a room." Quara’s voice was sharp, used to command, there was no question in the tone much more indicated it that what she said would happen either way. She looked around the cramped interior. There were about eight tables and a small stage of sort on the far end of the room, finally a slim stairway led up towards the bedrooms. She turned to the owner a grim smile on the harsh face.

"We'll take the building."