“You’re really from Lakefield?” Meriel asked him.

Mahon turned to observe her face, and as her tone had hinted, he could see sparkles in her eyes as she mentioned the capital’s city.

Jorik and Tharn were walking just a few steps ahead, discussing another topic, while Tomas and Artur were following behind. They were just halfway down the hill, and Meriel had seized the opportunity to move closer to Mahon and question him while Jorik was away.

At least, I’m not to the point I can piss off people with my attitude.

“There are really thousands of lakes around the city?”

Maybe, it would have been better though…

“No, it’s just a name. They are often exaggerated.” Mahon answered the best he could, given he had never been there himself.

“I knew it!” Meriel exclaimed, before lowering her voice and moving closer to Mahon. “And how is the city? Is it as the legend says too?”

Mahon smiled knowingly. “Tell me the legends you’ve heard, and I’ll tell you if it’s true or not.”

“They are Fada walking through the streets of the capital!”

What?

“Uh, no. I’ve never seen one at least.”

“Yes, this one was a bit wild. What about the statues?”

“The statues?”

“Is there one at every corner of every street?”

“Oh, that. Yeah, there is, although you tend to forget them pretty fast after spending time in the city.” Mahon shrugged as if it was nothing while waiting for the next piece of information the woman would throw his way.

“We only have one statue in the village, and it almost looks alive. I wonder how it is, seeing statues at every corner…” She eyed Mahon with a pleading look, and Mahon held back a sigh.

Trying his best to remember the few statues he had seen in Ratho, he managed to describe them to the excited woman until she asked him more questions about the city, and Mahon tried his best to answer with no information whatsoever.

“Yeah, there are a lot of mathemagicians at home.” Mahon repeated what Tharn had said just the day prior, and the woman seemed to pay rapt attention to everything he said while poorly trying to hide her awe.

“Have you ever seen the king?” She asked again while delivering knowledge that was supposed to be common, but that Mahon didn’t know of.

“No, he doesn’t go out much.”

“Really? So all the hearsays saying he is a man of the people and often helps out his fellow citizens are false?”

“Uh… Yeah, you know how they are. Saying something and doing the opposite. Nobles, right?”

Meriel threw him a weird look. “But… aren’t you a noble yourself?”

“No, I’m just…” Mahon stopped, realizing it might be too weird for a noble to hang out so well with someone not from the nobility. “I’m just a low noble, I don’t really consider myself one. Jorik is the big deal.”

“Yes, I can see that.” She answered while glancing at Jorik and grimacing.

They continued to walk as Tharn led them in a circle around the village to a large empty space that had been hidden from view before. The place was crawling with activities, and although there was no building, the space was so full of tents and people it could as well have been part of the village.

The place was thoroughly ordered, with carts side to side making alleys through which dozens of people were wandering while observing the items displayed by the merchants. A bit further away, a field of colored tents dotted the landscape, and large animals with six legs were leisurely grazing in the meadows.

Mahon forced himself to continue forward without looking too shocked while trying to take in everything he saw. He noticed a woman with a violet scarp holding a child’s hands laughing with a merchant. He saw two men, probably brothers, haggling over a bag of apples at another stand. He observed the different tissues linked together over the carts to protect people from the weather, and even though the sun wasn’t high in the sky, its warmth could already be felt. The temperature was already a bit hotter than the ones they were used to in Ratho and in the forest.

Mahon turned his eyes away from the weird six legged creatures being watched over by a couple of children with a stick as someone akin to a guard made his way to them. The man looked to be in his fourth century with a bald head half covered by a red turban. He wore a loose brownish tunic with leather armor above. His wrists and half of his forearms were covered in metallic bracelets that Mahon identified more as an armor than as a decorative feature. He carried a bastard sword on his left hip and a long dagger on his right. His face was calm and peaceful, but Mahon noticed how he walked with elegance and how he quickly glanced at them, one after the other reflexively to gauge their potential threat.

“Tharn! Already back from your trip?”

“Yes. Although it didn’t go as planned…” Tharn threw a glance at Mahon and Jorik, and the guard followed his look. “Edwin, I present to you these two men that we found recently. Don’t ask me details, but they would very much like to join your caravan. They’re heading back to Lakefield.”

Edwin observed them from bottom to top with more attention this time. A short silence settled in while he scrutinized them without any shame before he finally turned back to Tharn.

“Feels like a bad idea to me.”

“Trust me, they will save you from more trouble than they’ll cause.” The ranger answered. “I heard there are goblin tribes going crazy nowadays. The last caravan lost half his men to them.”

“Oh, you want me to hire them as guards?” Edwin grimaced and looked again at the duo. “But look at them, fresh clothes from your village, which I guess means their old clothes were too tattered to be worn anymore, haughty and arrogant faces, useless ceremonial weapons worth more than you and I can earn in a year. There are just idiot nobles that ran away, aren’t they?”

Mahon couldn’t prevent himself from chuckling. It was not from the fact that Edwin had perfectly read through their supposed identities, but more than the guard had thought his weapons were ceremonial ones. His mind had immediately replayed a scene from his fight against the Amentiae general, and the simple thought of someone thinking his spear was for show made him laugh.

Edwin snapped his head towards him with a scrutinizing look, while Tharn looked at them without saying anything.

“What? Got a problem with me?” The guard asked Mahon before turning back to the old ranger. “Sorry, but I don’t have time to pamper children. Even for you, Tharn.”

The ranger nodded, before glancing knowingly at the duo. “I brought you there as promised. It’s your own problem to get accepted. Let’s go, kids.”

Tharn threw them one last look that hinted he wanted to let them discuss privately with Edwin and had no doubt about the fact they would leave his village as they agreed. The three rangers followed after him, and when they were out of earshot, Edwin spoke to the duo.

“So? I don’t care what relationship you share with Tharn, I’ve never brought with me useless people for free, and he knows that perfectly.”

“We can fight.” Jorik answered, but before he could continue further Edwin laughed out loud.

“Pardon me, boy, but I’ve met my fair share of nobles. Although you look more in shape than your regular ones, you don’t look like a fighter at all. You walk like a noble, not a warrior. Your friend there,” he pointed at Mahon, “could maybe pass for one, but the weapons gave you away. Try something else.”

“I see...” Jorik sighed and glanced at Mahon. They exchanged a nod and started walking around. They dropped any semblance of hiding their skills and their steps became so smooth they seemed to glide on the ground. Their motions were continuous, without break or slight disturbance. Their heads weren’t turning everywhere nor their eyes looking around, but they gave off a feeling of seeing everything around them nonetheless. Nothing escaped them.

Their muscles rolled effortlessly under their skins, and their core gainage showed they could have paused at any time, in any posture, never surprised, or out of fighting stance. And yet, their steps were calm and their faces didn’t look focused, as if the feat didn’t exert any strain on them. They were walking leisurely, but any decent warriors could tell they had transformed into apex predators.

Edwin frowned at the sight, and his hand came back to his sword’s hilt instinctively. He observed them walk slowly around him with a newfound respect.

“Nice trick.” He finally said. “What about the weapons then?”

“They are no ceremonial weapons.” Mahon snapped his head towards the guard, but the man returned an unimpressed look.

“Prove it.” Edwin said with a provocative tone while unsheathing his own sword.

Mahon grinned back, and in three quick strides he was at the man’s side. Edwin reacted swiftly and moved a step to the side to avoid Mahon’s incoming strike. But Mahon predicted his opponent’s move, and he followed behind, forcing the guard to raise his sword to block.

Understanding the guard wouldn’t care much about style, and wanting to prove his weapons weren’t there for decorative purposes, Mahon struck with most of his strength. He had still enough restraint not to go all the way for a simple demonstration, especially against a man who would hire them.

Mahon didn’t try to move below Edwin’s guard, or feint to force him into a less favorable position. He didn’t even bother with angling his sword for maximal pressure. He simply struck like a bull, with only his strength.

Edwin took a step back from the impact, but he managed to hold his sword still and blocked the attack. A flash of surprise passed through his eyes when he realized how much strength was packed into the strike, but he had reacted in time.

Mahon saw the man’s posture changing instantly to a better one as he realized Mahon wasn’t the worthless noble he had thought he was. Once over the surprise, the guard had actually switched to a perfect stance, and Mahon also reassessed his judgment about the guard.

He actually looks like a decent warrior. Maybe he has just a thing with nobles and never saw weapons like that?

Mahon glanced at the guard’s sword, and it indeed was plain without any ornamentation except for a simple, small gravure at the base of the blade. Mahon lowered his own sword, showing his intent not to continue this fight after having proved his point about his weapon’s durability, but Edwin didn’t seem to take it this way.

The guard started a complex footwork and pounced towards Mahon. Mahon raised an eyebrow and carefully observed the novel steps while keeping an eye on Edwin's sword.

A variation of the Confusion Blow?

Even though the motion had been lightening fast, Mahon noticed that Edwin was pulling off a bit, clearly not aiming to kill Mahon, but testing him instead. Mahon grinned.

You’ll need more than that though.

Just before Mahon would step forward to ruin Edwin’s footwork and render his blow useless, Jorik appeared in his vision and flashed him a hand sign.

Play it low.

Mahon modified his motion at the last moment, and moved to the side instead, nullifying a part of Edwin’s attack but not wholly. The guard’s sword closed on him quickly, and Mahon parried, deflecting the blow’s strength outward. Edwin immediately followed with simple but fast attacks, and soon Mahon was engulfed into a flurry of strikes.

He camped on his position and dodged or parried them all. Mahon never counterattacked, instead mimicking a situation where he was too overwhelmed by the assault to have time to retaliate. The attacks stopped half a minute later, and Mahon realized Edwin didn’t look tired.

“Impressive defense. I take back what I said earlier. You’re actually better than most of the other guards. And your weapon is… remarkable.”

Edwin put back his sword in his sheath and extended his hand towards Mahon in the same smooth motion for a handshake.

“You’re hired.”