97 Free City (1/2)
Today was the twelfth day of their journey, which also meant that, according to the original plan, they should have arrived back in Saniya two days ago. However, they were still stuck halfway. By now, Ronnie's troops had pulled together once again, though the core of the team were still him, Berrat and Nahlen.
”Hey, Ronnie,” Nahlen started. ”This job's a chore all 'round, but it's been getting pretty bad in the last couple places. Are you sure we can finish this up with our handful of men?”
As he heard Nahlen's casual address, a small smile played around Ronnie's lips. Once he had realized the kind of danger their journey might entail, he had dropped his notion of provoking the less loyal part of the wolf mercenaries. Instead, he had spent some time to help build relations, with Nahlen especially. Luckily, the mercenary was a simple man, easy to please with wine, gold and flattery.
”That would be beyond my knowledge. Still, our king has decided that he cannot give any more help, so what can I do?” Ronnie shrugged his shoulders as he looked down onto the ground. Although the bog was cold and barren, the roots of the misshapen trees had spread everywhere; even the road they were traveling along was broken through from time to time. He wouldn't want to fall into the cold mud face first. Not again.
”I mean, it's great that you asked the boss for reinforcements, but is there really nothing else we can do?”
”No, I mean, his reluctance makes sense as well. Right now King Corco has to control a city of twelve thousand with only seven hundred men. Plus, around four thousand of them are prisoners. Any more reinforcements and in a few days we might not have a city to come back to.”
Ronnie sighed.
”If nothing else, we have passed the worst of it already. While it is true that the villages have turned into fortified towns closer to the edge of the swamp-”
”And more and more violent,” Nahlen added.
”-yes. Still, we managed to avoid armed conflict even at the very edges. Now all we have to do is get through the uninhabited south-east until we make it over to the Mayura river. From then on, our work will only get easier, since we will return back, ever closer to Saniya's influence. Just keep your men disciplined and we can get through our task without incident.”
”I would not like to impose, but is no one else troubled by our bizarre surroundings?” Berrat asked. Since they had left their first village and regrouped, the young accountant had stayed next to Ronnie and silently recorded his conversations. Of course it wasn't as if Corco was spying on him. The whole thing had been Ronnie's idea, a preventive measure to make sure his new friend Nahlen would not be too trusting and involve him in any shady business.
”Bizarre?” Nahlen asked with a frown. A certain level of displeasure could have been expected, but the mercenary was even more annoyed by the accountant's insistent presence than Ronnie had assumed. Considering his reaction, he really was planning something, and his plot might be much more concrete than Ronnie had thought at first.
*Fantastic, more trouble.*
”The road. What else could I be talking about.” Berrat sported a frown to answer Nahlen's. ”How could there be such a well-maintained path in the middle of an uninhabited bog?”
”So it's some animal trail, isn't it? It's convenient at least. Over the last day, we've made much better headway than before.” Waving his hand around, the mercenary tried to shoo away the accountant's worries like one would a fly.
”So what sire wishes to say is: There is nothing unusual about the unmistakable traces of habitation in the area?” Berrat stopped and turned, his fist stemmed into his side. Slack-jawed, he stared at the warrior, in disbelief at the man's stubbornness. Off to the side, Ronnie afforded himself a little smile. This was a strategy Corco had taught him. If your servants are fighting among themselves, they will be too busy to deal with you, even if they are disloyal. Even though everyone here knew that Nahlen was wrong and only insisted in his animal theory to oppose Berrat, Ronnie didn't even dream of breaking up their spat. It was best to keep the disloyal mercenary occupied.
”And I'm telling you it's beasts. What does a bean counter know about the wild anyways? You studied tracking in one of your bosses classrooms, paleface?”
An uncomfortable tension built between the men as the large, lanky mercenary built his frame up before the short accountant. Of course Berrat had no chance in a fight, so Nahlen could feel safe in his provocation. Thus, he kept pushing the paleface back with his presence, all the way to the edge of the road.
*Too much of a good thing,* Ronnie thought. Actual, physical infighting would only weaken their group and make their task that much harder. Just as Ronnie was about to step in and score some points with both sides, a shout from the front interrupted him.
”Commander! City up ahead!”
”What did you say?” Nahlen stared at his scout, who had been tasked to explore their path. Breathless, the man ran over and halted right before his commander.
”It's... a city. Just beyond the elevation over yonder, there is a walled city built into the swamp.”
”What!? There was nothing like that on any of our maps!” Nahlen shouted in his scout's ears, confused.
”Animal trail, was it?” Content, Barrett grinned as he walked past.
”No matter what this place is, we should take a look at it first,” Ronnie concluded the pointless argument with a frown.
Soon after, the three baffled leaders, together with their local guide, stood atop a small hill, or rather a tiny dam. The piled up earth formed a solid wall to redirect the ever-present water of the bog and create a somewhat drier area behind it. Since their current position was also halfway between the two major rivers of Sachay and thus the farthest place they could be from a water current in all of Chawir, the dams made the construction of a fortified town in the middle of nowhere actually possible.
Appropriately, a fortified town was exactly what they were looking down to at the moment. Rather than the ever-present log walls of the Chawir villages, they found themselves confronted by solid walls of wooden planks instead. Men in armor walked up and down along major walkways on top of the fortification, while the gate on the front was busy as well, crowded with people intent on trade and shelter.
”What do you know about this place?” Ronnie asked towards the beaconer who had been chosen as a local guide.
Despite the clammy bog around them, the man began to sweat, his eyes never leaving the walls before them.
”I... this mortal was unaware of such a construction within the marshes. This place should not exist.”
Ronnie's frown deepened as he listened to the confused voice of the apprentice priest.