Sages, Chapter 4: Deadly Papers
"Deadly Papers"
POV X
It was a quiet wednesday evening. The offensive had been quiet the past couple of days, and the general was enjoying a night to himself as he sat behind his desk in his small, dimly-lit office. The candles on his desk and torches on the walls were placed in very precise positions to provide him with an environment that optimalized his clarity of mind. He sat and shifted through various papers by himself, lost deep in thought as he planned out the coming stages in the war. His thoughts were disturbed by a light rapping sound on the door.
He took a sip of his tea. "Come in, lieutenant."
The door swung open and was quickly shut by the dark-furred skunk. "Urgent news, General Uhruan." he said sternly.
"Yes, what is is?" the general questioned, putting down his work.
"It's the conflict in Aey'Áris. They're done for, sir. News has it that they're capital is completely occupied and that enemy forces have been seen all the way down towards the southern end."
"Bloody hell" Uhraun remarked, lightly banging his fist on his desk and looking down in disappointment. "What is the status on our forces?"
"Same as the last time I checked in with you sir. They're holding their position in the North-western Theatre. Once we get our reinforcements there, we should be able to push the Wrothians back into their own territory."
"Excellent. Round up all of our extra troops. Tell them that we're leaving to fight."
"But sir, Queen Marvhalien has yet to sign the alliance with either of the kingdoms!"
"I don't give a damn what her majesty thinks. She may be queen, but I'm in charge of the military. Just because we still have a few days to wait before it's official doesn't mean that we don't have a good reason to get our asses into gear. And quite frankly" the general began, standing up from his chair. "I don't think that King Llarene of Aey'Áris is gonna make it to that meeting."
The general grabbed his hat and coat from the hanger by the door and looked over to Bahrú with a sly grin on his face. "I think that it's about time that we provide our friends with more troops."
"More, sir?" Bahrú asked, confused for a moment before he came to a realization and returned with a smirk. "Oh, yes. I suppose we already have one man of ours on their front lines."
The two of them walked outside together, and the lieutenant shut the door behind them. There was a moment of silence before General Uhruan opened his mouth to speak.
"Let's go kick some ass."
POV Bodey
Well, I suppose that this was sort of inevitable. But seriously? Now of all times?
The newspaper felt strangely dry in my paws, which were wet from the thunderstorm that raged outside. It had been raining and storming consistently over the past few days, and it wasn't until now that I had finally made my way to a small village on the Bælanian shore of Rescuer's Lake. Although the atmosphere of the outdoors was still wet and chilly, the nice, heated temperatures from inside the Tavern were perfect for warming me up.
"Another drink, mister?" said a soft, feminine voice from in front of me. "I looked up to see the bartender, waiting for my reply.
"Umm...sure, give me another of whatever I just had. Please." I said to her. She took my glass and went to the other side of her counter, then returned a minute later with my beverage.
"Thank you, miss." I said, sipping it and returning my gaze to the newspaper that I had picked up earlier. Unfortunately, it appeared that the conversation was in fact not over. She leaned against the counter and looked at me curiously, before speaking. 'You're not from around here, are you?"
I sighed. "I'm from Uthalia."
Well, no use in trying to ignore her. Maybe if I were to speak up...
I pushed the news aside and folded my arms, now fixing my attention on the dhole in front of me. "Why, was it the accent?"
"It might of been" she said, grinning at me. A small smile escaped my muzzle, despite my efforts to suppress it.
No, idiot! You're encouraging her!
Do I care? She seems interesting. Maybe it'll be fun.
"Where'd you come in from?" she asked.
"I paddled a canoe through the heart of the lake" I answered, trying to sound impressive. "I just got in today."
"Wow, really?" she said ecstatically. "Through all of that weather? You must be tough fella" she said, winking at me.
Yeah, and it was living hell and all I wanted to do the entire time was die.
"I guess I am!" I responded, flexing my biceps and chuckling. "It wasn't even that bad, made it through like a piece of cake!"
"That's amazing!" she said, blushing. I couldn't suppress my grin. I was fully engaged in the conversation.
You know, she's kind of cute. I like her eyes. Such a curious color, they're almost purple.
No Bodey! This isn't the time for that! Abort now!
Her ears are nice too. I like how round they are, and how they kind of fold back. Almost like mine do!
Ugh...you're not even listening...
"So what about you?" I questioned to her, after telling her my brief version of being a proud warrior of the great nation of Uthalia.
"Oh, me? I'm not that interesting, to be honest" she replied. "I grew up here in Meko. My father owns this establishment, so naturally I ended up working here. My mom wanted me to follow in her footsteps, but unfortunately she ended up passing away" she said, suddenly looking slightly sad.
"Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that" I said. She nodded and forced out a smile. "Thanks" she said. After a moment of silence, I spoke again out of my curiousity. "What did your mother do?"
"She was a mage" she said, perking up again.
"Oh, umm...that's fascinating!"
I hate mages.
"Yeah, I guess it is, despite what some people say about them." she said. "Unfortunately, she died when I was pretty young, so I don't remember a whole lot of her using magic."
"Huh" I mumbled, glancing at the big clock at the other side of the room. "Well, it's been nice talking to you, but I should probably get going. I've got some duty to attend to."
"Alright Bodey, thanks for chatting. And, umm" she said as I stood up. At her last comment, I pulled on my coat but kept my feet planted by the bar. "Yeah?"
"If you ever find yourself back in town here, feel free to stop by the tavern! I'll be here, like always."
I grinned. "I'll be sure to. What's your name again?"
"Sarah! Sarah Kohlar, and you?"
"Sir Bodey Aráshvahr, at your service."
I stepped out of the bar, once again finding myself in the wet and cold exterior world. The storm had finally died down, but light rain was still pouring down, and the darkened skies still stretched far across the horizon, making the humidity feel even more trapped to the ground.
Sarah Kohlar, huh?
Idiot! You allowed yourself to get carried away with a mere local and look what that did! You've wasted hours!
I can't carry out my mission until this feud has reached it's shortcoming. Plus, maybe I should learn to relax every once and awhile.
What absurd ideas! Your mission isn't exclusive to your final goal; you've also been ordered to assist the Aey'Árisian and Bælanian forces in whatever ways your expertise can provide! And even if you were ordered to stay out of the conflict, there are still far more worthy ways to spend your time then making small-talk with some random girl at the local tavern! Get your head on straight and be a warrior for your nobility; not some kind of lowly peasant.
Shut up...I'll comply.
Shaking the dangerous thoughts out of my mind, I raced off towards my destination.
POV X
"Seriously?!" boomed the deep, loud voice of the King. The relatively small and insignificant figure that stood in front of him trembled in fear. Although he was honored to work as a servant of the royalty of Wrothia itself, the great king had a way of scaring him for all that his life was worth. This worth of the servant's life, in King Polimatus's case, was very little, and practically nothing when his poor servant failed to meet his requests with unsurpassable accuracy.
"I thought I told you to inform all members of the military council about my expectancies of a boost in efficiency! Things have been moving at an obnoxiously slow pace around here lately, and amidst this war we cannot have this kind of overwhelming apathy!" the king screeched; as his eyes burned a hole through the servant's limited supply of confidence. His glossy white fur contrasted with his dark red robes of royalty. Every last detail in the polar bear's appearance was flourishing with intimidation.
"I tried to bring your concerns to General Protsier, my lord. I figured that he would be able to pass on your superior wisdom to the high command at our next meeting."
"Imbecile! You think you can just take the easy way out of your workload? I want them informed NOW!" he shouted, turning around and sitting back upon his throne, clearly very annoyed with his incompetence.
"Y-yes my lord! And, umm, y-your lord, I have news from Agu Morra!" the servant pleaded, stuttering though his words.
"Oh, do you? Alright then, speak the hell up!"
"It's of General Rodlan of the Eastern army forces, my lord. Apparently he and his sleeper agents in North-western Bælan have made an excessive amount of captures lately of supposedly-Liaran peoples. In particularly, he recently captured a young mage, who he says happens to be quite powerful."
"Excellent!" the king said, his elastic mood suddenly becoming very upbeat and positive.
"Yes, my lord, indeed so. Through his collection of magical items, the general believes that upon his interrogation, we should be able to find out some useful information about the Artifact that you so passionately long for."
"Yes! Finally, we're getting somewhere!" the king boomed. "But how do we know that he'll be compliant to our interrogation? Mages can often be very stubborn."
"This is true, my lord. But General Rodlan thinks that he will be able to convince him otherwise" spoke the servant.
"Oh? And why is that?"
"Because, my lord. They have his mother."