Wonderful 17.

Belinswae. The City Of Falnic...

"Did she say where?" asks Riley Hait the mercenary ranger the next morning as he sits upon the city wall just to one side of the south gate "She did not" replies Shur Kee the monk who sits a bit further along the wall from the ranger Hait.
"She can be" says the acolyte in the order of Bru Li, who pauses for a moment before continuing with "A little short at times" the mercenary ranger dryly murmurs in the elven language "That's a understatement if I've ever heard one" then Riley Hait reverts back to the common language and says to the short statured monk "Shur Kee, i do believe you just made a joke there".
The acolyte in the philosophical order that follows the Jade Warrior Bru Li, a figure not known outside of much of the far eastern coast of the continent, slightly frowns as he tries to figure out what the ranger Hait means. The monk then nods, as he figures out what the elven raised and trained ranger is referring to, Shur Kee grins then chuckles, before saying "So i did" he glances around before quietly saying "She is rather short isn't she friend Zubutai".
"That she is Shur Kee, that she is" says Riley Hait with a slight smile upon his face, the mercenary ranger slightly shakes his head, for in the past year or so since the monk rejoined the group, the two of them have taken up their friendship exactly as it was before the living conduit of the Jade Warrior left the group and settled in the city-state of Brattonbury a number of years ago.
Though now, Shur Kee knows the truth about Zubutai Timaginson, whose soul dwells in the body of Riley Hait, when before he did not, or that the barbarian hordesman's soul dwelled in a number of bodies before that too.
They were the best of friends before Zubutai Timaginson originally died, and they're even better friends now. Especially since Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman has told, with permission of course, who he's met in the afterlife a number of times. The person Shur Kee worships and whose teachings he adheres to, the Jade Warrior himself, Bru Li.
The ranger Hait who hasn't told his best friend any details about those meetings, who is glad that the monk has never pressed him about those meetings, which to be fair to the hordes outrider, he can't really recall in detail. Looks at the road leading to the gate away to their right, a road that branches off in two directions, directly south down the coast, and the other inland, to the southeast.
The mercenary ranger who like all the others in the group here in the city of Falnic, with the exception of their leader, and the one who is closest to the leader, is in Belinswae, and for that matter, north of the equator for the first time.
Frowns as he looks at the road to the southeast, where some travelers are approaching the city on foot. Shur Kee, who has also spotted them, glances over at his friend, and tells him "You need not worry too much" the acolyte in the order of Bru Li continues with "They are definitely half breed".
The human mercenary ranger who was raised and trained by the elven warders in the principality of Envadarlen in the Southlands, nods his head in agreement with the short statured monk's assessment about the approaching travelers on foot.
For a moment there, he thought they could been those who are different. But of course he knows they wouldn't be traveling to Falnic willingly. Nor he suspects are the approaching half breeds, who in all likelihood will be harassed at the city gates. Though that's better than the treatment that those the ranger Hait thought they were for the briefest of moments. Those people would of been killed on sight anywhere near where you can find townsmen living.
"Fucking townsmen" mutters Riley Hait in the elven language, which his friend Shur Kee is unable to understand as the two of them watching those on the southeast road approaching the city, while a couple of riders, mercenaries by the looks of them, exit the gate, and head down the coastal road.
Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman looks directly right, out to the blue waters of the Great Western Ocean, he sees a handful of fishing smacks far in the distance, trying to get their catch for the day.
While there's a few tall sailing ships, all single masted vessels, heading down the coast, there's also a twin masted ship which can be seen out in the ocean, approaching Falnic from the southwest.
The ranger Hait glances up as one of the numerous wyverns in the city passes directly overhead, Riley Hait sees that there's a passenger behind the winged creatures rider, as it heads basically southeast over the road that goes off in that direction.
The mercenary ranger who was brought up in the elven principality of Envadarlen in the Southlands yawns, then he looks down and finds that the travelers on the southeast road have reached the city gates.
Both Riley Hait and Shur Kee watch as the justifiers guards on gate duty basically interrogate the half breed travelers, most likely from an inbetween village who have made their way to Falnic to find work in the hot months of summer. For though townsmen despise half breeds, they're more than willing to hire them as cheap labour to be used ruthlessly for a month or two at a time during the summer.
The two who have made their way north of the equator with some of the group they travel with, watch as the guards search the half breeds, going through their possessions, which they then toss aside, scattering them across the road. Which the travelers of half blood origin have to regather before the justifiers guards finally allow them to enter the city of Falnic.
"A hard road one must lead in life" quietly says Shur Kee the monk as he quotes the founder of the philosophical order that he belongs to, Riley Hait the mercenary ranger nods his head in agreement with his friend, as they both turn and look into the city, and spot the new arrivals making their way along the winding streets of Falnic.
After a while the ranger Hait goes back to watching the roads to the south, waiting to see if two of the missing members of the group will return, as the messenger to Shur Kee at dawn said they would.
Who knows what to believe when it comes to her, Riley aka Zubutai Timaginson dryly thinks to himself, as he knows that the messenger who spoke with the short statured monk back at the White Gull inn just after dawn, can be a little flighty at times, especially when he sees her, which isn't all that often during the entire time he's been with the group.
The mercenary ranger looks at the acolyte in the order of Bru Li, who is quietly saying "That one seems to be coming in from the east" Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman looks that way, and sees a rather large wyvern approaching the city from the east, though from the south too.
After a few moments as he figures out what the large winged creature been doing out that way, the mercenary ranger quietly says "Part of a raiding party" the monk from beyond the Southlands, from the kingdom of Wah Lee on the far eastern coast of the continent, nods his head in agreement with his friend who he glances at, before he goes back to watching the large wyvern approaching Falnic.
They see at least five people upon the back of the large winged creature, and as it passes low over the wall further to the left of them, both of them see the dried blood stains upon the claws and belly of the wyvern.
While those upon it's back, justifiers guards out of their regalia, have what appear to be heads tied to their belts, that's what they are more than likely, for the two of them have seen it before.
"Fucken townsmen" mutters Riley Hait in the dialect of Zubutai Timaginson's homeland, the mercenary ranger out of all of those in the group has good reason to hate the townsmen in this part of the region of Belinswae. It's because they're constantly trying to eradicate the inhabitants of the hot plains to the southeast, the nomads. Who the ranger Hait, well to be exact, the hordes outrider Zubutai Timaginson is distantly related to.
The barbarian hordesman had always heard the legends that his people were originally from somewhere else, that they traveled to the massive southern tundra just north of the southern polar region, thousands and thousands of years ago from someplace else, from somewhere faraway to the north.
And when he arrived in Belinswae with the others a couple of weeks ago, and learnt about the nomads out on the hot plains away to the southeast of the city of Falnic. And how they share similar customs to the hordes barbarians, not to mention they look quite the same, being a fairly short statured people.
With them worshipping the same three gods, which the barbarian hordes call the tundra gods, while the nomads here in Belinswae refer to them as the plains gods.
Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman found all this out, he knew immediately that the hordes barbarians of the southern tundra, faraway towards the southern end of the Southlands, originally came from the hot plains that the nomads of Belinswae inhabit.
The mercenary ranger raised and trained in the elven principality of Envadarlen, looks away from the large wyvern, those upon its back, and their ugly spoils of their recent raid, and he goes back to watching the southeast road, as does Shur Kee who doesn't say anything about what they've just seen.
Later on in the morning, nearing midday, and as they take shelter in the shade of a large building that's up against the city wall, and which tops the city wall. The ranger Hait is just about to suggest getting something to eat for the midday meal, when the short statured monk a bit further along the wall from him, who has just taken a drink from his water canister, quietly says "Is that a rider out there friend Zubutai?".
The mercenary ranger spots a horse in the distance upon the hard packed dirt road that goes southeast from the city of Falnic, and as he watches the horse in the distance approaching the city for a little while, Riley Hait notices that there's two people upon the horse in the distance.
The two friends watch in silence for quite some time, then the ranger Hait and the acolyte in the order of Bru Li share a look as they recognize who it is upon the horse, it's who they've been waiting for all morning.
"It's definitely them" quietly says Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman once he's stepped out of the shade and stands in the hot sunshine and looks to the southeast.
Shur Kee who has done likewise, and is shading his eyes with a hand, nods his head in agreement, then he quietly says "Yes, it is the two of them".
They wait a little while longer, then the ranger Hait says to his friend "Come on, let's go down and see what they have to say for themselves". The two of them head to the nearest set of steps that will take them down off the top of the wall, as out on the road to the southeast, Tamric Drubine and Lisell Maera approach the city gates . . . . . .