Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Nov 19, 2010 19:49:43 GMT -6
"Nope," She took off her pack and set it on the ground taking a tightly rolled piece of gray wool from the pack. She set the wool next to the pack and removed her green cloak, folding it neatly and placing it into the bag. She unfurled the gray wool cloak and wrapped it around her body. "Now I'm ready.... Unless you have any suggestions?" She raised her eyebrows quizzically at him. She had never left Snowhaven; she had no idea what she needed.
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Nov 19, 2010 20:49:31 GMT -6
He leaned back on one leg more heavily, surveying her, taking in the pack before she covered it with the old, gray cloak. "Got food, furs," he counted them off on his fingers, "clothes, any personal items you want to take for sentimental sake?" He seemed to tick things off to himself, patting the pack on his backside. Cade gripped his sword by its old grip, clearly defined finger imprints ridging the leather where he'd held it for years. It'd been his since he was a boy--an old trusted friend, unfailing as the steel it was made of. "I've got weapons, you've got, well...." He looked at her with a faint smile on his lips. "Well, you've got you and that's enough. Alright, if you're set, let's go. Out to the gate."
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Nov 19, 2010 21:17:47 GMT -6
"Oh wait...", setting her pack onto the ground, she rummaged through it for several minutes. Finally pulling out a worn leather belt with five knives. It was much to big to strap around her waist. Her brother had been a large man, so she placed the buckle on her right shoulder adjusting the belt to sit like a bandoleer. She moved the larger heavier knives to sit on her left side. The lighter knives directly in front of her. It would work, so she took up her pack and strode toward the gate calling behind her, " Are you coming or what?"
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Nov 19, 2010 22:09:34 GMT -6
Cade blinked once, shrugged, and followed, striding past her to the point of lead, walking swiftly toward the gate. He hadn't gotten two steps past the gate when a high voice shouted, "Deniel Cade, if you take another step out that gate I will club you in the back of the head with my own left shoe!" Cade froze, one foot barely off the level of the snow, his shoulders hunched up to his ears, then slowly turned to face the voice. There, marching through the snow in a red, fur-trimmed cloak whirling in the breeze and her force of movement came a woman carrying a large bundle. "How dare you leave town on a night when you promised to come to my dinner!" she cried, stopping so close to Cade that he honestly expected her to slap him. Luckily for him, she didn't.
"Well! Lucie, I don't really have a choice!" he said, throwing his arms up to his ears as though to protect them from a boxing.
"Like hells you don't, Den. Whatever. That's not what I care about. What did you think you were going to live on out there, bears you've boxed to death? Here." She thrust the bundle into his stomach, which he immediately grabbed, and glared menacingly at him. "Take it. When you get home, you owe me dinner." Turning, she stormed back to the houses she'd emerged from.
Cade stood for a moment, watching her with a broad smile. He absent-mindedly tucked the the bundle into his own kit, turned, and proceeded out of the gates of Snowhaven and into the "wilds" beyond.
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Nov 19, 2010 22:52:04 GMT -6
Ziako was struggling, keeping her left hand firmly over her mouth, she was desperately trying not to laugh so hard that she fell over. It was difficult walking beside Cade after Lucie had given him a severe tongue lashing. Ziako was certain that he had intended that Lucie not receive that message until after he had left. The zealousness of his recruits had gotten him into a bit of hot water again. Ziako was thoroughly looking forward to returning to Snowhaven and hoped that Lucie would be there to greet them. Preferably, before they made it to the tower to report to the Captain, in the courtyard, in front of all the green recruits, and Krell had to be there. Krell always made things more interesting. Having indulged in her pleasant fiction, she turned her attention to the light snowfall from above. It wasn't chilly enough to complain now that she had her traveling clothes on. The wind had died down to allow only a gentle breeze and the sun had come out to warm the ambient air. The sudden urge hit her to dance in swirling ice crystals. Judgement stopped her this time because she would not allow Cade that kind of opening to harass her. So instead she continued to hold her face upwards at the sky dreaming of peaceful winter. Unfortunately, she should have been watching her feet. A log half covered in snow caught her foot and sent her head over heels tumbling down an embankment. When she was stopped at the bottom by a fallen tree, she shook her head to clear it of dizziness and checked to see that she was physically undamaged. She found she was largely alright except for her right calf that had been badly bruised by the collision with the tree. She stood up to brush the snow off herself and looked back up the embankment. She yelled up at him, "Don't say a word."
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Nov 19, 2010 23:35:19 GMT -6
Cade stood contemplating the embankment, a grin spread across his face, watching her struggle up with snow caked onto her gray cloak, snow falling in elegant swirls from a congested, gray, clouded sky. Taking a deep breath, he sighed happily, shrugged, and leaped down, rolling sideways all the way to the bottom where he stopped with a snowy thump in a heap of snow, leather, and steel. He grinned up at the sky, spreading his arms and legs in a snow angel. "Not five minutes out of town and we're already distracted," he said, laughing.
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Nov 19, 2010 23:50:12 GMT -6
She giggled lightly and sat down next to the grown man playing in the snow, "I guess, but what's more fun than snow and a nice day....But, I suppose we should get back to the mission." Standing with a fist of snow in her right hand, She turned back and threw it directly at Cade's face.Ziako started to walk along the bottom edge of the embankment. "There is no way we are getting back up that way." she sighed, " guess we have to follow it."
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Nov 20, 2010 0:11:46 GMT -6
"Play fair!" Cade spluttered, spitting out clumps of snow and wiping snow from his eyes. He ran after her, then slowed to a walk as he came alongside. "This'll lead us back around to the road, eventually, which is perfect. I imagine we need to head to Wintersgate first to see what the captain there can tell us about the Drow movements. From there we can follow trails. It's not too far, a day, maybe two if we don't get distracted more," he said, thumping caked snow from his clothes and the crevices of his leather.
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Nov 20, 2010 1:00:24 GMT -6
"Yeah, but with us... I bet the Captain would expect at least another day for us to get there." She walked along beside Cade thinking of her boss. He was a slob who never seemed to let her clean anything, so anytime anything got cleaned was when she managed to sneak in while he was attending to official duties. She shuddered at the thought of what she would have to clean when she got back. "He did send the easily distracted training master and the easily angered maid off on a scouting mission. He has to have some clue of the trouble we can get into."
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Nov 20, 2010 1:31:53 GMT -6
Deniel grinned to his surroundings, keeping his face ahead. "Oh, he undoubtedly knew. He didn't give me all that much trouble when I asked to take you with me. In fact, he seemed a little relieved." He paused. They came back around to where the embankment split for the road to go through to Snowhaven from Wintersgate. It wasn't really that much of a road: the stone cobbles had been buried nearly as they were laid some many years ago with layer on layer of snow and ice. Now the road simply consisted of two deep-rutted lanes, dirty snow packed down into clear-ish ice at the bottoms of each rut where the gray smears of the cobbles could be vaguely distinguished. The depressions had been made by the frequent recruit wagons and less frequent supply trains. More often than not, travelers came on horses; though most were military personnel, a few civilians had come to see the northernmost outpost and the picturesque northern woods. Those woods stretched out in sparse pockets to the left and right of the road as they headed south. Wintersgate: that slightly-larger-than-Snowhaven town that sat where the snow started and kept the evil things of the north from spreading down into the main land of the Isle, comprised mostly of military personnel but with more civilians and diversity than Snowhaven. If the Drow were moving that far south without any noticeable activity up north, they must be planning on launching something massive. It worried Cade, but not immensely. "Oh, and he said that his quarters are due for a cleaning when we get back," he said off-handedly, keeping his eyes on the road and off of her. He concentrated on her, trying to gauge her feelings and motives. Was she coming as an indignant servant girl who'd been ordered, a vindictive fighter eager to prove her worth, a devoted sister looking for vengeance? He didn't know but felt sure it would be key to any negotiations.
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Nov 20, 2010 10:27:06 GMT -6
Pausing to briefly observe the cobblestones that could be seen through the snow, " Bet this road would be pretty if it wasn't so covered in snow." She caught up to Cade again and matched his stride as best she could. She was very busy observing everything. On Cade's excursions, he never went this direction. So everything that seemed like the same old things to Cade was entirely new to her. This was officially the farthest away from Snowhaven she had ever been. That knowledge made her take on a lighter step and made her want to skip with pleasure at being somewhere else. Datalis had been to Wintersgate once; he said it was similar to Snowhaven, but everything was also very different. It was were he had bought her the green cloak. Several months salary had been spent to buy the cloak and it was the finest cloak in Snowhaven in Ziako's estimation. Maybe she should buy a cloak for Sashana. Krell and Marta's daughter was only eight, but she was in Ziako's opinion the smartest most wonderful child in all the north. She may still be paying off her debt, but she held off a small amount to herself. It came to 25 gold now. She could spare a few for the girl's cloak. "Will we have time to stop at the market in Wintersgate?"
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Nov 20, 2010 22:07:40 GMT -6
Cade looked with slight surprise at the request from her. "Well, I'm sure there'll certainly be enough time for that. It's right in the center of town, on our way to the captain's quarters. I imagine you'll be able to find whatever it is you're looking for. The traders there are some of the finest lot I've met, certainly more reputable than a fair amount of the ones in Wing-over-Sea; you can lose your money in that market without ever putting your hand to your purse." He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Of course, that could be because thieves are thick as rats in Wing-over-Sea, but the greed of the merchants doesn't help much either."
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Nov 21, 2010 0:34:05 GMT -6
"Are there a lot of thieves in Wintersgate?" she pondered, "there aren't that many in Snowhaven." She had heard of a few pickpockets in the village, but had met only one. He had ended his night with a busted jaw, a broken leg, in the military prison. That was what happened to a lot of pickpockets in Snowhaven. I suppose that's because when the entire town has nothing to steal, anyone who tries gets an immediate beating. The Captain may make more money, than anyone in town and he lives quite simply. She observed speaking mostly to herself, "But, I suppose most thieves aren't beaten by the townspeople before being taken to the prison in most towns. The way we do in Snowhaven." She turned back to Cade, her mind jumping between subjects, "Wing-over-Sea, that's on the coast isn't it?" Her speech picking up a quicker pace as her thoughts flowed freely, "Datalis had a map were he used to point out all the cities and he had this book that describes all the regions and the cities and the flowers. I loved that book, but I gave it to the Aldric children to read. I heard there were huge hundred man ships on the coast. I've never seen one. Though I did see a picture once." ,she turned around and picked up a backward step a pace in front of Cade. "Is it warm in Wing-over-sea? Some people tell me there are flowers there in every color. I've never seen a flower, though Ms. Lovelace told me once that the Gerad family has a green house were they grow flowers. I can't believe anyone has enough money to have their own little world in their house. I was thinking dark blue. Do you think that would be a good color for Sashana? Maybe I can find one with a flower embroidered on it. I think she would like it, don't you?"
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Post by Lavinia Lionsgrave on Nov 21, 2010 1:41:18 GMT -6
Cade laughed, throwing up his hands and crying, "Well, hold on, hold on a moment, will you? So eager to know about everything, but never give a man a chance to answer the questions! And they're all valid and deserve to be answered. Now, about the pickpockets, you're perfectly right. Not many pickpockets in the world have the threat of being beat up to deter them from crime. Most get away clean unless a city guardsman is paying attention enough to answer any cry from a robbed citizen. Snowhaven's pretty much got no pickpockets; Wintersgate's about the same. Maybe two or three, but they're all held accountable by the other members of the community." He paused, considering, tapping the hilt of his sword, trying to remember what else she had mentioned. "About the ships, yes, 100 man cogs are fairly common in Wing-over-Sea. It's a big city, one great giant port with waters bluer than any sky and filled with masts three times the size of the trees around here," he said, waving a hand out at the tall pines clinging to the snow-locked ground. "The flowers grow out in the meadows outside the city gates, all in bunches of any color you could imagine." He seemed much farther away, in the sunny prairies of the south where he'd lived when he was a younger man. "Filled with people and colors and smells, sights, sounds, culture." He abruptly brought himself back to his surroundings and the girl at his side who had never seen the flowers below the borderlands. "Sometime after this is all over, I'll try to convince Captain Tremath to let you go visit some of the southern lands. You'd like them, I think," he said, a note of paternal care entering into the edges of his voice. He had softened in his recollections without really noticing it. "I think Sashana would very much like a blue cloak, perhaps trimmed with some rabbit or fox fur at the hood and embroidered with a flower. We'll have to see what the merchant can do while we're there. May be that the flower vendor will be in town that day and you can see a few in person brought up from a few miles out the South Gate." He smiled kindly down at her, forgetting for a time that they were headed to war.
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Ziako
Junior Member
Posts: 52
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Post by Ziako on Nov 21, 2010 15:42:32 GMT -6
She smiled lightly, "Okay."She turned herself back around and again fell in beside Cade. He was probably irritated at all her question so she was content to just look at things. It may be wonderful, perhaps she could buy a seed and keep a flower in the common room. It is warm in the common room, the children would love the flower.
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