The Wildlands (working title)

Chapter 5 - Yala

Yala closed her eyes and enjoyed the quiet. The distant noises of animals and people didn't bother her at all, it just added to the pleasant atmosphere. She was half sitting, half lying down on a cushioned bench in the small guest room in Helun's house. It turned out that this Helun sometimes provided lodging and food for travelers, so Yala had an entire room to herself for the time being. Well, this entire room was quite tiny, and the only furniture was this bench, a bed and a chest to put one's belongings in. But it was much better than not having a room at all. Definitely better than sleeping on top of a cliff.

As much as Yala appreciated the calm this chamber provided, after an entire day of rest she would have preferred to get going and start the next job. She had already talked to Erlek about eradicating the mine for good, but the salchan man was hesitant and wanted more time to think about it. Yala hated waiting. Well, that wasn't quite true. Without patience, she could have never gotten rid of the miners in the first place. What she truly hated was when she was waiting on somebody else and just watched them delay a decision. Sure, it was fair to give the man a couple of hours to think it through, but it didn't make the waiting any less annoying.

She let out a long sigh then opened her eyes and looked through her bag. She took out a pear and a knife and began to eat it in slices in the slowest way possible. After a couple of minutes she heard footsteps then the door creaking open.

"Excuse me, good madam." She heard the deep voice of a man. "Are you Yala?"

She slowly turned her head toward the door and opened her eyes. Before her stood a quite unusual sight. A giant of a man, whose frame almost blocked out all light coming through the door. His light brown skin was similar to Yala's, he had almost shoulder-length dark brown hair tied back in a bun. He was wearing a dark salchan shirt that looked too big even for him, which actually might have been blue at some point in its life. He had some pieces of worn leather armor, and two axes on his sides.

Yala took her time to study the giant man, who waited for her answer with patience and a hint of confusion.

"Depends," she finally said as she turned her head back toward the ceiling and closed her eyes once more. "If Erlek sent you to fetch me, then yes."

"Not exactly." She heard him enter the room and close the door behind him. She raised an eyebrow and frowned slightly at the intrusion.

"I've heard you were fighting the Imperials nearby. I wanted to offer you my help, but according to Erlek they are no longer an issue. Is that true?"

"Yep," she crossed her arms. "You're too late, I already took care of it."

"On your own?"

At that Yala finally opened her eyes and looked at the stranger. "What does it matter? There's no job."

"I am merely curious about how you managed to get rid of the Imperials without a group of coordinated fighters. Because to me it sounds like all one person could do is poke the hornet's nest or perhaps fool the village leader into thinking that the nest is no longer a problem."

Yala rewarded his accusation with a mocking smile. "Then you're not a very creative person, are ya? If you're so concerned about the village's fate, go check out the mine yourself. Don't linger too much though. That agir causes all sorts of troubles if you spend too much time near it. And the place might explode in the next few days, so..."

"What do you mean it might explode?"

Yala looked at the ceiling and let out a frustrated groan. "Why so many questions? Who are you? The judge of mercenaries?"

"If need be," he said, staring at her with a steady, confident glare. "My name is Sigey, by the way."

"Listen here, Sigey," she leaned forward and held his gaze. "How about you stop worrying about my methods? You do your job your way and I do it my way. If you don't like something, go complain to Erlek." With that Yala picked up her bag, and made her way toward the door.