Tales from the Aegis book Original Draft

Chapter 2

The Carriages rattled as they rode through the woods, approaching the foot of a mountain. Jack looked up at the mountain, inquisitively, "Where's the City?" she questioned. "Just Wait." Alexander said, smirking in thinly veiled excitement. as the horses sluggishly ascended the carved mountain path, they ascended higher and higher, eventually breaking through a great fog enveloping the mountain and obscuring the peak. Ahead, they saw as they emerged from the fog, A massive city, carved into the Side of a mountain, stretching Miles high, from the summit of the mountain to the valley below, it exuded an Aura of glory, and history long past. "Solomore." Faris said, leaning back on the wooden walls of the carriage. The Mountain path curved to the side as the carriage began to descend. eventually, they stopped at a large stable-ground, parallel to the massive, titanic walls of the city. Kaven stepped out of his carriage, stretching and cracking his neck, at the same time as the entire company. Caecilius stands up on one of the carriages, "Attention!" He shouts, the Company stands at attention without hesitation, except for Galen, who fumbles for a second before getting into position. "The people doubt us. They doubt our ability to stand up against the Drow scum, and we're going to prove them wrong." The company all lift their feet and stomp. "SIR, YES, SIR!" Caecilius looks down at Kaven. "Dreygo, Kaprathal, I will be meeting  with Duke Ramsey in Asmuth Tower, you two, as my second and third in command, will accompany me to the Tower. "Sir, Yes, Sir." Kaven said, as did Alexander. Caecilius then points to two soldiers in the crowd, "Ocyrus, Caliban, you're with us." Idalia and the other Knight both nod, "Sir, Yes, Sir!"

Caecilius hops off the cart and walks toward the gates, the company trailing behind them. The two massive doors are opened by four heavy-set knights, two on each side. Kaven nods at one of them and continues walking, as he steps into the city, the smell of breads and meats waft into Kaven's nose, the sounds of bustling citizens, distant conversations, and The metal clanking of hammers against anvils fill his ears, all across the city, colorful ribbons drape across the buildings and blow in the wind. Alexander smiled. Solomar was a great city, the tallest of its towers jutting high into the clouds, the great stone walls slowly growing higher as they stretched up between the towers, reaching a crescendo at the very end of the wall, a massive curve carving into the sky like the head of an axe pointed upwards, cutting into the clouds, with three large slots within it, the sun gleaming through as though the wall was not there.
As the company marched into the city under Caecilius' direction, Kaven's eyes drifted to his left, where he locks eyes with Sigra. She raises two fingers and beckons him over. Kaven makes his way over to her and begins to walk beside her, moving his eyes forward again but keeping an occasional glance. "You from around here?" Sigra asked. Kaven chuckled slightly, "Gods no, I'm from down south in the countryside." Sigra nodded, "You come here often?" Kaven sneered, "Lord no, I can barely handle the snotty nobles living 10,000 Talons from them." Sigra laughs out loud, her soft-toned yet sharp voice drawing eyes even in the bustle of the surrounding crowds and markets. "I'm not too fond of the royals either." Sigra says, "they always look down on folk like us, as if we're deserving of no more respect than a rotting spatling on the road." Kaven nodded in agreement, "I couldn't have put it better myself." Sigra smiles at Kaven, "things are looking up for the watch, I hope that once we win this war, we'll finally get the recognition that we deserve."
"I wouldn't say it's all about recognition." Kaven replies, "there are people all over the continent that need our help. People are suffering outside these walls, and we are their only line of defense, the Drow have us hanging by a splitting rope, and if we drop, the innocent people will be under their hand. These nobles only consider themselves in situations like this, they never stop to think about the farmers, the fishermen, the families." Kaven continues, "we are more than just a military, Sigra. We are a glimmer of hope in an endless, oppressive darkness, and our flame is close to being snuffed out." Sigra nods, glancing up and around at the city around her as they begin to near the tower, "do you pray, Dreygo?" Kaven glances at her and then forwards again, "No." "I do, some nights. Sometimes I even drop to my knees and beg the gods for our victory." Sigra says. "The gods don't care." Kaven replies, keeping his eyes forward, "the only gods that look down on this battle are the ones who laugh at the expense of our toil." Sigra locks her eyes with Kaven again, "that's a grim outlook." "It's pretty optimistic for this day and age." Kaven replied. "You two!" Alexander called, "Caecilius has already gone in, are you two going to stand there and chat all day or are we going to get this over with?" Sigra stabbed Alexander with an annoyed expression, a very thin blush manifesting around her cheeks. Kaven waved his hand low at Alexander, "Oh, piss off." He said, walking toward him and the tower. Alexander chuckles and pats Kaven on the back as Sigra awkwardly followed behind. Caecilius was already on the other side with the fourth Knight, who'd already removed his silver helmet. Felix Caliban, the fourth Knight, was a top-heavy, bronze-skinned man with a long, blonde beard that was braided on the ends, he had full-blonde, short dreadlocks on half of his head, the other side decorated with bright blue tattoos that resembled an octopus, it's tentacles swirled around the bald side of his head and almost appeared to glow in the dimness of the tower.
A man in a bright red suit walked over to them with his hands folded behind his back, "The Duke will see you now." Caecilius nods, and Alexander rolls his eyes. Kaven followed two paces behind Caecilius, Alexander and Sigra on either side, and Felix right behind; the wooden floors creaked underneath them, dark green flags marked with the Sigil of a Deer hung above torches which arced out of the wall.  The orange light from the torches danced across the stone brick walls, twisting around the group's shadows as they walked. The five turned into a large, wide open room, a long table covered by a white tablecloth with golden embroidery on the edges sat in the center of the room, above, two flags with the Monarch Sigil hung parallel to eachother, inbetween them a very tall fireplace. Kaven's eyes scanned down the wall, the fireplace just obscured by a man of a tall slender frame in red suit, a white handkerchief tied around his neck and draping down over the middle of his chest. He tugged his sleeve down and bent his neck to the side slightly as he looked up, reaching his hand up past his large, hooked nose and brushes his silver bangs out of his face. "Please, sit." He said, glancing between Kaven and Caecilius. Kaven pulled the chair out and sat down, infront of him was a short glass full of what he could only assume to be Swankar whiskey, which was a common delicacy in the Solomaran aristocracy, but Kaven did not touch the glass, rather, keeping his eyes pinned on the Duke. "Not thirsty?" The Duke asked. "No. Such frills are beyond me." Kaven replied with more venom than he wanted. Ramsey chuckled and turned to Caecilius, "so, Captain," he said, folding his hands on the table. "I would like to discuss our next move." Kaven stared down at the bubbling drink in front of him, uncaring and not really listening to what Ramsey was saying. "Our honorable scouts have discovered what we believe to be a valuable artifact desired by the Drow," Ramsey continued, "I believe that it would be in the best interest of the Watch and the Kingdom to investigate it." "We are low on numbers," Caecilius replied, "We we're ambushed at our outpost in the Greenwoods, we lost around 40 good men." "A shame, we will have to find replacements," Ramsey said. Sigra scowled, putting her glass down as her eyebrows furl. "I will arrange for conscriptions to draw from the nearby farm towns." Ramsey continued. "Have you run out of willing applicants for the Delta-Watch?" Sigra said, fury building in her voice; Ramsey's head panned toward Sigra, sneering, "We need all the help we can get," He then replied, "all those under the throne will have a duty to fight for it." Sigra sits forward aggressively, "That's ridiculous. You can't force citizens into becoming soldiers, those men are old and inexperienced, you can't expect them to become effective in the field." "Silence your shieldmaiden, kindly." Kaven sits up and speaks, finally, "We do not have 'Shieldmaidens', Ramsey, she is a soldier, an effective enough one to be in this room, and her opinion is to be valued as much as I or Alexander's." smirks, "tone down the aggression, my friend... save that for the field." He says, demeaningly. Kaven stood up and slammed his hands on the table, "Our kingdom burns outside your window, and we are here running around in circles about ethics instead of helping them!" He shouts. "Dreygo, calm yourself." Caecilius said. Kaven sat down, his glare practically pricking holes into the Duke's eyes. "Thank you, Kaven." Sigra said, rebelliously. Ramsey stayed silent for a few very long, very awkward moments, a mix of offense and fear that swirling in his mind at Kaven's wrath.
"Right...so..." Ramsey stuttered, "when you accrue the numbers, the cave will be located here." He said as he slid a rolled up parchment map across the table to Caecilius. "Are we finished?" Alexander chimes in. Caecilius looks over to him and nods, standing up. "Finally." Felix growled. "Yes yes, find the artifact." Ramsey said, shooing them out.
Kaven stood up and strode out of the room.
Sigra sighed as she walked out beside Kaven, "that was frustrating." "All nobles are frustrating." Kaven replied. Sigra looks up at Kaven, brushing a strand of her hair to the side away from her eye, "Thank you for standing up for me back there... that meant a lot." Kaven meets his gaze with hers and nods. Caecilius looks at Kaven from over his shoulder as he walks, "I won't penalize you for your outburst, because I agree with you, but you cannot do that again." "If all goes well, I won't have to see Ramsey again," Kaven responded, and Alexander chuckles.
They continued to converse as they all made their way back to the carts outside the gates.