Emhyr Var Emreis x Reader

Thirty-Five

With a wildly beating heart, you set foot near one of the rebels who stood guard at the entrance of the cave.

As soon as you made a single sound his head snapped around to find you approaching.

"Halt!", he raised his spear to point it at you.

He was shaking.

His grip around the long wooden handle of the spear was so harsh that his pale knuckles turned red within moments.

He wasn't a trained solider. He probably wasn't even a man with a will to fight war.

Unimpressed, you eyed the tip of the spear.

The sight almost made you huff.

But you swallowed the urge.

This wasn't the time nor the place for mockery.

Yet you couldn't suppress the feeling of being superior.

With two fingers, you grabbed the edge of the spear and put gentle pressure on it.

It was enough to make the man falter in his determination. He put down the weapon.

"Who are you?", his voice almost shook as much as his legs.

You glanced up to meet his gaze.

There were so many emotions on his face.

None of them was courage.

"I came to bargain.", you said and pulled out a small bag of coins for him so see. "You're not one of the rebels, aren't you?"

His eyes moved down to examine what you had to offer.

He swallowed hard before looking up again.

"I swore to protect my land and family!", he said, aggressive, but in a low tone.

He didn't want anybody to hear the two of you talking.

Your gaze moved past him to take a look into the cave.

Despite the rebels being well put together, only one man stood guard while the others seemed occupied by other things.

Not a single soul seemed to care for what was going on in front of their strongest fortress.

"Hm...", you hummed. "You can keep your land and family if you take this money and leave."

Unsure, he looked at the bag of coins and then back at your face.

"The empire will kill me.", he insisted.

You sighed, slightly annoyed by his stupid stubbornness.

"The empire doesn't care for simple men, with simple sins.", you said and tossed him the bag. "Return to your land and keep being a farmer. The empire will demand a few sacrifices, but they will be smaller than your life."

Without giving it a second thought, you put a hand on his shoulder to keep him calm and walked past him to set the first step into the cave.

His breathing pressed into the palm of your hand.

It made the tips of your sensitive ears twitch.

As your fingers left him, steps started to retreat.

You let a few moments pass before glancing over your shoulder.

And indeed, just as expected, the first force of the rebels took his chance and left for safety.

"Good.", you hummed to yourself and kept on walking.

The cave was moist, dripping with water, while the smell of iron was in the air.

Your fingers stroked along the walls of the cave to get a feeling for the water.

It wasn't much, but maybe enough to set boundaries for your unskilled abilities.

A camp fire crackled ahead of you.

All of a sudden it smelled of smoke, mixed with meat that was roasted above open fire.

Dull voices echoed from the walls.

As you rounded a corner, your eyes caught a glimpse of shadows crawling over the dirty ground.

You froze and jumped into the shadows to hide.

Perhaps this wasn't a smart idea since it was possible that the rebels would take you hiding as attempt to spy on them.

But it made you shiver to only think about the possibility to face these people without an advantage up your sleeve.

This situation almost made you struggle as much as knowing that Emhyr might have been someone you couldn't win against.

Torn from your thoughts, you looked up as two men passed you.

They weren't armed at all, just their arms filled with picked apart armour, scraps and metal that had been left behind by the army of Nilfgaard.

It was a shame to see how careless the blacks acted with their recourses. Yet again, if there was one thing that the empire had plenty it was gold.

You gave the two men a few steps to get away from you before making your presence known with a gentle sound.

Struck by surprise, they turned on their heels and almost dropped everything they held.

One of them was about to let out a sound of fright, but you quickly raised your hand to silence him.

"I have an offer to make.", you said with a smile and made your pockets jingle with a movement. "Do you hear that?"

Surprised, their eyebrows rose and soft gasps escaped.

"What's that?", they asked.

"Who of you is loyal to this cause?", you asked.

They swallowed.

"We are men of the red baron.", one said.

Your eyebrows rose in surprise.

You had heard about the red baron, a self proclaimed noble who had taken advantage of the mess that the empire had left. He had taken one of the executed baron's properties and with it all the power and influence.

But he was also said to be a tyrant with little to no mercy in him.

"You mean you were men of the baron.", you corrected. "I heard he doesn't appreciate betrayal."

The men exchanged a glance.

"We can't return to him.", the other whispered.

A satisfied smile appeared on your face.

"Well, I might be your solution.", you reached into your pocket to pull out a few polished coins. "I have more of these. They shall all be yours. If you go and gather all the ones who aren't loyal to the mission of the rebels."

A greedy shimmer lit up inside their eyes at the sight of the money.

Yet the hesitation remained.

One of them made an attempt to reach out and grab it, but managed to restrain himself and pulled back.

"The leader of the rebels is a man born to make people die for him.", he said with a grim gaze. "Not many will falter."

You shook your head.

"Do your best.", you threw one of the coins for him to catch. "For everyone who leaves, I'll give you five more coins."