Rebellion: Prince of Dawn

Chapter 17.1: Omen of Wild Warriors

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ILIAS VAN PAYNE

There were finally seven of us and we got to that number way sooner than expected. We woke up early. The plan was to have breakfast before setting for the farming village. Making camp was the only thing we'd stop for.

According to the farmers, the journey to their village would take four days.

If I told myself to wake up at a certain time, my body was disciplined enough to act as an alarm. Before the sun even began to shine its first rays of light, I had already dressed up and packed our things.

Jaime, of course, stayed up late and begged to sleep in.

"Get up," I told her. "They're going to leave without us."

She pulled the blanket over her head. "I'll skip breakfast. Let me sleep some more."

"We won't be stopping until the sun falls." I pulled her out of bed and dressed her up. "Your stomach will be growling the entire day."

By the time the sun was halfway up, her energy had risen with it. She marched onto the streets. "Come on! Let's get eating!"

"Is your hair green because you're some sort of plant?"

Everyone was waiting for us at the rendezvous. Jaime took responsibility for our punctuation and apologized.

The streets of Shoya were empty. We were greeted by business owners who were getting ready to open up shop. Tony was a mild celebrity and a known adventurer. He was familiar with the town and took us to a cheap tavern to eat at.

Along the way, Hanzo stood frozen at a bulletin board filled with job requests, news, and wanted posters. None of us had even noticed he stayed behind until his friends called him out.

"Hanzo!" Ritsu shouted. "You staying?"

Hanzo kept silent for a moment and pointed at the board. "It's their posters. The elf, the two women, and the captain are right there on the wall."

Askeladd grabbed the posters. We didn't talk about them until we got a table at Tony's tavern.

"Montgomery Gucci," Ritsu said, reading out the name on one of the posters. "Are you sure this is the captain of the bandits?"

Hanzo nodded. "Yes, I remember him distinctly. I told you all that the captain was a beast person that's part otter. This Montgomery guy also has the same emblem on his armour."

Mondatta raised a hand. "Quick question. Beast people's last names are the settlement they were from. I've never heard of a settlement called Gucci."

"It could be a new settlement," Roxy suggested. "Or a small hamlet."

"Or his father could've been one of the other four races," Askeladd explained. "If a beast person has an offspring with someone from the other four races, the offspring will always look like the beast parent. It doesn't matter if it's the mother or the father. But, they will have their father's last name if the father is one of the other races."

"Do you think he knows jynx?"

"Probably a few spells. But more likely than not, he has his own alchemy ability or a cursed artifact of some sort. He's the leader after all. The only successful military leader that didn't use anything jynx related is Decan and that's because he physically couldn't."

Roxanne took the poster. "It says here that he's the leader of a group of fifty or so bandits. They've been wreaking havoc on settlements north of the Great Sand Sea ever since the White Whale forced many soldiers to head to Headrig's Pass. They call themselves the Eagles."