The Mercenaries

Mia

Mia groaned. Her head pounded and small rocks were digging into the side of her face. What happened? she thought.
She struggled to sit up but her vision blurred and she was overcome with dizziness, causing her to fall back to the ground heavily. A jolt of pain ricocheted through her head. Gingerly, Mia pressed her fingers to her swollen cheek. She winced. Unbidden, tears sprang to her eyes. She blinked them away and slowly lifted herself into a sitting position.
A gasp escaped her. Seth was kneeling on the ground, a blade laying in front of him and blood covering his hands and shirt. His hazel eyes stared blankly into the distance, wide with shock. Still dizzy, Mia crawled over to him in panic. "Seth!" she cried.
He didn't even flinch. "What happened, are you okay?"
Still Seth remained frozen. He was beginning to terrify her. Her shaking fingers pulled his bloodied shirt up and explored for injuries. "It's not my blood," he whispered.
She sagged in relief at his voice. Then she understood the meaning of his words. "But then who...?" she started.
Her eyes fell on the body lying beside him. Scrambling backwards, she suddenly remembered what had happened. She'd been making her bed by the campfire, waiting for Seth to return from setting his traps when she'd heard voices coming from the road. They must have seen the fire through the trees because shortly after that, two men came barging into the clearing. Immediately she recognised the older one as drunk. Her mother had taught her the signs and had warned her to avoid anyone exhibiting them. When she had tried to run, the younger man had caught her shoulder, causing her to scream, and had knocked his fist into her cheek. Now his own body lay in the dirt, blood pooling around his unmoving form. If he wasn't already dead he would be soon. Seth's dagger had most likely severed the man's large intestine.
Suddenly, the body all too much resembled her father. The way he'd crumpled to the ground, the way his body had sprawled at awkward angles, and the way his eyes had glazed over invaded her thoughts. Her small body doubled over at the memory and she felt sick to her stomach. She shuddered violently and felt as though she might vomit. Another thought made her lucid. There had been two men.
She searched for another body, but found nothing. "Seth, where's the other man?"
He blinked and his eyes slowly raised to meet hers. "He left," he answered, pointing, "That way."
"Come on, we need to leave before he comes back."
"Right," Seth said, finally sounding like himself.
He stood up and looked at her swollen face in anger. "Does it hurt?"
Mia considered lying, but answered, "Yes, but I'm well enough for travel. A bruised face won't keep me from riding."
Nodding, Seth hurriedly repacked the items strewn across the ground. Understanding the urgency of the situation, Mia got to her feet shakily and bridled the horses who lowered their heads for her. She also managed to toss their saddle pads over their backs despite her height. Seth saddled them and secured the saddlebags. It had been hardly fifteen minutes and they were ready to move on. We're good at running away, she thought with guilt and distress.
She noticed her brother had left his bloody knife on the ground. Quietly, she wiped it off on the grass and slipped it into her own bag. When they set up camp tonight he didn't need to be reminded of what he'd done and it would be wasteful to leave it behind.
Seth pushed the horses harder than he ever had and their journey was heavy with a silence that had fallen over them. Until that moment they'd tried to forget their parents death. It was little help to be so brutally reminded of it through even further death. Mia couldn't bring herself to read their mom's journal. It held too many memories. And regardless, she wouldn't be able to see the writing in this light. The road was dark and treacherous at night, but that did little to hinder her brother's pace. She kept turning around to reassure herself that they weren't being pursued.
Even before then, Mia's sleep had been infested with nightmares that had left dark circles under her eyes. She was terrified of what might invade her sleep tomorrow night and by the time the sun breached the horizon her eyelids were already drooping.
Traffic on the road immediately increased as the day passed into late morning. Mia was baffled by the number of people until she saw the river crossing come into view. The trees stopped abruptly at the river bank and revealed a massive bridge. Charity Crossing was the only place in Nodel you were able to cross from eastern to western Nodel or vice versa, aside from boat, so naturally it was crowded with people. The wide stone bridge was patrolled by soldiers and also guards who interviewed each passerby and collected a toll. Luckily, several nights ago Seth had discovered hidden pockets that lined the saddlebags which contained a decent amount of gold, silver, and copper coins. Mia watched with wide eyes as a family was denied passage and led from the bridge. "Why...?" she began.
"They couldn't pay," Seth said quietly.
The family sat on the side of the road and the mother let her head fall into her hands in despair. Mia looked away. Groups of people appeared from different paths and converged into a line in front of the bridge. They pulled their horses into line and slowly made their way forward. Standing up in her stirrups, she could see the guards. She closed her eyes once she saw the black and gold uniform. Visions of a soldier striding towards her mom with his sword in hand flashed behind her eyelids. Her hands clenched into fists and she took several deep breaths before opening her eyes again.
Once they finally arrived at the front of the line she let Seth do all of the talking. The guard looked up, bored. "What's your business in West Nodel?" he intoned.
Seth paused before saying, "We're from a farm near Ironhaven. Our... parents, they needed to make a trip to Crison for their annual trade festival. We're headed to Ley City to stay with our aunt and uncle for the rest of the summer."
"Fine, I'll be needing three coppers."
Seth handed over the correct amount. The guard nodded and said, "Move along."
The hooves of their horses clapped against stone as they crossed the bridge into West Nodel.