OathBlade (Wattys2015)

9. Preparations*

Elery and Cylphi weren't the last to arrive. They moved to a selection of armor racks on the far northeast side of the room as more people came down the stairs. Zethir rolled a barrel from the corner to the center of the room and Dakkan pried off the puro gum-sealed lid, releasing the scent of spiced ale.

"I don't like this," Cylphi whispered. "I didn't know they'd allied with a lycar."

"I don't care. If they will get us through the barrier, they could all be lycar and it wouldn't change the fact that I need them."

"These thieves just mean to use you."

"Isn't that all we're doing to them?"

Cylphi looked at the crowd behind them, now twenty strong, then turned back to the armor rack. "I dislike this...but you are correct. Assuming they speak the truth."

"Even if they aren't, they have enough of our money that I am entitled to a few choice pieces from their collection." Elery lifted a blue chest plate from the rack and ran her fingers over the thin, silver vine engravings that spread from a central frosted green esperite gem. "The gem is useless to me, but this metal..."

"Is that mystmetal?"

Elery nodded. The metal was warm, unlike other metals. She found a set of silver mystmetal chain under-armor, and searched for any matching arm and leg plating. When she found it all, she turned to the crowd. "If I am to help you, I will be taking these in return."

Taelin stood and narrowed his eyes. "Is our help sneaking into the forest not enough payment for you? What right do you have to demand anything?"

Elery pointed to her sack of fleut on the table. "That is my right. You need me just as I need you. I was willing to pay for your help until I learned of your plot and my place in it. I believe that squares our debt."

He puckered his lips to one side and wrinkled his nose but Zethir gave a jaunty laugh and put an arm around him. "Let her have it. What is a set of armor against everything we are going to get?"

He crossed his arms, glaring at Elery from under his unkempt bangs. "I suppose we can always pick it from her corpse."

"Only on my deathbed, after I've long outlived most of you who will join me on this trip," Elery replied as she began dressing in the armor. "If you believe you can work those odds to your favor, I shall have them wrapped as a gift and waiting by my bedside."

Taelin shrugged Zethirs arm away and pulled a knife from his belt as he ran forward. "Or perhaps I'll take it off you n—"

Elery grabbed a lycar sword from a rack beside her, leaped forward, and swatted the dagger from his hand with the dull back edge. She spun the weapon to turn the blade back, slammed the hilt into his stomach, and knocked him to the floor. As he tried to get up, Elery turned the blade once again to point the tip at his chest.

"Had you taken a moment to learn anything more about me than the title 'Princess', you would have found I was also a general of my homeland's army." She pressed the tip closer, cutting a tiny hole in his silver tunic yet never breaking his skin. "Do you care to vent more of your grievances, or shall we discuss a plan of action?"

All chatter ceased and every gaze locked on Elery.

Dakkan laughed, breaking the silence a few breaths later. "A seryn after my own heart!" He raised his cracked wooden mug, sloshing ale over the side, then guzzled it before slamming it on the table. He laughed again, got up, and walked over to throw an arm around her shoulders.

Elery tossed the blade away, the rough metal scraping against the floor until it found the wall with a thud. "The plan is simple. You see me through the barrier and whoever makes it with me will have my unwavering support. They will not pursue us once we are through. On the inside of the barrier Erwell, his troops, and his barrier casters will no longer be our enemy. It will be the forest and everything in it." She didn't pull away nor lean into the lycar's contact. It was familiar, like contact with her comrades after training drills or hunts. "I will follow your lead getting in and finding the Isandel. From then, you will follow mine."