Guards love Gossip
Caelius P.O.V.
Of two things, I was certain:
I fucking hated past me for opening my god-forsaken mouth.
If I was going to be stuck in nowhere Eovarrah in the middle of winter, I planned to pace myself while dealing with the blighted issue.
It had been two weeks since I made the ridiculous decision to question the Sovereign Devotioner in the presence of the king when he had ‘advised’ his Royal Highness to pull forces away from Etaiel and leave it to handle itself.
The result?
“Since you feel so passionately about the blighted situation in Etaiel, go assess the problem yourself. You can return in six months. That should allow you to gauge how much our valuable resources are truly needed for such a remote settlement.”
Fuck. My. Stupid. Conscience.
‘I might as well have questioned the king himself. Stupid enough to challenge his closest advisor, the leader of the church. How did I ever make it into the guard?’
I was doing so well, too. My captain liked me, I had the respect of the other guards, and I was on the fast track to becoming a personal guard to his royal highness King Lucanse III.
‘I wasn’t even supposed to be in that meeting. I was supposed to supervise the recruits, but Kranig ordered me to join him for an audience with the king. He was supposed to submit my recommendation for the promotion, but, of course, I opened my mouth.’
But I knew I couldn’t blame Captain Kranig for what had happened; he’d often told me to watch myself in front of the king and high-ranking members of his court or the church. It was my own stupid fault for speaking out of turn.
‘Still… the fact that he was willing to leave these people to fight off the blighted on their own…’
I thought to myself as I poked at my food.
The Etaiel settlement wasn’t massive, but it wasn’t small either. The population was something around three thousand? It was enough that the place had a bustling town center with a half-decent market and a couple of nice inns.
If it weren’t for the recent uptick of blighted activity out here, the place would be a nice vacation destination. They had all the makings for it from their picturesque mountains that framed the west side to their port that connected them to the Choris Sea. The settlement was surrounded by wilderness that the locals used to hunt fresh game and forage for local delicacies.
As far as nowhere Eovarrah went, this was as nice as it got.
I’d been here for five days, staying at an inn at the base of the mountain, trying to pull myself together. I didn’t regret speaking out against abandoning this settlement to handle the blighted situation on their own; I only regretted how I’d done it.
‘My words would have carried more weight if I’d waited longer and made myself more important. Of course, they wouldn’t listen to a nobody guard.’
“Set my career back years, probably…” I muttered to myself.
“You don’t think he’s dead, do you?” A woman’s voice asked from somewhere behind me in the dining room. I recognized it as belonging to the maid who worked here.
Yesterday, I listened to her talk for half an hour with a patron about a local baker’s affair, and I was hooked. Of course, nobody would suspect the royal guard who came to ‘assist with the blighted,’ as being interested in gossip, which made it all the more enjoyable.
“I doubt it. He’s got those two massive hunting dogs with him,” a man’s voice responded. “Besides, have you seen how he looks at people? That murderous glare of his would be enough to kill a blighted.”
“I don’t think he’s that bad…”
“Look, you’re a sweet girl, so I’ll let you in on something. I hear he moved out here because he was on the run for crimes against the crown. Why d’ya think he only comes down the mountain three or four times a year? Etaiel might not have much, but it’s better than fending for yourself up there year-round. He stays up there ‘cause he’s hiding.”
‘Now that’s interesting.’
“Those are just rumors.”
“Eh, rumors always have a bit of truth. But if you’re so sweet on him, wait until the thaw. I’m sure he’ll come down the mountain then, and you can live your little fantasy.”
“That’s not- I don’t have a crush on him! He’s just promised us the first pick from the litter when his dogs finally have puppies!”
‘So there’s a criminal who lives up the mountain? That could come in handy.’
When I thought about it, it wasn’t surprising. If you were on the run, you wouldn’t settle down somewhere easily accessible or with a heavy military presence. But if he were specifically on the run from the crown, his crime had to have been pretty bad.
Typically, crimes were handled by local authorities. The crown only got involved in severe cases. Of course, every recognized government office had the backing of the crown, but that didn’t mean that every criminal was on the run from the crown.
Royal authorities only hunted criminals who had directly offended the king or broken the law on royal grounds. Otherwise, we didn’t bother looking for them, but wouldn’t hesitate to turn them over to their designated authorities if we happened across them. On the otherhand, any authority was under an obligation to turn over a criminal wanted by the crown if they detained one.
I got up from my table and tossed down some money for my lunch.
‘If there really is someone wanted by the crown out here, they might be my ticket to that promotion after all.’
It was time to get off my lazy ass and stop pouting. The alleged criminal would come down the mountain with the thaw, and I would be waiting. Until then, it was time to hunt some blighted.
“The worst part of the blighted attacking us here is the animals,” explained the innkeeper who had so graciously decided to fill me in on the situation after I’d settled.
‘No shit. Clearly, the problem is the animals. Humans don’t take the blight.’
It took a certain amount of restraint to keep myself from shaking the middle-aged man by his shoulders at his useless and self-evident information.
I guess the effort I was expending not to throttle him didn’t help mask my face, however, as he quickly began stumbling over his words to clarify.
“W-what I mean to say i-is, um, there are more ferocious beasts in this secluded part of His Majesty’s Eovarrah!”
“I’m sure I can manage. Just tell me if there are any specific supplies I’ll need.”
His mustache twitched as if he had planned to say something more but thought better of it and instead chose to address my query.
“I can’t say there is any particular tool you’ll need short of a weapon. Helps to have a hunting dog to alert you if you let your guard down, but I doubt anyone ‘round here is willing to loan one out to a stranger.”
“Not a problem. Where was the most recent sighting?” I asked while sheathing my sword at my hip.
“Not far. A sorrowclaw here at the base of the mountain, just down the road. It got the butcher’s boy… couldn’t even recognize him when the thing was done with him.”
I paused.
“Sorrowclaw?”
He nodded, seeming to take a bit of pleasure in the fact that I’d asked.
‘Hardly the time for an ‘I told you so.’’
“They’re large birds native to the area. Generally, they are about one hundred to one hundred fifty pounds, and they like to attack prey from the air. Got some sharp claws on ‘em too- where they get the name. You’ll also not want to let it bite you, strong enough to break a bone.”
“Why does anyone live here?” I spat, agitated at the fact that I’d have to slaughter a giant chicken just so the locals wouldn’t be maimed until I could go back to the capital and convince the king and sovereign devotioner that the blighted situation here needed to be taken seriously.
‘‘It would make a nice vacation destination.’ What was I thinking?’
“They actually make pretty good eatin’. We hunt ‘em this time of year an-”
I put my hand up to silence the man and turned on my heel to leave. I didn’t care about local hunting or what these people ate; I only cared about doing my job and getting out of here. Did I want Etaiel to be overrun with blighted? Of course not.
But the fact is that these people were crazy enough to live here for whatever reason, and while I wouldn’t leave them to fight for themselves, it didn’t mean I had to be happy about their murder chickens.
‘I hope to Akhael that whoever comes down that mountain is wanted by the king himself.’