Welcome to Gaia! ::

Maedoc Breanainn did not like this country. The men here called themselves 'noble' but hardly acted as such. The keeping of slaves was such a common thing that it made him sick to see. Even the women were treated as lesser beings, nothing but dolls to be paraded around and married off to men they might hate for the rest of their days.

He ached for home, his highlands and his clansmen, and the easy way of life there. It was a place where men and women alike fought for their own honor and the honor of their clan. Where one hunted for food and necessities, and protected lands earned in battle.

The only saving grace he had found once reaching the massive capital city of Sunderland was that there was much to do and see. Not only that, but he had found a stable housing a stubborn, irritable blood-bay courser that the stable-owner wanted desperately to part with, as the beast could not be ridden by any except the best of horsemen. Maedoc had very willingly taken the beast off the despondent man's hands and had found a kindred spirit in the fiery creature.

However, the entire affair had reminded him of the need for Sunder coin, the Crown, if he were to stay here for any length of time. Traveling outside the city to sleep under the stars was not as easy as he had thought it would be, given the enormous size of Palisade.

As such, he began to sell his sword. Mercenary work was a foreign thing to his people, but not to Maedoc himself. In this land of noblemen, a sellsword served many uses, guardwork and escort being the two most noteworthy. The gaelic had been lucky enough to find such work almost immediately upon looking, and subsequent work had been easier and easier to find.

This escort job would be his third in as many weeks, although he was not as pleased with the idea of having a partner joining him on the travel. And as his courser trotted up to the meeting place, he saw a man on a fine Frisian awaiting him, and could only assume that he had found his partner.

"Oi. Ye must be the man I'm ta share the road with," he said by way of greeting, eyeing the figure astride the horse.

Maedoc watched the man's eyes rove over the animal beneath him and had at least one small thing to respect the man for from the get-go. Nudging the animal forward, he held out his hand. Though Sunderland seemed to shake hands out of a sense of propriety, his people did it as a show of mutual respect and good faith. If he was to work with this Pyotr, there was no sense on starting their job on the wrong foot.

"Maedoc Breanainn." He peered about, searching for the thing they were to escort. His contractor had been quite hush on the entire affair; was it a carriage? A lass? A fine racing horse? But upon searching around, he saw...nothing. "Wha' exactly are we escortin'?" he asked finally, brows drawing together as he frowned.

Maedoc's expression went blank. Really? Two capable and well armed men to escort...that? Shaking his head, he shifted in the saddle as the beast beneath him stomped a hoof in impatience. "Better be a sizeable diamond ring or somethin' in tha' wee box. Though I guess it doesn't much matter as long as we get the coin at the end."

Still, his curiosity was well and truly piqued now. At least in his previous jobs, he'd been able to keep an eye on the prisoners, or oggle the bride-to-be while he kept a watch for brigands. How the hell was he supposed to watch a tiny box that fit in a coat pocket? He might as well be guarding Pyotr himself. "Shall we? I'm no' familiar with the route, so I'll be followin' yer lead."