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 Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 9:12 am
[note: we will be on the same time frame as this thread, and when we meet up with them, these two threads will be caught up with the Anjts thread (dawn) or a little past that] Hammon had been wrested from precious sleep, had a few bits of leather armor thrown at him, and sent off as an escort. He hadn't worked as a serious escort in two years, having traveled safe routes when there was travel, his main purpose in life having changed to other things. But the woman that had brought him to Eldic estates for entertainment during her vacation was also a scout and a messenger, and suddenly in a position to appreciate his talents as a guard. By the time they were leaving the compound on horseback and could see flames licking the southern corner of Eldic estates, Hammon would know that the compound was under attack. His charge, Anth, was bringing notice of the attack to her home compound, Terice Estates, just to the west. Unlike for compounds further away, Eldic Estates carried no passenger pigeons for Terice Estates. And for some reason unexplained to Hammon, Anth informed him that the pigeons were being backed up by human messengers like herself in any case. She seemed anxious to get home, and in her excitement as they left, spoke emphatically about how they would crush the plains people attacking them, along with whatever demonic beasts they brought with them. Anth then ground her teeth together as she commanded her horse forward at a breakneck speed over open, but dark, road.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 7:30 pm
___ Hammon tugged at the collar of his cuir boille breastplate as he bounced awkwardly in his saddle. He wasn't used to getting anywhere by horseback, but he wasn't particularly used to guarding anything so urgent, either. His eyes scanned the area around him, checking for anything that might look like trouble. He peered at the flames on the southern horizon for a moment.
___ Is that a fire? I wonder if anyone's getting hurt... I shou- his mount pulled him to the side, forcing him to focus his concentration on righting himself in the saddle while it slowed to a canter for a few steps. Good horse... messenger horses get trained real good. He pet the horse's neck and urged it back to catch up with his charge, again tugging at his uncomfortable armor and making sure that the peace knot on his weapon was tight.
___ "We're riding far?" he asked, once he was close enough to speak to Anth. Hammon almost let a "because my butt already hurts." out, but he was trained well enough to keep that to himself. Andmy butt hurt before we started... she makes me work real hard...
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 10:52 am
"It may seem far in the dark," Anth replied. "We are going to Terice Estates, to the west. I know the way; I expect you merely to keep up." If she was testy, that was because women often felt that they had the right to be testy to their underlings for no real reason That general attitude plus the seriousness of the situation would not leave Hammon in the best position to speak. However, Anth had also been fairly talkative and relatively friendly to him on the way to Eldic Estates, when the talk was about nothing and she was planning on having her way with him later.
"I have never wished," she complained, "for a lit road such as now." But most of the lit roads were in the center of compounds or in the capital city proper. The way that they were riding, a lit lantern would have hindered their passage by destroying their night vision and bouncing around erratically.
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Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 3:55 pm
____ Hammon looked down a moment before he returned his eyes to the road, watching again for any signs of life. Something in him told him to say something else, but something stronger in him told him to shut up. He simply took a deep breath and ran a hand over his head, gathering up a combination of fresh sweat and lingering oils designed to make him "presentable" to his lady and flicking them to the ground beside the trail.
____ He glanced to Anth, and then to the trail, and then to her again. A little voice inside told him that he should try to cuddle her later... it almost never worked before, and that little voice said the same thing every time, but this time, this time, it would certainly be different. Hammon nodded to himself and finally successfully brought his attention to the trail and to his actual job.
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School Of Dedicated RPers Captain
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Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 6:33 pm
It was not more than a couple of hours before the light of dawn crawled over his surroundings like sleepy fingers. By then only lazy smoke from put out raid fires would whisper to them any thing of the night before, the reason that they were wearing themselves out on horseback instead of sleeping.
Finding the transitional twilight more dangerous than absolute dark, and wanting the horses to rest, Anth slowed them to a fast walk. She sighed, scraping fingers through red highlights in her brown hair, scratching because the grime there itched. Although her training and experience told her better, suddenly it felt as if their mission were not all that urgent after all. Soon they would be at her home compound, where with any luck food and rest awaited them. After all, the raid seemed to be over behind them, and they were riding away from it besides. The horses even seemed to feel safe.
"How much do you know about the lockdown yesterday?" she asked him suddenly, not in an unpleasant voice. Eldic Estates had been practically shut down after the spotting of a strange flying beast, and Anth had not been with him at he time. As a guest there, she had been told only enough to keep her inside, and wondered if by any chance Hammon could tell her more about the mysterious siting.
There had barely been time for rumors to circulate among the slaves before the raid started, no doubt peppered with gross exaggerations about the lizard's size and ferocity. On the other hand, the beast had carried off a woman...
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Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 6:27 pm
____ "The um... the other men don't talk to me much." Hammon said, allowing his voice to lower to match the decreased volume of hooves hitting the road, quickly appending a "m'lady" to the end of the statement. He paused a moment, torn between a helpless search for words and the knowing that more information was expected from him.
____ "I wasn't called to the fight, either. I overheard something about lizards that tore down walls like... um... like..." he shivered slightly, half-expecting to recieve a swat for his lack of an appropriate simile. He glanced at Anth a moment and took in a slow breath before finishing his statement.
____ "... like it wasn't very hard." he nearly whispered, and then matched the volume with his next words. "That's all I heard. I didn't... see anything or anything like that."
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Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:50 pm
Anth thought for a moment before giving a light scoff. "Of course," she intimated, "what else do you expect of a... dragon?" Although she was basing this on personal opinion, she enjoyed playing as if she had the upper hand on information in this matter. It was easier than admitting that she had been looking for information, for then she would have to express her disappointment.
When she turned a smug look on him from over her shoulder, it was with the practice of many a lie. "But you need not concern yourself too much with that. It is your duty to protect me whatever comes our way, and it matter not how ferocious it is. And besides, I doubt that there are many gigantic lizards hiding even in the shadow of the mountains. It's unlikely that we'll run into any before we reach the safety of the compound."
Safety was a laughably relative term, although it was true that they were almost there. The first guard post, a short squat one because it faced into the country, was hobbling over the horizon.
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Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 9:10 am
____ Hammon rubbed idley up the side of his jaw, producing the quiet scratch of stubble against callused hands now that the gloss of sweat had started to dry. He paused for a long moment, clearly trying to wrap his head around something, before he spoke.
____ "I imagine that fighting a giant lizard would be a lot like fighting a dog... but... um... bigger. I mean, dog bites hurt... really bad... but if you hold their mouths closed, they can't bite you, right? Then they usually try to shake their heads and back up, because, well, it's like someone pinching your nose, right? That's not comfortable..." Hammon's rubbing slowed. "I'd need to use my legs to keep a really big lizard's mouth closed, though. Then I wouldn't have anything to push off of, so I'd be really easy to pick up... but my thighs are really strong... maybe I'd just break his nose... noses are easy to break... yeah... yeeeeah."
____ Hammon's voice steadily rose to a mild confidence as he came to that conclusion. "I'd fight a giant lizard for you, m'lady. I'm better at breaking people... like arms and legs and... stuff... but I'd do my best to break a giant lizard's nose, maybe try to muzzle him, hope that I could make him hit something hard enough to break his neck or smash his head or something." It, of course, never occured to Hammon that dragons have more extremeties than just a head. It still seemed like the best plan ever, and oh would his lady be impressed if he slew a dragon for her. A sublte smile worked its way onto his lips as the thoughts meandered through his mind.
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Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 10:20 am
Anth was frowning at him darkly by the time he finished. Although Hammon had proved himself well enough against human opponents, she was suddenly wishing that he had more braincells in that thick head of his. In fact, maybe she could get herself a woman guard on her next trip, and just take him along for his other duties.
"Shut up," she commanded as she looked forward again. Anth did not lift her command even after they had come to the guard tower and she had talked to the person inside. When she came back down the tower, she snarled at the world. "We're going to the west border!" she snapped at him as she remounted, expecting him to do the same.
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Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 10:48 am
____ "Yes m'lady." Hammon gave the laces of his cuirass a stiff tightening as he hopped onto the horse's back, adjusting himself awkwardly in the saddle. He gave the animal a subtle squeeze with his knees when he was ready to go, and tried to keep it close to Anth's horse.
____ The urge to fidget with his armor came almost immediately, but Hammon did his best to quell it. He didn't want to make Anth any more mad. He needed to slay a dragon... and cuddle... yeah, that'd make it all better. Hammon wondered, seemingly randomly, what a dragon would taste like. Snake, probably, and snakes were good before, but they never had enough meat. Once he got that dragon, he'd have to make snake steaks. Hammon started to nod to himself, but stopped abruptly as he again became aware of Anth's anger.
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Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:40 am
Passing through to the west side of the compound was passing into the storm cloud of a war zone. If Anth was crabby before, she was solemn now. The corners of her eyes crunched in repressed fear. "Damn this message," she whispered under her breath. "And damn the chicken guards for making me carry it the distance."
She motioned for Hammon to stick more closely to her, not understanding how the horses would need their space in the event of a sudden attack. She did not, however, really check to see that he did. His acknowledgment of her was enough.
She sighed with relief as they reached a post on the west side. By then the growls of her stomach were audible. "May the journey be over," she told Hammon happily as they approached the post.
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Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:05 pm
Hammon obeyed quietly, eyes tracing the horizon slowly. The urge to comment managed to find itself restrained for the time being. He looked to Anth again, a muffled variety of a quizzical look on his face.
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Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 9:09 am
No such luck. The guard at the post informed her that the mistress was out on an expedition, and gave her directions for finding the party. Anth thanked him curtly and turned their horses again to the west, facing a desolate wall of trees left to guard the secrets of the forest.
As they passed into the forest and out of hearing of the guard tower, Anth let forth a string of curses that, if Hammon were to repeat to the mistress of the compound, Anth would ferociously deny in order to save her own head (sacrificing his!). Bleeping mistress any way, wandering off on a bleeping hunting expedition in wartime.
As if in omen, the forest darkened around them as she cursed. The tree cover was thickening under a sky approaching twilight. "I'm so tired," Anth complained at the end of her emotional outburst. Tear welled at the corners of her eyes, threatening an entirely different kind of outburst.
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Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 5:01 pm
____ Hammon chewed on his lower lip, urging his horse forward and attempting to quell his internal dialogue.
____ "Don't do it. She'll beat you... like... like a slave!"
____ "But she's going to cry! You should do something!"
____ "I wonder if she has one of those whips with lots of little straps with the little barbs on the ends... they hurt really really bad, but they're so pretty."
____ "Shut up. This is serious."
____ "So that's it. Risk being a bad man or risk getting a whooping. Fine. Good. Going."
____ Hammon's lip chewing slowed as he reached a hand and placed it on Anth's horse's reins gently, trying to be sure that the animal did not spook at the potential turn of events. Words game, albeit slowly. "It... it looks like the trip... has been... tough... if there's anything I can do... like... um... maybe we can make camp and search in the morning. I can set up a tent and make some food."
____ If nothing else, food and sleep always made Hammon feel better.
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Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 6:57 pm
Anth shrugged and leaned towards him. With dusk settling around them, and their long day behind them, sleep seemed like the obvious solution. She didn't even care if a slave had said it first. "We'll make camp here," she sighed, and stopped her horse. Once she dismounted, she sat on the ground against a tree, holding her horse's reigns, and waited for Hammon to work out this camping thing. Dinner was welcome, and a snuggle in the tent even more so.
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