The White Ravens

"Everything can be taken from a person, but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

This story takes place in the Kingdom of Magincia. A young man Ciel is a mercenary captain with a small castle on the southern edge of the central province. Ciel along with his two companions have decided to setup this mercenary company.

The White Ravens is an excellent name for a mercenary company.

Ciel arrive at the keep alongside his companions Arlo and Anne. Arlo is a spearman and a former member of the royal guard. Anne is a freelance fighter and a skilled duelist with the sword. They first met them when Ciel was a wandering bard in the past.

Ciel wandered much in his youth and happened upon Arlo and Anne in the mist of battle defending a caravan from bandits. Though they fought fiercely, the battle was not going their way. Ciel intervened and saved both their lives forcing the bandits to retreat. They have been grateful ever since. Over the years, Arlo and Anne taught Ciel quite a bit on how to survive as a mercenary.

Arlo and Anne have had some epic disagreements over the years, and often use Ciel as the impartial tie breaker. Due to this, many clients started referring to Ciel as the captain since he seemed to make all the decisions for the group. Arlo and Anne did not mind, as long as they were getting paid. Over the years, they have even grown to respect his leadership.

Ciel, Arlo, and Anne were all sitting in the castle's main chamber discussing possible mercenary work. Anne was first to speak, "Ok, so we spent all this gold and now we have an official mercenary company, I think it is about time we took a new mission. How about we head north? I hear there is plenty of work there."

Arlo laughs, "To the barren and rocky North? Sure, there is plenty of work there, but also plenty opportunities to lose your head in the process. Barbarians constantly raid there and the majority of people we would be working for would be cutthroats."

Anne smiles, "Sounds like my kind of place. I'm tired of escorting lords on trade missions."

Arlo hisses, "Those are decent paying jobs with a low amount of risk."

Anne smirks, "That is exactly what I am talking about. Low risk, Low reward. I say we look for better paying jobs! What do you say Ciel?"

"I agree with you, Anne", said Ciel.

Anne nods, "See even the captain agrees we should start doing real mercenary work."

Arlo simply shakes his head.

They continue arguing for several minutes until the door to the chamber opens. Redford walks in and takes a seat beside Ciel. He hands him some fresh new mercenary job opportunities and Ciel start looking them over. He asks if he would like a status report of the company's finances and resources, and Ciel agrees.

Redford starts going over the company's current situation…

Stanton has done a good job in maintaining our supplies and personnel. They have more than enough food to last through winter and finally enough guards to secure the keep when Ciel, Arlo and Anne are out on mercenary contracts. Ciel review the current mercenary jobs in front ofh im, Arlo and Anne wait to hear what him will suggest…

Ciel was just about to announce the mission when there is a loud knock on the door. He yells for whoever it is to come in, and a servant walks in with a strange look on his face.

"What is it Ben?", Ciel ask.

"Well Lord…I mean Captain Ciel, there is someone asking to see you."

"Well, what do you know, we have customers coming to us already.", replies Anne.

"Let's go see what this person wants.", Ciel reply.

"Right behind you Captain!", exclaims Anne.

The trio walk outside on top of the ramparts and see a young lady waiting outside below. Based on her clothing, Ciel guesses she is a merchant's daughter or something.

Before Ciel can say anything Anne yells at Arlo, "How did she get pass the moat. Don't we have a drawbridge?"

Arlo nods, "Yes, we have a drawbridge, but it doesn't need to be up all the time. I lowered it."

"Dammit Arlo, keep the drawbridge up", exclaims Anne, "If anybody can just walk up to our gate and say hello what is the point of it?"

They continue arguing for some time. The young lady looks confused at what she should do.

The young lady speaks, "You're The White Ravens right? I want to hire your services."

"In what capacity might I ask?", Ciel reply.

"Well, I need your protection.", she replies.

Anne raises an eyebrow, "Protection from what?"

"Well, it would be better if I explained inside, could you open the gate please?", she replies.

Anne looks over at Arlo and mutters, "Well at least you closed the gate Arlo."

The young lady looks flushed, "There are some men after me."

Arlo nods, "And…why are they after you?"

Anne chuckles and whispers something crude to Arlo.

The young lady looks exasperated. "Please I have been walking for nearly two days now to get to you. I have money." She pulls out a bag of coins. Given its size it must have at least 500 gold pieces.

Anne's eyes grow wide, "Arlo, open the damn gate…now!"

The gate opens with a loud clanking noise. The young lady nods her head in thank you and walks inside. Ciel invites her into the main dining hall. Anne sits down with her feet up on the table and yells at the servant to bring some wine and bread.

Anne asks for the young woman to hand her the bag of coins. When she does she takes a gold coin from the bag. Anne examines it and then bites it. She smiles in approval, "It's real."

Arlo takes the bag away from Anne and gives it back to the young lady.

"Alright, you're inside now. Tell us why you need protection.", Ciel said.

The lady takes a deep breath and begins speaking, "Well, I may have saw something I shouldn't have. My name is Vera and I live in the town of Gilbert not too many miles away from here. The mayor there is rumored to be corrupt. There have been many stories over the years that he engages in unsavory business practices, but I never believed them to be true until now. I sell silk clothing at the merchant stands in my village. It is a good business, and I inherited it from my Uncle."

She continues, "Well, one day I went to sell my wares like any other day, when something happened. Normally there are guards in the market district, especially during rush trading hours, but for some reason that day all the guards were someplace else. Bandits with masks came and tore down the stands stealing all of our goods. You must understand that my trade is my livelihood, so I fought them the best I could. I hit one bandits with a stick and threw some dye in one of the bandit's eyes. A bandit came and pushed me and went to take my goods, but I tackled him and during the struggle I ripped off his mask and saw his face. Even though I put up a fight, they ended up getting away with most of my goods as well as many of the other merchants there. The man I unmasked pulled out a dagger, I thought I was a goner, but suddenly the guards appeared, and he ran away. I told the guards everything including a description man's face. They promised to investigate it. After not hearing anything for a few days I went to see the mayor to find out if anything had been discovered. I was told he was already in a meeting, so I waited. While waiting I asked who the mayor was meeting with, and I was told it was his business partner in the merchant district. When he was done with his meeting I rushed up to talk to him, and I ran straight into the bandit. Apparently, he was meeting with the mayor. He knew right away that I recognized him. I then realized that during the bandit attack, one stall was not touched, and that was the one stall the mayor owned. I connected the dots quickly and I ran away as fast as I could. Pretty soon there were wanted posters of me around the village saying I was wanted for questioning regarding the bandit attack on the merchant district. I grabbed what valuables I had left, and I ran and didn't stop running until I got here. When I saw your castle, I wasn't sure whose it was, but a traveler on the road told me you were a mercenary group for hire and that you did local jobs."

"Alright, we'll help you", said Ciel.

Vera looks quite relieved to hear Ciel say that.

Suddenly another servant appears, "Captain…there are some men outside the gate that wish to meet with you."

"You sure are popular today Captain.", quips Anne.

Ciel, along with Anne and Arlo, go outside and see five men on horseback with weapons outside the gate.

Anne whispers to Ciel, "They look like the rather unsavory type…my kind of people."

The head rider calls out to Ciel, "Does this castle belong to the White Ravens? We heard a young lady by the name of Vera was seen heading in this direction. Have you seen her?"

Arlo shrugs, "Possibly, a lot of people use the main road here. We don't check on everyone that passes."

The head rider continues speaking, "It is important…she is a wanted criminal."

Anne cocks her head, "Wanted criminal huh? Don't they usually have bounties?"

The head rider nods, "Yes, there is a 50 gold piece reward for any information that helps us find her."

Anne looks over at Ciel smiling, "Oh…this just got interesting". Arlo has a serious look on his face.

Ciel asked, "Why are you looking for her?"

The head rider moves uneasily, "It is a personal matter. My lord wishes her to be returned."

"It is imperative that I find her…", he suddenly gets quiet and refuses to tell them more details; Ciel get the sense he is under orders not to divulge any more information.

""We have her", Ciel said.

The head rider looks a bit surprised, "You do? Well…why don't you bring her out then?"

Anne answers before you can, "50 gold pieces are too little, she's worth at least 100 Gold pieces."

The header rider looks upset, "Fine…Fine. 100 gold pieces then. Now bring her out."

Anne goes to open the gate, but Arlo stops her and says, "Are we really doing this? She's a client."

Anne shoves Arlo back a little bit, "Says who? We never signed any contract."

"Technically we accepted payment.", Arlo replies.

Anne shakes her head, "No we confiscated goods from a wanted criminal, and we are about to get rewarded for it. Don't mess this up Arlo!"

Anne leaves before Arlo can respond. He looks over at you, "Captain, come on I know we are mercenaries, but we have to keep our word, don't we?"

Before Ciel can respond Anne returns with Vera. She is holding her tight by one of her arms and dragging her toward the gate. Arlo runs down and manages to intercept them.

"Captain, call Arlo off, he is getting all knightly again.", yells Anne.

Arlo shakes his head, "This isn't right, you know what these men will do to her after what she saw."

"Damn it Arlo, that could have been one of those easy pay days you were always talking about.", replies Anne.

Arlo suddenly looks solemn, "Look do this for me…and I…and I won't stop you from choosing the next mercenary job."

Anne raises an eyebrow, "Even if involves something unsavory?"

Arlo nods.

Ciel says, "What about Assassination contracts Arlo?"

Arlo sighs and nods, "Even that Captain…please."

Anne thinks for a moment and discusses it with Ciel.

After some time, Ciel and Anne both decide they might as well cede to Arlo's request.

"Fine", says Anne letting Vera go, "But now we really are in trouble, they are expecting us to bring her out."

Arlo replies, "I think I have an idea, but you're going to have to trust me."

"What's your idea?", Ciel ask.

Arlo grins, "Hopefully something that won't get us killed."

Arlo tells Anne to hide Vera in that secret compartment where she likes to store the good wine. Anne is about to ask Arlo how he knows about that when he tells her to hurry, so she leaves a bit flustered.

He then tells Ciel to go back and keep the bandits busy. He then heads toward the servant's quarters. Ciel go back and talk to the head rider a bit more, who are beginning to come impatient.

The head rider is about to say something when suddenly he appears with someone covered in a hooded cloak and is dragging that person alongside him.

"Here she is, found her outside begging for food and shelter. Decided to give her a job in the kitchen, never expected she was a wanted criminal.", says Arlo.

The head rider looks at him suspiciously, "Remove the cloak, and let me verify it is her."

Arlo shrugs and takes the hood off cloak.

It is one of the female servants you hired a few weeks ago. She normally has brown hair, but it looks like it has recently been dyed blonde.

The head rider scoffs, "That is not her. Your wasting my time mercenary."

Arlo looks shocked, "What do you mean, she matches your description perfectly…how was I supposed to know you were looking for some other blonde woman?"

Arlo puts the hooded cloak back on her, before they can notice the dye dripping off.

The head rider is rather upset now, "We know she headed this way…if your hiding her…you will regret it."

Arlo feigns being hurt by the head rider's words, "We aren't hiding her Sir, if you don't believe me go look for yourself. We have nothing to hide."

"Very well", replies the head rider. He orders his men to do a throughout search. They come back empty handed.

The head rider is rather upset after the search yields nothing, and is about to leave when Anne yells at him, "Hey what about our reward?"

The head rider looks at her with distain, "That was if you had her, which you didn't."

Anne walks up, with her hand tightly around her sheathed sword, "You just wasted about an hour of our time mister. You should have been more specific about the girl. Give us our gold before this gets ugly."

The header rider is unsure of what to do, "The money was for information leading to her whereabouts…"

Anne nods slowly, "Exactly…and now you know she isn't here." Anne stares him down.

The head rider is unnerved by Anne and throws a bag of gold on the ground, "Here is 50 gold pieces for your time, but if you run into the little thief you best let us know."

"Thief?", whispers Arlo.

Ciel gets worried that Anne is about to demand the full 100, when she nods and says, "That will do, and takes her hand off her sword."

The riders leave in a hurry.