Chapter 44 part 4

"How about a compromise?" the marquis asked. "I sort of trade or services?"

Whatever Beth had expected, it certainly wasn't this. She was quite confident about that.

"What kind of trade?" Tim asked, sounding more suspicious than Beth would have liked.

The marquis waved his hand rather dismissively. "Nothing major," he answered. "Just like what you said, if your friend can help with the farmers growing their food, then that would at least solve that problem." The marquis then looked at Hesha. "Even if it's just wild magic, we could use that as well. You never know what you might need in a battle. That's one thing that my mother had told me often enough when I was growing up, and ruling this march is often like a battle itself."

"Don't worry, we can help Hesha learn to use her magic," Beth assured the marquis. "I was already planning on talking with her about it. We just never had a good time for it to be brought up."

The marquis nodded at Beth, a small smile starting to form on his face. "There might be other things that come up that I'd be able to use your magic to help with, so as long as you're willing to do that, I can justify helping you with food and shelter," the marquis said. "Then during times when you're not needed for anything, you'll be free to peruse my library and see if you can find that griffin canyon you mentioned. In addition, I can have some clothing made for each of you that will help you blend in and not be recognizable as someone who might be easily missed."

Beth wasn't sure, but she had a feeling that this was probably going to be the best they could hope for. So, she at least thanked him, prompting the rest of her friends still present to do so. Aside from Ralph. Ralph seemed to just think that nodding at the marquis would be enough. Beth wasn't sure herself, just that it was at least par for the course with Ralph.

"Plus, I'm sure my daughter would like to express her gratitude as well for bringing her back home," the marquis added as Beth was about to turn to leave.

"Just out of curiosity, how did she end up being taken herself?" Beth asked, still half turned away. She hadn't actually taken the time to think about it until now, but it did seem like it shouldn't have been as simple as It sounded like it had happened.

The marquis lifted his gaze to the window above them. "We're still not sure about that," he said, his voice sounding troubled. "We do know she left the castle of her own choice, but we're not sure how she knew when to try or where the key had been hidden. Maybe she just got lucky with all of that, but we're not sure it was that."

Beth nodded. It was clear to her that the marquis planned on talking with his daughter about it, but also that he wasn't confident that everyone in the castle could be trusted as well. That he might either have a traitor, a mole, a saboteur, or any combination of those three. That what happened could easily happen again if he didn't figure out what the problem had been.

_

Embris was appalled. Signing up as a mercenary wasn't difficult, but since she didn't have any money at the moment, she couldn't even get a sword, which was required for a few of the jobs. Or essentially most of them.

While there were several that didn't sound like they would require one, they at least did require Embris to be part of a mercenary company. Although, if she could find one that would let her join, only the captain of the company would be able to choose the jobs in that case.

Yet at the same time, any of the companies that she'd approached had taken one look at her and refused. Primarily because it was clear that Embris hadn't had any children of her own, which Emibris fully understood.

After all, it wasn't like it was anything new. Most mercenary companies had some members who didn't have any children, but then they weren't allowed into battle anyway. As such, they didn't need to get replaced as frequently. Not that knowing all of that helped Embris any.

Still, she was hoping that she might find some kind of job that would allow her to get some sort of stability at the moment. She had been given a few jobs over the past couple days, which had allowed her to buy some food for herself and her siblings who were with her. Although, she suspected she'd been given those scrap jobs because others could see that she was trying to take care of others.

Yet, she could tell that she wasn't the only one in that kind of a position. Others had come from various villages with similar stories as hers. Where they were attacked by bandits and their parents had been killed, leaving them left to try and take care of their brothers, or a few sisters who were too young to do some of even the simplest of jobs to get any kind of money.

"Excuse me, but you're looking for any kind of job, right?" a woman asked, startling Embris out of her thoughts.

"What kind of job?" she asked, not trusting that it would be as it sounded, since it wasn't coming from the mercenary guild. Nor did she really think that she should accept just 'any' job that was offered.

She'd heard about too many 'jobs' where the person who was offered the job was next seen being sold at the slave auction. Maybe she'd be willing to be less careful if she didn't have Rephis and Nymis to care for. As then she couldn't help but wonder if she'd even care if she ended up as a slave like that.

"As a guard for a trip through he forest of the lost to the duchy on the other side," she answered. "The man at the desk in the guild told me to look for someone like you. He said that you've been in the forest yourself. If you want, you can come back to the guild with me and they can verify what I'm saying."

Embris nodded. While she didn't have reason to doubt the woman's words, she wasn't going to take the risk anyway. It was easy enough to say all that, but if she didn't check it out, it could give her a reputation as being careless. Which could mean that the next time something like this came up, that it might actually be a trap.

Not that she didn't suspect that this offer could be a trap to begin with. All she could be certain of was that she needed to look at all possibilities, since it wasn't just herself that she needed to be looking out for. Nymis and Rephis were relying on her to get something so they could eat themselves.

"Let's go to the guild then," Embris said. "Though, just so you know I have a brother and sister that I'll be bringing with me."

The woman nodded. "I understand. That won't be a problem," she answered as they started walking towards the guild.

"And I don't have a sword of my own. So unless you can loan me one, I won't be able to do much," Embris added, worried that she might be talking herself out of a job that she desperately needed, but aware that if she didn't bring this up that it could make it harder to get another job later on.

The woman laughed. "Don't worry. I've had so many damaged or broken in my life, that I always make sure to have a few spares. I'll let you borrow one of those."

Embris felt better with that assurance, although she still worried that it was a trick somehow. Not that she really knew exactly how it would be. Just that she couldn't get the rumors she kept hearing going on out of her head.

Though, the one thing she was confident about was that no one working in the guild would try anything like that, as it was well understood that if anyone was caught trying anything like that, they'd not only be sold as a slave faster than they'd be able to blink, but also their entire family would be in danger. Depending on what the guild was able to prove and how long it had been going on, as well as other considerations that the mercenary guild refused to make public.

"Why do you need to go through the Forest of the Lost?" Embris asked as they walked. Curious as to what this job might entail.

The woman looked at Embris in surprise. "Don't you know what's on the other side of the forest?" she asked.

Embris shook her head. She'd never needed to know before, and it wasn't like she'd thought much more about the forest than worrying about getting taken by the Lost.

"Well, the duchy I'm talking about is only accessible through the forest or if you wanted to go around the Stone Mountain. While you could try that route, not only would it add several months to the trip, but you'd have to deal with the tribal people on the other side of the mountain," the woman answered.

Embris nodded. She'd heard of the Stone Mountain. It bordered the Forest of the Lost, but why it was called that was because of the legends about how the stones from that mountain could move on their own and how anyone who spent too long on it would turn to stone.

Then before Embris could say anything in response, the woman continued, "The reason some will take that route is because many don't care to deal with the Forest of the Lost. So, it can be hard to find anyone willing to help me guard my cargo on the way through."

Embris nodded, realizing that this person was likely a merchant. While it was possible the woman did something else as her occupation, Embris couldn't think of what that might be. Or at least what it could be that would require her to hire people to help guard whatever 'cargo' she had.

They both walked in a companionable silence after that, neither seeming to feel the need to say anything. Which Embris was fine with. She really didn't need to make friends with potential employers. She just needed a job that would allow her to care for her brother and sister.

As the guild's hall in this city came into view, the woman suddenly said, "By the way, my name's Nuem. I believe your name is Embris, right?"

Embris nodded. "Yes, that's my name. Is there a problem with it?"

Nuem shook her head as they approached the front doors to the guild. "Not at all. I just wanted to confirm that I'd caught your name correctly."

While she understood what the woman meant, she couldn't help but feel like this should be a reason she should refuse the job. There was something about the woman that Embris just couldn't trust. She didn't know what it was, but the more she talked, the more the distrust grew.

Maybe she was being unfair, but she wasn't really in a position to just trust anyone. Although, on the other hand, she really wasn't in a position to be picky about the jobs she took, either. The main guarantee of getting a job of this nature through the mercenaries guild was the fact that they had measures taken to ensure that jobs any mercenary accepted through them wouldn't end up getting sold as a slave. Because if that happened, either people would stop trusting the guild or there wouldn't be enough mercenaries to fill all the jobs that they got requests for, if not a combination of both. Either way, the guild would suffer for it.

When they entered the guild, the dim lighting made Embris almost feel like she was being ambushed. She couldn't be sure if it was because talking with this woman had set her on edge, if it was her worries about being able to take care of her siblings, or a result of what had chased her out of her village. It wasn't the first time this had happened since she'd been here, but she wished that it would stop.

If nothing else, she didn't like the attention that it drew towards her. Even though there wasn't supposed to be any danger in there.

"Jumpy, aren't you?" Nuem remarked quietly.

Embris merely scowled in response. She didn't want to explain herself to the woman, nor did she care for the remark, either. If anything, she wished that it would just go away altogether. Besides, if this job offer was as good as it was sounding, then Embris couldn't let the opportunity pass by.

Nuem led Embris to the counter, where a receptionist greeted them. Embris knew full well the receptionist's features were soft so as to make this place more inviting, but she was a little surprised to find it not as interesting as she had thought she would. When she thought of an attractie face, she couldn't help but think of Ralph for some reason. Not that she had shared that with anyone.

"I see you found her," the receptionist said, his smile warm and friendly.

"Yes, but she wasn't ready to believe that the offer was good," Nuem replied.

The receptionist nodded. "As she should be. Especially with her special circumstances I mentioned, Nuem," the receptionist answered. "The payment will also be standard, but since this will be a multi-day journey, you'll be responsible for providing the meals for Embris' party."

Embris blinked. She hadn't thought about meals when it came to traveling, nor had she expected that her employer would be responsible for providing them, especially since she was merely being hired to help guard. She would have thought that it would be up to her to get the food for her and her siblings to eat.

"Yes, I remember," Nuem replied calmly, pulling Embris out of her thoughts. "I'll also be ready to leave in the morning. I've already given you my payment for this, so I'm not going to give you another coin."

"We're aware," the receptionist replied. "After all, you did already accept two others as guards for your trip."

Embris was a little surprised at this. She would have thought that Nuem would have had others already, that she wouldn't have needed to hire so many mercenaries. It somehow felt a little strange to her.

However, the knowledge that they'd be leaving in the morning was welcome news to her. It meant that she'd be able to start earning money to help support her siblings that much sooner. That she wouldn't need to waste time for Nuem to finish whatever other business she might have in this city.

She just hoped that Nymis and Rephis wouldn't be upset at having to leave again. She had always had in her mind that she'd be able to get a job as a mercenary maybe helping guard the city or something, but she had to accept that reality didn't quite work out the way she would have liked. Especially with the reasons she'd had to flee her home village.

As she listened to Nuem and the receptionist discuss finer details about the job, she couldn't help but wonder what she might see on this trip that she wouldn't have otherwise seen.