[Mkguild] First Impressions (5/?)

[Azariah Wolf]

Here we go again!  This part came out a bit longer than originally 
planned, but I think it accomplishes its purpose well enough.

-LurkingWolf

_____________________

The patrol reached Outpost just before dusk.Alex had increased their 
pace several times during the day, apparently unsatisfied with their 
progress.His original estimate of late afternoon ended up being a bit 
optimistic, but Lois was at least happy to enter the gates of something 
slightly resembling civilization.As its name implied, it was mostly a 
military installation, but Lois knew that it would be a few more weeks 
before they returned to the Keep proper, and staying in the fortress for 
the evening would help ease him into a few weeks of roughing it.

They were given a place to rest in the barracks, and were given food to 
eat with the garrison of the fortress.They ate together, purely for sake 
of saving time, but Alex took advantage of the situation to say a few words.

"We were forced to start this patrol on short notice, so we have not had 
much time to talk about what's going on.Now, we could say a few words 
while we eat here, but I think we would all appreciate some extra 
privacy considering the scale of this patrol.I've gotten a meeting room 
for our use, so we'll be heading there directly once we finish here."

He was met with no opposition; whether it was due to the fact that no 
one objected, or simply because they wanted to enjoy a full meal before 
their patrol began in earnest.Either way, only few words were exchanged 
the rest of the way through their meal.

Alex led the way to their reserved meeting area.The room they entered 
was small and sparsely decorated.A few lights were already lit, giving 
the room enough light to see the map that was spread wide over the top 
of a small table in the center of the room.It was certainly functional, 
but made everyone realize how much grander the meeting rooms were in 
Metamor.Considering the lavish decorations of George's office, which was 
the only place they had discussed the patrol, this room seemed more like 
a dungeon cell.

Alex walked across to the room and ran a hand over the map.He left it 
otherwise undisturbed, however, and instead turned back to face the 
patrol."Gerard, Lucy, you both know me.I don't have anything to say to 
you two except that I expect you to work as well now as before Lois was 
assigned to work with us.Beyond that, you're just here to remind me of 
anything I might forget to tell our guest member."

He turned then, and looked directly at Lois."We've fought each other 
once; I know you have skill.Since you addressed it last night, I won't 
be shy about mentioning it here.Since you were an assassin, I expect 
that you're good at being quiet.That's good; we've had a lot of freedom 
so far, since we've cleared a lot of the area around Metamor 
recently."He left the reason for this clearing a secret, but the rest of 
the patrol knew; they were preparing for the arriving dignitaries.

"We won't have such a clear road from here on out.We'll keep the pace up 
until we get past Giant's Dike; from there we're into no-man's 
land.Nasoj would still claim it as his own, but right now it's the 
domain of countless squabbling lutin tribes, and whatever nasty things 
they might have with them.Our orders are to scout; engagement is only 
authorized in the case of certain troublesome tribes.Even then, the call 
to engage is mine.If there's too many of them, we'll try to follow them 
for a while, and see if we can find a pattern to report to George.

"Since it is a recent development, I need to inform you that not all 
lutin tribes are considered hostiles.We have received offers of peace 
from several of them, and their intentions have proven trustworthy to 
this point.We don't have the resources to offer peace terms personally; 
we leave that to the longs.Our job is exclusively to find and track 
tribes whose hostility is confirmed.Most of the time, I'll be available 
to identify them.I will want you to be able to handle yourself, 
though.Here's a handy resource that intelligence came up with to keep us 
up with things."

He pulled out a small wooden box that he had kept in a pouch by his 
side.It didn't look special at all; it was simply a plain wooden box, 
lacking any mark, stain, or symbol that might make it look important.It 
was latched at one side, and hinged with simple, utilitarian hinges on 
the other.Alex tripped the latch and opened the box, revealing a deck of 
well-made cards inside.They lacked the usual design used on cards; 
although the swords, coins, clubs, and hearts remained, as well as 
numbers on the corners, the designs in the center instead consisted of 
unfamiliar symbols, labeled names under each one.

"These cards are used to tell us what tribes have what allegiances.The 
swords are openly hostile to us; many of them are still allied with 
Nasoj; we have more enemies than cards, so we just have the most 
important enemies in the cards.The clubs are hostile, but generally 
leave us alone if we leave them alone.Coins aren't on either side; a few 
of them might try to give you trouble, but they're mostly show.Show them 
you mean business and they will leave you alone.Hearts are allies; we 
don't have too many of these, yet, but we hope to have a suit of them 
before too much longer."

Lois nodded.Using cards to keep track of your enemies was certainly a 
novelty, but it did seem to be a good method.He didn't have much trouble 
remembering things; a little familiarity with the cards, and he would 
know who was who without much difficulty.

"So, we're out here mainly for intelligence work?"

"At the moment," Alex confirmed."As I said, there are some priority 
targets.I'll go over some of the important one with you sometime later 
this evening.At any rate, I will want to use your skills every now and 
then, if you feel comfortable doing so in your new form."

"I might need a little refresher.I'll take a run around the fortress a 
little bit, see how well my stealth works in this form.I don't 
anticipate any trouble though, so you should be able to count on me."

"All right, good."Alex looked him up and down and sighed."I didn't give 
you much of a response when you came out with the fact that you were an 
assassin last night.I want to be clear; I am not going to treat you any 
different on this patrol than if you were any other rookie.My men will 
be my first choices for most missions, but that will be because I'm 
still figuring out the extent of your skills, not because of what your 
employment was before you came here.Once we're out there, we're all in 
danger.Add distrust to our list of handicaps, and we're already well on 
our way to failure.I won't let that happen to us."

"The same goes for me," Gerard said, breaking his silence for the first 
time since their meal.He nodded, perhaps a little stiffly, to Lois."I 
can't say I will never have a second thought about you, but all I've 
seen of you so far is a strong man with a good work ethic.Do remember, 
however, I'm fighting for a lot more than just myself.If you go after me 
or anyone I know, I will not hesitate to kill you on the spot."

"Aren't you the reassuring one?" Lucy commented.She couldn't hold back a 
girlish giggle at Gerard's words, but she managed to regain her 
composure before she completely lost her poise."I'm in no hurry to die 
either; I'll work with you too," she finally managed for her own part.

"All right, Lois.We're agreed.You're part of this patrol, and as such 
now partake in all of the responsibilities, dangers, and quirks that 
make us who we are," Alex announced.Lois felt Gerard's heavy hand thump 
him across his shoulder a few times, and he managed a lopsided smile as 
he looked back at the large man.Lois had to admit, it was the first time 
he had let his guard down this much in a long time.It felt really good.

"Welcome to the club, mate," Alex said.He held out a paw, giving a full 
smile for the first time since they had met in the ring.Lois shook his 
paw, and returned the smile with full force.Lucy managed to squeeze 
between the two of them next, and gave Lois' hand one strong pump before 
stepping aside to shake the feeling back into her hand.

"If you're going to get some practice done in your new form, I would 
suggest starting immediately," Alex said."I will want an hour or two 
before we get some rest tonight to review some details."He pulled the 
case of cards partially from the pouch and gestured to it with his other 
hand.Lois nodded.

"I'll take a quick run and be back here in about half an hour.Will that 
work?"

"Sounds like a plan to me.Better get moving, we're already almost out of 
sunlight."

Lois didn't hesitate any further.As soon as the door was open, he darted 
out, scanning the halls for cover as he started his run.Inside the room, 
the three regulars watched him go, smiles widening as they surveyed the 
scene.

"I see the two of you performed admirably," Alex commented drily.

"Are you kidding?His attention was glued to you the whole time.I could 
have covered him from head to toe in fur dye and he wouldn't have 
noticed."Gerard wiped some of the black dye on his armor.

"I think I prefer what you did.Turning him black isn't hardly as funny 
as watching him running down the hall with a target painted on the back 
of his head."Alex sighted along an imaginary bow and mimicked a shot at 
the man just as he rounded the far corner.

"Don't forget my work," Lucy said."A target is nice, but I want to see 
his face when he realizes that I tied a bow to his tail while he was 
watching you.If he's that observant as an assassin, I think we can all 
rest easy."

"As long as we let someone monologue to him, we'll be fine," Alex 
agreed.He finally let his smile fade a little bit."Well, that means he's 
officially one of us.Best get used to it; if we do a good job and George 
follows his usual tendencies, we could be seeing a lot more of his as we 
move along."

The two others nodded.None of the three felt completely comfortable with 
their new member, but the words they had spoken were true.If they didn't 
trust one of their partners, they would be better off if they didn't 
leave Outpost.Trusting an assassin could be deadly, but the alternative 
could be even more dangerous.


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