"She's unconscious again.." Armando said as they approached their sledge, one they had positioned in a safe place to avoid an avalanche. The weather didn't seem to change as the once gentle pouring snow was becoming fierce with a cold howling breeze accompanying it's every contempt.
"We need to be on our way now. I fear for an avalanche catching up with us soon" Vandorr said as he placed the girl inside a carriage they had modified on their sledge. He had wrapped her with a thick wool jacket to keep her warm. "Does this mean all our hard work was in vain afterall?!" Armando asked as he fed the wolves pulling the sledge. Vandorr heaved a sigh, Armando might have been quite an annoying character but he did ask some obvious questions especially ones he was avoiding.
The so proclaimed VANDOLSK turned out to be a woman, months of research on it was waste, their efforts futile and even more, the reward they were hoping to get from the nearby town who had hired them to take care of that mythical creature that ripped their livestock to shred, too was not going to be possible since there was no proof but it did seem right and well to him, at least they could save a life and even more, he was curious to know how a human could become something that didn't even exist months and years ago even until about some hours earlier.
"I suppose. All of these makes me curious" He finally spoke up as the sledge had began to move in the thick snow. He stared at the girl one more time as she slept and soon shifted his focus on the passing trees on his side.
It wasn't up to an hour when the warm sun had began to caress their skins, the temperature had increased moderately and they had begun to see less snow as they slid down a bend on a hill top. The green vegetation below them became tempting as their minds longed for the warmth of the even sun. Soon they had approached the town, stopping at a stable where they had put their horses. After all, the sledge wasn't aided for the dirt soil they had entered.
"You don't plan on meeting the Strugart, do you?! These barbarians can be irrational sometimes" Armando said as he untied his horse. The girl screamed immediately, a reaction that caused them to rush to her.
Her mouth vibrated incessantly, mumbling words inaudible ones. "What's she even saying?!" He asked again as they bent down to see her if she was about to get a seizure. "I think she's scared" Vandorr stared curiously at her. "Wh-where a-ar-are you t-t-ta-tak-taking me to?! I don't want to be here, where am I? What about my daughter?! She was with me yesterday!!" She said carelessly shivering in a state of panic.
"Calm down, you're fine now.... Can I get you a cup of water?!" Vandorr said empathetically. "She must be mad, is her daughter a VANDOLSK too?!" Armando stood to his feet and walked away in frustration. "Armando, since when do you give up on mystery like this?! She must be oblivious to what has happened to her. Someone must have cursed her" Vandorr shook his head in disbelief.
"Cursed you say?! She's mad my friend!, speaking of a daughter when she's been an abomination for years" Armando spat. "Abomination?! What are you talking about?! I don't understand" The girl spoke again as she watched both men exchange pretty words. "You've been a VANDOLSK for quite sometime, a mountain lion, somewhat a werewolf!" Armando said without hesitation.
"Armando!! How much more will it take till you lose your very mind!??" Vandorr said with a feat of rage. "What he says, is it true?!" The girl said staring into his own eyes. He looked away and answered coolly. "I'm afraid.... He is. We found you as one. Apologies!!.... because we even had to harm you. None if us was expecting you to change form" He replied gently grasping her hands in a manner of console. The girl burst into tears immediately "I remember nothing.." She said sobbing into her own hands. "What is your name maiden?! We are willing to take you home and hopefully you will find your daughter" Vandorr gave Armando a dead stare.
"Aretha, I remember, my daughter's name..." She said.
"And yours?!"
"Celiona, from the family of Serth" She replied his question. Armando and Vandorr stared at each other with astonishment. "Why do you look at each other like that?! Have I said something wrong??" She asked as she looked from one to the other. "Not at all, My Lady" Vandorr finally said breaking free from the imaginary spell that grabbed his mind. Not at all?! Who were they kidding?! There was a big problem, she belonged to a noble family, one belonging to the biggest and most popular city in the large country they were in.
Araguaia, the city of many streams.
So they called it, maybe because of the many rivers that cut through it's boundaries or the it's numerous swamps in it's finest and biggest man made garden created by it's governor, Doric Demur III. Vandorr and Armando had once been clients to top individuals in this city, from wealthy merchants to government officials.
They had been given contracts to kill dangerous creatures and all other things they deemed to be out of their way.
The reason for surprise?! If the girl had to be from there, it could only mean more trouble as the different noble families despised each other one way or the other. There had been many cases of contemptuous attempts aimed at each other and with the girl being cursed into being an abomination of a VANDOLSK or even the abduction of her child, the daughter she spoke of, it had to be the hand of someone from there.
Vandorr cleared his throat, he didn't wish it would go that way but with the way it seemed, there was no turning back. "The look on your face speaks it, I know we are going" Armando heaved a sigh, he seemed to be tired of speaking. "You speak like you know me that much Armando... You should be happy that you will get to see your family once more" He replied with a smile that hardly seemed visible through his thick beards. Armando was from a third class noble family, The Indies'.
(There were four families in this class, the hierarchy spun from First class down to Fifth class. The First class families were only two, Targeris and Yerx. The Second class three, Demur, Effreu and Serth. The Third class four, Indie, Gorgon, Chertsey and Saxton. The Fourth class Five, Zeddic, Opren, Michander, Thughis, Uffron and the Fifth class six, Turt, Rudd, Xerch, Kirzner, Leeds and Fircsh.)
"You're Indie. My father used to call your family thieves with thrives. He envied how you fought your way up" She said with a smiling that cracked along her perched lips.
Armando looked away, pulling his horse out of the stead. "You might have just angered him.." Vandorr paused his lips as he said, Celiona seemed confused at his reaction. "But I was only complimenting him" She said with a pink face. "Let's get going, I'm afraid I've got to meet with a very irrational man to collect our rewards" He stretched out his hand to lift her up to her feet. She had already wrapped her nude body with the long jacket she had one.
Soon they both mounted his horse and caught up with the already striding horse of Armando. "We might lose our heads to these barbarians since we can't provide the prize. I'm only telling you because I'd rather die falling off a cliff than at the hands of ruthless stinky Drigmirs" Armando said without looking at them as they had caught up with him as they rode along a narrow dirt part that led downhill to a shabby village below.
"You are one of a kind Armando. The Strugart will have to pay up, at the very least for the struggles of climbing that mountain" Vandorr said after a long laugh. In no time, they had already entered into the village, shabby settlement of poor masses. The Drigmirs so they were called, they belonged to a secluded part of the country consisting of sixteen villages. The elites lived in the beautiful parts of the country and hence none of them could really be found in places like that. The social caste system made it difficult for the poor to grow and have access to many benefits and amenities just like the elite masses. It was common for many of them to join in the army or even worse become slaves at the hands of the wealthy ones.
"Can they even pay us?!" Armando said as he dropped off his horse into the muddy ground, a small rain had just poured, wetting the dry grounds. He had even caught sight of some children running around in clothes not more fitting than rags.
"Don't judge a book by it's cover besides they might have gathered together a year's worth of coin for us. It's good for business" Vandorr replied, helping Celiona get off the horse.
"Ha! Men of Valour! You're back as you swore!! One word describes you... BRAVERY!!" A man in brown woolly coats had approached them from a distance with some other people in almost the same attires trooping behind him. He was about the same height as Vandorr, a little over six feet tall, white skinned looking already rough from scars and dirt and a black plaited hair which he packed behind his head. He hugged Vandorr, doing the same for Armando who hesitated at first but soon agreed to the gesture.
"And the prize, the head of the VANDOLSK, I wish to show it to my people, a creature that no gold can buy!!" He said again revealing a set of brown teeth, the others behind him, both men and women grunted in unison as though to agree with what he had said. "I'm afraid we found nothing of which you speak of, only but a failed mission" Vandorr said with a calm voice as though tired. They looked at each other with astonishment, murmuring and mumbling in words only they understood.
"What do you mean?! The VANDOLSK had troubled our lands for years and many have said tales of these dangerous being" The Strugart said with astonishment and frustration. "I'm afraid they are only but fables" Vandorr replied again. The murmuring continued again. "Who is the fair lady who accompanies you.?! She reeks of royalty!!" A woman had called from within the crowd that assembled. The statement seemed to caused a much louder uproar as they struggled to touch her.
"Is that right?! Adventurers!!!" The Strugart said with a feat of rage."Don't be swayed by empty words, this woman is everything like you" Vandorr kept his cool, he knew how loose the Drigmirs were, irrational lots that did all sort of unimaginable things. It was even common for them, for men to sleep with mothers or even sisters. They killed each other over the must useless of things, clothes, food even a case of a brother stabbing his sibling in the eye over a die.
The Strugart stared at Celiona this time, sniffing at her as though to smell a notion of unquestionable wealth and class from her even skin. Not flinching one bit, she stood like a mannequin undaunted by the roughness of his weird search skill. "Who are you if I may ask?!" He asked. For one thing, Armando seemed delighted that the conversation had changed from the VANDOLSK's to a question of nobility, at least they could be able to get their money some way somehow.
"She's from Antgon, you ought--"
"I haven't spoken to you Adventurer, I bet the lass can speak for herself" The Strugart laughed out loud smacking her buttocks, the other vermin roared in laughter as well. Vandorr held tight, forcing a smile. It was hard to know what offended him, couldn't tell whether it was being called 'adventurer' or the smacking that made Celiona yelp. He rubbed his nose as he sniffed, ignoring a "I told you so' stare from Armando.
" I'm from Antgon like he has spoken. An Orphan if you must know" Celiona said managing to rummage the remaining confidence she had left in her. Never had she been in a situation like this and if it gave any consolation, she had blacked out of consciousness a long time ago. "Then you won't mind being my mistress" He said making his way to pull her by her hair closer to his stink.
Vandorr had grabbed his arm mid air, pulling it behind his own back in a manner of submission. As fast as their reflexes were just like they were known for, the remaining had pulled out weapons in aim to attack them.
"Any slight movement from me now will tear this man's tendon, leaving this arm useless for the next three weeks, I wonder how you would fare putting your cock in any woman now" Vandorr said stiffly, staring at the man's face as he groaned in agony. He looked up at Armando, never less of a man... He beamed at him, a gesture of which Armando returned with a wink and a nod. He had pulled out his guns pointing it at them.
"Stand down, You shitpack!!" The Strugart said still in pain. They hesitated but soon dropped their weapons. "Now you will pay us and we will take our leave in peace. My friend there can shot a gun through the eye of a needle, if anyone attacks us as we take our leave, you will die and you won't feel a goddamn thing as the bullet will sink into your brain. You'll die a horrible death is what I'm saying" Vandorr whispered in his ear before jerking him off to the ground.
The Strugart stood to his feet,dusting the mud on his body and staring at Vandorr with contempt. "Take your gold and be gone from our land" he said in annoyance, taking his gaze off Vandorr immediately in fear.
"Delightfully" Vandorr replied.