II
"Those soldiers sure are noisy"
"And ya haven't seen them when they get drunk pal" a nasally laugh followed his remark.
"You can say that again "she said while putting the payment for the food on the counter, "thank you very much for this".
"Don't mention it"
Azam smiled and took her food and supplies.
"Beyond, apart and without them…" the old man said in a jolly voice.
"There's nothing in existence" Azam replied, did the symbol of Hormazd and took her leave.
A couple of minutes passed before she arrived at the main plaza of the city, her reddish hair distinguishing her from the sea of black all around.
Not many people were awake yet and she didn't feel any need to strike conversation with anyone so she merely looked for a place to sit and started eating.
"That idiot better hurry up" she hated when people were not punctual and if it wasn't for the fact that Os was her friend she wouldn't even think of waiting it out.
It was a wait of about forty minutes exactly but Osros finally arrived with a meek smile in his face.
"Before you say an-" he couldn't finish his sentence after looking at Azam's icy cold expression (plus a well-deserved slap).
"I've told you to fix those bad habits Os"
"I know, it's hard Az" he proclaimed silently and sat at her side after giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"I won't hold back next time you know" she said and put some of her food in his lap to share a meal.
"Are the soldiers still preparing?"
"After that lousy speech yesterday I expected them to delay it even more but apparently something pretty gruesome happened to sped up thing" her expression denoted some malice that she hid with laughter.
"Another disappearance?" he half said with his mouth full of bread.
"I don't know the details Os but I bet it was something bigger than that"—if a mere disappearance could cause this they would have started their mission months ago—"with that in mind, we should finish our own preparations, is everything ready with the others?"
"We are all ready to go as soon as you give us the order" his expression suddenly sharpened.
In contrast to that Azam let out a big sigh.
"Don't call it an order please, we aren't some sort of organization or army". This was true, the group of youngsters that they had gathered in the past few months was neither numerous nor organized in any real way beyond the basic training they had undergone recently.
Os apologized and continued his report.
"We managed to snatch five horses from the city guard too"
"I'm impressed" she went wide eyed, "I expected two or three at best".
The horses of the city guard were mostly Nis bred from the eastern mountains, famous for their endurance and strength, so to have managed to acquire five of them was a great success.
"Are you sure they didn't notice your group?"
" It was a good idea to space out our pillaging and bank on the guards thinking it was the ghosts from Sangar that did it" he was getting more and more riled up as he talked.
"And I'm sure this sudden incident will keep their minds occupied too" Azam said, she too getting a bit excited.
The meal was soon over and the two young warriors stood up full of vigor and resolve.
"We will wait for the guards to depart tonight to make our first move" she suddenly got close and hugged Os while saying this.
He reciprocated the gesture and replied:
"Are we seriously going to go ahead with this?"
She smiled confidently.
"Are you having regrets Os?"
He also smiled.
"Nah, I was just testing your own resolve" he answered and took a large and thin object from his back and gave it to Azam.
It was covered in cloth but could be easily identified as a bow.
"Are you sure about giving this to me" Azam was still doubting a bit. After all, the bow had belonged to Os's late brother.
"You will make better use of it than me Az" his smile was brimming with affection as he said this.
"And besides I am terrible with the bow anyways"
"Is that something that a proud warrior of Phasan should say?" her elbow lunged to his side as she laughed, "The bow is even in our coins, what a disgrace you are"
"Shut up you idiot"
"Sorry"
"Should we go get the others?"
"Yeah let's go" she was ready and he was too.
Soon they would enact their revenge for their unjustly killed families against those who dared to toy with human life like it was nothing.
And their first target was that monster in the clothes of a man.
The demon called Parkus.