On her way up north, she has passed by the biggest city in Echiott, Orbh City, at nighttime. She has seen the lights of it and the traces of battles of locals and pioneer onthox forces at the outskirts of the city atop Westhill Heights, while passing towards Southern Kith'lath. She has never been to Orbh. She was aware the Westhill Heights were probably very dangerous to pass by, but she had to rely on her evasive skills. She could not extend the journey any longer. Luckily her journey through Southern Kith'lath and Midlands were not problematic.
...
According to the coordinates she was given, she found the forward camp at the outskirts of Calua City, a city located at the northeasternmost corner of Solian mainland.
"Blessings upon you," she spoke to the guardians at the entrance, in fyllian. "Urnyras Jael, I have arrived to address the Bannerlord. I am of the Intelligence Corps, rode all the way from Midland Ossax."
"Urnyras Jael, your arrival brought us sparkles of hope," one of the guardians spoke, as Urnyras Jael jumped down from Bavien with a smile. "The Bannerlord is at his garrison, not far from here. Let me get the horse - that is a mustang, actually, no?"
"Indeed," Urnyras Jael said, proudly. "One of the best."
"I'll feed her," the guard said. "Don't you worry. She'll be at the stables."
"I appreciate," Urnyras Jael said.
"I'll show you the way," said the other guard, and started to walk slowly after beckoning her over.
After a short walk, they arrived in front of a (recently constructed, as far as she could figure) wooden building. Guard nodded to Urnyras Jael, and she thanked him before he left.
She slowly walked inside, greeting the guardians in front of the building with her fyllian salute.
...
Building looked much bigger than it looked outside - somehow, everything seemed to be a bit oversized. The tables, paintings hung on the wall, chairs, sofa, decorative weapons, everything. It was much different than a Echiotthian understanding of decoration. It looked more tribal, more green-brown dominated. Somehow resembled the fyllian decoration, but in a more primitive way. Nonetheless, she realized such interior design would be of Wundh women. She immediately recalled their tribal way of life, their worship of Marvyll Dengraìd, the Goddess of Sun and Nature. It made sense. This was the Wundhian headquarters.
This realization took around three seconds.
She noticed an elegant, strong yet old looking fylla and a woman of the same length with him, standing in front of a square table, discreetly arguing on something, pointing at scribblings and most possibly maps or reports placed on the table. When they noticed her back, she could observe them better; as they turned their faces to her. One of them was, N'yaian Bannerlord, Eoria's dear father, Krischnokh Ilinarth. As handsome, cold-blooded and wise as a fylla can look, he was standing there, smiling warmly.
"Dheinach," Krischnokh said. "Dheinach, my beloved child, welcome! I knew the King would send you here for me, Gosto be praised! Look, I want you to meet a friend, an ally, a fierce warrior - just like you are." He slowly turned towards the woman next to him.
The first word or definition that popped up in her mind when she could have a clearer view of the woman was 'awkward': She was wearing a white-green cloak covering all the way down to her ankles and her shoulders as well; it had (probably) leather shoulderpads attached carefully to her cloak. Her armor looked like it was made of a darker leather, no wonder it looked strong. Her breasts were partially covered, the chest part was connected to the leggings with four strong looking stripes at the sides. Her thigh were covered as well, but the leggings were not covering all parts of her legs. She had boots, more looked like winter-boots, hairy and cozy-looking.
She had gloves with two spikes on them each, somehow resembled an assassin's armor daggers. She had a bow hanging from her back, as well as a quiver; apparently a product of an exceptional fletcher.
She had brown hair down to her waist, ornamented with green leaves. She had hazel-green eyes, or at least that is what Urnyras Jael assumed so; because after a while, she thought they were actually brownish; it was pretty hard to tell. She had sharp facial curves, a round face and some frickles on her cheeks; the expression on her face, as it is - was not neutral but rather nervous. Urnyras Jael could easily tell - this woman, even in her happiest moment, might fail to look happy.
"Gallanae," the woman said, with an unexpectedly soothing voice. "Gallanae-mylen. I am happy to meet you, at last."
"So am I, her Majesty," Urnyras Jael said, bowing her head. "An honor to have met you eventually."
"There is a lot to talk, Dheinach," Krischnokh said. "You have to move immediately and effectively."
"I have taken a briefing back in Ossax. I suppose it is not enough, however," Urnyras Jael said. "I require specific people to aim at."
"Indeed, that you will get," Gallanae said. "Just in case you are referring to our 'confidentiality' principles, they do not apply face-to-face. We never know who might get that message we sent to Ossax, but you will get your detailed briefing here."
"That is... relieving to know, so to speak," Urnyras replied. "If I can get it right away I can get on with it."
"Very well," Gallanae said. "There is this man, within the city walls, the Bannerlord of Calua. His name is Niru. Niru Volda. A man of Guern-Vent heritage, but he was born and raised in Kith'lath. Attended to the Military Academy in Rolinbragh before he was appointed as the Council representative of Calua. Then he was assigned as the Bannerlord when the former Bannerlord died. He is well known for his seperatist ideas about Kith'lath, claiming it to deserve being a seperate Kingdom like Dytheria, Umbrys and Wundh. Apparently he was never recognized in these terms, which made him more furious. We suspect this man could be behind such uprising, taking advantage of the chaotic situation that the Empire is in."
"Well, what if he is not?" Urnyras Jael asked.
"Eh, my common sense dictates me," said Gallanae pointing at her head, "A Bannerlord would not be so silent and approving about a rebel going on against the Empire. In any case, he has to be taken here, if not killed, to be questioned. Everything will unfold if done so."
"If he is the leader of such rebellion that scattered all over Kith'lath," Urnyras Jael said, rather annoyed at the Queen being sarcastic, "How are you expecting one person to grab a Bannerlord, and a rebel leader, alive and without being spotted?"
"Well, that is exactly why we rely on you... and your 'training'," said Krischnokh. "I am sure you will succeed, you are the Successor of your Master. You are no ordinary assassin."
"Thank you, Krischnokh, but I need no flattering words," said Urnyras Jael. "I am just telling that for the sake of ensuring such mission to be completed as you ask me. I need several equipment, a map of Calua for instance, where he might be found... and connections in the city that are reliable."
"You will find Aural, at the city hall, he is a clerk. A disguised Royal Guard spy. He also works as the archivist. The code you will use to contact him is 'asking the El'nar family archives.' He will do the rest, just go along with the masquerade. Ah, and you may also encounter Alùn, a human blademaster, but I am not sure at what stage of your journey in the city he would appear to you. He is an ally, you can trust him. Be wary though, he's known to be reckless."
"Fine," Urnyras Jael said. "I'll leave as soon as I get the necessary equipment. I will see you before I leave."
...
She has had another detailed briefing with Gallanae-mylen before she left.
She has heard of Calua many times, mostly in pirate and maritime wars stories. It is known to be a filthy city, mostly a hub for thugs, criminals and outlaws. Many of the famous Solian pirates were either from here, or somehow associated with here. She couldn't help but admire the maritime victory that the Wundhian Navy won against the Caluan pirates and Kith'lath fleet.
Shortly after, merely before the sunset, she found a hiding spot near the city sewers below the eastern walls. She opened up the map, carefully observed it and tried to find a way in from the sewers, or any sort of hidden gate used for evacuation or for strategic purposes.
It, unfortunately, looked like the only subtle way in was the sewers. She sneaked in through the rusty bars of the round pipeline, carefully and silently walking towards. It stinked - significantly terrible.
The only sound was sewer rats hastily running and the waterdrops falling to the filthy sewer channel. Her steps were silent.
"Ùr," she whispered. Before her appeared a green beam of light, guiding her way.
She got a hold of her weapons, narrowing her eyes into the dark, endless pipeline. She was observing the ceiling too, for possible exits up to the city.
She saw a bright, white light. That moment, she leaned forwards to see closer, was this an exit? It didn't make sense though, it was nighttime, how come such a bright light inside this se-
She could hardly escape a flying throwing knife, dodging half a second before she would be nailed on her forehead. She whispered "Ùr-nae", then ducked. She held her breath, then whispered "Napth," a wave of blast appeared in front of her. Nothing happened, as far as she could see; her blast spell did not work.
"Do you think you can take me down with Ùrda magic? It is dangerous for a fyllian assassin to loiter in Caluan underground at times like these," a man spoke, with an irritatingly calm voice. "You must be Urnyras Jael. Good to, ehm, well, see you."
Urnyras Jael did not reply.
"You need not speak for me to find you," he said. "I won't kill you anyway."
"Who are you?" said Urnyras Jael, as emotionless as she could pretend.
"Alùn. I am sent here a couple of days ago to investigate. They told me you would come beforehand. I am sorry about the throwing knife, but anyone unable to dodge that should not be here anyway."
Urnyras Jael, still warily, revealed herself. Alùn revealed himself too - he lid the torch he was holding in his hands, walking out from the shadows. He was an eila, about the same height of Urnyras Jael - with long, brownish hair and a long beard. He was wearing a robe, and two short-swords were hanging from his belt.
"I am a Disciple too, believe it or not," he continued. "I do not work and never worked for Fyllian Corps though. After my training was done, I was back to my mother's hometown, Rolinbragh; pledged my services to Teleane Bloodline. Fyllas don't like me much, but I am among the best they can rely on about missions like that."
"So, Fauran trained you," Urnyras Jael said, still holding her weapons. "How come I have never heard of you?"
"Eh, well," he said. "You see, it was a while ago. Fauran himself didn't like me much either, I suppose-" He suddenly stopped talking, gestured Urnyras Jael to duck. Urnyras Jael did so immediately. He threw the torch away. They were in absolute darkness again.
They've heard slow, monotone steps walking. Then they realized it wasn't only one person, but a bunch of people. The steps sometimes sounded like as if they were approaching, but then they realized that it wasn't so. There was something ahead, unaware of their presence.
"We have to have a look," Alùn whispered. "I guess they are pirates. They have hideouts ahead."
Urnyras Jael whispered "Ùr", and the weakly gleaming green globe appeared again.
"Keep it low," warned Alùn.
He was pretty agile despite the fact that he was wearing a robe. As he moved, Urnyras Jael heard a clunking voice and she suspected that this man might have an armor or extra weapons under his robe.
...
Eventually, they arrived to the entrance of a big room, probably to gather up water and distribute to different channels out of the city since Urnyras Jael spotted some round pipelines on the walls. They did not enter, since Alùn pointed towards several tents and a campfire. There were people.
"Pirates," Alùn said. "These men work as mercenaries for the rebellion. They are enemy."
"Mercenaries?" Urnyras Jael asked, rather surprised. "How come they were convinced to work for a rebellion trying to seperate Kith'lath, do they plan to establish a pirate kingdom?"
"I do not possess that much information," he said. "Maybe we can go down there and keep one of them alive to inquire."
Urnyras Jael nodded, and they entered the room and started to approach towards the tents.
