Navaar Family/Lucius/Navaar and Storme Family/The Road to Farrowfield

The Road to Farrowfield

Summers in Golden Farrow were always her favorite, normally a time of sailing and raiding; fires outdoors and drinking on horseback. This year had to be different, only midway through summer would she finally get to launch her first raid and up till then she had been travelling from one side of the realm to the other with Lucius, lingering in Golden Farrow and Farrowfield while waiting for the rest of the legion.

Today they travelled yet again, the familiar road between her estate and the Palace in the capital; but the difference today would be freedom. They had escaped from their units and rode two horses far outside of the city, off of the main roads and into a village known as Everwinter where the people cultivated dogwood trees on every street.

As they explored the people there realized they were nobility by their weapons and fine horses, but nothing more, letting them explore the tiny village and the hills surrounding it. Compared to the painted Lords and Ladies of story books they looked quite normal. Svari dressed in a cotton tunic made in a feminine cut, trouser with boots as always to hide the mechanism for her weak leg. Lucius was dressed similarly in blue, trying to keep cool with the sea breeze helping. Shorter boots with soft leather kept him agile if he had to defend himself.

After a long time exploring they end up atop the ocean cliffs, looking down toward the waters edge they can see it is accessible only by a small cove. Tiny fishing boats bobbed in the waves, tied to a wharf that looked older than the village itself.

Svari kneels in the grass and takes a deep breath of the warm ocean air; looking over her shoulder at the tiny main road of the village with affection for the place clear on her face.“No matter how long I live in Tol Goldora I keep finding new things. Everwinter, So close but I never knew it was here.”

Lucy smiled and looked back with Svari. “I barely ever got to explore beyond my estate here, years ago,” he said, fighting the urge to embrace her that he got whenever he saw a smile on her face. Since their wedding day he had seen many more smiles too, and Svari had been snatched into many more embraces.

“It’s so peaceful here,” he said at last. “Hey, Ri? Could you imagine having a private ship in that cove?” It sounded like a child’s fantasy to have a hidden ship somewhere. A possible feat if they paid enough to create an entrance down there. The thought of retiring young, running away with Svari and spending all that time on a ship or a private home sounded almost dreamlike, if either of them could be bothered to put down some of their responsibilities for a moment.

A warm breeze scented with the fresh salty scent of the Gold Sea that she loves rushes apart, tussling hair, cooling them from the relentless summer sun as she thinks about it. “I can; we can do it, too. A svelte little schooner wouldn’t be too much of a feat to get through would it?”

Lowering himself to the ground, Lucy sat beside her and looked out over the water, breathing in the familiar salt air with a smile of his own. He turned and looked up at her from his seat. “Is it strange to want more days like this?” he asked, knowing that the world was constantly moving, and they would have to go back to their duties eventually.

“These days used to be all we had. When you were my Marshal; remember that? Riding and fighting and camping every day.” Svari takes another deep breath of air before reaching her long arms around to grab Lucius and pull him down into the grass with her, lying cheek to cheek as they both look off into the pale blue horizon beyond. “You’ve never even had the chance to sail on the Autarch’s ship. Come with me when we leave this time.” Lucius shifted beside her and held an empty hand in front of her face. He reached up and the slight pull on her hair suggested he found something there. As he brought his hand back down, he was holding a red chrysanthemum that clearly hadn’t been there before.

“I figured I’d go on the raids anyway,” he said as he offered her the flower. “I don’t want to end up a lazy ruler getting fat in the capital while everyone fights.” He flashed a grin at her. “And weeks aboard a ship with little to do but enjoy the sea breeze or stay cooped up with you? How will I survive?”

The flower goes unaccepted in favor of kissing the hand that hovered close to her face instead “It will be boring but I’m sure we can find something to pass the time with.” As a second thought she suddenly realizes and breaks a smile “I /can/ sail with you.” uncommonly excited as she thinks of the ship he is entitled to, and a change from the Stratarchs ship they had taken dozens of times.

Lucius laughed as he tucked the flower into Svari’s hair for real before leaning over to kiss her. “And if you try to sail without me, I’ll lift the old bar on using burning message arrows on the ships,” he teased. “But! If you ever did want to get fat in the capital just let me know. I’m sure Rebecca can see to it.”

Still laughing, Lucius wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t think I could sit still long enough for it to happen,” he said, burying his face in his wife’s neck, attacking her with kisses. The moment lasted as long as it could as the sound of a stick snapping beneath a boot caught his ears, and Lucius looked up to see what looked like a hunter passing through. He smiled at the man and turned back to Svari with a smile, before casting one last glance back as the man lingered.

Releasing his wife, he sat up and placed a hand on her thigh. Still smiling, he looked the man over, assessing him, before asking, “Can we help you?” Lucy’s hand on Svari’s thigh told a different story. Where there was usually affection, his hand squeezed her thigh tighter, as if something was wrong. Regretfully, he got back up before offering Svari a hand to do the same. When she was on her feet, he pulled her close as if innocently playing and tapped the scars on his arm, hoping she would remember where they came from.

The sight of a stranger, even friendly, had put the normally serious Stratarch on edge, never one to let anyone but Lucius see her in such compromising positions. Relieved to be tugged up out of the grass beside him she knows at once that something is wrong even before he signalled her attention to his scars.

She always had a weapon close at hand, even if her longsword was left behind a dirk sat at the ready hung prominently at her side still in it’s sheath. She says nothing, staring the stranger down with piercing green eyes and a blank stare that told just how little she would feel about killing him right there.

Svari is with me. Svari is with me. The thought echoed in his head until it became a mantra for peace, quelling the panic that was threatening to overthrow what control he had. It was holding for the time being as he didn’t make for a pair of daggers he had taken for safety, sitting loosely behind his back at his waist.

The hunter laughed and raised his hands showing no weapons. “You sneaky types always got around more than the Overseer gave you credit for. And I remember you were a bit of a problem as a child.” Lucius shook his head. “I’m done with that place. It’s taken years, but I have a life now.”

The man chuckled. “Are you?” He took a couple of steps closer to the pair and gestured to the world around him. “Sure you’re a ruler now, but look where you are. By the Gods, Lucius, you found a realm on the border of a daimon kingdom to make your home in. You never really left at all,” he insisted as he got closer still. No weapons drawn, but the man was built like a warrior and had scars to prove it.

Lucius glared at the man urging Svari to take a step back with him, and reluctantly she did. “What do you want?”

The man grinned. “After what was done to Grim, I should drag you broken in pieces back to Ren Madragas, but I’m a reasonable man. You see, my associate and I know you have a duty. You come back into the fold, help us set up a presence here, and we leave you alone. Maybe we even only take one child into our services.” He extended a hand toward Lucius. “We have a duty to destroy the daimons. Humanity first.”

The first to draw their blade is of course Svari as she balks “ Where better to fight daimon than right beside them? Lucius is the one who puts humanity first -you’re- just a coward.” The first real expression she's shown is a cruel smile as she laughs at the very gall of this man. “We’ve no children, but I can help you set up a presence” She offers next with a false sweetness in her voice as she brandishes the dirk casually, she has faced far more intimidating men and it shows in her demeanor.

“A bit up here, a bit over the cliff, some over there.” She explains while waving the tip of the dagger, her smile fading to nil again “I’m sure your associate will like that for you.”

A warning shot sped from the trees. An arrow that buried itself in the dirt nearby. Lucius’ reaction was instantaneous as his temper flared at anyone that would threaten Svari. A small knife appeared in his hand, and with all of his strength he threw it, the blade spinning over and over in the air, hunting an invisible mark.

A rustle among some trees as Svari laughs outright at the swearing shouted out from behind the leaves. “Son of a whore!”

The man grumbled and stepped out into the clearing, shaking his head before tossing aside his broken bow, cracks spidering along the wood. “Landed on the bow trying to dodge that knife…” Instead, he put a hand on a plain sword at his hip, but made no effort to draw it.

The newcomer looked between the groups and shook his head. “Hound…”

“Yes, Hound,” Lucius growled.

“Hound?” Svari says, sounding unimpressed.

“I’m done with the Tower. I’m never going back. I’m never serving the place. And if you, or anyone else, tries to bring me back there, I will see to it that there is so little remaining that no one will ever know you were here.” His words came out more forceful than he intended, but it was cathartic. “I’m out.”

Hound laughed again, shaking his head. “I guess you did grow a spine.” He looked at Svari and rolled his eyes. “Whatever you see in him must be fragile. We train our sneaks to stop caring about life. Come on over to my side and watch how quickly it all falls apart,” he suggested, eyes alight at the cruelty of the suggestion.

Lucius felt like a child ready to lash out again. Svari is with me, he told himself again and again, through heavier breathing, staving off whatever panic he felt with just a mantra. The toes of one boot began to twitch. Four words. Four easy words. Svari is with me. It had been a long time since he used a rhythm to calm himself. As his breathing settled would Svari notice what he was doing?

The offer to change sides and join strangers, especially these strangers against Lucius, is outrageous, and she shakes her head in disbelief at the nerve of these men. “Your side?” Svari asks first, glancing at Lucius for half a second to witness the level of upset in him “If someone better at debating was here I'm sure they could convince you what a contradiction all of this is...Something to do with Lucius being a human put last...But I’m not a debater. I’m the Stratarch!”

Like them she had the same evidence of a warrior's life, and after so long fighting, raiding and leading Svari had developed an immense talent for intimidation. Still, fighting with just a dagger on a cliffs edge against men that made Lucius so anxious was not her idea of a good time “So you can have a head start if you want” She offers mockingly, brandishing her dirk.“Otherwise this ends here”

The rumors of their fighting skills preceded them. The second man, a little on the plain side never made a move to draw his weapon or even try to intimidate once he was out of the woods. In fact, he seemed to be done with the situation. “Hound. It’s over. You’re unarmed, and facing down two masters in their own right. I’m not stepping in if you want to die.”

The one called Hound glared at his partner. “Hare…” he started, but only got a head shake in response.

“You’ve had us here for a couple of years. We knew he wasn’t coming back. Grim is dead. Why are we still doing this? Let’s just call it a wash and go home,” the one called Hare started back.

The larger man grumbled. Growled. He turned his head and spit at the ground before letting the rest of his body follow suit. “You’re safe for now, sneak-whelp.”

A shadow loomed over Lucius as the tension snapped. He needed no weapon as he rushed the man, and with a surprising grapple, threw the man to his stomach, and jammed his knee in Hound’s back as he yelped in pain. Lucius looked like he might kill as he drew a knife and pressed it to the man’s neck. “If I catch even a hint that you, or the Tower, are anywhere near me, my home, or Goddess forbid my family again, there will not be enough left of you to identify, let alone bury. Got it?”

The man gasped for air shouting assurances as Lucius pressed the blade tighter to Hound’s neck.

Svari watches from afar knowing he could handle it but squeezing the grip of her dirk in frustration as he stays his blade and lets the man live instead. It is his life, she tells herself as a frown forms to keep her from shouting out that he should just kill them.

Standing tall watching the other man slink away from the scene to escape back down the hill, her scowl remains in place long after the second man joined him fleeing toward the village.

With some distance between them her face drops to its usual sullen expression and she finally sheathes her weapon before moving to join Lucius at his side. “Are you alright?” She asks softly, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder comfortingly, watching his expression closely as she did. The whole encounter had been bizarre, Svari had always thought she would love to kill those men so why did Lucius let them go? The fools knew their reputation but challenged them anyway, counting on them being weak of will? Or simply gauging what they would need for next time? No part of Svari made her think this would be their last encounter with Hound and Hare.

Svari turns from Lucius again to look down over the village, trying to spot which direction the men had gone again. For whatever reason Lucius wanted to let them live and so they would live; for now.

Lucius seemed calmer, taller even, as the two men fled down the hill. The dagger was returned to its sheathe, and he stood there letting the last few minutes wash over him. Svari’s hand, a comforting reminder that it was all real, brought him back. He reached up and gently placed a hand on hers. “I fled from the Tower in the night. At first, I wanted to kill them, but just telling them I was done…”

Lucius squeezed his wife’s hand before turning to face her, a soft smile alight on his face. “I feel a little more free, you know?”

She tries to smile but can’t; still watching the trails to the village below through the dogwood that obscures them- seeing no sign of their assailants. Eventually she squeezes his hand and turns back to him, at last answering his question with “Yes I do” as she offers her left arm to him, revealing the scar there for him to see. “It’s nice to look at people who think they own you and tell them to f* off” Finally a grin appears, wolfish with satisfaction for her choice of words.

Quickly she takes her arm back and covers the scar with a flick of her sleeve “I don’t think I'll be standing with my back to a cliff again any time soon!” she declares while leading the way back down the hillside.

Lucius let her guide the way back down in silence, slowly turning the encounter over in his head. Why had they bothered revealing themselves? Was it a trick? Or were they that desperate to be done? He questioned the motives over and over, eventually putting his head on her shoulder while they walked for a minute. “Thank you, Ri,” he said simply, trusting her to understand.

Lifting his head back up, he looked at her with a smile. He stopped walking and gently put a hand to the side of her face. They were still a little ways out from the village. He freed his arm from hers and pulled her close from the small of her back into a loving kiss.

Despite all they had been through, there was never a lack of passion in their relationship and that was doubly true after something stressful. Pressing his forehead to hers, he smiled, trying to coax her own smile out of her. They had found such a nice place. It was a shame to think the memory would be ruined so easily.