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  1. Maiden Artemis
    We really need a chat room on KH-Vids. maybe have one, but i can't find it.
    Thread by: Maiden Artemis, Oct 7, 2012, 4 replies, in forum: Feedback & Assistance
  2. Maiden Artemis
    Hi All! Welcome to my story!
    This is written like a journal entry, from the point of view of "Sun Riser."
    Please be kind to it, as I have worked hard on it.

    The Mage Mercenaries

    The castle towered above us, flags blowing in the cool sea breeze. The guards were posted on the walls, and the drawbridge was down for the celebration of the Festivale. Today was the day that the new Empress would be crowned, and we had to ensure her rise to power was not obstructed by any other member of the royal family. The next High Empress was supposedly remarkably beautiful, but I had never had the misfortune- I mean honor of meeting her. We were performers hired to entertain at the Festivale, but our humble troupe had another purpose. Remember what I said about ensuring her rise to power? Well, we were hired to do just that. We are mage mercenaries.
    A/N- Yes, Mage is a word. Definition- n. (Archaic) a magician.

    But I am getting ahead of myself. We should start at the beginning. Let’s go back...
    It had been a dark rainy dawn. That is why I hadn’t woken up with the sun as I usually did. I was always the first one up in camp, so alarm clock duties fell to me. My early rising habits also lead to me being leader and my code name Sun Riser. For the sake of secrecy, I use that name in this account. Your code name was the name you earned from being yourself, whether it be habits, looks, or past, everyone got one. Think of it like an official nickname.
    The country we lived in was ruled by a tyrant who had usurped the past ruler. His will was supposed to be the people will, but that was rarely the case. If anything, it was usually the exact opposite. Emperor Arcanus ruled the country of Idamis with an iron fist. He was too powerful of a mage for the peasants to revolt, but that didn’t stop them from trying.
    No one knows how he obtained his powers. He wasn’t born with them, but had somehow obtained them. Theories from a changeling devil to genies to a secret love was debated and thrown out. The Truth- no one knew for sure.

    But enough debate.

    I wandered around the camp, to see if anyone had woken before me. It didn’t seem like it. It wasn’t surprising they were enjoying their late sleep today. I decided to wake them.
    First I went to Wolf Crier’s tent. She was located towards the center of the camp, by my white tent. Her blue tent showed her authority as my second in command, or as she called it, Beta. Her past was peculiar and how she had earned her name. Maybe I l tell you later.
    Anyway, Wolf was already awake and meditating so I left her alone.
    She usually meditated the way she had learned from her mother, a Wise Woman of her tribe. Before the incident happened at least The next tent was a little farther away. It was green, and snores could be heard from its occupant. I walked in to find a bundle of blankets on the floor and Forest Grower asleep inside them. I shook him but he wouldn’t wake up, so I went outside to get some cold water. I cupped some in my hands and walked up to the blankets. They were empty so I took the water back outside. Forest Grower did this a lot, to go nap, away from my waking presence. He’ll be back I thought.

    How wrong I was.

    The next tent I went to, I was a little more cautious in approaching. Its occupant, Ice Moon, could be scary. Today, to my relief, I found him already awake. He was sitting on a floor mat meditating, and thinking. I left without saying a word. Leaving the gray tent behind, I went to wake the last member of our troupe.

    Blossom Wing.

    Her light purple tent was gloomy as usual. It seemed to have a darker shadow than usual over it. I entered to find her wide-eyed and awake, compared to her usual sleepiness.


    “How could you let this happen?” she asked in a too high voice, “You were right there You could have stopped it ”
    “What are talking about, Blossom? What has happened?”
    The answer chilled me to the bone.

    Forest Grower had been taken.

    I called a meeting right after breakfast. Ice Moon had already been informed and was searching for tracks around Forest’s tent. Wolf kept glancing around nervously. Blossom Wing sat as serene as ever, searching through the minds of the nearby town to see if anyone had seen him or anyone suspicious recently.
    Ice Moon returned shaking his head. Blossom Wing had also had little success.
    Wolf Crier asked the million dollar question.
    “Where’s Forest Grower at?”
    “Wolf, he’s been kidnapped. We don’t know.”
    Ice Moon spoke next. His deep voice resonated through the tent we were in.
    “Judging from what I saw, there was no struggle .That leaves three possibilities. He either knew these people, was caught unawares and tied down, or he was asleep. The last is the most likely.”
    We all stared at him. We had never heard him speak this much in months. He blinked at the attention.
    “Anyway,” said Blossom Wing, “He was taken through the town to the west, towards the capital.”
    I groaned inwardly. The last thing we needed was us, mages trying to avoid detection, to go marching into the capital.
    “So, what do we do, stop them?” asked Wolf.
    I nodded. “We need to stop them from entering the capital with him. He’ll be in the worst hell he could imagine if they reach it.”
    “Let us vote,” said Ice Moon.
    I nodded. “Those in favor of going to rescue him, say ‘I’.”
    The vote was unanimous. We were going to save him.

    We started the preparations immediately. Wolf Crier packed up the tents, Blossom Wing packed the general supplies, and Ice Moon gathered water and food for the journey. I erased signs that we had been there and packed Forest Grower’s stuff.
    Everything we had was carried on our backs and on the sole horse Wolf Crier had found unattended one day. I carried my own supplies. Wolf, Blossom, and Ice carried all their own things. The horse carried cooking supplies, food and water, and the tents on a cart we had made. And Forest
    Grower’s things since he wasn’t there.
    We left after lunch, so we got an uneventful nine hours of traveling in, before finding a place to rest. We decided on the outskirts of town, so when we woke there wouldn’t be very many people to see us pass.
    The next morning we awoke to a sunny day. Packing our supplies and erasing signs, we walked towards the town. When we got close, I had an idea. Why announce how many of us there where? I held up a hand to stop the troupe. I left my pack on the cart, and instructed Wolf Crier in what to do. I would have them go wait on the other side of the town, while avoid being seen. I would go through the town and gather information. Before we split I stuck a dagger in my boot. Better safe than sorry.
    I reached the top of a hill and looked down at the town. There was already plenty of movement. Dark figures swarmed through the town. Good thing I had sent the troupe around. They were Imperial soldiers. A group as large as ours would have been stopped immediately, questions asked that couldn’t be answered. Alone however, I would hopefully be over looked. Hopefully.
    The odds apparently thought otherwise, because I was stopped as I entered the town.
    “What be yer bidness in this town, loner?” The grizzled captain asked with a heavy fake accent. I decided to give part of the truth.
    “Gather information. I’m searching for a lost friend of mine. Said he was gonna head this way.” I pitched my voice to make myself sound younger. I could still pass for a tall 12 year old when I wanted.
    “And why’s one young as you travelin’ alone? Mighty dangerous for a young boy to travel round, alone.”
    I looked down sheepishly. “I don’t have anyone but him. My parents were killed in a fire.”
    “Weapons?”
    I nodded. “Just one, sir. A hunting knife my friend gave me.”
    “Can I see this huntin’ knife, son?”
    I reached into my boot and pulled it out. It had a leather bound grip and its iron blade gleamed in the early morning light.
    The solider whistled. “This is a mighty nice knife boy. I might just have to keep it.”
    I looked him in the eye for the first time. I think the gleam in my eyes scared him. He handed the blade back immediately. “Your clear. A group headed west stopped hear around dinner yesterday.
    They just left.”
    I nodded and walked through the town without event. The troupe was waiting for me on the other side.
    “Walk quickly,” I said, “They just left.” We practically ran until we saw the group ahead of us. Blossom Wing searched through their minds until she found Forest Grower’s.
    “That’s them. They’ve drugged him so he can’t run. There’s maybe twenty of them. Noone in the near vicinity.”
    I grinned. “Who wants to start the day off right?” I asked. They all grinned and nodded.

    We started off by having Blossom Wing blow a cool breeze laced with sleep drugs down on them. That way they would be groggy. Wolf crier was to make sure noone came while we were in the attack. Ice Moon and I attacked. We had drank a special potion to stop the effects of the sleep drug on us. I grabbed my sword and Ice grabbed some water. Then we attacked. They didn’t stand a chance. I’ll spare you the gory details. We killed all of them except the captain. We wanted to get information from him. Forest Grower woke up when we splashed some water on him. Cold, cold water.
    Wolf Crier had sent the wolf pack back to their cave and Blossom Wing had stopped the breeze. Forest Grower was still a little disoriented so we put up a tent to let him sleep. Then we woke up the captain. I was going to interrogate him along with Blossom Wing, since she could tell when he was lying.
    “Why did you kidnap that boy?”
    The man grinned. “Orders, boy. You don’t disobey the next High Empress if you want to live.”
    “And why did she want him?”
    “To lure you out, of course. She knew you would come after him.”
    “So, what does she want with us?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Blossom Wing shook her head. He was lying.
    “I’ll ask you again. Tell the truth. What does she want with us?”
    The man blanched. “She wanted to hire you.”
    “Good man.” I turned to Blossom Wing. “That all?”
    “Almost. What did she want to hire us for?”
    He grinned again. “To assure her ascension to power, kids.”
    I pulled out my dagger. “That all Blossom?” She nodded then walked away as I slit his throat. As the man, died I cleaned my blade of his life-blood.
    No witnesses.

    That evening, I called a meeting. I told them all the man had said. Wolf Crier spoke up.
    “We should go visit the Empress.”
    I grinned. “Took the words right out of my mouth. Say ‘I’ if you agree.”
    Once again the vote was unanimous. We would find our next job towards the sunrise.


    End Pt. One
    Thread by: Maiden Artemis, Aug 23, 2012, 0 replies, in forum: Archives