Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree

"Ah, well, one can never be too careful." Gaius rested his hands on his cane for a moment. "They'll remain with you until you have gained my trust, I expect. Don't worry; Nora and Taran are very competent guards, both for protection and deterrence. I'm sure they'll be fine companions as well." Both the guards, stoic as they were, smiled flatly.
Gaius opened the door. "Leave for Veryl's town as soon as possible. Your horse was well-cared for, but we can offer you an Iron-horse if you would prefer something hardier."

It was fair enough. He probably deserved to be babysat, as annoying as it was.

Pratik considered for a moment. He usually preferred his horse, but, this was going to be a long, hard journey on both of them. There was no need to put Kalrey through that. "I'll take you up on that, thank you."

"Excellent. I will notify the stable workers," Gaius replied, dipping his head. "Notify me the moment you arrive. I look forward to your report." He left.
Sera fell into step beside him, slowing her gait to accommodate his limp.
"He seems slippery," she said to him. "He notices a lot. I appreciate that he has strong opinions about what matters."
"As do I," Gaius agreed. He glanced at her. "Are you well?"
"I should be asking you that, not the other way around." Sera looked at him sharply. "Three bites, Gaius. Three. I said five, at least. You're going to faint again if you keep this up, and an unconscious man cannot fight a war."
"I wasn't hungry," he said stiffly. "And you deflected the question."
"I'm fine," she snapped. "I'm not a fragile woman, Gaius. You know that." Gaius believed her; Sera wasn't a shrinking violet by any means. He'd only asked out of concern. The subject didn't often come up.

Pratik watched him leave, then turned around to look at the guards. "So... which one's Nora and which one's Taran?"

(I don't know how they'd react >.< )

The guards looked at each other. One was a short, stocky man with dark skin and a thin face. The other was a woman with pale skin and short blonde hair.
"I'm Nora," the woman said coolly. "Shall we find you a bunk?"

"I think I should get on the road," Pratik answered. He didn't mind if they wanted to show him to a room first, but it didn't seem particularly necessary to him. He planned to take all of his possessions with him. "As soon as I get all the things you just heard Lord Ash agree to." He smiled thinly. "And once my weapons and the rest of my possessions are returned to me."

"Certainly. Come with us." Nora opened the door and waved him out. "Your payment will be given to you along with your belongings, sir."

"Thank you," Pratik answered, walking into the hall. At least it seemed that the guards -- Nora anyway -- were going to actually speak to him, which was nice. He'd had plenty of guards that just glared when he spoke.

He walked to the front of the barracks and stood passively between Nora and Taran, eyes flicking around. It was a standard enough structure: simple, strong, functional.

Finally, he was escorted out and a massive horse waiting for him. He examined his saddlebags quickly to ensure nothing was missing -- which there wasn't -- and then packed in the food and money. He turned around. The same soldier who had stripped him of his weapons the night before was bringing them towards him. He nodded at the gate. "Go."

Pratik rolled his eyes and strolled to the gate, stepping just outside. The man dumped his weapons on the ground, then stepped back inside and closed the door in his face. Pratik rolled his eyes again and strapped his weapons back in place, then swung himself up in the saddle and sighed deeply. Back out into the cold. Again. Fuck.

The horse was a grand draught horse with rippling muscles. Its dark metal hairs were finely brushed and its mane was combed to perfection. It was obvious the stable took good care of its animals.

Gaius and Sera walked together to the other breakfast. Gaius would not eat here, but he wanted to spend at least a little time with his family before being whisked off back to another war meeting.

Pratik made good time. He alternated between cantering and walking, but he had to admit, the horse was of the finest quality. He was much less concerned about Kalrey now that he saw the meticulous care this one had received.

He only stopped twice, to relieve himself, but otherwise was on the road the rest of the day. He had a long distance that he needed to cover and didn't have the luxury of time on his side. So, he stood in his stirrups when his butt and back needed a break, and then sat back in the saddle when his legs were getting sore, and otherwise ate and drank without stopping his trek.

Spoiler

Also LOL at the irony of this coming up at the bottom of this page xD

Spoiler

XD Perfect!!

The township of Damian's Crossing was usually a sleepy place. It wasn't far from the coast, so the majority of its exports were fish. Little else happened there, and that was why it had been a perfect place to put Ambrose Veryl. A well-meaning man but far from bright or politically savvy, Gaius had made Ambrose a reeve as a part of a deal, and Veryl had proven to be ineffective and unproblematic until now.

He would need to figure out how to hide his footprints. Snow always made things so much harder. Not only to not be discovered while he was in the midst of what he was doing, but also to retreat, and to hide the evidence of his sins. Who would notice a single droplet of blood that felt from his dagger as he retreated if it was a bed of leaves, in the middle of the night? Snow made it far more apparent.

It was sundown when Pratik saw the smoke rising from chimneys in town. Rather than ride the few more miles that would take him into the thick of things, he rode to the top of a looming mountain. It was properly dark by the time he got there.

Far below him, in the distance, he could make out the dark outline of the town, smoke still rising from chimneys. Closer to this side, he could make out four camps. One was far to his left, tucked in a stand of trees. He could barely see the glow of a fire that they were clearly trying to hide.

A closer to him he could another camp, this one further away from him and nearer to the city. They also had a faint glow of a carefully hidden fire, but no smoke rising from it. The camp to his right didn't have a fire, but they were near enough that he could make out the dark outline of the camp contrasted against the white snow, since there was no forest coverage for them. Off to the right he saw another pod with a smoldering fire, tucked into a strand of trees. He didn't know where the others were.

He estimated these four pods were maybe two miles apart -- far enough he expected to be able to move between them quickly, even being careful of the snow -- but far enough apart he shouldn't have trouble with them overhearing one another.

He patted his horse's neck. "We made it, buddy. Just gotta wait for them to go to sleep. Then it's showtime."

The horse whickered, an odd echoing sound. It was exhausted from the journey, but it seemed well enough.

Pratik got off the horse and tied him up, then stamped down some snow in a rectangle, then paced back and forth without getting snow down his boots. Nothing sounded quite so nice to him as stretching out on a soft bed next to a fire. But he didn't have that luxury. He needed to keep his muscles warm and ready, so he stretched as he walked, doing his best to increase blood flow and stretch the stiffness out of his body.

Then, he started down the other side of the mountain, so he could swoop in on the leftmost pod, also on their left side. He rode his horse until he was between the first two camps, then he tied him in a small thicket of bushes and silently begged him to stay quiet.

Then, he shrugged off his heaviest coat and laid it across his horse, sorry to lose its warmth but aware that it would only weigh him down. He slid a belt of throwing knives around his torso.

He slipped in and out of that camp without incident. Their soldier keeping watch was young, and it didn't take Pratik much time at all to sneak up on him and knock him out (though not actually hurt him -- just bruised enough that he wouldn't get in proper trouble). He put a gag in his mouth and tied him up to the tree, then he crept through the rest of the camp.

The officers were easy enough to spot, slightly more decorated even while sleeping -- and nearest to the fire, so they wouldn't be as frigid as everyone else. It made it a bit harder to get to them -- he literally had to step over two other soldiers to get to the officers -- but if you stabbed in just the right spot on the neck then the kill happened quickly and silently. He dispatched both and left them to bleed out, before picking his way back to the edge of the camp.

Pratik jogged back to his horse, body trembling with the cold. He wrapped his heavy coat around his shoulders and jumped up and down in place, trying still the shivering. He whispered to his horse -- voice barely more than a breath -- "Why is it so fucking cold in this hellhole?"

The horse snorted quietly.

"That's what I thought too," Pratik agreed. He sighed and threw the coat back off him then went towards the second camp.

(I don't actually really know what I'm doing xD I was thinking maybe he uh gets through 5 of the pods fairly easily, then on the sixth, something happens and he ends up getting into a big brawl where he escapes, but only narrowly and gets absolutely covered in blood, so he goes running to the Reeve's estate and then everyone be like da hecc when he shows up bloody in the middle of the night)

(That sounds good to me! I have nothing to add at the moment.)