l'Expedition (Chapter Four)

                                                                                           Luko

                The air felt dry on Luko's skin, a dramatic shift from the buggy swamp air he had been used to.  While he walked along the rough gritty road, his eyes scanned nearby buildings, examining each one for the Collingrad coat of arms.  Excitement seemed to course through his veins as he took it in.  everything was so different.  The old wet stone structures he had known for his whole life were now replaced with intimidating mountains of sandstone, that emanated newness from every direction.  The smells of spices, the sea, and blood battled for control over his aromatic senses, constantly distracting him from his goal.

                Jkododo's rare goods, sierra contracting, Mason's guild...  Shop and company names passed through Luko's field of vision as he walked, but none bore the symbol he was looking for.  He did a quick double take, clutching his cap with both hands in frustration.  How does anyone navigate a city from the street level?  You can't see anything from down here.  A beggar on the street interrupted his thoughts with his incoherent mumbling.  Luko shied away in distaste and fear, wondering how a man like that survived.  Flood town had no beggars, mainly out of pride, and partially out of lack of resources.  Only in a city with an abundance of wealth can a man like that survive.  Maybe that man from Collingrad is really as rich as he made it seem.

                The sun was setting as he finally approached the consulate.  Glimmering in the deep red light of the fading day, a golden crown crossed by a sword and a sickle hung proudly above the sign that denoted the building's importance.  Official consulate of Collingrad, read the sign, in fancy ostentatious letters.  Luko entered and found himself in a large room, seemingly larger than the building was on the outside.  Given the way the buildings in Selingrad seemed to blend together, Luko was not surprised that he could barely discern where one ended and another began.  As he walked past men behind desks, writing letters with glamorous quills in expensive ink, he found himself caught between joy and misery, happy to finally be stimulated, but buckling gradually under the stress of all the change around him.

                "Do you have an appointment?"

                Luko looked up to find a red haired boy, younger even than him, looking at him sternly.

                "Yes,"  he answered, fiddling with his hands nervously, as if afraid he was breaking some social custom he knew nothing about.  "Lord Astuce should be expecting me."  He said it almost as a question.

                "Of course," came the answer, disinterested and tired.  "Go up the stairs, it's the second door on the right."

                                                                                                         ***

                "This is my elite team?  Where did you find them?  The local nursery?"

                Luko felt offended.  It took him a couple seconds to figure out that the gruff older man who had spoken was referring to him, and when he did he turned red half out of embarrassment and half out of anger.

                "Do calm down Kaval, they may not look like much, but these are very unique individuals."

                The man looked at the others with clear skepticism.  He started to say something, but seemed to have a change of heart mid-thought and sat down.

                The group of five was sitting together at a long table in a dimly lit room.  Astuce sat at the head, his pale face flickering in the light of the torches on the wall.  The others waited apprehensively, eying their soon to be teammates with just as much suspicion as they did Astuce.

                "I've gathered you all here to do something great.  I don't know what you used to do, or who you were before this moment, but now, you are a team, and you work for me.  The job is simple.  Across the Badlands is a place called Paradisia.  You're going to find it and bring back the secrets to its abundant crops, as well as proof of its existence.  Is the objective clear?"

                The group was silent for a moment, before Kaval spoke up, clearly having gathered his thoughts.

                "I'm sorry, but I'm just not buying that this the best Archia has to offer.  You've given me a scrawny kid, a man who's probably never earned a day's pay in his life, and a woman.  How about explaining to me what the meaning of this is before I change my mind and leave with your down payment."

                "He got a down payment?"  Luko said, more confused than angry.

                Astuce sighed and looked as one would who has just been stung by an insect.  He pointed at Luko, ignoring his outburst, and gazed directly at Kaval as he spoke.

                "This scrawny kid happens to be an expert thief from Flood Town, who extorted his way here through sheer guile.  That man who you scorn so much as a result of his wealth is your new guide, a geographer with one of the brightest minds of this century, and as for the woman... well, she's from The Hidden City.  Need I say more?"

                Kaval looked satisfied in spite of himself.  He crossed his arms as if in protest to the very fact that he had been wrong, and nodded his head in acquiescence.  "Alright, but you'd better not be exaggerating."

                Astuce smiled lightly and stood up.  "Rest assured, your team is solid.  Now gentlemen, lady, if you would all follow me, I'll show you to your equipment."

                Luko perked up at the words.  If there was anything he loved as much as excitement, it was free items.  His suspicion of the others faded away as he followed the man to a back room.  What followed next was a sensation of euphoria matched only by the time he had made a jump between buildings so far it had caused him to summersault twice before stopping.  Inside the room was more valuables than Luko had ever seen outside of a patriarch's lair.  Every patch of wall was occupied by either a state of the art weapon, a priceless artifact, or a one of a kind trinket.  The back of the room, which was wide enough to accommodate several dozen people, was layered thick with neat piles of alfalfa, salted meat, clothing, flint, thick wool blankets, and various medicines.

                "Take your pick of any two weapons, and as many supplies as you'll need for your journey.  Giles should be able to estimate how long it will take you, so look to him for advice on how much of anything you'll want to take."

                None of the team was looking at Astuce as he spoke, because every pair of eyes was locked on the splendor before them.  This was the official armory and supply room of the embassy in Selingrad.  Every weapon and valuable belonged to the king of Collingrad, and Luko felt a strange sort of honor being offered anything he chose.  He had never been given anything by anyone other than family, and a misplaced, illogical suspicion still lingered in the back of his mind, like a soldier who had never been told that the war was over and his job was finished.  Luko forced it out of his mind as he examined a pristinely clean steel machete.  Scanning the room idly with his peripheral vision, he sheathed it and clipped it to his belt.  As he made his way over to an enticing array of throwing knives, Luko noticed an argument breaking out among the others.

                "You don't need that much food, your horse will eat more than you do."

                Kaval glared at the scholar, laughing humorlessly.  "You wanna bet?  I'm a powerful man, I need a lot of food to keep me going."  He said it with obvious distain, glancing at the Giles' body as if implying that he was the only powerful man in the room.

                "I want to bet."

                All eyes relocated to the woman, who had spoken for the first time since she arrived.

                "Of course you do,"  Kaval answered with marginally less malice than before.  "but I know better than to make bets with a nomad."

                "Semi-nomad,"  Giles cut in.

                "What?"

                "Residents of The Hidden City are semi-nomadic, because they have a permanent home that they visit."

                "Whatever."  Kaval went back to heaping piles of bread and meat into a sack.

                "Take alfalfa instead.  Even if your horse doesn't eat it, you can use it as food for yourself."

                "I'll thank you to not tell me what to do as long as we're traveling together.  That is, if you want to keep your head attached to your body."

                Luko paid them no mind except that of an amused casual observance, and used their disagreement as an opportunity to pocked four throwing knives and strap a claymore to his back.  Astuce seemed confident that his team would keep from murdering each other, as evident by his strict focus on Luko.

                "I'll let the knives count as one, but put something back.  I did say take two weapons of your choice."

                Luko felt no remorse or regret as he returned the massive sword to its mount on the wall.  In a similar manner, Astuce did not seem angry at his attempt, recognizing it as a part of Flood Town culture.  It was too heavy anyway, Luko thought, making his way to the back of the room to collect his food and clothing.

                                                                                                                   ***

                The argument continued on the way to the stables.  Luko and the young woman walked side by side as Astuce lead the way in front of the two other men.  He seemed distinctly unconcerned about their contrast of opinions as they walked, and paid little attention to the loud feud behind him.

                "You clearly don't know medicine if that's what you took."

                "Maybe you've never had scurvy before, but those of us who are used to traveling know how much of a problem it can be,"  Kaval answered.

                Giles scoffed.  "On ships maybe.  We're traveling on horseback.  You've ridden a horse before, right?"

                "Where's The Hidden City?"  Luko asked the woman as he grew tired of listening to the argument.  She seemed surprised at his forwardness and paused for a second to scrutinize his face before responding.

                "The great forest.  You've never heard of it?"  her voice was delightfully foreign.  Not the precision of one from Feringrad, or the exotic articulations of a native of Selingrad, but an amalgamation of both, with a great deal of other accents mixed in.

                "Not until just now,"  Luko replied.  "Astuce talked about it almost... reverently.  you're not royalty are you?"

                The woman chuckled gently and shook her head.

                "Where I come from, boys and girls are expected to leave home at the age of twelve and travel the world.  My people are very committed to the mastering of arts and skills.  This often impresses people."

                Luko looked at her with a new respect.  It was the respect of benign jealousy, and as he spoke, he was overwhelmed with what could only be described as vicarious nostalgia.

                "I wish I lived there.  Nothing much happened when I was twelve."

                She noticed him looking wistfully at the ground, and paused for a moment, as if trying to think of what to say.

                "Don't regret the past.  You are who you are because of it,"  she said simply.

                The stables were bigger than Luko had expected.  His own hometown was never especially concerned with them, being as there was no place to ride them in a flooded city surrounded by marshes.  Each building held about twenty horses, and Luko suspected there were almost a hundred buildings.  As they approached them, the sandy soil of Selingrad faded away to be replaced with actual desert sand.

                "Have you given any thought to what breed of horse you'll be wanting?"  Astuce asked, turning to the group outside one of the stables.

                "I'd like a rough traveler's blend,"  Giles announced, as if he had known the answer before the question had even been asked.  Kaval snorted.

                "Selingrad purebred for me.  I won't settle for anything less than the best."

                Luko groaned as the conflict broke out again, and focused his attention to what horse he would want.

                "What are you getting?"  he asked the woman.

                "A trek horse.  How good of a rider are you?"

                Luko's first instinct was to lie.  He tried to tell her that he was a master, an expert, but the words wouldn't come out.

                "Well, I-  I rode halfway across Archia on a horse... but I fell a lot."

                He relaxed at the sight of her amused smile.  For a reason that escaped him, Luko felt oddly connected to the woman.

                "You will be wanting a Feringrad trek horse then.  They are easier to handle for people who are new at riding."

                "Thanks..."  he said, pausing as he realized he never learned her name.

                "Colette."

                "Thanks Colette."

                Luko felt a kind of excitement building in him, the likes of which he had never felt.  The adventure he was about to be a part of was going to be something incredible, that much he knew, but there was something else in the feeling too.  An apprehension for terrible things to come.  There was a storm coming.