Chapter 10: Steel and Snow

“How much farther do you think it is?” Tuborg asked. The cold had finally started to get to him, and he shivered in the fur-lined Priory cloak he borrowed before they departed. A few rogue snowflakes fell on his face, and he wrinkled his nose as he looked to the sky filled with heavy clouds. “My temperate-loving self is not fond of this persistent cold.”

Dee chuckled. “Such a delicate tropical flower,” she teased while stepping up on a large rock to look out over the snow-covered valley below. Once she got the basic lay of the land, she called down below, “lucky for you, it looks like we’re nearly there. There’s a camp just across from the road. I’m guessing that’s the Kenning Testing Grounds Alena’s guardian told us about. The Priory scout group should be nearby.”

Wanting to see the view for herself, Nienna climbed up onto the same rock Dee merely scaled with a single step. She then surveyed the land and looked at the camp across the way. The Byrnes’ airship loomed behind the camp like a giant, dark specter. “Yup, that would be it. The large airship anchored next to it kind of gives it away.” With her hands placed firmly on her hips, she silently watched the activity unfolding within the camp. A number of darkly-clad individuals busied themselves around the area, carrying bundles up the gangplank and then returning empty-handed. Suddenly, a tickle rose up in her throat, and she coughed heartily into the crook of her elbow.

“You okay there?” Dee said as she placed her hand on Nienna’s back. The woman’s whole body shook violently while she continued to cough.

“I’m fine. Just a tickle in the throat. Do we have any water?”

Dee leaned over the edge of the rock and waved down below to the others. “Can we get some water up here?”

Clarkus took off his pack, fished out a water pouch, and tossed it up to the norn woman. Dee then offered it to Nienna.

“Thanks,” she said and then took a long pull before clearing her throat one more time.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Dee asked again, her brow furrowed. “I promised Alena I’d look after you. She’ll sick her minions on me if I don’t look after you properly.”

Nienna turned her attention back to the camp below and frowned. Alena had all but got on her knees and begged for her to stay due to her condition, but she declined—probably a little more firmly than she intended. “I’ll be fine. I have to be.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ignoring the question, Nienna posed one of her own. “Can I ask something of you?” she asked, keeping her tone low so the others below could not hear.

“Of course, anything.”

“If I don’t make it out of this,” she began, looking off into the snow, “will you please promise me you’ll look after the others.”

The norn woman turned almost as white as the snow around them. “What kind of a question is that?”

“A practical one,” Nienna replied simply. “We need to face the fact that we don’t know what’s going to happen, and I want to make sure whoever is left is taken care of.”

“Nienna-“

“I’m serious. I can’t guarantee any of us will make it through this alive,” she replied. “Whoever is left—you’ll find everything is taken care of with my accounts. Go to the bank in Trader’s Forum in Lion’s Arch and ask for Xunlai agent Amal Price. He has everything in order. All of your names are on the documents. All you have to do is sign.”

The norn shook her head, her brow deeply furrowed. “I don’t like this doom and gloom talk-“

“Dee-”

“-but I understand and I promise.”

Nienna uttered a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

Dee turned her attention back to the camp, her eyes narrowed sharply and filled with determination. “We’ll get them back, you know,” Dee reassured her. “We could actually finish this and get everyone back home—wherever that may be now.”

Nienna nodded. The very idea of putting an end to this hell gave her a brief flittering of hope, but it was short lived, and the harshness of reality sunk back in. “We need a better view of the camp first. We shouldn’t go barging in without knowing what we’re up against. The Byrnes bested us once. I’m not about to let them do that to us again.”

“What’s it look like over there?” Clarkus called from below as he adjusted the large shield on his arm. While rummaging around in the Priory’s armory, he had chosen a tower shield, oversized according to human standards, to fit his large frame. It was also large enough to hide the top piece of the blade which he had offered to guard. With Alena’s help, they wrapped the blade piece in linen without touching it, and then wove a series of leather ties inside to secure the weapon piece against the metal. They then covered the whole back side with a leather panel they sewed to the ties.

He, Tuborg, and Nienna each offered to take a piece of the blade and guard it on their person. The pieces were easier to hide on their own than all together, and leaving the pieces behind at the Priory Headquarters with Alena made Nienna extremely nervous. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Alena. She trusted her completely. But having kept the weapon under her watchful eye for all these years, she couldn’t bring herself to part with it for the foreseeable future.

Tuborg offered to hide the bottom segment of the blade within a shield as well since he had no other good way to hide it. He couldn’t simply hide it beneath the bark-like panels of his heavy armor because its sharp end could easily cut into his body. He could not lash it to his blade because the piece could come loose, or the linen wrappings slip off and expose it to his skin. Seeing how well Clarkus’ idea worked, he searched the armory for a large shield himself. After an intense hunt, he settled on a rounded norn shield lined with fur and feathers. It was large enough to hide his piece of the blade, but still small and light enough for him to carry. Dee informed him that it was made for norn youths, but he didn’t care who it was meant for. It served his purposes.

Nienna had put her limited tailoring skills to work and sewed the middle part of the blade’s staff between the left breast panel of Quint’s coat and an extra piece of leather she found in the Priory’s stores. She patted the dark leather jacket, feeling for the firm staff form under her hand. She held her hand on it for a moment while losing herself in thought. She did that a lot more these days. There was much to consider now—now she knew the road laid out before her. She wondered if Quint had read the parchments before delivering them to her. She wondered if he knew.

“It’s busy down there, that’s for sure,” Dee replied after she and Nienna climbed back down to join the others. “The camp is crawling with the Byrnes’ thugs. Looks like they’re getting ready to leave.”

Clarkus uttered a growl, his lips pulled back and trembling. “I’d like to give them a taste of my steel and show ‘em what a real fight is. None of this running away stuff like they did in Lion’s Arch.”

“Soon enough, Clarkus,” Tuborg assured him as he looked wistfully off into the snow. It was obvious there was something on the sylvari’s mind, but he didn’t dare utter it—not yet. “Soon enough.”

Using the rocks and trees as cover, the group made their way down the hillside and across the valley toward the camp. The winds had picked up again, bringing with it a new flurry of snow and a chill from the far north. It didn’t seem to bother Nienna though. She found the freezing temperature almost refreshing, but her relief in such conditions worried her. Aside from Dee, who also seemed to be enjoying the cold, mountain air, the others rubbed at their cold limbs to warm them. Nienna felt like she could do without the long coat.

“Look at that,” Turborg said, pointing to a spot in the snow just outside the camp. The snow had was heavily churned and swirled with blood. A piece of blue Priory robe poked out from the mess, and there were foot prints and long drag marks leading to the entrance of the camp. “I’m afraid our Priory friends have met a rather untimely end.”

Nienna grimaced. “That’s unfortunate. We’ll need to inform the Priory Headquarters when we return.”

“It looks like they’ve stationed four guards at the entrance and a patrol of two that come by every couple of minutes,” Dee pointed out. “We could wait until the patrol is away from the entrance, take them out, and then remove the guards.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Clarkus said with a smirk, revealing his many sharp teeth. His bright green eyes glinted with lust for battle. “It’s barely a challenge.”

“That I don’t doubt, but we’ll need to do it quietly,” Turborg warned, “or we risk alerting the others and possible capture.”

Not a fan of sneaking around, the charr frowned and uttered a sharp huff. “Fine.”

Sympathizing with his eagerness to pay the Byrnes back for the damage they had already caused and the lives they had already taken, Dee patted the charr’s shoulder.

“Why don’t we take a look around the perimeter and find another way in,” Nienna offered. “I don’t like those guards in the open there. Tuborg is right. We’ll still draw too much attention if we attack.”

The group moved together under the cover of snow and rocks until they had reached the side of the camp where they waited patiently for the patrol to come to them. Once the mercenaries were within range, Dee and Clarkus took them by surprise and made quick work of them. They buried their bodies under the snow so they would not be discovered.

While looking for a way into the camp along the back, they discovered a weakness in the perimeter fence. Using his bare paws, Clarkus slowly pulled the loose planks off of the posts and leaned them against the fence as quietly as he could. The others remained on look-out until they had an opening large enough for them all to fit through. One by one, they squeezed through the opening and hid behind one of the Priory tents as they watched the mercenaries moving around the camp. Peering around the edge of the tent canvas, Nienna glanced at each of the other tents. None of them seemed to be given special attention, aside from one nearby which was guarded by a single mercenary.

Nienna tapped Dee on her shoulder and silently pointed at the tent being guarded. The norn woman follow her gaze then nodded, once she realized what Nienna was showing her. It was then they spied an armed mercenary exiting the tent, followed by Lady Eira shortly after. Nienna clenched her fists until her joints ached as she watched the noble lady’s every step.

Dee turned to let the others know what Nienna had found, but froze as her eyes went wide. “Um…we have company.”

One of the Byrnes’ mercenaries had stumbled upon the group and was already readying his rifle to fire directly at them. Acting quickly, Clarkus rushed forward and knocked the mercenary’s rifle to the side just as it went off, and the bullet ricocheted off of the perimeter fence, alerting the enemy to their location. The charr uttered a mighty roar, and before the mercenary could line up another shot, he rushed toward him, hitting the man square in the chest with his broad shoulder and launching him toward the guarded tent.

“Well, so much for that plan,” Dee sighed as she drew her greatsword and prepared for battle.