Adventure of Exiles

Felix was back at the Orphanage of Saintess Kjera.

He was perched on the window watching the kids play some football. A few were practicing music with a couple of the castle guards who volunteered. He was nodding in and out of sleep. His sides and arms stung a bit. Edwin and Felix had cleared away a pack of direwolves in the outskirts of Svarostadt. There was some claw and bite wounds still healing.

He closed his eyes again.

“What am I paying you for? Falling asleep on the job for shame.” Felix heard. He can feel the shit-eating grin of Edwin without even having to open his eyes.

“You don’t pay me to be always on the clock. Also this is your fault for taking me out in the field. Don’t you have guards to handle direwolves? Like the ones teaching music over there?” Felix replied as he opened his eyes to see Edwin standing beside him.

Edwin nodded, “You got me there. I wanted to see what you were capable of. You are strong.”

“That’s rich coming from the man who basically slaughtered through the direwolf pack on his own. I might as well just of been moral support.”

“I admit I might have gotten carried away. I get passionate about protecting the people of Svarostadt.”

“Why through? No one even saw us clear out the pack. We didn’t get even paid!”

Edwin laughed, “Not everything is about money. Sometimes it’s about the satisfaction of knowing that the people will be able to go about their day safer than before. Helping people live better lives is a reward in its own.”

Felix just grunted.

“Where do you see yourself in ten years?”

“Isn’t this a question you should have asked me before you hired me? If it goes all well in the capital, sipping on expensive wines and the finest selections of women money can buy. If shit goes badly, exile doesn’t seem too bad either. Buy a house in the Republic of Anzio, the weather is nice and warm there.”

Edwin chuckled, “You could settle down in the north. Have a family, a nice estate. Live a simple life and pass on a good foundation to the next generation.”

Felix snorted, “I think you’re thinking of a different man. That man would need to be a bit more noble and selfless. That sounds fucking boring.”

Edwin shook his head, more bemused than anything else, “give it some thought.”

Edwin clapped Felix's shoulder, “get some rest. I have some stuff to take care of. Then we will need to continue our preparations.”

“Yeah whatever.” Felix said as he closed his eyes again. Preparing to assassinate a military commissioner? This Edwin is playing a dangerous game, at least Felix is being paid accordingly.

As Felix heard Edwin walk away, Felix felt compelled to ask, “why you hire me? There were quite a few options when you came to the Order of the Raven guildhall. So why me?”

Edwin didn’t answer at first and then Felix could hear a chuckle.

“A feeling. That’s all. I had a gut feeling you were the man I was looking for. I believe in you. Sorry, if that’s not a good enough answer for you.”

He just believes in me? Felix thought, what kind of shit reasoning is that?

Felix just scoffed, “whatever. I’m just in it for the money.”

Edwin laughed and kept walking away.

Felix was dozing off for a few more moments when he heard some footsteps and then hands on his chest.

“Felix. Felix!”

“Come on, get up!”

Felix didn’t want to open his eyes. It’s probably that William kid, the tall and lanky one. Or that boy Gunther, always dreaming of becoming a soldier.

They probably wanted to play football or something.

“Felix!”

Felix groaned and finally opened his eyes.

Instead, it was Emily.

He was at Kurkenburg.

“Ugh. I’m up, what’s the problem?” Felix said as he rolled away from Emily.

“You’re the one sleeping in.” Emily said.

“I was up late last night.” Felix grumbled.

“You promised you would take me out on the boat! You said you let me steer!”

“Ugh.” Felix said as he rolled out of bed and yawned.

“Felix.” Michael said as he walked into the living room, “you slept in.” As he slid a plate of bread and eggs over to Felix.

“Yeah, whatever.” Felix said as he stuffed the food in his mouth.

Michael grunted.

Emily was looking at him expectantly.

“Give me a moment, alright. I’m still eating.”

Felix then looked over to Michael, “any news from up north?”

Michael shook his head, “If we did get news, it would have been really good or really bad news. Gathering an army takes a long time. Gathering one while also keeping it hidden takes even longer. We still have some northern nobility to still to sway to our side.”

“Yeah, fair enough.” Felix said as he ate, “this breakfast is pretty tasty. Since when you became a housewife? You been doing the cooking, cleaning and like without complain since we got here.”

“Since a certain someone didn’t pick up the slack. You have been out late drinking or playing cards at the local taverns and gambling.”

“Oh, come on. I’m blending in with the locals.”

Michael smirked, “I suppose I don’t mind. As I have been serving the princess for years, I learned quite a bit about housekeeping. Take Emily out sailing and don’t get into trouble.”

After finishing his breakfast, Felix got dressed and took Emily down to the beach close to the house.

There was the small sailing boat Felix bought. It was docked by a pier Felix and Michael built. Well, mostly Michael who did the woodcutting and construction.

Felix nailed some boards and carried some stuff. So that counts.

Felix took her the boat out to sea with Emily. Having learned as much as he could about sailing from Chris. If nothing else, Felix was a quick learner and willing to practice.

After getting a decent distance out at sea. Felix let Emily take over. He made sure to be paying attention to the boat’s course and to keep a hand on the rudder.

“The waves, the sun, the wind. It’s all great.” Emily shouted as she steered the boat.

“Glad you are having fun.” Felix replied as he looked up into the sky.

The weather was good, cloudless sky, bright sunshine and the cool wind blowing through.

Emily was steering the boat towards back towards the coast.

“Do you ever think of what would have happened if you didn’t become a mercenary?” She asked.

“It would have been shitty. My parents were gone. The Order of the Raven was an escape from Breslow.”

Emily looked back at Felix with sad eyes, “but what would you want to do Felix? I mean, not because you must survive. You could be something different like a farmer, a craftsman, or a guard.”

Felix paused, “I don’t know. Never really thought about it. Probably would have ended up a thief. But you never know.”

“That’s not true! Have some more faith in yourself, Felix. I can imagine you a bard, an actor or even a storyteller.”

“Uh huh. Why would you think that?”

“You have a way with words. When you tell a story, people are interested. And you have a good voice. I could imagine you would be a good singer.”

“I’m not singing. Ever.”

Emily laughed.

She then looked back at the shore and frowned. She pointed and asked, “Hey, Felix do you see that?”

Felix looked at where she was pointing. He saw a body on the beach.

“Huh. I wonder what happened.”

“We should go check!”

“It’s not really our problem.”

“Felix!” Emily said in a scolding tone.

“Okay. Okay. We will check. Don’t get so angry, princess.”

They maneuvered boat back to shore.

Felix threw over the anchor and got back to the shore.

“Alright, wait here.”

“Felix! I want to see what happened.”

“It might not be safe, princess.”

“I’m not a little kid.”

“Yeah, well Michael would kill me slowly and painfully if something happened to you. Stay on the boat.”

Felix got back on to shore and found the body.

He was a man, looked a little younger than Felix. He had brown hair, and his face was seemingly peaceful. He was dressed in fine clothes and had a wicked looking battle scythe on his back.

“Hey. Are you okay? Hey?” Felix said as he poked the man’s body with his foot.

Felix checked his pulse and breathing. He was still alive and breathing. He looked ragged and very wet. Did he wash up on shore?

Tsk. Emily would never let him hear the end of it if he just left the poor bastard here.

So, Felix carried the man back onto the boat.

Emily’s eyes widened, “who is he? Is he ok?”

“I don’t know who he is. I didn’t see any blood, no wounds or scars. I can’t see anything. I would guess he just washed ashore and passed out. Come on let’s take him back to the house and get Chris to check him out.”

Felix and Emily sailed the boat back to the house.

Michael was hanging out some clothes to dry when he saw Felix approaching holding the unconscious man.

He looked at Felix, disappointed look on his face. “What did I say? Literally the only thing was not to get into trouble.”

“Woah, this wasn’t my fault. Honest. We found him on the beach and the princess wouldn’t have shut up about it if we just left him there. Which is what I would have done.”

Michael sighed, “I’ll go fetch the healer.”

Felix took the stranger and brought him inside the house and set him on the table.

A little later Chris entered the house and started to examine him.

“You know when you go fishing you are supposed to catch fish not people. Still, I would say this is a pretty big catch.” Chris said as he started to apply some healing magic.

“How is he doing?” Emily asked anxiously.

“His breathing and heart rate is steady. He will be fine, but he’s currently bit exhausted and dehydrated. I don’t know, he must have been out there for a while. He needs rest.”

Felix looked at him, “he didn’t have any wounds or injuries. Do you have any idea where he came from or how did he end up washed on the beach?”

“I don’t know. Never seen him in town before. With your permission I would like to take him to my home. I would be able to monitor his condition and talk with him when he comes to.”

“Good riddance. One less problem for us.” Felix replied.

Michael smacked Felix in the back of the head and then nodded, “thank you, Chris. We owe you.”

Chris and Michael moved the stranger to back to Chris’s house.

Which left, Emily and Felix were sitting on the front porch of the house.

“I can’t believe you didn’t want to help him. He was all alone, unconscious. It’s the right thing to do.” Emily scolded.

“Look princess. I don’t care if he is a beggar or a king, I don’t do things without getting paid.”

“Felix! He was hurt and needed our help.”

“Whatever.”

“It’s not a bad thing to do things to help other people.”

“If you say so.”

“It’s not just a good thing, it’s the right thing to do. Doing the right thing its own reward.”

Felix groaned, “you northerners are all the same.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“There is no such thing as right and wrong. There are just those who have the strength to make their way. Still I will hazard a guess you listened to Edwin prattled on too.”

Emily nodded, “if more people were like Edwin the world would be a better place.”

Felix just shrugged.

She didn’t know what the full extent of what they had to do for the Restorationist cause. The murder of Joshua the regretful military commissioner, the killing of Duke Rudolf. All those cultists who were slain. They had lives, dreams, and hopes as well.

Not really the time to bring it up.

“Hopefully that man will be ok. I want to talk him when he wakes up.” Emily kept talking.

“We will get our chance. He’s in good hands. Also not like we are going anywhere.”

“I’m so curious on what his story is.”

“Trust me. It can’t be more exciting than the princess of the kingdom hiding in exile.”

“Doesn’t have to be more exciting. It’s another story to tell. Another friend to have.”

“If you say so, princess.”

“I have a name you know.”

“Whatever you say, princess.”

Emily stuck her tongue out at Felix and then she giggled.

They sat there for a bit just idly talking and enjoying the view until Michael got back.