White Ravens: Advent of War

Long-awaited Reunion

It wasn't long until the sun had already set, and the town plaza of Merseto was now brimming with locals, tourists, and guardsmen. During nights of the full moon, many merchants would set up stalls to display their merchandise in the plaza.

Some sold items that they made their own, such as blacksmiths, accessory ateliers, and artisans. Others showcased rare and indigenous objects they have gathered all throughout the continent. There were even some nomadic weaponries sold at one store.

As the head of Merseto's merchant's guild, Dreyfus was usually the one who hosted such events. He would hire dancers, street performers, and even bards to make the town even livelier. Unbeknownst to Dreyfus, Corselia and Leif had already snuck in with the rest of the dancers. Fortunately, their outfits kind of matched the other dancers' garbs.

It didn't take long until the dancers were called to each display their own performances. In order to save time, and to attract Dreyfus' attention, Leif overtook one of the other dancers and dragged Corselia along with her. "Follow my lead," she said to Corselia.

Once they were onstage, Leif handed Corselia two sabers she grabbed from a nearby merchant. The lower half of their faces were covered by headscarves, revealing only their eyes. It made both of them look like exotic beauties, especially Leif, considering that she was an elf. Everyone's eyes fell on them, and Corselia began to feel nervous.

She had never been in front of a crowd this large, and it was clear on her face that she was indeed agitated. However, Leif told her to just think of this as a normal duel, to which Corselia felt confused.

Leif bowed to the audience and announced that they will be performing a blade dancing routine. Amid the crowd, Dreyfus' curiosity was piqued. He leaned forward in anticipation and said, "You may begin."

All of a sudden, Leif began to soar through the air, landing on Corselia while swinging down two sabers at the latter. Corselia managed to parry the strike, and spin away while performing a perfect somersault backwards.

Their acrobatic prowess enamored the audience, and soon, all eyes were on them. The crowd gasped for air at their life-like display of a duel. With every swing of their sword, the audience feared that these two blade dancers might make a mistake.

But to their surprise, every step, every swing of Leif's and Corselia's sabers seemed calculated. Little did everyone know that they were actually locked in a duel. A smile appeared on both of their lips, and it seemed that they were enjoying their impromptu melee.

Finally, they both soared through the air, and jumped down the stage, landing perfectly on one leg. Afterwards, they bowed to the crowd while lifting both arms upwards, showcasing their gracefulness.

The crowd went wild after witnessing their performance. Some of them even whistled at the end, and some threw flowers onto the stage. It appeared that they took the stage by storm.

Now that they were finished, they walked away from the stage and the adoring crowd. And before long, a man approached them, and told the ladies that "Lord Dreyfus" wanted to meet them at his abode.

Corselia and Leif exchanged glances and nodded at each other before following the strange man. A few minutes later, they arrived at a back alley, wherein two strong-looking men stood guard. Once inside, they saw a frivolous man, sitting on the couch along with two other women.

"That's Lord Dreyfus," Leif whispered to Corselia.

Dreyfus invited them to sit down, offered them some food, and complimented them for their marvelous performance at the plaza. It seemed that they left quite the impression on him, especially Leif. Dreyfus sat beside her, and asked her what her name was.

Surprisingly, Leif managed to suppress her disgust, and even flirted back. After having worked as a spy for Valdano for many years, she had learned how to act around men who think that they were more important than everybody else.

Corselia, on the other hand, was not used to being ogled at like she was just a piece of flesh that men would toss aside after getting what they wanted from her. However, she didn't like to be outdone, so she did her best to emulate Leif's professionalism.

Before long, Dreyfus had offered them to stay the night with him. Leif immediately accepted the offer, and told him, "I'll be looking forward to this evening, my lord."

Dreyfus chuckled at her remark, and replied, "You are an interesting elf. I'll be sure to reward you properly."

Later that night, while Leif was alone in the room with Dreyfus, Corselia snooped around the house. There were many rooms in this house, including a private study, which was lined with books, and some of the finest liquor in the land. Inside the study, one particular item caught Corselia's eye, and it was a golden globe near Dreyfus' private desk.

She calmly examined the globe, feeling around it in search of a switch of some sort. Suddenly, her leg slipped, and she accidentally pulled up the upper half of the globe. For a moment, she panicked, but when she looked inside, she found a suspicious lever.

Corselia didn't hesitate to pull it, and seconds later, one of the bookshelves opened up like a machination, revealing a hidden path behind it. "Bingo," she muttered.

She entered the path, and traveled all the way down. Upon reaching the lowest floor, she could hear faint footsteps. She wanted to proceed with caution, but then she slipped and fell from the stairs.

The person guarding the underground floor immediately saw her, and pointed a blade at her. "Identify yourself!"

Corselia sprang to her feet, and shook off the dust from her garb. She removed her headscarf and revealed her face, while winking at the guard. "I'm here for you."

"Not interested," the guard answered.

Insulted by what he was insinuating, Corselia took out her dagger and swiftly cut the man's throat mercilessly. "Not interested? I'm literally the only girl around here. Don't flatter yourself, ugly. You're far beneath me in attractiveness."

It seemed that the prisoners had heard Corselia's encounter with the prison guard, so they began to shout and call for her attention. She immediately frisked the guard for keys and ran towards the prison cell at the very end of the floor.

There, she found two men and a woman. It would seem that these were the friends that Rune mentioned. "Are you Sigil?" Corselia unknowingly asked Zeke. The latter shook his head and pointed at Sigil. "No, that's him."

"Hang on, who are you?" Tatiana asked.

"A friend of Rune's. He sent me here to bust you out," Corselia replied.

At this point, Sigil's eyes lit up, and he immediately ran to the door of the cell. "Where is he?" he asked.

Corselia opened the cell door and answered, "He's at the docks on a ship. But we don't have time to talk about that right now. Our priority is to get the hell out of here!"

"We can't leave yet. They confiscated our weapons," Zeke said with regret.

"They're just weapons, leave them!" Corselia responded.

Tatiana shook her head. "One way or another, this will end in a brawl. I have no idea where our weapons are, but we'll need them to fight off Dreyfus' lackeys."

Suddenly, they heard two sets of footsteps rushing down to the floor. They all became vigilant and readied themselves for the worst. However, they soon dropped their guards when they saw who those two were.

"You don't need to look around. We already have your weapons," Gust said with a grin.

"Long time no see, Tatiana, Zeke, Captain," Yelena greeted.

It had been days since they last saw each other, and they were clearly delighted to be reunited. However, time was of the essence, so they soon marched upstairs and did their best to skulk around the house without being found by the guards.

They figured that the best way to escape was going through the back exit, but the risk of doing so was high since Dreyfus often brought his w****s to the biggest room there.

When Corselia heard that, she casually remarked that it wouldn't be a problem. The rest of the group found her confidence quite strange, but they followed her anyway. Once there, they found a beautiful elven girl standing outside the door and eating an apple.

At first, the rest of the party was surprised, but when they saw Corselia approach the elf girl, they understood that she was an ally.

"What took you so long?" Leif said to Corselia.

Corselia pointed her thumb backwards at Sigil and the rest and replied, "I've got company. What happened to Dreyfus?"

"Let's just say he regrets ever trying to touch me." Leif shrugged and then she walked towards the back exit. "Are you all coming?"

Corselia chuckled at Leif's behavior. She had no idea that this seemingly meek elven girl would have more balls than anyone.

Once they were through the back exit, they gunned it towards the harbor. Everyone readied themselves for the worst, but when they arrived, they were sort of disappointed that there was no fight to be had. Rune had already noticed them from a distance, so he prepared the blank to help them board easier.

Everyone was delighted to know that Rune was still alive, and they each greeted him through their own ways. Among everyone, Sigil and Yelena were the most emotional.

In his own way, Sigil showed his concern for Rune by giving him a half-embrace and locking arms with him. "Glad to have you back, brother," he said to Rune.

"Likewise," Rune replied.

Afterwards, Yelena stood in front of Rune, lowered her head, and tears began to fall from her eyes. Rune noticed that she was crying, so he removed his bandana, and used it to wipe her tears. "I'm back," he said to her.

At this point, Yelena could no longer hold her emotions back. She embraced him and told him how happy she was to know that he was alive, and that she never stopped believing that he survived.

Everyone was surprised at how close these two had gotten, especially Tatiana.

However, it was too early for them to celebrate. They soon found several men running towards their ship, and figured that these were Dreyfus' men.