White Ravens: Advent of War

Sigil's Hidden Talent

It took almost five days out at sea but Sigil, Corselia, Gust, and Tatiana had finally arrived at New Valeria. The ship that they boarded got caught up in a storm, delaying their trip for two days. Fortunately, the captain and his crew were experienced men of the sea. Such violent storms were formidable foes for these men, but they managed to traverse the eye of the storm.

Gust and Tatiana couldn't wait to disembark the ship the second they made landfall. Both of them had not ridden through a storm before, much less been out at sea for that long. They immediately threw up what they ate for the morning, and Corselia seemed disgusted about this.

"Are you two almost done?" she said. "We need to find lodgings first, so we can gather information. Sigil is already walking away."

Gust gave her the middle finger as he continued puking. Tatiana, on the other hand, wiped her lips and staggered to follow Sigil. Obviously, she was still not in great shape to walk. At this moment, she felt like the world was spinning around, but she steeled herself, for there was a mission to be dealt with.

Not long after, Sigil and the others arrived at the city's square. There were all sorts of high-end stores, restaurants, and even a beautiful fountain at the middle. The city of New Valeria reminded Sigil, Gust, and Tatiana of Wisteria's own capital, Loveria. But they were still partial to their own country's capital, of course.

Soon, they found a suitable inn. Right now, it was important for them to act like tourists on a vacation, instead of mercenaries on a mission. Thus, it would be much less suspicious to wear casual clothes.

Sigil wore a white tunic under a dark overcoat, and black trousers. He had hidden a small sword in the inner pocket of his overcoat, just in case they had to fight. After all, he could not make it known that they were capable of spellcasting, since it was a dead giveaway that they were rune knights.

Tatiana wore a long red dress, which highlighted the beauty of her brown hair, and brought out the glimmer in her auburn eyes. She twirled around beside the fountain like a maiden on her sixteenth name day, and smiled at Sigil and the others.

Gust wore a more a casual set of clothes. He wore a black tunic, and a chainmail hidden underneath his black hooded jacket. It seemed that he was very partial to the color black, but it did suit both his youthful appearance and covert specialties.

Lastly, Corselia wore a velvet corset vest over a white blouse, and navy blue trousers. It suited her slightly boyish personality, but it did not dwarf the beauty of her gorgeous blond hair. "If Rune could see me now, maybe he'll change his mind about coming to Paree with me," she thought to herself.

The four of them agreed to split into two groups. Tatiana and Corselia went around the stores buying supplies for the entire group, and asking the store owners for news about Lelei Merces. Some of them were kind enough to humor the ladies' question, but some did not offer them any information. Perhaps due to fear, or maybe just a bad attitude.

While the ladies were out gathering information while buying supplies, Sigil and Gust went to the local watering hole. This bar was much fancier than those they had gotten accustomed to, and there were even some rich assholes around. They figured if they stuck around long enough, they could hear some relevant information about Lady Merces.

Not five minutes later, their initial assumption was realized. They heard from a couple of women over at the next table that the "Good Lady Merces" was to be transferred into the capital's underground prison in two days.

"It seems that our timing is perfect," Gust whispered to Sigil.

Sigil nodded in response before standing up to greet the women sitting at the table next to theirs. He made a courtly bow at them and said, "Good morning, my ladies. May we join you at your table?"

Then, he held the red-haired woman's hand, and winked at her. The woman smiled back at him and giggled. "Of course. Please, have a seat, sir...?"

"Liam. Liam Valor, my lady," Sigil responded as he gently kissed the red-haired woman's hand. "Would my lady do me the honor of telling me her name?"

"It's Melissa McBride, good Sir Liam." The woman seemed to have been lost in Sigil's eyes, but then she realized that she had not introduced her eagerly waiting friend. "Oh! By the way, Sir Liam, this is my friend, Amaia."

Amaia covered her mouth with her hand, giggling as she reached out her other hand to Sigil. "Well met, Sir Liam."

Sigil kissed her hand as well and replied, "The pleasure is all mine, Miss Amaia."

At this time, Gust finally joined them. Sigil sat next to Melissa, so Gust figured he'd sit next to Amaia. "What the hell is the captain doing? We're supposed to be gathering information. Why is flirting with these women?" he cursed inwardly.

Amaia seemed to have taken a liking to Gust when she saw her. "And who is this handsome young man?" she asked.

Gust glanced at her flatly, and shortly averted his gaze. "Gust," he said with contempt.

Contrary to his assumption, Amaia appeared to like his coldness even more.

"What brings you to New Valeria's finest bar, Sir Liam?" asked Melissa.

Sigil flashed her a smile, called a waiter over, and said to him, "A bottle of your finest whiskey, and umm..." He glanced at Melissa and Amaia first before he continued, "And two glasses of red wine for the lovely ladies."

After receiving the orders, the waiter went to fetch the liquors.

"Anyway, Miss Melissa, my friend and I couldn't help but overhear the two of you talking about the good Lady Merces," he said to her.

Upon mentioning the name, the ladies became wary of Sigil. He noticed that they were now vigilant, so he tried to appease them at once. "Please, do not misunderstand me. I am merely curious of the good lady's story. You see, my friend and I are investigative journalists, and we believe that Lelei Merces has been wrongfully imprisoned."

"Right you are, Sir Liam!" Amaia concurred.

"Indeed, the good lady was merely standing up for her people, yes?" Sigil added. "That's why, Gust and I are gathering testimonies, vital information, and people who are willing to support her exoneration. Lady Merces is set to be executed nine days from now, but we cannot give up!"

Melissa's eyes lit up when she heard Sigil's impassioned speech. It appeared that she was impressed by the gentleman's willingness to do what was right. In her point of view, Sigil was quite the feminist for supporting and doing his best to help a female icon such as Lelei Merces.

Thus, she told him everything they knew about Lelei Merces, and promised to aid Sigil and Gust however they could. The pair learned that Melissa McBride was actually from a prominent family who happened to be a supporter of Lelei Merces, but their family's hands were tied in helping her due to pressure from the other nobilities.

After sharing drinks and a meal with Melissa and Amaia, the ladies offered to pay for the meal as a form of thanking Gust and Sigil for their hard work. Soon, they all left the bar and went separate directions.

"Wow, Captain! I had no idea you had a hidden talent for flirting," Gust remarked.

Once they were out of earshot, Sigil pulled Gust to the side and said, "Listen here, you little s**t! Don't you dare speak a word of this to the others, especially not Rune and Tatiana!"

Gust snickered like an imp and pointed behind Sigil. "I don't think I have to."

When Sigil turned around, he let go of Gust, straightened himself, and walked past Tatiana and Corselia. "Let's go back to the inn, shall we?" he remarked.

However, Tatiana grabbed his collar before he could walk away. "Oh, no you don't! What did you not want me to know, huh?"

Sigil lowered his head and let out a sigh. Afterwards, he told her everything they did to get information about Lelei Merces. When he noticed that Tatiana didn't seem to be that annoyed with him, his eyes lit up. But as soon as he walked away, she struck his balls, and strutted away.

"Let's go, Corselia!" Tatiana clicked her tongue. "Asshole!"

Corselia giggled as she followed Tatiana along. She never realized that there was something between Tatiana and Sigil.

Gust patted Sigil's back and helped him up. "It's alright, cap'! I think you did great."

Sigil struck Gust's balls and made him drop to his knees as well. The latter remarked, "f**k! You are an asshole!"

Later that night, they all met up back in the hotel they had booked. Fortunately, the unit they rented was big enough to house two rooms, and it even had a common living room. There, they pooled the information they gathered about Lelei Merces.

Sigil told the others that they found out that Lelei was set to be transferred into the capital's underground prison in two days. Corselia told them that she had learned from one of the supply store owners that Lelei's prison wagon would take an underground route. However, the location of the underground route was unknown to the public.

Additionally, Gust mentioned that Melissa McBride might be able to help them figure out the route Lelei's prison wagon would take. Tatiana was not the least bit happy to hear Melissa's name, but they didn't have any other choice.

Thus, they set forth to visit Melissa McBride's estate. However, Tatiana proposed that she and Corselia should contact Melissa. She explained that it would be better that way, since it was less suspicious for women to be visiting a prominent family's estate.

Gust and Corselia snickered along as Sigil and Tatiana had a lover's quarrel.

"Did you know about this?" Corselia asked Gust.

The latter shook his head and chuckled. "This is the first I'm hearing about this, but the captain sure is shaken."