emmel
2009-01-01 21:52:40 UTC
I don't guarantee that there are less (or even only as much for that
matter) errors in this revised version, but I like it for the changes I
made. Feel free to disagree... (But tell me, dammit.)
It has only a little Laiva/Mynor moment, but there's some well needed
exposition. Hopefully it's not too obvious for what it is.
*****
'Just fill in that form, already.'
Isrin seriously wondered how you could run a military with
that much bureaucracy, but maybe there was so much bureaucracy here in
the headquarters to stop it from interfering where it mattered. That
didn't make him comfortable dealing with it, though. By now the sun
had reached the peak of its daily course, shining brilliantly through
the high windows, and he could only hope the boys didn't cause any
trouble; he had planned this to be over with in half an hour or an
hour at most.
'You have to understand that we can't issue a warrant just for
asking. There are procedures to be followed. So, what did the culprit
do?' Captain Arris asked.
He was sitting behind a massive desk, empty except for three
trays, inkstand, pen and a single page of paper, all of which had been
carefully aligned to the edge of the desk. It made Isrin's nails curl.
He took a deep breath.
'There is no culprit and I don't want to issue a warrant. Do
you never have missing persons around here?'
'Oh. About a missing person, I'm afraid you'll have to consult
with Cap...'
He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Isrin's gaze, carefully
cultivated in his over thirty years as village warden. It was
remarkable how far you got just by looking at people the right way at
the right moment.
'On the other hand, I could make an exception, since you are
already here and everything.'
'That would be... kind of you.' Isrin answered, cutting down
on the irony in his voice as best as he could muster.
The captain opened a drawer of his desk and produced a single
sheet of paper, which he carefully placed on top of the one already on
the desk, making sure that the corners were exactly on top of each
other. Isrin flinched.
'So, this is the right form.' the captain finally said and too
the pen.
'One: Name of the missing person.'
A lengthy pause ensued. The captain lifted his head, giving
Isrin a quizzical look, that he returned with a blank stare.
'You can't be serious.'
The captain looked confused.
'Why don't you just copy it from the other form? The one lying
below?'
'Well, I guess I could do that...'
'Oh, yes. I guess I could do that.'
Isrin rolled his eyes.
'So that's Laiva Azanee, female, eight years, dark hair, dark
eyes. Place of residency?'
'Pala, the village tavern.'
'Ah, sorry, but I'm afraid I can't help you then. The villages
of the Southern Forest are not property of the duchy, but a
protectorates of the duke's. You need to go down the hall, to the
right, the stairs up, then le...'
Enough was enough. Isrin had jumped up and grabbed the captain
by his collar.
'Listen, you...'
Before he could give the captain a piece of his mind, however,
he was hurled backwards and slammed hard into the ground by two burly
guards that looked as if spend their free time wrestling bears. Only
then he realised that attacking an officer in the headquarters
probably wasn't the smartest of moves.
'Isrin, Isrin. That could have ended really bad.'
Commander Rowrig took a careful sip from a delicate china cup.
Seeing him balance it the massive hands his, looking more fit for
crushing rocks, was quite an experience.
'You are lucky I was summoned by the ruckus, old friend.
Without someone convincing the captain that there had merely been a
misunderstanding... Let's just say that assaulting an officer is no
laughing matter.'
'The officer is.' Isrin grumbled.
'I choose not to have hear that. Although I have to admit
Captain Arris is a bit... peculiar. He's one of the replacements, you
see.'
Isrin did see. It was an open secret that the trouble in the
south took its toll, and the Duchy of Bonia was the one to pay it,
having no border to defend itself. Most of the duchy's original troops
had by now been transferred to Iorn, and the replacements consisted of
those they couldn't use; mostly anymore, but there were others as
well. Isrin could have sworn the captain belonged to the latter.
'Anyway, this isn't why you are here.'
The captain carefully put down his cup and studied the two
partially filled in forms he had taken from the captain's desk.
'I take it, you are actually looking for a runaway and not a
criminal?'
Isrin nodded and the captain stuffed one of the sheets into
the already overflowing waste-paper basket.
'That leaved one question, though: Why?'
'Because she has run away,' Isrin said firmly, 'and it doesn't
matter what her chances are. I've seen my share of runaways - if there
was anything left to be seen. But I'm not going to tell her parents
that I didn't do anything because I have simply given her up.'
A brief, but very uneasy silence ensued, although Isrin was at
a loss why. It wasn't as if he had asked the commander to comb the
forest, or something to that effect. Once he came to think of it, he
hadn't asked for anything... yet.
'Besides, all I need you to do is having the guards at the
gates keep an eye open for her.'
All of the sudden, the tension was gone. The commander exhaled
in relief; Isrin hadn't even realised he had been holding his breath.
'Well, if that's all... I guess I can do that. So you think
she's going to try and hide here?'
'Not as such,' Isrin said, 'there's reason to believe... She
is heading for the capital. She wants to partake in the trials.'
The captain started laughing, but then he noticed Isrin's
expression and amusement turned into disbelieve.
'But she's a girl! There's no way they'd ever let her enter
the order.'
'That's what we told her.'
Laiva put the flask down and grimaced. Stale water was bad enough, but
stale blood was outright vile; at least the moving stopped it from
clogging.
'Don't look at me like that.' she said to Mynor, who had shot
her a glance in answer.
'You have had all your life to get used to the taste. It's a
first for me.'
And the last time as well, if she could help it. How could
something being practically the same as blood sausage only taste so
unlike it? Still, it was better than nothing, and the rabbits had been
dead anyway. Going thirsty, while letting the blood go to waste would
just have been stupid. Until the river she had to take what she could
get.
--
emmel <the_emmel*you-know-what-that's-for*@gmx.net>
(Don't forget to remove the ** bit)
story archives available at http://ranira.wordpress.com
Official AGC feedback maniac
"God is playing creatures - and we're the norns."
"A hundred dead are a tragedy - a hundred thousand are statistics."
"I guess you can call yourself lucky." -
"I could, but Linda suits me a little better... :)
Things called lucky tend to get hit by trucks."
Proud owner of 1 (one) DISOBEDIENCE point.
Former owner of 1 (one) eating point (eaten, sigh).
Hi, I'm a .sig virus. Just copy me to your .signature. And don't worry.
matter) errors in this revised version, but I like it for the changes I
made. Feel free to disagree... (But tell me, dammit.)
It has only a little Laiva/Mynor moment, but there's some well needed
exposition. Hopefully it's not too obvious for what it is.
*****
'Just fill in that form, already.'
Isrin seriously wondered how you could run a military with
that much bureaucracy, but maybe there was so much bureaucracy here in
the headquarters to stop it from interfering where it mattered. That
didn't make him comfortable dealing with it, though. By now the sun
had reached the peak of its daily course, shining brilliantly through
the high windows, and he could only hope the boys didn't cause any
trouble; he had planned this to be over with in half an hour or an
hour at most.
'You have to understand that we can't issue a warrant just for
asking. There are procedures to be followed. So, what did the culprit
do?' Captain Arris asked.
He was sitting behind a massive desk, empty except for three
trays, inkstand, pen and a single page of paper, all of which had been
carefully aligned to the edge of the desk. It made Isrin's nails curl.
He took a deep breath.
'There is no culprit and I don't want to issue a warrant. Do
you never have missing persons around here?'
'Oh. About a missing person, I'm afraid you'll have to consult
with Cap...'
He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Isrin's gaze, carefully
cultivated in his over thirty years as village warden. It was
remarkable how far you got just by looking at people the right way at
the right moment.
'On the other hand, I could make an exception, since you are
already here and everything.'
'That would be... kind of you.' Isrin answered, cutting down
on the irony in his voice as best as he could muster.
The captain opened a drawer of his desk and produced a single
sheet of paper, which he carefully placed on top of the one already on
the desk, making sure that the corners were exactly on top of each
other. Isrin flinched.
'So, this is the right form.' the captain finally said and too
the pen.
'One: Name of the missing person.'
A lengthy pause ensued. The captain lifted his head, giving
Isrin a quizzical look, that he returned with a blank stare.
'You can't be serious.'
The captain looked confused.
'Why don't you just copy it from the other form? The one lying
below?'
'Well, I guess I could do that...'
'Oh, yes. I guess I could do that.'
Isrin rolled his eyes.
'So that's Laiva Azanee, female, eight years, dark hair, dark
eyes. Place of residency?'
'Pala, the village tavern.'
'Ah, sorry, but I'm afraid I can't help you then. The villages
of the Southern Forest are not property of the duchy, but a
protectorates of the duke's. You need to go down the hall, to the
right, the stairs up, then le...'
Enough was enough. Isrin had jumped up and grabbed the captain
by his collar.
'Listen, you...'
Before he could give the captain a piece of his mind, however,
he was hurled backwards and slammed hard into the ground by two burly
guards that looked as if spend their free time wrestling bears. Only
then he realised that attacking an officer in the headquarters
probably wasn't the smartest of moves.
'Isrin, Isrin. That could have ended really bad.'
Commander Rowrig took a careful sip from a delicate china cup.
Seeing him balance it the massive hands his, looking more fit for
crushing rocks, was quite an experience.
'You are lucky I was summoned by the ruckus, old friend.
Without someone convincing the captain that there had merely been a
misunderstanding... Let's just say that assaulting an officer is no
laughing matter.'
'The officer is.' Isrin grumbled.
'I choose not to have hear that. Although I have to admit
Captain Arris is a bit... peculiar. He's one of the replacements, you
see.'
Isrin did see. It was an open secret that the trouble in the
south took its toll, and the Duchy of Bonia was the one to pay it,
having no border to defend itself. Most of the duchy's original troops
had by now been transferred to Iorn, and the replacements consisted of
those they couldn't use; mostly anymore, but there were others as
well. Isrin could have sworn the captain belonged to the latter.
'Anyway, this isn't why you are here.'
The captain carefully put down his cup and studied the two
partially filled in forms he had taken from the captain's desk.
'I take it, you are actually looking for a runaway and not a
criminal?'
Isrin nodded and the captain stuffed one of the sheets into
the already overflowing waste-paper basket.
'That leaved one question, though: Why?'
'Because she has run away,' Isrin said firmly, 'and it doesn't
matter what her chances are. I've seen my share of runaways - if there
was anything left to be seen. But I'm not going to tell her parents
that I didn't do anything because I have simply given her up.'
A brief, but very uneasy silence ensued, although Isrin was at
a loss why. It wasn't as if he had asked the commander to comb the
forest, or something to that effect. Once he came to think of it, he
hadn't asked for anything... yet.
'Besides, all I need you to do is having the guards at the
gates keep an eye open for her.'
All of the sudden, the tension was gone. The commander exhaled
in relief; Isrin hadn't even realised he had been holding his breath.
'Well, if that's all... I guess I can do that. So you think
she's going to try and hide here?'
'Not as such,' Isrin said, 'there's reason to believe... She
is heading for the capital. She wants to partake in the trials.'
The captain started laughing, but then he noticed Isrin's
expression and amusement turned into disbelieve.
'But she's a girl! There's no way they'd ever let her enter
the order.'
'That's what we told her.'
Laiva put the flask down and grimaced. Stale water was bad enough, but
stale blood was outright vile; at least the moving stopped it from
clogging.
'Don't look at me like that.' she said to Mynor, who had shot
her a glance in answer.
'You have had all your life to get used to the taste. It's a
first for me.'
And the last time as well, if she could help it. How could
something being practically the same as blood sausage only taste so
unlike it? Still, it was better than nothing, and the rabbits had been
dead anyway. Going thirsty, while letting the blood go to waste would
just have been stupid. Until the river she had to take what she could
get.
--
emmel <the_emmel*you-know-what-that's-for*@gmx.net>
(Don't forget to remove the ** bit)
story archives available at http://ranira.wordpress.com
Official AGC feedback maniac
"God is playing creatures - and we're the norns."
"A hundred dead are a tragedy - a hundred thousand are statistics."
"I guess you can call yourself lucky." -
"I could, but Linda suits me a little better... :)
Things called lucky tend to get hit by trucks."
Proud owner of 1 (one) DISOBEDIENCE point.
Former owner of 1 (one) eating point (eaten, sigh).
Hi, I'm a .sig virus. Just copy me to your .signature. And don't worry.