Rotger smirks, the first sign of a human emotion he made since they encountered him. “Fair enough, and the girl? Academy trained by the look of it. Searching for a family you say?”

“An unlikely story.” Leander scoffed.

Rotger shrugged and nodded, readjusting his grip on the Ranseur. “Indeed, it is unlikely.

“Do mages not have family?” Morana queried. “Or are you of the belief we sprout from the ground or are delivered by large marshland avians?”

“Nay,” Rotger said through a yawn. “I am of the belief your ilk spawn from the loins of demons, and your lying tongues brought to ruin many a nation, most notably this one. So I ask again, why are you here?”

Leander had none to subtly take up a flanking position against Cormag, and Rotger began to slowly and deliberately approach his front. It was to be a fight. Cormag had worked with mages before, he knew their strength, as well as their weakness. Morana would need casting time, anywhere between fifteen to thirty seconds. He took a breath to steel his nerves and put his hand to his sword. He would break to his right and strike the subordinate off balance and enter a bind with the general. Hopefully Morana would pick up on his tactic and launch an attack. It was slim, but they had a chance…

“Wait!” Chauncey shouted, stepping between Cormag and the still advancing Rhodarcian mercenaries. “I hired them. My sister is a cleric, she was captured by the wolves, I want to sneak in and get her back.”

Rotger slowly came to a halt, and nodded for leander to follow suit. Both men adjusted their grips and lowered their weapons, but to the trained eyes, it was clear they were still in a ready position.

“A cleric, in this lawless land?” Rotger’s tone was mocking, bordering on amusement and annoyance. “I’d sooner believe you saying the mage came back for her sick puppy.”

“Kitten actually.” Morana said matter-of-factly.

“Hush.” Cormag hissed, eyeing both men cautiously, his sword inching from its scabbard.

“It's the truth!” Chauncey pleaded. “She was taken to Catharone by a company of Order Knights, she had the chance to escape, but she came back to protect me!”

Rotger sighed and relaxed, allowing Cormag to drop his blade back into its sheath and release a breath he did not realize he had been holding.

Rotger lazily rolled his hand in the air, urging Chauncey to continue. “Go on, boy. Tell your sad tale.”

Chauncey paused, flummoxed, he looked to Cormag for guidance, but the knight turned mercenary was too occupied staring down the general's subordinate.

“Well, um, that’s it really. Oh, she came back to work in the village. Order Healers are rare in these parts, and she knew they wouldn’t hurt her, or at least not kill her. She hoped to use that as leverage.”

“And what changed?” Rotger challenged. “I assume this bold venture worked well, for at least a little while.”

Chauncey nodded, wide eyed as the precarity of their situation sunk in. “Aye, it did. There was a coop-”

“Coup.” Rotger corrected.

“Right, that. The boss's successor murdered him with poison or some such, and the new guy just likes to sow chaos. He was some drifter, became a brigand for the rape and pillage part exclusively. He had no ties to the land, or its people.

Rotger shrugged and nodded in Leander’s direction. “What do you think, lieutenant?”

Leander removed his glove and retrieved a handkerchief from his pocket. “Matches the recent intel we received.”

Rotger nodded and stroked his chin. “That it does. How widespread do you think it is? This information?”

Leander wiped the sweat and grime from his brow, then neatly folded the handkerchief. “Doubtful it made it to the pass. Too local, too remote to be useful to any of the brokers. Most information traveling in and out of this land is related to the former capital.”

“So, you believe me then?” Chauncey asked hopefully.

Cormag drew in another deep breath and put his hand to his sword. Beside him, Morana surreptitiously rummaged through a pouch affixed to her belt. Cormag recognized it as a component pouch; certain mages carried ingredients for spell casting in them. If she had one of these, then it meant her chosen school of magic was unlikely to be one useful in combat. He was relieved that she was at least preparing, and likely recognized that this lull was an obvious feint.

“For now, I suppose.” Rotger said dryly. “Oh and by the way, do you recall the name of the man who took your sister to Catharone?”

Chauncey smiled sheepishly, looking again to Morana and Cormag for guidance. “No, I don’t recall. Bishop…something or another.”

Rotger chuckled without humor as he began his slow advance once more, absently picking at the lint on his jacket. “They do have rather challenging names don’t they? Almost as bad as the elves and Aes Sidheans sometimes.”

Chauncey took an uneasy step back, finally picking up on the danger they were in.  “Right…well, we can be on our way…”

Rotger shook his head and waved his hand as if to sweep the words away. “Oh, no rush lad. No rush.” Rotger suddenly snapped and wagged his finger. “Though I am curious, this sister, what was her name?”

Chauncey swallowed and took another uneasy step back. “It’s Illeana. Sister Illeana.”

Rotger stopped and extended his weapon bearing arm. He was within striking distance of Morana, a quick flick and he could either slice open her throat or rip her nose from her face. In the brief moment Cormag took his eyes off of Rotger, Leander advanced in a flash and drew his blade, putting it to Cormags throat.

The movements were too quick to be skill. It was magic, not quite teleportation, but some other magical ability. Unlikely that the Rhodarcian was a mage, likely a magical item.

“Mage step.” Morana said with a hint of admiration. “My guess is the source is that bawdy talisman about your neck. You can do that trick, what, once a day?

Leander forced a smirk through grit teeth. “Twice.”

“Hmph. doubtless you’ve just used your second. Cormag-”

“Stop.” Cormag released his sword and raised his hands chest high. “Just…just stop.”

“Smart man.” Rotger’s tone held genuine praise. “Now, drop your sword, and the lady can take her hand out of the magic bag and toss it far from here.”

“What are you doing!” Chauncey protested, “We mean nothing to you! If you don’t believe us, just let us go on our way!”

Rotger chuckled and shook his head. “If I didn’t believe you, you’d not be alive. But I don’t know enough about you to take you back to our camp whilst still armed.”

Cormag unfastened his sword belt and let it fall to his feet. Morana huffed and muttered a curse under her breath as she pulled her hand from her pouch, it was unclear if it was an actual curse or merely foul language. Knowing her, it was likely a bit of both. Rotger quickly snatched the pouch from her waist and hurled it as far as he could into the distance.

Rotger placed his blade to morana’s throat to halt her protests. “Gag the mage, then bind his hands.”

Leander retrieved a silk square of cloth from his hip satchel, it was covered in shimmering runes and symbols. Cormag, and Morana, recognized it as a silencing gag. Standard equipment for Knights of the Order and Rhodarcian military. Morana let out another curse and rolled her eyes as the gag was applied, but fortunately that was the extent of her protests.

Rotger lowered his weapon and gestured for Chauncy to hand over his bow. “Bishop Cartieri is a friend of mine, he and his knights served alongside my battalion in Sarevon years ago.”

Rotger turned a scrying gaze to Cormag, but the names meant nothing. While he had been in Sarevon, he only encountered Order Knights once at the end of the campaign.

“He spoke of your sister in one of his letters.” Rotger slung the confiscated bow over his shoulder and produced a crude pair of manacles. “Now you may be asking why any of this is necessary, but if you’ve lived in this shithole as long as me and your charge here, it makes sense.”

It took Cormag a moment to realize the General was speaking to him. “Those with the upper hand tend to make the rules, as well as any bullshit excuse to justify them.”

Rotger laughed, but did not look up from his task “I suppose that's true, isn’t it? Well, regardless, we’ve got a bit of a hike ahead of us, we can discuss philosophies on the way, yeah?”