The night lasted longer than Midas hoped for; his lower back ached from sitting on the hard and unevenly cut surface of the split log that acted as a bench to sit on. Standing up lumpily, as he arched his back to stretch, the youth groaned, letting his limbs fall to his sides again as he briefly glanced over to the unlit fire. The miner that lay out flat on another bench beside them had already left before Midas woke up, not having taken anything, as the youth checked his belt and pockets for his rusty weapon and spare silver coins.
Turning his head towards Uteli and Javelin, his eyes saw Uteli's head rest against Javelin's shoulder—his own head slumped down as he fell asleep with her, seemingly having spent the complete night trying to improve his speech skills with her. Rubbing his eyes, as Midas didn't want to wake them up just yet, he headed towards the central tent to look for the young man, simply relieved to see the two of them get along with each other.
Walking around the almost abandoned-looking campsite, as most of the miners still resided in their tents or loosely hung deep asleep over and in between sets of crates and gear, the youth eventually reached for the entrance of the tent. The only people on their feet were the woman that cleared off the tables and washed out the leftover mugs. Stepping over a lumpy body, the snoring of the man muted by the ground his face lay on, he eventually reached the bar, seeing their driver sleeping on top of the counter.
Seeing the mildly surprised expression of the innkeeper across the counter, Midas wondered if he woke up too soon—still tired himself, as the quality of his sleep had drastically shifted from what he was used to during the time in the university. Eventually deciding to ruttle the young man awake, Midas was able to hear him mutter in a groaning tone—watching his head slowly rise from the countertop, looking right at his tired eyes as he glanced towards him.
"What... why are you here..."
"You said we meet in the morning. Are you able to set off now...?"
Midas's concerned face was met with loosely rising brows as his slumped expression suggested he remembered why the brat in front of him was talking to him at this early morning. Blankly staring at him for a brief while before letting his hand glide down his face—his head aching from drinking too much.
"Give me some time to prepare, alright...? Go get your friends..."
Spoken in a tired tone, the young man held onto the counter as he slid his body off the stool—his brows sharpening as he barely seemed to hold himself on his feet, dragging himself out of the tent as he headed away from the counter.
Seeing him leave, Midas followed—somewhat used to standing up soon, as the library and the halls of the university were mostly empty at that time.
Looking around the camp, as it was still barren—only a dim amount of men clothed in reinforced leather armor and metal boots roamed around the camp, their leather caps and spears suggesting they ensured the safety of the still-sleeping workers.
Once Midas arrived back at the fire, he saw Uteli and Javelin sitting beside each other—the usual chatting the youth was used to hearing from them had vanished as an unusual quiet replaced it. Looking at their eyes as they shot up from loosely looking at the ground to lock onto his face, he stopped.
"I just woke up our driver; get ready so we can head out..."
Midas Tone had a dim urge to leave; seeing the people around him being much more tired around him made waiting for their actions feel like an eternity—the youth wanted to leave as soon as possible, growing sick of the pine trees that reached beyond the lush crowns of the surrounding trees. After yawning extensively, Uteli eventually got up—grasping the handle of her axe as it was nestled between her legs—following Javelin as the two of them headed for the exit of the camp.
"My neck hurts badly..."
Javelin's groan was left unanswered as the three of them headed for the wooden gate that led out of the fenced-off area, having passed the hip-high barrier of nailed-together beams and planks. Midas spotted the young man as he hung out of his carriage, his back sloped as he sat out of the back of it. Seeing the three of them approach, he reluctantly got to his feet, holding his head as he looked down at them.
"Alright... everyone seems to be here... I'm Jikith, your driver. It's a pleasure to be able to transport you to your destination for the next day... Just so you know, if one of you falls off of the ride, I'm not obligated to stop and wait for you."
His lids were sunk from having drunk too much, and his free hand gestured while he toned a speech that tried to sound formal. His other hand still massaged his aching forehead as he spoke to them, the name he introduced himself with sounding southern. Inviting them to climb into the back of the carriage with a loose grin, Jikith took the front, not waiting long as he commanded the two Fahin that tucked onto the ride to start walking.
As the carriage began to move, Midas noticed a grave difference in the inside of the carriage compared to what he was used to seeing—flat pillows and rugs were placed on the benches to his left and right. The inside seemed much more comfortable than the bleak knighthood rides he sat inside of; even the floor was covered in a rug, matching the wine-red color of the pillows Uteli was quick to sit herself on.
The sides of the carriage were also wooden, similar to the ride in which the commander sat—their roof solid as well. Glancing out of the back of the giant crate on wheels, Midas was able to watch as they passed by a seemingly unending sea of leaves and tree crowns, no needle tree in sight as their elevation was much lower now.
Midas watched in dim surprise as Jikith turned away from the Fahin, letting them stride without actively steering them in the right direction—he turned to the inside of the ride fully, glancing over the three of them as they found their place on the seats.
"You mentioned that the knights we encountered before had been roaming around Brutpierda for a while now—may I ask why...?"
Jikith's expression lightened up slightly, unable to hide his smile at the serious expression of the youngling in front of him. Javelin and Uteli watched the two of them exchange, silently sitting next to each other while glancing up at Midas as he chose to stand for a while.
"Well, roaming might be the wrong word to describe how they presented themselves inside Brutpierda... You see, I remember quite fondly when they arrived here—having parked their ride, they instantly headed out to our largest tent... disrupting the bar stationed there. Without caring for any of the workers inside, they announced that entering it would now be forbidden, as it now served as a knighthood storage area".
"What would they want to store inside a tent in the middle of a mining outpost...? Don't you have your own facilities to store the rock you mine?"
"We do—and they knew, because I told him. Yet they insisted on staying here, completely locking off the tent, practically stealing the only income these servants had without even stating why. And to be honest, none of us, not even those who usually patrol the camp, had any intention of fighting them for it. Their training alone makes them much more of a threat than your usual pirate or bandit that you might encounter in the woods—armed or not, no one wanted to risk fighting six of them at once."
"One of the miners risked entering into the tent around the time you three arrived here with their ride. Seeing the two left-behind guards storming for the gate, he headed inside to see what they were up to. I'm unsure what they were up to, but all they were able to find were empty cages, cuffs and rope, and some crude weapons. Whatever they had planned, though, seemed to have failed... since you took care of them."
Leaning back slightly, he watched behind his back—the road ahead seemingly going straight for another while now, as the foliage around it seemed to be thinning out. Midas sat himself down eventually, resting on the unused bench on the other side of Uteli and Javelin to think. The things he was told about confirmed his thoughts about the paper they found in the knighthood ride, the mention of cages reminding him of Skye as she was locked inside one by the commander's son. There was no doubt the tent was planned to have the same use as the basement under the storage house: stashing away children for someone to pick them up eventually.
"But why the knighthood? Why would they be interested in children that originate from such origins...? What is the reason for traveling to the eastern provinces and returning to the capital solely for their transportation?"
"I guess you have to ask the noble that leads and finances all of these operations. I don't visit the western parts of the water kingdom all too often, but I'm sure kidnapping children on the streets of the capital would be a much greater risk to the reputation of not only the nobility but also the knighthood... Visiting the east, however, as it isn't as densely populated as the west, makes this job much easier—no man from the east would dare challenge a fully equipped knight, and they know that."
"Now what to actually do with these children is another question... You could sell them off for money, have them work as servants, or enslave them in other kinds of ways—perhaps they are brought to wherever to be tested on with medication or mana... The West works much more differently; nobles make up a much larger part of the population there—operations like these don't happen there."
His words made sense to Midas, looking down on the brighter string that was woven into the red carpet to form intricate patterns. The youth remembered the sight of Skye being transported into the carriage of the young general; the way he approached Inaya at that moment felt like he had already foreseen her stiffening up at his presence. Perhaps the fact that the people of the eastern provinces find themselves to be inferior to the western volk gives reason why these knights risked working in the open.
Seeing Jikith turn away from them again, Midas stepped forward, slightly lowering his tone as he heard Uteli starting to speak to Javelin again, giving Midas the chance to ask more specific questions. Standing behind his seat, he watched as the trees to their sides eventually thinned out more and more, giving space to widespreading grass plains, occasionally disrupted by crop fields. The mountains that seemed much more distant before, compared to the first time he entered Water Kingdom territory, grew much taller than before.
"Where do you think a young Waterkingdom knighthood general would bring her to after acquiring her from this region—just outside Cascrender University—most likely for his own son...?"
"That's oddly specific... I'm sure you are talking about the general that currently exercises the offense against the northern desert, which makes me wonder if it really was him you saw in Cascrender."
Midas's and Jikith's expressions were both stiffened by seriousness, both of them blindly looking forward as they seemed to enjoy the view from the angle of Javelin and Uteli behind them. Seeing the two Fahins walk, the youth paused for a brief moment. Jikith's tone made clear to the youth that he knew the man mentioned, holding some sort of cautiousness in his words as he checked if Midas was for sure.
"He had the same scar on his cheekbone. I talked to the man that inflicted it during the attack on the Hij'Shama fort. There is no doubt it truly was him; his son and he himself stood on the bridge that spans over the circular sea around the town—the carriage he stepped out of looked quite fancy as well..."
"To be honest with you, if the general is bringing her with him for his son, then things could become much more complicated for you... Assuming you want to get her back, you might be forced to break into the residence of a water kingdom noble. Depending on how great the ego of his son is, she might also be in the city's catacombs, trapped inside some underground prison."
Judging by the flat tone in Jikith's voice, as well as the weak frown on his lips, Midas figured it would be a better idea not to flood his driver with too many questions. Silently returning back to sit on his bench, the youth wondered why someone like Jikith knew so much about the capital and the nobilities that lived inside the city, seemingly not wanting to talk too much about these things.