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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 2, 2009 21:20:38 GMT -5
Ian rubbed his chin, “I guess this means His Majesty is sending some of us Scouts over ahead of the troops to scout for military advantages, right?” He asked the Baron.
Ian had been chosen for this type of duty before. It was dangerous, but someone had to go out there and assess the enemies’ strengths and weaknesses and plot the route for the army to take and report back on terrain locations that would be to our side’s best advantage. Ian was all too familiar with that routine, but he had never been sent when he had an apprentice before. Having Brandwyn along may make that mission all the more difficult, but he couldn’t leave her behind. This was just the hands-on training she needed to catch up to others in her age group after having started her apprenticeship so late.
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Post by drenith on Feb 3, 2009 21:52:04 GMT -5
The baron confirmed him "Yes the king wants you to get enemy intel and fighure out what they're up to. The king is worried that they have somthing planned because they seem too confident." The baron looked at the Battlemaster "His Majesty wants you to make sure all of your forces are in fighting condition in two weeks time."
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 4, 2009 19:18:08 GMT -5
“That is certainly doable. We are all in good condition already.” The battlemaster looked at his apprentice, “With a few exceptions here and there that could use a bit more training, that is.” He smiled affectionately at his apprentice to take the sting out of his words. “Course we could all use some honing of our skills.”
“Mostly we shall have to plan how to get the troops to Araluen and then to Gallica and maintain our supply lines.” The battlemaster mused. “Oh, and we will need to put the blacksmiths in the whole fief to work forging weapons.”
He seemed to be absorbed in thought for a moment, and then noticed everyone was waiting for him to finish. “Umm, let me go talk with my men and I will meet up with you in a couple hours to go over a game plan.” He said to the Baron.
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 4, 2009 19:23:14 GMT -5
“You know, if we Scouts are going to have to go over there to check things out,” Ian said to the Baron and the Battlemaster, “I would certainly feel a lot better if we had one or two heavy cavalry with us to provide some muscle.”
Ian was remembering his last trip through Gallica, trying to cross in any kind of hurry with all those knights blocking crossroads and bridges was impossible unless you had a very good knight with you to clear the path.
“For that matter, I would feel even better if we had a couple of good rangers with us too.” He looked slyly at Tandar out of the corner of his eye.
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Post by drenith on Feb 4, 2009 21:13:26 GMT -5
The Baron took the advice into consideration "Well as it seems, it might be posible that I can send you all as soon as the Battlemaster is done with his training. But I can send you and Tandar and your apprentices whenever it is convenient."
Drenith was getting excited, hardly an apprentice and already a war to fight, his life was full of suprises.
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Post by Tandar on Feb 4, 2009 21:36:10 GMT -5
Tandar stared at Brandwyn. She seemed about his age and the sunlight shining in the window highlighted her blond hair. He jerked his gaze away in time to catch the end of the conversation. The ranger eyed her up and down and decided he liked her rugged, athletic style.
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Post by drenith on Feb 4, 2009 22:06:48 GMT -5
Drenith could barely supress a chuckle as he saw Tandar looking at Brandwyn, 'he's more childish than me' Drenith thought, who had been watching Tandar as he listened. He had never been the romantic type, but he knew he'd have an intresting conversation later.
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 5, 2009 6:50:26 GMT -5
Brandwyn noticed Tandar staring at her, but gave no outward sign that she had. She hoped they would get a chance to talk after this meeting, but at the moment she was far to preoccupied battling with her stupid fear of crowds in small rooms.
She leaned into the window, feeling a slight breeze coming in around the glass and tried to conceal the fact she was using that breeze as her lifeline. She leaned against the window frame with her arms crossed and her hands balled into fists. She pushed her fingernails into her palms every time the panic threatened to overwhelm her. She was trying hard not to wig out.
When the Baron said that he was sending all of them overseas she momentarily forgot her discomfort and shot a glance at Drenith, excitement on her face. She couldn’t believe her luck, for only a few Scouts would be sent over ahead of the main part of the army and she knew from past stories that Ian was almost always the one to go. The King usually asked for him specifically in these situations. Surely he wouldn’t leave his newest apprentice behind.
Then her stomach growled very loudly and she blushed bright red and scowled at it. She was pretty sure Drenith was close enough to hear it. She looked sheepishly at Tandar out of the corner of her eye, hoping the sound hadn’t carried that far.
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Post by drenith on Feb 5, 2009 17:56:46 GMT -5
Drenith noticed that Brandwyn had the same exceitement on her face that he did, and also noticed that she acted a bit nervous, great he thought she either hates small crowds or has a crush on Tandar and then he heard her stomach growling, 'man now I really feel soory for her looking at Tandar to see if he heard it.
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Post by Tandar on Feb 5, 2009 19:19:41 GMT -5
The sound never reached Tandar's ears. He snapped out of his trance-like state suddenly, silently reprimanding himself for acting so foolish. He hoped she hadn't noticed him watching her. Or maybe he did want her to notice him... a little.
"Actually," Tandar spoke up, "Drenith and I won't be joining you on this one." He took another sip of his coffee. "We'll still be headed to Gallica but we're on another mission for the Corps. That doesn't mean you won't have Ranger support. You should be able to link up with another unit already en route to the target location. He's a veteran by the name of Palisade and he's got two apprentices with him. They may be undercover so we've arranged for you to meet in the Red Feather Inn."
As much as he wanted to be with the girl by the window, orders were orders and they needed to be followed. With any luck, they'd be on the same boat to La Rivage.
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Post by drenith on Feb 5, 2009 20:17:28 GMT -5
The Baron looked at them "well thats all I will send for you if anything come up before your departure."
Drenith was dissipointed he wanted to see what would happen with Tandar and Brandwyn and he would've like to learn some things from Ian, maybe they would get a mission togather later in the war.
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 6, 2009 6:43:35 GMT -5
Brandwyn tried to hide her disappointment at Tandar’s words. She hadn’t realized until his said they wouldn’t be going too how much she had been looking forward to traveling with the two rangers – ok, probably more with Tandar, she admitted to herself. Though she thought that her and Drenith could probably become good friends, she found herself far more interested in Tandar and had hoped to have a chance to get to know him better. She looked out the window to hide the look of disappointment on her face.
After the Baron dismissed them all, she followed Ian out who had followed the two rangers out of the room. She leaned over to him and whispered, “Ian, mind if I go grab something to eat?” They had gotten up at 4 am and started her sword drill practice and it was now around 9 am and they had not had anything to eat yet that day.
“I know you’re trying to watch your weight, but does that mean that I have to starve too?” She smiled sweetly at him.
Ian scowled at her, not happy to be reminded of his slight paunch. He hated getting older. “Fine, go get something to eat if you think you can weasel something out of Cook. “ He looked sternly at her widening smile. “But be out on the archery range in an hour.” Then he stalked off after the battlemaster.
Brandwyn ran to catch up to the two rangers that were heading the opposite way down the hallway. She slipped up between them and slid her hands around an arm each.
“Pardon me for interrupting, but would you, by any chance, be interested in some food?”
She leaned conspiratorially towards Tandar, realizing they were almost the same height, “I happen to know that Cook is, at this very moment, making some of his infamous bacon rolls for appetizers for tonight’s dinner.”
She glanced sideways at Drenith to include him in the conversation. “I am fairly certain I can snag us a pile of nice hot ones,” she eyed Tandar’s purloined mug, “and probably a pot of fresh coffee too, if you would care to join me?”
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Post by drenith on Feb 6, 2009 19:45:54 GMT -5
Drenith's mouth watered at the thought of the bacon rolls, they were about everyones favorite dish done by the chef in the feifdom al though he'd never tried them himself before. He decided that he liked Brandwyn's style of doing things, he'd enjoy working with her in the future, "well what are we waiting for I haven't had much to eat because I had to ride as fast as could because of a certin ranger."
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Post by Tandar on Feb 6, 2009 20:03:11 GMT -5
Tandar grinned at her. "Food would be nice. I can't speak for Drenith, but I'm famished. We had to skip breakfast this morning because we were on our way here from Redmont to deliver the news."
She sure knew how to impress Tandar. The cook's bacon rolls were to die for. The triad walked down a flight of stairs and into the kitchen where the head cook was busy pulling a hot pan of the rolls out of the oven.8
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Post by Brandwyn on Feb 6, 2009 20:55:35 GMT -5
Brandwyn flashed them both her brightest smile, “Outstanding!” and led them to the kitchen. As she saw Cook pull the fresh bacon rolls out of the oven she said softly, “look pitifully hungry and play along.”
She left the rangers standing just inside the doorway to the kitchen and glided over to Meric’s head cook. He was a short round man with a balding head under his cook’s cap. She knew him well and was now a seasoned veteran at “weaseling food out of him” as her master called it.
She let him place the hot pan on the stone table before announcing her presence. “Morning Rubeus! Those smell wonderful!” She eyed the bacon rolls on the tray.
The head cook turned towards her, shaking a wooden spoon at her, “now you just keep out of those, Brandy. I need them for tonight. You’re too late for breakfast and too early for lunch, so you might as well just scoot on back to the training yard.”
Brandwyn put on her best pout, “Aww, you know Master Ian is dieting right now, he made me skip breakfast, then dragged me off to a meeting with the Baron and these poor hungry rangers here.” She was laying it on thick, using all her feminine wiles on him. He really didn’t stand much of a chance, as she well knew.
“Surely if you won’t take pity on a poor, starving girl, you would on two rangers that had to miss their breakfast and ride for hours just to bring the Baron some urgent news?” She smiled hopefully at him.
The Cook looked at the two rangers and thought they did indeed look hungry. He frowned, but already knew he was going to give in. ‘This is going to mean an extra hour to make up another batch,’ he sighed to himself. He never could resist this delightful young girl, though. “I don’t know… I have too much to do today to spend the time making another batch.” He made one more feeble attempt at protesting.
As if on cue Brandwyn’s stomach growled loudly again. “Oh, please, just a few?” she turned her big blue eyes on him and played her wistful look.
“Oh, very well!” Rubeus caved. “You can have six from that tray that just came out of the oven.” He waved the spoon at it.
“Oh Thank you Rubeus!” She bent down and planted a kiss on his cheek. Then she looked dubiously at the tray and then back to the two rangers in the doorway. “Six though?” She leaned over and whispered loudly, “They are growing young men, and you know how they eat…”
The cook looked at the two rangers and nodded his head thoughtfully. Young men, especially teenage boys, ate a huge amount of food. “Very, well, take a dozen.” He started to turn away. “oh for the love of St. Peter!” he muttered under his breath. “You might as well take the whole batch. I’ll just go make another one.”
Brandwyn beamed at him. She wasn’t expecting to get all 24 rolls from him. It paid to have the rangers around. She pulled on an oven mitt and picked up the tray and looked around the kitchen. There were a few cold glazed cinnamon buns sitting on a serving tray across the room, leftover from breakfast. She made a point of eyeing them wistfully.
Rubeus saw where she was gazing and didn’t even argue, “Go ahead, and you might as well finish up what’s left in that coffee pot over there too.” He placed the cinnamon buns in Drenith’s hands and the coffee pot in Tandar’s, noticing the mug Tandar was holding. “hhhmmfff. Now, get out of my kitchen. I have work to do!”
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