OP 2017/07/01 (Sat) 06:50 No. 197339 A/N: Sorry for the wait. Honestly I thought people would jump for the nine tails.
xxx
Although momentarily confused, your sisters quickly tapped into their training and soon they had no trouble avoiding you. You picked up your prized kite shield and sabre, looked back, and saw the hundred or so of black shields similar to yours with the image of a bright red fire ant emblazoned on each. They’re all running in the same direction in a single unbroken line, just like a real ant army.
You made your way to the edge of the river and out of your sisters’ way. At the same time, one of your sisters broke off from the line and approached you, leaning on her horse so delicately that you immediately knew that she was a Khergit woman even through her helmet. She brought her hand forward, and before you realised you were yanked upwards and was once again on the back of a full galloping horse.
“That was close, captain!” said the woman in front of you in her strange accent.
“What’s your name, sister?” you asked.
“Altantsetseg! It means ‘golden flower’!”
You rolled your eyes and smiled.
“I’m sorry sister! But I don’t think I will remember your name!”
The girl answered in an oddly joyous tone that told you that she probably had heard that a lot. “That’s alright, Captain! Just doing my job!”
The woman cursed in a foreign tongue as she blocked yet another arrow. You ignored her as you focused at the sight of a riderless white horse cantering slowly in front of you; your own.
Even in your armour, your training allowed you to switch horse even while nearing a full gallop. The exquisite skill of your fellow rider did help, however.
“Later, captain!” said the Khergit woman as she moved into a hole in the formation further ahead on the line.
You spurred your horse back to the side of your lieutenant.
“Got a bit of a headache, friend?” Liliana said in her pompous Velucan accent that she never used except when mocking someone.
“Shut up.” you said shortly.
After a few seconds more of staggered arrow volleys, you finally caught glimpse of your aggressor again.
They were short, slimy, ugly, and green. Holding makeshift spears. They’re standing in a mockery of a battle line in front of you, trying to block your path.
“Some sort of goblin, I’d say.” said Liliana. “Whatever. Crossbows!”
Fortunately, just before this weird incident your group had been equipped with the lighter version of your regular crossbows, ones that could be fired from horseback.
You adversary stood no chance under the hail of Yalen-made bolts, since none of them was actually smart enough to carry even a buckler.
“Open field ahead!” you heard someone shouted.
Before you knew it, you were out of the forest.
It was a plain. A big one. It reminded your of Swadia, but instead of a the Rhodokian mountain range dominating one end of the horizon, this one was dominated by a single gargantuan mountain of which its base probably could’ve swallowed the entire Sarranian desert on its lonesome. You also saw a large misty lake to your left, and what looked like a bustling city to your right.
The sky was blue, but something struck you as odd when you looked at it. Especially the local avians.
“Those are not birds...” said Liliana. Rhodokians were often gifted with excellent eyesight, as you could testify from having been nailed from across the battlefield by one of their damned sharpshooters. No offence to those in your queen’s own army, of course.
“Slow down, sisters.” You ordered, putting your horse into a walk as you watched three small specks descending from the sky. Closer, you could see that indeed, they were not birds.
“Angels?” you heard one of your sisters speculated.
“With black wings?” argued another.
“Demons, then?”
“If those are demons then we’ll have a hard time fighting them.” said another voice with a thick Vaegir accent. “I prefer harpies.”
“Should we draw swords?”
“No. Crossbows.”
You raised your sabre.
“Sword at the lap and spread out, sisters. I don’t want to take any risk of any form.”
Your sisters quickly pulled their own sabres and put it loosely on their lap, holding it by the blade. Then they distant their formation slightly. All standard, trained procedure for facing a force of unclear intention.
Fortunately for you, the three creatures that approached you didn’t seem to be hostile initially, Though hey were most certainly the strangest sight you’ve ever laid your eyes upon.
Three human-like creatures wearing strange but obviously expensive clothes, hovering just a few metres in front of you. Two were probably males and one was obviously female. Their black bird-like wings were open but not flapping, so it’s probably some sort of magic.
With a single look, you could immediately see that the female was the leader, which was nice. She was carrying a strange device on her neck. Some sort of a looking glass?
You knew that your sisters were looking at the back of your head, waiting for your order. Before you could give any, however, the female began to speak.
It was a tongue foreign to you. Or rather, tongues, as the female began trying different languages to communicate.
“So, can you get this one?” she finally said after her tenth attempt.
“Got that one.” answered Liliana.
“Ah.” The female nodded, swiping an errant black hair from her face. “Now where did I learnt this one...ah!”
The female suddenly hovered closer.
“It’s been a while since the last time I met a Calradian. How’s King Maric? Have he managed to convince those Nords to build his fleet yet?” The female said, mentioning one of the ancient Calradian Kings.
“Uhh...”
You were pretty sure that you were about to say something clever before Liliana blurted out something moronic.
“Damn, you are cute up close.”
You and the female creature looked at Liliana. You chastising, the creature almost laughing.
“Ha! You really have no idea where you are, are you?” said the creature.
“No, and you’re probably some sort of spirit that could kill me with a blink. But my initial judgement stands. Cute.”
There’s a theory that human brains would simply stop caring after being faced with a huge enough shock. This was probably one of those moments, being experienced by you and all of your hundred riders.
“Uh...Sorry about that, Lady...?”
“Aya.”
You opened your mouth a few times to make sure you’re not going to butcher the pronunciation too badly.
“So, uh...Lady Aya...”
[ ] Where are we?
[ ] What are you, exactly?
[ ] Is this some sort of a hidden fae realm? Have we intruded? Are we going to get cursed? Are you going to kill us?
[ ] We humans obviously do not belong here. So if you could point us to the nearest magical barrier or fairy gate we could ride through to get home, that’d be very helpful.
