Chapter 36: 34- The Excursion Begins

Marik and Sai spent a night and morning indulging in their sexual activities before finally falling asleep.  As late afternoon approached they were woken up by the sound of knocking on the door, prompting them to get dressed and spend some time with Sara.  They walked around the town, with Marik occasionally providing comments or pointing out locations of interest, while getting to know each other better by having light chats about random subjects.  Marik took the opportunity to try and get to know his sister and came to the realization that she was a fairly simple person, wanting only to become a better fighter and some day beat Marik in a spar.  He hoped that she would some day come up with a better plan for her future since he was pretty sure that as long as he didn't use his arcane arts that she would already have a decent chance of winning.  Sai spent the time building up her friendship with, as far as Marik knew, her only friend at the moment.

The next day, while Sara was out to do some work, they spent only a short time in the morning having fun before going back around the town.  They had decided to try and get some slightly newer bags more fit for traveling and fill them with long lasting foods, some emergency supplies, and whatever else they thought might be needed for the excursion or the future.  Once they finished with their shopping, they made sure that their room was paid off for the next two weeks, since they weren't sure how long they would be gone, and that their things would be undisturbed.  Marik took the things they both thought of as most valuable, put them in a single bag, and took them to The Bear to ask him to hold on to it just in case.  After making sure they had a good meal, were reasonably sexually satisfied, and were well rested, they awoke in the early morning on the next day and went to the guild.

Upon entering the guild they saw only a few people near the empty desk where The Bear usually was.  Marik and Sai moved to join the group as they waited.  Marik noticed a one man, whose name he couldn't remember, slightly at the edge of the group as one of the highest ranks in this guild, which had to be around sixth or fifth though he couldn't remember exactly.  He was a tigerkin with striped hair, which was typical of the race, in black and white wearing a sleeveless leather jerkin and leather pants.  His looks seemed fairly average and he was neither well built nor scrawny, with only his sharp amber eyes attesting to his experiences and skills.  He carried a small and light crossbow strapped securely to his back, a rope coiled on his left hip, a small quiver full of bolts and a pouch on his right hip, and held a long wooden staff in his right hand.  At his feet was a travel bag, indicating to Marik that they had made a wise decision the day before in preparing for the journey.

The Bear finally arrived from the back door while carrying a tall stack of papers in his arms.  He bid everyone to start going through the paperwork and completing it as he explained the job.  Apparently some rich merchant was waylaid by bandits during a convoy they were leading while under the employ of some noble or other.  The merchant got away with only one carriage and made it back to report to the noble.  The noble decided to send some of their personal troops along with mercenaries and hunters to track down and eliminate whatever group, most likely bandits, had robbed and raided the convoy.  There was a slight fear that someone might bein town that was connected to the raiders and relaying information to them, hence the minor secrecy.  The whole thing was planned to last nine days but was expected to be shorter than that.  The meeting of the three groups would be at noon near the river just outside of town to keep away prying eyes.

Marik had done only two excursions before, both times with D and Mer, and felt a little awkward not being the lowest rank around.  He wasn't counting Sai in that, as she was going by his call and not the guild's.  It was considered proper merc etiquette, and therefore often directed like so, to turn in the paperwork and leave in order of highest to lowest rank in group events like this and he was called to bring his up before about three others.  He handed over both his and Sai's signed contracts and left the guild.  Once outside he and Sai talked it over briefly and decided to just head to the meeting spot since they had taken care of everything they might need to prepare before they came.

They arrived at the meeting spot to see a small group of people already there.  Marik couldn't recognize all of them, meaning that the other groups most likely had begun to arrive as well.  He thought about trying to join in the conversations with his own introductions but ultimately decided against it.  He wouldn't put effort in trying to shoo anyone away who came to talk but he didn't feel the need to put in any effort in trying to actively seek out conversation, either.  He led Sai over to a tree and sat down with his back against while pulling her down to sit between his spread legs so he could enjoy hugging her from behind as they waited.  The high rank merc that he had noticed earlier apparently had also noticed him and started walking towards him and Sai.  He took a brief moment to appraise them before he started talking.

"Yo.  I ain't exactly tryin' to hurt you guys feelings or nothing, here, but I just wanna check and make sure there ain't gonna be some issue later, okay?  You, lass.  Your pretty new, ya?  Like, I figured you were tenth rank."

"She is.  I'm bringing her along as my partner."

"I see.  Well, you were raised up by D and we been on one of these together once, so I ain't worried 'bout you.  It's your tenth rank girl that's got me a bit troubled, see.  If you say she's good then its okay but I just wanna make sure she ain't gonna be holding us back or nothing."

"Nah.  She's probably better in a fight than I am, honestly.  Plus since she's here as my partner, if something happens that causes slack then I'll make sure to pick it up."

"Fair enough.  You don't gotta give me that kinda look, lass.  Like I said, I ain't trying to start no bad blood here.  I ain't even ever met you, so I just wanted to make sure all's good, see?  Since I'm the ranking member for our side here it's kinda like part of my job.  Makes me miss D being around, to be honest."

"Don't worry, Sai.  Like I told you before, ranks indicate a certain amount of trust.  You've only been a merc for about a week so nobody even really knows anything about you yet."

"Like the lad said.  I ain't really seen you on the job or nothin' so I got no idea how good a brawler you even are."

"Pfft.  Haha, she's not a brawler, man.  That strange cloth rope she carries around is her weapon.  It's kind of unique but she's really good with it so it might surprise you if she ends up using it."

"Oh?  Well ain't that interestin'.  I don't suppose you can use it as a normal rope then since it looks like bein' made of cloth like that would make tear too easily, then."

"That's not true," Sai finally replied.  "It was made all special and stuff and it's really strong so it can be rope if I really need it to.  I'm just not very good at tying up stuff.  Marik somehow gets out of it whenever I try..."

"Hahaha.  I'll make you a deal then, lass.  Prove yourself all good useful like this time around and get yourself a spot in the fight.  If you can impress me even a little with that rope of yours being used as a proper weapon then I'll teach you few things on how to use a rope, ya?"

"Oh?  Will I finally be able to tie Marik up?"

"I'd say you already done that at some point from where I'm looking but sure.  I can show you a few ways to make someone all tied in a way they can't even move enough to try and get out."

"That sounds like fun!  I'm already feeling better about this job than all those boring ones!"

"Hahaha.  It's the way of things, lass.  You gotta do the annoying and boring stuff before the fun stuff can happen."

"That's what Marik always says, too."

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"By the way," Marik interjected, "I'll be completely honest: I don't remember your name."

"Nah, I don't blame you or anything.  It's not like we've ever really talked before.  It's Derek."

They continued talking until it seemed about time for the meeting to start.  Derek went to talk to the other group leaders and it wasn't long before each group was called together to relay what was talked about in the leaders' meeting.  They had brought two covered wagons with the only cargo of some horse feed and water which everyone would be allowed to ride n alternate shifts when needing a rest over the next few days.  The few members who were not of the beast race would be given priority since they didn't have beast forms that could easily keep up with, if not overtake, the horse-drawn wagons.  Fortunately, throughout most of Koshtir you could find bags specifically meant to be worn while transforming back and forth from beast form.  Unfortunately, neither Marik nor Sai had bought one.

Marik made sure they were both wearing their beast clothes and, after telling Sai that she should do the same, began to take off all his clothing except said clothes.  He carefully packed everything he took off into the top of his bag and checked on Sai.  She was wearing nothing but the underwear he had seen her in so many times now, including his first night with her.  He gave a small grin at the memories of that night as he transformed into his bipedal wolf form.  It had been a long time since he had transformed where other people could see, so he checked his raven black fur all over to make sure he had no bald spots left.  He looked over at Sai and saw a beautiful fox about the size of a large dog, possible even big enough to ride, that had light brown fur with a golden sheen to it looking back at him with a toothed smile.

"You're rather beautiful in that form, too, you know."

"Thank you.  You're quite sexy and handsome yourself.  Wanna try having sex in these forms next time?  I bet we could have lots of fun trying all sorts of new things!"

"Maybe.  We should probably wait until after the excursion, though."

"Why?  We could probably find a place to be alone like you want when night comes and everyone's heading to go to sleep."

"I have few doubts that we could.  The problem is that you get rather loud, normally.  I don't think people would mind us sneaking off to have some fun but they would mind us keeping them up for most of the night."

"I think they're just jealous that I got me a sexy man to have fun with..."

"That might be true, too."

Marik picked up their bags and headed to where the wagons were supposed to be.  After a quick glance he noticed that there would hardly be any room for him to store their bags on the wagon while they ran, especially if there were others who wanted to do the same, so he sighed and began to carefully adjust the rope straps slightly.  After a little bit of putting the bags on or off of his back and a lot fiddling around he finally managed to get both strapped securely to him.  He went off to the side of where everyone was gathering and did a quick test run using his legs first, then moving into running on all fours.  Once he was slightly away from everyone he stopped and did a few more minor adjustments to the straps using knots to make sure they wouldn't shift around or strangle him and then he ran back.  He explained to Sai, who was waiting with a look of curiosity about his actions, that he wanted to make sure he could run well with the bags.

They waited for a bit longer for everyone to get ready, with some few even taking after Marik's example and adjusting their own travel bags while running around, and finally started off as soon as everyone who was riding instead of running was crammed into the wagons.  The rest of the day wasn't particularly exciting and nothing noteworthy happened.  Marik and Sai ran side by side while following the wagons, occasionally nipping at each other a little in a playful manner or starting some small talk in order to fight off the boredom of just chasing the wagons mindlessly.  As the evening grew late the wagons finally moved off the road to the spot that the ones who had planned all of this had designated as their first camping area.

Just a little ways off from the road was a copse of trees surrounding a naturally formed pond.  Game was definitely scarce in the area and there wasn't likely to be enough of anything nearby to support foraging.  Several people had been wise enough to go off and do a little bit of hunting as they journeyed.  Marik and Sai had noticed it happening but had decided to just eat some of the most perishable stuff they had brought for this night and try a little bit of food gathering the next day.  Some people pitched small tents around the area while others just found their own places to sleep around in the wild.  Most of the beast race people stayed in beast form so there was little, if any, need for some kind of night watch.  After all, only the dumbest of animals would even consider trying to attack a large group of hungry predators, whether they were asleep or not, and even the dumbest bandits wouldn't be stupid enough to try and mess with around fifty armed individuals.

The next two days were much like the first.  People were often spread out during the trip itself in order to hunt, forage, or do their own thing.  At one point on the last day Marik and Sai even went off for about thirty minutes for some of their own alone time.  When they returned a few people gave them inquisitive looks which they ignored completely.  When they got to the final planned camping spot of the trip, the leaders gathered once more to discuss the strategy.  Derek soon came back to let the mercs know what their part in all of it would be.

The hunters would be acting as trackers and scouts for the most part as they went with the guard group to check on the place where the attack had been while searching for any remaining traces of their quarry.  The mercs would be hanging back for a bit as they neared the spot while preparing to engage any would-be attackers.  Once a new direction was found the mercs would then follow the hunters who were doing the tracking as the main fighting force while the guard group spread out and tried to make sure nobody could escape.  Sai seemed more and more excited as she thought about finally getting to fight some people while Marik sighed to himself while hoping that things would go smoothly.

After the explanations were done and the questions were answered, everyone spread out slightly for another restful night.  Some, like Sai, were a little too excited to sleep as well as they should have and some others, like Marik, were sleeping only lightly in consideration for how close they likely were to a bandit camp.  The next morning nobody ran off like they had been over the past couple of days and most of the beast race people around transformed back out of their beast forms.  Marik decided to stay in his beast form since he was much better in a physical fight that way and he wanted to follow the rules he set of not using arcane arts unless his or Sai's life were in grave danger.

They all traveled together for a few hours towards the attacked spot while being vigilant and mostly silent, acting like the professionals they were supposed to be.  All of the mercs stayed back a little ways and starting spreading out slightly to keep a watchful eye on their surroundings while the hunters and guard group moved forward to check the area out.  After a while a hunter and one of the guard group members came back to where most of the mercs could see them.  The hunter had a proud look on his face as he waved the scattered mercs closer  to make sure everyone could hear him.

"We found their trail.  It seems they've stayed in the area and attacked some others since there's fresh signs as well.  A few of our guys who are better at being stealthy have gone ahead a little to check the trail and make sure it isn't false or anything, just to be safe."

Right then another hunter suddenly came running up to them.

"We found them!"

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