Ch. 91 Why?

Nearly a week has passed since Gabriel set up the trade Caravan with the adventure group that came to bug him about Francesca. A lot had happened in the last week, between building several new structures, training the newcomers, and increasing his own mastery over his skills, Gabriel hadn't had much time to relax at all. (Finally, if they don't make it back by this evening, at least I'll have something to hunt.)

Watching the sunrise from the top of the wall, as Gabriel had started to do over the past few days, he spotted Gala and the newcomers training in one of the large wooded areas inside the city. He had created several pieces of training equipment using his Earth Manipulation skills in this area, making it the current training area for the group. The trees had taken root quite well and were already almost 2m tall as Lady Ara had explained, these trees grow to be very tall, very quickly. Gala had taken her responsibilities very seriously after they brought on all the new creatures. She would wake them up before dawn and run a stretching program that ended with some meditation. It was by no means easy, as she had to create stretches for several different types of creatures that would force their muscles to their limits. After the first two days, the group became quite terrified of her early morning antics, as the stretches she prepared for them would make their entire body burn like it was on fire.

As the sun began to peak over the mountain, Gabriel finally spotted 2 large covered wagons with 4 body guards alongside them. (Good, punctual, I like that.) Condensing his wings, he jumped down to the small shack he had made near the front gate. It would take the group nearly a half hour to reach the city, so he took the time to prepare 20 Oath Stones. (I'm glad these aren't commonplace in this Kingdom, people will agree to them easily thinking it is just like a contract. Idiots.)

"Gabriel!" The man he had hired was standing on the front of the smaller wagon in the lead. He waved his hand and had a huge grin plastered across his face. (He must think he did well acting like that, here's to hoping.)

"Right on time.... I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"Lenny, but you never asked us in the first place, you just hired us and sent us on the way." Laughing loudly, Lenny stuck his hand out to shake hands with Gabriel who was scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry about that, easily distracted. Well, Lenny, how'd you fare? Are you and your group ready for your Oaths?" Gabriel pointed at the different Oath Stones spread across the table, drawing a strange gaze from Lenny. "Problem?"

"What are these?"

"Those are the Oaths you'll take if you want to continue being part of this city. Otherwise, I'll just take everything you brought back, give you 5 gold and send you on your way."

"I've never seen these before, it won't disappear when we activate them?"

"Listen Lenny, do you agree or not? I'll not reveal my secrets to anyone that hasn't already taken their Oath." Gabriel was starting to grow impatient to look at what they brought back, but he would never reveal his greatest boon. With the Binding Oath of Honor he could guarantee that anyone on his Realm or lower wouldn't be able to break any agreement placed on the Oath Stone. This ensured he wouldn't be betrayed or robbed of his ideals from someone that enters the city.

"Fine, I think following you would be more beneficial than going on those dumb missions. So, much running around to deliver letters or find herbs, so boring. Oh yeah, Lord Irizan's royal brigade is on its way here. They'll arrive in an hour or so with him at the head of the group." Gabriel looked Lenny in the eye, wondering what the hell was wrong with him.

"YOU WAIT TIL NOW TO MENTION THAT!?"

"I figured with the rumors of you wiping out so many of his men, that a group of 30 skilled warriors wouldn't be a big problem for you. Plus, that Lord Irizan said he didn't want to fight, but he would take his cousin back by force if necessary."

"Take your Oath, I need your help with something." Gabriel held the Oath Stone before Lenny and prepared to activate. Lenny placed his hand on the path and activated it causing the familiar process to occur.

"Woah, why is it a different color now?" Gabriel put the stone in his Tiny Dimension and grabbed Lenny under the arms before taking flight. Lenny started screaming like a scared child, but Gabriel didn't slow down as he went to the cave.

"NO NO NO!!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!" As they got close to the Illusory Wall, Lenny began to cry even louder illiciting a laugh from Gabriel.

"Relax, I'd die too if we crashed into a wall at this speed. Remember, you took the Binding Oath of Honor, you can never reveal anything you see here to anyone, ever. If you do, you'll die and I'll kill everyone you've ever had any connection with after." Flying through the front tunnel, then junction area, then finally landing in front of his house, Gabriel began to call out for Francesca. Today was the day she would cleaning the outside of their home, so he figured it would be faster to just yell for her than try to find her.

"Yes sir! What do you need!?" Climbing down Acorn's tree, Francesca arrived before Gabriel and took a knee while bowing her head.

"Your stupid cousin is on his way here. Did you ask him to save you in that letter?"

"Ummm.... I actually opened the letter before we gave it to Lord Irizan, she didn't ask for help. She told her cousin that she was happy here and said this place is better than Lord Irizan's by far."

(Great, so he probably took that as an insult.) "While I'm irritated with this whole situation, at least you confirmed she didn't ask for help. I'd have had to kill you if you had asked for help Francesca, you know that right?"

"Is she your prisoner? I thought she was staying of her own free will, why else would she write that letter?"

"You see, her friends attacked my home with her, so she became mine under a Binding Oath of Honor to pay for her transgressions. Rather than take her life, I'll let her live as my maid, believe it or not, but it's a pretty good life working for me Lenny. You'll see." Francesca had kept her head down until she heard Gabriel say he spared her life. In her eyes, she really was allowed to live, she didn't think she would have survived another night in the prison if he hadn't brought her out when he had.

"I would never betray you sir. My life is yours now." Prostrating on the ground, Francesca mentally prepared herself for anything. She had come to understand Gabriel somewhat over the past few days, but she noticed he was quick to anger and quick to forget. She was scared his angry side would take over and kill her without rhyme or reason. "I'll do whatever you need me to do, just don't kill me please."

"Now why would I kill a perfectly good worker? You won't need to do much, just come to the front gates and run off that idiot you call a cousin. If he doesn't leave, he'll die by your hand while I let the trainers fight his warriors. Sound good? Oh what was your weapon of choice? I forgot already....." Wandering up to his room to look through their weapon storage, Gabriel found a whip and a small spiked round shield. (This will have to do for now.)

"Here, these are your new weapons, figure it out." After handing over the weapons, Francesca gave him a look of terror. She had used swords, spears, axes, even daggers, but never a whip and shield combo. Checking both items over she realized they were of high quality, the whip was made out of parts of Bander Realm creatures and the shield's spikes appeared to be from a Bander Realm deer of some sort. The shield having those broken antler pieces protruding from it, made it a far more formidable weapon than the whip.

"I don't know how to use these weapons..."

"You'll figure it out. Let's go." Gabriel gestured to Lenny to follow as they all made their way to exit the cave. He took the time to point out a few of the structures throughout the area and explain some small things about the cave, yard, and city to Lenny. Including how his caravan would tie into the whole complex idea Gabriel had made in his mind. The whole time Lenny just continued to listen and nod along without interrupting once, making Gabriel even more glad he had agreed to take the Oath. "They should be arriving at any time now. Either make him leave or take his life, up to you, either way I don't want them here after the next hour."

"Yes sir."

"Lenny, gather your group and head to the east side of the city outside, we'll continue the Oaths when this is finished."

"No problem boss, have fun." Watching Lenny head for the gate from the center of the city, Gabriel turned toward the training area to gather his recruits. As he entered the area he caught Gala's attention so she quickly made her way to him. "Gather the recruits, they may get some combat training today. Leave the Wyverns, they're too young yet."

"As you wish Gabriel." Gala gathered all the Satyrs and the 2 wolves, catching up with Gabriel as they made their way to the front gate. As they got closer, Gabriel spotted Lenny looking all around the gate.

"How do you open this thing Gabriel!?" Lenny had been trying to figure out how to open the gate for a few minutes now and couldn't for the life of him understand how to make the lever work.

"Hahahaha, I knew I forgot something, you need a key. If you ever lose your key, you won't be allowed to enter until you find it under any circumstances. If someone stole it from you, it's up to you to retrieve it." Inserting his key into the lever, Gabriel pulled it down and the gate began to raise. "This is just a counter measure. We don't want anyone here that doesn't belong."