Terrible Company Ch. 10

/ /Author's Note: This story, Terrible Company, is sprawling sword-and-sorcery fantasy satire with a diverse cast of characters. Over its many chapters, those characters will have interactions (both with each other and others) that cross many of the lines that exist between Lit genres. I have come to believe that breaking the story into those different categories, as best I can, is the best way to expose the most readers to parts of the story they might dig, and that they might then be encouraged to read on.

Each chapter is written as a self-contained episode, and although there are running gags that continue through the series that enrich the experience, they shouldn't prevent one from starting anywhere in the series (including the final chapter) and enjoying it for what it is.

This chapter features:

Val, the female Orc Warrior/Fighter

Katsa, the female Human Arcanist

Mathilda, the female Dwarf Healer

Ayen, the male Half-Elf Thief

Ivy, the female Human Bard

Enjoy!//

"We have to escape," Ayen moaned softly. His eyes were bloodshot, frantic, as he paced back and forth. "We have to escape." Their neighboring cells, beneath the castle-estate of the Baron of Hayeston, did not offer much in the way of square footage. "We have to—"

"Shut it!" Mathilda roared. Ayen jumped in shock and nodded, but it was only seconds before he began pacing again. "We know!"

"This is a real turning point for his character," Ivy whispered, from her cell at the end.

" 'is what now?"

"I've been recording our escapades," she said, without looking up from her yellow pad of paper. "At first, I was thinking of turning it into an epic poem or some kind of serialized novels, but now I'm envisioning a kind of game where people could pretend to be us, or heroes like us, and..."

"Lass."

"...running around, either literally or metaphorically, playing the role of adventurers whose lives are more interesting than..."

"Lass."

"...and I think I want to call it Pretendy Time, or Escapades because that touches on the inherent escapism of the—"

"Lass!"

"What?" Ivy said, looking very surprised.

"What d'ye mean, turning point?"

"Oh!" She leaned closer to the bars and smiled. Voice low. "He keeps saying 'we'. 'We have to escape.' Before, he would have escaped on his own and come back for us later!"

"If 'e didn' jus' leave us to rot."

"He always would have come back," Ivy said confidently, "but he would have looked out for himself first."

Mathilda frowned. She thought about asking how Ivy had hidden her pencil and an entire pad of paper when they were being frisked, but thought better of it before the words made it to her lips. Ivy went back to her scribbling, and Mathilda turned around. Ayen was mumbling again, though not quite loud enough to annoy her yet. Beyond him, Val and Katsa had their heads together between their adjoining cells.

"What'd ye mean, 'they found me'?" she asked, leaving the question open to whichever one of them wanted to answer.

Katsa froze, but it was Ayen who spoke up first. "I'm... um... wanted?"

"Issat a question?"

"No, I mean that I'm wanted, but not wanted-wanted. I'm just..."

"...Yer just..."

"It's my... It's my mother." His eyes unfocused, drifting. "I can't go back. I... we... we have to escape." And with that, the litany resumed.

"Well tha' was enlightenin'," Mathilda grumbled. " 'ow about you, lass. Anythin' to share?"

"Nope," the Arcanist said bluntly. "But I agree. We have to get out."

"D'sit 'ave anythin' ta do with that tattoo on yer back?"

"No!" the Arcanist said, with a bit less composure.

"I've got it!" Ivy said brightly.

"You figured out how to escape?" Katsa asked sarcastically.

"The only way that I could be in trouble for enforcing the rules is if the system is completely corrupt!" Ivy's eyes grew wider and wider as she ramped up. Mathilda slapped her forehead and sighed. "I was only helping the guards do their jobs."

" 's'not the time fer that, Lass."

Ivy gasped loudly. "That makes it our moral obligation to overthrow the regime! The people are probably being oppressed! We have to get out of here!"

"Welcome to the party," Katsa grumbled.

"Viva la revolución!" Ivy shouted, at the top of her lungs.

"Shut her up," Val hissed, "before the guards hear that!"

"I have an idea," Katsa said suddenly, while Ivy made a note in her pad to get one of those olive berets that revolutionaries were always wearing.

//Follow-up Note: Votes and comments are dearly appreciated. The next couple chapters will be found in other categories (NonHuman, Erotic Couplings). If you found the storytelling to be interesting or funny, I would encourage you to check out the rest!

This is a completed series. There are fifteen total chapters with a satisfying conclusions (I think) to the individual plot threads for each character. You don't have to worry about getting to the end and finding out I gave up or lost interest because it's totally done! Isn't that awesome of me to finish something I started?//