Arrows in hand, Squawks and Lily returned to their home base in Oklas, a town on the edge of the Syttle Kingdom. It is one of the towns closest to Tiabe, while also being relatively close to the Vorad Kingdom. Although they are in times of peace, the city is well-fortified and stocked with supplies, soldiers, knights, and mercenaries most of the time.
That was why the two people carrying swords at their hips and arrows in their arms didn’t get much attention as they strode through the city, sweat dripping down their backs.
They were carrying metaphorical gold bars. If someone discovered what they were carrying, returning to their base unbothered would become impossible.
Fortunately, no one would ever think that Squawks and Lily of the Free Bird Mercenaries would be carrying arrows from the center of Tiabe. They weren’t rich enough to afford them, and they weren’t strong enough to enter the center of Tiabe, gather arrows, and return alive.
That was why Squawks and Lily boldly walked through town. If they had tried to sneak in, the others would surely have caught wind and grown suspicious.
"Go, go, go!" Squawks urged as he picked up the pace.
Still, they hurried the last few steps and rushed inside their base, a moderate house that housed all of their members, slamming the door shut behind them.
"Schh!" Instead of a greeting to welcome them back, they were hushed by a man at the kitchen sleeping at the kitchen table with empty glass bottles around him.
Squawks and Lily exchanged a look. They smiled.
"HEY, DIMA! DID YOU MISS US?" Squawks asked in as loud a voice as he could without scaring the neighbors as he stomped over to the other side of the room, where he gently placed the arrows on a chest. He would have dropped them and let them clatter if they hadn’t been priceless.
"URgh! Shut—"
"I AM SURE HE DID, CAPTAIN! LOOK AT HIM. HE MISSED US SO MUCH HE HAD TO DRINK ALL OF OUR MONEY AWAY TO COMFORT HIMSELF!" Lily shouted as she also stomped across the room to put down the arrows.
Dima groaned again and covered his head with his arms.
"Hey, what’s the commotion? I’m trying to sleep up here?" Another man walked down the stairs and asked with a frown while rubbing the sand out of his eyes.
Squawks turned to him and pointed sharply.
"Hungover?" He asked.
Hugo glanced at Dima and understood.
"NOT AT ALL, CAPTAIN. I DON’T DRINK!" He answered loudly with a salute.
Dima slid down from the chair and onto the ground, where he curled up in a fetal position, clutching his head.
Squawks, Lily, and Hugo looked at him with shit-eating grins. If they couldn’t get him to stop drinking, they could at least make him regret it.
Hugo was about to welcome them back when his nose twitched. Like a dog, he sniffed with closed eyes before suddenly turning to the side and focusing on the arrows that Squawks and Lily had brought.
With starry eyes, he slowly reached for them. He didn’t know what they were, but he could smell it. The arrows had the smell of gold on them.
"No touching." Squawks smacked Hugo’s grubby hands. It wasn’t because Hugo wasn’t allowed to touch them. It was because it would be impossible to get Hugo to let go once he grabbed them.
"Those arrows...!" Hugo didn’t even feel Squawks’ smack and continued staring at the arrows.
"They’re our payment."
"Payment?" Hugo tilted his head. Even Dima looked up at that.
"Does that mean we have a commission?" Dima asked with a hoarse voice.
"Yup!" Squawks answered with a big grin. Dima’s and Hugo’s eyes lit up.
"Damas! Get down here!" Hugo shouted.
"From who? What is it?" Dima asked at the same time.
Squawks stiffened.
Right. That part.
"Uhh..." Squawks wasn’t sure what answer to give. He could tell the truth and reveal that a few tribespeople in Tiabe wanted to retrieve one of their own from the hands of Torak.
"An old friend. I’ll go over the details when Damas and Mole get here."
"I’m already here," Mole said from beside the front door.
"And I’m not far off!" A big guy just a head shorter than Vafrid shouted while making his way down the stairs while ducking.
"Great! Everyone’s here." Squawks clapped his hands together excitedly. Why, of all times, was this the time they chose to be in the house when they weren’t preparing for a mission? Usually, he couldn’t find half of them even if he scoured the streets.
How was he supposed to come up with a lie when they were already sitting around the table, waiting for him to tell them the details?
"I don’t think there’s—"
"Hush!"
Lily started saying something, but was interrupted by a hush from Squawks. He was not letting her honest side take charge. She had already done that too much for his liking. It was time that he, the Captain, decided how to do things.
Lily sighed and took a step back.
Lying to others was one thing. She wasn’t against it, even if she thought honesty could solve many of the problems Squawks caused.
But lying to their comrades?
That was a no-go.
Before Squawks knew what was happening, Lily had jumped up on his back and wrapped her legs around his waist and locked them inside his thighs. She curled her arms around his shoulders and laced her fingers together behind his head.
He was trapped and immobilized.
"Some thug bastards from Vorad might have kidnapped a birdie from Tiabe and are about to sell him on the black market. The people of Tiabe want him back. That’s our commission."
"Don’t listen to her! It was not the foresters who commissioned us! It was good ol’ greedy, scamming bastards like usual!" Squawks shouted to try and overwrite what Lily had said. It didn’t work. First of all, he didn’t make a compelling argument. Secondly, it was hard to take him seriously when Lily was clinging to his back like a baby sloth.
Dima, Hugo, Mole, and Damas looked at Lily’s head poked out behind Squawks’ shoulder.
"Big or small birdie?"