When I said later, I meant now! Enjoy. Also should I add a timestamp? This story takes around a couple of weeks before the start of turn 38.
Lions in the sand
Part 1
It was all Demar's fault.
When the call for the new Knight Chapters had come, his older brother had immediately pushed for his younger son to be accepted as a squire, and not content with merely presenting a boy with the name Tessen he sought to furnish his presentation by taking his son on a hunt. Hoping to make an impression by presenting the boy draped in the furs of a mighty beast he had slain himself, or at least that no one could claim otherwise. Adding to what was already a bad idea, Demar had loudly and publicly asked him to join them, as a way to bond and leave his nephew with good memories before he was sent away.
Mattias had thought to refuse at first, but he was a son of house Tessen and he would not give his brother the chance to call him a coward to his face. Besides, he was pretty sure this was not an overt assasination attempt, it would be too obvious and Demar did not have the guts to do it. So Mattias had packed his best custom crossbow, packed a few doses of antidotes just in case, got a couple of guards he was sure were more loyal to him than his brother assigned to their hunting party and prepared himself for an unpleasant week out in the hot desert.
The first three days went more or less as he had predicted. He'd had to roll his eyes at his brother more times than he could count but he had downed two sand-deer, one of which had an impressive rack of antlers that would look nice mounted on the wall of his study. His nephew Evran had behaved admirably so far, he was listening to the guards, which was more than what could be said for his father, and had even taken down a sand-deer of his own. For all the antipathy he felt towards his brother, he genuinely believed Evran would do well as a knight pilot and would not bring any shame to our house.
Of course this peaceful tedium couldn't last. Everything went to shit on the third night, they had set up their camp for the night since it would be too dangerous to hunt in the darkness. Desert lions were more active at night and while it was every noble's dream to take home a lion pelt it was better to hunt them when you could spot them before they spotted you. Mattias had already retired to his tent after ordering his guards to reinforce the middling defenses his brother's guards had set up, once again confirming his theory that his brother looked for loyalty over skill among his hires. He had barely fallen asleep when the screaming began.
Rushing out of the tent with crossbow in hand, Mattias found a scene of chaos. Guards were running around in a complete panic, some firing bolts from their crossbows into the darkness while others ran to where they had tied their lizards. He followed the latter group, as he was completely sure his brother would leave him to whatever was attacking them without a second thought. Out of view a woman's cry was cut short by a beastly growl but the noble did not even turn to see what had felled her, focused on his own survival before anything else. He finally reached the makeshift shelter they had made for their lizards, only to see the dust cloud from what he guessed where his brother and several guards riding off into the night with a large part of their war lizard escorts. From what he could hear, what few lizards Demar had not taken with him were fighting their attackers. Luckily for him, their pack lizard was still where they had tied it though it seemed to grow more panicked by the second.
It took all his strength to keep the huge reptile from stampeding the moment he cut it free but, credit to it's trainers, it kept its nerves long enough to be led out of the shelter and for Mattias to climb onto it back. Sadly he only barely managed to leave the edges of the camp before his luck ran out and something jumped on the lizards' back, causing it to buckle and throw him to the ground. The noble only had time to get up before he saw a big, meaty tail heading his way at high speed, then he saw only darkness.
---
Mattias was not sure how much time had passed when he woke up, but the moon was still high in the sky when he looked up so he hoped he hadn't been knocked out for long. He struggled to stand up, his body protesting in pain, but he managed to stand on his feet. His feet hit something in the sand and to his great relief he saw his crossbow half buried in the sand. He picked it up despite the pain and went through the motions drilled into him to make sure it was still functional. Now feeling more secure he looked back at the remains of their camp, there were no sounds coming from it and he couldn't see the corpses of any lizards. With any luck the lizard had lured the beasts far from here and he could find a way to get back home.
To his dying day, he would never be able to explain what made him turn around, some would say it was divine favor, others dumb luck or some deep buried survival instinct, but there it was, a desert lion staring right at him, moonlight reflecting in its eyes. Mattias went rigid with both fear and the knowledge that any sudden movements might make the beast attack. It seemed that the lion was as startled as him and they stared at each other for several seconds. Mattias recovered his nerve first and began to level his crossbow at the feline, who had begun to shift from one foot to the other, preparing to jump. Like a pair of duelists given the signal to begin, both man and beast acted at once. Fate favored the noble as he saw his bolt embed itself in the lion's skull, but it did not stop the momentum the beast had created with it's jump and the body crashed into him, sending him back into the darkness.
---
This time, Mattias came about to the sound of a crackling fire and the smell of cooking meat. He was inside some sort of hut with plain stone walls and a lit chimney with a pot hanging over the fire. If it wasn't for those two signs of life, the place might as well be abandoned.
"Back to the land of the living, eh?" A voice said from behind him.
He turned around and saw a man standing on the entrance to this room. He was wearing a hooded cloak painted with patterns designed to blend in with the desert landscape, it also clinked as the man approached, hinting at possible armor beneath.
He also saw the pelt of the lion he killed stretched out in a scrap metal frame, it had been cleaned of it's sandy coat, allowing the spotted pattern to be seen in all its splendor. Looking at it Mattias felt pride blooming along with the pain in his chest, knowing that he had taken down the original owner of such a beautiful pelt.
"Are you in any pain? You have been sleeping for most of the day since I found you at dawn. Your ribs looked pretty busted, but since you're able to sit up on your own I imagine nothing's broken." The man continued to talk, unhooking his cloak as he went and dropping it carelessly on the floor.
It was then that Mattias' heart jumped to his throat as he saw the tail idly swaying behind him. Fortunately, the mutated had his back turned, allowing him precious seconds to regain his composure. He had never truly believed the lizard shit spouted by the Children even before the extent of their hypocrisy was revealed, but he was also aware that most mutated held no love for most nobles and this far from civilisation many would not hesitate to enact revenge for their unfortunate lot in life.
"Did you find any other survivors?" The noble decided to focus away from such thoughts, they would not help him find a way back home.
"None in the remains of your camp, but I only found a couple of bodies so they must have fled." He replied, shaking his head as he stirred whatever was in the pot. "You were lucky, your lizard managed to run far before it was taken down, taking the pride with him. The one you shot was a young male, probably just kicked out of the pride, who went sniffing for any scraps left behind."
The mutated stepped away from the hearth and began to dig through a small bag left at the side of the stone chimney. He stood back with two small metal bowls along with spoons before turning to face him, allowing Mattias to finally get a good look at his face. His face was… honestly more handsome than he expected. If it weren't for the yellow cat-like eyes and the furry ears he could barely see out of his braided mane of black hair he would draw a lot of stares from women and men alike.
"Do you want to eat?" The mutated asked, lifting the bowls for emphasis.
The prospect of food made his stomach remind him that it was completely empty. "Yes, I would. Thank you" He responded, the thanks coming almost on reflex.
The mutated laddled what looked like stew into the bowls and handed him one along with a spoon before sitting cross legged a couple feet in front of him.
"You know," Mattias began as he stirred the chunks of meat and beans in his bowl. "Most people would have left me for dead or finished me off to be sure, no one would have ever known." He looked at the mutated, hoping to gauge his reaction.
"Yeah, that's the easy way, but my faith tells me to do things the right way even if it's not easy." He let go of the spoon and dug his hand beneath his shirt and pulled out a small pendant, it was a metal triangle filled with a piece of blue glass. The pilgrim let the pendant hang from his neck and went back to eating.
Mattias did so as well, it was not the best meal he had ever had but the stew was not unappealing to an empty stomach. It was when he brought a piece of meat to his mouth that he winced, the meat was hard even after being boiled and it had a gamey taste that he was not sure was pleasant. "What even is this?" He couldn't help but ask once he managed to swallow.
"Your kill." The pilgrim said, pointing at the pelt with his spoon.
Mattias looked at the pelt in complete silence for several seconds, before taking another bite of the meat. This time chewing with something akin to spite. They ate their meals in companionable silence, only breaking it when he was offered seconds which he accepted gladly. With their meal done, the pilgrim took their dishes, wiped them with a rag, and tossed them in the same bag they had been pulled.
"Anyways," The pilgrim began as he stretched after putting away the remains of their dinner. "Now that you're awake we can finally leave. We'll leave at first light tomorrow, luckily I was able to scavenge most of your camp's supplies so we should be able to reach Mirn with no issues even if we go slow."
The last part caught his attention and he couldn't help but mumble "Wait, Mirn?"
"Yeah, I was returning from a delivery to one of our buildings…" The Pilgrim began but Mattias was no longer paying attention.
If he calculated their current position right, it would take him about a week to make it back to Tessen, and that was if he set out as soon as he arrived and didn't seek out any treatment for his ribs. If Demar was able to find his way without getting lost it would take him about two days to make it back. Going to Mirn was not an option. Even if he managed to get a message to prevent his brother from claiming all his assets he would still have days to spin this whole fiasco in his favor, maybe even find a way to make it his fault. He would have to deal with the aftermath for months at least.
"I need to go to Tessen" The noble said, cutting the pilgrim off.
"Well sucks to be you lording, 'cause I'm going to Mirn. If you want to go to Tessen, you're going to have to walk there yourself." The pilgrim replied, frowning.
"I can pay you when we arrive." He tried to negotiate.
"I ain't a transport service, and excuse me if the mutated doesn't believe in the promises of nobles." The pilgrim rebutted, standing firm.
Mattias tched, trying to find a way to convince the pilgrim. His eyes fell on the lion pelt and though it rankled him to give it up, letting his brother arrive first would cost far more.
"I will give you the pelt." He said, staring straight into the pilgrims eyes.
The mutated's eyes widened a bit and he turned to look at the pelt, back at him, and then once more at the pelt. Finally he seemed to come to a decision as he growled "Fine, but you better not try to scam me the moment we enter the city."
The noble huffed at the implied jab at his honor. "I'm not such a bastard, even to your kind." He replied before extending his hand for a very delayed greeting. "Mattia von Tessen."
The pilgrim looked at his hand for a moment before shaking it with his own clawed one. "Just Wiljem."