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The young woman couldn't muster much in response, Siris' words merely rained down upon her, joining tears, joining the blood of the fallen, joining the cracked earth below. Ia didn't budge much, her eyes fixed on Gao-Lubaan and Akmaan. They were dead, she knew it. Men she'd looked up to, me that raised her, men that died for her. The hotheaded merc wasn't wrong. . . She found her eyes wandering over to her kinsman Lyun as he lifted the Hellions' lost comrade. And then to the bandits, and to the Imperial soldiers. . . All lives lost, for nothing, for something she didn't even understand.
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Ashür scanned over the battlefield, certain now that it had come to an end. Following the rest of his contemporaries, he joins in pressing the young Kassite, "These irreverent, corrupt mercs have a name. . ."
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IA: ". . ."
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ASHÜR: "Hellions of Gyr. On account of where most of our finest men are little more than dust and bones now."
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IA: "Just leave me. I don't need your condescending charity about life and death." She rubs her face, finally turning to Ashür.
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ASHÜR: "You're right about one thing." The merc replied, hand resting upon his sheathed blade. "You're not getting charity." He eyed the piles of the defeated gritting his teeth between all the silver and blue. "Mixing bronze with our excellency's direct subordinates - that won't come cheap."
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IA: "I. . . Can't pay you." As if to drive home the point, she pats down her practical garb. "We only took with us a small sum to pay toll and travel to Der."
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ASHÜR: "Hnn. . ." The merc sighed, a hand at the back of his neck. "Der. Kashtilashu you mentioned too. You're too late I'm afraid."
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IA: "What? What do you know sellsword?"
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ASHÜR: "Your army is dead and gone little lady. You're on your way to a ghost town."
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IA: "Damn it! No!!" Ia's firey eyes faltered in a true defeat. She clutched that hatchet and bit anxiously at her lip. "Even Kashtilashu? It shouldn't have been this way. . . I could have. . . He didn't deserve this, he was misguided. . ."
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IDDIN-NINSHUBAR: "Deserve? The only ones who can speak of such things are we. We deserve payment, as you cannot comply - We will hand the woman over to Uruk, salvage any reputation marred, and collect bounty." Ever pragmatic, the priest drew in towards Ia, along with the rest of the Hellions. "Glass preserves, now don't make a struggle girl."
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IA: "What?! You think I'll go to my death willingly?!" The spirit of flame burned hot and shed the trepidation that were consuming her. "Come then you bastard dogs!"
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LYUN: ". . ." A heavy hand came to rest upon Ia's shoulder, Balathu hoisted over his own. His presence was two fold; to quell her well understood fury, and as a general denial to the sub-captain's suggestion.
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IDDIN-NINSHUBAR: "You will go against me again, Lyun?" Iddin palmed his pointed chin, tapping his rod twice unto the cracked earth. "Seems your people have no respect for oaths."
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Lyun raised his head some, gazing eastward, completely unphased by Iddin's words, "Return home Anqullumašḫu. There is nothing for you here."
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IA: "Failed. . . Before even a chance. Akkad will strike at us for this. . ." The woman spoke to herself before turning to her great kinsman. "You will come with me, yes?"
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IDDIN-NINSHUBAR: "Hellions. Secure this woman and don't hesitate to-"
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ASHÜR: "Iddin-Ninshubar. . ." The merc spoke quietly beside Zuzu's chosen so that only he could hear. "The big guy said, 'Anqullumašḫu', did you hear? They may just be 'heretics', but she's a VIP when it comes to the Kassites. Maybe we should. . ."
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As the pair spoke clandestine, and the mercenaries at large gathered around, Makeen finishes collecting what trinkets of the deceased he sees fit before chiming in, practically deciding the endeavor, "We're going as far as Awan, come along if you like."
And so it was.
CHAPTER III - END