Across The Pond

Vallius made his way up the inclined hallway and up towards the main hall. There Shotherra waited for him.

"Where is Torrvar?" Shotherra asked rudely.

"I'm right here, calm down Shotherra" Torrvar said as he walked up behind Vallius. "Before you leave Vallius be sure to eat, get rest while you are somewhere safe, and here, take this" Torrvar said as he handed Vallius a set of dark red armor.

Strillian took it and looked over it, the armor was red and black, with many straps and buckles running down the chest and across the waist. It was light and seemed sturdy enough.

"Thanks" Vallius said as he walked towards the room of beds. He didn't know what to think and he just needed to rest for a bit.

"No problem" said Torrvar.

Vallius kept moving towards his destination. When Vallius had made it to the large room full of beds he put his new armor at the end of a bed and laid down on it. It had been a long day, and the next week or so was going to be rough, so he allowed himself the moment of peace and drifted off to sleep.

Vallius awoke several hours later in a daze, the events of last night still fresh in his mind. Could he really be considering going through with this contract. Vallius shook his head to clear it and donned the armor he was given the night before.

Once Vallius was dressed he walked over to a night stand and took a sweet roll that was lying on top of it and ate it.

Having eating as much as he thought he could keep down and being properly outfitted he started to walk towards the exit. Torrvar was waiting by the door.

Vallius stopped his walking a few feet in front of Torrvar and said "I'm just on my way to complete the contract."

"Only if I can trust you to do what you have to when you get there. And right now I don't think you could kill that kid" Torrvar told Vallius. "Tell me why it is so different than killing any of the other people in that family."

"I don't know, it just doesn't seem ..." Vallius paused, looking for the right word. "Right, it doesn't seem right."

Torrvar chuckled and shook his head. He walked towards Vallius and put his arm around him and said "listen, Vallius, we are assassins for hire. If everything were right, we'd either be in jail or dead."

"I guess so" Vallius responded.

"So are you good, do you think you can do this?" Torrvar asked.

"Yes, I will do what I must" Vallius said with confidence.

"Good, glad to see you've come around" Torrvar said, walking away.

'It's easy when the alternative is death' Vallius thought to himself before departing from the sanctuary and beginning his trip to Bravil.

Strillian awoke to find himself in a small room. He sat up quickly only to lay back down in pain. He groaned loudly, alerting the others that he had awoken.

Theodane walked in, he had a few bandages on but was relatively fine.

"You're finally awake, we were worried you wouldn't wake up there for a bit' Theodane said with a smile.

"Where are we?" asked Strillian.

"We are on a small farm called Harm's Folly just north east of the Imperial City. Most everyone survived, the only casualties we could count were the two Blades that came with us to the top deck of that large ship" Theodane told Strillian.

"What do you mean both of them are dead, one of them was still breathing when we were rescued" Strillian asked.

"One of them? Did you forget their names? I didn't think you hit your head" Theodane said, the smile fading from his face, replaced with a look of concern.

"No I didn't hit my head, I just didn't get a good look at who was still alive when I had been wounded" Strillian said quickly.

The look of concern slowly left Theodane's face as he said "well that's good. But to answer your question the other one bled out before he could be properly bandaged up."

"Damn" Strillian said.

"So where do we go now, you are in charge of our little team here and we are awaiting orders" Theodane said, the smile now back on his face.

"We need to get to Cloud Ruler Temple, get the other Blades, and lead an assault on the Imperial City, I only hope the Emperor is still alright when we get there" Strillian said with a frown.

"Sounds good, when you are feeling up to the task of traveling we will begin the trip, but for now, rest. You'll need your energy, and you're probably hungry, here, take this" Theodane said as he tossed an apple towards Strillian.

Strillian caught it and inspected the apple. It was a very large green apple. Strillian took a bite and said "this is quite possibly, the juiciest apple I have every eaten."

"Good, because that's all we have at the moment. So if you want another apple just holler and someone will bring you one" Theodane told Strillian.

Strillian just nodded as he took his fourth bite of the mighty apple.

"Good" Theodane said as he walked out of the small room.

A few hours had passed and Strillian was feeling able again. He got out of his bead and moved out the door to the meet with the rest of his small team.

"Alright everyone listen up. We are going to divided up into different teams" Strillian announced. Everyone turned to face Strillian.

"Where are we going now?" asked Rainbow Dash, annoyed.

"Well you four will be sticking with me until we can reunite you with the other two, assuming they are still fine. Then we will take you to Hammerfell where you will take the first boat back to where ever it is you came from. Theodane and, I'm sorry what's your name?" Strillian asked the Imperial he had not seen before but was with the ponies when the battle had taken place.

"My name is Carmalo" said the Imperial.

"Well Carmalo and Theodane will come with me and you four ponies to Cloud Ruler Temple. You two" Strillian motioned to the two remaining Blades he had with him. "I need you two to find a way into the city and  make sure the Emperor is safe, reinforcements won't be far behind."

The two nodded.

"Is that alright with everyone?" Strillian asked.

"I want to go in the city, our friends are still in there and we can't just sit back and do nothing" Rainbow Dash complained, hovering above her friends.

"Calm down there sugar cube, we are getting some help first. And 'ah reckon they are still safe in that panic room they were talking 'bout" said Applejack.

"Applejack's right Rainbow, beside's with how that last fight turned out we are going to need a lot of help" Twilight told Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash sighed and folded her fore hoofs, and saying with a pout "fine, but this better not take too long."

"It won't, we will move quickly, I promise I won't slow us down" Strillian told her.

Rainbow Dash nodded and said "good" before flying over to the door and saying "well what are we waiting for?"

Strillian turned to the family he assumed to be the owners of the farm as he did not recognize them and said "thank you for your help, we must be off now but we will remember this kindness."

And with that, they were all out the door and on the road again.