Work Text:
“...When do you think you can make more?”
Balor heard March’s telltale grunt before he saw either speaker.
“Won’t take me long the second I have the ore.”
“Sorry I don’t have better news, then.”
Ryis, Olric, and March all turned to him standing in the doorway.
“Oh!” Ryis smiled. “I’d almost forgotten. The hardwood delivery, right?”
“Courtesy of our own dear farmer.”
Balor carefully did not turn his head, pretending he couldn’t see the angry grimace on March’s face.
All four men made their way to Balor’s wagon parked right outside. They unloaded the wood under Ryis’s direction. The work went surprisingly fast with so many hands. Certainly not something Balor would complain about.
Ryis gave him a thoughtful look once they’d finished.
“I don’t suppose you know if Winter is going into the mines any time soon?”
Balor held back a sigh as he saw March stiffen out of the corner of his eye.
“Truthfully I couldn’t tell you. If he keeps to any sort of schedule I haven’t been able to figure it out yet.” He gave a soft chuckle. “I’m happy to pass word along, though. I’m sure he’ll be on top of it once he knows Mistria is a little short again.”
“No need,” March cut in. “I’ll take care of it.”
The following silence was uncomfortable. Olric’s normally amiable expression turned completely baffled.
“What are you talking about, bro? You can’t go down there!”
“Why not?” March retorted, not quite meeting anyone’s eyes. “I’m a blacksmith. I need ore. I can handle mining some.”
“It’s...not that pressing,” Ryis said. “This is a project that can wait a while.”
March’s mouth twisted in obvious annoyance.
“It doesn’t need to wait. I can take care of it now.”
Olric shook his head.
“Bro, you should let Winter handle it. You heard Errol, it’s too dangerous. Winter’s from the adventurers guild, he’s trained to do that kind of stuff.”
“Ha!” March snorted derisively. “He wasn’t an adventurer. He said so himself. He just gathered flowers and crap. He isn’t any more qualified than me.”
From Balor’s recollection, Winter had done ‘...a lot of scouting jobs, mapping and traversing rough terrain in remote areas, and locating rare plants and resources.’
But now didn’t seem like the best time for that specific correction.
“Well,” Balor cut in with unnecessary cheer, “unfortunately I’ve got a busy schedule today, so I’ll have to be off. Just let me know what you end up needing and I’ll source it as quickly as possible.”
Ryis gave him a strained smile.
“Tanks, Balor. I really appreciate it.”
The argument clearly continued once he was back out the door. He couldn’t help but shake his head, bemused at March’s strange insecurities. Winter had been perfectly pleasant to him. At first, at least. These days he did seem to have a far shorter fuse with the blacksmith. With that attitude Balor found it hard to blame him.
Luckily for March, they all knew that wouldn’t stop the farmer from helping.
His cart was so light now, practically moving on it’s own. Winter had been badgering him about it lately. He insisted Balor get a permanent cart horse. Usually he just leased one out from an inn a ways up the east road for heavier trips to and from the capital. But for months he’d only carried into Mistria what he could carry on his back. He’d never kept his own horse before that either. Why get one now?
Especially on days like this. A soft breeze swept through the hills, the sun shone brightly, but without the intensity of summer.
On a whim he decided he would take the longer path back to his usual spot. He was busy today, but perhaps bot quite so busy as he’d insinuated. This would be a winding path through trees and by gently flowing water until it looped back around to the entrance of town.
These were the things he’d grown to love about Mistria. The peace, the beauty, the quiet-
“Oh, Balor! Hi!”
Adeline, Reina, and Celine manifested behind him, each carrying a few things that together clearly made a picnic.
He hadn’t made it far, only just now turning south past the east road.
“Good morning!” He answered back with a little wave. “I’d ask why you’re out here but it’s pretty obvious. It is a beautiful day for being outside.”
“Good afternoon, technically,” Adeline corrected, “but yes! It’s soooo nice. I was going to do paperwork in my office, then Eiland walked by and said he and Winter were going artifact hunting in the woods past the east road…”
“And I thought they shouldn’t be the only ones enjoying the weather,” Reina finished.
Celine held up the basket in her hands.
“You can join if you want! We brought extra for when those two get back, but there’s plenty for you too.”
“Ah, that’s very kind of you, but no need to worry about me. And I’ll admit, Josephine told me they’d be doing curry today. I’ve been thinking about it all morning.”
Reina giggled.
“I’d completely forgotten they were doing that today. I don’t blame you; nobody can beat mom’s curry!”
He waved them off as they strayed a little closer to the bridge to set up.
Of course Winter had let Eiland drag him off for artifact hunting. The farmer pretty clearly had trouble saying no to the people of Mistria. He was always so industrious, always on the move. Doubly strange that he managed all that farming, fishing, excavating, and even mining in dresses. That had to make things more difficult.
Not that Balor had any issues with it. Winter tended to keep to a consistent style. Dresses and skirts with a high waist that highlighted the shape of his chest. Sometimes he added a vest on top when it was cooler, though he’d only seen him wearing an actual coat in the worst of the cold months. The skirt itself flowed down freely until right above his ankles (except in summer, when it stopped far above his knees,) and swished with the movement of his hips.
Which. Balor was never looking at.
A little of the wind had been taken out of his sails knowing Winter definitely wouldn’t be home. He’d considered stopping by the farm early, but oh well. There was a good chance he wouldn’t have been home anyway. Balor supposed he would just-
A sudden yelp cut through his thoughts. Coming clearly from behind him. From the direction of the bridge.
He abandoned his cart instantly, hurrying towards the noise. Had one of the girls fallen?
No, all three stood where he’d last seen them, apparently unharmed, and...facing the bridge.
“Shit.”
The curse slipped out in a whisper. They had a clear view of the bridge connecting the east road from down here. Eiland had his back pushed against the low stone wall, slightly bent with a hand over his nose. Balor thought he saw blood, but it was hard to tell from this distance.
Winter stood in a wide stance in front of him, recognizable in his white dress even from behind. He held a shovel in front of him like a weapon, forcing space between him and a small group of strangers. Very dangerous strangers if the adventuring gear and swords strapped to their backs and sides were any indication.
Easy to assume they were well-intentioned adventurers if not for the way they loomed over the archaeologists.
“Eiland,” Adeline whispered, her face going white. Balor jumped forward at the moment he saw her move, grabbing her shoulder and holding her in place.
“You try to run in there and you’ll make it worse,” He hissed. She stared back with wide eyes.
“What do we do?” Celine asked, standing still as a deer.
“Leave. Go get help. I’ll see what I can do.”
There wasn’t anything he could do, but they had even less experience with this sort of thing than he did. At least he could get them out of harms way, then maybe see if he could talk things down. Or even just create a distraction and even the odds a little. If Winter could just keep things calm for a few more seconds-
“Are you stupid?”
Winter’s voice, harder and colder than he’d ever heard it, drifted down to them. “Attacking a noble in broad daylight?”
Shit. Again. He would have laughed at Winter’s gall if he was so worried for both men’s safety.
“Go!” He hissed again, Giving Adeline and Celine a rude shove. Celine snapped out of whatever trance she’d been in, nodding sharply before turning on her heel and taking off towards the town. Reina followed quickly, but Adeline refused to move, digging her heels in.
“I’m helping,” she said, voice shaky. Before Balor could stop her again she took off too, up and around the little hill to the bridge.
This was getting out of control. Whatever options he might have had vanished in an instant. He watched her come to a sudden stop a few yards from the bridge, standing straight as a rod.
“Back away from Lord Eiland! Now!” She spoke with more strength than he might have expected, but the shaky fear was still clear underneath.
One of the ‘adventurers’ smiled sharply towards her.
“And who are you? Lady…”
“I am Lady Adeline, the leader of Mistria. And you will step away now.”
The attacker started to step towards Adeline. Winter stepped up in time, forcing the shovel out just enough to ensure it stayed in their line of sight.
“Don’t.”
The three other ‘adventurers’ shifted, a little more tense, a little more ready to move.
“I’ve never been so close to Mistria before,” The ‘adventurer’ said lightly. “It’s more interesting that I expected. I feel like we’re going to walk away pretty happy, don’t you?”
Heavy footsteps started echoing. March. Of course it was March, charging towards them with a hammer in hand, face set with determination.
It was awful seeing what was going to happen and not being able to stop it. Every sword was pulled at once as March charged. He tried to screech to a stop when they got too close, stopping mid swing. For all his bluster he wasn’t a fighter. Intimidating was a different game from actually hurting someone.
The ‘adventurer’ turned attacker didn’t hesitate the same way. They lashed out with the hilt of their weapon, connected with a hard snap to March’s forehead.
Balor lurched forward, starting to run up towards them, just as Adeline tried to catch March as he stumbled back, and Winter, in the middle of it all, pushed back.
Balor wasn’t sure what he expected from Winter in a fight. He’d never really considered it before. If he had, though, he doubted he would have imagined the brutality in front of him.
Winter drove a knee into the person in front of him, then hooking the metal shovel head on their shoulder so he could toss them to the ground, hard, his entire body twisting with the motion. He kept twisting into another kick, then bringing the shovel up when he failed to connect. A sword caught on the handle, and Balor could swear every one of them had a sharp intake of breath at once.
There was a clear practiced method at play. Winter twisted away from blows and keeping distance with the shovel. Even as his dress and long hair twisted he didn’t slow down, driving elbows and knees hard into soft and brittle parts of the human body.
Eiland was able to squeeze out and away as the fight started, every attacker forced to focus their attention completely on Winter. There was definitely blood on his face. Two of the attackers went down while they were distracted and didn’t get back up. One stayed standing.
Balor didn’t catch the mistake, but he saw the sudden line of blood blooming across Winter’s side, trailing behind the smooth motion of a blade. He saw the shovel drop from his hands, clattering too loudly on the stone. Winter stumbled, dropping back and to the ground.
Eiland jerked forward as if he could do anything to help. But he would be too slow, just as the rest of them would. The stranger raised their sword again.
Balor couldn’t stop himself, the name dropping from his lips as if it was trying to tear itself free instead of being spoken.
“WINTER!”
The attacker jerked in surprise, thrown off mid swing.
Then Winter lashed out, a foot shooting out and hooking around their leg. He pulled and the attacker fell backwards. They tried to scramble back up, but Winter moved quicker. He shot up and rushed them, only bending in a single smooth motion to pick the shovel back up, then swinging in a wide arc that slammed into the attacker’s arm. Their head hit the stone with a loud crack.
And finally, only Winter stayed standing.
Balor was running before he realized it. Winter stood stoic and tense, shovel pointed down as he watched the groaning and unconscious attackers. Blood soaked further into his dress from his injury. A couple of tears exposed tiny patches of skin. Slick sweat stuck dirt everywhere else, sticking a mess of wayward strands of hair to his face.
He acted as if he didn’t notice any of them, chest heaving, eyes sharp, hands gripped tightly around his makeshift weapon.
Balor couldn’t stop staring. He’d been nailed to the ground, unable to look away. His mouth went dry and he found himself swallowing as their eyes finally met.
“We need to get you to Valen,” Eiland said with a strained voice.
“You need to go too!” he heard Adeline reply. It was enough to make him break his gaze, turning towards them.
He couldn’t help it; he snorted. March sat on the ground, slightly leaning on Adeline, but wide awake. He was slack jawed, eyes like saucers, completely taken in by the scene in front of him. An ugly bruise formed on his forehead that he barely seemed to be aware of.
The blacksmith had imagined for a moment he would be the hero saving the weak farmer, hadn’t he? Being proven so wrong must have been a blow to the ego.
Balor could feel eyes turn on him at the noise he made.
“Adeline, you should get the others to Valen, then go contact the capital for assistance immediately, correct? I’ll stay here with Winter until until this is more...contained. In the meantime…” He pulled a small roll of bandages from the depths of his coat. It was meant to be used for small scrapes, but well, when needs must.
“It’s alright,” Winter confirmed quietly, his voice a little scratchy. “It looks worse than it is. We can’t leave these people unsupervised.”
Balor could see the war in Adeline’s eyes, but eventually she nodded, lips pressed tightly together. All three finally, reluctantly, began making their way back towards town with promises of a quick return. Balor raised his eyebrows at Winter, holding out the bandages.
“May I…?”
Winter frowned, suddenly not quite meeting Balor’s eyes.
“You really don’t have to, I know it’s gross. It’ll be okay, I can take care of it.”
Balor shook his head.
“I’m not scared of blood. More worried about you bleeding out while we’re waiting. I won’t take long.”
Winter carefully stepped closer after only a brief hesitation, putting both of them a few feet away from the limp bodies on the ground. They all looked like they were still breathing, he thought.
“I’m impressed,” Balor said casually as he began carefully wrapping bandages around Winter’s waist.
“I had no idea you could fight like that.”
Winter flinched slightly as the bandage gently pressed on his wound. Neither acknowledged it.
“Everyone gets a little training in the guild,” he muttered.
Good fighter. Terrible liar. It was something Balor enjoyed about talking with Winter. Every little flick of emotion showed in his face and voice. Balor doubted the man could lie convincingly with his life at stake.
“Don’t worry,” he said quietly, “I’m the last person to push. I’m just glad you came out alright.” He paused. “Mostly alright.”
Winter let out a weak chuckle, expression relaxing just a touch.
“Me too.”
They both finally matched their gazes again in the beat of silence, cautious and curious. One hand still sat on Winter’s waist, though Balor knew he’d done all he could until an actual doctor looked at it. Winter was radiating heat, through his dress, into Balor’s hand, crawling up his arm. Did he always feel like this? Or was this only when he was fighting for his life?
“WE’RE COMING!”
The both jumped at the voice calling out to them. Reina’s he was pretty sure.
Balor quickly stepped back, and flashed Winter a smile.
“Get ready to be fussed over.”
Winter gave him a hesitant look, as if he wanted to say something, then smiled weakly back.
Then everything got swept away by the others, and gossip had lit up the town by the time he made it back to the inn.
It wasn’t until he saw Winter several hours later, whole and healthy, that he felt he could breath again. And it wasn’t until he laid down for the night that his heart seemed to calm down.
The worst part, though, was how little of it all came from worry. Of course in the moment he’d been terrified, but as soon as Winter had spoken the bulk of his fear had slipped away.
No. No, it was his heaving chest, hair splayed in a mess, the sharp look in his eye that kept Balor up now. He could feel himself blush even alone in the dark.
This was going to be a long night.