Edryd looked at me, then Anwill, then back to me with wide eyes.
"I don't suppose you know how your brother knows the elf?" he asked, staring at the friendly exchange between Bernar and Anwill. I could only shake my head and shrug. "If I had to guess, they met when my brother went to Caegwen for training a few years ago," I shrugged again.
It's still weird that he's on such friendly terms with someone so high-ranking, I thought, recalling that Anwill was here directly under King Elhael's command, still observing their friendly exchanges.
"What's this all about? Wait, who even is that?" Batch interrupted my thoughts as he walked toward us. "I heard the call that someone was here, but I had no idea it would be an elf. Do you know who he is?" he raised an eyebrow. "He's here as an emissary, but I've never heard of one who was a fifth stage," I shrugged.
"Your brother's a fifth stage, right?" he asked. "Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" I raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe he was the one who helped him get there," Batch suggested.
I hadn't really thought about how he managed to do it at such a young age. After all, he was only in Caegwen for a handful of years, but I never considered just how fast he'd actually reached it.
The bastard never told me how long it took him, did he? I thought with a chuckle.
"It's possible, but there's still a lot we don't know yet. He's only just arrived, and so far, we have way more questions than we do answers," I said in response to Batch's suggestion. "Well, there is an elf here in Codrean, so I dare say that something smells, and it's not the smell of roses," Batch said.
We watched Bernar and Anwill walk towards the main fortress, conversing over something I couldn't overhear. The two went fully out of earshot, and I turned over to my friends, who were also just as puzzled as I was.
"Also, I just realized I haven't seen you in a few days. Where the hell have you been?" I lightly punched Batch's shoulder. "Hey! It's not my fault. Bernar has me training some new moves with Irun, and it's been quite, uh, painful," Batch chuckled, scratching the back of his head.
"It's alright. Hell, if I had to be put through Bernar's training, I think my arms would be turned into pudding. Oh! Wait, they are," Edryd said with a chuckle, rolling his injured shoulder. "On the bright side, at least you'd have emergency food readily available," Batch said sarcastically. "You know, I sometimes wonder if you're not a few marbles short of a full bag," Edryd replied with a disgusted look on his face.
"Disregarding that fucked up mental image, I've actually been able to get back to training," he continued. "That's true, and we still kicked your sorry ass. No mercy for arms made of pudding," I said with a shrug. "See? I knew I should've kicked you in the balls when I had the chance," he snapped immediately, causing the three of us to burst into a fit of laughter.
"Ah, it's good to be back. As much as I hate to admit it, I actually missed you fuckers. A few more days and I would have had to beg you two to swing by and watch me kick Irun's ass," Batch sighed. "Oh? I always thought he was the better of you two," I grinned. "Oh, don't get me wrong, he's still a damned-good swordsman; but with a little help from Bernar, I've finally managed to beat him more than once," Batch said pridefully.
"Well, well! I think we should have a sparring session sometime to see who's the best of us. Pudding arms and all. Speaking of shit-for-brains, where is he?" I asked, looking around to see if I could find the fourth member of our little fellowship. "I've only just noticed something," Edryd began, leaving us confused. "Well, I mean, he could be off training, but Irun hasn't been seen in some time by anyone other than you, Batch," Edryd said.
"He tends to run off to study his mistakes after each training session, or so he says. He hasn't really done much else other than that," Batch shrugged.
I looked at Edryd with a raised eyebrow that Batch noticed. "I'm not even going to ask what that was about, but let's get back to the matter of the elf," he said nonchalantly. "Right. Let's examine what we know," I began, preparing my hand to lift each finger as I listed the things we knew.
"He rode all the way from Caegwen to speak to the Master. Bernar has known him for a long time. We've only been back about a week or so since leaving the palace where King Elhael was with members of his council. I didn't see him, but he must have been somewhere near the castle, as it would have taken a much longer time to get here. Am I missing anything?" I asked.
"Well, there was that situation with the ravens, where the Master freaked out for some reason. Maybe they were meant for him?" Batch added. "True, which was rather odd, I mean, it's just a raven or two," Edryd chimed in.
He feigned his ignorance quite well, I thought, releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"Well, a raven could mean a number of things," Batch began. "It could've been someone from the nearby farm, or something similar to that, at least," he said.
I was surprised, to say the least, and gave Ed a quick glance.
That's the same conclusion we had reached before the Master told us of the possibility of a traitor, I thought.
"True. For all we know, it could have just been that. However, it still doesn't explain how quickly he arrived, nor what the actual fuck that elf is doing here, though," I replied. "Well, we won't figure out much if we're just standing around," Edryd said with a wry, suggestive tone, causing Batch and I to raise our eyebrows in surprise.
"You're saying we should eavesdrop on their conversation? You know the Master can practically see through walls, right?" Batch asked. "I know he can, but I can't think of another way we can find out why he's here," Ed shrugged. "So what do you propose, Batch?" I asked, making him grin with obvious malicious intent.