Symphonic Odyssey
: Vol. One: Servant of a Hopeless Household: Verse Seventeen

The men Cypher found himself traveling with were laid back and quite boisterous. They drank and laughed and carried on like they hadn’t a care in the world. Perhaps it was because Cypher was taking this mission so seriously, but he felt as though they weren’t quite the proper fit for a task like this.

Richmond was the jokester of the group. He was constantly telling crude jokes that had the other men holding their sides and laughing heartily. It made getting through lunch somewhat of a chore since wine and bits of food would go flying as they laughed. It was gross, but even Cypher found himself smiling from time to time at one of the man’s poorly worded jokes.

He was lanky but well-defined. He couldn’t have been much older than forty, but he still had a youthful appearance despite the gray streaks that were starting to work their way through his dark hair. He wore the standard of the guards from the Galvan mansion just like the rest of their party, and he seemed to at least wear it quite well. He kept himself much neater than the other two guards, keeping his bow and quiver by his side at all times.

Tym was more of a mess than Richmond, but he was a somewhat more serious man overall. However, that really only applied to his general attitude. His jerkin was wrinkled and loose-fitting, his dark red hair was messy and unkempt, and despite the fact that he was always on the lookout, he seemed to take things as they came. His serious outlook was likely only a front since he still laughed at every one of Richmond’s jokes.

The two were similarly aged, but where Richmond favored the bow, Tym was a fellow swordsman like Cypher. He carried his aged sword on his right hip, its scabbard well worn with time. Still, despite the mess of a man that Tym was, it was clear that he at least kept up the maintenance of his weapon. Honestly, it was hard for Cypher to pin down what Tym was all about. Part of him thought the man to be a stern kind of person, while his mannerisms depicted something entirely different.

Agnad though was everything that Cypher had initially thought of him. At least, on the surface. He was large and carried his massive gut without concern for the thoughts of others. If Cypher had met him at any other time or place he would never have been able to guess that he was a guard of anything other than the sweets box.

Agnad had a musky smell to him when not masked by the scent of alcohol, and he did nothing to reign in his wild black beard. As for his attitude, it was quite hedonistic. The man was always eating or drinking something and didn’t really hold an air of composure at all. Where most guards, even Richmond and Tym, would have some regal bearing to them befitting their station, Agnad simply existed. He was closer to a commoner than a guard for a noble family as far as Cypher was concerned.

To call him lazy would be a fair assessment of Agnad. He would take a seat at any available moment and let out a long-winded sigh of comfort. However, laziness didn’t quite fit the bill entirely. There was something, at least to Cypher’s eyes, hiding just beneath the surface of his gross outer layer. Although picking out what that something was, was an entirely different story.

All told, no matter how ragged the group looked as a whole, the three of them seemed to be quite a good team. They were seasoned guards who had seen many things in their time serving the Galvan family, and they worked well together. Even he could see that. Cypher wasn’t so foolish as to think that Galex kept them around for no reason. However, what that reason was he could never guess. Perhaps their true merits would shine through during this mission but Cypher highly doubted it.

As far as he was concerned this was simply busy work. Something to keep him occupied and out of the way during the Celebration of the Sun. Always the outlier, it was no surprise to Cypher that the Galvans had found a new way to get him out of the picture during such a time. It was normal and he was used to being hidden away whenever guests visited the mansion.

Cypher’s thoughts were once again interrupted as Richmond began another one of his off-color jokes. “What does the sign on an out-of-business brothel say?” he asked, his eyebrow raising slightly as he filled his bowl with another helping of the stew they had made.

Agnad cocked his head and rubbed his chin, “I dunno, what?” he asked.

“Beat it, we’re closed!” replied Richmond with a crude smile.

The three men burst into raucous laughter and Agnad spilled a bit of his drink from the cup he was holding as his belly bounced. Cypher smiled nervously as the three men laughed. He wasn’t sure what made the joke so funny but it was exactly this type of humor that Richmond regularly doled out.

Their little break had run for an hour already and the carriage drivers were silently urging them to continue on to their destination. Even Cypher felt a little uneasy just sitting around when they needed to be somewhere. Gett was still quite a distance away and although they were making good time, it wouldn’t matter if they lingered here for much longer.

Of course, given that Cypher saw this trip as simple busy work, he wasn’t too eager to return to the stuffy old mansion the Galvan’s called home. It was nice being out in nature like this and if it meant putting up with more of Richmond’s bad jokes he was willing to endure it for a while longer.

Eventually, the group did pack up and leave. But that was only after another hour of drinking, eating, and telling terrible jokes. They even took their time packing up the camp and extinguishing the fire. Despite Cypher feeling less than happy about their current job he was still eager to arrive at Gett and see how regular people lived their lives.

“How much longer until we arrive?” Cypher asked Agnad as the man climbed slowly into his carriage.

“Eh, it’ll be about another few hours I reckon. We aren’t too far out now so we should be there before sundown. Don’t you worry about a thing boy, we’ll arrive when we arrive. For now, you just climb yourself back into that carriage and enjoy the ride. We’ll have plenty to keep you busy once we get where we’re going.” Agnad was short and curt about his answer but it was at least something Cypher could work with.

Much like returning to the mansion, being cooped up in his carriage with little to no legroom wasn’t something he was eager to return to. But if it was only going to be another few hours he could endure it without too much trouble or fuss. Tym had given him a small wooden puzzle ring to play with during lunch and Cypher found it to be much more difficult to solve than he first thought.

It was more surprising that the man had even offered him something like that to begin with, although he didn’t personally peg Tym to be a dullard by any means. It was just a surprise to see someone offer him something to amuse himself with rather than treat him with cold disdain or indifference.

Within a few more minutes they were once again rolling through the forest, and Cypher busied himself with the puzzle ring as the wheels of his carriage rolled along the worn and beaten road.