Early the next morning Dawn left the village with a small group of hunters. It was her day to go hunting. Yesterday evening there had been some controversy regarding the dangers of leaving for a hunt when a group of humans was expected to arrive in the vicinity.
The arguments had become pretty heated on both sides, but in the end it had been decided that the hunters would go out, but they were instructed to proceed carefully and stealthily and to return to the village at the first sight of any humans.
Therefore the members of the group were Kharlins who possessed stealth skills and those who had skills to obliterate tracks. The latter were especially prized among the tribes and applied their skills religiously every day to remove all traces of occupation from the area around the village. Even in the wilderness, the village and its inhabitants would hardly have had a chance to remain hidden in the long run without them.
Dawn and Ankou were scouting in different directions. Ankou at the forefront, as he was a master of stealth and even if he were to be seen the presence of a lynx in the region was hardly surprising. Dawn to the left in the direction of the forest. Most Kharlins had higher levels in climbing than her, so they were scouting in the direction of the cliffs and mountains themselves.
Once again it was a stifling hot day and Dawn wished for a thunderstorm and some rain. The heatwave had to break sometime after all. As it was, she was stirring up small dust clouds as she walked through the rocky terrain. It was high time for her to reach the forest. Not only for the shadows that awaited her beneath the trees and would lessen the oppressive heat but also because the ground wasn’t as dry. Her Shadow Play skill was impressive, but didn’t take care of the dust she stirred up while walking on bone-dry ground and any observer with barely a middling amount of perception was bound to wonder about dust clouds rising up from the ground on an absolutely windless day.
Once the group of hunters had reached the forest, she let out a sigh of relief. Though dangers lurked in every terrain, at least they weren’t as exposed here between the trees.
They rapidly proceeded in the direction of the small creek as they had the greatest chance to find some prey near the water and Severn was eager to catch some trout with his new fishing line.
From the tracks in the vicinity they deduced that some deer must have wandered by in the early morning and the Kharlins were eager to bring one of them down. After a short argument it was decided that most of the Kharlins would follow the tracks and Dawn and Ankou were to stay at the creek and fish together with Severn.
Dermo warned them to keep a sharp lookout for beasts and men and vanished with the other three hunters among the trees.
“Why do I get the impression that they were only too glad to leave me behind?” Dawn asked plaintively after they were gone.
“They trusted you to keep watch over me, didn’t they?” Severn said without taking his eyes away from his fishing line.
“And with your bow skill you’d hardly be a help in the hunt for a deer.” He added placidly.
Though she had to admit to herself that he was right, Dawn still was disgruntled at being left behind. She had gotten into the habit of deciding things for herself during her time on her own.
But if she wanted to be part of the village and the tribe she needed to get used to taking orders again, she supposed.
Still, it rankled a bit. She took out her fishing line and hunted under a few rocks for worms. Then she sat down on a big rock and fished. After a while the peaceful burbling of the stream calmed her down and she began to enjoy herself.
The trout were biting eagerly and together with Severn she caught half a dozen in the course of an hour. Dawn had gutted the lot and promptly stowed them in her ring. Ankou was pretty successful with his fishing as well, but had eaten most of his catch then and there. Now, he lay on a sunny patch of ground near the water lazily, surveying his surroundings through half-closed eyes. As she cast out her line once again Dawn asked: ”Shouldn’t the others have come back by now?”
Severn leaned back on his elbow and shrugged, a picture of serenity. “It all depends on the deer. They might have to travel quite a distance until they find them after all.”
They spent two more hours fishing and Dawn was decidedly disquieted by then. But finally the other hunters returned, obviously elated and carrying a dead deer on a long pole between them.
Dawn sprang up and ran over to them. The hunters set the deer down on the ground and she stowed it away in her ring too. The Kharlins had quickly seen the advantages of Dawn’s storage and were not shy in making use of it when Dawn accompanied them.
In a heightened mood the group proceeded in the direction of home. The others had had to track the deer for quite a while until they had located the small herd. Their success together with the trout Severn and Dawn had caught, meant that the village would have enough fresh food for a while and they hadn’t even sighted any beast during their hunt.
They all were in high spirits accordingly and Dermo finally had to admonish the group to keep quiet and not forget the dangers that might lurk around here. And as they reached the edges of the forested area, his caution bore out.
Ankou had just left the trees when he froze, his ears flicking nervously for a moment.
Then he turned and told Dawn.
[Humans are coming.]
She froze in her turn and signaled to the Kharlins to keep quiet and hide themselves. Then she dropped into stealth and crept forward. It took her a while, but finally she noticed movement at the edges of her perception. A moment later the distant sound of hooves reached her.
She retreated back under the protection of the trees. “A group of riders approaches.” She whispered.
“We have to stay here until they have passed us.”
Urgently she called out to Ankou with her thoughts.
[Come back!]
But the cat ignored her with impunity, ran out into the open and finally climbed up a cliff to reach a better vantage point.
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Dawn could feel that he was entirely unconcerned and she had to admit that even with her high perception she had difficulties to make out the silvergrey fur of the lynx amid the rocks.
The sound of hooves grew louder but before the group reached them, Dawn could make out a veiled presence in the vanguard that passed their hiding spot.
‘So, that’s how it looks like when you notice someone using a stealth skill.' She thought to herself. Though the man was indistinct and blurred at the edges to her gaze, she had no difficulties in following his advance. He was carrying a bow over his shoulder and a sword hung in a scabbard on his belt. The man had brown hair that was cropped short and a full beard and was wearing leather trousers and a roughspun greygreen shirt. She couldn’t make out the the details of his face underneath his skill.
Another ranger, most likely, but not one she had met before.
The group of riders that followed him consisted of soldiers or guards in well-used armor, collectively armed with swords. Some had shields fastened to their saddles as well, and the ones riding in the rear had slung bows over their shoulders. Dawn counted more than thirty soldiers. On the forefront rode a huge man in heavy armor on a glossy brown warhorse. He wore a scale mail tunic, a helmet with a red plume and carried the largest sword Dawn had ever seen on his back. Fastened to his saddle was a huge shield decorated with the symbol of the five gods, an open hand with a fivepointed star on its palm.
Could that be a devotee? Dawn had heard of such men in stories, chosen of the gods who combined outstanding martial prowess with the faithborn battle magic of the Warrior.
Her gaze stuck to him in awe. They had sent out a hero of the temple to fight against the demons. Surely none of them could stand against such a man. Not even the queen. His mere presence seemed to radiate calm and protection and he reminded her of Nuala in that regard.
Such was her fascination with him that she almost missed the greyclad figure of a woman that was riding in the midst of the group. She was puzzled to see her among the soldiers. After all, Dawn knew only too well the general opinion of woman fighters and would not have expected the soldiers to bring one along with them. As she sized up the woman, she saw that her simple dress was decorated at the front with a large dark red oval that tapered off on the upside. It almost reminded her of a drop of blood.
Then she remembered something Teren and Grinna had told her when they had first arrived in Atelang. They had advised her to keep quiet about her healing abilities, otherwise she might find herself forcefully recruited for the order of the healing sisters. Could that woman be one of them?
She was riding among the solders in silence, her lean worn face expressionless. She had put up her long grey hair in a severe knot at the back of her head and wore no ornamentations or weapons at all.
Dawn would have loved to get to know her, to compare notes about their skills and their methods of healing.
Sadly, she was forced to stay hidden and wouldn’t have the chance.
They stayed under the protection of the trees until the group had passed them by and watched their progress down the mountain range for a while. At last, Dawn could make out a blurred spot out in the open that trailed the party. Apparently the soldiers had sent out a rearguard as well. She concentrated on the presence but this one was a lot more difficult to see through. At last, she was able to make out that the person had black hair and carried a sword with a very familiar looking hilt.
“Nathan!” she hissed softly and at once the blur paused, then started up once more in her direction. Once he had nearly reached the trees, Dawn let got of her stealth to the visible consternation of Dermo, who nevertheless was forced to keep quiet in order to not attract unwelcome attraction himself.
The ranger didn’t enter the forest and kept up his stealth as he stopped nearby.
“Be careful, Dawn.” He whispered. “There’s another ranger accompanying the group and you don’t want him to notice you. Ricano is one of Madden’s sycophants and a tattletale to boot.”
“I’ve seen him in the front,” she whispered back.
“Is that huge man riding in the front a devotee? And the woman with the soldiers, is she a healing sister?”
“Yes and yes.” Amusement infused Nathan’s whisper. Then he added: “I can’t stay here any longer or I might draw attention. Keep to the village for the next days. We’re traveling to the gorge today and will camp at the entry tonight.”
“Good luck. See that you come back alive.” Dawn urged him, then watched as his blurry figure continued on.
“You shouldn’t have called him over.” Dermo scolded her in a whisper, his ears half-flattened and his expression fiercely disapproving, as soon as the last sounds of the party had died away in the distance.
“You endangered us all with it. There might easily have been another scout with them that you didn’t notice.”
“But I could see them,” Dawn protested softly.
“You cannot be absolutely sure that you’ll perceive everyone under stealth. If their skill is high enough they’ll evade even your sight. You were lucky this time but that might not always be the case.”
They trailed the group through the stirred up dust that took its sweet time in settling down again. The soldiers had turned to the left before they reached the surroundings of the village and the group had halted a distance downwards and sttled down for a rest, setting up a soldier as a lookout in every direction.
It was unfortunate for the hunters. They would have to wait here for a while and keep hidden in the shadows of the rock face in order to avoid their attention. Then Dawn saw movement from the direction of the village and frowned. Surely the Kharlins had already noted the presence of the soldiers and wouldn’t leave their cave. But then, with a feeling of foreboding, she recognized the two sand coloured furballs. Apparently, the cubs had given Verene the slip and were trundling along in the open without a care in the world.
[Ankou! The cubs!] she sent urgently to the lynx, though she didn’t know herself what she wanted him to do.
Maybe the soldiers wouldn’t care about the cubs and leave them alone?
But she had hardly finished the thought, when one of the lookouts noticed the movement and shot an arrow at the cub in the front without further ado.
Chaos let out a high-pitched shriek and fell down.
Dawn almost let out a shriek of her own when she saw him fall and heard Ankou’s distressed yowl in the distance. She clapped her hands to her mouth and stood like paralyzed for a long moment.
The soldiers in the meantime had collectively leapt up and were milling around in search of enemies without finding any.
Echo had ducked down behind a rock after Chaos had been struck and Chaos still lay motionlessly on the spot where he had fallen.
Through her own shock, Dawn could feel Ankou’s rage and despair clearly. She sensed that the lynx was convinced that Chaos had been killed.
“Order!” commanded the devotee loudly, and the soldiers quietened down.
“What did you shoot, Milton? I can’t see anything.” He asked after he had peered around.
“There was something moving out in the open, maybe it was one of these demons.” The soldier answered nervously.
“Your demon was a simple lynx cub.” Nathan corrected the man harshly, his face grim.
“And now we may have to be on the lookout for its enraged mother.” He added, disgruntled.
The devotee sat down again. “Well, if that is all.” He said unconcerned and added im rebuke.
“The next time hold your arrow until you can see what you are shooting at, Milton.”
Dawn pulled herself together and started to move, but Dermo who had been standing next to her all the time, got hold of her shoulder even though he could not see her.
“Stay here! The cub’s dead and they might notice you if you move.” he commanded in a whisper.
But Dawn broke free of him and just ran. She kept Shadow Play up but didn’t care about moving carefully. She had to get to Chaos, she had to heal him. That was the only thing on her mind.