The canoes that made their way up to the little village weren't the normal make. Most of the people here used rafts, lashed together with vines and the like to sail on. Rafts were slow, but had carrying capacity unrivaled by other craft, so they made excellent craft for hunters who needed to carry back their kills, or in our case for travelers who were carrying their stuff.

These boats however were much faster, sleek and cutting through the water like knives. They weren't complex things, mostly just trees cut in half and shaped by stone ax and fine, but it was night and day. The small boats held little in the way of supplies, instead holding armed men, and only men.

Our main problem though was that all of those approaching had the tell-tale glow of aura about them. That meant that each and every one of these men had magic of some form. It didn't mean they were all casters, but it meant that they were all dangerous. The only saving grace about it was that none displayed the shocks of white hair that designated them as an elder.

I stood well back as they landed, after all this wasn't my village. Each of them looked interested in the buzz of activity that had stopped as they came near, younger, weaker elves backing away at speed as the intruders joined them.

One of them, who appeared to be a leader of some form stepped from his boat, a few of the others mimicking his actions. He walked over to one of the rubber craft I'd made for the locals and poked its side several times, eventually earning an echoing *PHONK* noise from the boat.

“Interesting,” the interloper said, loudly enough for everyone around to hear him.

The nominal leader of this village slowly began to approach, she was a caster of some form, but not a particularly powerful one. As she did several of the newcomers' eyes flicked up in recognition, including their leader. He then took the time to look around at the others nearby, clearly looking for auras as I saw recognition when he spotted my little group. The three of us all together made him raise his eyebrows.

“Greetings traveler, what brings you to our village today?” the local leader asked, she was a healer named Effa.

“Ah, you must be the head of this village now? Or is your elder about?” he asked the woman who'd come to see him.

“Unfortunately not, Elder Lysa left some time ago to head towards the cities. As you can see we're planning to follow her shortly.”

“Of course, of course, my apologies where are my manners? My name is Kar, and our benevolent leader Uro has heard of your evacuations. He knows that with the elders leaving as they are your villages are now under threat, and in his kind understanding has sent us to help you on the path to the cities.” As he spoke I could see the men behind him smile, but tighten their stances, ready to fight, and clearly so.

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I wanted to curse, to rage, but I held my peace. It was clear what was going on here, this was a mass kidnapping. Uro knew that people were going to his opposition in large numbers, so he sent people to bring them to him instead, meat for the grinder of his war machine. If the village resisted, or tried to insist they were going to Nora's side instead it was obvious what would happen.

There were ten of them, ten proper magic users, armed and no doubt trained to fight, given the situation probably more skilled than most. Could we beat them in a straight fight? Doubtful, but even if we could there would be losses. Curze and Effa were the only two full magic users from these village others were either too weak to be useful or too young to fight. If we fought, we'd likely lose, and should we win but lose the casters the rest of the group would be left without any answer to real threats.

Chien got close to me while Isha moved just behind. The three of us had seen war before, and both Chien and I had killed our own kind when we defended Atal.

“Boss?” my assistant asked.

“Watch and wait,” I said.

Effa and Kar had a bit of a stare-down, the woman seeming to weigh her options. It dragged on for seconds before she finally spoke.

“I see,” she said noncommittally. “May I have a moment to speak with the leader of one of the other villages joining us? To plan things out.”

“Certainly,” the kidnapper said with a smile. “Take all the time you need. After all, we're in no great rush.”

Effa rushed off to Curze, pulling him away and towards one of the huts nearby. Seeing this Kar slowly walked over to our group, eyebrow quirked.

“Greetings friend,” he said neutrally, seeming to come to some conclusion. “I can't help but notice they didn't consult you? Nor can I help but notice your clothes are different from the people here. Are you perhaps from some village further out?”

“Messengers,” I responded calmly, I didn't like the man, but starting a fight wasn't to my advantage right now. “From far off to report the deaths of Atal and Cino to the local leaders.”

Kar looked at me confused but behind him I head a hiss from one of his companions.

“I... don't know who that is?” he said, looking back toward the other warriors.

“Ancients, both from the north Kar. Uro will want to know, this is terrible news,” the other one confirmed, looking solemn.

It was too, three ancients down in such a short time was unheard of. Two was a tragedy, leaving a whole section of our continent without leadership, but as it stood? Everything in the south was now devoid of the protection that an ancient alone could provide. There was nobody to call for help if another large monster showed up, nobody who might be able to send meaningful aid.

Massive monsters like the one who'd killed the previous leader of the swamps were rare, but not unheard of in this world, and they were counted as something like a natural disaster of incredible proportions. It was like Krakatoa, or the Tunguska event, things happened, but they were rare.

Kar looked at us. “Messengers you are welcome to join us, to tell Uro of your story. As we're headed in that direction already I hope you have no objections?”

I did, and I was already considering ways to deal with him and his men, but that would depend on other things. How did he treat the villagers he was strong-arming into their side? How did he respond to us? It would matter, but what didn't matter was that telling either Uro, or his opposite Nora was already my goal. If these men became a problem... well I'd killed plenty of our own kind before, and I even had a few of the small heating crystals stashed away if I needed them for explosions.

With a nod I assured him it would be fine. Effa and Curze joined us shortly, the latter shooting me looks. They'd spoken briefly, probably to weigh their options, and decided that going with these warriors would be acceptable. It wasn't lost of me though that they'd made that decision because they didn't have a choice.