Stephan woke up with a start. He looked around anxiously. He quickly lost the tension in his body as he saw the three foreign children, Raddo, Liora, and Sariyana, still asleep around his pack.
Stephan wasn't quite sure when he fell asleep last night, but thanked Muryana, God of fortune, that no one robbed him blind. He was also very thankful the children hadn't crept away last night, even if they didn't take anything from him. He felt a stark responsibility for them, and he was going to see it through.
He looked up at the sky to estimate the time and realized it was still fairly early. He went up to Liora and gently shook her to get her up.
"Papus, so si kava?" Asked the girl, still groggy. She got up and looked at Stephan, first in the incoherence of waking up, then the sadness from the night before came back.
“Can you wake the others?” Asked Stephan. “I need to tell you what to do next.”
“We come… with you?” Asked Liora hopefully.
“No,” replied Stephan, feeling a little guilty at the girl'ss crestfallen expression. “I'm going to send you somewhere safe; you should be able to get there by tonight,” Liora got visibly more determined after hearing that.
She slowly got the other two children up. Raddo took a little bit longer to wake up; it seemed trying to be night watch with Stephan took too much out of him. Of course, Stephan also couldn't cut it, but he wasn't going to be telling the children that.
After the children were up, and Liora had explained what they were going to do in their native language, he had them sit in a semicircle In front of him. This was how he learned in the valley from Geoff, with Stephanie and Stefan.
He began the arduous task of explaining what they need to do through Lioras broken understanding of serican and some simple pictograms. The children needed to make it to Targins Forge carrying the ration bag. Once they were there they were to hand whoever they met a letter, which would explain what happened and who sent them.
Hopefully, the people of Targins Forge would either take them in or send them to the Valley. Either way the children should be safe once they made it to Renarions Protection. However, he needed to make sure they were safe on the way as well.
After he was done explaining and was satisfied the older ones understood, he sent the children to pack what they had left into the now-empty ration bag. He pulled Raddo aside and brought him to the other side of the road. There were no people around still, but he still kept his eye on the girls.
“Sa chiro mange?” The boy asked, curious and still a little wary of Stephan. Stephan began to draw in the dirt and, after a couple of minutes, was satisfied. Raddo looked at the work curiously.
Stephan pointed at the shabby man to the left of the series of drawings.
“This,” he began and took out his knife. He then began to mimic the drawings of the knife fighting illustrations he had put to the ground. While they were rather simple it was quite clear what they were showing.
He stopped after completing the maneuver, which was a basic feint into a stab at the crotch or feet. He pointed at Raddo and motioned him to copy him. It took a moment for the boy to understand what Stephan meant, but quickly got out his small knife after understanding. After two times of practicing the movement, Stephan was satisfied that the boy could pull it off fairly confidently; it was a very simple move and didn't need any real precision. He gestured to Raddo to continue practicing and went to check on the girls and write his letter.
“Why Raddo… not me?” Liora asked, staring intently at Stephan as he walked up to her and Sariyana.
“He's the biggest,” responded Stephan simply, “and if he looks like he can handle a knife, people will be less likely to mess with you. I didn't intend to teach him to fight, just to intimidate.” Liora stopped staring at him and started staring at Raddo practicing the maneuver.
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“Of course,” Stephan added, “I won't stop you from learning or practicing it, the instructions are still over there.” Liora walked over to Raddo and began seriously studying the drawings that Stephan had left in the dirt. “Well, I guess that just leaves us.” He turned towards Sariyana. The four or five year-old looked at him curiously.
"Soskay zhutisar amen?” She asked. “Oh. I'm sorry kid, I can't understand you.” He replied pleasantly. He ruffled the girl's hair playfully like his Pa used to do for him. He was glad when the kid seemed to enjoy it. “Now go play with your siblings.” He pointed to the other two children as he said it. Stephan liked being alone when he wrote; the memories of friends sticking their noses in his business too often created that particular habit. Sariyana obediently walked to the other side of the road.
Stephan took out a sheaf of thick paper. He was glad to smell the woody pine scent wafting off of it again after two days of being cut off. He thought for a second after taking out with pen and quill, he never just put pen to page. After a minute of silence he began to write and the world around him disappeared.
“Hey!” A gruff shout broke his concentration. Luckily he was basically done with the letter, but he still looked up in annoyance. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it looked like this was the first traveler group. The apparent head of the group was confronting him.
He was a rather stout and hairy man, potentially a dwarf. He was leading a group of similarly statured and hairy folk who were busy staring at the children on the other side of the road. He was angrily staring down at Stephan.”Are those your kids?!” Said the man pointing at the cowering kids. The kids were also giving the group of dwarfs a defiant look.
“They are currently in my charge, yes.” Replied Stephan calmly. “Harrumph!” the dwarf scoffed, “at least you speak Serican.” That was spoken with a touch of derision “Well tell your brats to stop giving people the stinkeye, almost caused a row with Sella”
“I'm very sorry, sir; I will absolutely have a talk with them.” Stephan had dealt with people like this before. Winfred was very similar, always blaming others for failures of him and his own, and seeking retribution for it too. Sometimes the best way to handle this was just to let it go.
“Hmph!” The dwarf scoffed again, “you better. Come on! Let's go.” after getting what he wanted he stomped off, the rest of the group followed after. Some gave Stephan an apologetic look as they passed.
After they were gone Steohan slid the letter into the rations bag and walked over to the children. Sariyana was fighting back tears, but Raddo and Liora had anger written on their faces.
"Chavorra e guleder!" Spat Raddo looking at the group's back. “One.. shouted us, tried to take knife” Liora tried to explain with clear frustration. "Soskay ni molisardjan?!” Raddo asked Stephan angrily.“Why…you not fight?” translated Liora
“I didn't need to” answered Stephan.
“But… but they wrong!” Shouted Liora, matching Raddo's anger. Stephan sighed and squatted, getting down to the children's level. He looked at them both and began to speak.
“Translate this,” He looked at Liora “Knowing how to fight and being in a fight are two different things.” He waited for Liora to translate for Raddo. “And there's always a loser in a fight, even if I had a greater chance of winning, that is not guaranteed.” He continued. ” Not only was it too dangerous to fight, it wasn't worth fighting. Pride and justice can't feed you or save your life. Unless you are desperate, it's never worth it to escalate.” he waited again for the translation. “That being said, fighting for someone else's desperation is to be commended, just know the cost of doing so. Now get ready to g. I want you to be able to make it to Renarions Protection sometime today.” he got up while Liora relayed the last bit to Raddo. Stephan hoped they got the message loud and clear, he wanted them to fit into Targins Forge.
After that the children were mostly silent as they got their stuff together, occasionally talking to themselves in their language. After they got everything together they went into the center of the road expectantly. Stephan sighed, got his items together and his bag on, and went to meet them. Sariyana hugged him and wouldn't let go. Liora had to pry the kid off.
“Thank you,” said Liora, after prying off a now crying Sariyana and holding her. “P-palikerav tut." Sariyana choked out, still crying. Raddo said nothing but looked at the wood in the direction they had said goodbye to their grandfather in.
Stephan smiled at them but remained silent. He couldn't take them with him, as he needed to increase his pace to get to Cliffgate on time. If he started talking he was sure he was going to change his mind. So he turned and started on his way again. Confident the childre would be fine without him.
It was a good hour after he left them before Stephan realized something was terribly wrong. The only travelers that he'd run into today were the dwarfs. No one had passed him, either from in front of him or behind. The wood had also grown silent, and Stephan couldn't figure out when it became so.
Dread washed over him as he remembered the kids. He turned around to quickly get back to them but stopped cold. There in the road behind him, only tens of feet away, was a wolf bigger than any wolf that Stephan had read about, and its muzzle was clearly bloodied, contrasting sharply with its white fur.
It must have been stalking him. He has no idea how long it was doing that. He backed away slowly. The wolf made no move to follow him, but it kept its obsidian eyes locked with his. Stephan kept walking back, listening for any movement in the woods carefully. Only after he turned a bend did he begin to run.
This must have been what the wolves were waiting for as howls began to pierce the woods all around him. Ten? Fifteen? Stephan found it hard to count as he desperately ran down the road. It was not long before he saw the blood. It was splattered on the trees, the bushes, and the ground in infrequent patterns. He also ran by one or two wolf carcasses with knives sticking out of them.
After five minutes of running Stephan began to wonder if the wolves were just playing with him. The howling hadn't lost any volume. That assumption was quickly discarded as the pile of bodies came into view.
The dwarf group that had been in front of him was now a bloody pile in the center of a small clearing. Wolves were eating from it, every single one the size of a small horse. The smell was overbearing, and the rations Stephan ate last night were quickly on the ground. He collapsed as it happened. The howling inexplicably stopped, and his blood went cold, waiting for the inevitable confrontation with the pack.
“Too much for you?” A voice from in front of the pile broke the horrifying silence. A mass of wolf fur stepped out from in between two feeding wolves. Stephan looked up at the mass, then looked behind him. The path had been blocked by twelve wolves, the large white one staring him down like a piece of meat. Stephan threw up again.