Oresus and Emokha might have been broken physically, but not otherwise. Oresus gave off fear and misery and anger, but never despair. He just lived day to day, never giving up, always trying. And he had a sort of quiet steadiness and competence that was more useful than it seemed. He’d gotten along with almost everyone in the camp, and so he was caught up on the most recent news.

“T-this is a g-good time. L-laukis t-took the army out on c-campaign. A b-big one.”

“I didn’t know. All I could tell was that Tojas and a lot of other people were gone.” Gloe had prioritized regenerating a few front teeth and his tongue. His words still slurred awkwardly, but at least he could be readily understood now.”

“L-lucky then. L-laukis has a feud with the S-sky S-sage. M-most t-troops there.”

The duchy was to the west, but fortunately the plan called for them to head north. Emokha’s people made their homes in the forests there. They had been traveling for over a week and had managed to avoid or outrun any demons in their path.

Or more specifically outleap. Gloe had been touched to be invited to join their escape plan, crippled as he was. Truth be told it was also very useful, given that he had almost no knowledge of the geography of demon country.

Where he had balked was at their plan to hide by day and sneak by night. It had been difficult to communicate his objections, impaired as he had been. After all preparation was done he had clumsily managed to secure a net around his shoulders, with a clean stolen sheet draped over it for cover. Then through gestures he had managed to get both his newfound compatriots to seize hold of the net.

They had been shocked at the speed and distance he managed to achieve in a one-legged leap, even with both of them as passengers, awkwardly clinging to his small frame. What had really caught them off-guard though was the fact that he didn’t stop. He was able to chain leaps continuously, reaching and maintaining a pace equivalent to a man sprinting.

It was hard on the passengers, but they’d eventually accepted it. Once Gloe could speak he’d argued for a mix of speed and stealth to see them through. None of them had any real knowledge of how the demons might try to track them, so they needed to get out of demon territory fast. Using his ability in a cone Gloe could scan all around them, avoiding demons while staying on pace. Now they were almost to the forest, so they’d stopped and were approaching more slowly. There were demons ahead, but not for a ways, so it was relatively safe to scout out the lay of the land. Emokha hadn’t been home in a long time.

She was not happy with what she saw. “Those pestilent bastards! Those ravaging harridans! Those absolute barbarians!”

“W-what’s w-wrong? The f-forest l-looks okay.”

“Okhay? Okhay?! Lookh at what they’ve done to our beautiful home! They stopped doing khontrolled burns! They haven’t been thinning the undergrowth! Look at all the invasive species! Look at all the forest giants rotting in place!”

Gloe held up a hand. “I don’t understand, and I’d like to, but it’ll have to wait until we’re in motion. Does this mean your people probably aren’t here?”

“Yesssss” she hissed reluctantly. “None of our Associations would have permitted the forest to fall into such a state. They must have retreated further north.” She calmed slightly, considering. “I am not familiar with that area. Will not be able to readily find message markings. It will be diffikhult to find an Association that knows me. Others will not takhe it well if I arrive with demons on my trail. We need a new plan.”

“Do you have a back-up?”

“N-no. I’m not important enough to know a-anyone who could h-help us. Emokha w-was our o-only chance.”

Gloe pondered for a moment. “Assuming I’m correctly understanding the geography I might know someplace we could go. It would be dangerous, but I think I could get us through. We would slow down substantially though. Do you think someone will be on our trail?”

“Y-yes. Eventually. They l-liked to b-bring back the corpses of escaped p-prisoners.”

“Often it tookh qhuite some time though.”

“Ah. Well, I spent some time in the deep wyld. I think it’s west of here. We could try to lose them there.”

Emokha and Oresus looked at each-other, communicating with facial and hand gestures. It was obviously a skill they’d hone in captivity. After a bit they both nodded. “W-we’ll t-take our chances.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

...

“S-so the Viluota d-don’t try to protect the forest as it is?”

“Of khourse not. We’re kharetakhers, not barbarians. In its natural state the forest khould fall apart. Nature doesn’t khare if there’s a forest there. Massive fires, soil run-off, blight and so on are all natural. We make sure there will be a forest there for future generations to enjoy.”

“And that means doing controlled burns, clearing out certain plants and the like?”

“And harvesting. We’re exhporters of lumber and many magical khomponents. By making the forest our livelihood we ensure future generations have a strong incentive to also akht as kharetakhers. We plant seeds to replace what we takhe, and since we enkhourage tourism we try to maintain a natural feel without letting things get out of khontrol.”

“Fascinating.”

“I thought the V-Viluota were f-fierce raiders. S-sorry.”

“We used to be. We still are dangerous natural warriors, but we have learned to harness and channel our savage instincts. Some of our khin remain barbarians, but the Associations have risen above that. We no longer oppress our men, no longer raise our daughters to be hellions. Although we retain a somewhat nomadikh life it is in within well-defined boundaries. We still mount vigorous reprisals for khrimes committed against us, but we no longer pillage as a profession.”

“It sounds like this is important to you.”

“Yes. This is a savage world. I am proud to belong to a people and khreed that makhe an effort to change that.”

There was silence for a bit. “That s-sounds nice. I often w-wish I hadn’t been born an a-a-aberration. Then I c-could have stayed with my f-family.”

“Most khingdoms exhercise khomplete khontrol over those with powers. I’m sorry.”

“A little detail left out of the bazaar” Gloe mutter grimly.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. I’ve got bad news. You see that dust cloud back there?”

“N-no.”

“No.”

“I guess I have better eyesight then, sorry. Anyway, it’s been behind us a while now. The good news is I adjusted course slightly and it didn’t react immediately. The bad news is it did adjust when it reached the point where I diverted. A group of something is following us, probably tracking by footprints or smell or something.”

“Khan we lose them in the deep wyld?

...

The deep wyld was dangerous. Gloe had known that. Hell, he’d bled more blood there than his body could contain at one given time. When last he’d been in the deep wyld though, he’d been much lower level. Had no idea what shroud was, and little to none himself. Certainly couldn’t detect it. All that had changed now though, in addition to the many sensory upgrades he’d gotten through leveling up. He saw the woods through new eyes now. Literally, as it happened. Coincidentally he’d lost and regenerated both in the intervening period.

So now he knew. The deep wyld was insanely dangerous, and he was certifiably nuts to have ever made his home there. There were all sorts of monsters here that he had never detected before, and even now he couldn’t actually track them as they moved. Before he had thought some of the more obviously hazardous beasts were death. Now he could tell that they were walking catastrophes, more than capable of wiping someplace like Tranche off the map in an hour.

Worse, some of these creatures were far more intelligent than he’d given them credit for. As a tiny, powerless human he’d been beneath their notice. Now he was a shroud-wrapped snack. They had at least some idea what life energy and such were, and they actively sought more of it. Gloe had never run so far and so fast in his entire life.

The only bright spot was that Gloe seemed to have accidentally hit the sweet spot. He was just enhanced enough that he could detect and avoid or outrun the (relatively) weaker predators, and just weak enough that he wasn’t worth the effort for the more powerful ones. Through continuous, cautious movement and unsleeping vigilance he’d managed to keep them alive so far.

In avoiding peril though, he’d inadvertently blazed a semi-safe trail for their pursuers to follow. While he skulked and dodged around they fearlessly spurred forward. They had steadily gained ground and were now hot on the trio’s trail.

They still didn’t know the exact composition of the hunting party, but once they’d come within Gloe’s ability detection range he’d been able to hastily scan them before returning to constant searching for danger ahead. His best guess was that there were several score enemies, mostly consisting of demonlings with a few demons thrown in. Further composition was unclear, but he was assuming there were at least a pair of C-Types for each score or so, more likely a pair of grapplers. He certainly wouldn’t have entered the deep wyld with less, and that was before he rediscovered its dangers.

They couldn’t turn and fight. If Gloe even moderately injured one of his legs their ability to evade the forest monsters would be gone, and demonlings didn’t give out enough in the way of pain or emotion to allow him to regenerate rapidly. He could get some from Oresus, and despite her outward calm Emokha was filled with rage, but that wouldn’t be enough to save them in the short-term.

So they’d drawn up a similar but different plan. It was dangerous, something of an all-or-nothing gamble. Story of his life. Or at least, story of a life. “This looks pretty good.”

“Agreed. A fine khilling ground. How long will you need us to hold?”

“From contact?” Gloe looked out into the distance. “I’d guess seven minutes. If all goes to plan.”

“That is a long time.”

“It i-is.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t think we’ll find a better spot…”

“Merely stating a fakht” she broke in. “Live or die, we will be free.”

“F-free.”

“Free.” Gloe grinned. “Be back in a bit.” He ran up a tree and vanished.

“He is a strange man. Fey almost.”

“Y-yes. H-hard f-for me to like, exactly. B-but I trust h-him. N-not sure w-why.”

“My people have learned that someone need not be your best friend to be a valued Associate. We shall see shortly how relevant this knowledge is.”

“We can try.”