Missteps V.2

Chapter 20 – Alone

"Note to self: next time you go running off in the spur of the moment to save your stupid ex-non-boyfriend; GRAB YOUR PACK." Lia groaned and ran a hand down her face while she stood in the middle of the woods, with no idea where she was. Her dire wolf form had covered a lot of distance in very little time, as she'd followed the sulfur-sea scent of Iados. However, after an hour the form had dissipated. "How could they have covered so much ground so quickly?" She headed off on foot in the general direction she'd been going as a wolf. She soon got her answer.

Past the next copse of trees, was a river. It didn't take an expert to see the deep tracks embedded in the soft earth, tracks that led towards the water. Lia spent about an hour on the riverbed, resting and scouring the ground for clues as to which way the bandits might have gone. Eventually, she came to a conclusion: she sucked at tracking. Give her a plant or an animal and she could probably identify it. Tell her track, or to read broken branches and weird holes in the ground without magic and she was useless. The current was pretty strong, so if they used a boat or something they probably went downstream, rather than fighting it to go upstream.

Unless they were intentionally trying not to be followed, in which they could try to confuse their pursuers by taking the risk to go upstream. They go up stream, and whoever is following them goes downstream.

On the other hand they do have a few wagons that they took from the caravan and a lot of goods, so they're probably erring on the side of convenience. Therefore they'd just go downstream.

They also could have just crossed the river and continued on the other side.

Lia groaned and buried her head in her knees.

"I might as well just flip a coin," She muttered. "But I don't have any coin, it's all back at the inn…" She sighed again. Her brother was right, she really wasn't equipped to travel alone.

When she'd first travelled from Stonepine, her Uncle Himo had made all the travel arrangements. All she'd had to do was sit in the back of a wagon while it took her to Rocklyn. He'd even made arrangements for the same caravan to bring her back, but she'd turned them down. She didn't want to go home, not until she knew what to say. Hell, if she couldn't even bring herself to write her Uncle a letter than how was she supposed to face him?

She let herself wallow for another moment, before she stood up and found a rock with a divot on one side. "Smooth side, upstream." She told herself softly as she flipped the rock up. The small stone did a few turns before landing at her feet, the divot staring up at her.

"Alright then, downstream. Probably the best choice actually." She started off downstream, following the river. Even she could see that she only had a few hours of daylight left. It was still early afternoon when she'd headed out, but time passed quickly in the forest.

The hike through the forest was more or less uneventful, and actually kind of relaxing. It gave her a chance to think about what had sent her away from home. Out here, there weren't really any distractions. Carric or Jun might have said differently, but she was able to relax in her relative obliviousness.

She did worry about Iados, but the fact that he was taken and not killed seemed like a good sign. She couldn't imagine that pirates and bandits were that different of groups, so he might have convinced them to let him join. Lia gave a small laugh.

"That's right, he doesn't need your help, so why'd you run out?" She snorted, but she knew why. She had feelings for him, and she'd always been one to act on her feelings rather than think things out. As her Uncle had put it, she acted more on instinct and gut reaction than logic.

Not that that was a bad thing. She'd been trained to listen to her instincts, to that part of herself that was in touch with the world around her. It was the reason why she could transform into a dire wolf, while others at her level could only be a cat or a dog. At least, she thought it was. So much of what she'd learned had been theory and lessons for the future for when she'd be stronger.

She felt stronger out here, with her group, than she had at the Sanctum.

There, she was Himo's niece. The girl he'd taken in out of pity. Lia knew that he actually did care for her, a lot, but she couldn't change the whispers in the halls. Trying to find an identity for herself in that place just wasn't possible. It became even more impossible after she'd seen what was behind that hidden door.

Out here, she was stronger. Out here she felt more connected to the world around her than in the forests of her youth. Out here she was free. Out here….she was lost.

She wasn't aware of how long she'd been walking, but it must have been several hours. Shadows had begun to grow longer while she'd been lost in her thoughts. Night was probably an hour, hour and a half away.

Her stomach grumbled and reminded her that it'd been a while since breakfast, and the caravan commotion had insured she'd had no lunch. She took a few minutes to scout the area around her, and found some foliage along the riverbank that was quite delicious.

Her thoughts next went to where she could camp for the night. Even though the dark didn't bother her, she was still wary of the creatures that came with it. Unfortunately she was in an area where the tree branches started six feet in the air, and the undergrowth was sparse. Autumn was also quickly descending on the area, so everything green was nearly gone. Not to mention that she could already feel the temperature dropping several degrees compared to earlies in the day.

Traveling farther into the forest away from the river, she searched for a copse of bushes or a hidden cave, something that would offer safety and shelter.

What she found instead, was a band of goblins. There were about four of them, with two of them pulling a small covered cart.

Lia looked around her, nervous energy coursing through her. She needed to hide, as fighting didn't seem to be her best option. There was a large tree close by, with branches still full of leaves. She sprinted over and began to climb. At first the bark just came off in her hand, and the nearest branch was a couple of feet above her. Eventually she found a spot that was stable enough and she was able to reach up and grab the branch. The next challenge was pulling herself up.

She could hear the goblin's talking amongst themselves in their language as they got closer. She really wished that she'd learned goblin instead of celestial.

She managed to haul herself up, but just barely. The goblin band was close enough now that she dared not move. She hugged the branch and prayed that the goblins didn't look up.

The small band moved right under Lia's hiding spot, seemingly towards the river she'd left behind. A goblin with a pierced ear happened to look up as he yawned. As he did, he made eye contact with Lia. Time seemed to stand still for a moment as Lia watched the goblin's eyes go wide in recognition and he yelled out.

Lia tried to sit up on the branch, preparing to bolt, somehow. As she moved, she heard a crack. Before she could even turn around and look, the branch broke underneath her.

Lia hit the ground, and the goblin, with a heavy thud. She landed on her right arm with a loud crunch. A wave of pain started to radiate out from her upper arm and she saw spots.

Around her the goblins pulled out their scimitars, with the exception of the goblin who'd broken her fall. That one was no longer moving.

Lia stretched out her hand towards the nearest goblin and with a pain-filled word summoned a noxious gas cloud. The cloud surrounded the goblin, and it began to hack and cough. The other goblins all took a swing at her, with only one of them managing to hit.

Every fiber in Lia's being told her to run, and she listened. Pushing past the pain, she transformed into her dire wolf form. Her arm, now a furry leg, was still in pain as she rolled over and shakily got into a standing position. She let out a snarl towards the goblins around her.

The two goblins who'd been pulling the cart had already backed up upon seeing a dire wolf now in front of them. As the snarl hit their ears, they grabbed their cart and began pushing it back the way they'd come. The third goblin, stared Lia down for a second before it cursed in goblin and left to follow the other two.

I cannot believe that worked. Lia thought to herself as she watched the goblins disappear into the foliage. Using her sense of smell, she made sure that they were indeed leaving. Not wanting to risk them coming back, Lia left the area in the opposite direction.

She limped back towards the river and continued on downstream. Almost an hour later, she came across a thick clump of bushes. Crawling inside she was greeted with a soft bed of moss. She transformed back into Lia and just laid there. Using her fingers, she lightly traced over her arm, grimacing when she touched a sensitive spot. Looking over, she suddenly wasn't so thankful for her superior night vision. She'd been taught some medicinal skills, but you didn't need any kind of lessons to see that her arm was out of alignment.

She knew what she should do, she should splint her arm so that the bone could realign. At that moment though, all she wanted to do was sleep. The adrenaline of the encounter was gone, and she hurt.

Lia passed out before she had another thought.

When she awoke, the sun was high in the sky and the air was filled with the chirping of birds.

She felt weak, but alive. Sitting up was painful, and when she used her left arm to push herself up, she was rudely reminded of the long gash along her forearm given to her by the goblin the night before.

Concentrating, she reached out for the magic of nature beneath her. Usually she'd refill the store of magic within her by drawing from the earth itself. Now though she was in too much pain to concentrate fully. She did manage to extract some energy though, enough for maybe two spells.

She cast a small healing spell on herself, and sighed in slight relief as the gash on her arm healed up and she felt strength return to her body. Her arm however, was still broken.

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One of the first things she'd learned about healing magic, was that most of the spells worked by speeding up the body's own natural healing process. Gashes being closed up and tired muscles being rejuvenated are the most common forms. Larger injuries such as broken bones that have to be set, or conditions such as being poisoned or blinded required the use of stronger spells. Those kinds of magic worked outside the body's healing process, instead of just speeding it up.

Turning her attention to the broken arm, she was not enthused by the dark discoloration all over the skin. Most of the darkness came from deep bruises. The injury was also swollen, making it nearly impossible to assess how out of line the bone was. It would do no good to splint the injury until the swelling went down.

Awkwardly, she tore a length of cloth off the bottom of her skirt and fashioned a rough sling.

She emerged Emerging from the bushes, stopped, and drank heavily from the cool river. The bank was full of edible plants, and Lia partook ravenously. While foraging, she found some plants to make a paste and spread it on her arm. If she was right, the paste should help calm the swelling and soothe the bruises.

She briefly wondered if she should transform into an animal for again, but the sudden remembrance that her arm was still broken last time she did negated the thought. Last thing she needed was to exacerbate her wound. She did however need to get some distance between her and those goblins. She wasn't that confident that the same trick would work a second time.

With a wince of pain, she started off downstream once again. The going was slow, with her arm pulsing in pain the whole time. She was tempted to use another healing spell, if only to try to alleviate the pain. The memory of the fight last night though convinced her to save her magic. Just in case she ran into them again.

She had no destination as she walked. She just hoped that she'd run into something. A village, maybe some of the bandits she'd tried to follow. A fellow druid out here in nature would be great.

Her thoughts today were only concerned on walking and concentrating on where she was going lest she fall. Today she embodied the mentality of Carric and Jun and kept her eyes open for any threats.

That night she found another bush and moss location and had an uneventful night.

The next morning, she was happy to discover that the swelling in her arm had finally gone down. Before she did anything else, she was going to set her arm. The sooner she could set it, the sooner it could begin to heal. Once set it would heal quickly with some magical aid.

She'd only just begun her search for a suitable branch she could use to splint her arm, when she triggered the trap. Suddenly she felt her weight drop, then lift as she was ensnared in a net. The sudden force caused her to cry out in pain as her arm was painfully jostled and brushed against the rough netting.

She was only a few feet off the ground, but the way the net cradled her made it almost impossible to move without a wave of pain radiating out from the break.

"Help!" Lia yelled. "I'm stuck in a net! Please help me!" Her voice shook as she yelled out and panic began to sink in. Being injured in the woods, she could deal with. Being trapped in a net without an obvious way out, was not something she wanted to deal with. "If this is your net, please let me out!"

After an hour of yelling to no avail, Lia turned her mind to what she could do magically to get herself out of the net. She could try to summon an ice sliver, but the problem was that the spell would only allow her to fling the weapon, not hold and saw with it. She finally decided that a concussive force of energy was possibly her best bet.

Closing her eyes, she reached out into the air around her, specifically towards the clouds she'd seen through the canopy. Like a spinster coaxing thread out of a spinning wheel, she coaxed out a thread of sparkling energy. She wound this thread around and around her fist, the air crackling from the concentrated energy. Finally she could find no more. She lifted up her vibrating fist towards the main rope holding her cage together, and released the magic.

The energy burst out and let loose a shockwave of energy. A loud boom resonated across the clearing.

It didn't work. Lia yelled out in frustration and kicked the net.

The motion was enough for the frayed rope beneath her to snap, and she hit the ground. Her injured arm got tangled in the net on the way down. Lia barely registered the pain before it caused her to black out.

"Is she dead?" A rough, slightly feminine voice drifted through the haze of Lia's hearing. With a small groan she forced herself to open her eyes.

"Not yet it seems." This time the voice was masculine.

Lia opened her eyes, blinking a few times against the sunlight above her. Standing over her were two figures. One was a male, light-skinned, with gray hair that was pulled back into a ponytail but with prominent sideburns that framed his face. Concern graced his features. The other figure was significantly more youthful-looking, though Lia couldn't be sure if her dark skin had anything to do with it. She seemed to be bald, but her attention was drawn to the woman's large incisors that stuck out of her mouth.

Lia tried to sit up, but the man gently but forcefully stopped her. "Take it easy, we're still making sure you're not going to die on us." He smiled and turned his attention to examining her arm.

"She alive?" A new voice said. Lia turned to look and was confronted with two more figures, the first a purple-skinned akudaem and the second a dark-skinned elf. For a moment Lia thought the akudaem might have been Iados, but that hope was lost as she caught sight of the tail. "Kils says she is, though she's not really talking." The half-orc stood up, and the elf quietly took her place.

"Are you alright?" The elf, whose blue hair was cut short, asked in Elvish. Lia nodded. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was looking for my friend." Lia answered, in Common. "I've had a lousy couple of days."

"Is your friend out here?" The akudaem asked. Now that she was closer, Lia could see that her long hair was similarly colored just like her skin.

"I think so, he was abducted by bandits a few days ago, after they attacked a caravan." Lia hissed in pain as the older man, Kils, touched a particularly sore spot on her arm.

The elf's eyebrow raised slightly. "What's his name?"

"Iados, he's an akudaem without a tail. Can't really miss him." Lia explained. No sooner had she finished speaking, than the half-orc began to howl in laughter.

"Is she alright?" Lia asked as she was finally permitted to sit up. Work had moved to constructing a better sling with the help of a long rag pulled from one of the newcomer's packs.

"Awill is never right to begin with." The elf stood up, a large smile covering his face. "Good news, we have indeed seen your friend. In fact, we'll take you to him."

"That would be wonderful!" Lia stood up. She was excited to see Iados again, hopefully in one piece.

"There is some bad news though." The akudaem said as she sidled up to Lia. With one graceful move, she pulled out a dagger and held it to Lia's throat. "We're the bandits who kidnapped him."

"Technically we prefer the term mercenaries." Kils said off-handedly as he wiped the dirt off his legs.

Lia was suddenly filled with fear. It was at that moment that her eyes took in all the weapons surrounding her. Kils had a shortbow that he'd laid on the ground, Awill seemed to be a weapon in and of herself in addition to the flail and hand axes strapped to her sides. The elf had a longbow strapped to his back and a shortsword on his hip, while the akudaem in front of her had at least one dagger.

"What are you going to do with me?" Lia silently cursed as she heard the slight wobble in her voice.

The elf laughed "We're gonna take you to your friend." He turned and began walking into the forest. Kils and the akudaem stuck to Lia's side as Awill brought up the rear. As they walked, Kils and Awill seemed to be having a conversation in some deep guttural language. Lia wanted to talk more, but the dagger the akudaem kept trained on her kept her quiet.

They'd only been walking for about fifteen minutes or so when they came up on the bandit's camp.

It was not what Lia had been expecting.

The camp was more like a small tent city, with several cooking pits scattered around. The smell of boiling leather and cooking meat filled the air. There were a lot of children running around, pulling wagons from station to station, or chasing each other. Every adult in the camp was consumed in some activity. The majority of the camp's occupants were akudaems. It was the largest concentration of akudaems that Lia had ever seen.

Her captors steered her towards the middle of the camp, where a good-sized fighting ring had been established. Inside, a familiar looking akudaem was surrounded by a group of children. His back was to them as the group approached.

"Hey Iados! We found the source of that huge boom." Awill yelled out as they got closer, purposely moving up and hiding Lia behind her.

"Was it a cannon?" Lia heard Iados's voice yell back jovially.

"Nope, it was a person." The elf said. The group stopped moving. Lia tried to peer around the large half-orc, but to no avail. Kils put a finger to his lips and motioned for her to keep quiet. "She said she came looking for you."

"She?" Iados's voice sounded closer.

"Yep, found her passed out on the ground." The half-orc advised.

"Well, where is she?" Iados's voice had lost its jovial tone and had instead adopted one of concern.

"We slit her neck and left her there." The akudaem next to Lia stepped out and stowed her knife away.

"What? Why?" Iados yelled. Lia couldn't take it anymore.

I'm right here. Lia whispered as she sent a magical message straight into Iados's mind.

Where is here? Iados thought back. She could hear him move around urgently.

Lia smiled and stepped out from behind Awill. "Good to see you're not dead."

Iados didn't answer her as he immediately ran over and engulfed her in his arms. Almost immediately he let go as Lia gave a soft hiss of pain.

"What happened to you?" Iados took in her injured arm.

Lia gently pulled her arm out of his grasp. "Fell out of a tree onto some goblins." She took a second to look him over. He didn't appear hurt in anyway, no scratches, no obvious wounds.

Iados's eyes widened. "What are you doing out here? Why aren't you back in Rocklyn?"

"The injured from the caravan came back to town. I went dire wolf and followed your scent, for a while at least. Then I was just lost." Lia took a shaky breath, the relief of finding Iados lifting a weight off her shoulders. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," Iados shrugged. "Awill got a little too excited is all."

The Half-Orc scoffed. "I've already apologized for that."

"Actually you haven't." Iados turned to face the Half-Orc. "I've still got a nasty bump on the back of my head. Did you have to use the flail?"

"Better the flail than her fists." The male elf added. He walked over to Lia and extended a hand. "Name's Jahill, Awill and I are old crewmates of Iados's from The Howling King."

Lia accepted the hand. "Lia."

"Figured that's who you were. Iados here hasn't shut up about you." Jahill smirked and then introduced the other two. "The old man there is Kilsomir, though we call him Kils for short. The dagger-loving akudaem here is my fiancée and baby mama, Peblin."

Peblin glared at Jahill. "You know I hate that term."

"What, 'baby mama' or 'fiancée'?" He asked innocently.

"Fiancée." Peblin shuddered. Awill and Iados shared an eye roll at it.

"Well, just convince Kils here to perform a wedding for us and we can take care of it." Jahill shrugged and turned back to Lia. "Kils, will you take Lia here over to Hecelina to get that arm taken care of?"

"It'll be my pleasure." Kils gestured for Lia to follow him.

"I'm coming with." Iados announced, but Jahill shook his head.

"Nope, we need to talk first. Besides, Hecelina's still mad at you." Jahill firmly grabbed Iados's hand and pulled it off Lia's shoulder where it'd been standing guard. "She'll be perfectly safe, you know that."

"I'll come find you after my arm is fixed, I promise." Lia smiled softly at Iados. She so desperately wanted to reach out and kiss him, but held herself back. Comrades didn't kiss. She waited until Iados reluctantly nodded before she followed Kils across the camp.

"Don't worry, Hecelina will get your arm fixed in no time at all." Kils reassured her as they walked.

As they walked, Lia noticed that only a few of the occupants of the tent city were armed. "If you don't mind me saying, this isn't what I'd pictured a bandit camp looking like."

"That's because this isn't a bandit camp, it's a refugee camp." Kils explained. "You see all the akudaems around, they're the lucky ones who were able to escape Esterwill."

Lia's head did a tilt. "Esterwill? My party is supposed to meet there in a couple of months."

Kils gave a curt laugh. "I'd change your plans. The city is on lockdown. Once you go in, you don't come out."

"What happened?"

The man's face darkened. "Tensions between the akudaem population and everyone else finally came to a boil. There was a clash in the streets, and a human boy got killed. Blame was placed on the akudaems and that was enough ammo for the racist bastards in power to go after them. Peblin back there worked as a 'benefactor' of sorts for an orphanage in town. She saw the signs of unrest and hired us as mercenaries to evacuate as many as she could before the lockdown started."

"Where are you headed now?" Lia asked.

"No idea, but we're hoping to find someplace before winter sets in. If we don't, a large chuck of these people won't see spring." The two of them reached a tent and Kils led her inside. Inside the tent was an older akudaem woman with dark blue skin and light blue hair that hung past her shoulders. "Now, I'll leave you in Hecelina's capable hands."