Norbert watched the sunrise in the sky, the mountain range on his right-hand side. Norbert wondered what their next move would be. As the sun became fully visible, just peaking over the horizon, Norbert heard movement to the side of him. Norbert looked over at the sleeping people as the first one woke up from their induced slumber.
Yawning, Dousan sat up; Norbert watched him as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Norbert stared at the man, waiting to see how long it would take until he realised something was amiss.
As Dousan stretched and looked at the sun, a smile on his face, started to scrunch up in confusion. Looking down; he saw only his three other companions before he stared up at Norbert, worry stricken across his face.
"What happened?" Dousan asked.
Norbert just continued sitting, staring back at the sky. "Short version is we got ambushed. Food had a sleeping agent or something in there. Soldiers attacked; a tough one called Arzlan came for us, sadly I could not stop him, so I ran away with as many as possible." Norbert responded in a monotone voice, still wearing the mask on his face.
Dousan just looked around; Norbert hearing what he believed was swears but dismissing it as he continued looking at the sunrise. Dousan's racket waking the others as well. Norbert watched as Rachel was the first, then Azalea next, and finally, a random mage. Norbert couldn't quite remember but knew he chose him for a reason.
As Norbert looked at the man slowly getting to his feet, Norbert realised where he remembered him, having healed him from his injuries in the nest so long ago. Happy that he had picked a healer as well in the mad scramble.
Norbert saw out of the corner of his eye that they still had most of their equipment on them; Norbert was happy that they had that much. But knowing the only coins they had were from another country; they couldn't stop through towns if they were to go back and rescue the rest.
If the first one they encountered had some way of notifying others, everyone in the area would know by now, especially as they all stood out. And that didn’t even include Norbert trying to buy something. Shaking his head Norbert stood up, walking over to the others and listening to the conversation.
"We can't just leave them behind, Mackey", Dousan told the healer. Norbert is putting that little helpful piece of information away for later.
"They have an entire night's journey in front of us, taking them to who knows where and with a possible army at their backs", Mackey, the healer responded.
Norbert looked down at his compass, flicking through the positions and walking around. Norbert confirmed the first position was still pointing to Dousan. The second position pointed in the direction they had just run away from and the third over the mountain range.
Norbert showing the compass interrupted, "But we do know they are somewhere that way", as he pointed in the direction that it worked.
"Oh, that's super helpful; thank you, navigator, who got us in this situation in the first place", Mackey said back.
Dousan stepped in front of Mackey looking the healer square in the eye. "Firstly, I didn't see you or any of us step up to navigate, so don't go after the kid. Second, the only reason you're here and not over there is because of him, and third and most importantly," Dousan said, breathing deeply "We don't leave anyone behind."
"But we've already left people behind under the mountain range anyway, so why does it matter if we leave a few more" Mackey yelled back, his voice rising.
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"We don't leave them behind, no matter what!" Dousan shouted back. Norbert watched the two of them, waiting for it to end. Knowing they would follow Dousan anyway, he might have picked someone else up.
"Fine then, oh leader, what's your plan to get them back?" Mackey asked, crossing his arms in front of himself.
Dousan just turned around, starting to mumble to himself as he began pacing in a circle. All watched as Dousan went in circle after circle, waiting for his response.
Dousan turned around on his feet and looked at the four others of the motley crew. "Look, we have two options. We charge forward and try to bring them back, going tooth and nail for it. Or two, we head over the mountains and tell others what's happening here," Dousan said, trying to think aloud.
Azalea just nodded her head. "And if we do go over and tell them, we probably aren't going to be allowed to go back and retrieve them," she said, growing quieter as she finished her line of thought.
Dousan just nodded in approval of that logic. Norbert just tapped his boot. "Well, guess that means we're going to need to get them back tooth and nail then", Norbert said, cutting the growing tension.
"And what if some of us don't want to?" Mackey said.
Norbert responded before anyone else could, "Well, you're free to go back by yourself. I don't know how you will survive for days and days without food. It would take me at least ten days to get back. Don't know how long you could do it." Stepping closer and closer to Mackey as he went, the two of them were looking eye to eye.
Mackey just took a step back and nodded. "Guess that's enough playing devil's advocate; we're going to need to go and get them back somehow", a complete change of tone from being defensive to working together.
Dousan just smiled and nodded in approval as he walked in the direction Norbert pointed before, the others following behind. Crossing the marsh, Dousan explained, "Right now, we are fugitives; we'll be skating on the wrong side of the law until we make it over those mountains again. Nobody we see we can trust."
Turning around, Dousan pointed at Norbert. "That is doubly for you, with Arzlan interested in you. After your escape, people in high places will be looking out for you."
Norbert gulped, still wearing his mask as they tracked around, going up and down. Mackey responded, "So basically, we're going to be looting and stealing and running from everything and everyone until we get the rest of us and make it over to the divide?"
Dousan just nodded in response. "Pretty much", he said.
Norbert just nodded; as they passed through the day, his thoughts returned to the night before, in the dark, as he tore down person after person, not caring about them.
Feeling nauseous, Norbert just pushed it to the back of his head; it was either them or me—nothing else he could do about it. Breathing deeply, Norbert calmed himself, not wanting to be distracted.
Looking around at the others, he asked, "Well, are we going to speed up? They've probably gone on that train again, so who knows how far away they have gone."
Dousan just shook his head. "We need time for the villagers to forget about us, not look at every little thing, and for that, we shall walk until we return to the ambush site. Going to look and see if anything good was left behind." Dousan replied.
Norbert just nodded, seeing the wisdom behind those words, not wanting to meet up with anyone unexpectedly. So together, they journeyed across the marsh.
***
Coming up to the ambush site, everyone looked around, picking up pieces that could be useful. Norbert began searching for the dagger he had lost. I looked around and was thankful that the bodies had been taken. He did not want to see the death that he caused.
Finally finding the dagger, Norbert looked at it and cleaned the mud stuck on the blade before he sheathed it again. Looking through what was left and not finding anything of value. No coins being left behind or weapons or armour.
With the food there but not trusting it, the group skipped over it, not wanting to slumber again, though Dousan did take some of it, saying you never knew when it could come in handy.
Looking through the bags one last time, Norbert found nothing else, the others taking backpacks and slinging them over their shoulders, needing to carry things with them. Azalea looked around desperately, but her tome was not seen no matter how much she and the others looked.
Having found her bag, Azalea looked inside, seeing her clothes still intact, but sadly, no time. Sitting on the ground, Norbert watched as she slowly rocked back and forth. Norbert, wondering if he could do anything, sat beside her and gently rubbed her back.
With nothing else to find, the group set off again as the night began to set; Norbert was surprised that they could make it back this quickly. As they looked ahead, Norbert wondered what they would do when they found the town they last crossed.