Chapter 103

Setting Forth

“I don’t think you’ve got much of a choice here, Ardy,” Daegan said.

“Whatever do you mean,” Ardy grinned, exposing his yellowed teeth, “I can just head on my way, and hopefully we’ll never run into each other ever again.”

“Not happening,” Tanlor put in. He wasn’t about to let the Aeth weasel his way out of what he’d done.

“You brought them to us,” Daegan added, “don’t get me wrong, I understand your situation. Can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing in your shoes… but all the same. I can’t trust you won’t betray us again.”

“Please,” Ardy had a desperate look on his face that twisted a few morsels of pity even out of Tanlor. “You can’t leave me here,” Ardy went on, “I’ll die here. Please leave me my raft.”

Yaref gave both Daegan and Tanlor hard looks. He didn’t need to speak up to let his opinion of leaving the Aeth to die known. But he didn’t voice it, instead waiting to see how Daegan would handle the situation. Somehow Daegan had become the de facto leader for their little party. He was the one who had acted decisively during their escape, and he was also the one driving them forward to rescue the group that had been taken away by the rakmen. Yaref, Tar and Puck all had friends of their own in that group.

“You know we can’t do that. So… how about this?” Daegan opened his palms, “you honour our original deal. Take us west.”

“G’luck,” Ardy retorted, “I ain’t gettin’ tangled up in your messes, no more, y’hear.”

“That’s the only deal I’m offering you,” Daegan said matter-of-factly, “you either agree to uphold your end of the bargain. Or we leave you here without your raft.”

Tanlor eyed Yaref as Daegan spoke and prayed the man wouldn’t be stupid enough to call out Daegan’s bluff. Of course, Daegan wouldn’t leave the man here, isolated and exposed. But Ardy didn’t know that.

“Bah,” Ardy spat, “fine. The lot of you then? Even that—whatever he is,” Ardy waved a hand at Baroc, his face scrunching up in distaste. “To Nordock was it?”

“Yes,” Daegan grinned.

“Fine, fine, fine,” he held up a warning finger, “but I want more. You’re a Prince! Nice little fact you left out there, that means you’ve got plenty more gold. I want fifty gold marks for me troubles.” Tanlor’s jaw dropped, it was an inordinate sum money. Enough to buy an inn. A small one, but still.

“How about twenty silver?” Daegan countered, without skipping a beat. Still highly overpriced for a trip across the ice sheet.

“Ten gold,” Ardy suggested.

“One gold, and a casket of whitewhiskey,” Daegan offered, “any brand you like.”

“Fine,” Ardy grumbled, “have it your damn way then.”

“Oh, and one more thing,” Daegan grinned, “we’re not headed directly for Nordock. We’ll be making just a few little stops along the way.”

Ardy’s iceraft was simply too small to be able to carry all of them—and hopefully the full dozen captives—to Nordock. Tanlor and Daegan had suggested that they burn Ardy’s so as to minimise the risk of the Reldoni group discovering and following after them. The Aeth had tried to argue the case, claiming it was better to keep both icerafts.

Tanlor and Daegan didn’t like separating the group but they did have to admit that it was the wiser choice. Wedging all of them, including the rescued captives, into either raft would’ve been a very tight fit.

After conferring privately just the two of them, they decided that Yaref, Puck and Tar were dedicated enough to the mission to be trusted on their own. Ardy and Baroc however were still wildcards, so Tanlor and Daegan agreed it would be best that the four of them together would travel on Ardy’s raft.

Baroc claimed that he could track the scents of rakmen camps for miles around. Tanlor was dubious as to the validity of that claim but without much else to go by, he and Daegan decided they little other choice than to try it.

They spent the rest of the day heading west along the northern shore of Lake Nortara. Tar was piloting the other raft that glided alongside theirs. The wind howled in Tanlor’s face, and he felt his warrior’s braid flapping. He was familiar now with how the iceraft glided over the icy surface of the permanently frozen lake.

The beastman was less accustomed to the experience and had been instinctively cautious and sceptical of being on the thing. His paw-like hands appeared to be quite dexterous and gripped the edge of the bench fiercely, his muscles tensed as he tried to maintain balance on the moving raft. Tanlor watched as the creature sniffed at the wind, nostrils flaring.

Tanlor didn’t like how much trust Daegan was putting into the beastman. Right from the beginning, the man had been more intrigued than cautious of it. Tanlor had wanted to kill it, rather than free it. But he had to admit that the beastman had proven to be a valuable ally in the battle.

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Tanlor didn’t doubt the creature likely possessed an acute sense of smell and instinctive understanding of the wilderness, those qualities alone would likely grant him unerring accuracy in finding the rakmen camps. But knowing all of this didn’t make him trust the creature. He still expected it to turn on them at a moment's notice.

Daegan was watching the dense forest fly past them as they maintained a steady pace west. His eyes would dart back and forth, scanning the forest for any disturbances that might indicate the presence of the rakmen. Tanlor admired the dedication to which Daegan had thrown himself into this task.

He resolved to follow Daegan’s lead until after they’d rescued Rowan. He still wasn’t sure what they would do after that. But he would tackle that problem when he came to it. Saving Rowan was the priority now.

Occasionally, Baroc’s ears would perk up. He would sniff the air intently and direct them to pull into the shore. As soon as the iceraft neared land, he would bound off the sled and disappear into the forest. The first time this happened, Tanlor was convinced that Baroc had simply run off, deciding to give up on the search and hadn’t bothered to actually tell them.

He’d expressed this thought to Daegan who decided they should wait a while before jumping to any conclusions. After a while, Baroc returned, grumbled something in Old Esterin and jumped back onto the raft. Daegan gave Ardy the indication to keep moving west and they were back on the ice.

“What is it?” Tanlor asked.

“Baroc’s convinced they’ve headed farther west. He says he’s picked up a scent of not just rakmen, but ‘pale ones’ too.”

“Pale ones?” Tanlor echoed.

“I think he means like us.”

“He thinks we’re rakmen?” Tanlor asked incredulously.

“I suppose to him we don’t really look that different,” Daegan shrugged.

They continued in this manner throughout the day until the sun began to set. They had packed as much supplies from Twin Garde as they could fit into the rafts and therefore had enough food for a month-long expedition if they needed. They could have easily spent the night on the raft out on the ice and had a simple meal of stale bread and cold dried produce. But the group was eager to be on the land again. Both rafts pulled up at the shore at a small clearing and set up camp for the night.

Baroc immediately disappeared into the woods without explanation. Tanlor and Tar went about a perimeter check of their camp. Daegan had settled back into his usual task of collecting firewood for a campfire. Yaref began preparing the food for a meal and Puck was tasked with watching Ardy to make sure he didn’t try to slip away on one of the rafts whilst everyone was busy. No one in the group trusted the Aeth yet to hold to his word.

“Smells good,” Tar said when he returned from scouting. Like Tanlor, the man was diligent in his tasks and had been out scouting well after the sun had set. The aroma of frying meat filled the air around the camp. Tanlor’s stomach growled. They’d not stopped all day for a proper meal and he was eagerly looking forward to whatever Yaref had prepared.

“So,” Yaref said after most had finished eating, “you boys are going to explain what’s going on with those Reldoni? Yes?”

“They’re hunting me,” Daegan said, “I wish I could tell you why, but honestly, I don’t know. I have my suspicions but that’s all they are right now.”

“Pretty clear they were hunting you,” Yaref chided, “my question is not why they’re here. It’s what are they? We all saw them fight, yes? No runewielder can fight like that.”

“Walls of Twin Garde went up in minutes,” Puck put in, “ain’t no way one lone grenadier could do that. Never.” The other group had evidently been trying to make sense of it throughout the day.

“They’re not typical runewielders,” Daegan explained, “Ferath, Misandrei and the others… I don’t know what my brother has done to them, but they’ve been enhanced somehow.”

“Do you reckon they’ll follow us?” Puck asked, a hint of worry in his tone.

“I’m hoping they got scared enough by this,” Daegan patted the bloodstone dagger sheathed at his hip. Tanlor hadn’t seen Daegan part from it since getting the thing.

“I’m not asking you to help me fight them,” Daegan went on, “they’re not my concern right now. I just want to get Rowan and the others back. You said there were eleven other Twin Garde soldiers that were taken away?”

“Aye,” Yaref nodded, “we knew all of ‘em. Good lads, for the most part. Most of ‘em were on the tower that blew up, lotta of injuries and burns.”

“Are all of them fighters?” Tanlor asked, he wanted to know how many fighting men they’d have after they freed them. It was still unknown how big the rakmen camp was they were taken to.

“Most of ‘em,” Puck replied, “I spotted Burl, he was a cook, he can’t fight. But the others are all fighters. Some of ‘em runewielders too.”

“I’d love some of Burl’s stew right now,” Tar said, chewing his way through a piece of meat, “no offence, Yaref.”

“Why would I be offended? I’m a healer, not a cook,” he certainly sounded offended.

“That’s good,” Tanlor said, “assuming we can get them all free and Yaref can heal any of the wounded, we’ll have ourselves a reasonably good party—”

—A chill ran down Tanlor’s spine as he heard something stir in the surrounding woods. His ears perked up, and he strained to listen, the flickering flames casting eerie shadows across his face.

He heard it again: the unmistakable sound of something moving at an alarming speed through the forest undergrowth. His heart began to race, and he instinctively reached for his greatsword lying next to him, his fingers clasping tightly around the hilt. He could sense the fear and tension in the air. The others around the camp stirred uneasily, their eyes darting around the darkened clearing, searching for any sign of the impending danger that Tanlor had reacted to.

The sound grew louder and louder, the rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs growing ever closer. Tanlor jumped to his feet his and assumed a fighting stance. Daegan was already on his feet too, the red crystal dagger drawn.

Tanlor breathed a sigh of relief. Emerging from the shadows of the trees was a towering but familiar figure. His snout was covered in blood, and the stench of his recent kill was overpowering. Baroc's yellow eyes gleamed in the firelight as he approached Tanlor and his companions, his massive paws padding softly on the ground.

Tanlor felt his muscles relaxing as the beastman drew closer, sensing that there was no immediate danger. It was concerning however that the beastman could move so quickly through the woods. Had he intended to attack them, he would’ve been upon them in moments. At least Tanlor had familiarised himself with the creature’s tracks and was confident he could identify if one of its kind was nearby on a perimeter sweep.

Baroc approached the fire, sniffed and gave a low growl before settling down in a spot a little apart from the group. Even with all that fur, it’s better to be near the fire. Fire also kept other predators at bay, but then again, perhaps Baroc’s presence alone was enough to keep wolves and bears away.