Discovery
Down below, Logan could make out the shapes of people, moving through a forest trail. As they went, they were hacking and slashing the forest around them, trying to widen whatever natural path they were treading. The noise was loud enough that Logan could now make it out, instead of just relying on Remy’s hearing.
It was no coincidence the group was there. They had to be chasing after Logan. Still, the methodical way they plowed through the forest gave Logan pause. It spoke of a disciplined approach that would probably account for his known ability to teleport.
Instead, Logan stayed in the trees, multiple layers of greenery away from their human sight, relying on his soul sight to carry the bulk of the tracking duties. Still, with his unique set of Divinity and skills, Logan could jump from tree to tree top without alerting his opponents of his positioning.
Instead, they were completely clueless to Logan and Remy’s surveillance, as the companions watched over the group. They made steady progress throughout the night, clearing a somewhat winding, but easy going path through the woods that was easily five men abreast. Then, they did something Logan wasn’t expecting as the sun rose. They traversed back down the path they had cut, instead of continuing their pursuit.
Logan was confused as they pushed out of sight. If he was their target, and they were willing to push through the night to chase him, why would they stop as soon as the morning came? It didn’t make sense to Logan.
Why would they turn back?
-We follow?-
Sure, let's keep pace with them. Logan responded after thinking about it for a couple seconds. Sleep was probably the smart play, especially considering the condition of his wounds, but something about this had snagged Logan’s curiosity.
From the experience of the group, to the strange decision to turn around at dawn, something felt strange about this to Logan. It made the choice to follow feel easy.
----------------------------------------
Logan quickly caught up to the group, even with their headstart. Teleporting has that effect in short distances. It helped that the group had clearly relaxed their vigilance on their return journey, further strengthening Logan’s decision to follow the group. The one thing he was sure about was that he was still a good distance from Fort Errstile, and this group was still in hostile territory.
Logan still followed at a good enough distance that he couldn’t directly see them, but he heard snippets when the conversation got loud enough.
“...good night’s work from today.”
“...hope we get ale tonight… I doubt he will…
“Quiet!..”
And so on and so forth. Logan didn’t remember the Prince putting a restriction on ale, but then again, Logan had only been there for a couple of minutes before getting detained. He really wasn’t an authority on the procedures of Fort Errstile, in which lay half the problem.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
This group he was tailing was suspicious, but he didn’t have any definitive ideas on what the normal was. For all Logan knew, he could be stalking a normal group of Legion scouts. But he kept course, and kept following the group as they wound through the path of cleared forest.
Considering it was the second day of their likely pursuit, Logan didn’t think much of it when the path trailed on longer than he would have expected. He kept following the group regardless, and pushed on. But eventually, Logan realized that he might have stumbled upon something completely different than a Legion scouting party.
There was a good chance he was following an enemy group. Logan didn’t know exactly who they had been sent to guard against, but there had been a reason for their reassignment. There had been a threat up North, and the Greatwood Squadron along with their entire company had been sent to reinforce their position.
Logan had been told that a token force had remained behind, but that decision had to have cost the Austen Kingdom. And Logan may have just discovered why they were willing to pay such a price.
Daring to teleport closer than he had even under the cover of night, Logan tried to sneak a peek. Teleporting onto a branch that almost hung over their hacked trail, Logan managed to see their clothing for the first time, and all of his suspicions were confirmed.
----------------------------------------
The branch creaked underneath Logan’s feet, prompting one of the slighter party member’s eyes to jump up, but Logan had already jumped away. Instead, they had their gaze centered on an empty branch, before returning forwards.
Logan had sped out of there immediately, having already seen enough to confirm. The entire group had been garbed in matching white and black. Logan didn’t know enough to understand what country that was, but he understood it wasn’t the one whose military he had been a part of, albeit briefly.
His heart was pounding, and his back suddenly felt hot. Logan collapsed against a tree, with Remy looking over worriedly. Logan managed to push back to his feet, but he leaned his head and forearms against the tree for a while.
-You ok?-
Logan wanted to respond immediately with yes, but his breath was coming out in ragged gasps right now. It took him several long seconds before he could look at his Rizzel companion and reply.
Yeah, just give me a second. We can keep following the trail, there’s no more need to risk getting seen.
-Ok.-
Logan spent the next minute taming his breathing.
He knew his back was getting to him, and this was its way of telling him to slow down, so he listened. Now that he had the trail, Logan just needed to set up camp here for the day, before dodging their next pass through tonight.
Hastily, Logan managed to make a lean to cover with some leaves to help it blend in. It certainly wasn’t much, but it would help him hide from a casual glance, and give him some slight shelter from the elements.
He didn’t have time for much else before Logan passed out, almost collapsing directly onto Remy. Instead, the nimble Rizzel bounced around, and into the crook of Logan’s left arm.
----------------------------------------
Over the past couple of days, the Prince had requested Gregor’s presence several times, and demanded a thorough breakdown of all of Logan’s known actions and powers. The Royal was clearly very frustrated, but each time had been surprisingly respectful of Gregor, venting his considerable anger elsewhere.
Today was different however.
Not because of any part of Gregor’s interactions with the Prince, who had remained steadfast in his personality, and subsequent flaws. Instead, it was because of another invitation, one which Gregor was distinctly more keen to receive.
The Princess had requested Gregor’s presence again. The same aide as last time had been waiting as Gregor had exited the Prince’s tent, asking that he attend Princess Lille come nightfall. Gregor had no desire, and no room, to decline.
He was in the middle of talking to Amar about it. However, she wasn’t having quite the reaction Logan had expected.
“...I told you already, I’m happy for you.”
“And as I said before, if you didn’t sound so dead while saying it, I might believe you. Is there a problem with it? It's a huge honor, and I thought you would recognize that. To be interacting with the Royals so closely.”
“...Yes, I know. That’s why I’m happy for you.”
“Ughhh.” Gregor finally said in disgust. “This isn’t going anywhere, I’m sorry I bothered you.”
He walked away over to his private tent. Gregor thought Amar might have said something, but instead she just watched him walk away. He was so confused as to why she didn’t understand this was a big deal. If the Royals took notice of him, he could maybe get some life changing equipment or training. His interactions with them literally were make or break for his career in the Legion, and therefore his lifeplans.
Having said that, Gregor began preparing his cleanest uniform for his next meeting. It wouldn’t do to be seen looking improper around the Princess. Of course, Gregor had done the same for his earlier meeting. Exactly the same, of course.