Chapter Thirty Five

It had been a month since Shuka had fled Lancrin and there had been no sign of Maryam’s mother. She didn’t know what was taking her so long, and Maryam didn’t either.

Maybe she is already in the empire and she just doesn’t know our exact location.

It was a faint hope, but a hope all the same. It made camping in the forest a bit less grueling. If it was bad for Shuka though, who practically lived in the woods anyway, it was even worse for Maryam and Xorvos. There was a nearby town that they did visit for the occasional bit of supplies, but they didn’t dare stay there. Xorvos was just getting back from one of those visits now, carrying two bags full of food and drink. Shuka was fine eating unseasoned meat and drinking water from a river, but her companions were not. Maryam had enough money on her that they didn’t have to be worried about being stingy on buying things that simple. They had to buy horse feed for their mounts anyway.

“Hey, did you hear anything about my mom in town?” Maryam asked.

“No, but I’m not sure if anyone would have even known. Apparently, the biggest recent news is their local baker having a midlife crisis and becoming an adventurer. I don’t think they really know much outside what happens in the local area.”

Shuka knew what Xorvos meant. News traveled to Rainsburg slowly, if at all. She hadn’t learned about Archmage Sandrin’s death until Ralisdor told her about it, and that was over a year after it had happened.

“Oh, there was one thing though.” Xorvos continued. “I saw some gnolls in town. I asked about them and apparently there is a tribe nearby that comes to buy supplies every now and then like us. Although I think they are probably a lot more well off than we are.”

Shuka looked around at their ‘camp’ which consisted of three tents and a fire pit, and couldn’t help but agree.

“Maybe we could see if we can trade with them rather than the town. They would be a lot less likely to snitch on us to the guards at least. Did you learn where their tribe actually is?”

“East, at the base of the mountains.”

“Isn’t that dangerous? I thought some of the Ashgray mountains were volcanic, aren’t they worried about an eruption?”

“I heard that they were all volcanic, and it’s just that some have been active for centuries.” Maryam cut in. “Still, seems needlessly risky to me. Maybe they just like the aesthetic of living on a volcano?”

Shuka could see the Ashgray mountains looming over her through the trees. The mountain range lined the empire’s eastern border from its northern coast to about one-third of the way down the Empire.

“Should we even stick around here long enough for that though?” Shuka asked. “It’s been a month and we still haven’t seen your mother. How long would it take her to get here, because it’s been a while.”

“I don’t know. It took me a bit to make the journey, but that was on horseback. She can fly, and pretty quickly I think, so maybe a week? Could be less though, she doesn’t travel a lot so I’m pretty much guessing.”

“Well then she definitely should have arrived by now, right? Even if we say it took her a week to notice something was up and a week to get here, she is still two weeks late.”

“Sure, but maybe she isn’t coming herself. If she scried me and saw that I’m not in any immediate danger or arrested or anything, then she might have just hired some adventurers to pick me up. If that’s the case, then it would make sense that they haven’t arrived yet.”

“Maybe… but I still don’t like how long we have stayed here. I say we give your mother another week, and if she doesn’t arrive by then, we leave.”

There was a lull in the conversation as everyone thought about that. That lull was soon broken when the sound of a twig snapping reached Shuka’s ears. She looked over to the source of the sound and saw the glint of metal peeking through the foliage.

“They found us, RUN!”

Immediately, everyone bolted upright and sprinted in a different direction. More because none of them knew where the others were planning on running rather than a coordinated effort to scatter. Shuka, for her part, decided to go in the exact opposite direction of the soldier she’d spotted. It seemed he wasn’t the only one there though, as another soldier came out from behind a tree in front of Shuka. He was wearing simple chainmail with a gold tabard bearing the Celestial Empire flag over it. He was in the process of drawing his sword and was trying to get in Shuka’s way to block her. Shuka didn't bother with her weapons and ran ahead at full speed, not wanting to slow down or get distracted. The soldier finally managed to wrestle his blade out of its sheath and he swung it at the young huntress in a wide arc. Shuka ducked under the sword at the last second, crouching down low she went back to running away as fast as she could. Looking behind her she saw that several other soldiers were emerging from the woods, but she also saw her friends both managed to get past them.

Good, they didn’t get caught. We are getting separated now though, and that’s not good. It looks like Xorvos and Maryam are going in roughly the same direction, as long as I make my way over to them, we should be able to group up again.

That was easier said than done. Now that their ambush had failed, the soldiers were starting to pursue their targets, and there were several soldiers between Shuka and her friends. Even just catching up would be difficult, but the forest was her home. Shuka was no stranger to hopping over fallen logs and moving through a bit of underbrush. Everyone else there was. Nimbly moving through the trees, Shuka kept a wide berth from any swords pointed her way and followed behind her friends who were having a bit more difficulty getting away. One of the armored men even managed to catch up to Xorvos, whose large body was struggling to get through the undergrowth. Shuka was still too far away to do anything, but Maryam wasn’t. She was a bit ahead of Xorvos, but when she saw the soldier approach she stopped, did a quick turn, and inhaled deeply. Shuka only had a moment to wonder what she was doing before she exhaled all at once and a deep purple wave of force shot out of her mouth. The wave hit the soldier square in his chest and he went flying back and tumbled into a bush with a grunt. It was all the opportunity they needed to start running again. Shuka caught up soon after.

“Where… where are we going?” Xorvos asked breaths ragged from fear and adrenaline. “Do we just try to lose them in the forest?”

“No.” Shuka replied. “They’re going to find us eventually if we just hide, and we left our horses at our camp so trying to outrun them won’t work either. I say we go to the gnoll tribe. They’re semi-independent from the empire, so they might be willing to protect us.”

“Might?” Maryam didn’t seem too convinced. “How likely are they to actually help us? What reason would they even have to risk their necks for us?”

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“I don’t know. Each tribe is a bit different, but some are so fiercely independent that they would help us just to spite the empire. Even if that’s not the case though, they might at least hear us out before throwing us to the wolves. It’s not like we have many alternatives anyway.”

It was hard to argue with that when the soldiers were still giving chase while yelling at them to stop. Of course, no one did, but the danger was still present. Now it was just a matter of whether they had enough stamina to reach the tribe before their legs gave out from under them.

*

As it turns out, they did, even if just barely. They were lucky in that the soldiers chasing them also got tired, so they weren’t sprinting the whole way there. Still, after a several hour long marathon, everyone was ready for it to end, both soldier and fugitive. Shuka was a bit worried about the final stretch though, as there was a large patch of open land between the treeline of the forest and where she thought the gnoll tribe would be. It would be impossible to ride a horse at any reasonable speed through the thick forest, but they could very easily wait outside of it. Soldiers wearing heavy armor Shuka could outrun. Soldiers riding horses, she could not. As luck would have it though, there wasn’t a horse in sight. There also wasn’t a tribe of gnolls in sight though, which put a bit of a damper on things. All that Shuka saw in front of her was the looming presence of the Ashgray mountains. True to their name, the rocky mountain range was an ashy gray color that almost seemed to blend together into one, large, gray mass. With guards still giving chase, Shuka had nothing else to do but start running, uphill now, up the mountain. Already exhausted from the marathon she’d just run, and now having to go up an almost forty five degree angle, Shuka barely made it ten minutes before collapsing. Xorvos and Maryam weren’t in any better of a position either, with only Xorvos having any sort of energy left. Not enough to carry them the rest of the way to… somewhere. The soldiers weren’t following them up the hill though. They were just staying at the foot of the mountain, waiting.

Why aren’t they following us? Are they afraid of the volcano? Or the tribe? Maybe they are just too tired to pursue, it’s not like them collapsing next to us is going to help them. And to be fair, waiting us out isn’t a bad plan. It’s not like we have anywhere to go, and there aren’t many good hiding spots either.

Even with danger so close this was still an opportunity to rest, which Shuka and her friends gladly took. A few minutes went by, then a few more. Ten minutes passed and the soldiers didn’t move. No one was ready to start walking up the mountain again, but they all gained enough energy to talk at least, with Xorvos being the first to speak.

“So… what do we do now? Finding the gnolls didn’t work. Should we just hand ourselves in? If me and Maryam do the talking, we might be able to convince them we are innocent.”

Shuka couldn’t help but be pessimistic about that plan.

“They might listen. But only after they throw us in a cell and inform Validus. There will be no convincing him of my innocence.”

“What if we bribed them?” Maryam asked. “I can just give their captain a hundred gold and tell him to pretend we got away.”

Xorvos looked like he wanted to say something about the bribe, but he stayed silent.

“Maybe… but if they don’t take the bribe we’re screwed. Let’s leave that as a last resort in case we get caught.”

“Okay, but then what is our plan to not get caught? Wander around the mountain range looking for a tribe of gnolls we don’t even know will help us?”

“And why would you think we would help you, hmm? Ahh, don’t answer that, I think I already know.”

An unfamiliar voice appeared from behind the small group of friends, and they all spun around to see a large gnoll, mere feet away from them, crouched low with a steel spear pointed their way. Most of his body was covered by a full length cloak, in several shades of gray, so if it wasn’t for the long, brown-furred snout that peeked out of his hood, she might have mistaken him for a large human. Even most of his face was hidden, but she did see his eyes. Two amber orbs that stared directly at her.

“Fuckin shit man, how long were you there?” Maryam shouted in surprise.

“Long enough to hear your entire conversation. I will take you to the chieftain if you wish, but I warn you, she may not take kindly to your presence.”

“Uhh… is that a she will kick us out not take kindly to us, or a she will kill us not take kindly to us?”

“Who can say? I suppose we shall just have to find out, won’t we? Unless you would rather take your chances with your friends down below.”

Shuka very much did not rather do that so she shakily stood up.

“We’ll go with you. Uhh, slowly though. We’re all pretty tired right now. I don’t suppose the tribe is just around the corner, is it?”

“As a matter of fact, it is.”

“Wait, really? I don’t see it anywhere.”

“Good.”

Without another word, the gnoll turned and began walking up the mountainside. Five other ‘rocks’ nearby also got up and revealed themselves to be gray-cloaked Gnolls. Thankfully, the gnolls did take it slow in consideration for their new very tired companions and the tribe really was much closer than Shuka thought. Just a bit farther up the mountain was a collection of large rocks that jutted up from the ground. Those rocks were actually a wall, one hiding a small settlement of gnolls. On top of the wall were several gnolls also wearing that same gray cloak that made them blend into the scenery. If Shuka hadn’t been specifically looking out for them she wasn’t sure if she would have seen them. The entrance into the settlement was another thing she probably wouldn’t have noticed if she wasn’t looking for it seeing as it was made of the exact same stone as the rest of the mountain. The gnoll who was acting as their guide shoved the sturdy rock to the side and led Shuka and her friends through. After they had all entered, he moved the stone door back in place and finally removed his cloak, hanging it on a large coat rack with more of the same cloak. Shuka also saw that while the outside of the cloak was gray, the inner lining of the garment was actually a mottled green.

Oh, I see. They keep their cloaks gray for when they are in the mountains, but when they go to the forest they can turn it inside out and still blend in. That’s so cool, I’m definitely going to have to remember that.

Tearing her eyes off of the cool double-sided cloaks, Shuka started to look around the actual settlement. The ground was, thankfully, flat. The whole tribe was placed on a large plateau that went right up against the vertical cliff face of the mountain. The buildings of the settlement all consisted of wood and leather tents that ranged from large to small, and simple and complex. It seemed almost nomadic to Shuka, which was odd, since the wall implied this was a more permanent location.

Maybe they have multiple places like this that they go between. Or maybe they just like tents.

Of course, tents weren’t the only thing on the plateau. There were all sorts of tanning racks, campfires, and workstations scattered all around the settlement. It looked like the gnolls were hard at work too, with men and women milling about doing whatever it was that needed doing. With so many of them around Shuka finally got a good look at them. They were large, not as tall as Xorvos, but just as wide, if not wider. Even the women seemed to be muscular, although it was hard to tell with all of the fur in the way. And they were covered in the stuff, from hyena-like heads, to their animal paws. Shuka only saw fur in varying shades of brown, but each gnoll had a different fur pattern that gave them a unique look. Combined with digitigrade legs and a tail, they looked quite bestial. It was almost like looking at a bunch of wild animals walking on two legs, but their clothing and generally well-kept appearance went far in humanizing them. It wasn’t long before Shuka and her friends were escorted all the way to the opposite side of the settlement, directly to the cliff face where she now saw there was a small cave entrance. Walking through, Shuka found that the camp was bigger than she initially thought, with more tents and gnolls being found inside the mountain. Admittedly there seemed to be far fewer gnolls in the caves, but she had no way of knowing how extensive it was. In fact, she barely got to see any of the cave at all since she was immediately brought into a large tent near the entrance.

The inside was surprisingly comfy, with pillows and rugs aplenty. It was lit by a single hanging brazier lit with a flame. The tent wasn’t empty either. Sitting on the ground cross-legged was, unsurprisingly, a female gnoll. The chieftain, presumably. She was an imposing figure, even sitting down, her muscles obvious despite the fur covering them. Her fur was a dark brown, like bark, but at her hands, feet, and the tip of her tail it turned an ashy gray. The first non-brown fur colour Shuka had seen. It wasn’t the fur that really caught her attention though, it was her eyes. They almost seemed to glow a bright orange, reminiscent of flames. Even in the somewhat dim lighting of the tent, they stood out, two radiant rings of fire. And the look they gave Shuka was intense, like there was a raging inferno just behind her gaze.

Oh great, here we go again.