"Mortis, I'm taking a break. I don't care what you say. We've been running all night and we're all tired. If you don't want any more of us to die, then you'll let us rest."

Relam was getting off his attoka and began to lay on the grass. This led to a variety of reactions from the unit. The Hands looked on him with disapproval, Some gasped, and some were restless with the only thing keeping them in their saddles being a sense of duty.

Mortis gave a deathly glare that would have frozen even the bravest men in their tracks, and made them plead for their lives, but Relam already had his back turned to him asleep. Some debated later that if he had seen Mortis then he would have gotten back on his attoka.

The group stood in the midst of the forest of Euma. Relam had chosen one of the rare spots where the sun showed through the trees. This was good in terms of giving the group a reprieve from Morta's continuous veil of darkness, but also made them vulnerable to attack from whatever luxcian scout might by chance fly over that part of the forest.

Mortis clenched his fist in anger, only to have Morta lay her hand on his, "He has a point. We've been running all night and barely have had any rest, and I think they've finally given up their chase."

No arrows of light had been shot at them for quite a while now, leading to the conclusion that they had lost their pursuer. Even if they were still being chased, Morta could easily make a barrier of darkness that would allow the unit to have a much needed rest.

Mortis nodded his head and turned to a Hand that wasn't too far away, "How many?"

The words were so simple yet carried so much weight.

The Hand shook her head, "seventeen out of the fifty that came with us."

The air suddenly felt that it had some weight to it, not only from the number, but also from Mortis's anger that seemed to contaminate the air.

Mortis spoke in a commanding tone, "So be it. We will take a rest but not for long. I'll give you maybe until noon. We'll set camp early today, because of the recent events. But I'll have to ask all of you to ride until that time today."

The hands bowed and dismounted. Some collapsed right on the spot, while some were able to lean on their attokas for support, trying to conceal all signs of weakness as they could.

Mortis remained in his saddle as he scanned the survivors. Relam was still asleep wrapped in his blue cloak, it going up and down with his breaths. The Hands didn't appear to have any injuries, that was to be expected with them being under Morta's protection.

There was one person in particular that he didn't see though. The young man that had acted defiantly towards him.

Mortis let out a sigh, "What a disappointment. Just when things were getting interesting, too.

"My lord please don't feel that you need to over exert yourself please feel free to rest. I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to you because of all of us."

Alsarie looked up at Mortis with a concerned look in her eyes as she held the reins of her attoka.

Mortis gave a benevolent smile, "Don't worry, Alsarie, you should know that something like that chase was nothing for me."

"Yes, that would be expected of you my lord, but it wasn't just the chase. I saw you put forth your all trying to protect us. That had to have taken a lot out of you."

Morta nodded, her hand still on Mortis's, "I agree. If only Sadine and Vale were here. Their bows would have been a great help."

Mortis begrudgingly agreed, "For once I think you're right, but we got away from them in the end."

Alsarie voiced her concerns more assertively, "I'm sure if they come back they will stand no chance against you, my lord."

Morta moved her hand to his shoulder, "But still I agree with Alsarie. You shouldn't over exert yourself. We still need you for the coming days. We wouldn't want you passing out on us."

Mortis gave an uncommon smirk, "I could say the same thing, you maintained that wall all through the chase. If any one should get rest it's you."

Morta smiled, "You out of everyone would know that something like that doesn't affect me at all." She paused and frowned in regret, "But still if it wasn't for this forest I could have protected everyone. If only we could have stayed together."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Mortis rubbed his temples, "Well, we can't afford the time it will take to go back and get their bodies. It really is a pity especially for Hands. There bodies would have served well in Avayev."

"Don't worry my lord, just dying for the sake of you and our lady is enough. We wouldn't want to burden you at all."

Morta frowned as if a deep sadness had crept its way into her heart.

Mortis waved his hand, "Under normal circumstances it wouldn't be a burden at all. Actually it would be ideal. All their doing out there is helping this forest grow. What a waste."

Alsarie's eyes lit up like a child's after receiving praise from a parent, "My lord we do not deserve your concern."

Mortis gave a sigh, "Don't act like that."

"Yes my lord."

Morta's frown deepened after watching the two, and she had to take two long deep breaths to make it go away, "I wish we could go back and at least give them a proper burial, but what is the plan going forward."

Mortis sat back in his saddle, "Well...we should be approaching the exit to the forest, so we’re ahead of schedule. After setting up camp early, we should reach an ideal position in roughly two days and have another to prepare an ambush. Thirty-two Hands...and Relam should be plenty to achieve our goal."

Morta smiled wryly, "How exactly do you plan on doing that?"

Mortis looked at the sky barely paying attention to anyone anymore, "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it."

"That's not very reassuring."

Time went by relatively fast. Everyone dreaded having to ride once more, but they were making the most out of their time. Some Hands followed Relam's example and fell asleep. The ones that were using their attokas for support slowly transitioned to the ground. Some made small conversation to keep themselves awake, while others remained quiet, reflecting on the events that had just transpired.

Around noon Mortis gestured for everyone to get up. Some did right away, while others were a bit slower. Alsarie did a lot of work encouraging the stragglers and the sight of her kicking Relam to wake him up amused Mortis greatly.

As everyone got back on their mounts, Mortis gave one more little motivator, "Just a little more everyone. I will not stop for anyone, so no one better lag behind."

Morta looked like she was about to speak up, but Relam beat her to it, "You don't have to be that harsh, we've already lost enough people as it is."

This time Relam did receive Mortis's glare, which made him shut up, and droop his head.

When the group started again, Mortis had to call them to stop again because he noticed one of them hadn't moved from the spot.

Out of agitation Mortis called out without turning back, "What are you doing!? Didn't you hear what I just said."

No response.

Mortis became increasingly frustrated and those around him could sense it.

Mortis turned around, "Why you..."

The sight in front of him made him pause for a moment.

A young girl sat asleep on top of her attoka.

Mortis had noticed her before. How couldn't he? She was probably the youngest hand he had ever seen. She was quite short, probably because of her age, and had twintails . Other than that all Mortis could tell was that his words had not reached her at all, as she slept without a care in the world.

Mortis made a motion to draw closer to the girl. Sensing his anger Morta stopped him

"Don't worry I'll handle it."

Morta rode slowly towards the girl. Upon reaching the young Hand, Morta nudged her gently, whispering sweet words into the young her ear.

The girl bolted awake instantly, but before she could do anything Morta stopped her, "Kagi I have a special mission for you."

"Oh! Really what is it."

Morta gave a motherly smile, "I want you to go back into the forest and give the fallen a proper burial, and see if there are any survivors."

"Okay my lady, but what do you want me to do if I find them?"

"Just tell them to meet back up with the others. They had a good idea where we were going so it shouldn't be a problem. Also tell them that I'm not disappointed, and that they won't be punished."

Kagi looked skeptical, "My lady, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but wouldn't I be better with you."

Morta shook her head, "This is something only you can do. Anyone else would be too slow and wouldn’t arrive in time to save anyone. Do you understand?"

Kagi nodded her head eagerly

"Well then off you go."

Kagi bowed quickly and rode back into the forest.

When Morta rode back to the others, Mortis furrowed his brow at her, "What did you say to her?"

"All I did was give her a new task to carry out."

Mortis gritted his teeth, giving her a new mission was one thing, but doing it to protect her from him was another.

Alsarie chimed in with a bitter tone, "Don't worry my lord, she would have gotten in the way. I think this is actually best. She wouldn't have lasted long otherwise."

This eased Mortis's mood a little, but it just got Alsarie a scary look from Morta, which made her avert her eyes with a guilty face.

"Still you don't have to be that harsh mistress." Relam received a look from Alsarie that looked eerily similar to the one Morta gave her. However, this time, instead of drooping his head, he actually looked scared for his life.

Mortis spoke strongly to everyone present, "This talk isn't getting us anywhere, we need to be off now. There's no telling where those luxcian scouts are and I would prefer not to get into another squabble with them."

Morta nodded, "I agree, just talking amongst ourselves like this won't get us anywhere."

With that the group departed leaving Kagi to her new task. Though unbeknownst to Morta her simple effort of protecting the young and inexperienced Kagi from her husband, and fellow disciple, would change the fate of many and depending on who you ask the outcome of the war as a whole.