I had a sinking feeling as we broke camp early next morning. Well, we hadn't spent the night in our previous campsite to begin with. Too much blood and guts everywhere. Instead we had huddled up a good distance away in a spot especially well sheltered by the underbrush and some decent sized rocks. We hadn't dared make a fire though and we had left the tent, or what remained of it, behind as well. With not a whole lot of room and just a few blankets and each other to keep us warm it was no big surprise we had broken camp early after eating a meager breakfast consisting of a handful of berries. No comforts had held us back.

At least some of those berries had been Glowberries. They at the very least should help our healing along a little. I still had my arm in a sling though, carrying my glaive with the other. I had spent some time yesterday sharpening it as well. In theory I could take my arm out of the sling and wield my weapon with both hands thanks to Kaele's spells and efforts but I wanted to give it a little more time to heal while we were on the march. That way I would be in a better condition if or rather when we had to face more trouble. At least that was my reasoning. As far as I was concerned it was sound enough and the others didn't object either.

I was a bit worried about Khuzan though. Kaele had cleaned his wounds best she could and it was normal to get a bit feverish when a Regeneration spell was cast on you, but his fever hadn't gone back down quite enough. He was acting tough, but to the others and me it was pretty obvious that he still felt like crap. He had been chewing on some Bitterleaf ever since we got going in the morning. That was not a healthy habit. He might feel a little better that way but it could interfere with his performance in combat as well. It might even be addictive. What made it worse was, that there was nothing I could do to help him. Not by myself anyway.

Kaele had recast Regeneration on him since he already was feverish anyway. She had changed his bandages as well. That way his body would hopefully be able to fight off whatever was plaguing it. We made sure he drank plenty of fresh water and during the break we took around noon we had him eat some more Glowberries and take some rest instead of standing watch. That was all we could do. And it was grating on me that there wasn't anything else we could do. No, it was grating on me that there was nothing I could do. That was more to the point. Judging by the look on her face my sister was sharing that sentiment. With our cursed luck we probably would run into more trouble before we could have him looked after properly. Damn it. Damn it all!

By the time we reached the road again it was all too obvious that not all was right with our world. A number of smoke columns rose into the sky in the direction of our home. Kaele already wanted to set off along the road in that direction when I held her back. “Stop sis.” That earned me the attention of the other two as well. “We will not take the road. We would sit out in the open like on a platter. We have to expect an ambush or a roadblock of some sort. They wouldn't leave this road open. Otherwise refugees might reach the next villages and spread the news of this attack.” Which in turn would probably result in swift retribution. No, one way or another, the road would be closed down.

I pointed further upstream. “We will take a route through the forests and across the hills further upstream. That way we can hopefully avoid detection.” There was of course no guarantee that this would work but it was the best idea I could come up with on short notice. I urged the others of the open road in the direction I intended to take us. Only once we were back under the cover of trees and underbrush I continued. “Stay on guard. There might be more scavenging or scouting parties about like the one that happened across our camp. Eld'tide you scout ahead. We will make a wide arch back to Caer'zoth and approach our home from the north, from the uphill direction.”

They nodded, signaling their consent. I intended to approach our home from the same direction the attackers had probably come from. The mountains separating our home from the next human kingdom and what they called the council of kings in general lay in that direction. They had probably come through there using hidden various small, hidden paths. Hopefully they wouldn't guard this direction as heavily as others as no threats to them lay that way. Damn is all. I was back to silently cursing myself. We knew that there were hidden paths across these mountains. After all the bandits that gave us trouble at times used them. We had disregarded them foolishly, thinking that no one would be able to move an army across them.

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I wasn't the only one who had been ignorant in that regard. Khuzan's mother and mine hadn't considered it possible either. None of her banner men and women had spoken up about it either. We had all been fools. And since we hadn't secured that backdoor we now had to pay the price in blood. Thoughts like that were still occupying me when Eld'tide returned, signaling us to seek cover. We did and I put down my glaive, loading the crossbow I had looted yesterday instead. The Gorgon already had an arrow on the string of her bow. It was one of the steel tipped arrows she had taken of the elven headhunters. “Three more headhunters.”, she whispered, pointing in the direction of their approach. Of course. It made sense for them to patrol like that.

Kaele prepared to cast one of her spells as well. With a bit of luck we could take them out without them ever noticing that we were here. And if not? I didn't even want to think about that possibility. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see that Eld'tide used one of her tentacle braids to ready a second arrow. Now that was a useful little trick! Then the headhunters came into view. They looked pretty much like the two we had killed yesterday. The main difference was, that this trio was alert and had their bows drawn and arrows on the strings as well. Maybe they had noticed us as well? No, not quite. They probably had an inkling that someone was about but they hadn't noticed us specifically. Not yet anyway.

Their eyes snapped in our direction the moment I pressed the trigger of the crossbow. I didn't have a whole lot of experience with the weapon, but at this range I didn't need to have it either. We had them come close enough after all. The bolt hit the front most of the trio right in the center. And before they could take action, before I could even get started reloading the crossbow, Eld'tides arrows flew true. One hit the man at the front, killing him where my bolt had only severely wounded him. The other arrow sunk into the shoulder of the woman at the rear, prompting her to let her own arrow fly wild. She wouldn't draw the string of her bow again with a wound like that.

She didn't even bother though, going for the club at her belt instead with a wordless scream of pain and rage. Only one arrow flew our way in return and it glanced off Khuzan's magic shield. Sweat was pouring down his face. The spell had taken a lot out of him. He slumped back down exhausted. He probably wouldn't save our bacon like that a second time. Not without a little more time to recover. I got working on my crossbow again while my sister now let her spell fly. A trio of magic missiles raced across the distance in between us and the elves from the east. The youngster who had been marching in the middle tried to dodge them, but that effort was in vain.

Two of the missiles followed his every movement, slamming into him hard and sending him to the ground. The third missile was aimed at the woman charging us with her club now. She just barreled right into it, barely slowing down at all. She was almost upon us by the time I finished reloading. I pressed the trigger right away again, as I got the weapon up, hitting her at point blank range. The bolt smashed right into her face. She didn't stop moving though. Inertia was a bitch. She stumbled into me, already dead on her feet. I was worried that the boy would shoot at us again. Now with Khuzan out of commission he could hurt us badly. He didn't though. He had turned to run. He didn't get far though. Eld'tide sunk two arrows into his back without even batting an eye.

I pushed the dead woman off me. Once again noticing the fresh heads fixed as trophies to her belt. They were human, but they had the darker complexion of people who lived around here in the shadow of the Bleak Peak. Thankfully no one I knew. The sight reinforced the sense of urgency I was feeling though. I got out my knife and cut her throat. Just in case. “Eld'tide. Replenish your arrows. Kaele, we will help Khuzan along from now on. We will have to move faster. That was a patrol. They will be missed eventually. And when they find them, they will find our tracks. No question about that.” I paused for dramatic effect. “We are running on borrowed time.”