CHAPTER SIX




Alithana walked leisurely southward, alongside the road. The sounds of talking and the residual light from the camp behind her started to fade. Several hundred yards away from the camp, the tracks from the bandits which have been pursuing them were easy enough to spot. She wasn’t a tracker, but the bandits had several horses with them, and the hoof-prints were fresh.

Elves were naturally gifted with the capability to see well, even in near pitch darkness. With the full moon casting a dull light down anyway, her vision was on par with what any human would have during the day. She would easily be able to follow the tracks through the sparse forest, but she simply stood there, looking steadily up at the moon, with the leaves of the trees lazily drifting in the slight wind. Her senses remained acute, but she was deep in thought.

The moon, somber and faded compared to the sun, but if you are all that remains of the light when the deep slumber that is approaching us consumes the world, will the rejoicing of nature be worth the price of its redemption? The Elders spoke of travesties and destruction wrought by the humans upon the nature that surrounds them, that they viewed the world as nothing but a tool for their own ambitions… But casting judgment on the world after 300 years of isolation is arrogance of an even greater degree…

The trees, swaying gently in the breeze, blocked much of the moonlight as she began down the path, following the tracks as they meandered through the woods. Eventually, ahead of her was a simple camp for the bandits chasing them. However, there were only three men, presumably the three which Trailo spoke of as attacking him and his father Vicril after we left town.

Two of them were sleeping, and the third was on watch, leaning against a tree and working on some makeshift arrows. Alithana recognized the man as the one who had caused her the injury in her shoulder, and what’s worse had placed poison on the arrow. Her brow furrowed as she recalled the event, and the hand on her staff gripped it tightly.

It would be a simple matter to deal with him now, or even to deal with all three of them, and be done with it… But no, just as the Elders cannot judge, neither will I condemn them to death. They know they were spotted earlier, and know we will be alert, prepared for an attack. If there are only three of them, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to attack. But if they do, I will not restrain myself, nor settle with using mere illusions to scare them...

She doubled back and returned first to the road, and then to the camp itself. She walked in with a conscious effort to allow the campfire to cast light on her immediately so that whoever was awake would not be unnecessarily startled. She noticed that everyone from before was now back asleep, and Gregor’s friend Jorba was standing watch. She headed toward him and explained about the three bandits in the camp. After hearing the explanation, Jorba scratched his chin a few times. “And you’re sure there were only three of them?”

“These three were the only ones not involved in the ambush in the clearing earlier. It’s possible there may be others nearby, but I didn’t notice any other tracks.”

Jorba nodded, “I spoke with Gregor earlier. We’ll try to put some distance between us and them tomorrow, so we’ll be leaving an hour before sunrise, which gives us about two hours before we start breaking camp. You should try to get some rest until then.”

“I’ll be able to get some rest on the move. For now, I’m going to prepare a surprise for our pursuers to help… dissuade them from chasing after us any further.” Without another word, she started walking away from the camp along the road to the north.



Gregor feels a strong hand on his shoulder, shaking him awake. As he opens his eyes, it’s Jorba standing above him. The sky is still dark, and the moon is nearing the horizon now, so even that light is fading. “Is it time?”

Jorba nods, and then explains to him what Alithana discovered about the bandits. “She’s off to the north somewhere preparing what she called a ‘surprise for our pursuers.’ She hasn’t returned yet, and it’s been nearly two hours.”

Gregor raised his eyebrow at this, “Well, we still break camp as planned. If she doesn’t return when we’re ready to move, we’ll send a few people out to find her.” Jorba nods again and they begins waking up the rest of the camp, briefly explaining the situation to all of them before providing everyone with a light meal. While distributing the food, they discuss how they will organize their group. There are 16 in the group, counting the new arrival Trailo and Jothal’s wolf Ash.

A few minutes later, as they are breaking camp and preparing to move, Jorba addresses the group once again, “Myself, Gregor, and Bogart will pilot the wagons, while Trailo, since he's injured, and the three women will ride. But you eight other men will split into two groups of four which will alternate riding on the horses at midday. Those who rode yesterday will be riding in the wagons the first half of the day.” He then turns to Jothal, “Not sure how your wolf deals with long distance running without many rests, but, if he needs to, there's room in the wagons for him as well. Don't want him injuring himself keeping up with horses all day...”

"If you want, I can keep him rested in the wagon until we get a safe distance away from the bandits. That way he'll be rested in case they attack. Once we get a safe distance away, he should be fine for a bit of running," Jothal responds.

Jorba nods and says, "I guess have him run while you're on horseback and ride when you're in the wagon." He turned and spoke to the whole group again, "Including today, it'll take us 3 days to reach Nalvo. Assuming we can stay ahead of the ones chasing us, we shouldn't encounter any other bandits, so let's get things secured and move out." The group begins breaking camp and getting ready to move. It only takes a few minutes before everyone climbs into the wagons themselves or mounts horses. One of the four on horseback goes to scout ahead immediately and the other three will stay with the caravan for now.

Gregor is piloting the front wagon, with Bogart beside him. Bogart is Gregor’s and Elda’s son, father of Seraphi. He’s been caravanning much of his life, and lost his wife during a bandit attack several years before. Elda and Seraphi were inside the wagon, as were two other men and the young Trailo who arrived in the night.

The rear wagon is being led by Jorba. Much of the equipment is in the wagon, but Jothal and his wolf Ash climb inside, alongside one of the caravaners and Alithana, who returned while the others were breaking camp. The two extra horses, one of which Trailo used to get here, are tied behind the second wagon. If any of the other horses tire, such as those pulling the wagons, they can quickly switch them out to be able to maintain a quick pace and keep ahead of the bandits.

Gregor and Jorba set the horses to a trot and pulled the wagons out onto the road, heading north. The sun begins rising shortly after, and getting this early of a start should help put some distance between the bandits and them. The morning goes smoothly, and at midday they take a quick break to allow those on horseback to switch with those riding in the wagons. Periodically someone will head off to scout ahead, but most of the time they ride alongside the wagons keeping watch. The rest of the day passes uneventfully. Camp was made, watches doubled just in case, and no riders arrived in the night this time.

Much of the next two days were the same. With the use of the extra two horses, one of which Trailo brought, and with Ash being able to rest in the wagon, the group maintains a quick pace and covers ground fast. As the sun begins to set on the third day, the caravan reaches the peak of a gentle hill and sees ahead of them the city of Nalvo.

The city before them is where they were at just before heading south to Foabur, before they had been ambushed by those bandits and saved by the elf Alithana. The size of Nalvo makes the small town of Foabur look laughable in comparison. The vast farmlands spread out for many miles around the city, the roads are well-paved and kept mostly clean of horse droppings, and the walls that surround the city are tall and strong. With the city visible, the caravaners visibly relaxed and their mood improved; no longer did they need to be constantly alert and ready for bandits to jump out at them without any notice. They pressed forward, to the city.



Tranan was well into the middle years of his life now. He had been born and raised in the vast city of Triln, but since joining the Mages Guild he has had numerous opportunities to visit surrounding cities and towns, usually on missions searching for those with magical auras that would indicate they have magical potential. If left to themselves, their untamed potential could lead to unconsciously bringing harm to those around them, and Tranan could view, or in most cases feel, the aura that surrounded them.

Jorin was just such a case. He lived in Trannyth, and at the age of 15 he collapsed a house. He had already known for several years that he could move certain objects short distances, and one day a fire had sprung up in the city, spreading from building to building. Every able-bodied man was doing what they could to put out the fire. Jorin had tried to push the fire away to prevent it from spreading further, and ended up making it roar louder and grow quicker than normal, but he couldn’t figure out why. As the fire continued, he grew more desperate and tried as hard as he could to force the fire back. The weakened beams of the burning building couldn’t resist the blast, and the entire house collapsed on top of several of those trying to put out the fire.

He later learned, after being recruited into the Guild, that what he was actually doing was moving the air, generating wind, and he had initially just been feeding the fire more oxygen, causing the opposite from what he wanted. When he collapsed the house, the gust of wind he caused was strong enough to knock most people off their feet. He wanted to dedicate himself to learning auras so that he might be able to find others with magical potential and bring them into the Guild before they also unwittingly caused harm to those around them. Tranan had taught him much, and Jorin learned quickly, soon becoming Tranan’s prime pupil and main assistant. When the Archmage came to Jorin about the discovery of instability within the aura, they decided this expedition was the best course of action—they needed to figure out the nature of the instability and then find out the cause of it.

After only a few days and a tense confrontation with Lord Davben himself, they are now through the gate of Triln, headed to Gellantara in the northeast. The city of Triln was the largest on the continent, aside from Aciadon far to the southeast, and due to the massive growth the city has undergone in Jorin’s lifetime, outside the walls were thousands more buildings, circling the city. Mostly homes, with shops, stables, forges, markets, and other structures scattered around as well. With the recent growth, land inside the walls had skyrocketed in value, and increasing population spurred vast construction projects outside the wall. In some ways, it's like another town across the wall, but the people still identify themselves as citizens of Triln, and passage through the gates is free for everyone during the day.

It was early morning, with the sun still rising across the horizon, so the streets were nearly unoccupied; most people were still waking up, getting ready, and beginning to start their days. Three of the knights were on their horses, keeping close to the wagons, and the other three knights were in the rear wagon. They did not expect anything to happen for the first few days at least, as any bandits that close to the city would have been routed and killed years ago, which is part of the reason that living outside the walls has long been considered safe and is now just a statement about social class.

Continuing forward, the buildings steadily thin and grow spare, and farther ahead are vast farms with the occasional farmhouse, barn, shed, and granary. It takes a few hours, but eventually even that starts to end and trees dominate the horizon. The entire region between here and Gellantara is sparsely forested with rolling hills. The rest of the first day passes uneventfully, and camp is made on the side of the road. The second group of knights handles the watches that night, and in the morning they mount their horses as the other group ties theirs to the rear wagon and climbs inside.

This continued on for several more days. The expedition made fast progress and was unhindered. Twice, they passed a caravan headed the opposite direction, toward Triln, but they caused no trouble. Eventually, on the sixth day, Gellantara was only a few hours ahead. Instead of riding in the wagon, all six knights were on horseback. The trees thinned and became farmland, and after cresting a hill the city walls of Gellantara were ahead of them, along with the vast ocean visible to the right with dozens of ships on the water, some easily recognizable as fishing boats and others as merchant vessels.

One of the knights, Darvyn, whistled and said, "Would you look at that..." Likewise, a few of the other knights and some of the mages made short statements about it. Triln is many miles from the sea, and several of those here have never seen it before in their lives. After a few more moments of hesitation, the group continues forward, reaching the city and entering it.



Tranan led the caravan through a few streets to a large inn with adjoining stables, the Delirious Sailboat Inn. From the gates to here, only a few blocks inside the city, there had already been more than a dozen city guards, either patrolling around, standing at attention in front of important buildings, or watching various intersections. After arriving at the inn, the horses were attended to, the wagons stored alongside the building, and rooms in the inn purchased. Tranan, addressing the group, says, "We leave in the morning, so don't get too comfortable. You've got the rest of the day to do what you want, go sight-seeing, whatever, but be ready to leave at dawn."

The knights decided to check out the city a bit, while most of the mages decided to get some rest. They weren’t used to travelling, and the quick pace they kept resulted in few rests or chances to stretch their legs, so they retired to their rooms upstairs. It was a larger, four-story inn, but even so they booked more than half of the available rooms. As the knights left and the mages went upstairs, Tranan turned to the innkeeper, “After passing through the gate, the guardsmen seemed distracted, and we noticed there were an abnormally high amount of them on the streets. Did something happen recently?”

“Aye, last night some trade official or something like that got murdered. Not sure what his name was, but he was apparently pretty important if the reaction is severe enough to triple the guards on duty. They’ve got a big investigation going on as well, but I don’t know the details,” the innkeeper responded.

Tranan nods. He had a bad feeling that this would slow them down. He thanked the innkeeper and left the inn, heading toward the western gate and going outside the city. The riverboat they would use to leave Gellantara and head to Tarmikos makes port just outside the city, and Tranan went to speak with the rivermaster who coordinated the shipping up and down the river. Similar to Triln, the area outside the walls had houses and other structures, and a few hundred yards past them was another group of buildings near the edge of the water.

After getting directions to where he would find the rivermaster, Tranan approached the man who was overseeing a few boatworkers. After explaining who he was, Tranan asked, “I came to confirm whether we’d be leaving on schedule tomorrow or not, considering the investigation going on in the city.”

The man looked Tranan up and down and responded after a few moments, “Sorry, they already ordered us to stay at port today and tomorrow, so you’re stuck here an extra day.” He put his hand up as if to stop any complaints and continued, “Nothing I can do about it, that’s just how things are. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got workers slacking off…” Reluctantly, Tranan turned and left, considering possibly heading on foot to Tarmikos, but dismissing it since it’d still be slower and would only serve to spite those who had no control over the circumstances. They had no choice but to wait the extra day.



For as far back as Seraphi could remember, the road was more familiar than any other place. Her grandparents as well as her own parents had caravanned constantly, barely staying at any town or city long enough to trade wares and move on to the next. When her mother died seven years ago, Seraphi could not comprehend what was really happening. Now, being twelve, she’s learned from others how it happened.

The caravan had been heading from Triln to Nalvo, a road that is generally considered rather safe. Every now and then some bandit packs will decide to attempt to raid caravans on the road, and the day before they would reach Nalvo they were attacked. The battle was bloody, with twenty caravaners losing their lives. They had been unable to circle the wagons at the time, and the fighting was frantic as the charging bandits rushed in from both sides of the road. During the midst of it, a few bandits took the opportunity to immediately search the wagons for valuables, and upon finding the women one proceeded to slaughter several of them. Seraphi’s mother died hiding the five-year-old girl beneath her.

Bogart, Seraphi’s father, and several others had managed to fight off the bandits and make it to the wagon only moments too late to save her. Seraphi’s own memories of the event are unclear and confusing, but she knows well the grief her father has been dealing with ever since, and he’s long refused to travel down that road as a result. Yet, after reaching Nalvo that is exactly the path that must be taken. So far he had yet to make mention of it, but Seraphi knew it was affecting him, which is why grandpa Gregor had insisted he ride at the helm of the wagon, so they both could discuss what would be done.

Seraphi herself wasn’t sure how she felt about it either, but she pushed off thinking about it, trying to avoid the memories as much as possible. When they had first been attacked by the bandits in the clearing two days before, Seraphi understood what it could mean, and feared the worst, seeing flashes from her memories as a young child. When they had been saved by Alithana, she fought back the memories and focused on the present, greatly admiring the seemingly unnaturally beautiful elven women who had taken an arrow to the shoulder and hardly flinched.

Yet when she collapsed from the poison, dread and despair crept back into Seraphi’s mind. Later, in Foabur, seeing Alithana’s arm, crippled and useless at her side, did little to abate her fears. And now, being chased by bandits on the road, she couldn’t help but constantly imagine another ambush, with every tree being a possible hiding place. Yet the trees hid nothing, and the bandits are now far behind them. She was anxious. Everything had been happening way too fast, was way too frantic. She could hardly keep up with everything anymore.

First an elf that rescues us from harm and needs to get to Triln… We owe her our lives, so we’ll help if we can, but we still don’t know why, only that she’s being chased by other elves… The stranger with the wolf and the other one with a crippled arm similar to Alithana… Why are they here? They owe her nothing, unlike us… What are they after? Why does Alithana need to reach Triln? Do these other two have something to do with that? And why are those bandits chasing us? Usually they give up if their target escapes, yet they haven’t… None of this makes any sense… What happened to a simple life on the road that caused it to become like this…?



TO BE CONTINUED...