With my hands behind my back, I strode impatiently back and forth, counting the seconds in my mind as I stared at the waning light of moonlight being consumed by the advancing tempest from the south.
Between hay and straw, my nose picked up the scent of burning wood, carried on the wind. A fire raged somewhere nearby in the distance. My stomach grumbled loudly in protest, reminding me of the fact I hadn't eaten in hours.
The horses whinnied and snorted, anxious to be let loose from their tethers. They kicked against the wooden fence and tugged at their reins, eager to run free.
"Ha ha ha! I think this one's got a liking to me!" laughed Naia as the white beast pranced in circles around her, nuzzling his tongue affectionately against her face.
I returned a polite smile.
"Where are they?!" I growled lowly under my breath, my gaze flicking nervously from side to side. "They were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago!"
My blood began to boil at the thought of them being late. The darker the skies became, the sooner dawn would come. And dawn meant a delay in our crossing─an opportunity for the enemy to catch us unprepared.
If the storm didn't catch up with us first.
"Come on! Come onnnn!" I shouted to the skies up above in exasperation.
"Heh heh, you're going to wake everybody up!" Naia giggled.
"We'll deal with that problem later," I replied curtly. "Get the horses ready."
Naia turned to me with a smile, and began unfastening the harnesses that held the horses tethered to each other.
Finally they arrived, right on cue.
"What took you three so long?!" I exclaimed.
Talos and Ger'tha exchanged glances before they both shrugged apologetically.
"Sorry 'bout that, Captain" Talos said sheepishly. "There was a bit o' trouble back at the camp you see─"
"Shut up! We don't have time for your excuses!" I barked. "Just get on the horses, take the bags and follow after us, go!"
Both soldiers quickly ran to their mounts, saddling them in record speed and jumping onto the backs. Their supplies were strapped to the saddlebags hanging off either side of the horse.
I ran to the lead destrier, pulling myself up onto his back in one swift movement. He grunted in surprise and threw his head back, but she soon settled down and trotted obediently along.
"Naia, you ride with me. Istar, you ride with Talos."
"Yes Ma'am" Both called out in unison, mounting their horses and following after me.
The Teneshan guards standing post at the gates of the stableyard gave us a respectful nod as we rode past them and out onto the steppe.
I glanced behind me as we galloped away, watching the storm clouds gather and swell. Watching the bright glow fires of our outpost shink and fade as we moved farther and farther away. The ground
swung beneath the hooves of the horses, kicking up snow and dirt as we passed. We kept our mouths shut and our eyes focused, preparing ourselves for the daunting task ahead.
As I gazed at the approaching dark mass of endless woods, I could feel a chill sweep through my body. The once open steppe transformed into a desolate expanse, where gnarled trees loomed like twisted sentinels, their skeletal branches reaching out like bony fingers, as if beckoning us into their treacherous domain.
The wind howled mournfully, carrying whispers that seemed to echo from within the depths of the looming forest. Shadows danced and twisted, their eerie forms playing tricks on our minds and eyes. It was as if the very air had turned thick with a sense of foreboding, warning us of the perils that awaited within.
The horses beneath us grew restless, their ears pinned back as they sensed the imminent danger. Their snorts of unease matched the rapid thumping of my own heart, a primal rhythm resonating with trepidation.
We halted our approach when we reached the edge of the forest, the shadows of its ominous branches reaching over us like a curtain. Our mounts huffed and pawed at the ground, unwilling to move forward.
"I guess this is as far as they will go." I muttered under my breath, turning to stare at the silent group before me.
"Alright, time to get moving, everyone" I called.
We all dismounted and set about unlashing our bags. The horses' heads came up as our supplies were dragged out; they looked as terrified as we felt.
"Hey now, it's alright" Naia stroked the white horse's nose with a gentle smile.
The horses seemed to calm as her gentle touch soothed them, their ears twitching in relief.
"Shoo! Shooo!" I shouted to horses, waving my hand and shooing them onwards.
They whinnied in fear and took off running back to the outpost, their tails tucked between their legs, leaving us alone in the midst of the forest.
I took the soul shards from my supply bag and gave one to each member of the squadron.
"Now how does this work?" asked Ger'tha as he inspected his.
"Don't ask me, I've nevah seen one o' these in me life" replied Talos with a shrug.
"Listen up!" I shouted, raising my voice over the din of the wind. "Hold it high above your head. Keep it there until you see a glow coming off of it. I'll say the prayers aloud." I instructed as I readied myself.
"Enaria the Forsaken, blessed Be Thy Name. Heed onto our call in times of peril. Grant thy children protection in the darkest hour. Thou Art Mighty, Thou art Merciful. May your blood flow through our lands once more, as it did in the days of Panarkhétes the Harbinger. And may our spirits join as one, in the bygone and hereafter, in war and peace... in life, and death." I recited to the best of my performance with deep reverence inside my heart.
A warm, incandescent glow began emanating off of the shards and I watched them stare, awestruck at what they beheld.
"Woah!" exclaimed Talos as tears of joy fell from his eyes.
"Quickly!, hold the shard close to your hearts. Close your eyes if you must. Let your spirit fly free." I spoke urgently.
They followed my command without question, closing their eyes and clutching the glowing stones tight. They gasped in wonder as the will of Enaria's divine presence flowed into our bodies, imbuing us with a sense of motherly warmth.
"Well, that was the lamest thing I have ever seen. What are these things anyway? They look like cheap toys from a circus mage," said Ger'tha with a scowl.
"Do not speak ill of the sacred blessings of the gods!" Naia warned as she raised a hand in rebuke.
"These things you hold in your hands, Ger'tha, are no toys!" I declared. "These shards are vessels, conduits to the will of the Gods. And you will defend them with your very lives. We shall suffer and bleed together, for we are now one in the eyes of the gods. " I spoke.
"And how do we undo the ritual?" questioned Talos, he wasn't much of a learned individual, but did possess an inquisitive mind.
"You need to wait for it to end naturally, it won't last longer than a day" I replied.
"But once it ends, the thether of your soul will no longer be linked to ours." Naia added, knowing a bit more about such things. "And that'll make it easier for you to get lost in the woods... unless your shards remain, and we're still linked. That way, our shards will act as a guide."
"What if someone dies?" questioned Ger'tha, suddenly fearful of the consequences of the interweaving of our souls.
"You ought to see things a little more positively, young man." Istar retorted.
"No one has to die here, Ger'tha. We'll complete our mission and get back, together" I reassured him and took a deep breath.
"Or we'll stay here, buried forever" Talos finished with a teasingly dark smile that only furthered Ger'tha's fears.
"Let's just get on with it." I ordered.
"Naia, Istar, take the lead. I'll bring up the rear." I instructed.
And with that, we took off into the vast unknown.
Branches cracked beneath our feet, and leaves crunched as we hurried into the forest. My heart thrummed in my chest as I took in the sights of the forest in amazement at the sheer scope of its expanse. The wind meandered through the trees and leaves, echoing a nerve-racking tune of solitude in the boundless woods of Bastanos.
We prowled for what felt like ages before we found a clearing with an enormous old tree resting amongst it, its thick bark bore a distinctive carving in ancient erathosi, the language of our ancestors.
"This must be a sigil" Talos remarked with hesitance.
"Sigils aren't supposed to have letters," Ger'tha said with a frown.
"This isn't a sigil" Naia corrected. "It's a seal"
"A seal of vision." Ger'tha said with a nod
"They must be hiding something around here," I whispered, taking a careful step back from the towering tree "Let's circle it."
As we moved out from the shadow of the great tree, I noticed an object lying in the dirt. It appeared to be an elongated shaft with a broken end, and a flethced arrangement of feathers on the other.
"An arrow... But where is the rest of it?" I asked aloud.
Istar knelt down and examined the item closely for several minutes. "I know this, it's a teneshian arrow."
"Must've belonged to one of our own then," I surmised "But the only Teneshians who were ever close to this part of the forest were Admiral Arleth and her batallion, some four days ago. What is it doing all the way over here?"
"An survivor of the battle perhaps?" questioned Ger'tha "A lucky soul that escaped the hands of the Insurgents and made it out of Bastanos."
Whatever it was, the owner would most likely have perished from starvation or illness by now. A grisly fate indeed. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness at the thought.
I decided to take the item and we continued on.
The trees were growing increasingly larger, and the undergrowth thicker as we ventured deeper inside the forest. The air reeked of mold and damp coming from the earth beneath our feet.
After some minutes of walking, we stumbled upon something unusual along the way, a strange stone statue of a bird with long feathers protruding from both sides of its body and multiple eyes arranged in pairs all around its head, giving it a rather unsettling appearance.
"That thing must've been a big feathered freak 'n life," commented Talos in abhor at the statue.
"It's an Erthonasí Guardian," Istar announced with a look of reverence in his eyes.
"A what?" I queried.
"An ancient creature of the past," he enlightened us "Have you not heard about them? The Guardians of Erthos?."
We all knew of Ancient Erthos, and the legends of the rest of old civilizations; but i had never heard any mention of 'Erthonasí Guardians' before.
"Never in my wildest dreams did I think to see one of these," Istar remarked while studying the statue intently, "But this one is too small, a replica."
"What is it doing all the way out here?"
"Who knows?" replied Ger'tha "It might be a marker... or a warning."
We all glanced at each other with uncertainty.
A rustling in the bushes ahead alerted our attention away from the statue and drew our eyes towards the thicket.
"They're here!" screamed Talos with fear in his voice.
We drew our weapons with a rush, but instead of Insurgents, a small pack of wolves emerged from the bush. They looked to be around six or seven pups, their coat a dark mottled gray and brown coloration. They quickly scurried away in fright as we approached.
"Don't shoot at 'em ye jackass!" said Talos to Ger'tha who was aiming his crossbow at the slowest cub. "It'll only piss their momma off!"
"They won't be so friendly when they get hungry," warned Ger'tha as he lowered his weapon.
We moved ahead to the bush where the wolves had emerged, leading deeper into the dense, foreboding foliage.
Curiosity mingled with a sense of dread as we passed through the maze of twisted branches and leaves. Shadows whispered all around, as though something were watching us every step of the way. We crept forward with caution.
Just when we thought we couldn't bear the tension any longer, we stumbled upon a familiar odor that tainted the air—a rotten stench laced with a metallic tang that lingered stiffly in the humid air.
"Tread slowly... And bring your eyes wide open." I warned as I took the first step towards the source of the smell.
I drew my blade before me, as did the others.
And there, behind the tangled mass of branches and vines that blocked our path, in the heart of the moonlit night, we found the first valuable clue we'd come across in quite some time.
The chilling spectacle swinging slowly from a thick rope suspended from a large oak tree, it was the long perished carcass of a soldier. Clad in gleaming armor with ornate detailing and polished golden accents.
"A Teneshian Elite..." said Naia with grim certainty.
His face had been crushed and disfigured beyond recognition, and his limbs had been chewed away with grotesque hunger, his torso bare of flesh, revealing a bloody mess of organs and arrows where his ribs should have been. He bore a crown of gold upon his head that shone with a dull luminescence in the moonlight.
"Those barbarians know not the meaning of honor," remarked Istar with disgust. "If they are to behave as animals, then we will treat them as such."
"Cut him down." I ordered Naia.
She nodded her head and raised her sword, moving with precision as she cut the rope and released the Elite from the demeaning display. The corpse fell heavily onto the leafy ground, splattering bits of meat and blood onto our faces.
The crown on his head rolled off and landed near my feet where I reached down to pick it up. A twisted message from our enemies was carved into the its golden plating.
'FROM VICE WE ARE BROUGHT, AND TO DEATH WE SHALL WALK'
A mockery of the Oath of Tenesh, and a warning.
"This is no coincidence," I stated to my companions, "We must be getting closer to their hiding spot!"
"What are we to do with the body?" Talos asked with concern.
"Leave him to the wolves" I replied I with a sigh. "He can serve a final purpose, burial rites won't bring him back to life."
I placed the blasphemous crown on Naia's knapsack and we continued onward in silence, with our resolve hardened and our fear tamed. The path ahead was uncertain, and the dangers unknown; but I was ready to face whatever stood in our way, for I had already lived through a worse future than this.
