Chapter Thirteen – Fear in a Distant Place
Arriving at Camp White Mountain is a shock to most of the small expedition and mere adjustment to the remaining few. Just a few moments earlier, they had been waiting at Limsa Lominsa's Aetheryte Plaza and sweating under the weight of winter garb on this fine summer's day. Before nervous anticipation has a chance to set in, there's the order to teleport and then they're transported hundred of malms in a matter seconds. From a temperate clime where the tang of sea salt lingers in the air to a wasteland tundra of permafrost, cold biting wind and far off rocky crags peppered with snow.
Like two others in the group, Kit struggles to catch his breath in this new climate and leans heavily on an outbuilding within the camp boundaries. Lungs stinging with freezing air, he glances about the foreign landscape of stone and ice.
"Welcome to Dravania," their Miqo'te tracker calls out. Salsie Soom is a diminutive woman with dusky grey skin offset wildly by alabaster hair and stark blue eyes. Her demeanour is unexpectedly cheerful despite the situation. "Even fiery Dalamud can't melt the cold heart of this region."
As the group gathers indoors to plan their next move, Serpent General Tsun catches Kit by the arm and says in a hushed voice, "Lieutenant. If I could have a moment."
They walk out towards the aetheryte crystal, shimmering blue amongst a backdrop of white and grey. Tsun's face is etched with concern. "The small party I sent out to O'Ghomoro just got back."
"Did they find anything?" Kit asks, looking at the other man expectantly.
Tsun nods and places one hand against the largest crystal. It hums beneath his touch. "They found the body of an Elezen. He was murdered and in poor condition when they found him."
"All the way out there? Do you think it was the kidnapper?" the Midlander asks.
"Preliminary findings name him as Serpent Colonel Rambussey Moreau, one of those we had suspected. Until I get back to Company headquarters they won't tell me much more over the linkshell."
Kit sighs. As much as the information ties up with what he's been told by the goblins, it doesn't bring him any closer to finding Rose. Especially in this barren place, where upon arriving his concern had risen substantially. His beloved was last seen wearing drake scale armour and he imagines her captors forcing her to sleep rough on the ground with no blankets, no cover or warm food in her belly. The last image in his mind splinters off into unwelcome branches of thought, of grim consequences and dire choices, of suffering and pain. Blood upon the pure white snow. His legs weaken beneath him.
"Are you okay, lieutenant?" Tsun asks, angling his head and looking at the Midlander with concern.
"No," Kit breathes, terrified, "We have to find her right now."
Serpent General Tsun Mhakarraka exhales, his breath like cloudy white dragon fire in the frigid atmosphere. Privately, he has doubts as to whether they'll find the woman alive, if at all, but he has to remain positive for the Flame Lieutenant. Perhaps even for himself.
Each and every Adder that has disappeared due to the machinations of this traitor he has felt a personal responsibility for. With so many people under his command, it's sometimes difficult to remember that each is an individual with a life outside of the Grand Company. Those individuals have dreams, they plan their futures, enjoy time with friends, fall in love and marry, have children. And ultimately, that's what they're all fighting for. Dalamud and the Garleans be damned.
Tsun composes his thoughts and checks his emotions, shifting silently back into Company mode. Putting his arm around Kit's shoulders in support, he leads him towards the cabin where the muffled voices of their expedition members escape through the barely open door. "Come. Let's check our route then we can head out and find her."
Rose, meanwhile, is already on the move. The cart's wooden wheels aren't suited to harsh terrain like this and so it clatters loudly behind the hippogryph pulling its weight, surely as inconspicuous as a behemoth crashing through the forest with all the noise. All four Ixali guards are fanned out in front of the tottering vehicle in a defensive formation, whilst the seeress sits securely on the beast's saddle. Their nervous whispers and the way at which each of them is constantly looking back and forth across the landscape hints at a hidden danger; one at which the cart isn't helping to deter.
Warmer at least with the dead man's cloak wrapped around her body, Rose thinks back to a breakfast of water so cold it made her teeth ache and that hunk of charred meat, cooked on a hasty campfire. What it came from, she has no idea. Who knows what strange prey makes this land their home. The thought of food makes her stomach rumble in protest just as the sickly sweet odour of dried blood floats up from the stained linen cloth, forcing the hunger into retreat.
Perhaps they are confident that she has nowhere to run, but the Ixali had cut the ties binding Rose's hands before they set out this morning. Instead, they tied a long rope around her midriff and attached it to the cart, giving her a surprising amount of range at the back. Little do they know, that's all the freedom a desperate woman needs.
Rose stares at the wooden hatch, wondering if she can get away with it again so soon. The first time she did it, her heart was pounding so fiercely within her chest she feared that these hideous bird-people would hear it even over the cacophony of rattling wheels. But they didn't. Nor were they alerted the second time, or third, or fourth. Each attempt is to risk everything. If the Ixali catch her they'll surely knock the woman unconscious and throw her back into the darkness, then she'll have no hope of leading Kit to her; if he is even out here. But a hope is a hope nonetheless.
Breathing steadily to calm her nerves, Rose steels herself for another round and quickens her pace to catch up with the cart. Just as I practiced, she says to herself, exactly like the other times. When the deed is done and it falls to the ground with a melodic tinkle, the hippogryph and all four Ixali stop dead. Silence thunders in the Elezen's sensitive ears. Perhaps this was one attempt too far.