Maeli knelt in front of the tree of her grandfather a stone's throw from her home. "Grandfather, they nearly took you, the death worshipping monsters wanted to cut down the bearing of your spirit and take you from me. But I didn't let them, I gave the bitch money, and she left you alone… but what do I do now? Please! Please tell me!" Her hazel eyes shut tight and she prostrated herself at the base of the great wide trunk. "Whisper to me from the earth from which your new life springs… send me a sign… but please, tell me what to do!" She mewed out desperately.

The tree swayed back and forth in the breeze as if the swaying wood and leaves wanted to stroke the long dark hair that fell from her head and gathered around her arms on the ground.

"They say I am part of their people now, that I am of their empire, and I can submit or I can leave… Please, please tell me what to do, I'm lost. They cut me off even from my own village by calling me their own!" She kissed the soil and raised her head, rising up to her knees and holding her arms out as she looked to the top of the tree.

"I beg you, for your great grandchild, and for me, open a path away from serving the death worshippers!" Her lower lip trembled and she did not even try to stop the choking of her own increasing mourning. "Say something, send someone, it's been days and I…"

"Want an opportunity to resist, eh?" A voice interjected behind her. Maeli scrambled to turn around and put her back to the tree, then shot to her feet, her hands making fists instinctively.

In front of her stood an olive skinned woman with hair so deeply blue that it was almost black, with hazel eyes like her own. A tall woman in full Ongeku wargear. Scalemail and thickly muscled, she towered over Maeli. At her sides were two long thin swords. She had ample breasts that were concealed beneath the forest green painted scalemail armor, itself framed by thick simple furs that were draped over her back and secured around the neck. Nor was she alone.

Behind her were twenty others approaching from a greater distance. They were similarly armed, like fastmen. Maeli's eyes went up and down the woman and she pressed herself harder against the tree of her grandfather.

"What do you want? I have nothing, I…" Maeli began, and then started to relax, though the woman kept one hand resting on the hilt of her sword, she'd made no move to take hold of it, and the other was calmly on her hip. Her feet were shoulder width apart and she appeared quite relaxed, giving off no indication of violent intentions. Then there was her question. "What did you just ask?" Maeli looked left and right to ensure there was nobody else present.

"Do you want a chance to resist the death worshippers?" The woman replied, restating her question.

Maeli gave a tiny nod. "They threatened grandfather's tree. They tried to make me sell my home if I didn't pay them, tried to make me move off my land if I wouldn't submit…" She gritted her teeth tightly, "Cursed are the death lovers…"

The blue haired woman smiled sweetly and the hand on her hip came up and formed a fist in front of the center of her body and a fierce, toothy grin formed. "Damn right. You are a lucky find indeed." She thrust her hand out and clasped Maeli's forearm. "My name is Latchi, and these…" She gestured behind her, "are my people. I'll spare you the long version. We're fighting back."

"Wait… how did you find me…" Maeli bit her lip and stared up at the woman and at the small band that formed up behind her.

"A little scouting, the tax collectors always stop in the same places, we heard one of them bitching about you, we find most of our recruits through methods like that. The Newcomers are fierce fighters, but they're also very relaxed on what they consider 'their ground'. We also find targets that way."

"So… what do you want from me? I'm no fighter, no warrior, and I can't leave my little sister. So… what?" Maeli relaxed her hand from the powerful grip of the warrior woman. She winced a bit and as soon as their grips broke, she rubbed the spot where the woman's hand clasped.

"Safe haven. The most important fact of fighting back is having safe paths to travel in and out, and finding you here, alone on your land, beneath the tree of your ancestor, praying for a way to resist…" Latchi ran her hand from her forehead and over her head and down through the loose strands of blue hair. "I believe the gods sought this meeting. You were destined to help us. I had intended to find you in your home, convince you, but I don't need to do that, do I?" The hard hazel eyes seemed to embrace Maeli as a sister.

Within her peasant breast she felt her heartbeat quicken, and she shook her head violently, casting her long dark hair back and forth behind her. "No. They must be stopped. They 'must' be. I can do little, but I will offer you shelter, and I know the secret paths that will guide you through the wilds around my village. When you come this way, my little house is your shelter, my floor is your safe bed, my food will keep you going. From my well take water when you need it, from my stream, take fish when you need them. I will help you in any way that I can."

"Good. Oh, here." Latchi reached to a pouch on her leather belt, opened it up, and took out a small number of coins. She took Maeli's hand and turned it palm up, then placed the coins there. "These are yours, the tax collector is dead, we gutted the bitch when she left her last checkpoint. It's a good way from here, so there's nothing to worry about." Latchi grinned broadly, the smile that stretched over her face made her olive skin light up, "We've killed twelve priests in the wilds so far, and four taxcollectors. We even took down the better part of a merchant caravan that had a priest passenger and made them turn back." She frowned slightly, "Only bad part about that was… that most of them did get away, mainly because their magic caster made a stand that…" She scratched her cheek with a distant look, "I admit was valiant. Sacrificed herself for her comrades."

"Why tell me this much?" Maeli frowned, "Isn't that dangerous."

Latchi took a step closer, so that the woman was now looming over her and Maeli had to crane her neck to look up at the angular face that stared down at her. "Simple, 'if' you betray us, well it doesn't matter how much info you give away, so it doesn't matter what you know. Second, so you'll understand that this is serious. This isn't a game, this is a beginning. Are we clear?" Latchi put her meaty hand on Maeli's small left shoulder. "We need to be, because I won't risk failure."

Maeli gave a small nod, "It's fine… I'll give you guest trust, and swear beneath grandfather's tree."

Latchi removed her hand from Maeli's shoulder and cracked the knuckles of one hand in the palm of the other. "Good, then let me explain the next step, and you can help us fight a war that is long overdue."

xxxxxxx

Nalineth savored the wide open ground, her long hair flew behind her as Harou raced over the ground while they went south. Within hours, she was farther from home than she'd ever been. The sun struck her hair and the shining black reflected the light back toward the sky. The heavy breathing and panting of her greater Dire Wolf was like music to her. She clung to his fur, lowered herself forward as if to see even one inch further, one second sooner. All the world seemed laid out, and for that moment, it was.

"The world is so big." She whispered as the day passed her by until Harou began to tire. When the sun finally began to set, the horizon was no closer than it had been when she set out early in the day. She huffed a little, 'Should I be grateful to you, my world, for being so big I can't see all of it? Or resent you, because I can't see all of it?' She turned the thought over in her head while she dug a small fire pit with roughly the radius of her foot, then gathered a few fallen branches from the nearby woods and stacked the wood up with tinder in the center so that the tips of the branches all supported each other and stood up at an angle. She took out her flint and struck three times, sending a few sparks down into the dry wood and tinder. She crouched and blew into the tiny pit, watching the fire slowly spring to life. "Ha!" She said and sprang to her feet with a broad smile on her face.

"See, Harou! That's how you do it!" She said to her mount and rubbed his fur softly. He lifted his head from where he lay and looked back at his mistress, cocking his enormous head briefly before concluding she was simply blathering. He let out a brief whine and lowered his head back down to his paws. His massive tail wagged when she stroked his fur, but that stopped when the petting did.

His interest perked up again however, when she drew rations from her pack, unwrapping raw meat from the large, broad, smooth green Keeper Leaves. "I love these things." She said and looked over her shoulder at the now very interested Harou. "Yeah, I know boy, you love how these Keeper Leaves keep the meat ready and fresh for you… but sorry buddy, we have to preserve our rations till we get to civilization. You ate before we left, I didn't. I'll let you lick the leaves though." She winked at her mount and jabbed the meat onto her blade and held it over the fire.

The smell of roasting meat filled her nostrils well before the sun finally went down entirely. But it wasn't yet done, even when the only lights to be had were the endless stars above and the fire she sat cross legged at.

The sounds of the night began to reach her ears. The cries of night birds, the howls of distant wolves, the endless crackling of creatures from the forest just a stone's throw from where her little camp sat.

The crackle of the fire and wood were her conversation partners, and for the first time in her young life, Nalineth felt like she was truly and completely alone. She looked around nervously as the realization hit home. The enthusiasm of her start was on the wane as reality began to set in. She looked around reflexively and stretched out before drawing her legs in so that her knees were close to her chest.

She snorted and verbally rebuked herself. "Oh relax, Nalineth. You're not some barely better than helpless peasant girl. You know how to fight, there's not a monster within days of here that would consider attacking with Harou here, and even if there were, you can handle most of the stuff that comes from even the wild lands without a problem."

The fragrance of the rich, fatty meat struck her nose and for the moment her hunger outweighed her anxiety and loneliness. She drew the sword away, her mouth filled with saliva and she licked her chops hungrily. She tore the meat off the blade with just her teeth, tearing into it ravenously, turning her sword in her hand as it held the meat like a skewer from a market stall. The last of the rich, deep red, fatty meat finally fell from the sword, and she caught it easily as it dropped. The hand that caught the bloody meat went straight to her mouth where her teeth ground it down until it slid down her throat into her belly.

She then stood and went to Harou and held out both the Keeper Leaves and her juice soaked hand for him to lick. She giggled a little as the enormous tongue slid over her skin, before she rubbed the top of his long blue-grey snout, and received a massive dousing of his tongue over her face before she moved away from him.

She wiped her face with her forearm briefly and rolled her eyes. Then after wiping down her sword, she curled up between Harou and the fire hoping that sleep would find her. 'No wonder towns and cities form… to be completely alone is very unsettling.' It took a long time, but at last the weariness of the day, along with the warmth of the fire and Harou's fur, finally led her to drift off into a restful slumber.

When she woke to the feel of Harou's tongue coating her face, she got up and stretched out. A few feet away, the fire was nothing but the tendrils of faint smoke, burnt wood, and gray ashes. The sun was just barely peeking over the distant horizon, and she was eager to move. There was a spring to her step as she stomped out the last life of the embers of her fire and then rushed to jump on Harou's back while the ashes were still settling back into the only proof she'd been there at all. The next three days were like that, she avoided her own settlements and people. On the second day, Harou chased a deer, and with her own bow she brought it down as it tried to leap to safety. The deer was quickly gutted, prepared, skinned, and mostly devoured by her hungry mount, but left enough to wrap in spare Keeper Leaves for several days more of travel.

Finally, on the fourth day, she found what she wanted on the horizon. She pointed ahead, "See that Harou! That's Traveler's Hill! A waystation for the Newcomer merchants, explorers, priests, and so on. That's where we'll get to meet them in person, and see how they stand up to the stories. You ready boy? Are you? Are you?!" She put more and more enthusiasm into her voice and leaned close to his perked up, sharp ears. Her own longing for the forward ride was so great that Harou actually sat on his haunches and howled to the great sky above, before they went in the only direction there could be for Nalineth Pendar.

Forward.