Disclaimer: I don't own, except for the parts I do. You figure that out, okay.
:}
The next day, the fist travel day back, was a hard one for all of them. Robbie set an even faster pace, pushing them to cover as many miles as possible. While the path did make it easier, they'd had the benefit of a path before, because game tails are almost paths in their own rights. Only this path, taking what was the best rout for wagons, wasn't designed to worry about being quick. Worse, game trails are maintained by use, while this path didn't even have that much maintenance. To the ranger, it felt like the path hadn't been maintained, adjusted, or even cleared in over a year.
To Jade, the exercise was surprisingly easy, if the pace they traveled at could be called anything close to easy. Aliester insisted that all his servants be capable of going to town, retrieving supplies, and returning in as little time as possible. She had also learned a bit about weapons, survival, and a few other things the old wizard felt would be useful if she were to become an adventurer. However, unlike the others who were pushing to avoid a possible fight, there was a part of Jade eager for one. The former apprentice knew that whomever was plotting to ambush her party had either forgotten, or just didn't learn the first rule of the mountains: No one bothers the wizard or any of his guests. It was something she hoped to remind these people, just as soon as she could. With the magics she'd used to pass her test, she felt confident in her ability to remind the brigands how dangerous it is to mess with a mystic.
Also, Jade had no intent of being caught unaware. Not knowing how much to trust Robbie, who looked like he'd get lost walking from his room to the commode, the pale mystic had sent Cat ahead to scout things out. Invisible, the celestial fey fluttered well ahead of her and the others, seeing things with eyes that could tell the difference in color between a bush and a greenish cloak. Invisible to the human eye, partially because she wasn't quite in this world, each and every living thing withing twenty yards stood out to her in their individual, unique glory. Since she could move as fast as a galloping horse, Cat made a formidable scout.
Whomever was trailing the party, however, didn't wish to risk a confrontation that close to the wizard, holding far less fear of the guards of Travmort then they mysterious unknown of the mage. The first day went by without incident, and at the end of the day, the travelers found a camp sight. Tents that had, up until that moment, stayed cozy in packs, were pulled out and set up. Guards were set, and a watch rotation was decided upon.
"So, why aren't we staying in one of those hunters huts?" Kraven asked.
"We don't have that many near this path." Robbie said. "Of course, if we did, we'd still want to avoid them, because, well, honestly, I don't know if the bandits, or whatevers following us, will respect the policies of the huts. If not, then we're just setting up some unfortunate hunter for a rude awakening some time in the future. No, this is better because it gives them nothing."
"Except I'm left out in the cold." The tired merchant complained. It had been a hard days travel for all of them, and it was beginning to show.
"I see a problem." Ryder told Beck. "If whomever waits, gets in position and just waits for us to come to them, we'll be tired from the hard travel. That's an advantage for them."
"Which is why I'm hoping Robbie can see their trap, and help us avoid it." Beck said. "No sense in dying now, when there is a something so much more important to die for later."
"So inspirational." Ryder deadpanned.
"Merchant, knight, and now jester?" Beck said, smiling. "Have you no end to your skills?"
"I fear that you'll never know my most memorable skills." Ryder joked back.
"Ah yes, the ability to bore a lass to sleep." Beck pushed. "I never wished to have that skill. I suppose, once I'm married, it will be a necessity. After all, I might have daughters."
"Will you both keep it down?" Jade groaned. "I'm not used to sleeping on the ground. I'm not used to sleeping out in the wild, and I'm certainly not used to sleeping so close to such loud, yapping mouths." Jade huffed.
"Weak burn." Cat mentally told her. "If you want their respect, you need to go hard, or not at all."
Jade rolled her eyes. "Okay, maybe being able to bore a lass unconscious would be useful right now. However, and I say this to you Ryder, because as my brother I do need to look out for you, at the moment all your doing is driving every lass withing hearing distance into a stupefying rage. So. SHUT. IT. DOWN!"
"Jade?" Ryder tried.
"Save it." Beck cautioned. "Sisters don't usually appreciate men's talk. Not if they have brothers they've always been compared too. Let her rest."
Tori drifted over to where Jade had slipped into her tent. "You know, they mean well." She tried. "Men bond differently then women, and..."
"And I have clippers, can cut off your shortest limb, if that's needed to get some peace." Jade warned.
"You don't have to be rude." Tori huffed. She started to leave. "Wait, how would you know which is my shorted limb?"
"For all men, that's what gives you meaning, makes you feel important." Jade explained.
"She means your penis." A small voice came from within the tent. "Only you don't have one, so she'd be making an empty threat. Of course, Jade should know that, as Aliester told her as much. But you know how people get, tired and cranky and in need of a harmless stimulant they have back at the keep, that she's been using to keep functioning while training. Poor girl, you can't rely upon outside substitutions for sleep. Rest, and I'll stand watch."
"You need your sleep too, Cat." Jade said to the tent. Her voice cracked with exhaustion, and her body threatened to just drop. Aching from her training, and the hard travel, Jade pushed her way into her bed, laying upon her bedroll.
"Um, who is that?" Tori asked. "Cat, I know we've spoken, but I had no idea anyone was coming with us. Maybe we could meet more formally?"
"Maybe." Jade said. "But not now. I need sleep, and so does she."
"And you always share a bed?" Tori asked, inappropriate thoughts finding their way into her mind.
"Well, I'm acting as her familius, so yea." Cat said. "Oops, not supposed to speak so much." There was a soft giggle. "Will you sleep near by? I wanna check on you in the morning, make sure you're okay. Besides, I have so many questions, and I'll ask once we're safely out of the mountains."
"Familious, is that like..." Tori started, not sure if they'd covered this before. However, she didn't have time, as the voice had disappeared, leaving them with just the sounds of the camp, and nature, to keep them company.
It was late the second day when Robbie slowed down a bit to speak with Beck. "Okay, we're probably heading into an ambush. I just don't know if we can avoid it." He sighed. "There's a small canyon ahead, and to go around is to add another day. Scaling the cliffs is a possibility, but hard. But the worst part is, once in, there are about three places they could set up an ambush. If I were to plan an attack, I'd do it there."
"You knew about the canyon, but didn't try to avoid it?" Beck asked.
"Because whomever is trailing us would just let those ahead know, and we'd still face the threat, only later, more exhausted, and with more options of where they could attack." Rob said. "This is the best we can hope for. So, I'm thinking, we guess where they're planning on attacking, and stop before we get there. Draw them out, maybe find us some cover, so we can take away their advantage. The only risk is how many of them there might be. More means harder to hide, but also makes things safer. Less means easier to hide, but more dependent on the ambush."
"They'll have bows." Beck said. "Most of us can use one, but we didn't bring any. They won't close if they can avoid it. So unless we can find a wall to hide behind, they'll just use range to take us down. We need another advantage."
"Then lets see what our mage can do." Robbie suggested.
They used a short stop to bring Jade and Tori up to speed. "So, thoughts?"
"First, I have a scout." Jade informed them. "We'll have advanced notice of where they're hiding. That is, unless they find my scout. Assuming they don't, we should know about were they'll ambush us."
Tori added "I think, if possible, they'll plan on ambushing us further in, but hiding some of their number at the first ambush sight. Now then, this canyon is what? About a mile and a half long? Assuming, they'll be able to have the entire party well past the first ambush sight by the time we meet the second."
"They'll want us to break and run, only to run into the second group." Beck agreed. "This is more then just trapping us with no escape. No escape means surrender, or a fight to the death, cause there is no escape. But if we think we can run, then we might, which breaks out lines, and gives them an extra advantage. No, we need to find a way to take away their advantages."
"Maybe an illusion?" Tori suggested? "Sorry, but I have no idea the extent of your magics. Can you maybe help hide our position? An illusionary wall would mean their archers would be shooting blind."
"Except enough arrows still would cause a nasty case of death." Jade pointed out. "Plus, if there is a second wave, they'd be coming up behind us. No, we need to figure out how to show these people we're not to be messed with. I have an idea, but not sure I can do it yet. However, given what we're going to be against, if I can't, we're in serious trouble. So, yea, lets do this."
"So when do I get to meet this scout?" Robbie asked.
"In town, or later." Jade said. Then she thought hard. 'Cat!'
"You grouched?" Cat asked.
'Please, respect.' Jade scolded. Her companions saw her face scrunched in concentration.
"You want nice, try being nice." Cat suggested.
'When you scout the canyon, you'll find two groups of bandits waiting to ambush.' Jade instructed. She didn't have time for arguments about manners with something that groped her in the night. 'We need to know where each group is. And you might as well tell me if there's anything further in, or on top of the cliffs.'
"Got it." Cat replied. "You guys can start up any time you want. I'll fly ahead and scout out the whole place. By the time you get there, I should have done a couple of fly overs."
Jade opened her eyes, looking at her companions. "My scout will let me know. We might as well get moving. I want that canyon behind me by the time we make camp."
"And when we do see them, whats the plan?" Beck asked.
"Just what your cousin suggested." Jade said. "I'll toss up a wall, and hope it holds them out. Of course, once they realize that arrows won't get us, they'll resort to a more direct attack."
"Or they'll wait us out." Beck said. "Once we see what we're dealing with, I can start to plan this out. You do your part, and we'll improvise. I hate doing it on the fly, but what choice do we have?"
The group slowly made their way into the canyon, using it as a cut through the higher parts of the mountain. Jade stayed alert for warnings from Cat, while Robbie kept his eyes open for signs of trouble all around them. "There are several people already behind us." He warned.
"My scout didn't see them." Jade stated.
"You said your scout was searching the canyon, not the forest." The ranger countered. "I know the signs. The way the bird noises stopped, the old tracks they didn't realize they'd left behind. No, there's a group, goon enough to hide their number but too large to hide all signs of them, that's in the woods behind us someplace. We're already committed."
'Cat, there are people behind us.' Jade informed her scout.
"There are also people ahead of you, and some on the cliff. Both sides, cause that's the best way to provide cover." Cat said. "They even have a rope bridge to make it easier to cross. I've gone ahead and dealt with the bridge, so you can focus on the ambush. Not much I can do about that."
'Just stay out of the way, and let me know when we're close to being ambushed, and how many.' Jade thought at her. Then, to the others, she said "Okay, so we know there's a few of them. Probably a lot. Whats the next step in our plan?"
"Robbie keeps his eyes open for cover, and we get ready to stop early." Beck informed her. "If your scout can tell us where they are, we can plan around that."
"She said that they have a few people on the top of the cliffs." Jade told them. "Both sides, cause..."
"Because they want high ground." Tori filled in. "The cliffs are what? Fifty to a hundred feet high? More in places? Yes, that means they can drop rocks on us, but it's a bad angle for arrows. We're better off finding a way to avoid being seen by them too."
'Cat, I have an idea, but I need more information.' Jade sent. Then, she filled out her plans, and waited.
They'd been walking for almost fifteen minutes when they passed the first ambush site, and managed to avoid any confrontation. It was obvious this was the place, as the pass widened a bit, allowing them to spread out. It also had a lot of large loose rocks and other cover around, so people could hide, not be seen, and spring a trap on them with minimal fuss. Kraven told them something else.
"There's an old Goblin village hidden near here." He said, eyes on the walls. He was looking up. "A system of caves on both sides of the cliffs. If you know how, you can climb up, maybe thirty feet up, and into one of the hidden caves that are the entrance to the village. They specialized in hiding those communities, those entrances, so we may already be surrounded by a small army."
"Only Nark villages tended to be small." Robbie countered. "Maybe a couple of hundred of their kind at most, case it's hard to sustain much more without serious hunting, or herding, or something. No, that translates into less then fifty human sized things. We're doing good." Jade nodded along, remembering what she'd learned about the goblin communities in the mountains.
"What about Dwarves?" Ryder asked. "I've met a couple, and they tend to be shorter."
"But broader." Jade corrected her brother. "No, fifty of anything as thick as people, or more so, that's the limit. And, just to be sure..." Her eyes closed. 'Cat, did you sense anything in the caves above us?'
"Been kinda busy." Cat replied. "Okay, we have a dozen plus men, and maybe that number of Narkolites. This is the first ambush all right. But, and I can't stress this enough, while they have enough light, and air, this place has only one small way in and out. I'll check the other side, but I'm thinking that this was poorly designed, with the intent being to avoid a fight instead of defending the pass. Hold it, yea, the other side is empty, but it has the same problem. They need to drop a ladder to get in or out quickly. Let me see about dealing with that, while you move on. I'm thinking they can slid down ropes plenty fast, and will form up before they pursue. I'll buy you what time I can...'
"They're up there, but not in the caves on the other side." Jade explained. "My scout claimed it's empty, but I'm thinking somethings in there, and they don't wanna risk meeting up with it. She's gonna try and buy us some time."
"She didn't happen to notice how many, did she?" Beck asked.
"Maybe twenty five, more or less." Jade told him.
"So we have whomever's behind us, and twenty five right here. That means we're facing another fifty." Beck guessed.
"Oh Beck, that's not how they'll do it." Tori said, trying not to sound too judgmental. "The bigger force will be behind us, because they have cover up ahead. I'd say we're facing a score of men in ambush positions, who won't risk leaving them. If possible, they'll have high ground, but it's just as likely they'd made a wall or something to force us to stop. They'll fight from behind cover, and hope to catch us between them and the second group."
"And the third group?" Ryder asked.
"Those are the one's who will be waiting for us at the first ambush point, in case we make it past the second group." Tori explained. "They'll give us a hole to fight through, then let us run. They won't risk any more then they have too, and will make sure that we cannot escape, out either direction. So, the real question becomes, how do we get out of this?"
"We get past whatever ambush they have ahead of us." Beck said.
"Exactly." Tori nodded. "Jade, maybe you'll be able to help out?"
"I have a couple of ideas." Jade said. "Just, and this is important, we need for some of them to get away. Word has to spread not to mess with the Wizard or any of his guests."
The members of clan Vega, as well as the merchants, were shocked at Jade's condition. "You sound like you could kill them all." Ryder pointed out.
"Maybe, if I'm protected long enough." Jade told her brother. "It's about preparation, and while we've been talking, my scout has been making a few of mine."
They slowly approached the second ambush sight, ready for anything. Jade was looking, waiting for a sign that her preparations were done. Cat let her know that everything doable was finished, and then waited for the signal.
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See, only seven chapters and I've got this part of the group moving, AND they're looking for Andre. Pretty straight forward from here, right? I doubt we'll see much in the way of hiccups before they reach Dre, and get the information they need. Just a fast paced walk through the mountains, followed by a nice trip across the country. What could go wrong?
Also, kinda like Cat in this.