They left in the evening and traveled through most of the night. It was quiet most of the time. For a while they kept to the roads, but stayed out of Edinmire to avoid trouble with Templars. Camping outside the city, they left in the early morning to keep away from patrols. As they went, they took less and less traveled roads, until it eventually was nothing but open trails, and even the trails grew faint as they moved further and further east. Three days they continued, uneventful and easy. Then, as they crested a ridge overlooking a clearing, they gasped. "I was hoping to avoid all this…" Trace muttered.
Before them, from one side of the clearing to the other, were tents. Hundreds of them. Each one white, with identical blue crests. Flags scattered around the camp marked clearly who it was, and if those weren't enough, the thousands of Templar soldiers marching from one area to the next certainly would. Stomping boots, clanking armor, and the shouts of captains and sergeants with their platoons echoed up and filled the air with noise.
"This will make things more challenging." Zen frowned. "We can't exactly sneak through. We could try to go around, but this is an army. One side will most likely have supplies coming in, and the other will be facing their enemy."
"How long do you think they'll stay here?" Flora asked.
"Longer than we'd like. Look. They set up entrenchments and barricades. This isn't just a stopping point for them. This is where they plan to launch assaults from. A forward command post. They aren't going to be moving for a long time." Zen was right. Logs carved into spikes on one end were set into the ground, and several teams of men were digging trenches along the eastern side, just behind where the logs were set into the ground. Scattered among the tents were a few log buildings, mostly near the center.
"There won't be a perfectly safe road anymore." Keith said dryly. "No matter where we go, we'll have to risk crossing paths. If not with the Templars, then the Wolf Clans. If we stay here, we'd only be waiting for them to come to us. Eventually, this will either be just behind the front lines, or will become the front lines. Personally, I'd like to be long gone when the fighting breaks out."
Trace nodded, and frowned. They were right. Things were only going to get worse. "We'll head back a bit then. I'd rather cross behind the camp rather than in front of it. We will wait for a break in the supply train, and head for cover on the far side. If we get spotted, we improvise. If not, we keep moving east, then follow the foothills."
Around noon, the five of them gathered in a cluster of trees and bushes. There was a wide, well traveled road, with carts and wagons going both ways. Watching and waiting, waiting and watching. Natani grew bored, and climbed a nearby tree to 'get a better view'. The road was busy. Empty carts went west, but coming east was a large variety of supplies. Tools, swords, pikes, armor, bows, arrows, wood, hammers, shovels, boulders, saws, entire platoons of soldiers went into the camp. An hour later, she dropped down. "There's a break coming after this wagon. Only two guards, looks like just building materials. Once they pass, we could make a break for it."
"Good. Get ready." Zen tightened his grip on the crutch, and Flora dropped to a crouch. Keith waited as the wagon slowly rolled past, dust clouds trailing behind it. Trace kicked off of the ground, sprinting out into the road with Keith right behind. His armor was tucked with cloths and made no noise, and Natani made even less noise as she crossed the road in only a few long steps. Zen, slowed by his bad leg, was barely faster than Flora. Thankfully, no one was seen, and they crossed the supply road without issue. Hearts pounded, feet ached, and everyone caught their breath. Moving away from the road, Natani suddenly stopped.
"Wait. Some of those carts had wood and metal in them."
"Yeah?" Zen raised and eyebrow as everyone came to a stop.
"The camp wasn't made of wood, it was tents. Why would they need… unless… don't wander too far, I need to see something." Before anyone could object, Natani was running back down the trail towards the camp. Finding a tall tree near the clearing, she got a better view of the camp. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary: tents, a couple buildings, trenches… but now she saw something else. A road. Straight through the camp. Newly created siege weapons were rolling toward the front lines. Ballistae, mangonels, and catapults were rolling through the camp, escorted by ranks of soldiers. Climbing down from the tree, Natani rushed back to the group.
"Well?" Zen asked as she burst through the branches.
"They aren't just preparing to launch a few assaults. It's a full invasion force! Those wagons were carrying building materials for siege weapons! The war only started a few weeks ago, and somehow they have a force large enough to assault any city just at the ready? There shouldn't be anything like this for months!"
"Natani!" Keith grabbed her shoulders "Just let it go! We can't do anything about it right now. There are only five of us, and you two are hurt, Flora is pregnant, and we can't stop this war on our own. For now, we just have to accept it. It's going to be hard, but it's all we can do."
"We have to keep moving." Zen said. "I know you want to do, well anything, but we can't. Yet. Just be patient."
"Come on, let's put distance between us and them. They probably will be sending out patrols I'd rather not run into." Trace said, pushing forward. The rest of the day was quiet. The war loomed in front and behind them. Occasionally they would hear shouts echoing off the mountains. In the late evening, no one said a word. Keith returned from hunting with several rabbits, and everyone ate in silence. Trace looked at the map, checking where they were. Past the south western edge of the mountain range, they were well within Keidran territory, and major towns were going to be few and far between. Of the villages in the foothills, most of them were tiger, dog, or a mixture of the two. Humans would most likely become less common over time, and for once Trace would be the oddball of the group.
The next morning came with the same silence. No one talked as they packed their tents, or cleared the fire pit. The tension was high, and that didn't change throughout the day. Behind them, they knew the Templar army was readying to mobilize. Moving forward, they headed towards the village of Blackwood.