Bloodsword: War of the Leaf

Rebels

"Friends and allies, huh?" Lax grunted as he hunkered down beside Joran.  "That is what the Prophetess said, didn't she?"  The Kensarthi, grimy and drawn-looking, nodded grimly.

"Aye, that's what she said," Joran confirmed in a low, tired voice.

"Then, by the First, what are we doing still huddled in this burnt-out building on the edges of a Mardish trade route?  Shouldn't we at least be going somewhere?"

It had been almost five days since the team's escape from the capital.  The jump gate had deposited them deep in the northern jungles of the empire, near the destroyed remains of what looked like a Mardish town.  However, there were scrawls on the wall in a language that none of them understood and it had felt uneasy in this place, as if its ghosts weren't quite settled in the ground yet.

Thankfully Kora and Tev had led the team out of the ruins towards a small outpost sitting on a well-traveled road just outside the ruined Mardish town.  And there they had stayed while Tev waited for an appearance from the Oracle.  Or, at least, some sign that they were moving in the right direction.

In the meantime, the rest of the team was getting restless.  Without any supplies to speak of, or money to buy such from those infrequent Mardish trade caravans that did pass by, people that were used to regular meals and clean living conditions were going hungry, thirsty and dirty.  And that made for some cranky elves.

"And now we sit here, watching the road for soldiers," Lax snorted, starting at the muddy road just beyond the tattered walls of the small, broken-down guard hut that he and Joran currently occupied.  The rest of the team was further back off the road in what was left of the outpost itself.

"Like those?" Joran rasped in reply and, with a start, Lax leaned forward, eyes narrowing as he looked at the spot the Kensarthi was pointing to.

Yes, there did seem to be a rather large number of heavily armed elves making their way down the road towards them.  Behind them rattled several heavily laden wagons pulled by draft horses.  Yet more men on horseback rode on either side of the wagons, or up and down the line of what was now obviously a column of soldiers.

"Exactly like that one," Lax hissed.  "Do you want to go back and tell Kora, or shall I?"

"I think neither of you are going anywhere," a cold voice stated, the words touched with a slight Mardish accent.  At the same time cold spear points touched the backs of their necks.

"Way to watch our backs," Joran muttered darkly, throwing a hard look over at a frustrated Lax.

"C'mon," One of the armed men growled and the two comrades were jerked roughly to their feet before being spun around.

Where they found themselves facing almost a dozen armed soldiers, each one of them Mardish.  And each heavily armed with swords, spears, armor and bows.  An officer, marked by a steel cap on his head, stepped forward to peer up into both the taller elves' faces.

"Kensarthi and Ajanti," he stated in a flat, emotionless voice.  "What are Freeholders doing out in the middle of nowhere, I wonder."

"We could ask you the same thing," Joran quietly retorted, noting the armor and clothing the soldiers were wearing wasn't standard Imperial issue.  Perhaps there wasn't as much to fear from these men as they initially thought.

"This road isn't exactly a military caravan route."

The officer smiled thinly at that.

"Cheeky.  Fortitude in the face of uncertain peril," he commented lightly, a hint of emotion finally leaching into his voice and mannerisms.  "I like that.  But, since we have the weapons and you don't, we get to ask the questions here."