The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 26.2

Darkness crept over K'haren, shadows reached for every last corner and soon, night had fallen. No moon was to be seen. Thick clouds covered even the stars' distant light and not even the air dared to move. Unconsciously, everything seemed to be holding its breath. Somehow, Corvaer had expected them to arrive with noise and a lightshow of some sort, stirring immediate chaos as he loved to do. Instead, a dark portal opened on an open field without a sound, allowing his and Elgron's troops to cross over without being noticed at all. Just one poor creature with a long trunk, small, useless wings and a short tail scampered away.

Corvaer's troops spread out immediately, causing him to swear silently. As quietly as possible, which wasn't exactly quiet at all, he ordered them back into position. Elgron's smile confused Corvaer, he was used to such belittling acts from other officers, but not from that one. Elgron usually just shook his head with a disappointed sigh at the sight of Corvaer's soldiers and their chaotic manners.

'What are you smiling at?' he hissed at the older officer. Finally outside the queen's castle, he felt like the rules weren't as strict anymore and thus on his side; the side of chaos.

'You're getting better.' Elgron replied with a nearly friendly smile, stunning Corvaer with confusion. What the hell was going on with that guy? He really couldn't make any sense of him.

Go to the left! The voice in Corvaer's mind kept talking despite being ignored. He didn't intend to listen to it and he couldn't understand why it wouldn't just shut up. He was doing his job, even Elgron was pleased with him and his troops were, at least at the moment, doing alright. He purposely ignored the voice's every command, sometimes even suggesting to Elgron to do the very opposite. But at some point, he realised the voice might just be aware of that so he decided to instead leave the decision making completely to Elgron, not giving the voice any kind of power.

Somehow, he felt rather happy about not being alone in his head. It was a cool night and they had all fallen silent, marching the lands without a word. Had he not had the voice to busy himself with, he might have started questioning where they were going, which was actually something they didn't know. Corvaer didn't know by which signs Elgron chose to turn this or that way, they might just have been in the middle of nowhere or right in front of a torchless city, turning the wrong way and never even knowing. Despite usually enjoying chaos, he'd rather only start the chaos once it was somewhere useful, in places where there was an order to be taken apart.

Turn left.

Corvaer happily realised that Elgron decided just then to turn right. It was the third time in a row that they'd turned right despite the voice insisting on them turning left. It took way longer than Corvear would have liked to admit for him to realise that three right turns made one left...

'Wait!' he hissed into the silence. All soldiers, even Elgron's, obeyed immediately. Though, to be honest, Corvaer was rather surprised about his own troops listening than those who were so used to commands, even if they came from the wrong officer.

'What?' Elgron asked, scanning the darkness with his small eyes.

'Why do you keep turning right?' Corvaer now asked in a whisper, hoping for the soldiers not to understand, but the words cut through the silence for everybody to hear. Elgron blinked a few times but didn't answer, he had obviously done it without much thought, which surprised Corvaer even further.

'If we continue this way, we'll get back to where we were in the beginning.' Corvaer stated with a growl.

'And what do you suggest we do?' Elgron's question confused Corvaer, after all, he was the newbie, it wasn't his job to make decisions.

'I thought you're the one with all the experience...' he snapped, trying to see anything in the darkness.

'And as it seems, you are not happy with the decisions this experience causes me to make.' Elgron said in a tone that would have suited an offended lady more than him.

'Well then, I say we spread out, we can make four groups, each going another way. If we find anything, we'll make as much noise as possible, otherwise, we keep walking straight forwards.' Corvaer replied after thinking for a moment.

'Oh, great, four groups and two officers, what a wise choice.' Elgron muttered. 'Alright, Worguin will lead the other half of my troops, who shall lead yours?'

Corvaer had never heard the name before but assumed it to be a trusted soldier of Elgron's so without much thinking, he called out for the Phraio woman in his rows, Almrut, and told her to choose the men she'd lead. He'd have to put up with the remaining bastards, the most chaotic ones of them all. Secretly, he hoped she'd also take one of the worst brutes because he was one of her lovers, but she was wise enough to leave him with Corvaer instead.

Once everything was organized, Corvaer waited for the voice in his head to speak again. He'd hoped for it to give him something to rely on, but it remained silent. Once he could feel how everybody grew more and more impatient, he cleared his throat and asked Elgron to choose which troop would go where. Without much thinking, the man shouted his commands and off they went.

Much to Corvaer's disappointment, his troop was sent straight ahead, meaning they went where the voice had directed him from the beginning. But it still remained silent, not giving off anything. They walked quickly, marching the land once more in silence. In the beginning, his men marched in a row, but once no other troop could be heard anymore, they started walking in a drop like formation. Not much later, they started whispering to each other and soon, somebody started an argument.

Great, Corvaer thought to himself, if there was anybody near, they'd think they were some burglars travelling the lands and hide away somewhere. With just one angry roar, he managed to quiet his men. They were getting better, probably just because they started to accept him as their leader. Also, being outside their camp obviously excited them and they were all looking forward to causing chaos.

Stop! Corvaer obeyed immediately, not even knowing why. When he wanted to step forwards, he felt a strong urge to remain where he was and his men came to a halt just behind him.

'What is it?' somebody whispered. Corvaer hunkered down and let his hand stroke the ground in front of him, following a strange sensation. Only a foot ahead of him, there was no ground to be touched. He picked up a small stone that had scratched his hand and threw it forwards, waiting impatiently for the sound of it hitting the floor, but it never came. That meant they were either standing above a floorless pit or at least something too deep for the sound to reach them.

'Do not step any further.' He commanded, getting back up. His thoughts were racing, what should he do next? He couldn't continue straight ahead and even if there were a way around the danger, he had no idea how to find it in the dark. But turning either way would ruin their nice little plan and he'd just end up walkinginto an area that was already being searched by one of the other troops. And it was very well possible for this hole to be rather small or maybe even an illusion. Had the voice just saved his life? But why did it send him this way in the first place if it knew he couldn't continue? Or was that maybe exactly why?

What do we do? This time, it was Corvaer himself asking. He hoped for the voice to give him something, anything, to work with, but it was silent again. Now he had to make a choice, he could either stay here and wait for the sun to rise or he could make noise and call for the other troops, causing them all to end up in front of a pit, forced to wait till morning. But maybe, if he just waited for long enough, another troop would find something and call for them, then he'd never even have to explain the situation. So he decided to stay in silence and wait, despite knowing that it would be a test for his nerves to keep himself and his bastards quiet.

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