The End of Eternity

High Stakes

            Actually, the neighbouring countries were really chaotic and various bands and warlords were claiming land along the river, constantly fighting for more territories. To some extent, the empire was supporting all chaotic forces in neighbouring lands in an attempt to preven the formation of any powerful adversary. In the plans of the empire's leadership, these lands would be assimilated in the future, their populations replaced.

But they faced a complication, the further south the empire went, the more dwarven influence it had to fight. Further southeast, there was a large surface city of the dwarves, which served as an entrance to their vast tunnels and halls. These dwarves belonged to an elite club of powers on the continent, that could match Emerald Dawn's military might.

Other locations close by with no elven or dwarven influence were places, which were inhabited by dangerous creatures or individuals and had no natural resources. With no prize to compete for, no one was interested in these small nations.

". . . and as I've said, that would be our best shot, to hide in one of these small, poor nations."

"How do we distinguish bethween warlords and small, peacefull nations?"

"Easily, these nations has no natural resources and had often some environmental problems." Le Gull kept on lecturing Claw and Laela.

They were walking upstream alongside the river, intending to cross it using the first bridge they were going to find. The vegetation around them was still quite thick, but without the presence of giant trees, they could see much better. In the late afternoon, they saw a white flash through the dense vegetation and Claw knew the fun was about to start.

A second later, an ethereally beautiful girl with white hair and blue eyes jumped down from a nearby tree.

Laela shivered, but there was someone even more dumbfounded than she was.

As Le Gull's eyes fell on the girl, his heart skipped a beat.

"Hello everyone, long time no see." Davena smiled at Le Gull, who had almost fainted. "I see you have decided to leave that place, it was a good decision. I have been attacked by someone in the city and they were quite good. It is good to be away from a big country schemes with its schemes."

"Hi, It is. Fortunately, we have not been there for long and they probably do not know our true identities." Claw responded walking towards Davena to give her a hug. She did not dodge his attempt, leaving him puzzled. She was not usually this cuddly.

"Chm." Le Gull coughed, not knowing how to explain them, that the empire knew about them and he was the one, who had informed the Magistrate about their existence. He decided to stay silent to prevent his head from leaving his shoulders.

He still could not wrap his head around the fact, he ended up running into the very same vampires he had been so glad to escape from.

"Is everything all right?" Slipping out of Claw's grasp, Davena interrupted Le Gull's thoughts.

"Yes, let's continue our journey. No more big, overcrowded cities!" Claw stepped out in the direction, in which a bridge should appear in any moment, not minding, that the question had not been directed at him.

Following Claw, Le Gull thought of a way to steer their conversation away from the empire and came up with an excellent idea.

"Maybe we should review our spells to know our combat strength. We might escaped the intrigues of the empire, but this region is far from peaceful." Thinking about it, Le Gull realized that he knew very little about his companions's fighting strength.