The group, including their new elven member, ended up traveling another two mines down the path before setting up their tents. Since they only had three horses that had room to carry people, Razeem had offered his horse to Cianna, who politely turned it down. She claimed that horses were the only animals she had ever met that had an instant dislike of her. Instead of riding alongside their walking companion, Razeem decided to walk next to her.
Olsyn rolled his eyes as he moved uncomfortably on his saddle. He had had enough riding for one day, and now he had to witness his teacher's not so well hidden attempts at flirting with the forest elf. Gunder chuckled at the reactions Olsyn made to some of the comments Razeem was making towards Cianna. Normally the dwarves distrusted the forest elves, though they always hated the Minotaur more, but Gunder was more open minded than other dwarves. He had been traveling with Razeem long enough to see that most forest elves were not the malevolent or corrupt beings that his people and the mountain elves had made them out to be.
When they set up their tents Razeem offered his to Cianna and informed his squire that he would be sharing his with him tonight. Olsyn sighed at first, thinking that he would have to literally share the inside of his tent with him. It wasn't until they were eating their dinner that he realized that only one of them would be in the tent at a time.
Gunder took first watch, patrolling the small campsite vigorously. He desperately wanted one of the Minotaur that had run away to return so that he could teach it a lesson. He chopped down plenty of wood to feed the fire for the rest of the night and tried to keep his distance from Cianna and Razeem, who were deep on in conversation with each other. He could see the look of interest in both of their eyes and did not want to get in the way. He knew Razeem would never let it go if the dwarf was the reason why did he not get a chance with the green haired elf, whether it was by accident or on purpose.
Olsyn had decided to go to bed right after eating. He had the watch that he hated the most, the third watch. Whoever was on third watch was already awake when the others were getting up, so they did not get to go back to sleep until the next night. He wished they had went back to letting everybody sleep at once, as they had been doing the days before, but his desire to not be killed in his sleep by an angry group of Minotaur outweighed his desire for a few extra hours of sleep. Maybe he could just sneak some sleep on the back of his horse tomorrow.
Cianna laughed at a joke Razeem told. He added more sticks to the fire, which glowed brighter for a few seconds while a new wave of heat hit them. Though the night they had moved closer to each other, though it seemed that neither noticed. They continued to talk about their pasts for hours. Razeem explained what life as a paladin had been like and entertained the green haired elf with stories of his victories over the armies of Mythos. She told him stories of growing up on the border between the Nation of Fleurydia and the old elven passage and of the rare creatures she had hunted before.
Gunder yawned as he walked over to the paladin and elf. "Aye Razeem, it's your shift. Hopefully ya ain't been blabbin' too much tonight. We wouldn't want your friend to run away." He laughed as quietly as he could at the look that Razeem gave him. The dwarf always found it fun to embarrass Razeem when he could.
"I think I should be alright," Razeem said while trying to appear confident. He stood up when Cianna did and kissed the back of her hand. "I hope my tent will work for you tonight. If you need anything I'll be patrolling the edges or brushing the horses." He bowed lightly to her and Gunder before starting his slow walk around their campsite.
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The night was quiet. The Minotaur bandits were either unable to find the group or, as Cianna had suggested, they had given up when they realized they were outmatched. Olsyn and Razeem woke the elf and the dwarf up with the smell of breakfast. At some point in time the night before Razeem had set up a trap and eventually had caught a wild hog. Gunder praised ever one of his ancestors one by one when Olsyn offered him a wooden plate stacked with freshly cut and cooked bacon.
Cianna did not climb out of the tent when the others called for her. Instead, she jumped out of the nearest tree. During Razeem's watch she had snuck out of the tent and climbed into the tree to watch him and had fallen asleep. When Olsyn changed over to start his watch she climbed out of the tree and bathed in a pond about a quarter mile away. She returned and hopped back up into the tree and fell back asleep. She looked as stunning to Razeem as she had the night before, leading him to believe that she woke up looking the way she did naturally.
"So elf," Gunder began after finishing another piece of bacon, "You said that you were trying to recover something that the cows had stolen from you. Might I ask what it was?"
Since Gunder had missed a majority of the conversation that had transpired the night before, she did not mind repeating herself. "Of course, though Razeem has already heard the story. A few of my friends were robbed while returning to Fleurydia on a supply run. They know people at one of the strongholds that watch the border between the passage and the Empire of Mythos. One of them had been carrying a map and a message that one of the stronghold guard had found on a dead Mythosian."
"It was given to my friends because it contained information that spoke about an invasion force that is planning to attack Fleurydia. The map shows the location of the invading army and the letter described some of the battle plans and details about the invasion forces. They were attacked and robbed by those Minotaur bandits. They managed to keep the information hidden but the bandits took the map. Without the map that told us where the army was gathering, the information was useless, so I decided to go find the stolen map." Cianna held up the rolled up map, whose center was still sealed shut with a wax stamp. The Minotaur apparently had never thought to look at it.
"You say the letter had information about the invasion force yes?" Gunder stroked his beard and he thought for a second. "I wonder if I've heard of the warlord who was out in command of the army, or if he is planning on leading it himself."
Cianna let out a chuckle after swallowing a mouthful of food. "Oh, of course he won't be there himself. He never goes out unless he absolutely has to, not since he lost the weapon he used to kill the other gods and goddesses. He believes the person who has it is waiting for the right moment to kill him with his own weapon by surprise." Cianna shrugged. "Besides," she continued, "The letter says that some Eagan known as Fithris will be leading the strike."
Gunder and Olsyn stiffened and slowly turned towards Razeem. Razeem dropped his plate as he heard the name of the warlord who had killed Kabel Windrift. He was standing with his back turned to the rest of them, apparently having been getting ready to walk somewhere. Neither his food nor the place he was about to walk off to were no longer on his mind.
"Warlord Fithris is commanding the invasion forces that aim to attack the Nation of Fleurydia." It wasn't a question, but a statement. He repeated it once more before turning to look at Cianna. "Had I known this last night I would have had us back to your village by now."
Razeem stepped on his breakfast as he started towards the horses. He quickly checked them and started to feed them. Without turning around he passed orders off to Gunder and Olsyn. "Gunder, tear the tents down and hide them in the thicker bushes. We won't be able to carry all of our supplies and get to Cianna's village quickly. Make sure they are hard to find but mark the tree so that we can come back later for them." He then pointed towards the brown horse that carried all of their armor and weapons. "Olsyn, get my armor down and place it on the back of my horse. Put Gunder's weapons on his horse and split the supplies between all four horses. Cianna will need to ride our pack horse."
Neither Olsyn nor Gunder moved at first. Olsyn started to act a second later, not wanting to anger his teacher by disobeying him. Gunder on the other hand walked up to Razeem and placed a hand on his back. "Look lad, there's no need to rush. You need to be thinkin' with a clear head when it comes to Fithris."
Razeem turned around quickly, the look on his face as serious as Gunder had ever seen him. "Fithris not only lives, as I had assumed he had all those years ago, but now he is planning to attack and kill hundreds of innocents while rampaging the home of the forest elves. Even if I cannot fight him myself, we must get his location to those who can set up a response force. If Warlord Fithris is not stopped then he may be able to turn the tides just enough for Mythos and his Empire to take even more of Giladriis. We cannot take our time with information this important."
Gunder looked to Olsyn, who was almost done getting the brown horse ready for Cianna. He then looked to Cianna who had taken down two of the three tents and had begun hiding them in the thick branches and leaves of the nearest tree. He sighed and walked over to help Cianna with the last one. "Aye, you are right Razeem, we cannot delay. This information is of too much importance." He nodded to Razeem, showing his support of plan.
Within the next hour the four were on their way to Still Branch, the village Cianna called home, which was forty miles south of them.