It was a long walk, but not nearly as long as Jevrem had feared. He should've realized that the presence of the soldiers without horses meant that they weren't far from a settlement. It did cross some rough terrain however, including some places where they had to climb a bit. He could see why the only machines he'd seen enter so far had been the crawlers. Nothing else would be able to pass this. He had a hard enough time with his peg leg.
When they arrived, the place they came to seemed almost like a small town. There was nothing particularly striking about it, but the fact that it was out here in the wilderness made it seem strange nonetheless. Looking around at the wares being sold and the people that surrounded them made it all come a bit clearer. This was a mining town.
He was back to the mine yet again.
Somehow he couldn't seem to shake this place.
Stian walked sternly at the front of the group, eyes straight ahead and brow furrowed. He hadn't spoken since completing the argument with Aina, a fact which didn't seem to bother her much as she followed him just as purposefully. Senka stared all around them, though from her expression Jevrem got the idea that she was mostly surprised and perhaps a bit disappointed that the view wasn't more strange, it being in Astansuria and all.
Stian led them to a building that seemed to be some sort of tavern. It was spacious inside, and there weren't many people this early in the day. Before Jevrem could look around too much a voice called out."Jevrem?! I don't believe it!"
He turned to see Arvid hurrying forward to greet them. The mage looked a little worse for the wear since Jevrem had parted ways with them. His fine robes were clean enough, but fraying around the edges and his face seemed tired. "It's good to see you again, Arvid," he said, smiling. He was a bit nervous about seeing them all again, actually, but it was nice to have someone here he could actually speak to and who would listen to what he had to say. "I am sorry...about..."
Before he could finish, Arvid waved a hand, "We can talk about it later, and we will be talking about it, but first I think we'll have to deal with the matter at hand." He turned to look at the soldiers, who still stood with their swords ready, waiting for any threatening move from their captives.
Aina spoke then, saying something in an exasperated voice and gesturing to Stian, who in turn replied angrily.
"You know that doesn't matter," Arvid said to him frowning, "This young man isn't a spy. Why on earth would he come back here if he was?"
As Stian began apparently laying out his case against Jevrem, Senka leaned over to him, pointed to Arvid and asked, "What is going on with this one?"
"Remember the translation spell Aina used?" Jevrem replied, "Arvid has a permanent version. He can understand everyone in the room and we can understand him."
"Ah," Senka said, shrugging a bit, "Handy."
Stian's tirade continued for a little while. Jevrem found himself wishing the mage would cast the translation spell on himself and Senka so they could follow the proceedings. However Arvid was caught up in the arguments and often seemed to forget that not everyone could understand what was being said. Not wanting to interrupt and draw further attention to himself, he tried to stay patient and wait.
Stian, of course, was the primary one arguing against them. It seemed he had some rank among these soldiers, since they seemed to listen to what he said. Often he'd turn to appeal to them and they'd nod to each other as if it all made perfect sense. It occurred to Jevrem that he hadn't really understood while traveling with Stian what it meant to say that he was "Lord Keld's man." Looking at him now, Jevrem realized that Stian had been wearing the uniform the entire time he'd been with them, simply without the armor strapped over top. Clearly he put a lot of stock in what this Lord Keld believed, and he clearly didn't like Goskarans.
It all seemed to grind to a halt, however, when Arvid simply said, "And how many times did he attack you, Stian?" This seemed to startle the young man a bit, which gave Aina an opening to say a dry line of her own.
Stian stared at them both in frustration. This was similar to how the argument in the woods had ended, and Jevrem thought it was likely that lack of evidence against him was the decider. At last Stian threw up his hands and turned away with one last proclamation. With a shouted order, he and the other soldiers left the room, leaving Jevrem and Senka in Arvid and Aina's care.
The tavern's few other patrons were now staring at the little group warily. It seemed like loudly proclaiming arguments against trusting them might not have helped their standing. "Let's continue this elsewhere," Arvid said hastily, shooing them back out into the streets of the mining town before leading them all to a small cabin some distance from the main settlement where it seemed he was staying.
Feeling somewhat safe at last, Jevrem let himself relax a bit. As Arvid turned to begin speaking to him, he held up one hand. "Can we get a translation spell first, Arvid?" he asked, "I think we all want to make sure we all understand everything."
He blinked a bit in surprise. As Jevrem has suspected, he'd forgotten again that they couldn't understand the Astansurian language. "Oh! Of course!" He said hastily. He reached out a hand to Jevrem first, gesturing and uttering the proper words. Then came the familiar feeling of being struck.
Senka looked on warily as he leaned back holding his hand on the spot. "It's fine," he assured her, "just a bit...startling." With a resigned sigh she sat still as Arvid cast the spell on her as well.
Onces he was also rubbing her forehead with some confusion, Arvid turned towards where a fire had been lit. "Tea, anyone?" he asked.
"I'm fine," Senka said, clearly still a bit overwhelmed.
"What's going on here, Arvid?" Aina asked suddenly. Senka jumped at the sound of her voice. It seemed she didn't realize how quickly this spell would take effect. Aina didn't seem to notice. "Stian's always been a bit overzealous, but nothing like this! What's got him so riled?"
Arvid sighed. "It's as simple as you imagine," he said, "Goskar gets closer every day. Previously they had been hesitant to actually engage the miners, but recently they've gotten much more aggressive and I don't know how long we can hold out here..."
Here Jevrem winced a bit. "I...uh...think that's my fault," he said hesitantly.
Arvid turned to look at him. "Then perhaps we should hear about what's happened to you...starting with why you ran off like that."
Before Jevrem could even open his mouth to answer, a second voice spoke harshly, "Yes, you have a lot to explain." They turned to see Runa entering the room, staring hard at him with a grim expression.
Anything he'd been about to say died in his throat at the sight of her face and the guilt threatened to overwhelm him. Somehow her disappointment was much harder to face than any of his other traveling companions. She was such a genuine person and judging from her face his apparent betrayal had hit her much harder than the others.
He bowed his head and for the first time voiced the truth. "I...was scared," he admitted.
"Scared...?" Arvid asked.
"I heard you talking," he admitted, "I was scared that it might be true..."
"That's it?" Runa's voice seemed uncharacteristically unsympathetic, "That's the reason you left us? Was the thought of it really so horrible that you couldn't face us?"
Jevrem didn't know how to answer. It was only just occurring to him what it may have been like for her to have hope that her brother had survived after all these years only to have him disappear just as suddenly.
"...I thought I'd have just slowed you down..." he said weakly, reaching for some worthwhile explanation.
"What did you expect we were going to do once we found you gone?" she demanded, crossing her arms, "let out a hearty cheer for our good fortune and skip off into the sunset? By Rasheth, Jevrem, you were one of us! And you just left us without even a word!" She shook her head, turning away, "If you hadn't saved those miners, I'd have thrown you out of here on your ear already, Goskaran or not!"
'What became of that, anyway?" Arvid asked suddenly, changing the subject abruptly as he was reminded of the mine incident, "Aina told us that you'd collapsed the tunnel just as Goskaran soldiers started to come through. They can't have been happy about that."
Aina answered before Jevrem could, "I found him half-conscious in a jailcell with his arm and leg missing. Suffice to say, they weren't." Runa was still facing away from them, but he could see her shoulders tighten at that simple description.
"Well...we made it out anyway," Jevrem said shrugging a bit, "and the replacements are holding up well enough." He tapped the peg leg on the floor.
"So what are you doing back here?" Runa asked in a low voice. "You made it home, what more did you need?"
"I..." Jevrem fumbled for a good answer again. He hadn't really intended to come back, it had just sort of happened, but it didn't seem like that answer would mollify her at the moment. If he was being honesthe would admit that he had wanted to come back anyway just to ensure that they were all safe, however he doubted that saying as much would help either.
"Your friend risked so much to keep Jevrem safe," Senka said suddenly, "I wouldn't dream of letting her chance a trip back to the border alone! The reason we're still here is because it seems our home is no longer as safe as it once was and also because the young fellow who met us seemed awfully insistent."
Runa actually looked a bit startled, as if she had only just noticed Senka's presence. Clearly not wanting to offend a stranger, she quickly turned and gave the woman a small bow. "Oh, I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've met. My name is Runa."
"Senka," came the curt reply.
This blunt introduction caused Runa to hesitate a moment before prompting, "...you are from Goskar as well...?"
"I am," Senka said, lifting her head proudly, "born and raised. And if you're wondering how I'm involved with all this, I'm Jevrem's mother."
Both Arvid and Runa's eyes widened in shock at this announcement and Jevrem saw their eyes dart to him. "Oh, I've heard your story," Senka went on, waving a hand, "he doesn't need to be flesh and blood to be my son. He's Goskaran, same as I am. ...a pity the general doesn't see things that way. Never has, now that I think on it. Bringing Aina back here seemed as good an excuse as any to getaway from him before he did something drastic. We might actually be safer here in Astansuria."
"...you've become a fugitive, just to help Aina?" Runa's tone seemed far more sympathetic when talking with Senka.
Jevrem sighed. "I think this would've happened eventually regardless. The man who imprisoned me didn't really need much of a reason. He's always disliked me, and he wore his hatred of Astansuria like a badge of honor, but he's only gotten more fanatical about it as time has passed. I don't think he'll let a simple cave-in stop him from taking back what he thinks rightfully belongs to Goskar."
"Clearly not," Arvid said darkly, "more of those machines have continued to show up in the brief time you've been away. Goskar is invading."
Senka snorted at that. "I don't know about Goskar, but General Bojan certainly is. He seems convinced that this mine belongs to Goskar. Frankly, I'm not sure a mine is worth all this effort, especially when we have no use for what's in it."
"We're basically trapped. We can't get word back to the king of what's happening while machines are blocking the way," Runa said softly.
"You can't just magic up an answer?" Senka asked with an eyebrow raised.
Arvid frowned at her, "It doesn't work like that. There's a reason there's so few actual mages and most people rely on magic talismans. There is a lot involved in casting magic safely, I can't just snap my fingers and make it happen!"
Jevrem leaned forward to interrupt before things got too heated, but Aina spoke up first. "Given the welcome we received, it seems Lord Keld's men at least are on the alert."
"He's the only one with soldiers out here," Runa replied, "I heard from Stian that Lord Keld is so furious at what's happening that he's bringing an army out here himself, so we really only need to hold out until they get here. Perhaps if you tell Lord Keld what you know he'll be able to put a stop to this general's plans."
Jevrem paused and thought a moment. "I don't know if we have any information that may be of any use," he said, shaking his head, "all I can really tell you about General Bojan is that he's attacking." He paused and looked down at his hand before adding"...and he's a thief...but that's really more of a personal assessment."
Arvid sighed a bit. "Well, we can't do anything tonight. You're both welcome to stay here while we figure out what to do. Stian's been gearing up for war pretty much since you left, so I'm not sure how long we'll be able to talk him down, but you should be safe here as long as you don't make too much fuss. Come, let's find you somewhere more comfortable to rest."
He stood, motioning for Jevrem and Senka to follow. Senka politely thanked him, but Jevrem didn't answer. His mind was already wandering. He had been so focused on getting home, on reuniting with Senka, that he'd never put any thought into what would come after. Logically, he knew things wouldn't be so neatly solved, but now he had no idea of what to do next. Nothing had been resolved and he was in more danger than ever. As he and Senka settled down in a side room for the night, it was uncertainty more than any of the actual dangers that weighed the most heavily on his mind.