Draxx knew that traveling from Crag, he'd have to go through Dry Lake and then Red Sands. All just to get to the actual province's of the Emerald Kingdom. Once out of Red Sands, you'd have to cut through Thanish lands and those fuckers were hardly hospitable to anyone outside of their borders. The amount of rations needed for four travelers were already a lot, luckily enough though, Amery had a storage of dried meat and cheeses that would suffice. On top of sleeping supplies, tents, water skins, and a few pots. This expedition was already cumbersome, now throw in the fact that they'd all be walking until the outskirts of Dry Lake and this was all becoming a lot. He hated it, he knew the little girl had done something to him. It was the way she spoke and the look in her eyes that made him feel compelled. He knew it was right to help to them, but he still didn't want to be involved with something that had the potential to be much larger than he could hope to handle.
They had tied down the sleeping bags and tents to Nila's side saddle, then used the seat as another tie down spot for all the food and extra wares they needed to bring. As they began their walk out of Crag, they had decided to keep off the roads and use the critter trails to keep themselves from being out in the open. The Flame Sect were hell bent on taking Pela, is what Anese explained at first. So, it just made sense to keep out of the prying eyes. Once they were able to reach the stables of Dry Lake, Amery was going to buy a few horses to help with the journey. Still, they'd need to keep the girls from view. Draxx had thought long and hard about this. Coming up with only one conclusion.
"We need to cut both of you girls' hair." He said abruptly.
They had been walking through the twisted pines of the Crag forest, slowly making their way downhill on forest rocks and some steep drops that made for unsure footing. Amery was leading the way, scouting ahead as he went. He was followed by Anese who seemed to tiptoe through every step. Almost as if she didn't want to dirty her shoes. She was wearing peasants garb, a simple brown linen dress, but also was bundled up in thick furs. Pela was pretty much the same, except that her furs had a hood that concealed much of her face. She, however, seemed to relish walking in the mud. They both stopped and turned to look at Draxx, questioningly.
"Cut our hair? Why? I've never cut my hair, my mother..." Anese trailed off, as the mention of her mother brought instant tears to her eyes.
Pela reached out and grabbed Anese by the hand.
"The Flame Sect is expecting girls. If we cut your hair and keep you bundled up enough, no one will look twice."
Amery came walking back up the tiny path, pushing limbs out his way, "He's right. Ain't thought of that, but that's a smart idea."
"I'm not cutting my hair." Anese said as she pulled her hand from Pela. She crossed her arms and stamped a foot into the soft mossy ground, next to a boulder larger than her.
"Now look, you asked me to help. You're not too capable of doing this by yourself-"
"We made it just fine to Crag without you." She said defiantly.
"Aye, half dead. Pela here passed out on my doorstep and you looked no better for the wear." Amery said as he came up behind and tried put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
She brushed it off and spun around on him, "Half dead? Half dead?!"
She broke down and covered her face with her dirt sodden hands. Pela hugged her tight and looked up at Draxx with pleading eyes.
"Now don't be pulling your little mind trick again. This has to happen. We can't just be prancing around the woods with two very recognizable little girls. I imagine, if what you say is true, when we get to Dry Lake there will be soldiers crawling around looking for you everywhere."
Amery nodded in agreeance, "Anese, you're the daughter of a highly valuable prisoner and Pela...well, you're Pela. The way you talked about Lucan, he's not just going to stop looking for you both. We have to do this."
Draxx nodded, sitting down next to Anese who was still sobbing, "I know you hate it, but I know you hate him more. I can't fully imagine what you're feeling but I know some of it. We have to get you two to safety and the only way we can begin to make that reality, is to change your appearance. Unless Pela has some sort of illusionary magic?"
Pela looked up and shook her head, "Pela."
"You're hair will grow back, but if you're caught. We're all caught, and your escape was for nothing. You want to help your father? You want to avenge your mother? Then sometimes, you have to do things you don't want to, but have to." Draxx said as he pointed to Amery's knife hanging from his brown leather pants.
She looked up, tears glistening in her eyes, "I know. This is all just so much, so quick. Just a few days ago everything was normal. Now, I'll never see my mother again or brothers and maybe not even my father."
Sliding the knife from it's holster, Amery sat down. Anese looked up and smiled through her tears as she loosed her braids. Draxx watched her, impressed with the resolve she had already shown. A princess in some ways, from an enemy army, but here she was fighting for what she knew was right. Moments like these shaped a person's life, sometimes for the good. Sometimes, for the worst. Looking at her as Amery shaved her and Pela bald, Draxx felt like he was watching a transformation. An innocence lost, the making of a warrior, someone raising from the ashes of their past life and coming out a whole new creature. She had showed plenty of mettle just to escape and survive in the woods, now she knew that they had a hard trek ahead to reach the Emerald Castle and she still hadn't turned back. He thought back to his early days, a farmer's only son who watched his family burn. All of those years back, when the pagan tribes ran forlorn and sacrificed and enslaved whoever they wanted. He had hidden in the woods when the attack began and watched all that he knew go up in flames. It had changed him then, and even now it had a profound effect on him. His anger turned to steel, his bitterness to resolve, his drive for revenge had been thrown into training with the axes and he had joined the Emerald Army as a Front Line Fighter. In a way, he was still looking for the satisfaction of revenge. The Emerald Army had crushed the tribes and taken over their land but he never felt the release of the anger he harbored. Would she be the same way? Would her curse be his curse, to always seek the bloody path of an eye for an eye? He saw the twines of steel in her, but he knew nothing of what she would become. Watching her now, he made a vow to protect those two little girls from the unending pain of never finding the satisfaction of revenge through blood.
Amery shaved both of their heads, and as he finished Pela's he stood to survey his work, "Good thing I just sharpened this. That's as clean a head peeling as I've ever seen."
Anese ran her hands over her bald head and wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. Pela smiled as she felt about her bald head, and then shivered as a breeze blew. She pulled her hood over and then smiled again and gave Anese a thumbs up sign.
"We'll need to call you both something other than your names, too." Amery said as he put his knife back.
"How about Neal and Peter?" Draxx offered.
Anese shook her head with a disgusted look, "No, Neal is terrible. I will call myself Shath. I think Peter works for Pela. Do you agree?"
Pela laughed and shrugged, "Peter."
"There we go then, Shath and Peter. Now, let's keep moving. I want to get around Dry Lake's main city by nightfall, so that in the morning we can get horses and be on our way to Red Sands. I doubt the Flame Sect has had time to reach that far yet." Draxx said as he helped both girls to their feet.
They walked through the cold pine forest in silence, picking their way through underbrush and thickets while following the paths left behind by bramble rabbits and other smaller animals, without any troubles. Only twice did they stop for a water break, but no one spoke before they continued their walk. Birds sung overhead and occasionally a deer would bound out into their path and back into the woods again. As night began to encroach on the woods around them, the group set up camp around two hundred yards from the city of Dry Lake. The shops were lit up, lanterns hanging from door posts and and candles lit in window sills. The city seemed more alive than usual, as people came in and out of the wooden buildings carrying leather sacks of goods and satchels full of cloth. Draxx watched intently from a small clearing, looking for any signs of disruption as Amery sat beside him in the shadows. The girls stayed behind them, wrapped in their furs and settled in the tents inside of their sleeping bags.
"Too many people." Amery said as he handed a piece of jerky to Draxx.
He took it in his three fingered hand and popped the piece in his mouth as he grunted in agreement.
"I've known Dry Lake for years, too many fucking people is right."
"What are you thinking then? Soldiers dressed up or what?"
"Stupid fuckers is what I think. Not a single person in Dry Lake has red hair. Look, that lady coming out of the second shop there. Red hair, muscular build. She's trying to blend in with an oversized dress. Stupid fuckers." Draxx said as he pointed to a group of shops in the middle of the lantern lit square.
"Aye. I don't recognize a single person. If you watch em, they don't even walk the same."
Draxx stood up and brushed off the moss and dirt from his hide pants, "They're looking for them, and expecting them to walk right into their little spider's web."
Amery stood up and ran a hand through his mop of hair and blew out a soft sigh, "Guess this means no horses, huh?"
Draxx turned to him and shook his head, "Nope, this means we gotta steal them in the middle of the night."
Amery smiled mischievously, "You got a plan or are we just winging it?"
"What's to plan? We just follow this tree line up the bank to the stables and go get them. You think with all of them in town, that those dumb fucks will be guarding horses?"
Amery gave a nervous chuckle, "Kind of, boss. Wouldn't they stable their horses there too?"
Draxx grimaced, "Fuck. Yeah, you're probably right. We need a plan."
"What if I created a distraction in town and you stole two horses?"
Draxx thought about that, it just might work, but how was he going to steal two horses? He knew Swine but not horses. Could they be that different? No, that wouldn't work. He was too big and too old to be sneaking around and somehow stealing two horses without being caught.
"Only way it'll work is if I create the distraction and your skinny ass steals the horses. I'd be like an ox in a whore house. It's gotta be me." Draxx said.
Amery smiled and shook his head, "I don't know exactly what you mean by that, but I think I get the picture."
They had done one last check in with the girls, both were sleeping hard and bundled up in their furs. Draxx had spoke to Nila and told her to watch after them and protect them at all costs. He was positive she understood, because she sure acted like it. Together, he and Amery slowly made their way to town. Sticking to the shadows of the trees that covered the road. As they got within feet of the clearing that marked final stretch into the square, they paused.
"We ready?" Amery whispered.
Draxx shrugged, "Better to do it than always be scared of it."
Amery nodded and melted into the bushes that followed the dirt bank towards the stables, his movement not even noticeable to Draxx as he tried to watch him. With a deep breath Draxx checked that his axe was hidden under his thick fur coat. It wasn't, but one doesn't go to a feast without an appetite or utensils. He had no idea what to expect, let alone what exactly he was going to do. It was then he realized, they never discussed an exit strategy. Let alone, any kind of strategy really.
"Am, hey Am." Draxx tried to whisper.
He waited a moment, but there was no reply. Amery was probably halfway to the stables by now. This wasn't starting off very well. Now, he was nervous. He took another deep breath and that's when he caught the smell of charred wood. He looked around and now that he was closer to town he could see scorch marks throughout town. On the rails where horses were tied off, the front steps of shops, even door entrances. Shit, what had gone down here? There was a store front directly to his right that he decided he would creep along through the shadows. On the side was a door where the shop keeper, a seamstress, could open to allow a breeze through. He could maybe sneak in there, then create his distraction.
He took a big step from the tree shadows to the shadow of the building and began to slowly walk along the exterior towards the door. No one had seen him, so he was in the clear. He took a few more quiet steps and was at the door, before he could reach for it something grabbed him from the collar of his jacket and pulled. He was jerked off his feet and smack on his back, air rushed from his lungs as stars swam around his vision. A figure stood over him, but all he could make out was a black blob.
"Ssshhh, now. You'll get them lookin' over here you old fool. Dammit, you must've lost your mind Club Hand." The voice said.
He recognized the voice as the bursts of light in his vision started to dissipate. It was Poppy, the seamstress. Her curly brown hair in a messy bun, and comely face complete with brown hairy moles became more clear. She was looking around wild eyed and in a crouch, her blue linen dress stretched to bursting by her gigantic ass and bosom.
"Shit Poppy, what the fuck?" Draxx said, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.
She looked at him and put a finger to her lips and motioned for him to follow her behind the shop to the storage shed. He rolled over and slowly got to his feet, making sure not to grind the gravel under his weight and make any noise. Following her was quick as the storage shed was only a few feet away. It was going to be tight fitting in the shed with both, but he trusted her. He watched her open the half door and duck inside, quick as he could he did the same and as he ducked under the doorframe and in, he was eye level with Poppy's breasts.
"Eyes up here you old pervert." She said curtly.
He smiled and looked up, "Good to see you old friend, now...what the fuck was that about?"
She held a finger to her lips again, "Whisper, those people in town aren't Dry Lakers, they's Flame Sect."
"I figured as much with the red hair."
She seemed confused, "Then why you here? You gon' save us? Cuz they rounded up alls the men an' locked em in the long house. Took alls the chil'ren and they be testing them in the school house."
Now Draxx was confused, "All the men and children? Fuck me running with a wooden spoon. This is a lot more worse than I thought. Amery is sneaking to the stables to get horses."
"He's here? Why's he grabbin' horses?"
"To ride, Poppy. We're trying to get to the castle."
She seemed confused, "So...you ain't rescuing no one?"
Draxx sighed and put a hand on her shoulder, "It's not like that. We didn't know what was happening here. We have two girls with us. One's Rikart's daughter, but she's not a prisoner or bad or in trouble."
"The Rikart? The same Rikart that follows the Flame? That's some bullshit Draxx. Theys all bad." Poppy said as she angrily pushed his hand off of her, "You'd gon' save her but not us? We's your folk. Your people's."
Draxx shook his head, "Poppy, nothing is bullshit. Just listen to me. Lucan had lost his marbles, the other girl we've got was a prisoner of his and she escaped. She's apparently got more magic in her than anyone ever has. He wants to take her and take her power, Anese is her friend and her father was taken prisoner too or killed...I dunno which...because he wanted to overthrow the mad bastard."
Her face softened, "Ok. What about the men and chil'ren here?"
"Do you know how many Flames are here?"
She cocked an eyebrow at him, "Well...I counted to five about four times cuz I can't no higher."
Draxx puffed his cheeks out and blew, "Fuck....twenty. That's a lot. Do you know if they're just walking around aimlessly or if there's a group of them somewhere?"
She shook her head, "Dammit, I dunno Draxx. They keep me holed up since they came earlier today. Won't let me out the front damn door none. Gave me a list of shit to make and I been doin that til I seent you."
"Shit...that's not good. The long house is right next to the school house, right?" Draxx asked.
"Where'n else it'd be? Been there since they built both, them things don't grow legs."
Draxx thought a moment, the school house was almost directly across the town square and from here to there there was around six or seven houses and a few shops. Maybe he could weave in and out to get around each one, but how could he get inside the long house or school and save anyone? Plus, all he had was his axe and if these soldiers were anything but the fodder, they'd know magic. This situation just got a lot worse, he thought.