Exodus
Ishra and Braktus had also retreated into their house to pack their things for the coming journey. The thief missed several bags of gems he had hidden around the house. He blamed it on cerebral exhaustion after the battle and troubled his mind with it no more. The fact that his wife had cast off her scanty robe and went about her business entirely nude did not help clearing his mind either.
She did not seem to trouble with valuables at all and only put iron rations and healing potions into her pack. "You know that you have to dress again, when we go," he said gently. Ishra shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I have worked nude in the sun and my skin is still pale as ivory. I don't really feel the heat and cold of the winter and the summer. I don't really understand why people are so obsessed with clothes."
Almost against his will, Braktus felt himself aroused, as he regarded her beautiful shape, which was deceptively small. She smiled and said: "I feared you were too exhausted for that. Good thing I was wrong." Ishra moved towards him quickly and opened his trousers, before he could protest. She took him with the intense and violent passion, that was hers, making him forget even about the armour she was still wearing.
Lonewolf rose, her shapely body covered with the sweat of the harsh love she had made with Nirahr. Stirred by the battle, the warrior was harder on her than usual. The barbarian smiled were he could not see it, and let the warm wind dry her. He sighed and she turned her head. "Get ready for travel," she said gently. "We will have to put a good deal of distance between us and the village ere this day is over."
Nirahr groaned. "What?" she simply asked. He looked at her shape revealed to him, the long legs, the slender waist, the rounded buttocks, the rippling muscles beneath soft skin, when she moved. Lonewolf possessed the iron endurance of the barbarian. She could run and fight for days with almost no rest. He had only fought in one fight, while the barbarian had been in most of them with her magic. Why did Nirahr feel tired and sleepy then?
"The power beneath this place drags on your dark side," the young mage said. "It wants you to stay here. You have to fight it. I do understand your desire for battle and for me, but this thing... is playing with more terrible urges." Lonewolf turned to face him squarely, aware that he would probably look at her chest rather than her eyes. "If you yield, I have two friends, who will tell you exactly what I think of that." Nirahr shivered. How terrible, tall and fearsome she suddenly seemed.
Once more gentle, she said: "You only have to come with me. That will not be hard to do, will it?" Nirahr nodded and looked for his clothes. Lonewolf was going to leave without, as usual, but this time he did not protest. "We need to help Roland," she said. "You were right. Ishra and me are better leaders than him. This is only going to work, if we add our weight."
When the young mage arrived at the inn, she was wearing her scanty robe and the magical armour again. Lonewolf opened the door and saw that most of the survivors of the battle, who could move were gathered there. Ishra had already arrived. The small warrior had replaced her nondescript robe with a short skirt and a bustier, which did not really hide anything.
Ishra glared over the excitedly talking crowd. Roland had already talked about the need to leave the village and many were not willing to abandon their homes. The small warrior held her sword high, the look in her eyes suggesting that she was willing to slay all those fools. "Make way!" she shouted instead, her voice thundering through the room. You did not battle demons for years without learning a thing or two.
Lesser fiends had to be forced into submission more often than not, but Ishra tried another approach first. She moved through the lane the crowd opened to her and stepped on a table in front of them. Some of the men tried to look under her skirt, as she noted with some amusement. They should look at their own wives.
"Heaven and hell are within me, within you," her voice thundered over the crowd. No-one dared to look away. "It is for us to choose the way towards one or the other. When you stay here, the choice will be taken from you. Something stirs within the borders of the village, more terrible than a true demon, more terrible than a demon lord. No mortal can resist that power. You have to escape while you still can or face a fate worse than oblivion.
"I have been there. I have seen the nether planes, the Infinite Abyss and the Nine Hells and all that lies between them. You will only become more fuel for their endless war to prove, which path of evil is the right, just another soul consumed by the fiends. I have seen wonders and horrors so great your minds would burst trying to even imagine them. I know the meaning of power. Believe me, none of you can resist the strength here.
"If this terrible thing gains your mind and soul, you will beg to be released and allowed to descend into Hell or the Abyss. There will be no release from eternal servitude and torments to the soul that you do not even want to imagine. Come with us and leave this cursed place behind, while you still can." They stared at her, mouths agape. The woman many of them had believed to be the plaything and slave of the massive Braktus turned out to be great of strength and wisdom herself.
Slowly the attention to the crowd was drawn to an old man, that none had seen before by subtle magic. He was clad in the heavy robes of a priest of a church long forgotten. "Do not believe that fool," the man said. "The world is wild and dangerous. Only here will you be safe from the terrible things that dwell in the wild and prey on humanity. You are protected in this place, were nothing will happen to you."
Ishra pointed her sword at the old man. She could feel with her senses, attuned by adventures in the outer planes, that there was something wrong with the man. She sighed and moved towards him, elbowing her way through the crowd, careful not to cut them with her mighty sword.
Lonewolf could feel the magical suggestion in the words of the false priest. She closed her eyes and reached for her dwindling mana, but something cut her off. The young mage shook her head and reached for her swords. Quietly she drew her weapons. "If this village is protected," she said. "How could an entire army of terrible creatures almost overrun us. An army that was only defeated thanks to my magic. You almost perished today and more will answer the call of evil that brought them here."
The barbarian was aware of a strange glance from Ishra, who changed the grip on her sword. Then the small warrior relaxed again and walked towards the false priest. Lonewolf made a mental note and turned to two more false priests. Dak'Yzal, who had faded into the crowd hit them with her staff, which passed through them. Only a ripple marked the passing of the weapon through their bodies. "They are only phantoms, spirits controlled by the enemy," she said.
Unfortunately their magic was strong and Lonewolf did not have many resources left, if she could access them at all. The two false priests Dak'yzal had hit faded away, but the one who had said the words was still there. Ishra stabbed him with her blade. There was another ripple, but this ghost was more powerful than the others. The young mage felt the struggle between the spirit of the blade and the visible one. Infernal red light seemed to illuminate the body of the ghost.
Nirahr reached into the spirit with his hands. He had followed his girl-friend after getting dressed again. The hands closed on the area, where the heart of a man would be and took hold of something solid. He dragged, pulling the creature towards him. With his other hand he held the creature away. Lonewolf looked at Ishra. The women smiled at each other and bared their breasts, making sure everyone look at them.
Just for a moment the hands of Nirahr seemed like the claws of a demon, but only Braktus saw that. There was a terrible shriek, as the fighter managed to tear out the heart of the false priest. The crowd shivered in fear, but the suggestions it had planted faded away. The people turned to Ishra and Lonewolf, who quickly covered themselves again. Nirahr moved close to his girl-friend and said softly into her ear: "Thank you."
Ishra was always amused by the effect nude female breasts had on human crowds. When they were beginning to recover from that and the scream of the fading ghost, she said: "Prepare carts for the wounded and take only your most important personal possessions. It will be a long and hard road. We have to reach the ford that takes us over the river into the land of Nurm. Besides the army of that land, the spirit of the Nujir itself may protect us."
Roland took over and said: "Take only what you can easily carry. Go now and go as quickly as you can. We will help you with the wounded." Much to the surprise of Lonewolf and Ishra, the people filed out of the inn in a surprisingly orderly way. "He is a true battlefield commander," Lonewolf said gently to Nirahr. "Our task is not with the refugees, though we will protect them until they reach Nurm. We have to go to Siema or Isparan to find out what we are truly facing and how to stop it."
"Can't you just teleport us all to safety and then to our next destination?" he asked. She shook her head. "The battle may already have cost me too much mana for that. Besides this village is becoming displaced in reality or time. I have difficulty accessing the power of my lands. Even when I find a way around this problem, teleporting from here is way to risky. I will be more helpful when I manage to summon some beasts of burden to help the caravan."
She left the inn, reluctantly followed by Nirahr. Dak'Yzal moved closer to Roland. "Hard to believe, I thought Ishra was being abused by her husband. Now I know he would not be alive, if he had tried," he spoke and looked at the woman with fondness. "You were never a good judge of woman," Dak'Yzal said. "Your first partner... well you know what you did. Your first wife cheats and gets killed for it." She shook her head.
"I..." Roland began, but he had no idea what to say. Dak'Yzal always made him feel good. He put an arm around her shoulder and the woman rested her head on his chest. Suddenly the man's head jumped up. "We have work to do," he said. "The trek needs provisions for three days at least. We have to plunder the storage of the inn and see what we can do. Shame I can't give them good boots."
Both moved into the kitchen and saw that Lonewolf and Nirahr had worked well in the morning. It seemed the young lovers had foreseen some of the fight. Roland and Dak'Yzal worked more, finding more time to be together.
Lonewolf walked tirelessly among the villagers, gently lifting the wounded on the carts. She helped them to harness their beast of burden, many of which were still skittish from the noise of the battle and the unholy aura permeating the village. Nirahr had run off, to escape the pull on the darker side of his nature. He was waiting for them to arrive, but the young mage knew this would take quite some time. The villagers were tired and the burdens heavy.
The barbarian had the feeling, that in spite of all she did and had already done in the battle, the villagers did not seem to trust her. She wondered if it was for her strange and powerful magic, but she suspected it was her barbarian heritage. There was something wild and fey to those born into the harsh live beyond the borders of civilisation. Hardship and toil were natural to them, far more than even to a hardened peasant.
Ishra also joined them and did similar work as the young mage, but there were some things she could not do for lack of size. While many were thankful for the helping hand, they did not trust her either. Once she asked Lonewolf: "Why is it that humans distrust those different then themselves more than any other race?" The barbarian replied: "I am not like them," she replied. "We of the wild know to judge people by their deeds, not their looks. I think it is the curse of a community that us to homogeneous. It makes those different stand out more."
Braktus realised that the preparations were moving too slowly in spite of the help the three of them gave. He only hoped that Roland would soon emerge from his inn and set them in order. Ishra passed him and nodded as she saw his concerned face. "Step it up. The night and its evil do not wait for you," her voice thundered through the village. "We all have to hurry more. I know you are weary, but if you do not fight your exhaustion, you will die."
The short speech did help. Many of the people seemed to be more vitalised. Finally their commander emerged from the inn. Braktus and Lonewolf moved into the house after a short talk and carried the provisions they had prepared. The young mage knew that the villagers would follow Roland and Dak'Yzal more quickly than herself.
When they were done spreading the food supplies on the carts, the trek was at last ready to move. Painfully slowly they wound their way out of the village. Lonewolf realised that many of the villagers had burdened themselves too heavily. She closed her eyes. This time she was able to connect to her lands and summon another creature. A great elephant trumpeted as it appeared out of nothingness.
Ishra and Lonewolf transferred many of the heavier bundles to the great beast. Many were afraid of it, but it was a gentle creature. Only its size was truly terrifying.
"We have to move more quickly," Braktus said. Ishra fully agreed with her husband. The people were walking with a strange reluctance, slowing their pace to a crawl beyond their physical and mental exhaustion. The small warrior moved quickly to Roland. "Hurry them up," she said. "We will not make it at this pace." The commander looked at her sadly. He was as tired as they were and felt the same force dragging him back as they did.
Ishra climbed the saddle of the great elephant between all the luggage it was carrying. She stood on its back and shouted: "Run you fools. If you value your life and your soul. I know you are tired, but you can only rest beyond the border of the village. If you rest here, you will never wake up again. Run like the demons of the Abyss were hunting you."
The elephant trumpeted again, shuffling its feet with a strange nervousness. Even the beast felt the truth in the warning of the small warrior. It changed into a trot. The beasts of burden picked up speed, being wiser than their masters. Finally the humans also followed and jogged along the carts and the elephant. Ishra leapt from the saddle and ran with them.
After a surprisingly long time they reached a rift in the landscape, were none had been the days before. It took the help of the adventurers to get the carts over the difference in height. Ishra saw that now Nirahr was with them again and helped even more eagerly than Lonewolf, Braktus and herself. It seemed he was trying to make up for something, but the journey was too urgent to stop and ask him.
The villagers moved at a more leisurely pace after they had passed the rift. All felt the air was clearer, the grass greener and the wind more natural, than the strangely opressive feel within the village. Now the unnatural weariness war replaced with a real tirednes. Ishra pushed them on with the consent of the other adventurers and even Roland.
"Why do we have to do this?" a woman asked Nirahr. "There is something beneath that village. I don't know what it is, but I can feel its pull more keenly than you with my... dark side. It still tugs at me, We have left the main area of its influence, but it will be several miles at least, until it will be safe enough to rest." The woman looked at the handsome man. "Thank you," she said. "I don't know, why we did not see this before." The warrior said: "Don't mention it."
He was polite in voice and manner, but the woman thought she caught a leer in his eyes. Perhaps there was a reason why the barbarian kept him away from most of the people. "Flirting again?" the voice of his girl-friend asked. Nirahr moved towards her, out of the hearing of the village-woman. "You know I can't help that," he said. "As long as you only use your charm, we will be fine," quoth she. He looked at her and asked: "You will not allow me to..." Lonewolf interrupted him: "I don't, but I am no fool. Sooner or later you will have sex with another woman."
Nirahr looked into the smouldering eyes of the barbarian. She did not threaten him, as he did so often, when his dark desires took over. "Let us help the people," she said. "See how they stumble and some can barely stay on their legs. We have to catch them and support them. There is still a long way to go and I cannot revitalise them with magic. There is not much left for this day." He regarded her with a sly expression for a moment, but even without her magic Lonewolf was formidable.
An hour after nightfall, they finally stopped. Even Nirahr did not feel the drag of the enemy anymore. Roland tried his best to organise them into a camp, but not even he managed much more than getting the carts into a ring. Lonewolf had the elephant circle the camp, hoping that its sheer size would draw any attacker first and hopefully waken her. She sat down on ate her food without tasting it. She had not used that much magic since her last duel with another powerful mage.
Dak'Yzal sat down next to her. "I have seen elephants before," she said gently. "I was trained in the empire of the Rak'ra. Don't ask me, what made me come here, to the other side of Sak Dakyb." Lonewolf said: "We are all stricken with wanderlust. You rove the worlds and get into trouble, but in the end you stay for love." Dak'Yzal looked at the young mage in surprise. She knew.
"We should keep at least some watch, we are in the middle of the wilderness. I cannot help you there. I need eight hours of sleep to recover my magic. I will not be much use to you without." Dak'Yzal nodded. She pointed at the sleeping form of Nirahr. "I just wonder, is he a good man?" she asked. The barbarian shrugged. "Not really," she said. "He has improved since I first met him, but I would be careful near him. He will probably jump on any woman, who opens her legs. I love him anyways."
"I hope that Ishra will not do that," Braktus said. The thief had joined them silently. "He doesn't seem to like her much," spoke Lonewolf. The man joined them without making more sound than the wind in the grass. Stealth was a second nature to him. "How long can you keep the elephant around?" Dak'Yzal asked. "Indefinitely," the young mage replied. "I think I will unsummon it when we have crossed the Nujir. I don't like being too far away from my bound creatures."
Dak'Yzal nodded and left the other two adventurers alone. Lonewolf assumed correctly, that she was going for the first watch. "A shame you needed to summon it at all, as drained as you were," Braktus said. "A wise person would have chosen their valuables, maybe their favourite tool and a couple of small items of emotional value, but it seems, some of them took their entire household with them."
"You are used to travel far and quickly," the young mage said. She liked the intelligent thief. "Many of them probably had to leave their homes for the first time. The village was guarded by an blessed aura, giving them good fortune and harvests, but now something terrible has desecrated the place." Lonewolf thought about her words for a moment and continued: "I guess it was a temple once, but now it has become a place of horror."
She looked at the villagers, many of which had just lain down and fallen asleep. "Many will travel more lightly tomorrow," the barbarian said. Braktus had already vanished into the night. Lonewolf curled up and fell asleep almost instantly.
When she awoke, she felt a familiar hand on her breast. The body of a man rubbed against hers. Lonewolf moaned softly. "I..." the voice of Nirahr said. She twisted around and kissed his lips, before he could say anything. "I love you," she said softly. "But here and today we really shouldn't." She fixed his gaze with her eyes. Finally he nodded and moved away from her.
The young mage closed her eyes and felt that all her resources were available for another day. Some of the people were stirring, but most of them just turned around, keeping their eyes closed. Only Ishra, Braktus, Dak'Yzal and Lonewolf were awake. The elephant stretched its limbs and raised its proboscis. The barbarian warned it and it did not trumpet. "Let them sleep," she said. "Yesterday was straining."
She looked back the way they had come. Smoke obscured the village, covering another even darker wall. Lonewolf wondered, if there were spirits at work, or if the very fabric of reality was protecting itself from the horror in the village. She feared that the area of the old temple would align itself with reality in only a few days. The young mage turned into the other direction. There the air was clear and there was a trace of salt in the breeze.
When several hours passed and still only a fourth of the villagers rose, Lonewolf commanded the elephant to trumpet. The sleepers started and looked at unexpected surroundings with dull eyes. Soon they came awake and began to take their breakfast. The barbarian became ever more restless. She could sense the presence of hostile creatures. Ishra joined Lonewolf. The small warrior obviously felt the threat too, for she said: "Something is hiding in the high grass. We have to hurry."
"Get up and ready for the road," her voice thundered. "Pack up and get ready to move. There is no time to loose." Lonewolf looked again and finally saw the creatures. They were almost as large as the elephant, but flatter on the ground, armoured like turtles, but their maws had the teeth of predators. They moved towards the breaking camp with clear purpose. There was a large meal to be had easily.
Commanded by Roland and Ishra, the trek started to move more quickly than the young mage had hoped. The creatures would overtake them. She suspected there were others, which she was not yet aware of. Lonewolf considered her options for some time and made a choice. Here the mana arrived instantly, as she was used to. She almost forgot to channel it into the spell before it burned her.
It was easy to forget the danger of mana burn when using islands. Their strength was subtle and soothing, but it would liquefy and damage parts of her body as surely as red mana burned. When the spell became reality, the land wavered and changed into an unreal image. The caravan was no the only true reality within a three-dimensional aquarelle filled with light too orange to belong to the earthly sun. "This is my magic," Lonewolf called out. "It protects you from the monsters and beasts."
Roland was now walking in the lead of the caravan. He was not nearly as disquieted by the strange reality into which Lonewolf had phased them, as many of the villagers. His calm and confidence slowly calmed them, as they moved through this surreal place. The commander had the feeling, that they were moving with greater speed, than they would be able to in physical reality.
When a blue ribbon spread in front of them, the image coalesced into real grasses and a river. Roland recognised the ford, which would lead them into the kingdom of Nurm. There was a military camp on the other side, but their passage of the River was not blocked. At the area which marked the beginning of the encampment, the commander of the force of Nurm was waiting for them.
"The Eternal Wanderer told us to expect you," the man said. "She also said that she can be found in the mountains to the south by those, who need her help. Meeting her could save some people a long journey." Roland said: "We need shelter and food. I will leave the rest to the young adventurers." He gave Lonewolf a meaningful glance. "The village finally turned out too good to be true," the Nurm commander said with some glee.
"Actually it turned out to be too evil to be true," Lonewolf said earnestly. "I have some idea, what has been locked away in the place. Someone has to stop the creature from truly breaking out." The commander looked at the fierce smouldering eyes of the barbarian and knew that she was that person. The barbarian turned away and began to make her way southward with the long steady step that eats miles.
"There are enough abandoned tenements near the river to shelter you," the commander spoke to Roland. "We will welcome them, if they decide to stay. Who knows, if it will ever be possible to live in your old place again. Having to split our forces against the goblin army in the north and the trolls in the south is problematic enough. Good thing your mage fried most of that army."
"Intelligent people still exist," Dak'Yzal, who had joined them spoke. "I always thought it doesn't take an army this size to conquer a village, where not even 150 people live. Even when some of them are very powerful." Silently the woman wondered, if Lonewolf had sacrificed the villagers, if it had been necessary to keep the world safe.
Dak'Yzal looked south and thought she saw the quickly forms of Braktus, Ishra and Nirahr, following the faster form of Lonewolf.