1.1 The Xinnian Resistance

Andustaran, Xinnian Empire, 17 of Starlight.

Persephone suggested that they should investigate the rivers, but in the end was convinced by the rest of her team that the rivers were being watched by the Xinnian forces and therefore were not their main priority. Looking over the map, the group determined to look for clues at the site of the last battle, a spot on the road that borders the forest of the Fae and that runs North to South from Freya to the Great City of Xin.

Since the characters met at an Inn in Andustaran, and they decided to take the Southern Route, they faced a 5-day trip, as a horse rides, but they had no horses and not enough money to buy one, much less three.

"Ah, don't you worry," said Daktari to the worry of everyone else. "I know where I can get horses. You just wait outside of the city. I'll get them horses."

No one asked him how or where he planned to acquire the beasts.

While Persephone, Kishara and Mamba waited, Daktari returned to the city with his faithful mount Cattus and approached the city stables. There were plenty of horses there, he thought. No one would notice if he took three.

The nice guard that kept watch over the horses was asleep, and Daktari didn't want to wake him up. Why, that would be rude, besides, the man had the keys to the stable easily available hanging from his belt.

In a moment, Daktari entered the stables, opened several of the gates and allowed the horses to run free. Scared as they were by Cattus, this was an easy task. The poor man was awakened by a literal stampede and went after the horses, which made it easier for Daktari to take three of them and return to his friends at camp.

The group travelled most of the day until they found some tracks to the side of the road, as if someone had been riding on the grasslands. They looked around, but the number of tracks did not seem to match the numbers that the Belomari Raiders must have, and it didn't seem to be related to the Belomari, so eventually they decided not to pursue this.

Too exhausted to even think about posting guards, the four travelers set up camp, ate some food and went to sleep in two tents. Kishara and Persephone shared on of them, while Daktari and Mamba shared the other. Black Mamba was the last one to go to sleep because he wanted to groom his beard. While they slept, Cattus roamed the countryside, probably hunting for moon rats or any of the other small mammals that were abundant on the area. As a pet, besides riding, Cattus did not have many skills. Daktari has plans to train it some more in the future.

In the middle of the night, Persephone was awakened by a small sound. It seemed to her that someone had walked into their camp and the horses were a bit nervous.

"Kishara," she whispered. "I thing someone is here."

Kishara placed her palms on the ground and concentrated. Feeling the vibrations around the camp, she identified the number and general location of several bipedal and quadrupedal creatures. Her Earth Elementalist powers did not give her information about the nature of the creatures, but did tell her that they had been surrounded.

"What are we going to do?" Persephone asked after Kishara shared her discovery. "The boys are asleep."

"I wish I had more power," said the Fae. "If I could raise the Earth under our tents into a very high column, we could avoid whoever is out there."

"Wait," Persephone said. "Can you do that?

"Of course not," she answered, as if everyone knew what in the abyss an Elementalist was capable of. "Only wizards of Legendary powers could do something like that, but wait, I have an idea."

Once again, Kish placed her palm on the friendly Earth. It was the month of Starlight, so the powers of Autumn, including those of the Earth Elementalist were in their prime. Sure, it would not be a column, but she could still cause a ripple around them to surprise their enemies and awaken their friends.

"What is this?" A voice yelled from outside as the small ripple of earthquake spread from the tent. At least now they knew that those who surrounded them could talk.

"Hush, you imbecile," responded another. Persephone recognized the accent as North Xinnian, perhaps Kametian, and decided to go out and confront them.

Once outside, Daktari and black Mamba joined them. They were surrounded by scruffy-looking Xinnians who appeared to have skipped too many meals and even more baths. They were all young, all had in their eyes the fire of insanity. Persephone had doubts as to whether coming out of the tents had been a good idea.

"Let Mamba do the talking," said Daktari, confident in that his friend's sweet tongue would keep them from harm. Of course, the Xinnians didn't look like much, but there were 20 of them or more out there, and after all, they were Xinnians, and that was not who they were meant to be fighting against.

"All right," said Mamba walking slowly towards the men, who held spears towards them. "What can we do for you?"

"We are the resistance of the Xinnian Empire," said the tallest Xinnian of the group, a skinny fellow whose hair had forgotten brush, comb or water. "We don;t want to hurt you, but we need supplies. We'll take your weapons, horses and provisions and will let you live."

"If you are the Xinnian resistance, we are glad to see you fellows," said Mamba with a smile.

"Don't you get us killed," whispered Kishara.

"We are your allies," said Mamba. "As a matter of fact, we are on our way to the City of Xin to join the effort to fight the barbarian scum."

"Really?" the young man said. The companions could tell that he was not sure what to make of Mamba's sunny disposition.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" asked another man, a shorter, leaner scholarly type, in times of famine, of course. "How do we know that you are who you say you are?"

"We are not going to do anything," said Mamba, mostly to Kishara, who seemed to be thinking on how to use her talents against the bandits. "We just need to deliver a message to the city of Xin. The Belomari war raiders will reach their city in less than a week."

"How do you know that?" asked the first man. "Tell us!"

"We saw them."

At that, a wave of murmur swept through the group.

"Silence!" said the leader. Then he removed himself from hearing range of the companions and discussed the matter with the scholarly kid.

"Listen," said the boy after finishing his discussion. "We ride for the Great City right now. We'll alert them of the threat you mention."

"The gods grant you speed," said Mamba. "Speed and strength, my friends"

With that, the young bandits fled, leaving the companions alone.

"They didn't steal anything," said Daktari after a quick review. "But that was a close one. We really need to post guards at night".

That night, as she slept, Kishara heard a murmur of sand and pebbles, a fairy of the land speaking to her as in a dream, saying that the bandits had left, but if they found out that they had lied about them, they would come back for them and their revenge would be swift and lethal. If this was a message from the gnomes of Autumn or just a dream made up by her own worries, Kishara knew not.

And thus concluded the first day of the travels of the companions.

TO BE CONTINUED...