V
“Tenen! Tenen! Wake up, damn it!”
The girl finally regained consciousness after her older colleague had already begun to slap and shake her. Immediately upon awakening, she felt strong pain, but also the pressure of fabric on her arm. Dlora bandaged her wound, using herbs that she wore sewn inside her belt, same as all Ahlea warrior girls, as standard equipment.
She turned around, remembering events that led to this situation. She realized quickly that the landscape surrounding them was different than the one she was in before losing consciousness. Dlora immediately solved her confusion.
“I've carried you here before the others Zals awoke. We are about a half an hour walk away from their village.”
“Thank you,” Tenen said and then realized that she feels a headache after the smallest movement of the jaw. The effects of those strange phenomena were not gone yet “how did you get us out of there?”
“At the end, we all fell into unconsciousness. I had a lot of luck. One beast had collapsed just before he finished me off, he had already overthrown me. I was one of the first to wake up. Several Zals woke up before me, but they have not noticed that I was still alive because I laid almost entirely covered with the one that almost finished me off.”
While retelling events, Dlora constantly turned around, watched the surroundings with caution, apparently fearing a possible attack.
“I quickly... overcame those who woke up, and then threw you on the back and started running. By now they all probably woke up and went after us.”
Tenen saw this as a message that they must immediately move on. She got up slowly and uncertainly, feeling besides a headache all the other consequences of the loss of blood. Education within Ahlea order was often extremely life-threatening for many trainees, and Tenen also had many scars to show. But she could not compare this situation with the previous experiences of wounds, fractures, and other miscellaneous income shocks.
“Oh, mighty All, I feel like my head is about to crack,” she said with a grim expression on her face. Only then she clearly remembered the most mysterious event throughout that rush “Hey, what the hell happened there? The moment with the bright light and the... when everything went all… what was that?”
“I do not know, and right now, I do not care” Dlora gave a straight answer. Then she pulled out two halves of a broken statue from the inner pocket of her coat. Merged them one to another, as she was hoping they would magically be joined back together.
Tenen only then had the chance to see how Tarlaeth looked like. It showed a strong, long-haired winged man in a robe that completely concealed his feet. He was set on an oval base. His hands were laid on a handle of a lowered sword, whose tip also touched base. He had wings raised above his head, placed one just beside the other. They were geometrically perfect, completely symmetrical. The face was simple, but impressive, with a look that would inevitably cause respect to the observer.
The most interesting thing was that the statue broke into only two parts, about the same volume, although one would expect to break off, shatter and lose a few smaller fragments. But no, everything that was Tarlaeth was located within the two parts in Dlora’s hands.
“I'll think about you later too” after a long period of observation, warrior girl returned chunks of stone under her coat. Escape was a thing of greatest importance at that moment.
“Zals are much faster creatures than us. They could catch us before we safely get back to Ahleyn” Tenen concluded. But her colleague had a backup plan.
“There is a large swamp southeast of here. It stretches all the way to Midbay. Zals are afraid of water. From there we will quickly end up in Pryor” once again Dlora impressed her young partner with the knowledge of geography. Tenen also remembered what she had learned from the maps. She also concluded that the easiest way out was toward the bay which was shared by four countries, including this wild Ro-Oth, and also their homeland, Ahleyn.
A few moments later they were on their way. They tried to leave as few traces behind, and still be as fast as possible. Hoping that Zals would conclude that they two escaped on the same route as the one they used to come here, and also that they would not remember to split into several search groups.
Going down from the hills of the Cursed mountain to the swamp was much more unsettling than climbing it from the direction of Zal forest. Due to the hard downhills and not so many walkable paths, they had to slow down too often. The pain that Tenen felt and the inability of normal use of her right hand, also made traveling much more difficult. The older colleague had to always go first, and at the same time to watch out how younger warrior was coping with dangerous pieces of road. Often she had to offer her some assistance.
After hours of walking and running down the bumpy parts of the mountain, they noticed that the environment was changing. A few larger and greener plants started to appear, the rocky ground began to share its place with dry and soon later a bit damp earth.
Just in that moments, when they could see first big ponds and tall grass in the distance, behind them they heard small stones rolling from higher parts of mountains. They turned and soon saw the first silhouettes of wild humanoids, deftly jumping from higher to lower rocks and rapidly progressing towards the girls.
They were still far enough to pose no threat for a few minutes. But the wild roar they could hear for a few seconds after the sight of them gave clear that they were quite angry, actually in a state of full madness. There was too many of them for Dlora to fight them herself, and to defend a partner who was not ready for combat.
So Dlora quickly pulled Tenen by her healthy hand:
“Fast! Now we must do our best to get to the water before they reach us!”
They rushed as fast as they could. Dlora was now pushing her younger colleague in front of her, not allowing her to slow down, no matter how tired and painful she felt. She was not even concerned if she or Tenen would stumble on a rock or slip on the rocks. The most important thing was to make the first step into deeper parts of Grall swamp. First puddles have already appeared under their feet, more and more shrubs was surrounding them, but that was still a terrain Zals could move on. And they were closer every second, and their roar was louder every moment. They knew that, if only one Zal would reach and grab one of them, it would soon be over for them both. Even if they would overcome him, the next second the rest of them would dig its claws and teeth into their tired bodies.
Pain in jaded leg muscles was already unbearable, breathing was getting harder and harder. Savage roar and deep gasps were now coming just from behind. Fastest among Zals was just about to grab Dlora’s back...
Just then, the girls stepped in quite wet, muddy ground, and only a few steps later found themselves in the murky, green waters of the swamp. First Zal, along with a few of them also splashed his feet on the muddy ground, but before the actual water, he forced himself to stop. There was no more solid ground from which they could reach two warriors.
They sighed in fury, standing in one place, scowling at the Ahleas. Two of them were slowly moving further away, pulling feet out from the mud beneath the water. Dlora walked a bit backward, with her sword drawn out, in case that Zals would beat their fear and step in the water. But on the contrary, the beasts stood still and quiet, without any will to at least show their raging dissatisfaction. They swallowed the feeling of evident defeat, sending only looks of hatred and anger, as a message, which was supposed to mean that they would not have mercy on them if they would ever meet again.
Then the beasts turned around and started walking slowly back towards the hills.
As soon as she noticed that, Tenen stopped to regain at least some strength that she had lost. Dlora returned the sword to its sheath and also began to rest her body. She took a quick look at surroundings, remembering that this piece of nature was no less harmless. Then she devoted attention to her partner.
“Now we can slow down. We will no longer see those creatures” she comforted Tenen while she was examining
the wound. The look of Tenen’s injury actually said the opposite, that they could not afford them to slow down, young Ahlea needed better medical treatment than Dlora could provide. The swamp was also a place where the wound could easily pick up some kind of infection or additional disease.
The decrease of caution was also out of the question because swamp snakes and large lizards were able to surprise them after each wicker or any muddier part of water. The Grall swamp was named after the birds who found here a main habitat in certain parts of the year, and whose meat was one of the favorite dishes on the Continent. But the water was equally famous for wild animals that no one had any desire to eat or even meet.
The water itself had a certain uniqueness, an observer could find it ugly and beautiful at the same time. One could clearly see the disparity even from distance. Parts with high, thick and solid marsh grasses had a greenish color, which sometimes flew into brown, depending on the amount of sludge that was raised from the bottom. On the other hand, some cleaner parts were almost unnatural blue and bright. It was hard to find such colorful wetlands somewhere else.
Stretched for miles in the Southeast direction, straight to Midbay, where Prymor city, port of Ahleyn which they wanted to reach, was located.
After a few minutes of rest, they moved on. Dlora permitted a slower pace in the beginning, but soon she made an effort to make walking rhythm faster. Moving, further along, was becoming increasingly difficult, the swamp was deeper and the progression was slower. They felt the certain joy of escaping from hairy savages, but satisfaction after solving problems with Zals was replaced by concern for others who have accumulated.
Although they did not discuss it, they were both spinning similar thoughts: the knowledge of the existence of an intruder in the palace, the lack of information about who it might be, a long way they would have to cross to go back to the capital, the question of how Waeyehenians would respond to the state of their statue after the accident on Cursed mountain...
But Dlora’s mind was most preoccupied with the occurrence within the moment when Tarlaeth broke, the flash of light that blinded them and the incredible impact of energy that passed them all out. It was now clear that the history of the statuette was a lot more interesting than they had thought, and that the story involved ancient mages as characters, from old and almost forgotten legends. Given that their world had not known any weapon or device that could produce such a brilliant appearance, there was no doubt that this was some kind of magic. Only the mages knew magic, and no magic, as far as they knew, had not been seen on the Continent since their departure, in ancient times.
They also shared some fear of the possible consequences. Dlora’s headache was completely gone in the middle of that chase to the swamp. Other inconvenience, except the great exhaustion after all that action, she did not feel. It made no sense to ask Tenen if she felt any other inconveniences that might be caused by the unexplainable event. She was already exhausted enough because of injuries and running in poor condition. As time passed, it was more than obvious that wounded young Ahlea was progressing harder, and how her body is tilting down to the water. She was having problems with holding her eyes open, especially when the night began to fall.
When darkness completely covered the swamp, Dlora estimated that there were about halfway from the beginning to the bay. It was obvious that she would soon have to carry Tenen on her back, and that would make her lose the ability to react in time if some swamp beast attacks them. She was looking for a piece of land, at least a little bit dry, on which they would be able to rest during the night, but really none of it could be found in the sight of the place at which they were standing that moment. Besides, it was becoming more difficult to find areas shallow enough for walking.
Suddenly they heard wings flapping from above. Under the dim moonlight, they could glimpse a flock of dark birds. They were Gralls, feathered animals, nearly as big as an adult human. The first thought caused by their occurrence in Dlora was the famine, a feeling which up to this point she refused to think about, having all other problems that she, together with her young partner, was wrestling. She wished they had brought bows with arrows to this adventure, then she could have knocked one of these animals, pluck it and ease hunger with their meat. At that moment it would be just fine to eat it raw.
Just at that moment, one bird suddenly and abruptly started crashing down towards the girls. The next moment it fell into the water about three feet in front of them before Dlora even had time to take out her sword. Tenen was too exhausted, and not looking anywhere else but downward anymore, she did not notice that something was happening until she heard the splash of water.
When the bird emerged back and turned its body around on the water surface, the girls observed that she was hit by an arrow. That moment Tenen also pulled out her weapon.
“That is my catch, that there be no mistake” they heard a voice little further, from the right. Among the dense shrubs, in total darkness, they could yet see a female silhouette. A girl stood there, about Dlora’s age, in high and dark boots and a bow in her hand.
When she made two steps forward and stood under the moonlight, they could clearly see that she was carrying equipment of a typical Ahleynian Grall hunter. In addition to the equipment, the sex also revealed that the person was from their country. Other kingdoms would not allow women to hunt, especially not in Ro-Oth.
“What are you doing here” Dlora called the unknown girl. She placed the sword back behind, and then grabbed Tenen since she almost dropped her sword and was ready to crash into the water “Gralls are usually further south at this time of year!”
The unknown girl also ran toward them, as soon as she realized that one of two Ahleas was wounded. She grabbed Tenen around her waist and completely took over her weight.
“My boat is there, in the underbrush, just a few steps away.”
Indeed, in one small part of the swamp, completely covered with tall stems of marsh grass, which girls normally would not have addressed more attention to, there was a skilfully hidden boat of a bigger size. As soon as the girl pulled it out, they could see it was packed with everything that one would need for a longer stay in the swamp - food, clothing, and even accessories for the potential treatment of wounds and injuries. The front part was already filled with a dozen of killed Gralls.
“I am going to take care of the wound, I have grass that will surely help. You can help yourself with the food, there is a lot of salted meat that I have left, as well as vegetables that have not entirely lost its freshness, even though I have been here for five days.
Although a tremendous hunger was almost forcing her to savagely jump on food, Dlora still maintained her manners and started preparing pieces of food for her injured partner carefully with a knife, and then prepared a piece for herself. The food was really delicious and well prepared, even for a full-fed person to enjoy it.
While chewing a large piece of dried pork ham, Dlora took a longer look on the big hunting catch at the front of the boat. The girl saw it and returned to Dlora’s earlier question:
“Wars are further south at this time of year too. You probably do not know it, but for years now, Gralls prefer to remain here in the swamp after breeding, because of horrors of war, instead of migrating to Ahleyn and other warmer regions. Less of them keeps coming to our country every year. They were always keeping away from people, cities, and roads. But the battles are fought on meadows and in forests, their natural habitats. That is why they tend to stay here for an entire year. It is unnatural, I know, but it is so. Therefore, more and more hunters decide to go hunting in these areas even during colder periods. What else can we do?”
Although her words and also her tone were full of frustration and disappointment for the situation she described, her facial expression and posture of this girl sent quite the opposite message. She was a self-confident, courageous, experienced and strong person, which among the fairer sex you could see raised only in Ahleyn. Dlora estimate
d that this girl was in her late twenties to early thirties, they belonged to approximately the same generation. She knew that this was a very important person in her village, which certainly contributed to the community in many ways, considering that she was not on the battlefield at that moment.
Their homeland based its strength and stability in the full usage of all the qualities that women carried. The basis of Ahleyn philosophy was the belief that women's virtues are far greater than those that men could provide. All male advantages were considered to be a double-edged sword, it was believed that to the same extent they could contribute to the betterment, as well as harm the community.
For this reason, the men were deliberately restrained in progress in every way. Overly ambitious were calmed down sometimes even with very brutal methods. Girls were, quite the opposite, watched from infancy and tried to accurately estimate which were the most competent among them, which were the ones that had obvious qualities and talents in any areas. They did not hesitate, if necessary, to separate those girls from their parents and place them in development institutions, because most of these schools functioned in some isolation. In them, the girls were divided from the rest of society until reaching the age of majority. Even for social activities such as hunting, young women of Ahleyn were attending specialized schools, leaving their community for three years, only to return with the perfect knowledge and skills in activities that were expected of them.
Ahlea warrior school represented a high point in the use of such methods of perfecting female population. But for the men, there was no place either in it or in any of the other institutions in the development and training. They could at best experience to be assistants to women who have completed those schools. Therefore, Ahleyn was occasionally experiencing rebellions of the male population. They were generally poorly organized and prepared, short and easily crushed. And also, because most men were sent to the battlefield, very rare in the last few years.
When she bandaged the wounds to Tenen who was asleep, showing also a great level of knowledge in that area, the owner of the boat went on with her story about Gralls.
“Yesterday I noticed numerous flocks flying from south to this region. As if those among them, who decided a few weeks ago to try their luck on the south again, has now once again been forced to return.”
These words suddenly made Dlora worried.
“What? What are you saying? That the fights started again? Are you saying that the truce was broken?” Ahlea started raising questions with visible excitement.
“I do not want to say anything. I am just telling you what I saw.”
Dlora had long feared that this would happen. Overflying birds could be no guarantee, but Dlora had previously concerned that the truce was too fragile. That is why she was building up detailed plans for a counteroffensive in the last days she spent on the battlefield. These plans now most probably failed, and the risk of eventual defeat had become quite probable. Darkest scenarios began to realize, and the only hope to establish a firm and lasting peace broke out along with statuette whose two parts were now located in pockets of Dlora’s jacket.
She was wondering what was there even left to do in those moments. They finally had means of transport for the safe return of Ahleyn and docking to the Midbay port of Prymor, but a continuation of the journey from there to the capital, under new circumstances, represented a new heavy challenge. Parts of the main road connecting two cities were in the hands of the enemy, most of the side roads were also under occupation or siege. All the improvised alternate routes that Ahleynians were forced to build where they had not been before, over the raw plains, overgrown forests, and wetlands, made traveling a lot longer and harder for all citizens.
Dlora even considered the possibility of returning to the battlefield, joining their forces, by crossing through the hostile territory. For the Ahleyn army, even the smallest help was most certainly needed in those moments. After re-entering their country and rejoining their army, they would be able to have someone carry the statue to the Queen in Blyst, together with an explanation of what happened to it. But such action she did not consider the best solution, she did not know what would have happened if the enemy would capture them two and found their sacred artifact in their possession and broken. Besides, she found it her personal duty to deliver Tarlaeth to the queen and give her all the explanation, describe details around the unfortunate events. Maybe even personally take a new mission, together with the queen and the Supreme Council of Ahlea order to find a new solution for a seemingly hopeless situation that had befallen their country.
She was silent for a few seconds, staring glumly to the southwest. Briefly thought that was real all the same what she would do next, as it was best to sit into a swamp and stay there. To feed on mosquitoes and frogs, let everything else continue to happen without her when all she ever tried to do to prevent harm was not successful. Hide from the war, like Gralls, neglect her duties, when all those top-notch training and experience did not help her to save the country and its people.
Of course, she did not really mean it. Such thoughts were exactly the break that she needed to develop a new, completely crazy and bold idea. She suddenly turned her look to the left, to the southeast.
She decided to find the exit from this hopeless situation, where anyone would least expect her to look for it.