The dry winds of the Edran desert skimmed along the warming surface picking up bits of sandy earth like tiny earthen spirits at play depositing the glittering bits onto Dalmar's face. Jarred from his restful slumber, Dalmar rapidly awoke to find several large black and red ants crawling about his person. His arms and legs were on fire as the tiny stingers raised burning welts upon his body, and his stomach turned sour with the toxin coursing through his dehydrated body. Dalmar jumped to his feet in a fit of surprise, and began rubbing his body and clothes down to rid himself of the tiny invaders. Furiously running his hands through his hair and along his body, he shouted to his friend who was just a few feet and out of range of the sortie of black and red attackers. "Sa'Vahn!" Dalmar shouted as his head wobbled on its shoulders from the poison of the ants. "Get up!" he said as he lightly kicked his partner, quickly rubbing the tiny bodies of the furry little insects from himself. Sa'Vahn stirred, at first slowly but then with agitated vigor, as Dalmar kicked him once again.
"I'm up! I'm up, damnit! What? What he hell do you want?!" Sa'Vahn bellowed as he rolled over to meet Dalmar's gaze.
"Ants! They're everywhere!" Dalmar said loudly as he pointed to the small advancing army of critters heading in Sa'Vahn's direction. Sa'Vahn's eyes grew wider as he backed himself away from the front line of the winding raiding party in the sandy earth. Quickly, Sa'Vahn stood up and grabbed his jugs of water and took a drink to start the day. Spotty red marks covered Dalmar's arms and neck where the ants had bit him over and over. Sa'Vahn looked at his surroundings inquisitively, squinting in the early morning sun as he reacquired his sense of direction. The burning nodules about Dalmar's person were constant reminders of the desert's lack of mercy, and he grabbed his own jugs of water and took drink. The water was refreshing and calmed him slightly as he looked at the bites along his arms and felt of his neck.
Together, the two men walked back to the desert path etched through the hard ground by the years of travelers and headed towards the mountains once again. Dalmar's steps were heavy as his vision slowly came back to normal throughout the day, and his stomach eventually quieted as his mind thought of food. Conversation between he and Sa'Vahn was sparse most of the day when the desert sand began to give way to spotty patches of greenery encroaching from the edge of the mountains. The air became cooler as the water of the mist that hung in the interior valleys blew onto the edge of the desert. They had made it through the desert, and each of them smiled at one another through squinty eyes drenched with the salty sweat of their brows. Sa'Vahn looked at Dalmar's wretched posture and his red face, and chuckled. Sa'Vahn's feet touched grass for the first time in years, and he bent down to feel of its supple exterior for the first time in fifteen years. Sa'Vahn smiled and turned towards Dalmar. He looked at Dalmar who had taken the pause to stoop down upon one knee and rest easy. Dalmar looked up the side of the mountain as he took a deep, long drink of his water and wiped the tiny droplets that saturated his upper lip. "How ya' doin' there, Dalmar? You look kind of peaked." Dalmar had felt queazy all throughout their day's journey, but he knew that he couldn't let that stop their progress or slow them down. Had his stomach not been easy, its contents would have littered the roadway that now broke through the mountain pass before them.
"It'll pass." Dalmar said as he took a deep breath and stood before his comrade. He gave a wry smile to Sa'Vahn who returned the gesture. "Let's do this." Dalmar said smartly as he gestured to Sa'Vahn to lead the way into the cooler area of the mountain pass. The round mountains rose to either side with a welcomed sight of greenery interrupted only by jagged black outcroppings of stone. As the environment changed, the two wanderers took notice of the occasional signs of the denizens that scurried through the grass and along the tiny blooms that dotted the sides of the mountains in the clover. The air was cool and they tasted fresh irony moisture, and soon Sa'Vahn and Dalmar spotted a small body of water that had collected from the runoff higher in the small mountain range. Diverting their paths, they quickly found themselves at the water's edge where tiny rodents and two deer scattered at the sight of the intruding men. Dalmar stood at the shallow water's edge and bent down on his hands and knees to drink, noticing the clear stillness that reflected the top of the looming mountains above. As the weight of his body shifted, Dalmar allowed his body to continue its motion and he gently fell headfirst into the cool water sending an exhilaration of relief from every bite mark on his body. The brisk rush surged through his body as he floated to the surface, and he turned on to his back looking at his friend. Sa'Vahn, with arms akimbo, shook his head at his friend and chuckled.
"Well, good to see you are feeling better, friend" Sa'Vahn said to Dalmar. Sa'Vahn removed the vest that once adorned Dalmar's body and slid into the water as well, feeling the fantastic relief that might as well have been a distant dream just two days before. Each of them laughed as children playing in the cool waters that reinvigorated their spirits and minds as they floated in the shallow water. Underneath their bodies swam tiny schools of fish that rapidly changed direction with the occasional splash of water. Dalmar looked at the sky through the thin mist that hung in the air, and noticed that the day was growing shorter. Soon, the moon would appear and the sun would disappear. Dalmar and Sa'Vahn climbed out of the water, sated and full of energy they had not felt in days, and walked back down the side of the mountain to the pass where they passed just an hour before. Their senses recharged, Dalmar's nose twitched as the aroma of wood burning crossed his nostrils, and he paused to look around him. The dying day began to loosen its hold on the mist that had surrounded them in this place, and the air became clearer as dusk began to appear over the mountaintops. Suddenly, a plume of smoke became apparent and his heart leaped for the signs of civilization. Easily mistaken as remaining mist, Dalmar pointed to the plume hanging along the mountainside in the distance of the path.
"Look there" Dalmar said. "There's some smoke in that direction" he continued as he showed the soft billows along the roadway in the distance to Sa'Vahn. Sa'Vahn nodded and smiled.
"Aye, with the grace of the gods, we shall be at her doorstep within the hour. Good eye, Dalmar. Let's keep a sharp eye out as we approach 'er, though. We've already seen one set of sashes on this journey." Sa'Vahn nodded to Dalmar as he stepped along the pathway, keeping close eye on the side of the mountains before them. Dalmar nodded in agreement as he followed a step or two behind his guide. As Sa'Vahn had noted, they were soon in sight of a large stone building where three carts stood outside surrounded by animal pens and a barn. The aroma of stewing meats filled the air, and the calls of sheep and goats soon echoed through the countryside. As they neared the settlement, Sa'Vahn pointed out large barrels covering the front porch of the home and the barn to which Dalmar, in return, acknowledged. "Looks to be some sort of trading post, Dalmar. Perhaps some sort of station between the arena and Altendon. Careful. Why don't we make a wide gait around this place?" Sa'Vahn took upon a nervous posture as he turned to walk around the homestead.
"Good idea" Dalmar said as he followed Sa'Vahn around the side of the homestead, stepping lightly and staying in the darkness between the lights emanating from the windows. The two men lowered their stance as they gazed in through the window careful not to let the light of the lamps inside strike their faces. The full girth of the home became apparent as the two men circled the home, and now it was apparent that the stone building was twice the size of a large house extending behind the front of it. Several other windows were set into the walls of the rooms in the back of the house, and its solid construction bore the weight of a second level on top the rear of the home that rested against the side of the mountain overhead. Dalmar and Sa'Vahn immediately knew that this was not the home of a simple family, but rather a place for people to come and stay. Looking into the main window on the side of the building, their eyes glanced over the inside of what appeared to be building not unlike that of an inn. The post, however, seemed to be fitted as an inn, but served a secondary purpose as well as storage for various barrels and crates littering the walls furthest away from the two spies. Sitting at several benches were about eight men, each wearing red sashes. Dalmar shivered, and looked at Sa'Vahn. Sa'vahn's face clenched his lips together in disagreement, and soon lead Dalmar away from the window into a dark, shadowy recess at the mountains edge.
"I don't like the looks of this, Dalmar. There's too many of them." Sa'Vahn peered into the sky finding the moon as it hung like a pearl in the heavens.
"Well, we can't very well pass up this opportunity. Who knows how far it is back to Altendon?" Dalmar added.
"Whatever we do, it should be done later. As soon as they all bed down for the night, we'll have our best chances at pulling off anything we decide." Sa'Vahn noted. "We can't wait too long, though, because someone else is likely to be coming this way from either Altendon or the desert." Sa'Vahn scratched the back of his head for a moment while he thought deeply about the situation that he and Dalmar had found themselves.
"When they go to sleep, I've no doubt that we'll have plenty of opportunity to get inside..." Dalmar said.
"Yes, that's true." Sa'Vahn replied.
"Most of them, if not all of them, will be in the back of the place, right?" Dalmar asked as his eyes darted about the frame of the building. Sa'Vahn nodded and lowered his eyes in confusion.
"Yeah?" queried Sa'Vahn.
"Well, first off, we need to get a clear picture of the entire outside of this building." Dalmar exclaimed as the wheels of his thought process began to turn. "With the mountain budding up against the rear here, it's unlikely there's a back door which means...."
"There's only one exit!" Sa'Vahn chimed in with Dalmar. "Ok then, on the other side, we know there's a pen full of goats, so there's no doorway there. The mountain blocks the back. Obviously, there's no door right here. That leaves one exit: the front of the building." Sa'Vahn smiled as the logic of their predicament revealed itself.
"Ok, but what's the best way to use that to our advantage? We can burn it down with them inside." Dalmar said, thinking hard about their options.
"We can't burn it down. If we do that, then we burn everything else, too. We need those things to get back to Altendon. Also, the smoke will likely draw attention from anyone on the roadway." Sa'Vahn said as Dalmar nodded.
"True." Dalmar responded in agreement. "Are we sure everyone inside is with the Crimson Reign? After all, surely we don't intend to steal from someone whose just trying to make a living, right?" Dalmar asked of Sa'Vahn.
"I saw no others. Just those bastards wearing the red sashes." Sa'Vahn noted.
"In that case, we can sneak in as thieves and take what we need, or we can sneak in and deal with them as assassins." Dalmar's face drifted into a thoughtful appearance as his slight disagreement with each idea invaded his mind. Dalmar had never agreed nor respected the cowardice with which assassins and thieves operated. Having been ambushed by drunks and ruffians in his hometown of Wahskre before, he was not about to become as they. Sa'Vahn took notice of Dalmar's apparent feelings, but he also knew he had sworn loyalty to Polias and his cause.
"There's another way. If we had a well-timed diversion, we might be able to handle eight men...or maybe less if things worked out in some way." Sa'vahn's eyes scanned the mountain above the stone building, but found no answer in the terrain. The two men sat in the darkness of the mountain's shadows, and contemplated in silence. The sounds of the revelry inside caused each of their empty bellies to churn with want and the desire for what they had not known for some time. Sa'Vahn and Dalmar became impatient and each seethed with the frustration of the situation before them.
"You know, Sa'Vahn..." Dalmar began. "...Some of them may leave in the morning, too. If we take that chance, we can let them leave and then the remainder shouldn't be too bad to handle." Dalmar said as his eyes lit with a little bit of the inner workings of his mind once again. "If we slip by and go a bit up the road a ways, we can sit there for the night. Should another cart come our way, we can grab the stuff in that cart. If not, then we can come back in the morning when the other men have left and finish the job here." Dalmar smiled and placed his hand on Sa'Vahn's shoulder.
"Dalmar..." Sa'Vahn said. "That's actually not a terrible idea. If it doesn't work, then we are no worse off than when we started. I can go along with that." Sa'Vahn smiled as he patted Dalmar on the back. Sa'Vahn liked simple plans, and currently the situation called for the simplest and easiest plan possible as they were alone in the world. He also knew that his friends and comrades were miles away, and many of them likely didn't know he was alive. Dalmar's plan was just what they needed, and each of them looked forward to an easy night. "Ok, Dalmar, let's try to make it to the other side and up the road a bit." The two men rose quietly in the darkness, and stepped back out to the edge of the roadway. They kept their eyes on the stone building, edging ever slowly around the front of the station in the mountains. Their hearts beat faster and faster as their feet moved quicker and quicker at the approaching shadow of the building on the other side. But nobody entered or exited the building. Only the sounds of the singing men inside, and the occasional sounds of goats and sheep broke the still of the night air in the mountains. The two men walked for a while longer until the moon was about half its width higher in the sky, and the two hungry wanderers walked up the side of the mountain. The air was cool, and Dalmar shivered as his body had grown out of touch with this environment quickly having been stranded in the desert for two days. Sa'Vahn curled up beside a large boulder standing upright overlooking the pathway below. Finding themselves much more tired than they had previously realized, soon each of the two men were sound asleep on the side of the mountain hidden in the shadows of the boulder and lost in the dreams of vanquishing their enemies.
The next morning, the sky grumbled loudly as the flicker of lightning crossed the morning sky. The air became far more dense than Dalmar and Sa'Vahn had previously experienced the day before. The sky was dark with the gloomy thunderhead moving overhead, and the pitter-patter of raindrops upon their bodies quickly awoke them from their sleep. Sa'Vahn shivered and rubbed his hands together as the rain eventually caused his blood to flow like ice through his veins. Dalmar, too, noticed the frigidity of the Edran morning in the mountains, and he patted his arms in response as steam blew from his breath. Each of the men stood up from behind their enclave and peered down along the roadway below. To the east they saw no travelers, but to the west and south they smelled the familiar aroma of wood-burning fireplaces. They knew that this attractive smell was the signs that the men in the stone structure they saw last night had stirred. Slowly, Dalmar and Sa'Vahn walked down the mountainside and entered the roadway, careful not to attract too much attention from unforeseen pairs of eyes. Slowly, they walked along the road keeping their eyes sharp and their minds focused as they came around the base of a small mountain where the ranch sat. Slowly they crept around the circumference of the rounded base, until their eyes fell upon the area in front of the home. It was, indeed, as Dalmar had proposed. Only one cart remained as fresh tracks left off in the direction of the desert. Sa'Vahn turned to Dalmar and smiled. "By the gods, luck smiles on us once again, Dalmar!" Sa'Vahn said as he muffled an excited chuckle. Dalmar smiled and sighed with relief as he took a moment to peer at the scene. Indeed, it was as Sa'Vahn had reported.
As Dalmar and Sa'Vahn neared the large building, they began to see what they identified as a proprietor of the establishment. A large, round woman stood among the goats tossing scraps from last night's dinner on to the ground. Her drenched cotton bonnet dropped over the face as she spun around throwing pieces of meat and vegetables onto the earth, and the hem of dress was brown from dragging the wet ground as she fed her animals. Sa'Vahn and Dalmar stopped as they looked for signs of other men, but saw no distinct signs. Waiting for the woman to finish and enter into the building, the two stealthy, rain-soaked warriors slithered around the front of the building as they had once before to look into the side window once again. This time, Sa'Vahn and Dalmar witnessed three men and the woman. Dalmar and Sa'Vahn looked at each other smiling. The time was right. Everything had worked out as they had hoped.
Dalmar and Sa'Vahn moved around the front of the building, looking once again to see any signs of unseen men wandering about, but found no such designations. Dalmar stepped onto the porch with a screech as one of the boards bent under his weight. He paused. Sa'Vahn paused, too. But nobody came to investigate the untimely sound. Dalmar wasn't sure if he should knock on the door to throw off suspicion or simply barge in through the door swinging his words about. Choosing the indirect route, Dalmar rose his hand and pulled his fist back to rap on the face of the door. Dalmar took a deep breath allowing time to slow down once again as his knuckles sliced through the air. At that moment, the front door opened as the metallic ring of Sa'Vahn's blade was heard unsheathing itself. Dalmar, for a moment, saw his advancing fist but was powerless to stop its forward motion. Standing in the open doorway was a large man with a black beard who was as surprised as Dalmar to see the other in front of him. The man stumbled as he tried to get out of the way of Dalmar's fist. Connecting with the man's forehead with a clap against his skull, Dalmar's fist smacked the man square between the eyes. The stumbling man fell to the floor as Dalmar unsheathed his sword catching the man unawares. The man's eyes closed suddenly as his rear hit the wooden floor and Dalmar's blade split his ribs into the heart of the man wearing the red sash. Sa'Vahn burst through the door beside Dalmar on one knee as he thrust the tip of his own blade into the belly of another man, spilling his intestines out on the ground like a spilled pot of soup. Startled, Dalmar stepped to the side carelessly and found himself stumbling as he turned to see the third man vaulting over one of the benches towards the attackers. The woman, too, ducked behind a large stack of crates in the corner screaming as she hid herself from her attackers. Sa'Vahn's eyes lifted in the direction of the flying man holding his weapon with two hands to skewer him. With a loud crash, Dalmar finally fell from his ill step and landed on a small table that shattered into pieces under his weight. As the man advanced at Sa'Vahn through the air like a ferocious lion pouncing upon a gazelle, Sa'Vahn tugged at his blade stuck through the disemboweled man before him, but the weight of the dead man pinned his blade to the ground. Instinctively, Sa'Vahn tried to raise the blade to counter the flying man's strike, but the blade would not budge as the man landed with a solid thrust into Sa'Vahn's body. Dalmar let out an angry yell as he was powerless to stop the joust of the red-sashed assailant. Sa'Vahn burped a stream of red, warm blood into the air that arched across the room like the path of a boy's bouncing ball. The man's blade struck Sa'Vahn in the shoulder, slicing through bone and sinew as it came out of his arm and into his ribs to rest mere inches from his heart. The two men tumbled to the floor, Sa'Vahn's bloody body limp from the impaling. The crash of the two bodies cracked the doorway as Sa'Vahn's face gurgled with the ochre that spewed from his wounds and mouth. Dalmar swung his legs around as he made a mighty, uncontrolled stroke through the air. The massive strike struck Sa'Vahn's killer in the back, severing his top from his bottom. The dead man's corpse spewed a filth of lifeless meat and innards about the floor as Dalmar's feet slid on the wooden boards in attempt to raise his body from the ground. Dalmar raced about the floor on his hands and knees, grabbing the dead man's torso and tossing it aside with his legs. Dalmar grabbed Sa'Vahn's body and cradled it in his arms, looking into his lifeless eyes and wiping the bloody mess from his face.
"Godammit! Why?!" Dalmar screamed. His eyes dripped with the tears for the man with whom he escaped the desert. This was the man with a greater cause than even Dalmar. He stood for something. Dalmar admired this now lifeless corpse. Dalmar's mind flashed back to the arena cell block. Dalmar remembered Sa'Vahn's smile, and he roared at the death of this man. For fifteen years, he thought, this man endured countless and unmentionable acts, and for what? Did he endure all that just to die at the hands of a thug in the mountains? Sa'Vahn had a message that wouldn't be delivered. He had the key to begin the end of a series of events that would free the people of Altendon from the looming treachery and deceit within its walls. Now, that was gone along with his message. Dalmar shook his friend as he pounded the ground with his fist. He turned his head to the woman cowering in the corner as she peered over the top of the crates at Dalmar in his emotional rampage. Dalmar wiped his face with a bloody hand, drowning his expression in the war paint made from his friend's life. He rose, his eyebrows lowered and gritting his teeth. Scrambling, the woman cried out to her would-be assailant.
"No! Don't! Don't kill me!" The woman cried as she covered her face with her hands. Dalmar was suddenly hit with the thoughts of mercy. No, he would not act out his anger upon this poor, hapless woman. He would not burn her home to the ground. He would not kill all her animals. He would do nothing to her. It was painfully clear that this woman was but a mere victim of circumstance. Dalmar changed his expression to one of a less demonic appearance. Dalmar made a long, drifting sigh.
"No, I will not kill you, woman. It's not your fault." Dalmar cleared his throat of the grief that coursed through his veins and heart. "Whose cart is that outside, woman?" Dalmar barked at her.
"Take it! It's your's! Just...please...don't hurt me!" The woman edged her way across the floor on her rear towards a door that lead into the back portion of the home that Sa'Vahn and Dalmar had noticed the night before. Dalmar turned and picked the body of his friend up and walked outside, placing the corpse into the cart. He took his bloody hand and covered the Eagle of Illdriss with a smear of blood until it was indistinguishable. Dalmar returned to the inside of the building to find the woman gone - locked behind the door leading to the back of the home. One by one, Dalmar grabbed a crate or a barrel and filled his cart. Careful not to forget the water, Dalmar jumped onto the cart and snapped the reins against the back of the horses with a loud 'Crack!' as the cart began to move away from the bloodstained front door of dead men. Dalmar did not turn to look again. He did not mutter a sound. He seethed. He seethed with anger like a volcano before it belches out a mighty lava flow, bursting with steam and noxious gas into the sky. But he did not erupt. He would get his chance. He still had the name, 'Sarat'. He may be helping Polias, but soon both leaders would know his name. This promise Dalmar made to himself and to Sa'Vahn as he wiped the last tear from his eye. "All right, Sa'Vahn, one way or another, you're coming with me back to your home, buddy" he said as his cart traveled between the two mountains, into the rain soaked valley of the Edran morning. Once again, the mists enveloped the two wanderers, and guided them back home.
Invino Veritas
11/24/11
EOF (Happy Thanksgiving!)
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