Chương 131: Chapter 129 - The First Step Home

Astra's POV Dust drifted lazily across the road, stirred by hundreds of clawed feet and the creaking of wagon wheels and, for the first time in a while, there was no urgency to the march, no smoke on the horizon, no shouted orders, nor the din of battle. Just the steady rhythmic sounds of her battered, bruised, and hastily assembled company finally making its way home, escorted by Darian's relief battalion.

Or rather, home by way of Emerald Grove, as they were due a short detour to the town, both to deliver the men of the garrison back to their homes as well as pick up the Hostler's and the last of the refugees heading towards Emberholdt. Astra had promised them safe passage after all, and she was a woman who kept her word. They had left the scattered forests leading from the Viscount's estate behind, as well as a small force detached from Darian's men, tasked with securing the castle.

The men would remain until a detachment from the Imperial Inquisitors arrived to investigate the horrors buried beneath it. News of the former Viscount's Estate would spread regardless. Hundreds of civilians had survived, and no decree could silence that many voices, even if there was no world in which she would desire too.

Still, Darian and Captain Winterbrook had agreed not to swear the citizenry to silence, just to keep the details of the ritual, its execution, and the power it had sought to unleash, restricted to the officers and her guards who had entered the depths beneath the estate. Astra grimaced, I do not like it. She wrestled with her emotions internally as she had always believed the people deserved the truth.

Yet the reality was that if even a handful of the cult's leaders remained hidden elsewhere in the Empire, warning them now would only give them time to go to ground, disappearing amongst the masses of the capitol or fleeing for parts unknown, only to take up their grisly trade once more. The deception is temporary, she reminded herself, We mean to end the threat, not smother the embers of truth." Copper for your thoughts?"

Astra glanced over to make eye contact with Darian as he rode next to her in between two blocks of the column as the formation moved along the road through the rolling plains that preceded the approach to Whittenburg. She shook her head and sighed." Just dwelling on recent events, I am not enamored of keeping secrets even if it is in the best interest of the people." Darian smirked and arched a brow at her, " Maudlin, eh? Not a feeling I would normally associate with you.

You must have grown these past few years, and not just those gangly legs of yours." Astra scoffed, her grimace disappearing as she gave him a sly grin, " I would think before you speak dear brother. Last I checked, ' Maudlin' was not exactly in your diminutive vocabulary."" You must also have grown a little at the academy as well? That organ between your ears must have swelled from the size of one pea to a pair."

Darian barked out a laugh and held up both hands, giving her a pair of rude gestures, " I'll give you a pair, you runt." He waved to the guards to give them some room, and as they backed a few steps further away he turned towards her with a curious expression, " All right, all right, you made your point, so tell me." He leaned over in his saddle, " What really happened?"

Darian sat back and waved his hand in the air, " I heard all your reports, but I want to hear it from the source, and don't skip any of the juicy bits Astra, those are my favorite." Astra leaned back in the saddle, the padded gambeson beneath her plate armor making the perch more tolerable than it would have been in more casual clothing, and idly caressed the scales along the spinal ridge of her mount as she spoke."

To begin with, the patrol was simple, it was proceeding just like every other before it, or at least from what I had been told." She looked to the sky above as the memories spun out in her mind." We left Emberholdt by the western road, heading straight for the Spine, with the plan to leave the main caravan route at Oakridge, departing from the main road and heading into the frontier.

A little village called Shadybrook was our first stop, and from there I was insistent with Mira that we stay on the smaller paths as much as possible while we traced along the outlying villages, they would need our help most after all."" The patrol route was to continue until we reached the foothills of the spine and swept south, following the Arinel until we hit the Reach, and then cutting along the border of the forest until we reached the southern road and following it north back home."

She glanced over, " I was even thinking of taking a small detour to the coast depending on where we joined the road. I decided a nice day in town taking in the coastal breeze would be a nice reward for the troops after a couple months of battling the beasts in the Verdant Reach. At least that was the plan." Darian nodded, " Pretty straightforward. So how did it go?" Astra took a swig from the waterskin hanging from her saddle before continuing." Things were simple, easy.""

We settled a few disputes, culled more than a few beasts, the most significant event was dealing with a little bit of corruption in one of the border towns. The gate guards had started charging 'tolls'. No one was willing to get the watch captain involved since he was a drunkard… and an angry one at that." She made a dismissive gesture with one hand, " Easily solved. The mayor proved considerably more cooperative after learning the Duke's daughter intended to include his negligence in her report."

He laughed, " I would wager that would do it.": Astra smiled, " Afterwards, a few punitive measures were taken for the captain as well as the guards involved, and a couple local merchants were recruited to send regular reports to the nearest garrison with their caravans to ensure the situation would stay resolved."" And then events took a turn…" Darian arched a brow at her.

Astra glanced around and shifted in her seat, her mount drifting closer to Darian's as she lowered her voice, " According to Mira, Father had chosen the southwestern route for a reason, one she waited until we were on the road to brief me on." Stolen story; please report. He leaned in with a grin and an appreciative hum, " Aye, now that is what I am here for! So, what was the mission?" Astra gave him a long suffering look before continuing."

There had been reports of disappearances, more than just a couple of villagers eloping, or the normal runaways, leaving home without word to heed the call of adventure. There was no single reason, nor any one location, but citizens were going missing all throughout the region and when taken all together the numbers were steadily increasing over the past year or two."" So we looked."" Quietly, and never directly, but we kept our eyes and ears open.

There were a few traders that went missing, even a caravan or two, but those were attributable to the dangers of the frontier, at least from the rumors we heard." He hummed thoughtfully, " The wilds can be dangerous, I have found more than my fair share of bodies out in the outer reaches." She shook her head, " No. It was not that simple.""

This felt more subtle than that, people would leave their town or village and just never arrive in the next, even on the safer routes, or even when they were guarded, but the answers were always plausible." Astra spoke in a gruff voice, clearly imitating a man she had spoken with, "' We dropped them in town and they must've taken another ride back, we saw 'em enter the woods, but it's such a short trip are you sure they didn't get there after the guards changed?' and so on.""

We had finally caught a break in a small town called Springdale, several days into the Reach, where more than a few people had gone missing along the same stretch of road and there were rumors of a bandit camp further south along the Arinel, fairly deep into the Reach. The rumors said there might be quite a few of them, and they had been getting bold, but we had Mira with us, so what could go wrong?" Darian nodded, " Aye."

Astra's gaze darkened, " Well it turns out these 'bandits' not only had a suppression collar, but they seemed to know far more than they should, such as who to target and where she would be." She grimaced at the memory, " When I woke that night, it was to a man cutting his way into my tent. The watch had already been slain, Mira was being dragged away in chains, and the camp was burning." Darian gasped, " But how?"

He gave her a bewildered look, " Who in the abyss could have gotten the drop on Miralda of all people? And how in the name of the Ancients did they get their hands on a collar of that tier?"" There are probably only a handful or two in the capital, and if they were hard to find in Whitehaven of all places, what was one doing all the way out here?" Astra frowned, " They had a shadow mage, a newly minted third tier rogue, not enough to kill her but enough to surprise her with the opening move.

Especially since it was pointed out to me later that they had probably deduced where she was sleeping. The bastard nearly got me too. As far as the collar?" She sighed wearily, "… We'll get there, but a lot happened in between." Darian patted her shoulder in sympathy as she continued." Mira told me to run, so I did.""

Thankfully I still had my sidearm, but when I woke up that night, the shouts and the smell of smoke filling the air, it did not occur to me that I should have put on my armor first or grab my blade before I left. Something I have not done since." He nodded sagely, " A hard lesson to learn, but those are the ones that you remember." Astra nodded in agreement, " Aye, but that mistake nearly cost me my life.""

I fled down the Arinel, covering my tracks as best I was able, but it was night and all I had on was my soaked gambeson and my boots, and without knowing how many bandits were in the woods I did not want to risk magic, but my hands and feet were already beginning to go numb. So I started a fire." Darian winced. She chuckled, " Aye. A poor choice, but I was exhausted and not thinking clearly, although in the end it may have been my salvation.""

A small party found me and, after I cut down the first man with a surprise blow, I took to the trees. There was a long running battle, and if not for that tier three I would have prevailed, but he was devilishly good at covering his team mates." Her voice took on a prideful tone, " It was not enough to save them, however. After I cut down the other four and the rogue no longer had to protect them, he cut loose, and he was practically a demon in human skin.

A shame he chose the path he did, his talent with his daggers would have taken him far if he had enlisted." Astra took in a deep breath before letting out a long sigh, " … And he was talented indeed, I fought hard, but pretty soon I was exhausted and I was sure it was my final stand. My health pool depleted, mana exhaustion setting it, and I was beginning to bleed freely as my wounds reopened." Her gaze grew distant as the memories of that day filled her mind, the desperation, exhaustion, and anger.

There was some fear, but even then it was not the fear of death, though she had felt that chill breath travel down her neck. As she looked back at the moment in retrospect she was realized It was instead the fear that she had not yet given her all, and a small smile grew on her lips at the memory of the next series of events." He disarmed me and took me to the ground, even tried to monologue a bit, but I told him where he could shove it. Then the strangest thing happened…"

Darian leaned forward as he arched a brow." I spotted a shadow up in the trees."" A dirty disheveled man, covered in mud and grass stained clothing, clutching a pair of tusks, filed to a point and wrapped shoddily with leather, and as our eyes met he grinned."" The shadow plummeted out of the trees, stabbing the man over, and over, and over again. He must have stabbed the man well over a dozen times.

I do not know how long it took to deplete the health pool of a tier three, but he did not stop until the man's neck was a mess of torn flesh and he stopped moving." A slight smile crossed her face." It was the strangest thing… when I was on the brink of death, thinking about how this would be the end, all I could think of was Grandfather, and that I hoped he would have been proud of me, staying strong until the end…"

Astra snorted, " And then this beastly man practically falls from the sky, barefoot, looking like he fought a bush and lost, only to fight a tier three and win, even if just by surprise." She glanced at Darian out of the corner of her eye, " You would never believe the first thing he said to me too… I come in peace." She snorted in amusement as Darian broke out in laughter, " Aye, Peace! Covered head to toe in mud, blood, and gore like some kind of demon too.

I am pretty sure I passed out from laughter right then and there!"" Oh it took a minute, but it was definitely what put you down, I damn near thought you died!" Astra jumped and whirled in her seat, only to find that Eli had silently snuck up on them from behind jogging alongside them as they rode, wearing a large heavy looking pack and a grin. Astra blushed slightly as she swore under her breath for a moment before grinning back at him, " I swear I am going to put a bell on you!"

Elias laughed, " Gotta catch me first!" He turned to jog backwards, his uneven gait causing a clunking sound to come from his pack as he looked over at Darian and bobbled his eyebrows at him, " Oh and you should have seen her that night, she was like a warrior queen out of a fairy tale! She lost her sword, but fought on barehanded, fist to daggers! And that last line… oh man, I swear I got goosebumps!"

Eli's face split into a ferocious grin at the memory, " She was pinned to the ground, and she spat in his face and told him, ' BRING IT ON LITTLE MAN, SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!" Astra scoffed, " That is not what I said!" Elias cackled as he spun and began running up the line of mounted troops, and shouted back over his shoulder, " Close enough!" A chitter of amusement came from the ground below them as a small wyvern trotted past, a panting Tiamat joining Eli on his rounds.

Silence fell for a moment after they disappeared, Astra and Darian looking after the pair for a long moment before he finally broke the silence.

"... Your savior is a little strange." Astra sighed, "... You have absolutely no idea."