Archives: The Golden Egg
Chapter 17: Trouble on the Backroads
After Aiden left, Talen and Lyassa were left in an awkward silence. Neither of them had spoken much to each other. Talen was more familiar with Naclia, and Lyassa was familiar with Aiden; they hadn’t interacted much with each other. So, while they didn’t speak, Talen’s mind inevitably drifted back to Naclia.
She made it obvious that she was interested in him, didn’t she? Was she waiting for him to make a move, or was she just a flirt? Or had they not arrived at that point yet? If it came down to it, how would he make his move? As Talen thought over these questions, he became aware of his company and found the silence to be increasingly awkward.
“Lyassa, would you mind if I took a walk?” he asked the priestess.
Lyassa had been staring off into the fire when Talen spoke, and she gave a start. “Oh...I don’t care,” she replied. Like Talen, she was equally at a loss for words. Though she was a little uncomfortable alone in the campsite, she felt stifled by the awkward lack of conversation.
“Alright, I’ll be back in a little while,” Talen replied, then stood and walked out of camp. Talen headed out onto the road, into the darkness, to be alone with his thoughts of Naclia.
After Talen left, Lyassa faced her discomfort alone, but as time wore on, she simple became bored. However, she couldn’t quite bring herself to fall asleep. Instead, she tended to the fire, keeping it stoked to its full potential.
It had been at least twenty minutes after Talen left when the sound of several horses coming up the road snapped Lyassa to attention. She had no time to douse the fire when several Mossian soldiers rode into camp.
“You there, are you the priestess Lyassa?” demanded one of the knights.
“I...I am...” Lyassa stammered.
“Where is the rest of your party?” the knight replied.
Lyassa realized that they may have been in trouble, so she hesitated in replying. Oh Marfa, I can’t tell them where they are! Should I lie?
“Speak up priestess,” the knight growled.
“I cannot tell you where they are,” was the response she settled on. If she couldn’t tell the truth, she couldn’t lie. All she could do was stay silent.
The knight scowled. “Take her into custody and start searching for the others. You three, confiscate their horses,” he ordered his underlings.
The horses, however, were not tied down, and Tiash had a mind of his own, as always. As the strangers approached them, the stallion reared up and whinnied sharply, sending the other horses to scatter into the forests.
Meanwhile, Lyassa sat peacefully. She couldn’t run, but she could go gracefully. The soldiers tied her hands back, then tied her to a tree temporarily. The knight leading them gave up on retrieving the horses, but he ordered his men to spread out and start searching for the rest of the party.
* * *
Talen was walking back to the campsite as he noticed a couple men on horseback riding his way. Knowing that he might very well be a fugitive, he ran off the road and hid in a patch of bushes.
“Hey, I think I saw something,” one of the soldiers said as they rode by.
“Hmm...I bet it was just a deer. I didn’t see anything,” his partner replied.
Talen breathed a sigh of relief, then waited for the men to ride by before he moved. He wouldn’t travel by road though. He had a good sense of which direction camp was, so he made his way as stealthily as possible through the forest. Soon, the firelight was able to guide his path, and he saw the silhouettes of several armored men and horses.
Though he was no ranger, Talen did his best to shift from behind tree to tree and stay out of sight. As he entered the perimeter of camp, hiding behind the broad trunk of an old pine, he realized that Lyassa was tied to it. The knight circled to the far side, away from the sight of the soldiers guarding her.
“Lyassa, I’m here,” he assured the priestess. “I’ll cut your ropes.”
Lyassa gave a start at Talen’s voice. “No,” she whispered back. “Let them take me. If you free me, they’ll only chase after you. I’ll be fine, I can get the temple to help me out.”
Talen paused with his dagger at the rope. “Lyassa... I can’t just leave you behind,” Talen protested in a whisper.
“Do it,” Lyassa insisted. “Our mission for Mycen is too important to risk on me. The elves...they need you. Just go!”
Reluctantly, Talen sheathed his dagger. “Dammit...” he cursed. His sense of duty to his comrades was strong, but now it was at odds with his sense of duty to his leader. Lyassa would be safe...right? “Alright... Good luck,” he said, then reached out and put his hand on the priestess’s shoulder. “Farewell.”
With that, Talen moved back in to the forest, moving behind trees until he finally made it far enough out of the firelight. After that, the knight trudged blindly into the forest.
* * *
Talen wandered what seemed to be a straight line from the camp. He couldn’t be sure exactly where he was going, but he knew he couldn’t go back. The soldiers were probably still there, waiting for them. Hopefully Aiden or Rylan wouldn’t return, but Talen couldn’t send them a message to warn them. He feared getting lost, but what other option did he have? The soldiers were scouring the roads for them.
As the knight walked, he heard a snort and a wicker, and looking off into the woods in the direction the nose came from, he gave a start at the silhouetted equine figures among the trees. Apparently, the horses had regrouped on their own. Talen couldn’t believe his luck, but they had done something like this before, when Mycen landed. He chalked it up to Aiden’s horse, which seemed to be especially intelligent and a leader.
And it was indeed Tiash that had caught his attention. The leggy gray wandered up to him and Talen recognized him. “Hey there,” he said to the horse. “Are the rest here?” he asked and put his hand on Tiash’s neck. The horse turned about and led Talen back to the other shadowy figures, and soon he was able to make out the white star on the forehead of his warhorse mare.
“Seinna,” he spoke softly. His mount, recognizing her master’s voice, plodded over to him and sniffed him. After a gentle pat, he made his way to her side and swung himself back up into the saddle. It turned out to be a good thing that he had neglected to unsaddle her.
Now if he rode out on her, hopefully the rest would follow. Glancing over his shoulder, he cued Seinna to move. Tiash began to follow, and a few strides later, as the rest of the herd realized their leader was leaving, they followed as well. Thank Falis for that elf’s horse, Talen thought.
Talen continued riding onward, though he didn’t really know where he was going. The herd of horses would give away his position, potentially, but he would be able to see and hear the soldiers coming from a mile away in the quiet and dark of night.
The knight eventually crossed paths with one of the back roads. Hesitantly, he began to ride along, casting a wary glance over his shoulder to see if there was a light coming from behind him. As he reached a fork in the road, something glistened up ahead, and he soon recognized it as a crystalline formation of ice. One of Rylan’s markers.
He could possibly track Rylan, if there were no horse tracks to confuse him. Hoping off Seinna’s back, Talen turned down one of the forks and crouched down over the road to look for tracks. Sure enough, there was an unshod hoof print that had to be the centaur. Talen returned to his horse and rode on after Rylan.
Rylan had been tracking the path for a while now, unaware that anything was amiss back at camp. Hearing a rider in the distance he nocked an arrow, and stepped back into the forest. Silently waiting, he was hoping they were not a threat.
Talen came into view of Rylan, seeing the centaur had an arrow at the ready. “It’s just me!” Talen hissed. “Put the arrow down, Rylan!”
Rylan lowered his bow and put the arrow away. Looking to Talen he relaxed a little and looked around. “What are you doing here? I thought you were staying back at camp with Lyassa.” From what he remembered Talen and Lyassa were watching the camp for them, but now Talen had followed his markers without her.
Talen rode up to the centaur. A few paces behind him, the other horses followed of their own accord—or at least Tiash’s accord. “Soldiers came into the camp,” Talen started. “They arrested Lyassa, but I was able to get away. She’s sacrificed herself for us, and I don’t think she’s going to talk. At least I hope they won’t make her... There are scouts searching the road as we speak. We need to find Aiden and Kima, can you summon Sylph to deliver a message like before?”
Hearing this, Rylan looked a little worried in his own way for their safety in this situation. Since they were being targeted, he had to tread lightly and try to cover their tracks. “Of course I can. After that, should we continue down this trail,” he replied, and then summoned Sylph to deliver a message to his companions.
‘Aiden, can you and Kima meet up with us along one of our search routes? Lyassa has been arrested by soldiers and they have scouts searching the road, be careful. Talen is with me,’ was the content of the message sent. He thanked Sylph afterwards, and then watched as the messenger went to deliver the message.
“I think we should probably call off the search for tonight and find a place to lay low,” Talen suggested, casting a suspicious glance back down the road he came from.
Rylan knew Talen was right, though they would have to find one well off the road in the brush. “Then let’s do so. I only hope Lyassa can hold her own until we can get her back. Do you want me to find us a spot? I think if we go further ahead we might find one.”
Talen nodded to the ranger. “We need to hide all these horses too,” he said. “You know, Aiden’s horse is pretty smart. He rounded up all the others and they’ve been following me on their own. It is a little...creepy...”
Rylan laughed at how smart Aiden’s horse was, it was rather interesting indeed. “He’s got one exceptional animal, they obviously were brought up exceptionally well to be able to lead like that,” he spoke, complimenting Tiash on his ability with his own kind. “I’ll find some place to hide all of us. I’m even harder to hide than a horse.”
“Yes, of course,” Talen replied. “We should hurry.” The knight cast another cautious glance over his shoulder to make sure there was no approaching torch light.
After finding a suitable spot, Rylan could finally rest easy. The spot could even hide him well. “There, we should be safe here until they’re gone. I’ll take first watch once everyone is here. Any idea what to do next?” he spoke once he made sure they were safe. This was for Mycen and he would not break his word to the great dragon.
After Rylan found them a spot, Talen dismounted Seinna and let his warhorse rejoin the rest of the impromptu herd. The knight pulled his cloak tight around his body and threw up his hood. It was getting cold, and they couldn’t light a fire for risk of being found. Talen was having a hard time seeing, despite how well adjusted his vision was to the dark now.
* * *
In the middle of his search with Kima, Sylph came to Aiden’s rescue carrying Rylan’s voice, ‘Aiden, can you and Kima meet up with us along one of our search routes? Lyassa has been arrested by soldiers and they have scouts searching the road, be careful. Talen is with me.’
Aiden cursed in elven at this message. Lyassa...dammit...I should have had you and Talen come with us... “Thank you Sylph. Please lead me back to Rylan,” Aiden spoke to the spirit. “Come on Kima, we have to go!”
Kima scampered back to Aiden after she heard him call for her. She crooned lightly to announce her presence beside him, but left it at that. “Go!?” She squeaked.
Aiden nodded to Kima, and with the girl following at his side, he followed the lead of the waiting Sylph spirit.
* * *
After a long walk through the dark forests, Aiden had seen some signs of people in the distance, but no where near him and Kima. Eventually, the spirit finally brought him to where the centaur and knight waited, and Aiden released Sylph from her duties. “What happened?” he asked Talen.
“I’m not entirely sure, but it seems like the duke has sent the soldiers after us for leaving,” Talen replied. He hoped they hadn’t punished his family, but he doubted it. “I stepped out of camp for a bit, and while I was walking back, I heard horsemen coming up the road, so I ducked into the woods. They looked like soldiers, so I assumed the worst, then headed back to the camp to check on Lyassa. When I got there, she was tied to a tree. I tried to cut her free while they were distracted, but she insisted that she sacrifice herself so we could continue on our mission,” the knight explained. “The soldiers are looking for the rest of us now.” I hope Naclia is safe in town too...
Aiden listened to Talen recount the events, and felt a pang of regret for the loss of Lyassa. He knew Talen would have taken her if he could, but this was for the best. If she had disappeared, it might have only drawn more scrutiny, and Talen could have ended up captured along with her. “It’s a shame,” he said sadly. “We should lay low for now and wait till morning when Naclia and Eliamn return...I hope. I don’t think I can send a message this far by Sylph to warn them.”
Talen’s concerns for Naclia only worsened at that. “What if they don’t come back tomorrow morning?” he asked.
“Then I think we’re going to have to organize a jail break...” Aiden said. “It’s not worth it to go after one person. Lyassa will likely get help from her temple, but if Naclia and Eliamn were arrested, I don’t think the three—excuse me, four,” he added, looking to Kima. “—could handle this mission. Not to mention, they may have some valuable information now.”
Rylan looked at Aiden like he was hesitant to go into the city if they did organize a jailbreak. He felt uncomfortable and nervous there, but knew that it could not be avoided then. He had no better ideas himself though, and sighed as he reluctantly agreed if they had to. “Of course I will help if that is the case. Though I have no desire to enter the city outside of helping the others.”
