Draka

The next morning I got as close as I dared to the city. The last few kilometres before the city were all fields and pastures, and I didn't want to leave the cover of the trees. I was waiting for a particular type of group, and after waiting for two or three hours and following several groups I found a likely target. There were three of them. Two women who stuck out for being the first truly dark-skinned people I’d seen, probably sisters by how alike they looked, and a man with his head shaved. One of the women was half a head taller than him, while he was a head taller than the other. They were all armed and wearing leather armour, each with a sizable pack on their back. The short woman had a spear in her hand, the taller one an unstrung bow, and the man had a shield strapped to his pack. They all had swords and daggers among the various bags and pouches on their belts. Textbook adventurers, I figured.

Three was perfect. A lone adventurer or a pair of them were unlikely to be on an interesting job, and a larger group would be too much of a threat to me if things went sour. But the deciding factor was the vibe I got from them. These three put on a brave face, but they had a smell of desperation about them, and their equipment looked old and worn. That should make them more likely to take a job that they couldn't handle and, sure enough, the main topic of conversation was whether this was a good idea and how much they needed the money. They were tight-lipped about what the job actually was. I guessed that the risk made them anxious enough to not want to talk about it, and that was understandable but also annoying. If they were this scared the job must be really hard, and if that was the case I would have liked to know something about what we were walking into.

I'd been following them north for a couple of hours when they stopped to rest. There was no discussion beforehand. The man simply pointed into the forest and said, "Here. A good spot. Looks nice." He looked to the shorter of the two women, who followed his hand.

"Yeah, good find," she said, and the group left the road, entering the trees on the opposite side from me.

Since I had to be careful not to be seen I backtracked a bit, made sure no one was coming, and then rushed across the road. When I got close to the group again they were set up in a small sunny glade, still in sight of the road. I settled in to watch and listen, keeping low and quiet. They had their packs off and were eating from wrapped bundles of food. At first they ate in silence, but they soon returned to the same running conversation they'd been having since I spotted them.

"Are you sure that there were no safer jobs?" the taller woman asked. She seemed to be the most cautious member of the group and was the one I had to be most careful not to be spotted by. She got the same answer as always.

"Not that paid enough, quick enough. Not for sure. It has to be this," said the shorter woman. I thought of her as the leader. She looked and sounded like she was the older of the sisters, and her two companions deferred to her.

“One job, sure, but–” the younger sister interjected, but her male companion cut her off.

“Makanna is right,” he said, clearly tired of the argument. “One hundred and twenty Eagles are needed, three nights hence. Other jobs were offered. They paid little, or were far away. Or,” he raised his hand to forestall the younger sister, who had begun to argue back, “they paid only per head. Too risky. These gremlins are sure. We reach the mine tonight. Tomorrow we do the job. Overmorrow we receive two hundred Eagles, and pay Tamor’s jailors. The fine is paid, Tamor has his licence, and he is free.”

“But the risk–” the younger woman cut in.

“The risk is acceptable. I will die before Tam is sent away. If you will not, turn back,” the man said. There was no anger in his words, but they were final. He would not be swayed.

“Mak?” The young woman – and she was young. Still a teenager – turned to her sister. She looked small and miserable, and the name was spoken like a plea for support and understanding.

The older sister, Makanna, looked away. Her expression was just as grim and determined as that of their male companion. “If we don’t pay on time we’ll never see Tam again.” The group was silent for a time, and Makanna looked at her sister. “I’m with Val. You asked to come, but if you truly don’t think that you can do this, go back to Karakan. Nobody will blame you. I know this is a big step up from the other jobs you’ve helped out on, but–”

“No!” the younger sister exclaimed indignantly, standing up from the log she’d been sitting on. Scraps of food hit the forest floor as the cloth in her lap fell. “Tam is my brother too! I’m not leaving you two to get killed only to see him shipped off to gods know where!”

“I know you won’t,” Makanna said, reaching out for her sister’s hand and pulling her down next to her. She put her arm around her sister’s waist and pulled her in close for a while, then spoke. “Time to go. We want to be at the mine before it gets dark.”

The others agreed. They packed up, and got back on the road. Soon they turned onto another well-made road that led towards the mountains, which made sense. They had been talking about a mine, and that seemed like the place to find one. Most of the conversation was clearly aimed at keeping the younger sister’s courage up. They talked about happy memories, jobs that had gone well and things like that, and I got their general story. The two women were indeed sisters. They stood out in that they were noticeably darker than anyone else I’d seen and had straight hair, waist long on the older sister and shoulder length on the younger, where most people were wavy or curly. I had already gotten the older sister’s name, Makanna, and I heard the man call the younger one Herald. As in, the literal word in their language for ‘herald’. I wasn’t sure if that was her name or a title, but neither of her party members called her by any other name that I heard. The sisters had a middle brother named Tamor, who was in trouble with the law for doing something without a licence, and they needed to bail him out before he got “shipped off.” By how they talked about that, being shipped off was a terrible thing, thus their desperation for money.

The man was called Val, which sounded like a nickname. Val had a serious, vaguely handsome face. Perhaps his jaw was a little too square. I didn’t see him smile much, even compared to the sisters. Otherwise he was of average height, with a shaved head and big shoulders. He, Makanna and Tamor had apparently been an established group for a few years, with Herald joining for a few easier, safer jobs in the last year or so. While they all seemed to get along well I got the impression that Val’s real connection to the group was Tamor. I couldn’t tell if they were a thing, but Val at least was clearly smitten with the other man. I didn’t know if same-sex relationships were generally accepted or not, but the sisters were clearly aware of Val’s feelings and didn’t seem at all uncomfortable, so that was nice.

By late afternoon I was invested and rooting for them. I also felt like a creep again, following them and listening to what was supposed to be a private conversation, but I had a plan to stick to and there really wasn’t much else to do. I got a lot of practice sneaking through the forest, but other than that it was a choice between creeping on them or being bored. There were supposed to be bandits and monsters in the forest, and I kept alert for any sign of those, but as far as I could tell there wasn’t anything threatening around. I smelled some animals, but couldn’t tell what they were, and sometimes a rabbit or other small critter would burst out of a bush and run away from me. That was it. A nice, long walk through the forest with my unwitting friends. The most excitement I got was when they passed through a sizable village. They didn’t even slow down, but I had to find a way around without being seen, dodge a few villagers who were out cutting wood, and then sprint like hell to catch back up with the group. Trying to find an optimal mix of speed and stealth when running on all fours was educational, but it was not by any means easy.

I did at least get a lot of time to think about my surroundings. Everything was… wrong. It didn’t match up. I’d seen rabbits, foxes, boar, deer, squirrels, and other animals that belonged in Europe or America, and a lot of birds that I didn’t recognise. But the trees were more like what I’d expect back in Australia. They weren’t quite right, and most of them were too tall, but a lot of them were close enough to the gums, pines, and figs that I knew that if I didn’t look too close they might have fooled me.

As we made our way west towards the mountains the road began a slow, winding climb. The vegetation changed, with most of the leafy trees disappearing and being replaced with pines and other conifers. The ground between the trees also became steadily more open, making sneaking considerably harder. Instead of moving slowly along at a distance, with the line of sight being broken by bushes, fallen trees and other obstacles, I now had to rush from cover to cover. At the same time the adventurers seemed a little less alert, either from fatigue or because there were fewer places for danger to hide. I kept my distance and chose my moments to move, and as far I could tell they didn’t spot me.

The shadows were long when the road ended at a gently sloping plateau, a few hundred metres out from a cliff face. Makanna stopped the group and took out a piece of folded paper. She consulted it for a while, then pointed in a direction and continued. I had been staying too far back to be able to hear what they said, but there was a spring in Makanna’s step that suggested that they had arrived at the end of a long day’s travel. I was impressed, both with them and myself. I was completely exhausted, and had barely been able to keep up at the end. All three of the adventurers looked tired, sure, but they looked like they could have gone on for hours if they had to. Even Herald, who was, like, 16 years old. I had been a climber. I could do that for a pretty long time when I wanted to. But I didn’t really hike, or run. Even if this body was better trained, or whatever, I didn’t have the mental component to just keep going, and going, and going, and that looked like a big part of adventuring. I might have to get used to it. Of course, in the air I could have covered the same distance much faster and with less effort, but since the objective was to stay hidden that was not an option.

The adventurers’ route was obvious. Old, deep ruts marked where heavy wagons had rolled, probably hundreds or thousands of them over the years. The tracks led to a group of buildings set towards the trees, and I could hear water rushing not too far away which was probably why the buildings were there instead of closer to the mine entrance. The group approached and Makanna called out, but there was no reply except an echo off the mountainside. The group stopped and conferred silently, then came to a decision. Mak hefted her spear. Val had a shield strapped to his pack which he took off and strapped to his arm, as well as a short sword with a wide blade. Herald had a short sword at her side as well, but she had also strung a short bow. As Makanna and Val moved cautiously toward the buildings, Herald hung back, guarding their pack while still being in range to support them. There was no fuss, and little talk. They looked experienced, competent, and deadly serious.

I stayed dead still in the shadow of a boulder. They were all on high alert now. I had no doubt that Herald would be able to spot me if I made a false move, and that was a distraction and a problem that none of us needed right now.

Makanna and Val approached the first building, which I guessed to be the main administrative building by its nicer style and placement. Makanna posted up to the left of the large wooden front door, spear at the ready, while Val stood in front of it. Val held up his shield, reached out, and slowly opened the door, carefully covering them both with the shield while Makanna poked her spear past him. With the door fully open they moved inside, and nothing happened for a while. Then they came out, shaking their heads to Herald, and moved on to the next building, which was the largest one. Probably a warehouse, workshop, or both. The same thing happened there, and at the next building, and the next. With all four buildings inspected and apparently found empty they gathered in front of the office. The light was almost gone now, and I carefully crept closer to hear them.

“No, not a soul,” Makanna was saying as I got close enough. “Not a single one, in any of the buildings.”

Herald looked around apprehensively. “What happened?”

“None can tell,” Val said. “No battle was had, no room ransacked. All was in order, so much as expected for a labour camp. All have left, though why, we do not know.”

“Yeah,” Makanna continued. “It’s unsettling. Papers neatly stacked on the foreman’s desk, cooking pots scrubbed and set in order. People’s stuff is still there, which makes me worried.”

“Why is that?” Herald asked.

“If they packed up and left for a good reason they’d have, well, packed up, right? They wouldn’t leave their belongings. This place looks like they tidied the place up and stepped out, and then never came back.”

“So what do we do?”

Makanna shrugged. “We keep our wits about us and we do the job. We go in, we kill or drive off the gremlins and destroy the nest, so all the shafts can open again, and we make sure that we get paid for that. We’ll keep our eyes open for any clues to what happened here. Might get a bonus for reporting what we found, if we’re lucky.”

“But this is all wrong,” Herald countered. “There were supposed to be dozens of people here, with most of the shafts still working. What if it is not just gremlins?”

There was a wind coming off the mountain, and I was downwind of them. I could actually smell the fear coming off Herald. It was sour and unpleasant, but I knew what it was from my encounters with Guy and Lahnie. Still didn’t care for it, though.

“Then we will deal with it,” said Val. “There is no time for change, and an agreement was reached. We must do this job. We will be disgraced if we do not, and Tamor will be lost.”

Even at a distance I could read the three pretty well. Herald was afraid, and she was ashamed of her reluctance to go into the mine. Val was going to get paid and help Tamor, or he was going to die trying. There was some fear there, too, but he was hiding it well. Makanna was almost as determined as Val and didn’t seem afraid for herself at all, but she was concerned for her friend, and more so for her sister. I suspected that she blamed herself for something, either for Tamor being in trouble or for Herald being with them, but that was speculation on my part.

And me, I was getting worried for them. They had known that this would be a difficult and dangerous job, but it had seemed straightforward. Now there was a weird twist to it that added uncertainty. The question for me was: should I bail? Should I fly back to my cave and try again with a different group tomorrow? That was the rational, smart thing to do. But over the day I had developed a real sympathy for this group of strangers. I had heard their fears, and their hopes for the immediate future. I knew that someone’s future rested on the success of their mission, and I wanted them to succeed, to return to Karakan in triumph and bail out their missing member. Even if I never saw them again, I wanted to know that they had a chance, at least for the next few days. So I did the dumb, emotional thing, and I stayed. While they settled into the administrative building, which apparently doubled as the foreman, or director, or whatever’s house, I found the largest, densest fir, or spruce, or whatever, and climbed it. With some effort I dug in my claws and wrapped my body and my tail around the trunk, getting as comfortable as I could and gambling on the tree hiding me. Then I went to sleep, hoping that I’d wake up if anything interesting happened.