Olimpia

"Leeroy, why are you slowing?" Optio Lun asked, his voice strained with tension and weariness. Leeroy's eyes flicked to him, seeing that Optio's gaze alternated between him and farther up the gorge with a longing expression.

But Leeroy couldn't bring himself to lead the group another step up the rocky crevis, which left him in a predicament. Going back was out of the question, but going forward might be worse.

Indecision had lodged itself in his gut, and he didn't know what to do. For a while now, he felt that something had changed, but he wasn't sure if it was for good or bad.

Leeroy trusted his gut. And so did those traveling with him because Optio Lun was asking him his opinion on where to go more often than naught.

It was really weird, actually, now that he thought about it. But like in the past, he pushed it out of his head. Why would he worry what direction they were going, so long as it was the one he felt was right. Which made their current situation all the more complicated because there was no longer any certainty within him. It was a feeling that Leeroy didn't like at all.

"Stay here," Leeroy whispered before moving to and climbing up the wall of the ravine as stealthily as he could. Sure, there were a few clicks as the stone shifted under his weight, and a few pebbles fell from their previous stationary locations, but it was—

"Are you trying to be stealthy?" Asked a voice that sounded like it was in physical pain. Tilting his head to slowly look up, Leeroy's heart skipped a beat as he saw an elf — and thank the elementals, it was a normal one — crouched on his heel above him, looking down. He had no idea when the elf appeared at the edge between now and two seconds ago when he last looked. Leeroy didn't even hear the crunching of stones as he walked up, and no one else called out a warning. Only freezing in place once the elf started speaking.

"Or are you just trying to climb up here without falling to your death?" The eld asked, his head slightly cocking to the side.

His eyes were dark green and seemed to swirl in the shifting darkness his golden hair cast as it fell over his face. Leeroy might think he was a human with half his face in shadows, but his long, pointed ears poking through his hair like a pillar of stone in the center of a wheat field stopped any thought of that.

"I'm not sure if that is more demeaning for me or less," muttered the elf just loud enough for Leeroy to hear as emotions flashed through his eyes too fast for him to catch. "So, who are you, and where are you going." As the elf spoke, he looked past Leeroy and to the Opito and the others.

Leeroy's first reaction was to throw out his chest and thump the numbers marking his legion over his left breast, but it occurred to him that he had discarded his armor.

Well, the thought occurred to him when he was already halfway through the movements and couldn't stop. It was already too late by that point.

The movements caused his left hand clutching the edge of a rock to slip. He tried to squeeze the rough edge tighter, but the smooth stone slipped from his hand.

Leeroy's eyes widened in horror as his head snapped down, focusing on his now free hand. He flung his right hand back out to grab into any stone, but all he found in his panic were smooth surfaces and cracks too small to get a purchase on. His fingernails scraped over the rocks, dislodging the small stones and lodging them under his fingernails while the cracks his hands passed over caused a shaft of pain as his nails were torn.

"Ahh!" He started to scream. It wasn't from the pain from his hands but from the fear of his impending fall and death before his throat was clamped shut as his body was jerked forward onto the rock face again.

Head tilting up, he saw the elf had lunged down, grabbing hold of his left wrist.

Leeroy was a big man. That wasn't to say he was fat, though if he was honest, he had more of a gut than he wanted. Leeroy was just a tall, broad-shouldered man.

He might be only a few inches taller than the elf, but he was more than twice as wide. And being in the legion meant that most of that was muscle.

The elf pulled him back into position and even seemed to lift him slightly without looking strained at all. His eyes looked to be filled with more amusement than any kind of shock or fear that Leeroy might fall to his death.

As the elf practically pulled Leeroy's entire weight the last couple of feet up to the edge of the gorge, he saw what should have been one of the first things he noticed. The elf was wearing the pin of a legion scout holding his cloak together, and his light armor under the cloke had the old numerals for fifteen.

"You're a scout!" Leeroy accused as his eyes snapped up to the elf's face.

Slowly, the elf turned to look down at the typical scout legion gear covering his body before slowly looking back up and saying dryly, "Is that why they gave me these clothes? I was wondering why they gave an elf them; couldn't quite figure it out."

Leeroy felt his face flush in embarrassment, "No!" he blurted, trying to get his words out all at once, "I didn't mean that I'm surprised that an elf is a scout or anything… I just… didn't think a scout from the fifteen would be up… here." At the end, Leeroy trailed off, as he could tell while he was saying it that it was a stupid comment. With all of the weird shit going on, it wasn't a surprise that a scout for the 15th Legion was up here.

The only mildly surprising part was that the scout was alive and ran into their squad, but nothing about him being sent up here was surprising.

The elf only raised a delicate eyebrow as he silently watched Leeroy get to his feet and dust himself off. When he was finished, the elf asked, "Are you refugees fleeing to the forts?" His eyes shifted down as the rest of his ragtag squad shuffled to get a view of the elf, who sounded less sure now. "Or are you on some kind of scouting or foraging mission?"

"Neither," Leeroy said as he slammed his fist to the chest in a salute. "We are…" he deflated as the reality came crashing down onto him again, "what's left of the Third Century of the Fourth Cohort in the 14th Legion. We were on a mission to escort a supply caravan from Basetown, and… well, things went to shit."

"I'll say," The elf said, grim humor filling his voice as he took another look at the group, a bit of respect in his eyes now. "but it can't be much worse than what led me to be up here either."

"I think you should be talking to my Optio," Leeroy said, motioning to the group below.

The elf gave a nod of agreement, and the two carefully moved back down into the rocky gorge to talk somewhere that they were relatively safe. But this time, the scout led the way on a path that was much easier than the one Leeroy took. That was only ten feet away.

"I'm Scout Green," the elf said, greeting the group with a nod, "I'm stationed with the 15th at the Triad."

"Long way from home," Jankens commented.

"Ehh," The elf shrugged and grunted in agreement, then said with a teasing smile, "but maybe not so far in comparison to you a lot. How did you even end up here, looking half-starved and with no gear?"

Optio Lun stepped forward, and Scout Green snapped off a salute when he saw the green strip bordered with a line of red denoting his rank running down the outside of his pants leg. "Boy, am I glad to see another Legionary," Lun said, "Are you part of a force trying to push into the Cradle?"

Scout Green looked slightly conflicted as he spoke, "Yes and no." then he sighed, saying, "You are aware of the new intelligent, non-rabid beastkin, correct."

Leeroy and the others hadn't spoken to the new beastkin, but they had seen more than enough to make the guess no one was willing to voice yet lest they be shouted down. One glance around the group, and they all nodded to each other in agreement, "Well, what you probably don't know is these intelligent beastkins — though they call themselves Kin — Attacked the Triad over a month ago." He went on to summarize the battle, and then afterward, when the Kin told them the real enemy was the Letairry and how the dark elves would not cease until everyone was under their rule.

When he got to that point, Leeroy heard Jankens gasp in shock as everyone else in their squad shared looks with each other. The scout stopped and raised an eyebrow at them, but Lun motioned for him to continue his story.

The elf paused for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders as if mentally saying, 'fuck it' as he continued with his clandestine mission to report to the Kin.

That got a few more murmurs of shock from Jankens and the others as they heard about how they built a city less than a score of miles from the Triad without anyone knowing. Then, when he got to the part about the civil war within the Kin's ranks and attempted coup, Leeroy could feel himself leaning forward slightly as if it would make a difference in hearing the next words out of the elf's mouth faster.

This was a story that you only heard about when talking of legends and myths. Something that only fools wished to live through. After all, the best life you could hope for was one in which you were never surprised as far as Leeroy was concerned. Not that he was giving a good example of such a life based on recent events.

When Green wrapped it up with how he was out here with a scouting force of the Kin's to interfere and pressure the Crescent Moon's forces while searching for survivors, everyone leaned back, taking in his words for a moment.

“That’s… quite the tale." Optio Lun finally said. "And you were right. I'm pretty sure our story doesn't beat it." Then Lun told the elf about their escort mission, which turned into one flight after another, taking them over hundreds of miles.

When he got to the part with the Nose and the massive battle that took place there, Green perked up his back straitening, and his eyes flicked off towards the valley they were exiting.

Holding up a hand, Green said, "If you can stop there, I should go get my companions, Optio…”

"Oh," Lun said, his neck becoming slightly flushed with embarrassment, "In all this wilderness, I seem to have forgotten my manners; I am Optio Lun." Green was looking over at Leeroy, but at Lun's introduction, he did a double talk back at the man, before nodding in understanding. "And by companions, you mean the Bea—Kin, who you are scouting with?" Lun asked.

"Yeah, they should hear this. It will change how we will react."

"Are you sure that we can trust them?"

Green paused a moment in thought, then slowly spoke, "From what you have seen, there is no doubt the Letairry are real." At that, he got a round of nods and grunts of confirmation, as no one in Lun's squad could deny it. "And they are actively harming the 14th, from what you have said. And it looks like they have taken Basetown, doing Ancestor knows what to the inhabitance. So far, the Kin has never lied to us and tried to minimize casualties." He got a few grunts of disagreement and raised eyebrows as people looked around them, signifying everything they had seen over the last weeks, so he added, "At least the faction that is trying to work with us is attempting to lessen their destruction."

Lun nodded in reluctant agreement to that, then he sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly, saying, "This is outside of my pay grade." Then, he visibly gathered himself, saying, "Are you sure they aren't playing some elaborate trick on you?"

"It's possible but unlikely. The people I saw killed had the bearing of leaders. And they had no idea when or if I would arrive. Not to mention, I am just not important enough to go to this length." Green said. "My reports don't have that much weight."

“Yeah… It not being true just doesn't make sense…" Lun trailed off in thought, then shook his head as he decided what to do. "go get these friendly… Kin. If the situation is what you say, then them knowing of the… Latairy?"

Green shook his head as Lun pronounced it wrong, so he offered the correction. "Letairry."

"These, Letairry — if it really is the same group the Kin warned of — are a threat to the Republic."

"Good," Green said, getting up to move, "Stay here, I'll be back in half an hour.”