[i]If he’s close, I can trace his signature. Same with Ysaryn,[/i] Kire thought, as the battalion escorted her back to camp. She had visited this camp a week before she and Narda showed up at the mountain refuge. Though most of the family was in the far North for their safety, particularly on account of the younger cousins and Elva, who needed to be present for her people, Kire herself would move from [i]The Green Wench[/i] to the major camps. Already at her orders officers began orienting scouts and any man or woman they could spare for the search. They had found a fresh steed for Kire to use, though when they offered her a tent and refreshment, Kire refused. The riders and scouts were to be sent out in two opposite directions, scouring the area she had indicated. “What if we get news that your allies had found themselves in enemy territory?” one of the officers asked. “Then you come straight to me with the information. I will deal with it myself.” “One more matter, Your Grace, regarding the issue we’ve encountered. Earlier today we’ve finally confirmed reports of enemy spies and which passage through the mountains they had been using, and we’d sent reinforcements to watch this place. In case your allies are on the other side and extracting them would require stealth, we could use this passage. The Lady Myka had also insisted on joining the hunting party for the spies, given that [i]The Wench[/i] had tracked their covert mission.” -- Downhill, their passage obscured by rocks and heavy foliage, two figures emerged, conversing in heated Taakalon. They knew they had been discovered, and the Wyvern soldiers had already captured their other spies and found one of the ways through the mountain they had used to pass through undetected. The mountain afforded them many passages, which allowed them to escape the hunt, but they knew it would only be a matter of time before the mountain was sealed off from them. They needed to rejoin the other Gemini forces soon with the information about the nearest encampment and their movements. “[i]Hey, thank you for that,[/i]” a voice called down to them from her perch. A woman, about the same age as Kire and dressed in deep greens, grinned down at the two spies. “[i]We were wondering where you two went. One of your friends had been pretty loose-lipped, you see.[/i]” From various other hiding places, other women had emerged, flanking the two men. “Myka!” one of them called. “[i]There’s one more we missed. Uphill!.[/i] -- [i]Thank the gods,[/i] Ed thought, seeing Ysaryn as she stepped through the shrubbery. He grinned at her first words to him, even if it was a threat of sorts. He sheathed his sword and stepped closer, looking her over. “I didn’t like that, either. Kire had me come along a coupe of times to use the portal she summons with her Ring, and I did not care for the experience either. I don’t know if this was better or worse.” She met his gaze, and Ed could barely stop himself from grinning giddily. “We’re in Amria. I recognize these mountains. I’d see them every day from a distance, at the Capital.” He pointed at one of the mountain ridges. “Over the other side, thereabouts. Somewhere that way was where my soldiers and I had first disappeared.” [i]And where Earnest was killed.[/i] Ed turned away, scanning the rest of the forest. “If they were pulled in with us, they couldn’t be too far. Just like me and the people under my command, we’re scattered, but hopefully within a couple of miles of each other.” Which was still a great distance to try and find individuals, especially when half their number did not come from Amria. Ed started moving east, keeping an eye out for Ysaryn in case she was still wobbly on her feet. “Our other potential problem depends on if this part of the country is still under Kire’s command, or was part of the territories the Gemini and their allies had seized. If we keep moving this way, we should find a small town. We’d know from there which occupying force is keeping the peace. Ideally, we’d hope to run into the rest of them before then. How are you feeling? Are you up for a long walk?” -- Narda was just about to bring her axe down onto the rune circle when she paused, pondering Zeke’s question. “I don’t actually know. I am not a sorcerer, so all I know would be basic knowledge, whatever else Kire and her cousins would discuss.” Narda frowned at the symbols. “Magic,” she muttered, shaking her head. “A rune circle’s magic is usually broken when the circle is. Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be repercussions to destroying it. Tch.” His other questions made her frown deepen, and she gripped her axe, hating how helpless she was at the moment. “You’re probably right to fear anything that shakes Kire to the point of shrieking,” the giantess assented, sighing. “But her portals are different. The Ring on her finger, it allows her to use portals with precision, like a finely tuned weapon or instrument. She can appear and reappear at a certain place she has pictured or traced almost accurately. This,” she said, gesturing at the runes, “is like trying to stopper a tornado, it seems.” She may not be a sorcerer, but Narda had listened to Kire and Daryll go back and forth about the Ring too many times for her not to retain some knowledge. Narda watched him draw his blade across the first rune and realized she was holding her breath. Nothing. Narda listened carefully. The twisted forest was quiet, for now, so Narda bent down, similarly etching her blade across the glowing marks. By the fourth rune, Narda straightened up, axe at the ready. The smells around them shifted, the rot more pronounced. She heard the noises of the wolves again, but something else was different about the forest. “It’s a lot less dark now,” she noted, before the first wolf appeared over the slope, snarling and snapping as if plagued by insects swarming around its head. The wolf ran down the slope, then tumbled, skidded, until its twisted body slammed against one of the trees at the bottom. It struggled to its feet, snapping at Narda and Zeke, but clearly it didn’t have the same kind of focused killing intent as it had earlier. Narda raised her axe and sliced the creature’s head off. “Something has snapped within this place,” she said, noticing how the trees looked much drier and more ashen now. “But we aren’t out of the woods yet. Do you think the elves would take us in? I have confidence Kire will return with our comrades, but there’s no telling how soon that would be.”