Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunice wasted no further time. "Very well. Safe travels," she said tersely as she turned her horse around fully. Another order shouted in Ta'agra had the rest of the cavalry force thunder off back in the direction from whence they came, kicking up just as much dust as before.

The clan would have breathed a collective sigh of relief had the other guards not stayed behind. The order to set up camp at least gave them something to do. The soldiers themselves did not make any immediate effort to engage with the clan in any capacity. Rather, they had tents and supplies in saddlebags that they set up themselves. While they kept their lances piled up to one side while not mounted, they had swords on their hips and always had at least one of their number standing idle as a lookout.

The meeting between the leaders for deciding how to proceed came about almost without a word. Gallus had been giving the guards a close watch since they joined them, so his mind had been formulating suggestions for a while. "I say we keep them around for a while," Gallus began, "The trouble they bring will only come more quickly if we drive them off now. If we find the Orcrest clan in short order, we can take shelter from the authorities amongst them. As for how to deal with them...I would much rather not kill them, but there is an advantage that we have." Gallus brought his head forward, "None of them are bulky senche. That means they can all be carried off by werevultures. If we can displace them, carry them off, make it look like a freak accident from the whims of nature, we can lose them in the desert or at Orcrest without being directly accused of harming them." Gallus looked in the soldiers' direction, "Though, it is risky. Those that carry them will be put in danger. Any other ideas?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Gallus gave a sideways glace to Ri'nakhad. Having soldiers accompany them would guarantee them running afoul of the law, but at this point there did not appear to be any choice.

"Very well. Your cooperation will be noted and I shall look upon your interest to clear this matter properly with favour." Lunice looked to one of her bodyguards, "Feniad, set up some stationary, we shall deal with this here. Ra'jorr?" Lunice looked to the Pahmar with a more neutral demeanour, "My men reported at least four assailants. Bring them forward so we can take their details and pleas individually. I expect thirty gold for each of them to cover their fine for endangering the lives of the Mane's men. They are to be counted fortunate; they might have received a more severe charge if the circumstances had been different, or if they had hit any of them."

It took another tense half an hour to settle all affairs with the guards. The scouts that had warded the patrol off came forth, some with angry or fearful looks about them. They all seemed to cooperate easily enough. Lunice had six of the mounted Khajiit soldiers assigned to the clan in parting, to watch over them, take note of anyone who escaped, and to make sure that they were brought to Orcrest intact for processing. Finally, a sack of coins was handed over to one of Lunice's bodyguards as fine payment. One hundred and twenty gold was not all of the clan's reserves, but it represented a good chunk of potential supplies lost.

As Lunice was about to turn around, she regarded the leaders with a raised eyebrow. Her original irritation seemed to have cooled partially. "I will repeat to make myself clear, Ri'nakhad. No one is to leave this group until they are all individually processed in Orcrest. Any diversion from this will come back to you personally. We shall investigate the rest of this matter more closely in the future. And, for the sake of the Divines, always report such events as soon as you possibly can." She shook her head and began to turn her horse around. "Is there anything else you wish to tell us?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It looked as if Lunice was going to shout Ra'jorr down for speaking out of turn, but her glare barely hid a glint of surprise at Ra'jorr's amulet. In that, she lost the momentum to interrupt him before he finished speaking, but still glared.

"Quite." Lunice said through her teeth, "I was about to proceed to that matter." Lunice then shifted to speak professionally again, "In the interest of time, I shall request the last matter be dealt with as well. First of all, Ra'jorr, I require all the individuals who opened fire upon my men. They must be punished according to the law of the Dominion, either by jail or fine, else be put to trial. In addition, Ri'nakhad, I shall have a section of my men accompany your tribe and their guests to Orcrest. All of you must be taken to the city to be processed accordingly." Lunice's glare stared daggers into Ri'nakhad's eyes, "I trust that none of your number will be found to be fugitives, but if there are any, you shall be held responsible for harbouring them. Your insistence on speaking Cyrodilic for your companions puts them under enough suspicion as it is. Do I make myself understood?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunice listened to Ri'nakhad's words, then stood for a moment in consideration, blinking and frowning. She slowly dabbed her handkerchief on her forehead once more as she responded. "Allow me to confirm for clarity," she said very slowly, "A band of slavers posed as soldiers and took your tribe captive, marched you across this desert to the ships, passing by my patrols, and your friends freed you before they could escape." She sniffed, "This all seems consistent enough, but there are a few matters still at hand. We will start with the first in my mind. While you were staying by the ships for a few days, why did you not report this to the nearest guard house? The stolen equipment needs to be retrieved now, not only to reacquire any missing resources, but as evidence."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The official looked down her nose at the four in front of her. One eye twitched in confusion at the assortment. "And greetings to you, Khajiit," she said lowly, not with venom, but with impatience. "Several days ago a patrol of mine found two abandoned ships on the banks of the Larsius river. There were no useful supplies within except for large piles of shackles and chains. These were slaver ships. Few dare to come to Elsweyr these days, fewer still via Cyrodiil, so you can imagine this strikes me as odd. The aforementioned patrol followed the large swathes of tracks south into the desert as fast as they could. They were not heading for the nearest city. Again, odd."

The official was interrupted for a moment by her horse, backing off a couple of steps. It smelled the true nature of what was in front of them. The official pat its neck and calmed it, but did not change her stony expression. "A short time into their search, they were ambushed. None of them were wounded, but such blatant disregard for authority is not only odd but punishable." She placed the tips of her fingers on her chest, "Now, here I am, having rode out of my post with a force to apprehend the criminals and investigate the situation," Her fingertips waved out to the direction of the clan, "And what do I find?" Her eyes grew wider as if something had snapped, "I find a tribe's worth of all forms of intelligent animal and elf, wandering the desert without clothing-" she gestured with a shooing motion at each of the leaders, "-led by an old cat, a bog snake, a quadruped, and an Imperial who looks smarmy enough to execute on the spot for espionage!"

Gallus involuntarily took a small step back.

The official, perhaps realising that she had lost her temper, took out a handkerchief and dabbed her glistening forehead. Her tone was lower and more levelled as she continued. "Perhaps it is the desert heat, but I have half a mind to accuse you all of immigrating illegally, acting with the intent of harbouring spies, and putting you all to death right here. Fortunately for you, I would rather have a better explanation so I can get back to my outpost and enjoy a cool drink. You will have my name, you may call me agent Lunise, I would have yours, as well as the reasons for all this nonsense before the end of five. Minutes. Exactly."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

G'night!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The clan seemed to act as they had been told, though there were many worried looks and some brief shrieks of fear. Meesei could hear the coughing and crying of Rhazii in the crowd, probably having gotten sand in his mouth in all the commotion, but he could be spotted in Fendros' arms as everyone took up their positions. The scout that had delivered the warning scurried off with the warriors.

As loathe as he was to deal with the heat, Gallus wore his light armour that day. This was less for the purpose of looking appropriate and more for the eventuality of combat. It was the last thing that he wanted to happen, but he needed to be prepared to fight and command. He stood beside Meesei with his hammer on his belt and his hands clasped behind his back. He was sweating profusely for multiple reasons, but had a stoic expression.

As the thudding of the hooves became louder, the murmuring of the crowd quietened, replaced by the residual sounds of shuffling as they organised themselves. The base of the cloud of dust was now clearly lead by a number of armoured figures. Most were compact desert horses in light armour, roughly eighteen of them in total. Mounted atop them were humanoid Khajiit of various size, but all garbed in glinting golden moonstone armour, crafted with overlapping and flowing bands. They all wielded shields and lances, but they were not lowered to attack. Those familiar with Anequina would recognise them as professional soldiers of the kingdom - the equivalent of the Imperial Legion. Three more were armoured senche with similar golden barding, galloping alongside the horses. Suthay bowmen were astride the large intelligent cats. The three final figures stood out ahead of the group. They were mounted on similar armoured desert horses as the others, but those mounted upon them were taller and clearly not Khajiit. Two were guards, covered in ornate and incredibly expensive green glass armour and held purple bound weapons. The one in the centre simply wore a light material robe that was flapping in the breeze; it was dark, detailed, and trimmed in gold. The uniform of a Thalmor official. Fortunately, none of the riders had weapons poised to attack.

When the approaching party spotted the clan, there was a shout and they all slowed to a halt. The Thalmor trotted forward slightly with the bodyguard following closely and looked upon the clan's fearful eyes with scowl. The horse beneath shook its head and snorted out some sand. A short moment's silence followed, before the Thalmor waved a hand and shouted something behind her. It was a powerful feminine voice, saying something that sounded like the Ta'agra phrase to approach slowly. The party did just that until they were roughly within one hundred and fifty metres of the clan.

The Thalmor and her bodyguard trotted ahead again, but this time it was not to inspect the situation. Her voice boomed forth in Ta'agra, seeing the majority of the group ahead to be Khajiit. "Let the leader of this group come forth!"

Gallus moved along with Meesei and Ri'nakhad. Whenever they approached more closely, they saw that the official and her bodyguard were all of course High Elves. The bodyguard had visors obscuring their faces, but the official had her hood blown back in the wind. Her callous blue eyes were lined with age and experience, a hard mouth told of little patience for the desert that made her forehead glow. Her straight, long, shiny blonde hair was pulled back quite tightly into a bun. Unlike all her companions, she wore no weapons at all.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The clan marched ever onward. The very real threat of Dominion soldiers bearing down on them made tensions run high. The fact that it was dragged out by two more days only made matters worse.

In the bright afternoon sun, warning came from the distance before it could arrive by messenger. A cloud of brown dust rose up from behind the clan, drifting upwards and to one side with the soft breeze. It was getting closer.

Also from behind the clan was a sprinting Senche, one of the clan's scouts that was rotated out from hauling supplies due to the need for fast communication. The walking clan noticed him quickly as he frantically ran through. Anyone who did not notice him in time was showered with sand as he leapt clean over them or dodged around them. Without regard to covering the clan leadership's lower half in sand, the scout slid to a halt in front of Ri'nakhad, Ra'jorr, Meesei, and Gallus. He had fear in his eyes as he caught his breath.

Everyone's attention was immediate, so the scout quickly scraped aside some sand to get a flat surface and wrote down a number in Ta'agra glyphs: 24. Another word followed, but it was unclear in the loose, dry sand: mounted. Once the scout looked up to confirm that all had read them, he scraped the sand aside and wrote one more short word: elf.

"I take it our noble protectors are approaching?" Gallus asked with a frown.

The dust seemed to be getting faster as time went on. Keen lycan ears could hear the thudding of hoofs in the distance. They would only have two minutes or less.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

No problem.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

We may skip to one or two days later if you wish.