The camp was fairly well hidden from the road, but Cobal was approaching from the opposite side and it was a lot easier to spot from there. Cobal and Mana were currently hiding the shrubbery while Eliana went ahead to scope out the camp from closer. She was fairly good at sneaking around and the other two didn’t object. After waiting for her for what felt like eternity, she finally returned.
“Okay, so I got a pretty good look at the camp. It looks like bandits, I don’t see any signs that they’re cultists, but they could be hiding that of course. If I were in a cult I wouldn’t walk around with a giant sign above my head saying I’m in a cult.”
Cobal nodded. “How many?”
“Looks like seven people. And I think we found our creature as well.”
“Oh?” Mana asked.
“There was a hulking creature in a cage, probably the side of two men. It looked kind of sad in its cage. I wonder if it’s working for the bandits or if they only recently caught it.”
“Maybe we can set it on the bandits?” Cobal asked.
Eliana thought about that for a while. “That could work, but it heavily depends on why the creature is there.”
As they were talking, they heard voices from the camp.
Cobal listened carefully. “We’ll go get some supplies in Jarsian,” one of the voices said.
“Make sure you’re back before nightfall, we’ve got a tip about someone we need to attack.”
“Why does it matter who we steal from?”
“Orders from above.” The person who said this sounded like a gruff man, probably a little bit older, but not old yet. “You know what, I don’t trust the two of you enough, I’m going to Jarsian too.”
“You can trust us boss, we won’t stray.”
“Shut up, Phel, I’m coming with.”
Cobal looked carefully through the forest to see movement. Eventually he saw that some of the people at the camp were leaving.
“That should be slightly less of them,” Eliana said. A grin formed on her face. “If it’s only a handful we can overpower them no problem.”
Cobal sighed. Her confidence in battle was a point of worry for him, but so far she also hadn’t let them down. “So what do you suggest?”
“I say that I sneak close to the camp and circle around a little bit, to the west side of their camp. Then the two of you approach from where we are right now, maybe five minutes after I’ve left you two. As soon as a commotion starts I’ll attack them from behind.” She looked at both of them. “Sound good?”
Cobal nodded. Mana looked a bit more hesitant, but didn’t argue.
“Great, wait five minutes and then head into camp. Try to get between the creature and the bandits so they can’t free it and make it attack us. If you can talk to it and get to agree to help us, that would be even better, but you’d have to be quick about it.”
And with that she vanished in the shrubbery. About five minutes passed before Cobal and Mana snuck closer to the camp.
Cobal and Mana made their way to the caged creature, which was a little bit away from the rest of the camp. It spotted them pretty quickly but Mana put a finger to her lips as she approached. “Are you okay, big fella?” she asked. Cobal nervously looked around but none of the bandits seemed to be directly within sight. There was a tent between them and the little camp where they were sitting, seemingly playing dice from the sounds.
“Who are you?” a deep voice replied.
“I’m Mana, I’m here to help you.”
“Help me? Why?”
“You look like you need help. Are they keeping you captive?”
The creature nodded. Now that Cobal and Mana managed to get a closer look, it was a tall, hulking creature, humanoid but with very rough, leathery skin.
“If we free you, will you help us fight the bandits?” Mana asked.
“They said they will hurt my wife if I disobey.” the creature said.
Cobal saw a dangerous look flash on Mana’s face for a moment but when he blinked it was gone again.
“And do you know where your wife is?”
He shook his head. “Humans took us both, then the humans sold me to these other humans. My wife is probably still in the big human city.”
“Will you help us fight these bandits if we promise to help you save your wife?”
The creature thought for a bit. It seemed scared to disobey.
“Have you been attacking people on the road?” Cobal asked.
The creature nodded. “Sometimes, but when they weren’t looking I let them go.” The creature spoke in simple terms and Cobal had to think for a moment to understand what he was saying exactly.
“What is your name?” Mana asked.
“Grac.” He replied.
“Let’s get you out of this place, shall we?”
Grac nodded.
Mana looked at Cobal. “Is there anything you can do about this lock? It looks sturdy.”
Grac was locked in a big cage with a bolt lock on it. Cobal inspected the lock for a bit. “I can get it open, but it’ll be loud.”
“Do it, I’ll be ready to defend us while you get the cage open.” She pulled out the book that Dionil gave her and turned her back to Cobal.
Cobal looked at Grac once more and he hesitated. Mana seemed so certain about freeing the creature but Cobal still saw it as a big scary creature. It looked like the ogres from children’s stories that they would tell them so they wouldn’t go wandering too far from home. But upon looking at Grac and seeing the sadness in his eyes, Cobal sighed and pulled out his weapon. With a mighty swing he released it on the lock and with a satisfying ringing sound it sprung loose and the door creaked open ever so slightly.
“Hey, what in the hells is going on back there?” A voice said, and Cobal heard the sound of weapons being drawn. He looked as Grac stepped out of the cage carefully. “Show us what you’re made of,” Cobal said, before turning away and running towards the approaching bandits.
Grac stayed true to his word and the first bandit that came running, sword drawn, found a fist in the center of his stomach. The man went flying into a nearby tree and collapsed with a sickening thud. Before Cobal could even get to any of them, Eliana popped up from a nearby tent she was hiding in and drove a dagger into the back of the neck of one of the bandits. Cobal clashed with one of them, exchanging blows as their swords pushed against each other. One of the bandits ran up to Mana to attack her, as she appeared completely unarmed. Mana traced something on the page of her book and then from it appeared what looked to be a ball of rapidly spinning air. She seemed to almost grab onto it with her hands and in a smooth motion she reached back before throwing it at the rapidly approaching bandit. The ball of air stayed in one piece without dispersing into the rest of the air as a bead of sweat dropped down Mana’s brow. The ball of air then slammed into the bandit’s stomach, sending him flying almost as fast as the one thrown by Grac. Now there were only two more bandits standing. One of them saw the tide turning and tried to run away from Grac, before being grabbed by his legs and slammed into the ground. The final bandit was focused on Cobal and was too late in noticing Eliana behind him.
As quickly as the fight started it ended.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Eliana said after putting her weapons away, “I never thought I’d see an Irkan in this part of the world. How did you end up all the way here?”
“You know my people?” Grac asked.
“I’ve met one before, a long time ago.”
“There are others outside of my village?”
Eliana shook her head. “It’s a long story, but not as far as I know.”
The lack of explanation didn’t go unnoticed by Cobal, but it was neither the time nor place to worry about it. “Is everyone alright?”
It seemed like they caught the bandits by surprise enough so that they got out of the fight completely unscathed. Cobal let out a deep sigh. “We have to stop getting into these dangerous situations, more of us will get hurt if we continue.” He thought of Dylon, who was likely still paralyzed in Feaseral Cove. He also worried about his other friends, who were missing after their last big fight.
“A little scrap like this once in a while is not too bad,” Eliana said, “breaks up the monotony of traveling for all those days.”
Mana let out a deep sigh. “Different strokes for different folks I guess.” She sat down on a tree stump. “Why don’t you tell us a little bit more about who you are and why we can help you?” Mana asked Grac. She looked at Eliana. “And you know of his people?”
Eliana nodded. “It’s a long story, for some other time, but the short version is that he’s part of Irkanfolk, humans would probably know them as ogres. They live in the Feral Wildlands,” she looked at Grac, “am I correct in what I’m saying?”
Crac nodded. “I lived in Tas’Irkan, the Irkan town to the east of here. One day when we were out foraging, my wife and I were attacked by some strange humans. They then sold us off to these bandits, who split us up.” Grac got a sad look over his face.
Cobal looked at Mana and he still saw the remnants of the anger he saw in her face earlier. “What should we do next?” he asked her.
“Obviously we’re going to find Grac’s wife.” She turned to the Irkan. “Where did you last see her?”
“Next to the human town surrounded by the forest.”
“That must be Marsolin,” Eliana said.
Cobal smiled. “We were already headed that way, would you join us there?” Cobal reached out his hand to Grac.
Grac nodded and shook Cobal’s hand, bruising it in the process.
“You’re a strong one, aren’t you?” Cobal said, nursing his sore hand.
For the first time since they met, Grac smiled, albeit awkwardly. “I’m not super strong compared to some of our soldiers back home, but I like to think I’m fairly strong.”
“Well, you’re stronger than me at least. I’m Cobal.”
“My name is Mana, and this here is our friend Eliana.”
“Nice to meet you all, humans and.” Before he could finish his sentence, Eliana replied loudly, “nice to meet you too, Grac.”
As they were waiting, they heard the sound of someone new approaching.
“Shit, the two that we heard leave earlier might have heard the commotion. Let’s hide and get the jump on them.” He looked at Grac. “Can you hide in the trees?”
Grac nodded, and the four of them quickly scattered, waiting for the voices in the distance to come closer.
Opal Kaharis 