Bab 30: Ch. 30: Wearing Us Down
"Ez, I'm sure I don't have to tell you not to do this - I KNOW your not stupid enough to actually be considering this right?" Richie's handsome face had gone deathly pale. The flickering of the torches caused his features to appear twice as freaked out and made me feel sorry for him.
I pulled his arm and spoke quietly with him to the side, "Rich, we've already discussed this - I am the Empire's Champion and this title puts me in dangerous situations. If you can't handle it, then you will need to leave my side. I can't go through this discussion with you each time my life is put in danger because it's going to keep happening whether we like it or not."
I looked up into his blue eyes, trying to get him to understand. He looked back at me and nodded, "Alright luv. I get it - but that doesn't mean I have to like it. You DON'T have to do this . . . but I understand if you feel you should." Then he pursed his lips, "Also, don't EVER suggest I leave your side - you know that will never happen."
I smiled a little, "Thank you." Turning back around, I wanted to finalize the details with our little 'friends'.
"So you said all we need to do is pass through your land without dying before daylight - can we even make it to the end of your territory before then? We have approximately eleven hours before daybreak."
The hooded form hissed, "Yesss - we are not that cruel. It takesss about eight hoursss to easssily walk through."
My eyebrows knitted, "Then what's the catch?"
"Heh, our trialsss tessst your endurance and physssical capability . . . We will be hunting you down of courssse. You are welcome to defend yourssself accordingly without fear of retaliation on our behalf. Alssso the terrain isss sssomwhat difficult for foreignersss and you may easssily lossse your way. However, once you make it to the end we will have one of our messssengersss alert your companionsss that they are free to crosss. We will never go back on a deal if you have been proven worthy."
'So they are going to try and kill us.' I took a few more minutes to deliberate and decided that this would be the best alternative. All we had to do was defend ourselves and make it to the end. If we ran, we could easily halve the time it would take to make it across.
I looked at Toval and Rodair, "You guys sure you want to do this? Each of us have to remain alive in order to succeed, that means we would need to somewhat work together." I purposefully pointed this out to Toval.
Toval grunted, "Yeah, I'm prepared to make it through. If you go down I'll alert Rodair to help you out."
Rodair gave Toval a very begrudging look then turned back to me, "Rodair will fight with lady Ezran and have her back - there will be no need to worry about Rodair."
I inhaled a lung-full of salty air, "Let's do this then."
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We had been walking for about two hours now and it was eerily quiet. The tall moss covered trees surrounded us and the wet rocky terrain made it difficult to walk. We couldn't see anything except for what little the torchlight allowed, which made it exceptionally spooky. I felt that there were people following us, watching our every move, but I couldn't see them. It was odd that they hadn't attacked us yet being as they were supposed to be hunting us down. My guess was that they wanted us to get far enough on their territory before the ambush.
"This is nuts. Where are the locals? Are they just toying with us?" Toval's heavy boots crunched the moss under his feet as he knocked a few branches out of his way. I could tell he was agitated by this cat-and-mouse game, but it seemed like the waiting was getting on his nerves more.
"Rodair thinks that perhaps the Silvantians want to wear us three down a little." The giant of a man spoke softly, as if the very trees themselves would attack at any moment.
"I'm sure they will get started soon, but right now we should be more focused on getting across without losing our bearings." All we needed was to get lost in this thicket of gruesome looking trees.
Toval scoffed, "I am excellent at navigating. I wouldn't expect a woman to understand the art of stargazing, so just trust that I will be the one who makes sure we don't get lost."
I rolled my eyes then sarcastically said, "And tell me, oh all-knowing-one, can you even SEE the stars from here?"
Toval scowled then looked up. After realizing that we couldn't see anything through the thick fog around us, he stopped walking and spit, "That's it! This is pissing me off. How are we supposed to make it through here if these people won't even show up to fight, huh? Do they just want us to get lost and not make it through? Where's the action?!"
I sighed and was just turning around to look back at Toval when I noticed a long pole come slashing through the thicket. The action surprised me so much that I accidentally dropped my torch causing it to smother out in a puddle. The pole barely missed my nose as it landed in a nearby tree.
"Finally! Some action." Toval's shock dissipated quickly as he realized that we were being attacked. More poles came flying our direction with no indication of the attackers due to the trees and the fog. Rodair was easily swiping the poles out of the air with his huge arms, while Toval and I dodged the poles coming our way. Standing here waiting to be impaled was kind of pointless if we couldn't even get a look at our attackers, so I made a quick decision to run for it.
"Let's go!" I ordered taking the lead to run through the thicket while trying my best to locate a small clearing. If we could just see what we were fighting against, it would give us some time to get them off our backs.
The guys followed me with their torches shaking with each stride. We ducked and evaded the poles that were still coming our way as we kept running. I could hear faint footsteps following us as I tried to peer through the fog. Shimmering forms weaved in and out of the trees, matching our speed.
We finally made it to a small clearing where a little moonlight was cascading down through the fog. I suddenly stopped allowing the guys to catch up and stand their ground. I could hear the forms gathering around while I pulled out a few of my throwing knives.
"Get ready." I whispered to Toval and Rodair, both of them pulling their weapons out while taking a fighting stance. We were back to back, maintaining a lethal trifecta so as not to have anyone sneak up on us.
A few poles swept through the air but were easily knocked down by Rodair's huge axes. After a few moments, a few hooded forms appeared into the clearing with stakes held in each of their hands. Glowing yellow eyes danced as they moved around us, not keeping still long enough for us to really maintain focus. Each form would come up close, attempting to make a slice at our flesh, but back away just as quickly if we were to parry.
Getting slightly frustrated, Toval swiped his sword erratically while calling out, "COME ON! This all you've got?!" Distracted, Toval didn't notice that he had moved a little causing his back to be exposed. I turned around quickly as one of the forms moved forward to make a jab at his opening. Flinging two of my knives at the form's head and neck, I heard a slight hiss before the body dropped down in a heap of blood. Toval looked back with wide eyes realizing what had happened.
"Don't get distracted. We can get through this - just maintain your stance." I ordered. Toval shook his head in understanding and got back in out little trifecta. We successfully fended off wave-after-wave of attacks, when finally the forms stopped coming and decided to run back off into the trees.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone