In the end, they came to find me instead. I finished the last of my assignment, taking the weeds away from the farm. “You’re pretty late.” I said, removing my faceplate to give them a slight smile. “What took you?” They looked at me for a time, as though wondering what I was doing out on the fields. “I needed something to do, and I couldn’t exactly leave the farm while I was waiting for you.”

“We were tracking down the gnolls.” Numen said. “Many of the tribes have been destroyed, and the few that weren’t seem to have vanished into the forests.” She continued. “Also, wouldn’t you be more help as a guard than a farmhand?”

“I lived as a farmhand for more years than I spent with a blade.” I remarked. “Didn’t exactly jump at the call to arms.” I frowned at the news. “Surely not all the gnolls were involved?”

“They weren’t.” Frejr said, tone blunt. “Other settlements weren’t as lucky as Torven. The tribes were destroyed in retaliation.” I raised an eyebrow. If they weren’t as lucky they wouldn’t even have an army left to avenge themselves. She seemed to understand. “They were The Republic’s army.”

“The… Republic?” I asked, my voice somewhat incredulous.

“They were once a republic, a band of seven nations.” Leethe elaborated. “The man who came to talk to Hakten was from them. They approached the nations soon after the gnolls had struck, many accepted their protection.” Qent looked to me somewhat curious at that.

“That’s a little… convenient.” I said, thinking back to how Hakten had said the same. So many nations at once though…

“It is.” Frejr said. “You are ready to leave?” She asked me, gesturing to the exit. I nodded, moving back to grab my extra sword and other things. Seems they were in a hurry. They explained as we took to the road.

“Bandits are forming from the remnants of some villages and farms, since they no longer have a livelihood to go back to.” Numen explained to me. “Besides that we have rumours of something hunting down caravans in the north, leaving behind empty carts and dead bodies.”

“Not even mentioning the sightings of dragons, griffins, selkies far north.” Qent said. “It’s probably the demons stirring them up, but the sightings are all over the region, far beyond where the demons would have gone so far.” The fairies sprung to mind for a moment, I had to wonder if they were truly going to sit back for the whole demon war.

“Where are we headed?” I asked, my armour once again back into shape. I’d slung my pouch diagonally from my right shoulder to my left hip, with the extra sword crossing over the cord itself.

“North, that’s where the bandit groups are located. We’ll be getting some help from the local irregulars, like Sel.” Frejr noted. “We’ll rendezvous with Azarint, Rince, Igrem and Wen after our part is done. They’re taking care of some bandits a little east of where we’re headed. We’ll look into the other issues or continue with the bandits, it depends on what’s closer.”

I nodded, satisfied for the moment. Our journey took several days, at night I could sometimes hear the cries of beasts in the distance. “Wyverns.” Qent would occasionally pick out, recounting what he’d learned from the Tower about them, as well as the other creatures. The data was frustratingly vague, only knowing certain habits like whether they were commonly scavengers or hunters, along with general guidelines on avoidance.

We arrived at a village called Lrash. “It means ‘hope’.” Qent helpfully provided as we entered. The guards greeted us at the gate, waving to Frejr and Numen. “Sel should meet us further in.” he continued, and we made our way to what appeared to be the guard barracks. Hushed conversations would flare up as we passed, some people smiling at us while others seemed to be a little concerned.

“They are familiar with some of the bandits.” Frejr said. “Some of them are simply those that could not be supported by other villages as refugees. Others are cowards who fled and sabotaged others so they would slow down the gnolls. By all accounts the man who leads them is a miscreant, known to be cruel and violent, he simply found an outlet for his desires.”

“His name was Thrush.” A voice spoke from our right. I turned to see Sel, decked in chainmail and leather. “He calls himself Fang now.” She said with a slight roll of her eyes. “Bloody coward, but also an opportunistic bastard who’s smart enough to pounce when you take your eyes off him.” She spat. “He’s good at bullying people though, making them his underlings.”

“Have you tracked down their location?” Frejr asked, as Sel led us out of the village.

“About.” She said. “I’ve gotten a few survivors to tell me where they were ambushed. It puts it a few hours between Lrash and RaeNoc.” She pointed down a road outside the village. “They’re a little erratic, but they haven’t struck at dawn before. So if we get there before they can we can follow them back to their encampment.”

“Or I could follow whatever tracks they left behind at the raid.” Numen remarked. “A group that large is bound to leave some trail behind.”

“Yeah, that’ll work too Numen.” Sel said, nodding. “I wasn’t a tracker, so I didn’t really give that much thought myself. Either way we should probably leave early so we can arrive at dawn though, don’t want to be surprised by them.”

Numen shook her head, pointing to both Sel and Frejr. “Your armour might give away your position from the sound and any reflection.” She then pointed to Qent, who looked alarmed. “Your studies never covered sneaking about I’d wager, and you don’t have the proper stamina for it.” He calmed down, looking relieved. “Which would leave me and Kael here.” I nodded, her assessment was correct, though I wasn’t anywhere near her equal at subterfuge.

“We’ll find it and find our way back here then?” I asked, and Numen nodded.

“We can lead then back later, maybe while they’re setting up their raid, so we can set up a nice surprise for them.” She said with a grin. We’re going to need to forgo sleep tonight then. I sighed to myself. Her persona is a lot different now. I thought to myself.

[She didn’t exactly know you back then.] Page said to me. True enough I guess. I assume she knows Sel pretty well then. Page gave a mental shrug.

Sel brought us over to the inn she stayed in. They smiled, greeting us heartily, apparently good friends of Sel. They brought out food and drinks, passing them to us, smiling again as I thanked them. “No need for money, Sel here hunted down all of what you’re eating.” The server said. I nodded, sitting down and removing my faceplate.

“Huh, that’s some interesting armour.” Sel said in surprise as I hung the faceplate on my shoulder. “Won’t lie, when I heard of you I was expecting someone larger you know? Ah, I guess that’s what everyone thinks of the others we haven’t met though.” She said.

It was good food, the company was a little rowdy, though that was really mostly Sel. Numen, Qent and Sel engaged in conversation as they ate, talking about the things they’d seen, how they’d been recently, the normal small talk. Frejr and I ate in silence, finishing earlier than the others, and sipping at the drinks. For beer, it wasn’t bad, Numen and I didn’t drink too much, her probably because a hangover wasn’t good for sneaking, and me because I didn’t like being drunk.

This time I had a room to myself, Frejr and Qent paired up as well as Sel and Numen. “I’ll knock when it’s time.” Numen said to me as I entered the room. “So get some rest.” I nodded, sequestering myself within.

Wake me up after an hour or so eh? I thought to Page. We’d finally managed a crude method of measuring time. All it needed to do was count how many cycles were done in a second on average, then extrapolate. I couldn’t really tell how accurate it was since it wasn’t like they had clocks here or that their hours would correspond exactly, but it was good enough for these situations.

[Will do.] Page replied. [You sure you don’t want to make any preparations before going to sleep?] I don’t think so. I thought back. It’s not like I actually have anything to prepare, just things to put away. I crashed onto the bed. Wow this thing is soft.

[Time!] Page exclaimed. I sat up, leaning forward and rubbing my temples. I was still groggy, and the part of me still in a sleep induced haze wished we could just postpone the excursion. I sighed, smiling wanly as I recalled how I’d just lay on the bed on Saturday mornings, looking up at the ceiling and wondering why I ever thought I should wake up.

It passed soon enough, and I checked my weapons, I left the spare sword by the bed, setting aside the oils and such I used on the sword. I’d need to get some replacements in time. For now, I checked my blade again, making sure it hadn’t acquired any nicks while I wasn’t looking.

A knock on my door announced Numen, I thought for a moment, loosening a length of my armour and turning it into hook. I threw it at the door handle, catching it on the second try. “Just give me a moment.” I said, letting the cloth slack and stiffening it into an L shape. Pushing it down and pulling it towards me opened the door, where an amused Numen stood.

“Any reason for that?” Numen asked, as I wrapped the piece back into place. I shrugged. Just felt like testing it. I thought to myself. Probably not a combat application of the armour though.

We moved under the cover of darkness, and I was reminded that this was in fact a horrible idea. Numen led us in circuitous routes, dodging the creatures she could see, but sometimes we were still drawn into fights with the local predators. I swung my blade, and the large cat, something like a tiger, retreated, looking for easier prey. The whole fight had been a quiet one, the snarls of the tiger lion like animal swallowed up by the forest, which was to our benefit. I exhaled, coughing.

“Are you hurt?” Numen asked, I shook my head, the impact had been cushioned enough that it just felt like a punch instead of a sledgehammer blow. “Good, tell me if you are, it’s not that safe out anymore.” I nodded, and we continued.

We found the ambush location simply enough, the carts hadn’t been cleared, in fact it seemed an effort had been made to turn it into a blockade. Shoddy work, but it’d stop anyone who wasn’t on foot. “So can you track them in the dark?” I asked as she knelt to stare at the ground.

“It’s harder in the dark, not impossible. At least, not while the moon is still up there.” She whispered back. “You should quiet down, I don’t want to be heard.” I nodded, following her as she made her way through the forest.

They hadn’t done anything to prevent people from following it seemed, no doubling back, no covering of tracks, but then I wasn’t a tracker, so my opinion was moot. Either way, Numen never deviated from course, only occasionally stopping to erase our tracks. It meant our progress was slower than I’d like, but on the off chance that they had their own tracker, at least we wouldn’t be obvious…

Dawn had already come, and light, little though it was, began to tinge the forest canopy. Numen suddenly pointed away from the tracks. I obliged, in time for the sound of voices to reach me.