The ambush had been a resounding success, thanks to our two new comrades and their daring plan. Still none of us felt like celebrating. Not right away anyway. One of the angry dire boars had charged headfirst into the cliff face, ignoring the head hunters at first, as Kor'za and Kivilan climbed the same cliff in a desperate scramble to get away from the raging beasts. I had felt the impact all the way in my hiding spot almost fifty paces away. Instead of celebrating we had retreated in silence to not draw the boars' attention onto us. A single glance at the carnage the other beasts wreaked upon our enemies had been enough. Those head hunters were done for.

I doubted we would find much if we were to return later. Probably not even much of a bloody mess. Sure, there would be blood and the ground would be churned but nothing much else. Dire boars weren't known for leaving any leftovers. I didn't even feel particularly bad about it. These damn cannibal head hunters deserved their fate or worse as far as I was concerned. I was just glad that with the beasts tearing up the forest there would be no more tracks of us anyone would be able to follow. Not easily at least. That would buy us some time to rest and recover for real. We certainly could use some of that time to do some scouting as well. It wouldn't hurt to plan ahead a little for a change either.

Thus our return to the cave had been rather quiet despite the relief we all felt. We hid there in silence for a while until we could be certain that none of the savage beasts had followed us. Then Eld'tide and Kor'za ventured back out. Not to check on the ambush site but to do some hunting. Preferably as far from the angry boars as possible. None of us tried to hold them back. The thought of having a decent meal for a change was just too good. Kivilan in turn had busied himself with his work on my glaive once more and the rest of us coaxed the children back out of hiding. Not that it took much coaxing. They were more than glad to see us return to the hideout.

Khuzan, Kaele and I spent some time telling the story of our most recent fight, turning it into a pretty tall tale as we went along, to entertain the two youngest members of our group. We couldn't have been half bad as we had them hanging on our lips. It even put a smile on Kivilan's face and he knew that we were just making up most of it. Well, a story of us hiding under piles of wet leaves in the fog for hours would have not been terribly entertaining. Our mood improved further still, as the two hunters returned with a deer dangling from a wooden pole, they carried across the shoulders, in between them. They did not only return with the bled, gutted and skinned animal though. They brought hide, antlers and other assorted odds and ends as well.

These odds and ends all went to Kivilan, who probably would know how to make the best use of them. We in turn got the fire started while the two gorgons parted up the deer carcass for easier cooking. It didn't take long for the sound and smell of sizzling meat to fill the hideout. It was a little eerie or maybe weird in a way. Despite all our hardships it felt like we were back on our planned camping trip again. Forgotten were all the close brushes with death, all the almost disasters and all the times we had gotten so incredibly lucky. At least until we were done with our meal and retired to rest a little more as the day passed and night broke. That left me with entirely too much time to think about all those close calls, while I dozed with my sister and the two little ones snuggling up to me.

When Kor'za shook me awake, carefully not to rouse the others, it was a relief in a way. She spoke quietly. “It is dark outside. We should take this chance to get a better picture of what is going on.” The fire had burned down mostly but the remaining flames and coals still spread warmth enough to make the cave camp comfortable and enough light to move about without stubbing your toes or bumping into things or people. I could see Eld'tide getting ready as well in the background. Of course, she was our scout after all. Kor'za was already fully geared as well, although that didn't mean all that much. The two probably could have scouted alone. If they wanted me along then probably so I could make any decisions I would have to make, with the first hand intelligence.

“Right.” I suppressed a groan and extricated myself carefully from the snuggle pile around me, taking care as well to not jostle anyone awake. I eyed my ruined armor once I had gotten my legs under me. It wasn't in the best shape. I didn't really expect to run into a fight either though. We would only be scouting. Thus I decided to leave it behind once more. My tunic would have to suffice. I almost jumped out of my skin, as Kivilan stepped towards me with my repaired glaive. He had replaced the blade with the one from the butcher's cleaver. It was a makeshift repair but he was confident it would suffice. I was inclined to share his confidence. I had seen him working after all. He had been rather thorough. “Thanks.” I nodded and took the weapon.

With that we were ready to go. The two gorgons were already waiting for me at the cave entrance. I joined them there but we didn't set out immediately. After a moment I realized why. They were taking some time so their eyes could accommodate to the darkness of night. And it really was a dark night. Only the thinnest of all crescents peeked through the clouds every once in a while. I shuddered. Tomorrow would be a new moon. That was the time the chains that bound The Devourer were weakest. I swallowed hard. An ill omen. The others must have noticed it as well. I closed my eyes, directing my thoughts towards our goddesses. Dear Moon Maidens, grant us strength in our time of need to stand firm when our desperation is deepest.

Finally our eyes had gotten used to the deeper darkness out here and we set out. “I know a cliff that rises a bit above the forest below it.” Kor'za spoke in a whisper as she moved slow and deliberately through the forest, to make as little noise as possible. I tried to mimic her to the best of my abilities. I even drew upon the ambient Mana to enhance my movements with the Cat's Grace spell. Still I was painfully aware of any sound I made, of every rustling leave and every cracking branch I stepped on. “We should be able to get a good look at the village and the surrounding land from there. It isn't too far away either.” A good choice. Eld'tide apparently thought so too, as she made a barely audible sound I knew to interpret as agreement.

The walk through the nightly forest was eerie. Especially once I realized that the night was not as silent as I had initially thought. Of course I knew that the night had its very own set of predators and prey animals that only came out once the sun was down. I just had never experienced them like this. I couldn't assign the name of a creature to even half of the sounds that reached my ear once I started listening in earnest. It was both spooky as well as humbling. It gave me goosebumps and I was mighty glad as Kor'za signaled us to slow down and take care. “We are already atop the cliff and approaching the edge.” With those words she eased herself to the ground to crawl further forward.

I mimicked her movements as did Eld'tide on our guide's other side. Together we crawled further towards the cliff's edge until Kor'za stopped. I stopped as well, my eyes wide for two reasons. On one hand a sheer drop of twenty paces or maybe even a little more was just ahead of me, almost completely obscured in the darkness of the night by the canopy of the trees growing at the cliff's base and reaching up almost to the edge of the cliff. On the other hand I could finally see what we were dealing with and I didn't like it. There was a splotch of darkness where the village had to be. I was only barely able to make out the slightly brighter stones of the wall and the buildings at the hilltop. They probably didn't have any fires or other lights going as they would only make a target of anyone defending the wall. Surrounding this splotch of darkness were the fires of multiple camps and a fortified encirclement though. And there were a lot of fires. “Damn.” That summed it up pretty well.