Sometimes, less was more. Or rather, more was less.

Since the others had decided to leave the roads and travel through the more difficult terrain of the forest, taking a longer path, our travel had sped up and we covered more ground. That paradoxical result came due to the lessened need for constant vigilance, the relaxed atmosphere letting us move faster. The forest with its cover allowed us to relax, our high intuition and perception allowing us to easily locate any potential enemy trying to hide, especially Adra’s abilities shone in the forest, each tree and shrub whispering into her senses.

While some beings could sneak up on Adra in the forest, Rai and I were trying to do so for training purposes occasionally, with mixed results, I doubted that any being of that power would be bored enough to stalk the forests, looking for a suitable target of opportunity. There were simply too few worthwhile targets.

On the other hand, travelling by road meant that each and every travelling party might be a concealed group of mercenaries, ready to rob or strike someone, the well-travelled road a constant supply of victims and foes for them. The existence of EXP meant that ambushing a group that could pose a challenge and murder them swiftly was a ruthless but somewhat effective way to gain levels. If you could pull it off without getting brutally murdered right back in the process, that is.

Anyway, travelling in the forest, we didn’t have to bother with that. There were no dangerous beasts, just a few wolves that instantly showed their bellies when Ylvy or Sigmir growled at them and a few bears that took one look and decided that a little more hibernation was the right answer to their problems. The few two-legged beings wandering these forests, we mostly managed to avoid during the day and at night, they mostly didn’t bother our camp.

Well, until a week into our travels on Aletoma, when our evening suddenly turned a lot more interesting than the usual sitting around the campfire, telling stories, experimenting with magic or training amongst ourselves.

“There’s something coming,” Adra remarked, looking up from the wooden figurine she had been working on, slowly forming the wood into the desired shape, using nothing but her magic. It was a subtle and slow process of tiny, gradual changes that left a seamless and pristine figurine and also helped her train Astral Power control. I could do something similar with Ice, but given that I could simply conjure more whenever I wanted, it was just a game for me, no practical exercise.

Looking up, I followed her gaze, curious about what she had detected, only to come up empty. The others were also stirring from their activities, Sigmir and Rai putting down the wooden weapons they had been used for sparring, Olivia opening her eyes that had been closed in prayer, something she had been doing a lot since coming to Aletoma. Even more so than before, which said something for a devout priestess.

Sadly, I was unable to detect what Adra had sensed, only the wind blowing through the surrounding forest. Looking back at her, I saw that she was already on her feet, slowly moving past our fire, her weapon in its spear form in hand.

“They’ll be here, soon,” she warned, putting a hand on the ground, her eyes closing for a moment.

“Who?” I asked, moving next to her, making sure that my crown was on my head and the Blades of the Northern Wind were not stuck in their sheaths. The others joined us, their tools of battle ready and in hand.

“A group of four, running;” Adra replied after a moment, her face twisted into a frown. She closed her hands again, this time, I could feel a bit of power emanating from her and mentally followed along, focusing my senses. With the direction provided by her, I was able to catch the distant footsteps, now also able to focus on them. Improved senses and their incredible range were wonderful, but without a way to focus on what you needed to sense, it was difficult to actually utilise those senses. Maybe with additional training, but that only came with prolonged exposure and experience.

“They are being chased,” Adra now added, still looking in the same direction.

“What are we doing about it?” I asked, noticing that the fleeing group was moving right towards the small gap between a pair of hills we were using for shelter. Maybe due to coincidence, maybe by design, either way, they were coming towards us, at a remarkably good speed.

“If they simply pass by, we should let them,” I decided, not really wanting to bother with some group of people. We had no idea what was going on, it might be bandits, fleeing from authorities, it might be victims, fleeing from bandits, it might be something else entirely.

“Let’s douse the fire, take a bit of cover and be ready for anything,” Sigmir reasonably suggested, following a course that would allow us to deal with any hostility on their part, if they had even noticed us.

“Fair,” I agreed, briefly focusing on the fire and snuffing the heat out. It was a wonderful feeling, being able to simply erase a fire with nothing but my mind, one that would likely never grow old. To treat the hated flames with nothing but the contempt they deserved.

With our light source gone, we swiftly moved into the shrubs and trees, hiding in the darkness of the forest. As so often, I choose a lofty perch, easily hopping into the tree beneath which Sigmir took cover, the two of us instinctually sticking together so we could support each other. Ylva was sitting in the shrug next to Sigmir, using the sparse evergreen leaves to hide her silvery pelt, her aura completely withdrawn Lenore, on the other hand, was in her Hallow, not wanting to deal with the troubles of combat at night while providing me additional power.

Knowing where to focus, I was able to track the two groups without input from Adra, though I couldn’t resolve what I was hearing into a clear picture. What I knew was that the pursuers were composed of multiple groups, having split up to cover more ground and were trying to encircle the fleeing group, slowly gaining ground.

In the five minutes, they took to cross the distance between the position we had heard them first and our camp, the pursuers had made quite a bit of progress. Just as I thought the fleeing group would manage to get away, one of the flanking groups put on a burst of speed and moved past the fleeing group and onto one of the hills we were camping between. Unless they had something different in mind, they were trying to use the very location we were camping at as their ambush position.

It was quite amusing to me when the chasing group pulled up and smelled the lingering scent of our campfire, suddenly freezing and trying to ascertain what was going on. Sadly for them, we all were quite adept at hiding in the forest and in the brief moments they had to get into position, they didn’t manage to find us. The darkness of the forest was no obstacle for me and I could watch them move into position, taking cover in the trees on the other side of the clearing, giving them excellent lines of fire. Judging by the uniform equipment, all wearing similar, dark-green cloaks and bows of the same make, these were part of some organised group, not simple bandits. The authorities, if you will.

Thanks to their inability, we had a front-row seat when the fleeing group broke into the clearing, a mottled group of humans, dressed in a mix of leather and sturdy canvas clothes, carrying simple weapons and smelling of sweat, blood and battle. I could see the wounds on their bodies, speaking of a recent fight and while their weapons looked simple, the blood on them told me that they had returned the wounds their wielders had suffered.

No words of warning were shouted, no attempts to stop the fleeing people were made. The first hint they got that they were running into an ambush was the twang of a short bow, launching an arrow across the small clearing we had used as a camp earlier. If not for the impressive reactions of the one in the lead, the arrow would have found its mark somewhere in his chest but as it were, it buried itself into the hastily raised shield.

Acting quickly, the fleeing group managed to take cover behind some of the shrubs, trying to cover each other with their shields, as more arrows were launched in their general direction.

Looking down from my lofty perch, I wondered again if it had been fate, coincidence or some sort of scheme that had prepared our front-row seats for what would likely be a brief, brutal and bloody battle.

And at the same time, I wondered if we should intervene.