Spring couldn't come soon enough for the blue-scaled thief, even if she got to spend time with her verakt in the interim. The fact it was spent inside of Verist's tower soured the feeling for her greatly. No matter how many times she woke up in a comfortable bed, bathed in an extravagant bath, ate food cooked by kobolds to kobold standards, the simple truth was that being inside the white tower upset her. It didn't help their days were so monotonous. Even if Sarel distracted herself with training, setting and picking locks, playing with her daggers, practicing her sneaking by slipping into the kitchen for snacks, every day was much the same as the last. It bored her and made her reconsider the notion of settling down, made her wonder if she was the type to live a home life. Staying in the tower was different than living in the crude little stone house near Bereth.

So when Merdon arrived one afternoon and told her the weather was looking clear, the last of the snowstorms had most likely passed, and their departure would be within days, she became excited. She packed quickly, having already known what things she wanted to take with her, what would be necessary for their quest. Some things she couldn't pack right away, she knew that. Food, of course, would have to be packed last, but it also wasn't her job, according to the witch. The kobolds in the kitchen would be handling their provisions. Sarel focused on her own things, making sure the room she and Merdon shared was as empty as it could be before they left. It made her realize just how few things she really owned and cared about. Not even her dagger was the same anymore, having lost her pair after being captured in Ardmach.

Merdon noticed that too as he packed his own things. He didn't take any mementos with him, having few of his own, but all of his gear was the same as before. It wasn't the human who had been captured and stripped of all his belongings. While some may have seen it as a small difference, adventurers rarely kept trinkets as they traveled after all, the knight saw it as quite the large gap. Where he could afford to carry something, save only the chance of being robbed, kobolds risked losing the clothes off their backs every time they came close to a human. Who would help them recover their goods after all if they were barely considered citizens? His thoughts angered him, tempered his determination for the coming journey. Sarel deserved better than what the nation of Avant had given her and her kind. As pompous as it felt to Merdon, he swore he would be the one to give her that better life. They had no other choices after all; it was rebellion or fleeing for the rest of their lives.

Red and Skyeyes were similarly prepared when the day for their group departure arrived. The lot of them were calm, collected, but one stood out. Thickhide was excited, practically bouncing, which was obnoxious beyond reason due to Verist having supplied him with a suit of armor sized for a kobold. Naturally, the excitable green-scaled kobold hadn't taken it off since he'd been given it, and his armored tail slapping against the ground made a loud clang every time. Merdon silently pondered if he should have stressed the seriousness of wearing armor, more than he had, before letting the lizard free, but it was too late to question his methods now. He'd taught Thickhide how to kill, how to defend himself, and all that was left was to let him experience being an armor-clad warrior first hand. All five of them double-checked their packs before setting out, gave one last goodbye to each other, a farewell filled with smiles and a hint of exhilaration between them as they left the tower. Months of downtime had made all of them a little antsy, and it was time to act.

Sarel almost sprinted away from the tower when the door was pushed open by Merdon. The thief could hardly hold back, and it was only made worse once she smelled the early spring air. Grass was starting to come back, the forest around the tower was ebbing to life, hibernation was over, winter had ended, and the kobold felt the same way. Even though she was going separate ways from her friends, she was traveling with her mate, her verakt, and it would be just them for a long while. Just like the old days. Skyeyes and Red turned to the South-West, almost perpendicular from where she and Merdon were going. Their goal was a kobold village in a forest a fair distance from Ardmach. It was harder to hide themselves with Thickhide in his armor tagging along, but they would manage nonetheless. No one's objective was easy, but with all of the planning they had done, it was great to finally act on them. After miles of walking, once they'd split up, Sarel didn't lose her enthusiasm one bit. Merdon was more stoic, however.

“Relax, verakt,” Sarel cooed at the human. “Nothing will happen so soon.”

Merdon looked at her with a raised brow. “Really? I thought I was the optimist,” he teased.

The kobold girl grinned at his response. “Perhaps you are simply a bad influence on Quickclaw.”

“True,” he said slowly. “Or maybe you're an optimist too, deep down inside.”

Sarel slapped his shin with her tail and shook her head. “The soldiers from Ardmach were nowhere to be seen, it is a nice day outside, and we are traveling on flat ground. There is no sight of adversaries as far as our eyes can see, and Quickclaw's eyes are much sharper than yours.”

The knight walked in silence for a while before responding, “So you're saying you know we're safe?”

“For the time being,” she shrugged. “The authorities will focus on the tower they believe us to be inside of, dead or alive, and by the time we make an appearance in another village it will be too close to the border for them to stop us.”

Merdon nodded, but noted, “Unless they're patrolling the roads.” Which was why they were on a backwater dirt road which cut through Avant. However, even unmaintained roads were known to the people who lived in those areas. It wasn't a secret or unmade path, simply a less used one. There was just as much of a chance someone would travel it to search for them as they would check the main roads. Assuming the guards were thorough.

“We will be fine,” Sarel assured him again. “Let us just enjoy being free from the tower at last.” It was a nice day out. The sun was hanging overhead and letting out a pleasant heat. Far from the temperatures of summer, and more warming than the season prior, as the fields and plains around them were slowly coming back to life. Even Merdon had to admit, internally, that it was a nice day outside, the kind which made one forget they were a wanted murderer.

Their first destination was a small forest nearer to the border of Avant than even Verist's tower. They were already skirting that national boundary to reach it, but it was important they crossed over as close to the orc's main stronghold as possible. The border was a razor's edge, both sides potentially lethal, and thus it was best not to dwell too long on one side or another. In the forest, they could be sure they weren't followed before crossing into the orc's territory and moving with all possible haste to their capital. For the moment, they were just acting like a pair of normal travelers. As normal as a human and a kobold could be anyway. Their pace was steady, not rapid but not a snail's speed either. It would take them just under a week to reach the forest, and then much longer to reach the orc's capital. Inevitably, Merdon felt, they would encounter an orc patrol before getting there. His only question, and concern, was if they would meet a human one too.

To the South-West, Red, Skyeyes, and Thickhide, were planning on making much faster progress. They needed less sleep than Merdon, which would slow down Sarel as well, but they had many more stops to make, each was also likely to take longer than his. It was also paramount they avoid any humans, and so they were forgoing roads entirely for traversing the grassy lands between towns and villages. That might have slowed them down if they were intending on going to a destination which laid along a road, but the kobold villages were hidden in forests, caves, mountains, places humans had hard times settling in properly. As long as they kept their eyes peeled for signs of kobolds, they would be safe. It was something Skyeyes was teaching both of the former slaves while they traveled. Certain scratch marks on rocks or trees, remade often due to the weather or passage of time, signaled different things. A trio of horizontal marks with a single mark through them was a sign of an abandoned area, something had happened and it warned other kobolds away. Three simple horizontal lines was a sign they were on the right track, provided they were of the right length and depth. Their marks were specific to confuse humans and other creatures that might see them. In a sense, they looked like bear marks, but kobolds could spot the subtly in them. The priest demonstrated in the dirt a few times, so he could easily cover them back up as they kept moving and so the other two could get an idea of what they were looking for.

Their first night at camp was the riskiest. There were no convenient forests, thickets, or even caves around, and the grass was far from tall enough to hide in. Red had to slow cook their meal with her magic flames while Skyeyes and Thickhide stood on lookout just in case someone spotted them from afar. When she was done and they were sated, not necessarily full, Thickhide volunteered to take first watch. Both of the other two were hesitant to agree to that, but Skyeyes quietly told Red they had to trust him with serious tasks sooner or later. She relented and the pair tucked into their bedrolls for a few hours of rest. Red took the next shift, and Skyeyes was last, being the one to stay up all day.

He noted, before relieving Red, that the green-scaled kobold had opted to sleep in his armor. A noisy and silly decision they would have to discuss later. His mind was more focused on getting Red to sleep, but it was something he noted anyway. The mage was standing nearby and noticed the priest's look, likely she felt the same way. Skyeyes approached her in the dark with a smile. It was more than light enough out for them to see with the half-moon making its way to the West, and their night vision was excellent to start with.

“You may rest now,” Skyeyes whispered to her. Red nodded and surveyed the surroundings one last time. Taking long enough for the white kobold to frown and ask, “Is something troubling you?”

Red shook her head and crossed her arms. “I'm just getting used to being on the road again,” she told him. But, Skyeyes didn't believe that.

“You've been … distant,” he said quietly. “Ever since we agreed to seek aid from the kobolds.”

There was a long silence before Red replied, “Did we really agree?” Skyeyes cocked his head at the notion. “Verist is so pushy,” she almost spat. “It is the plan that makes the most sense, but still, it feels as though we were given no choice in the matter.”

“Perhaps we weren't,” Skyeyes agreed. “But, rather than Verist, it was circumstance. Our kind would not listen to Merdon, you know this.”

“Yes, I do,” Red sighed, exasperated. She had admitted that long ago, she didn't need to be reminded. “That is my point. Verist and Merdon are making plans around us and we're no better than pawns.”

The white kobold frowned at her. “To Verist, perhaps, but not to Merdon. You know better than that,” he chastised.

She frowned back for a moment. “I know,” the mage relented. “I'm just saying, that's how it feels.” Like they were using them both.

“I can understand the frustration,” Skyeyes told her. “When Reing explained to me the concept of the goddess, that each of our lives was roughly planned out, I felt the same way.”

Red made a face, recalling the times Skyeyes himself had explained it. “Yes, that's largely why I haven't agreed to your religion,” she reminded him. “Destiny. It's a disgusting idea to me.” To insinuate all creatures were the slaves of the divine brought out a wave of primal anger in the red-scaled kobold.

Skyeyes nodded, but told her, “It helps in times like these, however. You were supposed to go, possibly because you are the only one that will convince the kobolds.”

The mage sighed and shook her head, turning to go to bed. “It helps you, Shistra. Not me.” The priest froze at her use of his name, she rarely used it even in private, and she was gone before he could respond.

Skyeyes thought on her statement the rest of the night. Religion wasn't for everyone, and certainly there was no one god or goddess who fit the masses. Even if Skyeyes believed in the teachings of Ethral he knew many would disagree with them. Red was one of them, he needed to accept it. It didn't diminish what they had. He pondered on their conversation until the sun started to rise. With daybreak staring him in the face, he turned and woke his companions up. They needed breakfast before they got started, and the light of the sun would help hide a slightly bigger flame so they could have a bit more food for the start of the day.

While Red took care of breakfast, Skyeyes had a talk with Thickhide about his armor. The green kobold was let down, a little embarrassed, but agreed that his nightly clanking while laying on the ground was probably not his best idea. The priest couldn't fault his enthusiasm at least. He couldn't imagine having been told to take off his robe at all during the first couple of weeks he had it, but it had needed to be washed in time and he steadily learned to let it go. Thickhide had to do the same, just much quicker.

After their breakfast of meat seared on an open flame, the trio resumed their walk towards the nearest kobold village that Skyeyes remembered. They were working almost entirely off of his knowledge of the area and some of it was out of date. It had been many months since he'd passed by this end of Ardmach, but he hadn't heard of any raids nearby either. Kobold villages were normally up to date on such things and he had been traveling from one village to the next until he joined up with Merdon and Quickclaw. Still, he admitted during their planning they had been together for nearly a year and a lot of things could happen in that span of time. Red felt hesitant about the possibility of an ambush, to say the least of her concerns, but it was unlikely they lost anything by checking. At the very least they could gather information about the other villages they had planned on visiting if the one they were heading towards was still around.

It took them two more days to reach the forest in question, but when they arrived Skyeyes pointed out the signs to them. A tree near the entrance to the forest had the marks, and there were no additional lines through them. They were on the right track, and the priest urged them on. In the middle of the forest, he halted their advance and gestured to something on the ground. Red knelt down and looked. There was something like a tripwire, strung together from grass instead of rope to make it blend into the forest floor. An early warning for the kobolds ahead that someone was approaching. More than likely, the trap extended all the way around the village.

Stepping over the line carefully, the trio continued until they finally entered the kobold settlement. Their homes were built into the trees, either up above or inside the trunks. Red guessed that it made for very tight squeezes, but it was better than being out in the open. Several dozen kobolds stopped when they walked in, and at least half of them fled after seeing Thickhide dressed in his armor. The others took up a more combative stance until Skyeyes stepped between them and held his hands up. Quickly as he could without arousing more suspicion, the priest lifted Thickhide's visor, revealing the lizard within. Confusion replaced the hostility from a moment ago among those still standing there, but Skyeyes was ever the diplomat.

“We've come to speak to your elder,” he told them carefully. They looked at each other with worry, but the ones who had run had already done as the priest wanted. An older kobold, one of the oldest Skyeyes had seen, approached them. He leaned on a cane cut for his height, and unlike many elders he had seen, this one appeared to truly need the support. It spoke volumes about his age.

“What is it you want?” he asked them with a shaky voice.

Skyeyes nodded respectfully and said, “We've come to ask your village to join us. In freeing our kind.”

Muttering among those who stayed grew loud, but the elder ignored their words. “And who is us?” he asked cautiously. “What other villages have agreed?”

“None,” Skyeyes told him bluntly. “This was the closest village to us.”

The voices in the back went silent after hearing that. “So you would ask us to step forward first?” the old, grey-scaled elder asked, almost indignantly. “To volunteer for such a suicide mission, with no others?”

Red huffed. “We are not asking you to join alone,” she told him. “We are journeying to every kobold village we can to recruit as many as possible. And, if all goes according to plan, it won't just be kobolds that fight.”

“Who else would fight for us?” the elder asked, dismissive.

“The orcs,” Red fired back with an angry stare. Her response roused the voices from before, louder this time.

The elder paused and considered those allies. “If you can bring us one of these orcs,” he said slowly, “One that will guarantee we do not fight alone, you shall have our aid.”

Thickhide grinned at the agreement and looked at Skyeyes. “Then we just have to hope sir Merdon comes through,” he said excitedly.

His words, however, caused the elder to pause. “Merdon? That... is not a kobold name,” he said, considering it as the name slid from his tongue. “Who is Merdon?”

The priest froze, his feet and hands going clammy. He had hoped they wouldn't have to reveal their other helper before this. If they didn't tell him who Merdon was, the deal would surely be over. Telling them, on the other hand, would end the deal just as quickly. Merdon was a human, the kobolds would not trust a human, even if an orc, or the whole nation of orcs, were involved. Not without very good reason. Reasons that Merdon had yet to give the kobolds. Despite freeing the ones in Sedra, despite the ones in the tower, it didn't erase all those years of hardship they had been given from humanity. Fortunately, Thickhide spoke for the priest, and he did so without abandon.

“Merdon is a knight!” he exclaimed. “He defeated the witch Verist in the white tower, and now they are helping us plot a rebellion.”

Two humans. One unheard of, but the other, her name and location, caused the kobold's mutterings to turn disgusted. Red frowned and shot Thickhide an upset look. He didn't know what was wrong about what he said. The green-scaled kobold had been born and raised in slavery, and he acted like it too. There was nothing wrong with humans helping him with things like this. They were his enemy, but it was hard to see them as such. Especially with how he held Verist.

“Leave,” the elder said to them coldly. “Traitors like yourselves are not welcome among us. Any of us. You will find no help in any village.”

Red growled and turned right away. “This is a waste of time,” she said to Skyeyes. “No kobold village will help us when they hear of this.”

Skyeyes tried to speak with the elder further, at least learn of what news other settlements had, but the kobolds who had been ready to fight them pushed him back as the elder walked away. They were quite literally unwelcome in that village, banished even as outsiders. Red grabbed Skyeyes by the robe and pulled him away from the others, flashing flames in her palms as she did. The demonstration caused the other kobolds to step back in shock and even managed to get the elder to turn around. She stared at them with fire in her hands for a good while before putting it out.

“Let's go, Skyeyes,” she commanded him. “These ones want nothing to do with us.” The way she said it, it sounded like the villagers were the ones missing out, and indeed some of them felt that way after seeing the flames. Magic. A kobold with magic specifically. Still, their elder was resolute. He turned from them again and started back to his own home.

The priest frowned but turned to follow her. “There's another village, near the mountains,” he said softly. That was their next goal.

Red grunted, sour-faced, and said nothing. It was clear she didn't like how things had gone, and even Thickhide seemed upset. He didn't know why they were turned away. Yet another thing they would have to explain to the sheltered kobold. The mage felt like Verist had shoved him off on them as babysitting rather than as help. Like she expected them to teach him, wipe up his dribble, and return him in mint condition. Her anger boiled over and, as they walked out of the forest after noon, she scraped her claws through the village's mark on the tree. Skyeyes looked disturbed by her act but said nothing. The villagers would fix that, no harm would be done, it was just a very spiteful thing to do. Something he didn't think Red was exactly capable of.