I had been able to catch a little more sleep by the time morning came around. I probably could have slept longer but I woke when Kaele started stirring. The others were about already. Especially Kor'za and Kivilan as well as the two children. The latter were kept busy with the preparations for breakfast. Breakfast, that meant some kind of porridge with ground nuts and dried fruits. There wasn't a whole lot of it, but that probably wasn't due to a general shortness of supplies. Instead Kivilan had carefully measured how much of everything went into the big clay bowl in the coals. He did his best to make what little we had last a little longer without impairing our combat strength too much. He might make a decent quartermaster one of these days. No, scratch that. He already was a pretty good quartermaster.

Once we were done, we sent the children a bit deeper into the cave with supplies that should last them a day or two, should Kor'za's plan not succeed and the worst happen. There were a few narrow spots along the way that any pursuers would have trouble with. There was a much more narrow exit still a bit further in as well. That eased my mind quite a bit. No matter what happened, the two should be safe. At least for a while. We, on the other hand, armed ourselves. For the better part that meant that we took the crossbows and the bolts we salvaged from our last battle. I left my pretty much ruined armor here, wearing only the tunic I wore under it instead. The same was true for most of our other weapons and my glaive.

Kivilan had started working on it. Supposedly he knew a thing or two about maintaining weapons as one of his aunts was a blacksmith. He didn't even bother with the mangled bronze blade though. Instead he removed it and started work on replacing it with one of the massive blades of the cleavers the butchers had wielded. That took some serious effort though and he wasn't even close to finishing yet. Thus the thing was left behind. Once he was done though, it would be a deadly weapon again, even if it no longer looked anything like the polearm I borrowed from mother's armory no more than a few days ago. Given our luck so far I was certain that I would get a chance to put it to the test before long.

First we had to deal with potential pursuers again though. No, there hardly was any question that there were pursuers. We had hurt these raiders and especially their supply line too much for them to just ignore us. They would risk us striking there again otherwise. There would be pursuit, that much was for sure. The only thing in question was the nature and exact number of our pursuers. Would it be human soldiers or elven headhunters? Either way, we would have to kill them all. We could not afford to let any of them escape this time. Our newest comrades led us back along the way we had come yesterday. Or at least I assumed that much. I couldn't remember this part of the trek. I must have slept through it.

I could only follow the others. The trek took us some time and even if it grated to do so, I had to admit that the reason was probably me. Every step still hurt and I didn't dare move too fast, fearing that I might reopen one of the many half healed wounds adorning my body. Every once in a while I imagined I could pick up some traces of our previous passage. They had really done their best to erase our tracks but they hadn't been entirely successful. Maybe this would work to our advantage. With us trying to cove our tracks they might not expect an ambush if we were lucky. Ugh! That again. We really shouldn't rely on luck regarding this matter.

Finally we reached a ravine. It wasn't terribly narrow. Two or three people could walk abreast in there and still have some room, but it supposedly was the best spot for Kor'za's plan as the enemy wouldn't be able easily to outflank us here. A determined enemy might still be able to do it, but we would see it coming. We took up position above the ravine on either side of it, spreading it to cover its length and each others back. Each one of us hid in between trees, bushes, ferns and rocks and under piles of old leaves. Our two local guides did their best to make sure we wouldn't be spotted early. Then they dropped most of their gear in their own hiding spots.

Leaving behind your weapons might sound crazy but it was necessary. They would have to move fast for the plan to work. To be more precise, they would have to move faster than a pack of enraged dire boars. If they didn't they would be dead and the same would probably be true for us as well. I grimaced. I could really only wait for things to unfold. The same was true for Khuzan and my sister. Only Eld'tide had an active part in the initial stage of the ambush. She had to signal the arrival of our enemies, so the other two could properly time their arrival with our involuntary reinforcements. They would have to time it perfectly. Nothing less would do.

Once they had unburdened themselves, they left. We on the other hand were left to wait. It wasn't a comfortable wait either. The wet, dead leaves on their own would have been bad enough. After a while fog started to drift in as well though. Now we were not only wet but cold as well. Still we stayed vigilant. In hindsight I probably should have expected it. We had had fog yesterday as well after all. I could only hope that Kor'za had accounted for it in her plans, as sound carried strangely in the mist. If they missed Eld'tides signal our chances would be grim. I didn't really want to think about the possibility, but now, that the thought had crossed my mind it was too late.

I silently cursed myself as I lay there waiting, thinking about a thousand ways this could go horribly wrong. I almost missed our pursuers as they appeared. It was elven headhunters. They moved silently through the mist, almost like ghosts, only stopping every once in a while to check the sparse evidence of our passage. Thankfully Eld'tide was more alert than I. As the four head hunters stopped at the entrance of the ravine, probably to coordinate themselves, she blew into a horn. Its sound carried far and wide. The sound left me a little flabbergasted. I had expected something more subtle.

The same probably was true for the four pale elves with their hideous hunting trophies. They looked at each other and scattered at the entrance of the ravine, taking cover behind rocks and trees. As nothing happened they started to make their way through this bottleneck. They remained alert, moving from one cover to the next. Still they would pass us by like this before long so we had to slow them down further. I wasn't quite sure, but it was either Kaele or Khuzan who opened fire first. Most likely it was my sister though as the bolt flew wide of its intended target. It shattered against the rocky walls of the ravine instead. The four elves dove back into cover. I aimed a little more careful, waiting for one of them to rise again. Despite my best efforts I didn't score a hit either.

That was no issue though. We took turns to keep them from advancing any further. Ideally that was all we would have to do. I was so focused on reloading my weapon that the first arrow fired in return surprised me almost enough to drop the crossbow. By now they probably had figured out that there were only a few of us and that we would run out of ammunition rather sooner than later. As far as they could tell, they would win this waiting game if they just held out long enough without getting hit. Good. Now where were our reinforcements. I didn't feel like proving those man eating, pointy eared assholes right.

When it happened it happened almost too fast to properly take note. The sound of breaking wood and uprooted trees crashing to the ground was our only warning. As the angry squeals of the dire boars became audible Kor'za was already sprinting past my position, down below in the ravine, followed by Kivilan and three of the most monstrous, feral pigs I had ever seen. The beasts were hot on their heels. As the head hunters realized what was going on it was already too late. One of them tried to shoot our comrades to stop their mad charge, but his hastily fired arrow missed, hitting one of the boars instead, angering it even more. The gorgon and the darkelf passed by our enemies who had yet to even try to turn and run. They never got the chance. What followed was a bloody carnage. Kor'za and Kvilan never stopped or even slowed though, heading directly for a sheer cliff instead, climbing it, as if death itself was after them, which was not that far from the truth.