Chapter 17

Year 163 – Summer – Quartus Mensis – 41st day

Velika Forest, northern Vale

The sun was reaching its zenith. A fly was passing from tree to tree when it got tangled in the web of a spider. The silky hunter apprehended his future meal. The fly fought with all its strength and managed to unstick itself. The spider tried to snatch it with its pointy legs, but the fly flew away and landed on the bark of a tree. Restoring its breath and looking for other signs of danger, the fly noticed a strange curve in the tree bark. At that moment, a part of the tree bark opened. A tong snapped the fly before it could react. The chameleon hiding on the bark was chewing the fly between its teeth when a dagger pierced its body. Struggling to survive, the chameleon tried to move its legs, but its spine was broken. The man holding the dagger slowly picked it up and showed it to the face of a large hunting bird on his left shoulder.

Atilos – “Dusk, look at that!”

His flying companion tried to bite the prey, but Atilos moved it away as the bird’s beak snapped the air.

Atilos – “You’ll get it if you do a good job!”

Atilos was scouting the area around their third camp with his 30 men. They were two days to the north of Avem. He took a papyrus and a quill and used the chameleon’s blood to write a message in which he signed under the name of Mundric. He rolled the message into a piece of rag and cut the chameleon’s tongue with his knife before attaching the rag with it.

Atilos – “Dusk, fly south until you see a large town and drop it near someone.”

The man held the package near his shoulder, and the bird grabbed it with its claw before slowly moving toward the man’s left hand where he released his wings. Atilos retracted his hand and launched his bird upward.

Atilos – “FLY AS IF THE SHADOWS OF NOCNA WERE ON YOUR TAIL!”

The bird erupted from the tree leaves and began his journey into a world only he knew. Carried by the wind over mountains and landscapes, Dusk was in unity with the breath of the earth. After two hours of flight, he reached his destination. The town of rock reached above the trees, surrounded by sculpted wood. It was on an isle in the middle of a river. Many humans were walking around. Dusk hovered over the town and dropped the rag on the most crowded road. He then kept his flight in a straight line toward where he came from.

Atilos was carving some wood into chest pieces while his men were eating dry meat, awaiting the return of their flying companion.

Silas – “I’ll spend it in spirit until I fall.”

Ludek – “Isn’t that a waste, though? You won’t even remember what you did.”

Silas – “I won’t, but I’ll remember I was happy and that’s all I need!”

Danovic – “If we get a bigger wage after this, we could spend it on girls.”

Ludek – “I have one waiting for me in the North.”

Silas – “Lucky bastard. Then again, I wouldn’t want to be locked by one.”

Atilos – “You could play chess instead. It’s cheaper, and it brightens the mind.”

Danovic – “Yeah, I played a game or two in the past. I’m quite the novice, but I’d be willing to.”

Silas – “If I were drunk, I might enjoy it. However, I might fall asleep before the end of the game.”

Ludek – “Don’t drink too much and you’ll be fine.”

Silas – “Drinking too much is the goal, my friend, not the risk.”

Atilos – “Didn’t your grandfather die drinking?”

Silas – “I’m sure he’s still drinking in the afterlife!”

Atilos – “Ahahah, sounds about right!”

The fierce war cry of Dusk reverberated across the forest. Atilos placed his fingers close to his mouth and whistled. At the sound, Dusk came through the trees and reached the ground before diving to reach the shoulder of his master.

Atilos – “I hope you did a good job. Here’s your meal.”

He then gave his bird the chameleon which had been poured into salt and cooked to the joy of his feathered companion.

Atilos – “Let’s go back; it’s getting late!”

The sun was slowly falling on the horizon when Atilos and his men came back to the fourth fortified encampment. The man with a large stature came toward him holding a leather whip in his left hand and a large club in his right one. Not far behind him, his three dogs were awaiting the sound of the whip.

Roberht – “You’re late. What were you doing?”

Mundric walked toward them to hear what was happening.

Atilos – “There’s a lot of ground to cover. If they hide until we pass through them and get us, we are dead. We need to act with precaution.”

Mundric – “He’s not wrong.”

Roberht – “I need your men to help in building the fort. There’s a lot of wood to chop. We finished it half an hour ago, and it’s not that big.”

Atilos – “Then we should have both our groups scouting together to shorten the scouting time. This way, we would finish the scouting close to three hours earlier and be ready to help. I could scout the east side and Mundric the west one.”

Mundric – “The idea isn’t so bad. I could also be the one working if you’d rather scout, Roberht.”

Atilos – “Yeah, that way if you get scared in the forest, you can always run toward Mundric at camp.”

Roberht – “Mundric, do you mind if I beat the shit out of this rat?”

Mundric – “I do. We are on a mission. We’re not getting paid to get along, and if it’s only the two of us, we’ll have lower chances of success.”

Roberht – “One day, I’ll feed you to my dogs, Atilos.”

Roberht and his dogs returned to his group. Mundric walked closer to Atilos.

Mundric – “Can you stop making him mad? If we fight each other and House Valmai gets close, we are all dead meat.”

Atilos – “Alright! Alright! I’ll try my best.”

Mundric – “The next time I won’t be on your side, and both of us know what that means.”