“High King Krannak Stoutheart was the man who both saved and destroyed dwarven civilization as we know. At the height of its power the kingdoms of the dwarves spanned across all the land, but after The First Dark Tide much of the darkness that corrupted the land spilled into the underground. King Krannak ordered all entryways and exits into dwarven territory to be sealed from the overworld, dooming his people to a gradual decline as he also saved the world as a whole.” - Historian Gesmir Horstaff, Arterian Academy of History - “Stout of Heart: The Long Echo”

They crashed through the edge of the forest with a loud crack, smashing through the underbrush with fervor as they finally broke through from the deep woods. They emerged from the misty woods into what looked like a normal forest. Dark green and brown oaks stood proudly against their gray, damp brethren in the deep woods, a chill but cool night breeze settled over the group compared to the unearthly feeling that lurked in the deep woods. The sounds of wildlife provided a calming sense of normality, no longer evoking an eerie feeling of being followed.

A collective sigh of relief swept over the group as Arnold finally stepped past the threshold and caught up with the rest. Sara gave him a friendly shoulder bump as Gil gave them a moment before directing the group forward. Sophie looked at Annalise and watched as the other girl gave a small huff before they lifted the cat once more. They had forced march for almost a full afternoon and then some, Sophie’s leg giving way more than a few times but she was determined to prove herself and pushed on much to Sara’s chagrin.

Annalise too was exasperated by Sophie’s stubbornness but with a sigh and a grin she bore with it and tried her best to support the maid. The two had stuck to mostly carrying the unconscious cat and thankfully transported her without incident so far.

Their brief respite quickly faded as echoed out from the woods behind them, sending the party scrambling to be on the move once more. It served as the impetus for them to finish this final leg of the journey.

Sophie felt twice as strong, the damp fog never really giving her room to breathe without worry. She looked up to find not just slivers of light barely piercing through the fog bank and treetop but instead glimpses of the moon itself, bright and beautiful through the treetops. For a second Sophie wondered what it would be like to touch the strange orb of the sky, so much cooler than the sun's radiant light and far less intense.

“We should be approaching the edge of Rumhol soon, do you remember how long before The Crows are set to return?” Gil turned around and asked Annalise, his figure bathed in an ethereal streak of moonlight.

Sophie saw Annalise scrunch up her face as she tried to recall the information, only to wrap up with a disappointed frown. “No real clue, I would say two days from the start so they might already be there considering we spent a day out for her.” She tilted her head at Sophie and Gil adopted a thoughtful look.

“Hmm, I’ll start thinking up a proper way to summarize everything then, they’ll probably want an explanation considering we missed the window for a combined assault.”

“Tch, all because we spent so long patching the elf up.” Thulgrim scoffed.

“Thulgrim!” Annalise exclaimed.

“You know I’m right.”

Shocked, Annalise turned to her and hissed, “You can’t just let that slide!”

Sophie shrunk down and shook her head, unwilling to pick a fight and earning an exasperated sigh from the ranger.

“Hmpf, see? Even, she knows it’s true.” The dwarf sneered with a snicker.

“Enough, you two. True or not we have two wounded civilians to transport, let’s not tarnish our reputations shall we? We have an image to maintain.” Gil chastised the two, and earned himself a few eyerolls.

“You say that as if he didn’t just try implying we should leave them behind to die.”

“I never did! We just didn’t need to spend so much time tending to her!”

“Guys, enough we’re coming up on the village soon enough. Let’s look presentable shall we?”

Two disappointed grunts followed his command like children being chided and Sophie looked back to see Arnold holding back a small chuckle whilst Sara just looked tired.

“They’re always at each other’s throats.” He added, noticing her focus and Sophie sheepishly looked away.

“D’aww, you’re a shy one huh? Don’t worry the Runebound will take care of you! Ow!” He proudly beat his chest to earn a quick head chop from Sara.

“The hells was that for?”

“Don’t scare the poor kid, we can make fun of her later, for now let’s focus on shall we?” Sara stated matter of factly, giving Sophie a small nod.

“I’m not scaring her! I’m not right? Am I scary?” He pleaded.

In spite of herself, Sophie gave out a dry chuckle and shook her head. It’s nice to have some levity sometimes.

“See?! See! I’m not scary!” He exclaimed joyfully only to receive another playful rapt on the head.

“Don’t encourage him please, or he’ll never stop being an idiot.”

“I’m not that bad…” He jokingly whined before giving a ‘what can you do’ shrug.

It was only a few moments after when Gil gestured for the group to halt, and Arnold’s cheery attitude disappeared completely, replaced by the emotionless look of a professional. Scary. She turned her attention forward and found a small group approaching them from around a bend only to also halt as they were sighted.

“Hail friends! Who takes the road?” Gil yelled.

A moment of silence occurred where the figures seemed to shuffle amongst themselves until one finally spoke up.

“Gil? That you and your crew?” A gruff voice shot from across the way.

“Markus?”

“Gil! Get your asses over here, we’ve got a lot of questions for you.”

With that Sophie could make out the shadows growing less tense as did the people around her as their muscles relaxed.This probably makes them…

“The Crows,” Annalise chimed in helpfully, “We’re in for a verbal ass reaming if Markus is as annoyed as he sounded.” She turned to Sophie and offered a small smile, “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”

She didn’t know why she felt that way, why it hit so hard. But as Annalise’s words passed through her ears she could feel her own shoulders sag downwards, all the fear from the past few days finally leaving her body. Safe!

The village palisades towered over them when the party passed by underneath, the gate guards standing on full alert as they passed by, trading a few terse words with the party leaders before letting them in. Small lamps lit up the area and guided them past the wooden cabins and houses and Sophie tried her best to not just gawk at all the different buildings and structures, earning herself a few sly chuckles from Annalise.

Life spent with Eva was fantastic, amazing even. But being a Duke’s daughter there were standards she was meant to uphold and very rarely was she just allowed to travel to frontier towns or villages. With her parents generally favouring her brothers Eva also found herself less chances to visit the capital until she befriended Prince Frederick. I wonder how they’re doing now? Sophie briefly mused, an image of Evaline’s soft and lithe face locking Frederick’s with a kiss. As if reading her mind, Annalise raised a curious eyebrow at Sophie and she couldn’t help but immediately break into a bright blush, afraid that the other girl had figured out what she was fantasizing about.

She turned her attention back to the village square, a few larger buildings stood over the square and she could only marvel as they made their way to a rustic looking inn. ‘The Swift Cut’ was a squat and overly wide two story building with a small hitching post nearby and a few horses traipsing languidly in the animal pen nearby. The group of twelve pushed open the doors and Sophie could swear whatever patrons were in the inn immediately turned their eyes over, the surprise at such a large crowd evident on their wide eyed expressions. Without missing a beat the bartender beckoned them over and pointed to a set of tables and only raised his arms apologetically when he realized there weren’t enough seats. Undeterred, the two party leads made a series of orders and settled down by the bar counter whilst everyone else gathered around the tables except for Sara who brought the unconscious cat upstairs.

A few questions and curious glances were thrown her way but Annalise mostly fielded those questions and for the moment The Crows seemed satisfied and dispersed for the night. Exhausted sighs came from most of the party and settled down for a late meal and when the two party leaders came over a flurry of thanks and gratitude were thrown at them. Markus shot Gil a look and the other man nodded and Markus sat down next to her, an almost unreadable look on his face.

Giving her a quiet nod she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up stiff, a dangerous air from the grizzled looking adventurer.

“So, I heard they found you in the woods?” The man asked, and Sophie nodded.

“Mind telling me everything from the start again? Gil only told me the short version and I’d rather let them head to bed after today.”

But his words brought her little comfort and as she regaled him with her tale she watched nervously as most of them finished their meals and left with slight nods of acknowledgement before leaving her alone.

She had just about finished her recounting of the time in the forest glade when her meal finally arrived, a small oat porridge and slab of meat with some vegetable she didn’t know, and the man let her eat while he sat there menacingly. Unlike Gil’s well kept attire and air of righteousness, Markus was more like an ill kempt, bearded hobo, paired with some scruffy leather armour that has seen more than its fair share of combat. He was also too quiet, eerily so compared Gil’s occasional retorts or questions, Markus was like a dark void, absorbing everything she was saying without nary a word in response. The only time he had so much as shifted while she was talking had been so he could stretch and she had a distinct inkling the man was getting bored.

Sophie paused to take a small breath, only to immediately become ashamed as she saw how fast she had scoffed down the meal like some wild animal.

Without speaking the man raised a finger for the barman and got an annoyed shout in reply but she watched as the barkeep dutifully went back into the kitchen to presumably yell at the cook. She took this moment to glance around the inn, it had much the similar wooden oak style that the other buildings in the village had and for a brief moment she was disappointed that the floors weren’t varnished planks. One the wall hung trophies of what she presumed were magnificent hunts, wolves, deer, and what she guessed was a mist raptor with its razor sharp teeth and scaly grey-blue but feathery head.

Other patrons still lingered around though the number had already decreased significantly since she arrived and upon realizing that it was probably horrifically late she unwittingly let out a small undignified yawn. The barmaid holding a tray with another bowl of porridge gave her the stink eye as she approached and Sophie quickly dipped her head in a small apology for disrespecting the peace. But her motion had attracted the attention of a few other patrons whose glares told her to just mind her own business and she apologetically turned back around to the table.

The barmaid had set the bowl down in front of Markus and as he pushed it over to Sophie she swore she could’ve heard the barmaid tut in disapproval. Lowering her head further Sophie moved to quietly finish the second portion when the gruff man finally spoke again.

“I think I can figure the rest out from here, seems I’ve kept you too long.” Markus chuckled with a tilt of his head.

Sophie followed his gaze and found a tired Annalise walking toward the table.

“Thanks for letting her go.” The ranger had murmured, her hair all tousled and messy as if waking up from a nap.

“No worries, just make sure Gil brings them to the guild when we get to Eichafen. I’m sure we’ll need to do a proper debrief anyways.” He replied as he left, giving the two a wave before disappearing up the stairs.

Annalise turned her attention to Sophie, the half elf taking the last bites of her meal.

“C’mon now, let’s get you into the bath, no offense you smell like blood and shit.”

Sophie immediately grew flustered and vacuumed the last remnants of porridge before shamefully getting up to follow the other girl. She buried her face in her hands and tried to avoid everything only to be met with a snort and an amused look from the ranger.

“Welcome to an adventurer’s life, no more smelling like a flower and hello to blood, sweat, and tears. We probably don’t even have any of the luxuries you’re used to either eh? Never needed manners either… ” The other girl rambled on, but an idea had blossomed in Sophie’s mind with those words, she now knew exactly how she would thank her saviors. The only question was how to make the money? But these thoughts quickly were quickly halted when they arrived at the inn’s bath and the other girl nonchalantly started stripping, sending Sophie spinning around and erupting into a furious blush. Eva, the outside world is so scary.