Wonderful 47.

Belinswae. The City Of Falnic...

Dorc da Orc is the first one through the portal, followed by Mira Reinholt the mage then finally lord Farque. They come out of an arched doorway amongst some ruins of buildings on a hilltop off the southeast road out of the city of Falnic.
Below in the light of the morning sunshine, is a town at the foot of the hill, while a couple of miles away to the west are the walls of the city of Falnic, and beyond that the Great Western Ocean. Here in Belinswae near the coast it's noticeably cooler than it is on the nomads plains, much to the relief of the ork warleader.
The mage Reinholt who is holding his power within himself now since they're so close to a population that has spellcasters, looks back at the doorway, that seems so ordinary looking amongst the ruins.
"Clever" quietly says Mira Reinholt the mage, lord Farque glances at the once powerful mage, and sees what he's looking back at, the undead warlord nods his full helmed head in agreement. For indeed this side of the magical portal is so ordinary looking, infact it doesn't look like a portal at all. It's only when the heavily armoured deathlord spots some minute looking runes down one side of the stone doorway, and points it out to the Vexilian mage in exile, does the mage Reinholt actually truly believe that indeed it is a two way magical portal.
The lord and ruler of the lands Farque turns back around and senses as he looks around, after a few moments lord Farque says "She's not here" as he can't sense the elven magic user Kaldeàlil Haldéilv anywhere in the vicinity, or within twenty miles of here.
"Damn, i thought she would've been here by now" murmurs the spellcaster who is also a highly skilled swordmaster, while a disgruntled grunt issues forth from Dorc da Orc who then mutters "Fucken tree eatin' hag" as their quarry isn't here in Falnic, which they assumed she was heading to.
If they had arrived a day earlier, the lord of the death realm would of immediately sensed the rest of the group.
But those led by Helbe the elven thief who were in the port city of Falnic, left the city on horseback well before dawn yesterday morning, heading down the very same road below. Before striking out straight east, across open ground on their way to the nomads plains. They're now well out of the range of the extraordinary senses of the undead warlord as they head to the elven principality of Maladimbáh.
"Might as well see what we can find out" says lord Farque, who then nods his full helmed head in the direction downhill, the three of them from south of equator set off, making their way through the rest of the ruins, and down the hill to the town and road below.
As they head downhill, the heavily armoured deathlord says to the once powerful mage "Better watch yourself here mage, from what i gathered traveling through south of here, is that the authorities, those justifiers aren't too keen on other spellcasters". "I know" says the exiled Vexilian mage, who continues with "They constantly checked up on Kaldeàlil when we were briefly here" the spellcaster who is also a highly skilled swordmaster, then adds "They didn't even bother with me, they couldn't sense me because of that crap she forced me to drink".
The lord and ruler of the lands Farque nods his full helmed head at hearing that, and he's just about to mention something else as they approach the back of the town, when they hear a scream. It's a woman picking vegetables in a field, a field of the dry, straw like grass that's prevalent to this part of Belinswae. Then there comes another scream, also from a woman, hanging up linen on a line between a citrus tree and a house. A adolescent girl, her daughter by the looks of it, who is standing in the open backdoor of the house, also screams before turning around and hurrying quickly inside.
"Seems you're as popular as ever Dorc" dryly says Mira Reinholt with a chuckle, the large ork who is watching a pair of tame wyverns flying up the coastline to Falnic, grunts then looks around, Dorkindle grins as another scream comes from a young woman looking out of a window, wondering what's happening when she suddenly spots the warleader of the ork race.
"Hehehe all the ladies love Dorc" chortles the ork weaponsmith, which causes the swordmaster Reinholt to guffaw, and shake his hooded head as the large ork grins as he watches the nearby women flee in terror at the sight of him.
The trio from south of the equator ignore the townsmen who come running with weapons to see what's going on. The three from the Southlands don't fail to notice that a lot of the weapons are large kitchen knives and cleavers, along with farm and gardening tools. There's very few actual weapons.
"Seems the justifiers keep a tighter control on the population here than they do along the coast further to the south" quietly says lord Farque, Mira Reinholt nods his hooded head in agreement, then he spots a handful of guards who belong to one of the justifiers, who are on duty here in this particular town, they have weapons for sure.
The townsmen stay back as they see the trio walk onto the dirt road behind the town, it's a track more than anything, that joins up with the road that goes through the town, which leads to the nearby city of Falnic.
The guards are a little standoffish too as the three from south of the equator look like they're heading around the town. Though one of the justifier's guards does eventually step forward as lord Farque, Dorc da Orc and Mira Reinholt walk by.
"Ah where are you lot going?" asks the justifier's guard "Falnic" replies the mage Reinholt who gestures to the port city a couple of miles away, while Dorkindle growls then mutters "Fucken cunts" as he overhears a few of the other guards chatting, who are wondering if he's a goblin, though the biggest goblin by far any of them have ever seen.
The justifier's guard goes to say something else, but the trio, who are more than a little intimidating to the locals. For even the swordmaster Reinholt at around six foot tall, is taller than all of them gathered at the back of the town. Have walked away from them, as they head around to the road that comes out of the town on it's way to the nearby port city.
As they do, the undead warlord listens to the justifier's guards who have regathered, then once the three of them walk around a building, that's used for the storage of the citrus fruit that's grown around here, the heavily armoured deathlord quietly says "Seems we've been expected".
"Oh?" says the spellcaster who was once the most powerful mage of his generation to be found anywhere in the Southlands "Well you and i were Mira" says Draugadrottin who easily overheard what the guards were discussing, the warleader of the ork race grunts as he heard it too, he paid attention to them because they called a big fat goblin a few moments earlier.
"Her?" says the mage who is in exile from his homeland of Vexil "Seems likely" says the lord of the death realm who then adds "We definitely know she's been here, and recently too" the undead warlord continues with "They were only told about us in the middle of the night".
They get around to the west side of the town, and as they're about to get onto the road to Falnic, a pair of the justifier's guards gallop by on their horses, heading quickly to the port city that's close by.
"We'll they're going to know about us when we get there" says Mira Reinholt, lord Farque shrugs his broad, heavily armoured shoulders and says "It can't be helped" the undead being who is also known as Des'tier aka The Destroyer to an older generation of elves in the Southlands, continues in a dry tone of voice with "It's not as though we can exactly sneak in anywhere".
The mage Reinholt wryly smiles as he looks at the two towering figures to either side of him, who are definitely going to stick out in Falnic. He knows he will too, for though he was only in the streets of Falnic twice, once entering the city, and the other leaving the city, both times at night.
He garnered almost as many stares as the elven magic user Kaldeàlil Haldéilv did, because of his height. For the townsmen of Belinswae are predominantly short, it's what they have in common with their hated enemies the plains nomads.
The two mile walk to the port city of Falnic is pretty uneventful, it's just the usual stares and comments the trio who have traveled far and wide together for over a dozen years are accustomed to. The road isn't that busy anyway, considering the size of Falnic you would think it would be busier first thing in the morning.
The exiled Vexilian mage informs the other two that the port city has a small population in comparison to a similar sized city elsewhere, in particular the Southlands.
The deathlord of Farque nods his full helmed head in agreement to that, as he has sensed the amount of life in the port city. And indeed there's far less people in it compared to other cities of the same size.
As they approach the main gates on the east side of the city, lord Farque dryly says "There's our fucking welcoming party" as there's a number of guards, from various justifiers by the looks of their uniforms and tabards, who are on duty on either side of the gate, as well as on the road itself just infront of the open gates.
The undead warlord who is sensing as he normally does, says "A couple of the justifiers are approaching too" a few moments later and a wyvern flies over the wall and lands on the road near the east gate, and soon after another lands on the east wall of the city. A justifier gets off with the others on each of the large winged creature.
As they do, Mira Reinholt quietly asks lord Farque "So how are we going to do this?" . . . . . .