Wonderful 73.

The Principality Of Maladimbáh...

Tamric Drubine lifts his saddle bags onto his horse, then once they're strapped down behind his saddle, he leads his mount out of the stables into the early morning sunshine. The sun is rising a little later each morning as it gets closer and closer to the end of summer, though the morning is still warm, even up in the mountain village the group stopped in for the night.
The nobleborn youngster from the kingdom of Sarcrin in the Southlands gets up into the saddle. And for once he's not the last to get ready to ride out. It's Riley Hait the mercenary ranger this morning who is last to mount up after bringing his horse out of the inn's stables.
Though the mercenary ranger who was raised and trained in the elven principality of Alínlae in the Southlands, had an excuse.
He was discussing something with Helbe the elven thief, who as usual has gone on ahead, unseen and unheard by anyone.
Tam rolls his eyes after the ranger Hait tosses him the reins to prince Helbenthril Raendril's horse, the son of the former knight of castle Drubine in the Southlands kingdom of Sarcrin, finds himself riding just infront of Shur Kee the monk, who is at the rear of the group leading the two pack horses.
Infront of the nobleborn youngster rides Lisell Maera who is next to Riley Hait, while out front rides Dalinvardél Tanith the elven spy and sir Percavelle Lé Dic.
The group from south of the equator leave the village they've spent the night in, and make their way down a wide track, that heads down the fairly wide based mountain they're on.
The ride downhill is fairly benign, with the track that's wide enough for a heavy wagon, quite smooth, especially since there hasn't been rain lately here in this part of the north of lord Haldéilv's lands.
With the morning sunshine warming him up, Tamric Drubine yawns, the youngster who is of noble birth, then stretches in the saddle, wishing that they had more time for a longer breakfast this morning, for it doesn't feel like he's had enough to eat this morning when they woke up well before dawn.
Tam yawns again, loudly too, and Lisell Maera turns around in the saddle and says to him "Do you mind" as she refrains from yawning herself, by covering her mouth with a raised hand.
"No i don't mind" says Tamric Drubine, who grins at the disgusted look directed at him by the teenage orphan from the city-state of Brattonbury in the Southlands as she rides infront of him.
Tam shrugs, then goes back to looking at everything around them, while listening to Shur Kee behind him, quietly chanting in his language which no one else in the group riding down the mountainside understands.
The nobleborn youngster from the kingdom of Sarcrin rather enjoys the melodic chant of the monk in the order of Bru Li. True, he can't understand a single word, but all the same he enjoys the rhythm and tone of the chants, which Shur Kee has told him are devotions to the monks spiritual guide, and founder of his order, the Jade Warrior Bru Li.
The son of the former knight of castle Drubine in the north of the kingdom of Sarcrin, glances back at the acolyte in the order of Bru Li and finds the physical adept riding with his eyes closed as he chants.
Tam shakes his head and faintly smiles as he watches the most enigmatic, and to him, quite frankly the strangest member of the group. And that includes those who are missing at the moment. And that's saying a lot, as the group has more than a few strange members.
Half of them are fucking nuts, Tamric Drubine thinks to himself, who as he goes back to looking down the track infront of them, then he silently adds, and the other half are fucking crazy!
The nobleborn youngster from south of the equator who is pretty sure most of the group are both crazy and nuts, stretches again, and starts softly humming to himself, matching the tone of the chants of devotion coming from behind him by the short statured monk.
Tam along with the others, with the exception of Shur Kee who still has his eyes closed, spot Helbe the elven thief standing near a boulder on the side of the wide wagon track, a hundred yards or so further downhill.
When they reach him, Helbe the elven thief says "Pretty easy going once we're off the mountain" he points southwards at the hills in the distance, and he adds "By the looks of it, once we get beyond those hills, the land looks pretty cultivated" the young elven noble continues with "A lot of farmland that way".
Then after looking at Riley Hait, where a message is sent to the mercenary ranger via mindspeech by the elven princeling from Laerel, the elven masterthief disappears as he shifts away.
"Rather hop around like Helbe with his spells, than ride day after day" Tamric Drubine murmurs to himself, the nobleborn youngster who though an accomplished rider, would rather not spend so many days in the saddle as they've done recently. It gets a bit monotonous, even with the constant change in scenery here in the predominantly mountainous principality of Maladimbáh.
Tam goes back to humming, to match the quiet chants coming from Shur Kee riding behind him. The short statured monk has resumed his chanting after briefly stopping when prince Helbenthril Raendril spoke to them.
The nobleborn youngster from the kingdom of Sarcrin ignores the sour look directed at him by Lisell Maera, who looks back at him, and who apparently finds his humming more annoying than his yawning from earlier.
They're soon down off the mountain, well before midday. And onto a road that they see leads to another village, well it's a hamlet really, as it's a bit too small to be called a village.
They pass through the hamlet which is next to a stream, just before mid morning, and they continue along the road that heads into a forest. The first thick forest they've encountered since coming over the mountains into lord Haldéilv's lands, as the mountains here in the south of Maladimbáh, tend not to be too heavily covered in trees. Probably having to do with being in proximity to the Nomads Plains to the south.
As they continue to ride along the road, which they've only seen a few people on, all heading to the hamlet they went through earlier. Dalinvardél Tanith looks for a glade to stop in as it nears midday, somewhere for them to have a meal, for eating while riding is inconvenient, not to mention annoying.
Just as the spy Tanith spots a glade off to the right of the road where they can stop, much to the relief of Tamric Drubine, who is hungry, he's been hungry since they had breakfast at the mountain village they spent the night at. Helbe the elven thief appears on the road, and says "We might have a bit of a problem".
"Oh?" says Riley Hait the mercenary ranger as he and the others rein up "What is it?" asks Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman. "There's some road bandits a couple of miles further along the road" says the young elven noble, the ranger Hait frowns as they haven't heard anything about bandits from the locals they've spoken to. Infact, the principality of Maladimbáh, even without a royal family, is a fairly settled nation, where road bandits and the like are highly uncommon. And where what local petty crime there is, not to mention the more deliberate and violent crime that is also fairly rare, is usually dealt to swiftly and strongly by the local lord or lady of the lands the crime has been committed in.
"The problem is" says the elven princeling, who after a brief pause adds "They're looking for us specifically" the eyebrows of a few of them go up in surprise at that.
Ignoring sir Percavelle Lé Dic who says to the young elven noble "Lead on my fine pointy eared prince of thievery, and I'll shall vanquish these criminal upstarts who wish to delay us on our journey". The ranger Hait says to the elven magic user "Her?".
"Her" says Helbenthril Raendril who continues with "She's hired them" the mercenary ranger who is in actual fact a hordes outrider from the southern tundra, asks "Many of them?". "Just eight" says the elven master assassin who continues with "Mercs, the cheaper kind who'll do anything for coin" the ranger Hait doesn't have to ask if they're all human, for it's fairly obvious that they will be.
"You want to take care of it?" asks the human ranger who was raised and trained by the elven warders in the principality of Envadarlen in the Southlands, Helbe the elven thief nods his hooded head that he will. Much to the disappointment of sir Percavelle, who let's out an overly dramatic sigh, followed by a murmured, it's a very loud murmur which everyone can hear "That's not very sporting wot".
"You'll know when to come along" says the elven masterthief to the mercenary ranger, who nods in understanding, then after the elven prince disappears, Riley Hait gestures to the nearby glade, and says "Might as well stop for something to eat while he deals to things".
They ride to the glade and dismount, much to the relief of Tamric Drubine who is famished, the nobleborn youngster from the kingdom of Sarcrin ties the reins of his horse, and Helbenthril Raendril's that he's been leading all morning, to a low branch, allowing the two mounts to crop at the green grass at the edge of the glade.
Then he sits down and leans back against a tree trunk after taking some food from his saddle bags, and enjoys his midday meal.
The small loaf of bread, the slices of cheese, the dried fruit, along with the fresh apple and pear, he's had, don't last that long. And after taking a drink from his water bottle, Tam contemplates what else he could have to eat, when Riley Hait says "Finish up" followed by "He's waiting for us".
The mercenary ranger who has just seen Narladene the ground pixie wave at him, and beckoned him and the others to come along, is up in the saddle first. The ranger Hait faintly smiles as he sees the slightly despondent look on the face of Tamric Drubine, who is no doubt still hungry, the youngster is growing quickly, and is eating a lot of late.
The group continues southwards along the forest road, and nearly two miles south of the glade they stopped at for lunch, they find Helbe the elven thief sitting upon a fallen tree to one side of the road.
"Four over there" says the elven magic user who points to the trees across from where he's sitting, then he hikes a thumb behind him, and adds "And four here" not too far behind the fallen tree the young elven noble from the principality of Laerel is sitting on, lies a man.
A mercenary in a rough looking set of leather armour, who is face down, either unconscious or dead.
After discounting, Riley Hait slightly frowns, then says "A little odd don't you think?" the elven masterthief nods his hooded head, then the mercenary ranger continues with "Percy could deal to this lot by himself" a loud disappointed sigh comes from the heavily armoured knight at hearing that.
"What's she thinking?" murmurs the ranger Hait as he takes a few steps off the road, and spots another body lying behind a nearby tree, Riley aka Zubutai Timaginson looks at the elven princeling, then quietly asks him "What did you find out from them?".
The mercenary ranger who grew up in the elven principality of Envadarlen in the Southlands listens in silence as the elven princeling via mindspeech, explains to him what he found out from the roughshod mercenaries who were posing as road bandits.
Then once Helbe the elven thief explains things, the ranger Hait quietly says "Probably hoping to get lucky, and knock one of us off before we find her". "More than likely" quietly says the elven prince who then says to the others "Keep vigilant, there's going to be a fair few like these so called bandits as we head south through these lands of lord Haldéilv" he continues with "They're a distraction most likely, though that still doesn't mean they won't be dangerous if I'm unable to find them first".
After the elven magic user disappears, the ranger Hait says to the others "You heard Helbe, all of you keep an eye out for trouble" then as Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman gets back on his horse, and they get underway again.
Tamric Drubine who is still feeling peekish, even though he ate fairly recently, looks carefully around, hoping that they do run into some mercenaries posing as road bandits hired by Kaldeàlil Haldéilv that Helbe the elven thief misses.
For he could do with a little bit of action and liven things up as they ride, for he briefly enjoyed the confrontation they got into with a number of elven guards and trio of elven nobles they had a couple of evenings ago at a lake side village, even though he didn't do that much then.
A good fight, beats riding any day, Tamric Drubine thinks to himself, who also wonders if they'll stop in a village or town tonight with a tavern or an inn, hopefully one serving a decent meal . . . . . .