Wonderful 81.

The Principality Of Maladimbáh...

Riley Hait the mercenary ranger looks from the screen of trees that they're behind, to the close by mountains away to his left. On the otherside, the southside, they've learnt is the seat of power of lord Haldéilv. The mercenary ranger looks back at the screen of trees, and figures someone must of spotted them on the road to the right, that leads to the town that's less than few hundred yards away.
The ranger Hait refrains from sighing, and turns and makes his way back through the trees to the others. Glancing at the close by peaks to the south. They're not as heavily wooded as the mountains they've already crossed or seen further north in the principality of Maladimbáh.
He figures it must have something to do with the close proximity to the Nomads Plains, which apparently you can clearly see from the otherside of the mountains.
Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman slightly nods his head as a few clouds scuttle by in the late morning sky. The brief shade they offer is soon gone, as he walks back to others, and waits for Helbe the elven thief and Dalinvardél Tanith the elven spy to come back from the nearby town.
Looking more or less line like one of the local towns people, Dalinvardél Tanith walks by a wheelwrights, then a coopers, he turns into a short lane, where the shops of many of the smiths in the town are located.
He walks by both coppersmiths, and a silversmiths, then by a tin and pewter merchant, the only human owned business in the lane.
The elven spy form the principality of Alínlae in the Southlands has a few words with the wagoner to the side of the tin and pewter merchant, who is dropping off some stock there.
Dalinvardél who the others in the group often call Dalin, thanks the wagoner after speaking to him, and continues on, walking to the end of the lane, and turning left onto one of the roads that cuts through the town.
The elf who once served one of the noble houses of his homeland faraway to the south, glances left up at the mountains that look like they loom over the town as he makes his way along the road. Dalinvardél Tanith from what they've learnt while traveling south, know that lord Haldéilv's tower, is just four or five miles from the southern side of the close by mountains.
And from what he's learnt in the short time he's been in town, the local elven lord is after them. Or groups of mercenaries in general. Lord Haldéilv seems to be also after his illegitimate daughter Kaldeàlil, who apparently has returned to his lands after fleeing nearly two weeks ago. His illegitimate daughter who is not welcome here by all accounts.
Seems she's as popular as ever, Dalinvardél Tanith the elven spy dryly thinks to himself, who then crosses the road when he spots a familiar hooded figure walk from a shop, the elf from the principality of Alínlae joins prince Helbenthril Raendril who waits for him outside the bakers he's just exited.
"Seems a fair bit has happened lately" quietly says Helbe the elven thief when the other elf from south of the equator joins him, the young elven noble who has a cloth bag of freshly baked bread loafs, nods his hooded head the way Dalin has just come from, the two of them start walking back that way.
"I guess you've found out we're wanted, well all groups of traveling mercenaries are wanted?" quietly says Dalinvardél Tanith, the elven princeling from Laerel nods his hooded head that he has, then he quietly says "She is too".
"So I've heard" murmurs the elven spy, who stops as the elven masterthief gestures for him to, and they look at the open door of a leather workers shop, and the elven magic user starts talking about getting a new set of reins, as behind them on the road, a squad of five mounted house guards ride by.
Once they've rode by, barely glancing at the two elves from the Southlands, Helbe the elven thief and Dalinvardél Tanith continue on their way.
They walk by the lane that the elven spy went through, and as they walk eastwards through the town, the elven magic user quietly says "She's up to something" a tight grin briefly appears on the face of prince Helbenthril Raendril, before he quietly adds "Most likely something to do with me".
"Well no surprises there" dryly murmurs Dalin with a slight shake of his head, then he nods when the young elven noble says to him "Though she's not exactly liked by her father for some reason or another". "Could you find out why?" quietly asks the elven spy from the principality of Alínlae "Something happened at her father's tower a couple of weeks ago, whatever it was it was apparently her fault" then by way of quick mindspeech spell to Dalin, the elven magic user informs him that he hasn't been able to find out what exactly happened there from the people's minds he's read in town, including the house guards who just rode by a short time ago.
The elven masterthief who is shielded so that other magic users can't sense his magical power and abilities, glances at everyone on the road he sees, reading their minds to see what people, mostly elves, know about them as a group, and about Kaldeàlil Haldéilv.
Most have heard the general rumours that they've already found out. That mercenaries have been seen throughout lord Haldéilv's lands, and that some of them, have apparently attacked his guards. While the illegitimate daughter of the local lord, is supposed to be brought before her father if she's caught in his lands, for an incident that's supposed to of happened at his palatial like tower that's located to the south of the mountains close by to the town.
"Wait a moment" quietly says the grandson of Prince Raendril of Laerel as he looks across the road to a tavern, where a man and an elf have just exited "Mercs" the elven magic user whispers to his fellow elf from south of the equator.
Dalinvardél Tanith glances at the two across the road, who are walking east, there's no apparent weapons on the two in question, apart from belt knives. But the elven spy can see the telltale signs of hidden weapons, and that they're wearing armour beneath their cloaks and tunics.
Dalin glances at the young elven noble beside him, who lifts both eyebrows up, then quietly says "Interesting" the elven master assassin follows that up with a whispered "Not here". The two of them continue on their way, watching the two mercenaries on the otherside of the road, who soon turn onto a street to their left, and head down a public stables.
Dalinvardél Tanith and Helbenthril Raendril continue eastwards along the road, that goes out the town, the two of them from the Southlands, leave the town, walking behind a farm wagon, that's brought in produce this morning. The wagon goes along the stone road that turns northeast, while the two elves from south of the equator, make their way along a track that leads to a screen of trees.
"Well i know part of what she's up to" quietly says Helbe the elven thief, who glances at the slightly taller elven spy, and tells him "She's hiring mercenaries to find us, as well as others to attack her father's guards".
"Why would she do that?" asks Dalin with a slight frown upon his face as they enter the screen of trees "Blame it on us, so that her father and his house guards are after us too" says the elven magic user, who then adds "Stop here for a bit" then he turns and looks back the way they've come, where they can see the road that heads northeast, about eighty yards away, where it turns in a slight dip.
As the two of them stand behind the trunks of a couple of trees, they soon see a pair of riders coming from the town, one an elf, the other a man, it's the two the elven prince identified as mercenaries.
Both Helbenthril Raendril and Dalinvardél Tanith look back behind them and see Riley Hait the mercenary ranger approaching them, once he joins them, the grandson of Prince Raendril quietly tells the other two "No one can see us" as he's blurred the three of them.
They watch the two riders go along the road that heads northeast, once they're out of sight, Riley Hait the mercenary ranger quietly asks "Who were they?" he then adds "By the looks of them,  i would say they're mercenaries".
"They are" replies the young elven noble, who drops the blur spell he has on the three of them, then he tells the ranger Hait what he and the spy Tanith found out in the nearby town.
As they walk back through the trees to where the others are waiting, the elven masterthief gestures to the mountains that are close by, and he says "There's a busy road that goes through the mountains" he continues with "We won't be taking that" Helbe the elven thief then adds "There's a little known trail that goes right up one of the mountains, we'll use that instead" he looks at the other two, before saying "Even so, there's a good chance that there could be both house guards and mercenaries along it waiting for us, I've sent her up to see how things are".
Both Riley Hait and Dalinvardél Tanith nod in understanding, then the mercenary ranger who is in actual fact is really a hordes outrider from the southern tundra, says "She's determined to stir things up to catch you isn't she?" the elven princeling nods his hooded head, then says "That she is" after a brief pause, Helbenthril Raendril adds "Did you expect anything less?".
They rejoin the others, and after the elven magic user puts the fresh beard he purchased in town in the saddlebags of the pack horses, he along with the rest of the group mount up, and ride through the trees.
"Up the mountains then chaps?" asks sir Percavelle Lé Dic who points ahead to the mountains infront of them, Helbe the elven thief nods, then points at one mountain in particular, not as tall as some of the others, but still stands in excess of six thousand feet, and he says "That one" the elven master assassin continues with "We should be up and over to the otherside by nighttime" he then adds "There's a sacred grove on the otherside of it, some of the locals spend time there, hopefully we can find out some more information if anyone is there when we get there".
The group from the Southlands are fairly quiet as they ride towards the mountain they're going to go up and over, with an occasional comment said by one of them, mostly Tamric Drubine or Lisell Maera. Even the usually talkative sir Percavelle is fairly silent as they ride through the forest that goes up into the foothills.
The peaks themselves are quite devoid of trees, with the one they're going to head up, one of few that has trees going quite a way up the mountainside. Apparently on the south facing side of the range, the tree cover is even less, though down off the mountains on that side, is long valley, liberally covered in forest, where the tower of the lord Haldéilv is located. While at the eastern end of the valley, across a river, lies the lands of the Walashàele family, rivals and neighbours of the Haldéilv's.
As they pick their way through and between the trees and they head uphill, both Helbe the elven thief and Dalinvardél Tanith look away to the west, where far in the distance in the sky, they spot a griffon flying over the mountains, heading north.
Probably looking for us, the elven masterthief thinks to himself, who after a slight pause, silently adds, or for her.
The young elven noble leads the others to the mountain trail, and after he dismounts and hands the reins of his horse to Tamric Drubine, he tells the others "You'll have to dismount and lead the horses in some places" he continues with "Some of the switch backs are a little rough".
The spy Tanith nods his head as he looks up the mountain, and sees this to be so, then prince Helbenthril Raendril tells them all "I'll get in contact if i find anything" then the elven magic user disappears as he shifts away up the mountain.
The others start up the trail too, with Riley Hait taking the lead, if the trail is a little rough in places, the mercenary ranger who is really a hordes outrider from the southern tundra, wants to be infront, showing the others where to ride.
"Things are getting more interesting aren't they Zubutai?" the ranger Hait murmurs to himself in the hordes dialect of the southern tundra as he leads the way up through the trees on the start of the mountain trail "Yes they are Zubutai" adds Riley Hait in a murmur to himself in the native dialect of the person he really is . . . . . .