Aftermath 8.

The Kaldel Plains...

They continue walking throughout the rest of the morning. Still heading to the northeast as they cross the dry lake bed.
Out infront is Lisell Maera the messenger, who is acting as a scout for the small group of four in the armies of Farque.
They're still following the wagon tracks that have led away from the remains of the downed cargo ship. That wasn't too far from the canyon settlement they visited earlier this morning.
With Lisell Maera or Lis as she's more commonly referred to by those who know her well, out in the lead.
Tamric Drubine the field commander briefly stops and looks in all directions through his brass, cylindrical eyepiece. After looking through it, and returning it to the inside pocket of his cloak.
The young field commander catches up to the cleric Beldane. While the war engineer Tovis is halfway between them and Lis out infront.
Walking side by side in silence for a little while, the cleric Beldane finally says "What does it do?" as he nods to the longsword on the left hip of the nobleborn teenager from the feudal kingdom of Sarcrin.
The powerful cleric can clearly sense that the longsword is magical. But like pretty much all magical weapons, it's difficult to identify what it can actually do.
"It wards me when i want it to" is the reply from Tamric Drubine the field commander, who then adds "Both protection and barrier wards".
Both eyebrows of the fighting cleric go up in surprise when he hears that, then the member of the church of Glaine says "Handy thing to have".
Tamric Drubine or Tam as he's more commonly called by those who know him well, nods his head at that.
Then the son of a former knight of castle Drubine in the north of the kingdom of Sarcrin gestures to the cleric's mace, and says to Beldane "And your mace?" followed by "What can it do?".
"What can't it do?" dryly says the cleric from the kingdom of Nastell with a rueful shake of his head as he glances at his mace in his belt loop.
Then looking at the teenager walking beside him, he says "For the most part it can assist me with my spells. Helping me to cast them more powerfully".
The cleric who is a member of the church of Glaine, the god most commonly worshiped in the north of the kingdom of Nastell, continues with "It's one of most holy, and powerful relics in my church".
Beldane, who to this day, is still surprised that the senior father gave him the mace nearly a decade ago when he was a novice, then tells Tam "It can have a mind of it's own at times, but seems to be behaving itself now".
The powerful cleric explains that the elf named Helbe took it away from him the morning they left the city of Almaic. And returned the mace to him just as they left the capital city of the duchy of Phelm in northern Nastell.
And that ever since then, the mace hasn't acted erratically. Which it often did previously.
The young field commander who knows that prince Helbenthril Raendril took the mace to lord Farque onboard the krean strikeship the Fídiablo that morning. And had the undead warlord's sword take a look at the cleric's mace.
Which presumably it fixed so that it's no longer so erratic.
Says to the churchman from the duchy of Phelm "Will it be able to find that mage who attacked us?" followed by "Will you be able too as well?".
"Ordinarily i would say yes" says the fighting cleric who is looking ahead to where Lisell Maera is out infront of the war engineer Tovis.
"As mages aren't exactly known for their subtlety, and you can sense them from miles away" continues Beldane, who then adds "But this one attacked us by stealth" followed by "Who I'm pretty sure disappeared through a rift". As he's certain he sensed a rift last night as the tri-masted destroyer they were on was attacked, then struck by a mageglobe. Which knocked it out of the night sky.
"Well, let's hope whoever it is gets careless and we find them" quietly says the young field commander.
The powerful cleric in the church of Glaine nods his head in agreement. Though he knows what they're attempting to do is going to be difficult.
The two of them are silent for a little while again, until the churchman from northern Nastell who has travelled across the Kaldel Plains before, asks Tamric Drubine "So how did a young noble from one kingdom end up a field commander of an army of another nation?".
"That" says Tam with a slight smile upon his face "Is a long story" adds the nobleborn teenager from the kingdom of Sarcrin.
Gesturing around them, where as far as they can see in all directions is the dry lake bed they're crossing, the cleric Beldane says "I'm guessing we've got a lot of time for your story".
"I suppose we do" says the young field commander with a shrug of his shoulders, who continues with "Where to begin?" after a moment's pause, Tam says "Well, it was about a decade ago".
As he listens to the field commander, the powerful cleric is genuinely surprised to find out how young the teenager really is, and that he's only seventeen. And already a commander of an army.
A more than competent commander too. As he defeated duke Hargen's army in the duchy of Phelm three times. Before the duke finally took his own life when the city of Almaic fell.
Beldane hears about how Tam first met the mage named Mira Reinholt, along with the ork warleader Dorc da Orc. And another in the group who is no longer alive.
The nobleborn teen thinks it's best not to explain the truth about Zubutai Timaginson. And how the barbarian hordesman was in another body at the time.
Tamric Drubine is of the opinion that the cleric won't take too kindly to the fact that Zubutai the barbarian hordesman goes from body to body whenever he dies.
Though he knows if Beldane gets upset about that. He'll completely lose it once he finds about lord Farque, and who he is. Or to be exact, what he is.
That should be an interesting conversation when he finds out about the lord, field commander Drubine thinks to himself as he tells the member of the church of Glaine about how his father's castle fell to the enemy. Then he, along with the mage Reinholt, the ork warleader and the other. Joined up with the rest of the group.
And traveled throughout the Southlands, and beyond. Where others they found joined their group. Such as Lisell Maera, who Beldane finds out is fairly young too, having only just turned nineteen not so long ago.
As well, as Tovis the war engineer. Who joined them in the kingdom of Druvic. Who is fairly young too. Only in his early twenties.
The fighting cleric who at twenty eight, finds that he's the oldest of the small group of four. And is the most junior of them in rank in the armies of Farque.
Infact he has no rank yet. He's just a cleric. Who hasn't been assigned to any company of any particular army yet.
With good reason. Because he's a cleric in the armies of Farque. Armies that don't have any clerics. Infact the nation of Farque has no clerics in it. Due to the sizeable population of undead who dwell in the largest nation in the Southlands. Faraway to the south of where they are at the moment as they cross a dry lake bed in the Kaldel Plains.
The powerful cleric from the duchy of Phelm in the north of the kingdom of Nastell then asks commander Drubine "So what do you do when you're not at war?" Beldane continues with "Travel around finding people like yourselves?".
"Something like that" says Tamric Drubine as he looks away to the east, then away to the west.
The fighting cleric is just about to ask the nobleborn teenager from the kingdom of Sarcrin something else, when he notices up ahead in the distance, Lisell Maera has stopped, and is crouching down and looking at something on the ground.
"Tam, Beldane!" calls out Tovis the war engineer, who has hurried forward to where Lis is. The young engineer from the kingdom of Druvic, where he once served a baron Harkonin. Waves to the other two to hurry them.
The young field commander and the powerful cleric jog forward, and join Tovis and Lis. And see what the messenger has found.
"They just disappear" says Lisell Maera the messenger, or runner as they're sometimes referred as.
The attractive young woman from the city-state of Brattonbury points at the wagon tracks they've been following from the site of the downed cargo ship. Or what was left of that airship. Which wasn't much.
The wagon tracks suddenly disappear. One moment they're there on the dusty ground of the dry lake. Then they're completely gone.
"Well not all of them" adds Lis who gets up from the crouch she's in, and she points away to their left and she says "Some of them continue onwards". Where some of the wagon tracks continue to the northeast. The direction they're going.
The cleric Beldane crouches down, and looks closely at the ground where the wagon tracks suddenly disappear. He runs a hand over where they all of a sudden stop.
Then he leans down, almost putting his face to the ground as he gets a closer look at where the tracks suddenly stop.
The fighting cleric stands back up, then after wiping his hands clean of dust and dirt, Beldane slightly nods then says "They went through a rift".
He points to the other wagon tracks that they've been following that continue onwards while the others stop, and he says "See those tracks are deeper, and are wider than these ones here?".
The other three nod, and the cleric in the church of Glaine tells them "That wagon, or wagons. Are larger than the ones here" Beldane continues with "Too large for the rift" the fighting cleric then adds "Even a mage, no matter how powerful they are, can only make a rift a certain size. And this mage, whoever they are, can only make it big enough for a normal sized wagon to go through, and not for a larger wagon".
"Makes sense i guess" says Tamric Drubine "Maybe this mage isn't as powerful as others?" adds the nobleborn teenager.
"I doubt it" says Beldane in a slightly dry tone of voice, who follows that with "Most powerful spellcasters, including myself can only make a rift or gateway as wide and tall as an ordinary doorway" the powerful cleric continues with "This mage can make a rift that's big enough for a wagon and a team of horses to go through. Trust me, whoever it is, is pretty damn powerful".
Field commander Drubine nods, and after a few moments as he thinks about something, he points to the other tracks that still head to the northeast and he says "We continue on".
The four of them head off again, following the wagon tracks that didn't disappear.
Once again, Lisell Maera goes out infront to scout. Followed at a distance by the war engineer Tovis. And further back from him is Tamric Drubine and the cleric Beldane.
They keep walking across the dry lake bed, and eventually the heat of the day passes. And by mid afternoon they reach the edge of the lake bed. Where they stop beneath some trees. The first they've seen on the plains whilst on the ground.
There they stop to have something to eat, and drink. And to get a little bit of rest before they continue on their way.
After taking another drink from his water bottle. Tam asks the cleric Beldane "These villages and towns in the northeast of the plains, could you get us there?".
"Some of them i guess" replies the powerful cleric, who continues with "The ones furthest south, as I've been to a few of them".
The churchman from the kingdom of Nastell points over at where the wagon tracks come up out of the dry lake bed and he says "Though there's plenty of settlements between here and there, and they could of gone to any one of them".
And that's the problem, Tam thinks to himself, the young field commander in the armies of Farque nods at what the fighting cleric just said.
Then the nobleborn teenager originally from the feudal kingdom of Sarcrin makes his way over to where Lisell Maera is sitting by herself beneath one of the trees.
Crouching down next to the attractive young woman who hails from the coastal city-state of Brattonbury, Tamric Drubine quietly says to her in the elven language "We've got some decisions to make".
"You mean you've got some decisions to make, you're the commander" says Lis in the same language "Fine, I've got some decisions to make" says Tam who after a slight pause adds "But your input is appreciated".
The messenger faintly smiles, and though she and the young field commander have known each other since they were children. They've grown apart over the years. Mainly due to the things that have happened to her. And though they might not be the best of friends which one would assume since they've known one another since they were young.
They share a bond that makes them close. Due to the shared situations they've been in over the years where they've traveled with adults. Those adults, who aren't exactly the best of influences or role models.
"What is it?" asks Lis, Tam explains their choices, and the messenger says to him "That is difficult" followed by "Do we jump ahead through a gateway?" she continues with "If we do, we might completely miss where ever they've gone to".
The attractive young woman from Brattonbury, whose mother was a street prostitute and whose father, who she never knew, was a sailor, then says "Or do we keep following the wagon tracks?" she then adds "Even then, they might of moved on from where ever it is the wagons stopped at".
"That's what I'm afraid of" quietly says the nobleborn teenager who falls silent for a few moments, then he asks Lis "What do you think?".
After a moment contemplating it, the messenger tells the young field commander what she thinks they should do.
Tam nods his head, then he makes a decision. Field commander Drubine then gestures over to where Beldane is sitting in the shade beneath another of the trees, quietly chatting with Tovis "We have to start teaching him elven" followed by "No use giving him an order during a fight or battle and he doesn't understand it".
Lisell Maera nods in agreement to that, then she says "Tovis can help with that, he needs the practice anyway".
Then the young field commander gets up from his crouch and says "Best be of". The messenger gets up to, and after picking up her pack. The two of them make their way over to where the cleric and the war engineer are sitting beneath one of the trees.
Tovis and Beldane stop their conversation, and look at Tamric Drubine, who tells them "We're going" . . . . . .