Karelos and I moved from trunk to trunk without speaking, keeping our steps light to not be noticed.
The figure kept a steady consistency as we trailed behind it. Their stride didn't vary and neither did it shift the body in it's arms.
Their cloak appeared and disappeared between tree gaps every couple steps, noticeable by the colored border of it.
We paused when the figure paused and continued our stride when they did.
Could they be of Geortarian origin?, I thought. Although, if we do approach them, asking them directly could lead us to trouble.
I felt like we were doing a pretty good job at stalking, until it spoke.
"I know you've been trailin' behind me. I got me a sharp eye."
It spoke, addressed to both of us despite not even looking back, practically talking to the air.
Karelos and I looked at each other from either side of the tree we'd just pressed ourselves against.
He had a disappointed look, but also like he was holding a laugh in. Stalking wasn't our greatest feat.
They turned with no concern in their movement as we stepped out from behind the tree.
Up close the cloak was a deep bluish black and everything that wasn't the lower border was plain.
If you focused hard enough you could notice the individual stitches that made the cloak up.
It wasn't typical from any culture we could name off the top of our heads. The man, I could assume, below the cloak was a Hir-Soger, judging by the more animal-like than human-like physical traits.
Snow white fur, a long snout, one of their eyes was gray and the other a bright blue, odd.
He was carrying a human girl in his arms. She looked closer to my age, her head was resting against his shoulder, completely limp.
I took a look at her face, it was the one of someone beyond what could be called sleep.
He looked at us with mild curiosity. Two people suddenly emerging from the shadows after stalking you isn't something normal.
"Didn't mean to give you a fright, you both ain't particularly good stalkers."
His dialect was so soft, his vowels were rounded and the pace at which he spoke was slower than most.
"You two are far from anythin' out here. You foreigners?"
"The same thing could be said about you."
"My village's Xuarron, right through these trees. It's pretty small and isolated."
"Excuse me, but could we get your name?" I spoke out.
"It's Nopuozhr."
A pretty foreign name, not one I'd heard before, but it does use the conventions of the Kortarian language. So these are the province dialects.
As someone that lives in the center of the country, you only ever hear a single dialect of your language, which is then used as the standard across the world.
But hearing such a distinct dialect feels so unique.
"I'm Xena, and this man is Karelos."
My eyes went back to the woman in his arms.
"Is she...?"
"She passed. My best friend since small. Just lookin' for a good spot for her. She deserves it."
- - -
Nopuozhr led the way without being asked to, Xena and Karelos fell naturally into step behind him.
Xena watched the back of his head as they walked. There was something she couldn't quite pinpoint about him.
Her senses fired up in the background with a specific feeling she couldn't name.
It was like a sensation of a word on the tip of the tongue.
A persistent pull towards him.
She examined his cloak, the colored border, and the way he carried the girl, or woman.
Looking back at Karelos, he raised an eyebrow.
"How far are we going?" Karelos asked ahead.
"Not much further. There's a clearin' nearby I know of... It's got some nice shade below some trees and the soil is soft enough to dig. We used to hang out there since she loved shade, although I was more of a sun guy."
"When Karelos was younger, we were like that too. He'd spend all day outside while I'd stay inside the castle."
"Only Karkano knows how you look more tanned than I do."
"My skin is sensible."
"Speaking of tanning," Nopuozhr stopped his stride. "Darn cloak's been bothering me, its a hot day, eh?" He lowered his cloak, letting his pointy ears be free.
The cloak had previously made Nopuozhr look taller than Karelos, now that it was gone, everyone's heights were evident.
Karelos was the tallest of the three, although not by much, Nopuozhr's head reached at about his eye height.
Xena was the shortest, her head only got her to Nopuozhr's nose.
His fur was as white as the snow from Kuzuria, for someone with such a thick coat, the day must've been scorching.
"The day's been cool for us, but we aren't carrying around all that fur like you are."
Something isn't right. Xena kept an eye on Nopuozhr as they kept walking. The pull never went away, but neither did it strengthen, just sort of maintaining itself at a steady frequency.
These two are trying to look calm about this, but I can notice they're tense. They've seen a dead body after all. But I'm handling the situation pretty well. But if it is needed... I'll need to go violent.
Xena and Karelos were following none other than Hyde K'onoma.
Geortarian cloaks weren't common knowledge for anyone outside Geortaria. Thanks to his father's decision to keep him locked when there were visits, no one from the outside know how he looked.
Every puzzle piece fell in place to favor him at the moment. If they ask anything about the Geortarian massacre, I'll need to get rid of theevidence.
- - -
thump-thump-scuff.
The steps kept a consistent pattern from the distance. Two heavy steps followed by them stumbling on themselves.
"Back up, both of you." Karelos extended his arm at the side, indicating an invisible line where neither shall step beyond.
A humanoid figure came into view from between the trees, the darkest spot in the forest, where sunlight couldn't reach.
"There's a spawning point there."
"What should we do? Can't we just keep going?"
"If we ignore it, it will tell the others about us. Before we know it, we'll be surrounded by monsters."
"So our only way is..."
"Extermination."
Thck, a monster. That man is insisting on us not approaching it. I'll allow him to deal with it, but if things go south, I'll be the one to kill it. Hyde thought as we watched Karelos sprint to action.
The monster was a low-rank demon, a little more dangerous that your average shapeless slime, but effectively braindead.
It got on all fours and started running towards the trio, quickly picking up the pace. Karelos stood in place, taking a fighting stance.
I've never used Myrn in front of others, what if I fail and end up looking like an idiot? Plus, it'll get Xena and Nopuozhr in danger.
Karelos is always trying to be heroic even now that I'm the literal vessel of the goddess of elements...
The monster gave a pounce, heading directly towards Karelos. It seemed that time stopped at that moment, Hyde, Xena, and Karelos looked up at the demon. Its hands were wide open and arms extended to reach Karelos.
He raised an arm, in a fraction of a second, Karelos had caught the monster by the face. He gave it a spin before slamming it onto the ground, fracturing it's skull with a single sharp movement.
"Was Myrn really necessary for that?" Xena pointed out.
"Without Myrn, that monster would've broken my hand, they're stronger than they look."
The demon groaned on the floor, it's throat emitted a creak with every breath it took. It looked up at Karelos with those bright red eyes, before he stepped down on its face.
A sight too grotesque to describe in this novel.
Karelos gave his proud smirk as he dusted off his hands, ignoring the mess of guts and blood he had just done.
"All done!"
Xena looked disgusted, her mouth hung open in shock at the sight. Hyde didn't change facial expressions in the slightest, his ear gave a small twitch before he spoke. "Shall we keep going?"
Karelos dragged Xena along as her feet had stuck to the ground. Why do I keep seeing corpses today...?