Curse of the Crystals

Chapter 11: To the Heart of the Forest - part 1

By the time they had gathered all the needed supplies, they were faced with two options. The first was to make up an excuse and to travel into the forest by the main road. This was the safest and most comfortable option by far, but it would give the army, and worse, the enemy among them, an early hint as to what they were up to. The second option was to find a weak spot in the defences the army had put up. In an attempt to control the situation, the soldiers had build several watchtowers along the forest's edges, and they were sending out patrols during the nights. Travelling into or out of the forest with enough supplies was nearly impossible, unless you made a detour through several days of untamed wilderness to reach a point where the vast forest's borders were no longer controllable. However, there had been plenty of rumours going around in the camp, rumours of people that managed to sneak through, and some rumours even claimed that anyone could do so for as long as they travelled lightly enough. Sadly enough, those rumours stopped after the bloodbath, as the army had drastically increased the amount of patrols. Most people were fearful of the guards after the massacre, and didn't even dare to think about trying to sneak past them.

Eventually, the group settled on travelling into the forest through the official way. Sort-off. Maiara had devised a plan. They would tell Lieutenant General Blue that they were going to investigate an area further into the forest, after hearing about it from Liberators during their investigations from before the chaos. Of course, Blue would demand for them to be accompanied by an army escort. Luckily enough, Itzal had already managed to find out which of the soldiers were the most bribe-able, and he had been paying them for minor favours, such as access to secret information. The information wasn't worth much, but it was all to warm them up to the idea that they'd get paid a lot more for something major. Slowly easing someone into corruption was a much more successful endeavour than suddenly asking something big of them, after all. Eventually, they'd be ready to let them investigate without onlookers. It was a fairly costly business, and Maiara didn't like the drain this was putting on her finances all that much, but she was the only one able to supply the needed capital.

The first day that a good amount of their buttered-up soldiers were on duty, they made their move, and requested the short expedition. Although it took a bit of debate, they were eventually allowed to leave on the same day. Things were smooth sailing for a change, as they made it into the forest where their escort kindly let them investigate on their own, after having coincidentally found some shiny pieces of gold in their pockets. There was only one downside to this. If they carried many supplies along, it would be too suspicious, so they were packed lightly. They'd need to try scavenging or even hunting, so they had paid off one of the guards to let them bring some bows and arrows. That one had been the biggest risk, but luckily, he stuck to the deal.

"Things are going well." Luna noted, as they spotted the main road again after making a detour to reach it from the location of their supposed investigation. It was a surprise they had been able to do so without running into the guards.

"It's almost going too well." Maiara said, as she looked back over her shoulder. "We should find the first path that splits off from the main road and take it, as they might sent cavalry after us the moment they notice we tricked them."

Ambrose agreed. "The ease with which we were able to leave the camp means they are confident in their ability to track us down. Blue didn't seem like in idiot, no matter how easy to bribe his men are. One thing that worries me is that this would be an ideal excuse to get rid of us for the third party. They've now got something to publicly hold against us."

Itzal interfered. "Are you regretting this decision?"

"No, but I do feel we need to be cautious."

Qadir backed him up. "He's right. This went suspiciously well. I believe we should go to phase two as soon as possible."