The Chained Watcher

Runaways

This was their chance. 

They had been sent on a mission to search one of the more rural towns for any enemy spies, and there had been a recent push on another front which drew away too many soldiers to be able to spare some for tailing their precious heroes. Why hadn't the heroes been sent to go fight right away? Because their battle instincts were still less than stellar, so the priests wanted them somewhere safer where they could get some practice.

Welcoming them into the town was the local lord, essentially a mayor crossed with a noble. He did not look to be in shape, but seemed jovial enough to make up for it. "Welcome, young heroes! Do come in. Our small town may not have much in the way of sophistication, but do feel free to experience the local specialties while you're here."

"Ah, thank you." Following him in, the party took in the scenery of the town. It wasn't really anything special, and the specialties the lord spoke of were simply locally harvested wild fruits and berries. There's nothing wrong with them, but they're slightly distracted by the plans for their great escape.

The lord didn't seem to suspect their plans to desert, and happily agreed when they suggested they go start searching for any spies before supper. Gathering in an alleyway, they tallied their pilfered supplies to see how much they had to work with. All together, they had maybe a week's worth of food, longer if carefully rationed, and the plan was a go.

Sneaking out over the walls, the runaway heroes sprinted for the forest the moment they were in the clear, diving into cover once they reached the tree line. They waited with baited breath for something to happen, for some sort of alarm to go off once they were found missing. Nothing happened.

They were out, but now their next challenge waited for them. Setting out deeper into the forest, the threat of the untamed wilderness loomed overhead.

~~~

"So you're saying not only did the church summon heroes, but the heroes didn't even volunteer to be heroes in the first place? And now the heroes are probably planning to run away from the church, probably without proper knowledge on how to survive in the wild? Good grief, what a mess."

The queen of the beastkin forces was currently massaging her temples as she looked wearily at one of her old friends. He had gone out to spread stories many years ago, and the first thing he did when he got back was dump another problem in her lap? His grin was completely unapologetic, too.

"Yep, but it's not all headaches. You'll be interested in hearing this, I think."

"Please get to the point."

"Alright, alright, I'll stop dodging around it." He leaned forward. "They recognized the clothing style of the fae." Her posture froze. "I didn't recognize some of the names they used, but ripped jeans, sweater, greek style, and kimono were the words they used to describe them."

"You already knew what I was going to do the moment you came here."

"We've known each other for almost fifty years, after all. If there's even the slightest chance to gain information on what might have happened to the fae, you wouldn't pass it up even if it cost you an arm and a leg."

She stood up, heading over to where the espionage and extraction experts resided. "Well you've got me interested, that's for sure. I'll get the little heroes out of their predicament, just like you were hoping. Is there anything else I should know before you disappear again?"

He shook his head. "Not that I can think of. You shouldn't need to worry about the church summoning more heroes, though. Just about emptied their treasury to summon the first batch, plus the priests themselves looked worse for wear afterwards."