Eternal Beasts

Into the City

"The enemy is here, but not guarding the gate," Seth said in reply, straightening his tunic with a tug, secretly annoyed that they had caught him unawares. And, at the same time, relieved that his comrades had reached the city safely after last night's near miss.

He looked from Mordecai to Phineas before scanning over the denai. He then looked at the walls.

"Whether the cleansing by the thaumaturge had a part in it or not, the Harbingers have no intention of holding this ruin," he then noted, saying out loud what he had reasoned for himself several minutes before at the forest's edge. "Else this place would be crawling with reinforcements, engineers rebuilding fortifications, and supply caravans rumbling down the highways."

"A keen observation," Jeremiah quickly noted.

"Indeed," Bithra said with a nod. "And we agree; if the darklings wanted to hold this place against us, they'd need a true army here. Not a handful of scattered patrols."

The denai war leader then looked at Seth.

"By the way, pathfinder, you have our thanks."

"Truly," Ezekiel added with a nod of his own. "Your warning last night, and subsequent drawing the enemy off saved us all."

The four denai bowed their heads in silent gratitude, leaving Seth frowning, the pathfinder unused to such thankfulness. As a Lucht Taistil, one just did what they had to, to save their comrade's, even if it meant laying down their life. Thanks for that effort wasn't required.

A clap on the shoulder drew his attention from the denai to Mordecai, who, upon catching his eye, nodded and smiled. The big northerner understood. No words of explanation or thanks were necessary.

"So," Phineas stepped into the lengthening awkwardness to say. "The darklings don't want to hold this place so far from their own lines. But that doesn't mean they won't try to keep us from finding the Library."

"Agreed," Seth said, his expression becoming resolute. "I say we advance into the city, but assume every building holds a possible ambush and act accordingly."

"Again we agree," Jeremiah indicated. "As cities are more a denai thing, we'll take point if you nomads want to watch our flanks."

"We can do that," Phineas said, stepping aside to let the denai war leaders step past him. "Timothy, keep the top of the ridge in your mind's eye. Just in case we need a quick jump out."

The denai wizard bowed in acknowledgement. Then Phineas waved him forward to step behind the armored war leaders to let the nomads bring up the rear.

Thus the small company entered the city, the first group of tuathan descent to do so in four thousand years. The moment wasn't lost on a grim Seth; it was almost like a weight that descended on his shoulders as soon as they stepped over the gate's threshold and into the city proper.

A glance over at Phineas yielded a similar expression of thoughtful consideration on his chiseled face. Mordecai too, had the furrowed brow and narrowed eyes of a man deep in thought. They too were feeling how momentous the occasion was.

As for the denai, it was hard to tell what they were feeling, with their faces hidden behind their helmet face plates. But he could see the tension in their shoulders as they advanced up the road from the gate, their weapons drawn and ready, their armor gently glowing with protective spells. They were feeling something, that was certain.

According to Ezekiel's map, they needed to go straight for two blocks before taking a left. A block more should put them on an internal ring road that circled the palace while giving access to the wall castles that would've defended the throne city directly.