Hand Over Fist

Sirocco

'Two down,' van Joss mused as he strode beside the elf captain, Kelly.  The big elf officer was leading the small scouting party that was plunging past the southern borders of elven-held territory into the Kanid Imperium to find out what was happening with the Primiad.  'Or what's left of the Imperium, at least,' the slender operative thought darkly.  Enough time had passed since they had captured Alinar and Salina at Copper Town that a substantial vanguard from the Primiad army should've landed on Noranda's southern shores to being their holy war in earnest.

He glanced over at Kelly.  Van Joss had found the big elf capable enough, resourceful and intelligent.  However it mystified him why General Thompson had sent him, an obviously loyal officer, instead of Kent.  The mission then would've been two fold: if they discovered the truth, then Kent would be satisfied.  Or vilified.  And, if things got dicey, then Kent could easily be terminated without too much trouble, thus eliminating a threat to Thompson's authority.

Van Joss mentally shrugged as he returned his attention to the path in front of them.  Who was he to judge elven internal politics?

The small party pushed the next few days through the dense deciduous trees that made up the bulk of the southeastern forests, currently without leaves as winter's last chill still lingered on the land.  But, as van Joss had noted the night before, the days and nights both were becoming much warmer.  Spring was finally gaining enough strength to push the winter snows aside.

Abruptly Kelly called a halt as he heard something moving through the forest ahead of them.  The three elves that were with him quickly complied, eyes straining as they scanned the naked trunks around them.  But van Joss and Longspear went on, carefully weaving their way forward.

"Van Joss!" Kelly tautly hissed.  "I gave the order to halt!"

"I'm not one of your bootlickers, captain," van Joss replied over his shoulder.  "We have our own agenda to consider."  And then he and Longspear were gone, leaving the two Primiad they had brought with them, looking around themselves in uncertainty, wondering whether to follow or not.

The big elf grit his teeth in frustration.  He wasn't used to soldiers attached to a group that he commanded, not following his orders. Then, with a resigned gesture, he waved one of his men forward.  

Quickly and silently the elf slipped into the trees and out of sight, intent on the last spot they had seen the two standards disappear behind the stripped down tree trunks.  Thankfully the humans hadn't gone far and the elf quickly caught up with van Joss and Longspear.  It didn't take long after before a soft whistle reached the elven officer's ears.  Frowning, Kelly led the rest of the small party forward, carefully following the path his man had left behind.

After a moment's worth of weaving through the tree trunks, Kelly spotted a clearing just in front of them.  'Some sort of glade?' he wondered as he stepped forward.  And just about ran over his man, the elf crouched just behind van Joss and Longspear.  The two humans were staring hard through a gap in the trees, their faces intent.

Intrigued, the big elf eased to the ground beside his man to follow the soldier's gaze.  And he just about whistled out loud in astonishment at what he saw.

It was a mass migration.  Or rather it was an evacuation on a scale the elven officer had never before seen.  Whether on foot, pulling handcaqrds or riding in horse-drawn wagons, they watched the entire Kanid nation go slowly by them.  Kelly shook his head in astonishment as they silently observed thousands of the Fisted nation descended from canines go by, most looking battered and worn.

"Interesting," van Joss husked and Longspear nodded in agreement.  Not being able to understand Tranalo, Kelly softly asked him to repeat what he just said.  After doing so, the big elf could only nod in agreement as well.