The Book of Terrus: The Wise and Powerful

Chapter 23 - A Hostage

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It took the Factionists longer than expected to organize themselves together and be ready to travel. By the time everyone in the area of Falerik was gathered and arrangements made to meet with their Moaanese supporters along the way to Utunma, Vinie was visibly seething with anxiety. Lhara for her part did whatever was asked by whoever asked it, whether that meant loading armor and weapons onto the back of ox carts or preparing food in the kitchen of The Drunken SkinPainter alongside Bakko. In the few sparse minutes she managed to steal to herself, Lhara also slipped outside of Falerik to forage for herbs closer to the forest. She had no idea what kinds of plants would grow further south around Utunma, and so she filled the pockets of her tunic and cloak now.

Less than a day after Yidu first burst into the basement with news of the army, the Factionists were on the move. They traveled with such haste that Lhara rued not being able to wonder more closely at how the greenness of the Gorian countryside grew wilder and stranger still. Another forest awaited them to the south, swallowing the road in a thick wall of lush, sticky heat that stretched on as far as the eye could see from Teeth to west. The trees here sported odd, waxy leaves as large around as lambs, and the canopy was alive with long-limbed creatures that watched their caravan pass with bulbous eyes. Soon it grew too warm for Lhara to bear her cloak any longer, and she stowed it on one of the carts. The humidity made a monster out of her thick, heavy hair, and wearing it tightly plaited along the scalp became less a choice and more a necessity.

At the center of this chaotic dash to Utunma, Vinie and her inner circle rushed about like harried shepherds trying to bring in a flock before a storm. To Lhara's unexpected relief, Jath was not apparently part of this inner circle. He worked alongside the other Factionists without complaint, but without any regular companions either. That left him always open to answer Lhara's questions about what was happening around them. Compared to Vinie's bowstring-taught worry, Reyson barking orders at anyone within arm's reach and Gideo's uneasy attempts at optimism, the honest welcome on Jath's face whenever Lhara approached him was a lifeline in a world suddenly full of strangers.

Apart from Reyson, the two of them were also the only 'inlanders' amongst the Factionists, or so Vinie's people referred to her and Jath. Like Lhara, none of the sea-folk seemed to question Jath's unearthly paleness. If anything they just brushed it off as a variation of how inlanders were, much like how Lhara distinguished between the warm sienna of Dhalad's faintly wrinkled face and the fiercely smooth umber of Vinie's.

Halfway to Moaan on the second day since Falerik, Lhara struggled to help Jath and several of the men push a jammed cart wheel over an obnoxious tree root in the path. Vinie had thrown her hands in the air and suggested that they just wear the armor and carry the weapons the rest of the way.

"No, we need everyone fresh when we get to Utunma," Kiiss had said. "In this heat, lugging heavy gear by hand will have us all ready to fall down without a fight." The fact that Kiiss stood by not helping to un-stick the cart in question somewhat undermined the point, but Reyson's agreement was enough to sell it. With Reyson, Gideo, and Yidu all joining in to shove, the cart had come free shortly anyways, and the hurried march south through the jungle continued.

Yidu approached Lhara shortly afterwards, falling into step beside her on the edge of the crowded track.

"You're going to swelter in those heavy things," the younger girl told her.

Lhara could hardly argue otherwise. Her woolen pants and tunic, made for life in the oft-chilly mountains, were just about wringing wet with sweat. Grinning playfully as if they were not racing on the heels of a Gorian army company, Yidu pulled Lhara into the bushes and just about wrestled her into a change of clothes. Five minutes and several insect bites later, Lhara emerged feeling both infinitely more comfortable and baring more skin to the world than she ever had before while fully dressed.