The Enlightened Few - The Journey Begins

The Gora

It did not take long before they heard the rumbling of hooves of the herd approaching them. They were in rows of two by two and rode with spears outwards towards them. When they were close enough, Aden could see that they were male and female riders. The female warriors were riding on brown stags next to the males that were on white and black stags.

The whole scene was quite peculiar to Aden who was used to seeing females representing much more motherly roles. There were no female warriors in Apirite and it was wholly forbidden for females to develop fighting skills.

The female and male pairs were connected on all levels, even spiritually. The markings depicted on their bodies matched and were unique to their family's heritage. The markings had been highlighted with green, white and brown colours. The figures of the markings represented animals.

The Gora were generally a darker skinned race with long, uncombed hair embezzled with beads and feathers.

When they were close enough to their prey, they stopped in what represented a half moon. The strongest couple came forward and with a clear call shouted "Pass".

Due to the lack of reply they repeated," Pass", the words seemed to echo within the confines of the small patch of forest.

"We request to see an audience with your leader." Ilmatar's confidence was somewhat faltering.

"What do you mean, you do not have a pass? In my one hundred Suncycles of service, I have never met anyone without a pass pardon! No one has ever been this irresponsible." The leader of the pack was not pleased and equally his partner was beginning to look angrier, "Do you know what we do with spies, stowaways, illegals?" she bluntly added.

Ilmatar nodded, "I am very well aware, but I do have something that will be of interest to your leader."

"Either way you will be publicly humiliated and prosecuted in shackles." The leader signalled to the two groups on the far ends to release the prisoners from the net.

It wasn't clear if they were indeed savage people, but their bodies were covered with piercings and tattoos covering large parts of their bodies. They however rarely made any recognizable sounds apart from grunts and clicking sounds. When they were angry, roars filled the air while all movements were tracked and their body language displayed clear alertness and ability to react with speed.

Their weapons visually looked rather primitive to Aden, but lethal if used. It was quite clear that they had prepared to kill if required, as their spears and arrows were covered in what looked like yellow gooey poison.

Roots bound Ilmatar, Aden and Anemone's arms and legs, prevented them from being able to walk properly.

"Come on? Do you really need to do this? We are not going to go anywhere." Ilmatar pleaded.

His plea was frowned upon as a sign of weakness and mutually agreed by the patrol to be ignored.

The prisoners tried to follow the group as fast as the physical limitations would permit them to, but this increased their unbalance. Anemone, with one final movement, brought them all tumbling down. Clumsily trying to regain their stride, they noticed that their captors' looks indicated that a repeat would not be tolerated.

They noticed that when they had spotted two massive totem pole heads in the distance, their captors had begun looking rather apprehensive at returning to their base. All seemed to slow down and Aden began wondering why.