laneys.info Beware of Yankees, drunks, and loose women.

Finally traveling through the forested foothills a day north of Carbost, Adgertesse’ felt the mental tinge of someone trying to contact her.

‘Hey there,” Selyria greeted. “Where are you?’

‘Not far north of you now. I’ve got Alandria and Galena with me. Brittany and the girls are safe.’

‘Great. What about Kailee?’

‘Not yet. I’ll talk to you about that when we arrive.’

‘Ok,’ she sighed. ‘See you soon.’

Cooler nights announced the approach of Saflia as they marched through the untamed, green hills until seeing the walled city below. Circumventing the town, the trio led the black horse, as well as two other mounts which had been liberated from a trio of highwaymen, through reaped fields and soon approached the quiet farmhouse belonging to Allaster. Sitting on the porch rested both knights of Arhus as well as a young boy sitting at the feet of Lericanin as he polished the white armor of his new charge.

“I’ll take Soulfire into the stable,” Alandria volunteered as Galena raced to Selyria’s arms.

“Alright.” Tess nodded tiredly as Lericanin and Allaster smiled.

“Missed all the fun,” Allaster stated, lowering his latest carving project as he grinned. “Nine nadlac attacked us last night. Nearly took Lericanin and I out had Selyria’s magic not been employed at the archers.”

Eyes widened, Adgertesse’ approached the young teenager on the ground who stared at her in amazement. “Everyone alright?”

“Yes, now,” Lericanin’s deep voice stated. “We taught them that knights of Arhus aren’t so easily rid of. How was your journey?”

She nodded, then glanced down to the brown eyes staring up at her. “Who’s this?”

“Nicolas, my new squire,” Lericanin introduced. “Nicolas, this is Adgertesse, a dear friend of ours.”

“Madam,” he quietly bowed his head and rose to study her further.

“Pleasure,” she grinned, then eyed the duo as they rested within the wooden chairs. “Sceva and Marian alright?”

“Fine,” Lericanin nodded. “So, what of the Shadow Range?”

“Still needing to be cleansed,” she replied dryly. “Anything to eat?”

“Yeah,” Allaster motioned inside. “Marian’s working on dinner now, should be ready soon.”

Orange eyes glanced back at the larger knight. “You being replaced?”

He grinned. “No, I still cook. Just nice to give that mantle to someone else once in a while. Besides, Nicolas needs guidance, especially if we’re to return to the north. Did you see her?”

“No. We couldn’t get passed the door which is magically warded. It was beyond our skill to deal with so, we decided to get help.” Her eyes dropped as she headed inside.

“Glad you’re safe,” he continued.

“Yeah,” she was less enthused at the moment.

* * *

As the sun warmed the morning, Adgertesse’ went through her kata’s along with Selyria and Galena as she tried to keep out all the possible scenarios going on in the distant mountain as her friend was fending for her life. Mentally, she knew that Kailee was strong but, the enemy had many tools to use, some not in the victim’s favor. Sleep had eluded the dark elf and it was beginning to tell on her. Frayed nerves did that sometimes. As she rested and listened to Selyria train her younger acolyte, Allaster emerged from the front corner of the house.

“I’ve been given a request from the priest here who would like us to travel to Cimpeni to assist the cleric there get his church started. I thought we’d leave this afternoon.”

Tess eyed him blankly as Selyria and Galena stopped their training. “You serious? How long will that take?”

“Shouldn’t take long. We’re going to need an army to get in there anyway, one which we don’t have at the moment, sorry to say.”

Adgertesse’ looked away as she leaned over and grabbed her weapon belt, then headed towards the well to clean up. This was getting ridiculous, she thought as Alandria approached with Sceva and Marian.

“You look tired,” Sceva mentioned as she drew the bucket upwards.

“Haven’t been sleeping well lately.”

“I know how you feel,” he sympathized. “I wish there was some way to get her out of there but, don’t worry, an avenue will present itself soon. I promise.”

“Really?” she eyed him skeptically. “Like what? No one who would help us would accept that they were fighting and dying for a demon, those who believe in our cause won’t help. In the meantime, she’s suffering and there’s nothing I can do,” her voice rose with each word as her eyes glistened.

“We’re all in that boat with you,” Marian’s mature personality always helped in times of trouble. She could see why Sceva and her got along so well. “I know things seem out of sorts right now but, we’ll save her. One way or another.”

Nodding, Tess didn’t want to talk about it any more as she washed her face and neck hoping the rivulets of water would mask her tears of frustration.

“Good thing is,” Sceva began. “You already know where she’s being held. We’re not going to have to search the whole of their city to find her which is to our advantage.”

“Now that Kristal and the others have escaped, hopefully he doesn’t move her,” Alandria added, removing any glimmer of confidence they had.

“He won’t,” Tess sniffed. “That room is meant to be a prison,” she stated as she cleaned her hands inside the wooden bucket, cool water removing the dirt from her workout. “What is odd is why the Dark One hasn’t taken her home with him yet. Why would you allow one of your cronies to keep a treasure that you’ve longed to have yourself?”

“Hmm,” Sceva’s aged eyes lowered in contemplation. “That is odd.”