Deus Ex Machinarium

The storm subsided after no more than a halfer. Which was enough for both of them to be drenched and cold, but at least, it was no longer raining. Throughout this time Brandt was calming down their remaining horses, and once the conditions allowed, inspected whether the other horse was injured after being yanked so hard.

Thankfully, it seemed the animal was going to be fine. This was contrary to Anh, who floated motionlessly near the carcass the entire time and presented a sorry sight once Brandt reached him. The tanai’s hair was drenched and tangled all over his face. His lips were purple and his skin glistened with moisture. Hands hung numbly along his body and he was staring at the mangled animal.

-” Snap out of it!” - uttered Brandt when he reached Anh - “We need to salvage our things, your things mostly, move them to the other horse and get moving again.” - hoomin began to undo the straps that held the packs to the corpse.

It took Anh a few more moments, but eventually, he joined in. They worked in silence and at halter or so later ready to get going again. They loaded Brandt’s mount with whatever they managed to rescue, but it did force the hoomin to part with the saddle of his horse.

-” Really don’t want to do this” - said Brandt, gazing upon the piece in his hands.

-” Why?” - replied Anh, an undertone of resentment in his voice - “ You can get twenty more when we’re back in Sheridawn.”

Brandt shot tanai a look of disapproval.

-” This and the dead horse. It leaves a clear sign that we are in trouble.” - hoomin twisted himself and threw the saddle far into the valley below them - “We need to get moving. I wouldn’t hope on our tail to be as debilitated as we are now. Despite them being hit by the same storm.”

-” Fine.” - uttered Anh - “Let’s go”.

They traveled without a word for the rest of the day. The trail eased off, leaving the mountains finally, and by noon both men were going through meadows sometimes overgrown by bushes. When afternoon finally came, they encountered actual plowed fields, and soon after they noticed streaks of chimney smoke from cottages of a settlement nearby, no more than a kimer before them.

-” I’m torn” - Brandt finally broke the silence - “I’d want to go to this village and trade for some supplies.”

-” Let me guess” - sarcastically noted Anh - “you are afraid it is chock full of ordos, armed to the teeth. Right.”

As little as he had shown, Brandt was taken aback by such a confrontational attitude. He decided to blame it on the miserable morning they both had.

-” Constraint begets Action, and Action yields Result.” - he answered - “ I am afraid that we are being clasped by a vise. One group is making sure we can’t turn back. Another was dispatched to apprehend us once we leave the Erendens.”

-” You, Mr Zerster, are being paranoid!” - Anh shot back - “Very, very much so. Are we being chased? Very likely. Yes. Whatever. But is the church so Uheern bent to send two, or more, parties to get us? I very much doubt that. They would not have the time to get around the Erendens anyways.”

Brandt came closer to the tanai. When he approached, to compensate for the height difference, Anh floated a little higher. They were now almost face to face, no more than an arm’s length from each other.

-” Mr Trawins. Let me say this in no uncertain terms. Unlike you, I have a very long, and I mean, very long experience with the Ordo pro Cvirsi. You vastly underestimate how persistent they are. I’ve seen them chase men for months or years even. I’ve seen them commit all kinds of atrocities to get what they want. Is it likely that you are right? Yes, it is. I decided we’re not taking chances.”

-” And what If I refuse? Huh?” - snarked Anh

-” Then I will remind you” - flatly replied Brandt - “that you are bound by a contract you signed. You must honor your word.”

Anh didn’t reply immediately. But lowered his flight a touch and likewise, lowered his head in submission.

-” Yes.” - he finally uttered.

Brandt turned on his foot, returned to his horse, grabbed the bridle, and started to march forward, but after just two steps, paused.

-” I want you to understand.” - hoomin said in the general direction of the tanai - “We are not going to resupply here solely to avoid leaving a trail for Ordos to follow. We are also exposing the villagers to less … intrusion.” - Nord resumed his march. Anh floated towards him. For a few moments, they traveled in silence.

-” It didn’t bother you before” - grumpily uttered Anh.

-” Until today’s morning, us being chased was purely, as you would say, hypothetical.”

-” So why not just hide somewhere?” - continued Anh - “Lay low for a while, wait it out?”

Brandt, for a while, was considering how to answer, because tanai’s naivete was, in a way, adorable.

-” Regardless of what we do, we first need to be certain that the ‘hypothetical’ manhunt we are being a target of is purely such. At this very moment, the best we can do is to remain on the move and avoid civilization.”

-” Which we were supposed to do anyways” - said deflated Anh

-” Precisely” - replied Brandt - “I’ll do the food hunting. You will take care of navigation. I understand you took that sextant for a reason.”

Anh, with an uneasy grimace on his face, was floating after the hoomin. For a few moments, he said nothing.

-” You really want me to navigate?” - he finally responded with a surprise and unease in his voice.

-” Only you know the location of the other place. It is obvious, that no roads lead there. So, yes.”- Brandt leaned his head towards the tanai - ”You will need to lead us there. I certainly can’t.”

-” Now that you say it” - Anh nibbled his ear for a moment - “It is kind of obvious. How do we avoid our tail then?”

-” Luck and haste.” - Anh wiggled his eyebrows upon hearing this

-” Can you be more specific?”

-” If we have a lot of luck, nobody is after us. If we have a little less luck… then there is somebody, but since we are going to avoid any roads, assuming there are some, we should be able to lose them.” - Brandt hung his voice and gazed into the distance.

-” Continue, please” - said Anh impatiently.

-” If we have no luck whatsoever, then Ordos will have a seer with them.”

-” Who?”

-” Kinehexer or a tanai. With a spyglass.”

-” I fail to see the relevance.”

-” Then imagine how effective scouting is from a kimer above the ground.”- Brandt gestured around, showing the sparsely overgrown, grassy plains before them - ”Especially when you are hunting a fugitive escaping through this.”

Anh fell silent for a few drips, during which they just moved forward.

-” I … recognize there are about a hundred or so kimers of plains before us, if we follow our heading in a straight line. From there we will enter primeval forests spanning west. Those are pretty much unexplored. Only wildmen, trees and Vhirs knows what else.”

“A hundred kimers.” - Brandt stopped, puckered his lips, and allowed himself to dive into his thoughts for a little while - “Two days if we rush it. Three if we don’t.”

-” We should rush. Should we not?”

-” Yes”

Without a word, Anh floated towards one of the horses. He has undone the straps of one of the bags and draws the box with his sextant out. He removed the instrument from it and hid the box. Then he took out the compass as well. Both items he grasped in a kinetic hex. Lastly, he produced one of the writing backings, to which, after a little wiggling, attached a sheet of parchment, a quill, and an inkwell. In half a triskol, he presented as a tanai with a constellation of navigational tools floating around him.

-” Then let’s get this over with” - he commandeered. Took a look at the compass, scribbled something on the parchment, and moved forward. Brandt followed him in close tow.