Deus Ex Machinarium

The night was chilly, as could be expected during this time of year. Nonetheless, the forest around Anh was teeming with noises of animals going about their business. The tanai regretted he couldn’t study them, but the consensus of all the kinfolk was clear, no more trying of Brandt’s trust. Besides, the situation was grave enough even without such grandiose statements.

The hoomin slept at the foot of the tree covered by the tarp that recently was their tent. As usual, what Anh noted pretty quickly during all the guarding he had done already, Brandt slept almost inaudibly, to a level that at first tanai thought the hoomin was suffering from some sort of illness. After a few weeks though he got used to it.

He was ‘guarding’ for over a candle already, but the futility of what he was doing was becoming a dull sensation. The night was dark, and neither Zoon nor Dux was visible, thus there was a nightly glow to give the forest a hint of visible structure. Brandt insisted on not setting a fire for the night, thus there was no soothing crackling to listen to. Even kinfolk were busy with things. Birdekk was, apparently, still resting. Tow and Thernohh were discussing things in private and Greoo was… absent. For some days now, to be honest.

Since he was, essentially, alone, Anh was playing with his compass sextant to pass the time. He illuminated the tools ever so slightly and was wandering from place to place around their ‘camp’, observing how the needle moved, measuring stars, and doing quick calculations. Sure, it was mind numbing, but at that point, a little of such was what he was craving for. Since he was on guard duty, every few triskols or so he would take a look around and note that everything around him is still either black or very much so with a tint of other colors.

-*You probably want to take a look somewhat to the right* - Birdekk suddenly interrupted the tranquil of Anh

-*Hey! Nice to hear from you*

-*Don’t waste time, do what I told you to!*

-*Oh!* - replied startled Anh -*what is there?* - he took a gaze towards his kin’s hint - “I better wake Zerster up!”

The tanai floated towards the sleeping hoomin, lowered his flight by crossing his legs and then shook his employer awake.

-”Zerster! Wake up! I think I saw a lumehex glimmering near us” - he whispered.

Brandt sprung into combat position almost instantly and pushed Anh so strong that the tanai floated a good two mers back. Hoomin took a wide, sweeping gaze all over them and immediately kneeled, his eyes focused in one direction.

It was difficult to assess how far the light was, possibly as little as three to four hundred mers. How close really was up to a guess without knowing how much skill did the invoker put into their task. It was certainly hexergic in nature, being somewhat blueish and much more stable than a torchlight would be. It was also slowly approaching. Its source was periodically disappearing behind a trunk of a tree, only to emerge again an eyeblink later and each time it was a little brighter.

-”We need to run” - uttered Brandt in a hushed voice -”right now!” - without waiting for the tanai, hoomin quickly grabbed his sword and bag. Anh floated where he woke Brandt up. At first startled, he started to peek nervously around, trying to locate their horses, and thus, his own belongings.

-”My things!” - he protested when he noticed Brandt is about to leave

-”No time. Worry later. Now follow me!” - came a muffled hiss.

Hoomin disappeared into the night, on a course opposite to where the light was coming from. Anh froze again, unsure where to look, and just twitched nervously. Then rushedly followed his companion.

Brandt moved with the dexterity of a fox. So much so that Anh had problems following, only noticing a silhouette vanishing into the darkness. At the same time, however, he could also always pin-point where the hoomin was. It was as if his employer was making sure to always be at the perimeter of the tanai’s vision.

They scurried for about a triskol, maybe a little more. After which Brandt stopped, faced where their camp was and squatted in the undergrowth. When Anh reached him, the hoomin nodded at the tanai to join him.

-”If we’re lucky” - he whispered - “the ordos are going to miss our camp.”

-”Those might not be ordos…” - naively said Anh

-”They are. Trust me.” - impassionately replied hoomin -”Anyhow. Now we watch.”

Anh grumbled something intelligible, but decided, with a little persuasion from Birdekk, to not commit to any further conversation. Instead he focused on trying to observe what’s going ons from the direction of their camp.

For a while, it was staring at the darkness, as even the light that prompted the rushed evacuation wasn’t visible. For a time. As it was slowly emerging back and after a quarter was back to intensity at which Anh first saw it.

-”Right at our camp, they have Arneg’s blessings for sure” - grimly whispered Brandt - “stay here, if necessary, hide. I’ll do a little reconnaissance.”

Anh nodded not really knowing what to do except that. Hoomin nodded back, threw his bag beside the tanai, and disappeared into the darkness.

Brandt was creeping from one tree to another, slowly getting closer to their camp. Which was, in his suspicion, turning into a former camp. As he was getting closer, this suspicion was becoming a confirmed one.

At first he noted silhouettes of riders and their horses. Then details became more in the blue tinted glow of a lumehex emanating from the camp.

The light was provided by a casually floating, hooded figure of who could only be a tanai. Dressed in a brown sleeveless padded jerkin with a grey-blue shirt poking from below. They had a backpack and from their belt hung a sizable tubus, one which Brandt immediately recognized as a case for a spyglass.

-”Must be the seer we’ve been hunted by”- inaudibly whispered Brandt to affirm the obvious, as there was nobody to hear him.

Next were two men kneeling over a disarrayed pile of Anh’s stuff and rummaging through it. Brandt could not discern anything about them as from his perspective they were between him and the glow. He could have sworn that one of them was the functionary they stumbled upon in Kaar Graev. Whether that was the case, it was impossible to say.

The real problem however was the seven people on the perimeter of the camp. Two of them were guarding horses. Both their own and Brandt’s. Others formed a guarding perimeter around the camp.

From the silhouettes of these men Brandt deduced that these men were not as heavily armed and armoured as the entourage he had to deal with previously. He’d gladly dismiss them as lesser men in more favourable circumstances. But now… it was a difficult judgement to make. The man nearest to him, as nord could assess in the darkness, wore an impregnated padded jacks overlaid with Paar-Aronian cuirbouille on his vitals, with a wide-bladed falchion strapped to his belt to complete the look. Two others who Brandt could discern details of were most likely similarly armoured, but armed but with short handled axes.

-"Mariners?" - Brandt again whispered to himself, scowling

Ordo Pro Cvrsi recruited their elite soldiers from veterans from various places. Be it regular army, mercenaries, vagabonds, sailors but also criminals or other underwordly elements. Two things that mattered were a burning admiration of Vhirs and an exceptional skill in the blade, or any other weapon for that matter. These men in particular, judging from the one nearby, used to serve as soldiers aboard either Maargardian or Sorresian galleys, and as such, they were excellent brawlers and ferocious close-quarters killers, swift, nimble and steady on their feet. This impression was only reinforced by the fact that at least three he noticed had actual firearms in their possession, rarely seen equipped by some chosen elite regiments, let alone regular infantry forces.

Brandt wanted to get closer to the camp, so he could overhear what the hoomin looking through the Anh’s belongings were conversing about. He stopped after a few mers however, as he didn’t feel comfortable with breaching the defensive perimeter of the camp. There were too many guards and this time he was expected. In the end, all he could hear from beneath noises of the forest were snippets of maargardian accented speech which amounted to nothing. Except maybe them being happy with their trophy.

Brandt observed the gathering for a further twener with change. When one of the men searching Anhs belongings found a pair of silk underwear and, giggling, decided to show them to his friend, Nord decided he had seen enough. He once again noted positions of the guards then started to creep away, back to where he left Anh.

-”Iz ‘ere anyone there?!” - the guard nearest to Bradt suddenly shouted -”Mac Keone! Zerster! Whoever the fuk! Me’h kno iz yo! Com out!” - without waiting for a response the man began to search for something around him and also, without knowing it yet, advancing towards the Nord.

Brandt suddenly found himself having to make a difficult decision. He could either continue to creep away, hoping that guard would not find him. But that would risk the guard stumbling too close. On the other hand, if he ran, he would certainly be chased, but at the same time, the darkness of the forest would devour him much quicker.

-”Aardbei!” - suddenly shouted the guard - “Thro’ sum light in’ere. I think me saw sumtin!”

Brandt decided to run.

It was a few precious moments before the guard reacted and rushed towards the approximate location where the Nord was. Brandt ran towards where he left Anh. It took him less than a triskol to get there, manoeuvring around standing trees and jumping over fallen trunks in near pitch-black darkness.

-”Move!” - yelled the Nord, when he finally approached the tanai, who at this moment was fully alert, although also somewhat confused by the situation unfolding before him. Brandt blasted past, grabbed his bag and quickly strapped it to his back - “After me! They are in pursuit after me!” - he uttered and immediately rushed into darkness. Anh followed Nord’s decisive rush instantly.

Almost at the same time, a loud boom of a discharged firearm emanated from where their camp was. Whether it was to intimidate or were they actually aimed at, Brandt didn’t bother to check. It was crucial to run.

They were rushing through the darkened forest, almost blindly, for at least a quanter, if not more. Brandt lessened the tempo and finally dared to stop. Anh managed to be just behind him, panting a little bit.

The bluish tint of a lumehex was peeking through the forest not far behind. Men behind them were shouting and the glow was, for what Brandt could see, getting closer. He waited until the distraught tanai joined him. Determined to gain some distance, he took a quick glance around and, pointed in a seemingly random direction, nodded at his companion and instantly rushed into the shadows. Anh followed right behind.

The woods around blended into nothing more than an obstacle course they had to best whilst being chased. Noises of animal activity waned into non-existence, rustling of trees followed suit. All there was, were trees to maneuver around and decomposing logs to scale over. Heavy stomps of Brandt’s boots digging into the wet canopy of leaves and rare angry shouts behind them being the only things their ears noticed.

The tempo Brandt imposed was immense, and Anh had trouble with keeping up, but it paid off. To a degree. After another quanter of this frantic escape, the Nord stopped once again. The tanai barely made it, stopped next to a tree and propped himself, panting heavily and almost staying on his legs, his flight being so unstable.

Nord took a look behind them.

The glimmering blue light was still there. Quite further away then before, but nonetheless it still was there. Brandt observed it for a few drips, wanting to allow the tanai to rest.

-”They are still after us” - he said calmly, hearing this Anh, who did regain some composure since, took a look in the direction of the light - ”we need to…” - continued Brandt, but didn’t finish what he wanted to say. Suddenly he began to float upwards, pulled by a force which the Nord instantly attributed to his companion. At first slowly, but not much later he was pushing leafy branches away from his path. Moments later, they were both above the treetops, and thus the forest.

The lumehex was below them, in the distance, but it was almost invisible through the leafy carpet below, in spite of it being the only light in the vicinity. It was also getting smaller and smaller, as they kept on gaining altitude.

This raise continued for about a sixth of a candle. In the end they were far above the forest, with a dim glow of the lumehex far below them. It was windy and cold. Hoomin also felt a slight dizziness and the inside of his ears felt as if someone corked them up.

-”That was” - Brandt uneasily broke the silence, if a whizzing of air could be called such, gazing at the ground below him - “very aware of you. They certainly won’t be searching here.”

-”What interests me” - Anh said laboriously - “and allow me to be ignorant on these matters. How did they track us so well?”

-”I can’t answer that.” - replied Nord after a few uneasy moments -”I could have sworn they should not be able to. They didn’t have dogs or such. It’s too dark to see us. I think it was pure luck.”

Anh put a finger to his lips, scratched them for a moment then replied.

-”I’m not convinced. But I have no better answer. Regardless, we need to land, I can’t keep us a kimer in the air indefinitely.”

-”Then get us away from where we are in a random direction.” - Brandt raised his hand and pointed somewhat southeast - “our camp was in that direction, Thus fly us in an opposite direction as far away as you can.”

Anh nodded. Brandt could not judge whether they started to move, but if a fierce grimaces on tanai’s face were an indication, they must have. Brandt just sighed and decided to allow himself to go with the flow of the situation. Besides, it was very likely he had no other option.