Sineater

It was dark out.

There was a moon, but it was a cloudy evening, so there was almost no light. It provided a good bit of cover as I got into the longboat first so I could help the princess get in. Starna was right behind her and holding her hand. The princess was still fairly weak, but Zist had seen a naval ship in the islands, so we knew we couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

The Thizzer was going to push the boat to shore, then bring it back to the ship. There would be no way for us to get back to sea once we were dropped off, so we’d have no choice but to get as far from the shore as possible.

None of us spoke as Vin slowly lowered our boat into the water. I knew my brother wanted to go with us, but a Camadt in this part of the world was very recognizable. A Human couple with their Elf attendant would draw a lot less attention than if one of the other demihumans brought our group to a foursome.

The air was cool as it was late in the year. We were going to need to get better clothes as soon as we got to the first safe town. The Dwarf mountains were always cold until we got underground near the forges. Then things would get warmer, but that wasn’t going to happen for a while. I wondered if Starna was going to have any trouble with the cold since she was an ice mage. It was something I was going to have to remember to ask her later as well.

We reached land too fast and the snakeman slithered out of the water and looked at me. “Keep her safe.” He hissed as his hooded head nodded at the princess. He held out his hand. “Safe travels.”

I took his hand. “And warm waters.”

His mouth parted in a toothy smile, then he grabbed the boat and headed back into the water.

Starna was supporting the princess as we watched the boat slowly disappear. We couldn’t see the Mage's Bane from the shore and it wasn’t long until the smaller boat vanished.

I looked around the beach. There were plenty of dangerous creatures in the wilds that we needed to be cautious of, so traveling at night, especially a cloudy one, wasn't the best idea. We’d need to find somewhere to make camp. I would have preferred a cave, but it was going to be a few days before we made it to rocky terrain. And that was if the princess was able to walk normally. I had a feeling that I was going to have to carry her before long.

I nodded at a grove of trees to the south. “Let’s see if we can find somewhere in there that we can set up camp.”

The women started walking slowly and I offered my arm to the princess.

“Thank you, but I’d like to walk on my own for a little bit.”

I couldn’t see her face, but it sounded like she smiled.

“Okay.” I pointed at the trees. “Let’s see how far around this we can go at the tree line.”

It felt like we walked for hours, but based on how dark it still was, I knew that only about an hour had passed. There was a light up ahead and it looked like someone had made a camp just inside the treeline.

I ushered the two women into the treeline as I tried to think about what to do next. I doubted that many travelers would be hostile, but there was always a chance that it was someone living outside the cities. Most criminals that were exiled here chose to fund their mandatory tax by resorting to robbery.

“I’m going to go check it out.” I motioned at the fire and hoped that they could see me. “Stay here until I figure out if it’s safe.”

“Until what is safe?” The voice was deeper and had a rattle to it. Most alarming was that it didn’t belong to either of my companions.

A soft light appeared above us, illuminating the area around us. It wasn’t so bright that it hurt my eyes, but it did give off enough light that I could see who our newcomer was.

The man was wearing leather pants and a worn shirt. There was a knife on his belt as well as a cylinder that I recognized as a retracted mage staff. He was covered in bone-like skin and there were two glowing yellow lights where his eyes should have been.

A Grim had found us.