Page 46 of Storms & Sacrifice
“About forty-five minutes ago. We came in through the shipyard,” is her answer. She’s stout and looks older, her medium length hair just starting to grey. Her outfit says that she has been outside for a while.
“Do you know how long ago you were attacked?” This question is aimed at the farmer.
“I... I am not sure.” Stouthand shakeshis head.
“It is alright. Did they identify themselves, or were you able to get a look at them?” Khazak is doing his best not to press the man, but he needsthe info.
“No.” He shakes his head again. “The driver and the one who jumped onto my cart were both in black robes. Other than that, I could not seea thing.”
“What color were their horses?” I hear myself asking. Khazak turns to give me a questioning look.
“They were black as well,” he responds.That can’t be a coincidence, right?
“They might have gotten far by now. We will need to move quickly.” Khazak stands. “Ranger Deepfist, David, comewith me.”
“Where are we going?” I ask as we march out the front doors to the station.
“I am going to show you where we keep the horses.”
I follow Khazak and Deepfist—Arik—west of the station to a part of the city I haven’t actually been yet. It doesn’t look like anything special, but I don’t get a chance to really look around as we head straight for a stable. A small one, but it still takes up most of the block.How did Imiss this?
After walking inside the main building, the two orcs inside tending to the horses stop what they’re doing and salute Khazak. By their uniforms, I can tell they work for or are part of the ranger force. Khazak returns the salute quickly, then begins speaking fast, holding up three fingers. Then he looks back at me with a question on his face. “Canyou ride?”
I open my mouth to answer because yeah, horseback ridingwasactually something they taught at the knight academy, but then I see one of the creatures behind him he claims is a horse. Sure, it’s horse-shaped, but it ismassive.I mean big, bigger than any horse I’ve seen in my life. I know that given the size of your average orc, they’d have to be that big, butholy shit.
“Normal, non-monster sized horses.” My eyes are wide as I stare at the behemoths in their stalls.
My answer makes Khazak laugh, and he turns back to the stable attendants, this time with only two fingers up. Two horses are brought out, one black and one brown, and they are just...huge, muscled beasts. Arik climbs on the brown one and Khazak the black, then holds his hand out to help me up.I know how to climb a horse!The saddle stirrups are just higher than usual.
“This feels embarrassing,” I grumble from my seat behind Khazak.
“How will you ever survive?” Khazak teases before sending the horse into a small gallop.
We take off from the stable toward the west gate. We’re moving fast, the city’s buildings whizzing by in a blur, but we slow down as we approach the gate so they can open it.
“Why haven’t we used these before?” I ask while I havea chance.
“We primarily use them for travel and business outside of the city.” That’s all I get because as soon as the gate is open,we’re off.
We’re moving so much faster than we did in the city. I’m a little scared at first since all we can see ahead of us is miles of trees, but I don’t need to be. Khazak and Arik, or maybe it’s their horses, have no problems weaving through the forest. They probably train for this allthe time.
We ride for maybe twenty minutes before the forest starts to thin out, and I see a river on our left off in the distance. A little farther and there’s a dirt path running along the base of the mountains on our right. We follow the path, and as we approach the river, I see a wooden bridge set up for crossing. It’s high enough for a decent sized boat to slip under, and (I hope) sturdy enough to support two very large horses andthree men.
“Keep your eyes open for any tracks,” Khazak tells me after we cross, the path turning west with the river. “We are close.”
“Captain,” Arik draws our attention, indicating we should slow down. I see why as we approach the river—tracks on the dirt path. I can make out horse hooves and the smooth groove of wheels, but there’s only one set, mostly along the left side ofthe road.
We keep following the path west, guiding the horses through the grass alongside it so as not to disturb the tracks. A little farther up and we get to a place where it looks like the tracks have moved on the path toward the center. We stop and dismount, and I stand back as I watch the two orcs inspect the tracks.
“This must be where the carriage came in,” Arikconcludes.
“How do you know that?” I look down to see if I’m missing something. “There’s only one set of tracks, right?”
“With the right spells and enchantments, it is not impossible to hide the tracks of horses or a carriage. Though not easily. When it appeared, it forced the farmer to the left.” Khazak sighs before scanning our surroundings. “Over there.”
Arik and I follow Khazak a short walk back up the way we came. Just over a small hill, he bends over and picks up astraw hat.
“I believe this belongs to Farmer Stouthand,” he comments, dusting it off. “Alright, we will follow the tracks we do have and see whatwe find.”
