Aegnith could even hear faint voices, moaning in their pain. "Please... we can't take it anyore..."
The silent darkness was broken when one of the hunter elves sounded a horn. It had marked their time to pass on. A few firm handshakes and one chopped down tree later, the party was on their own again. Ready to take on the world, they stepped forward and played games with the children among them, that had been seated quitely the whole trip. Naturally, it resulted in lighthearted playing with an exhausting amount of movement.
4 hours had not passed yet since the departure of the hunters of Kob and the cycling of the cart wheels was already being tested. Sargom would rally the party and check to see if anyone had lost their belongings along the way. The children protested their departure as they were having fun and had lost most their toys in the woods. Many of them had simply forgotten them in places they had hid before.
Kor comforted the children, saying he would find 'all those' that were lost. A short chant of great joy resounded.
Sargom on the other hand, proceeded to draw out parts of the map they had been to and write down parts of the languages used in the south. the documenting of these findings would find usefull to at least a handfull of people that were way-farers. Openly writing down someone's language without their consent might not have been thought of as legal, but it sure did bring about a lot of information, she could proudly present. Perhaps she'd recieve a notice of how she'd made mistakes, perhaps some would call such knowledge trivial. But ultimately language barriers had sepereted the races for far too long. Whatever the case might be, she'd at the very least, be in a position in which her gathering of knowledge mattered, was proven and might provide her with a more certain future than the childrens life her parents had given her.
The children roamed with Kor, leading him into the dense woods. One of the children lead him up a tree, another underneath a rock but ultimately the deciding factors were not the amount of skill required to hide in such locations, rather how well a child fit into such cracks, splits and plants. An ungoral plant was such a type. Kor saw its beauty grow on trees, its bark covering the floor and even some on children carrying its branches. Though they would probably just be carrying it with them for a few days. Branches alone would die rather quickly if they weren't planted in rich soils.
Ambient sounds would fill the air as Felnor waited impatiently for Kor to return. He did not like the one that would nearly cost him his sister. He carried no intrest in his survival, but even more death would not benefit himself in his quest for being re-united. "Taking such a lengthy trip through dangerous woods with children that would take precious hours.. how irresponsable!"
The rest of the time he was presented with, left him with a sensational desire to not be in that time-frame. He decided to speak to Sargom.
"Leader, please hear me."
"Hm..? Yes friend, what might i do for you?"
"I've come to ask if we could leave earlier. We know not how long we have until our brethren are slaughtered at the hands of that mountain creature. Kor had nearly cost us our life and has left many scarred. He's a carring person, and I believe that he would be a perfect care-taker for the few days our journey will take us."
"Hm.. we could. Children are replaceable and some of them might be picked up by others. Perhaps they could even find the hunters of Kob."
Sargom adressed the crowds.
"Everyone, man the wagons! With a bit of luck, we'll return here in two or three days!"
Naturally, mothers protested immediately and directly. "We can't just leave without our babies! That's unnatural!"
Sargom raised her blade. "Any that do not comply will end their life's journey early and unnatural!"
As much as Sargom would not like to leave behind the children, the circumstance he found himself in allowed him no kindness or compassion.
"Any that seek to flee, run north. Find yourself the hunters of Kob and live among them. "
The speech had not left her mouth entirely, yet the children came back running and screaming. Their loud, high pitched voices would bring about an end to the despair and divideding forces the party had felt. Sargom felt a nagging crushing guilt in her belly. She'd taken to half-draconic meassures in a time when it was not needed. She had made the best, most logical call she could have, but she was not rewarded, neither did she reward herself any credit for trying to do what's best. Felnor was bothered with Kors lengthy return.
Though most children were jumpy and few were interested in the caravan now that they were playing with their toys, they did not seem upset or hurt or even bothered with what was going on.
Kor on the other hand, was not as happy. His persona emobied the perfect opposite of the children.
"We cannot continue just yet." He liked playing pronoun games, but this time he seemed besides himself. "The children have not seen, they have not heard the guardian of these woods. Such raw power unmatched... "
The ambient sounds became rather quiet.
Felnor would bluntly respond: "What are you even talking about?! You wouldn't have seen a guardian, all of us would see it if one was manifest!"
He stared at the sandy desert floor as his voice became louder over time. "...A guardian among us. A guardian beneath us. A guardian upon us!"
With these few words leaving his mouth, the desert floor exerted a flare of dust shooting up into the air. The sands began sliding wildly as the flares shot up left and right. The party found themselves surrounded by moving walls of dust.
A bird soaring over their position would see the desert rose swirling its leaves to the rythm of the wind.
Within such a dusty display, new light sparks appeared. And behind each one, there was a shadow. A grim darkness circled the party.
The desert storm ended as suddenly as it came. In its creative wake, there roamed 4 packs of puggers. Their leader, The top-pug, drove himself to the front and gave a grim grin.
In the meantime, most children were still, either being pulled unto the wagon or pulling themselves on. The dangers of these lands became apparent. Victory would be theirs, but their powers were severely limited for the time being.
"We ride! " Sargom exclaimed as the battle commensed.
