“Thank you,” Jularra said with a quick but genuine warmth.
Korden glanced at her before continuing. “I have also sent word to Brinnock to expect you and your group, and to have the remainder of the supplies ready on your arrival.”
“Well done, Chief Korden. I believe Morganon is in order.”
Korden bent forward in agreement. Jularra turned to him.
“Then I wish you, and all of Acorilan, health and peace while we are gone.”
Korden bowed, officially. No sooner had he straightened up again than he turned sharply and marched off.
A torrent of feelings tore through her veins. Regret. Anger. Guilt. And, for a moment, possibly even love. But she drew in a huge breath and sighed out the possibility of such silliness. She watched Korden turn a corner. Then she snapped her fingers at a nearby Spire.
“Sound the departure.”
***
Jularra's company made quick work of the stretch of Catahba Road between Morganon and Brinnock. While it hadn’t been completely tended to yet, many of the least hospitable sections had been addressed in the weeks following the Acorilinian invasion of Torguria. Within a few days, Jularra had arrived at her newly acquired city and taken on fresh supplies. At sunrise on the day following their arrival at Brinnock, Jularra and her group set out for Yubik.
The Moidpent Foothills—the area between Brinnock and the slopes of the western Yubik mountains—was still the most overgrown portion of the journey, and had Jularra’s group been much larger, they would have been slowed down considerably. As it was, they were able to travel easily enough so long as they rode in a narrow configuration.
A week and a half later, the group prepared to cross the Torguria-Yubik border. The mood had been light and the conversation plentiful up until that point in the trip. But that morning, a quiet yet tangible uneasiness lay over the camp. The uncertainty of the days ahead chipped away at the Acorilinians’ confidence.
Though uncertainty loomed, Jularra felt good about their progress. Only six of the group were down due to injury or sickness—three Bedrock and three Spire—and they had been sent back to Brinnock to recuperate. With the final preparations made to begin the slow and steady climb into Yubik, Jularra and her company set out to enter her former territory.
As the group ascended, the mountain roads grew increasingly steeper, with switchbacks becoming more commonplace. It always surprised Jularra how little the road narrowed along with the terrain: the slope of the mountain was so broad as to accommodate an uncharacteristically comfortable road, with room enough at its widest points for ten horses to ride abreast.
The seemingly unending mountain slope eventually gave way to unobstructed sky, and just before sunset the Acorilinians reached the temporary reprieve of a plateau. Jularra gave the order to set up camp. As night approached and her people tended to their horses and fires, Jularra walked over to the side of the trail, stretching her back as she went.
Her attention was drawn by a pair of stone obelisks. One stood on each side of the trail, their dissipating shadows casting doubt on the quest ahead. Jularra had forgotten about them until seeing them, but remembered them as being old border markers. But where the obelisks were once decorated with Acorilinian imagery of mountains and forests, they had since been reworked, chiseled into totems with Yubik glyphs and lore. Only slight remnants of the original carvings remained.
She ran her fingers along one of faces. Though the core of the totem was still solid and dense, the fragile outer edge crumbled a bit at Jularra’s touch. She jerked her hand away. As she did, a shout rang out.
“Eyes out!”
A Spire’s warning from the far side of the camp stung the air. Jularra quickly returned to the group, unease forming in her belly. Wona and Vischuno met her halfway. Before they could speak, a Bedrock blasted out another warning.
“To the queen!”
Bedrock and Spire alike rushed to Jularra and formed numerous protective rings around her. Daylight was fading fast, and Jularra couldn't see what had caused the concern.
“What is it?” she asked. “What do you see? You, there! What is it?”
A nearby Spire turned to confirm Jularra was speaking to her, but looked back out to the tree line as she answered.
“Footsteps in the woods, Your Majesty.”
Jularra turned slowly to examine the trees on both sides of the trail. She reached into the air with both arms, and as she began to mime the gesture of drawing back an arrow, a great recurve bow of blue light and its associated arrow flashed into her hands. She brought it to her cheek as the bright blue energy gave way to solid black.
“Bear? Deer?” she wondered. “I don’t see any torches.”
Vischuno reached behind him, ready to draw his swords.
“There’s still just enough light to not need them,” he whispered. “If it’s an ambush, they'll be using dusk to their advantage.”
They waited, listening, with only the occasional snort of a horse to interrupt their concentration. The trees were still, and only the most impatient of crickets had begun their performances for the night.
But then the woods crunched, and the crickets stopped. The sloshing of leaves initially sounded like deliberate steps, but then quickened. More than one something was sprinting towards the Acorilinians. Towards Jularra.
“Swords on shields!” Wona shouted.
The alternating rows of male and female warriors bent slightly at the knees and squared their shields in front of them. They rested their swords on the tops of their shields, flat side down.
“Ready!”
The noise of running footsteps swooshed and swelled in the darkening shadows of the trees. The Acorilinians stood resolute in their defensive formation, ready to stand against whatever emerged.
The shadows stirred. “Steady!” Vischuno ordered.
More movement disturbed the tree line, and figures broke out into the open. Some were the height of men, while others appeared to be the silhouettes of riders.
“Be ready for horse!” warned Wona. “On my signal!”
“Wait!” a voice shouted from amongst the shadowed figures.
Vischuno erupted out from the center of the
