“Identify yourselves!” Jularra called into the darkness.
“Your Majesty! It’s Sergeant Denyon, Bedrock of the Third Chain!” the approaching shadow shouted.
What the fuck? They should be in Messyleio by now!
“Stand down, stand down!” Jularra shouted. “Let them pass.”
The Acorilinians stood, parting but not yet sheathing weapons as their fellows approached.
“Make way, make way,” she barked, agitated at seeing the group so far from where they should have been. “Let them through.”
As they passed into the torchlight of the camp, Jularra confirmed the strangers were indeed two supporting Bedrock and eight Spire, most on horse. Around her, the other guards relaxed at the sight of their comrades.
“Come here. What happened?”
Those on horseback dismounted at the edge of the group and rushed in while those on foot doubled over in exhaustion.
“Okay, okay,” she said to those gasping for air. “Catch your breath. You,” she said, signaling at one of the riders, “tell me what this is all about.”
“Yes, of course, Your Majesty. Apologies for startling you all—”
“Never mind that,” she interrupted, impatient for information. “What happened? Where’s the rest of the scout group? Why are you all the way up here?”
“We were headed around the southern tip of Yubik when we were caught in a mudslide. Dislodged a fucking nightmare of boulders. There were fifteen of us towards the rear that didn’t get caught up in it, with five wounded sent back to Morganon. We spotted you from the ridge a few days ago and have been working our way over to meet you here.”
Jularra stared at the exhausted Bedrock while trying to process his words and their implications.
“What about the others?” Jularra asked. “Did anyone make it through?”
“I don’t know, my queen. The trail washed out in front of us, and past that, the mud and boulders sealed the pass shut.”
If no one made it through, I’ll be going into Messyleio blind. Fuck!
“Why did none of you accompany the wounded back to Morganon?” she asked.
“We wanted to make sure someone delivered word that there may be no one arriving ahead of you.”
Jularra patted one of the wheezing foot soldiers on the back. The initial storm of worry that had brewed within her was clearing just as quickly.
“We need to press on regardless. There isn’t enough time to—”
The forest rustled again before Jularra could finish her thought. The sound grew rapidly, and unlike before, this noise was much larger, and was clearly coming from both sides of the trail.
Jularra turned to the recently returned Bedrock spokesman. He shook his head.
“Prepare!” Jularra hissed. Wona and Vischuno repeated her order as she reached once more for her power.
As the Acorilinians reformed into defensive positions along the trail, a powerful voice trumpeted from behind:
“Queen Jularra!”
Jularra spun around. Mounted ranks of torch-bearing Yubik slipped out of the trees into the open grasses on the edges of the trail. The Acorilinians were easily outnumbered by at least three to one.
“Welcome to Yubik!” the speaker called. As he continued speaking, his voice slid into obvious mistrust. “You should have told us you were coming.”
Jularra stepped out slowly to the front of her group.
“Please, allow us to escort you and your people to a more hospitable location,” he continued.
“That is an incredibly generous offer,” Jularra replied, intrigued by his choice of words. “I was actually hoping to speak with your leader. There is a matter of great urgency that I would like to discuss.”
“And what matter might that be?” the Yubik captain asked.
“That is something I would trust only to your leader,” Jularra replied sternly.
The Yubik captain laughed deeply.
“You speak of trust within minutes of us tracking your group of spies on their way back to you?”
Jularra's eyes widened innocently. “No, no. You have it wrong. They were on a different path with a different objective, but were cut off and came instead to find me.”
“To what end?” the captain asked again.
Jularra repeated herself with stubborn insistence.
“As an official request of state, and as the Queen of Acorilan, I would ask you, loyal and dutiful Yubik captain, to bring us to your capital for an audience to discuss exactly that.”
The captain sat silently atop his horse, staring down at her. The light of his comrades’ torches bobbed and splashed his face with random waves of light and shadow. He leaned over and said something to a subordinate, and then beckoned her to follow him.
***
Jularra, Vischuno, and Wona rode slowly on the road heading north, along with their accompanying Bedrock and Spire. The trail had narrowed, with space only for two to ride abreast. The Yubik escorts rode at the front and rear of the group. To their left was an almost vertical incline, and to their right was an equally steep slope down to the surface of the Crystal Expanse’s glacier. Jularra and her people had no option but to follow the Yubik as they had been instructed. While Jularra successfully fought the urge to verbally assault their escorts, she had to frequently look back to Wona and Vischuno, glaring at them for the vulgar complaints mumbled under their breath.
The incline leveled off as the glacier’s surface grew higher, and after about a mile, the group came to a halt. There were low mutters between the Yubik at the front, but Jularra couldn’t make it out. The queen leaned towards Vischuno.
“Does any of this look familiar to you?” she whispered.
Vischuno shook his head, but turned in his saddle to look again.
“I don’t think so. I was good up until that first fork, but then we started branching off. Too many new trails.”
“I haven’t been to Yubik for years,” Jularra replied. “Not since I gave it back.”
Wona cleared her throat. Jularra and Vischuno looked over their shoulders to see her pointing back the way they came.
“See that tallest ridge to the south? You lose sight of it just about the time you cross over into Waunapawtik. So, we’re probably close to the old Acorilinian border.”
Vischuno turned back to Jularra with a playful sneer.
“Well, my queen. We can’t
