Hadjar rested his hand on the hilt of Moon Beam. He had to move on to the next phase of his plan as soon as possible. For that to happen, Elaine had to learn the truth...
Chapter 217
“General, are you sure we’re going the right way?” Elaine asked.
The forest had gone dark a while ago, and the light of the stars and the moon could barely shine through the dense foliage.
“Of course, my Princess,” Hadjar nodded. “Do you see those pegs at the edges of the path and the notches in the trees?”
“General, I’m not stupid, I know that they were most likely left behind by people and there is a village somewhere nearby.”
“Actually, my Princess,” Hadjar’s smile had a hint of mockery. “The word ‘nearby’ is quite a nebulous concept for these kinds of places. This path could’ve been abandoned several years ago.”
“Then it would have been overgrown,” Elaine snorted.
They had been walking along the forest path for several hours. Over the course of these few hours, they’d talked more than during the whole of their earlier journey combined. Fortunately, Elaine now had enough of a reason not to wait for help from her father and brother, instead doing her best to save herself ... Of course, she didn’t consider the General’s assistance of the a significant factor in all of this. But that was just her being her usual, odd self.
“You see, Princess, those pegs were placed there specifically so that the path doesn’t end up covered in grass. They are covered in a toxic substance that leaves the soil dry and lifeless.”
“Why would anyone from a village kill the vegetation of a forest? After all, they rely on it to live. ”
Hadjar chewed on a blade of grass and examined the greenery surrounding them carefully. He saw signs and marks that only an experienced tracker or a very thorough man could spot. He tried to distract Elaine from noticing them as well.
“This is a hunting trail, my Princess,” Hadjar said over his shoulder — the girl was following behind him. “It goes straight to the watering hole that we passed two days ago.”
“Do village hunters really go so deep into the mountains?” The Princess asked, her surprise clear.
“They have no choice,” Hadjar shrugged. “They either risk their lives on a hunt, or their families starve.”
“There hasn’t been a famine in Lidus for a long time,” Elaine responded like a mechanical doll. “We produce enough crops not only to export them, but also for our own needs.”
Hadjar understood that it would be futile to continue this conversation. Primus had done something to her mind, which meant his words wouldn’t be able to break through the established barriers. Elaine had to see everything with her own eyes. That’s why he’d guided her down the trail that led away from the search party and the hole into which they’d fallen.
The General changed the topic, and for some time, they discussed how to handle the bundles of Azure Star Grass. As thanks for saving her life (well, at least she was acknowledging it), Elaine was ready to give Hadjar two bundles of the rare ingredient. Then she immediately remembered that she’d pulled Hadjar out of the water and the amount she was willing to give him went down to one bundle.
They laughed together sometimes. This brought back some of Hadjar’s fonder memories. He tried not to dwell on them too much, as the scars from various swords and spears were too visible on her skin in the moonlight, enraging him whenever he did.
And so their journey continued for a few more hours, until Hadjar stopped. As she’d been telling him something about the garden where she liked to read books, Elaine didn’t notice he’d stopped and ran into his back.
“What-”
She didn’t finish speaking. She was stopped by an imperious wave of the General’s hand. One so powerful that it had been enough to silence even the Princess.
“Your bowstring, honorable stranger, creaks too loudly,” Hadjar turned to a dark patch of shadows near the road.
Elaine thought that the General must’ve hit his head in the underground river. She couldn’t hear a single creaking sound, and her practitioner’s instincts were silent. There wasn’t a single disturbance in the world’s energy that would suggest that there was an enemy nearby. And yet, after a couple of seconds, she heard:
“Who are you?”
Elaine nearly bared her blade, but, again, she was stopped by Hadjar, who put his hand on her arm.
“We are merely simple travelers, honorable stranger.”
“Simple travelers don’t carry swords on their belts!” the other voice barked.
Using his sense of danger that he’d developed in the war, Hadjar counted about five hunters. They were probably using some ointment or amulets to hide their levels of cultivation, so Hadjar couldn’t determine them. However, they were unlikely to be above the initial stages of the Bodily Rivers level. So, to Elaine and Hadjar, they were nothing more than ants climbing on their boots, threatening to topple elephants with their miniscule bites.
“Such are the times, honorable stranger. Without a sword, it is dangerous to walk around these sorts of places.”
Judging by all the rustling, the hunters were discussing something among themselves.
“Did you kill the wolf-bull?”
“Yes, honorable stranger.”
Hadjar didn’t see the point of lying and denying the obvious. Lies didn’t foster respect.
“That was our prey, traveler,” they said from the darkness. “We tracked it for a week. Our village would’ve eaten it for a month.”
The General put his hand to his heart and bowed low. A stunned Elaine watched as Hadjar apologized sincerely,
“We didn’t know that, honorable stranger. In our defense, we didn’t take much meat.”
“Even then-”
Something rustled in the dark, then came the loud echo of something being struck.
