The answers they could get back were plentiful, and the story of this possession of the advanced technology with allies ahead hung over each of them as they questioned the necessary evil of the possibilities, but Johan had a feeling this was something else.
“I think we’re being followed,” he said, looking at each of them to show his seriousness. They believed him at once. As a Rider of the Inja Army, his word was not to be taken lightly. Besides, Johan had seriously considered this possibility for himself.
“What makes you say that?” Seraphina asked. Her indoctrination into this small clan had been rather painless. Any man from Tan Torna Qu-ay was raised to respect and honor women for their strength, guile, and intuition. No good ever came from underestimating the ferocity of a woman. But Seraphina Langley was a very easy person to like. She worked hard and was wonderful at deep conversation. She had proven to be more than adept at helping figure out alternative courses of action to issues the party had encountered.
“I think…no, that’s not even fair, I know something is out there somewhere, because we’ve done nothing but come up against rockslides, massive boulders, and heavily washed-out road conditions from the first step we trekked into this valley.”
“It is a pretty big valley, Stroan. I wouldn’t say these things were out of place,” responded Johan while stoking the fire, getting what heat he could from it in this chilly, walled-in expanse.
“It is out of place, Johan. It’s out of place because we had two full parties bigger than this one head this way not a week before we set out. Parties that would have dealt with many of these issues. We’ve still heaved massive amounts of rock out of our way and wedged boulders into the river. They should have gotten to them first and cleared the path. Something is out there, following us, trying to ward us off, and I’m not the only one who thinks so, am I, Esgona?”
Esgona was his quiet self until this point. Now, spotlight thrust upon him, he went red and tried to shy away from the conversation as best he could.
“What does he mean?” Johan asked with a harsh tone in his words. “Do you know something?”
Esgona softly nodded. “Two days back while I was driving the Turtle, I was looking at the valley walls and saw what looked like a dark shadow moving with us. Ahead of us, actually. It would stop and continue, never getting too far out of our range. I only saw it for a moment, but whatever it was, it was fast and very large. I told Rider Stroan about it shortly after, but I haven’t seen it since.”
“But the rumor is that we have,” Stroan added. Johan was upset by Esgona’s seemingly integral involvement in the Inja Riders once more. “Scuttlebutt is that some of our sentries have seen something similar for days, mostly on the move at dawn or dusk. Some say tricks of the eyes, some say a very large Stalker, and some say spirits of the dead who have ventured into the valley. Until we get something concrete, we’ll never know. But I’m telling you all to be aware that this situation isn’t right.”
The topic changed to other, lighter things, though the terrors of the unseen above them or ahead were so close they could each taste them. Soon each went their own way to bed. Eventually, each was asleep and readying for the day to come.
By the time the moon was high, the rumbling began.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” was the shout that awoke Johan and Seraphina.
Johan looked around, eyes still heavy from sleep and blurry in the darkness. He had no idea what time it was, but there was still no sign of light over the ravine walls.
The waning moon provided something to see by, as did some remaining fires set by the night patrols, but what he saw was still confusion everywhere. Men and women were up, running to or from something.
They got to their feet, looking for anyone who could help. As if on cue, Stroan emerged from the hue and found them. “We’re under attack,” he said calmly, as if the scene did all the talking for him. “A few minutes ago we began getting pummeled from above by rocks and boulders.”
“How do we know it’s an attack?” Johan asked, strapping his knife to his side and trying to gather his things into some kind of order.
Impatiently, Stroan looked at him, sending the message before he spoke. “Because random rockslides don’t systematically take out all of our patrol Riders followed by individual attacks on our most well-stocked carts. Now get moving!”
The two took off behind Stroan, who was still in his casuals. Seraphina left to her father and family while Johan headed off to see what use he could be.
Chief Rider Wyndam called to Johan out of the darkness, his beaten armor rattling as he moved around. “You, go join your friend on the Turtle and get it out of here. Head farther down the valley road and don’t stop until we send word for you to do so!”
Not bound by the Inja Army chain of command (and mildly incensed at someone calling Esgona his ‘friend’), Johan protested at once. “No!” he shouted, turning the elder Rider’s hard gray eyes on him in an instant, shocked at the refusal. “Haven’t you heard of ‘divide and conquer’? If this is an organized attack, taking the most well-protected and heavily stocked thing we’ve got away from the rest of the group won’t help anyone. Plus, it looks a whole lot like you’re sending
