"All that is gold does not glitter, but it is pretty fucking cool though, and you can polish that shit right up."
- Arbon Krakvror
It was a beautiful morning, and Thessa didn't care to see it. The thick forest of oak and pine of previous days had grudgingly given way to occasional open spaces where grasses and wild flowers bloomed. It was in one of these openings of the canopy, just out of sight of the road, that Gregorios had selected for their camp. The morning dawn woke the bleary eyed camp and signaled to Comak and Gaius, who had taken the st watch st night, that they could finally rest.
Junia groaned beside her, covering her eyes with her forearm to block out the stinging brightness of the day which filtered in through the open tent fp. They had taken soce in each others arms st night. And though the rge tent was now more than spacious enough for the two of them, it felt somehow more uncomfortable than before.
With Gaius going to bed, it was her duty to see to making breakfast for the group. To an onlooker it might have looked as though she was sleepwalking. Her movements were slow and methodical, and performed with as much enthusiasm as a cow flicks a fly with it's tail. The world was sheets of grey to her eyes, and the food a tasteless mush to her tongue. But it would keep her going. She was always going forward, even if those she cared about were forced behind.
As she cooked, the sounds and smells of food drew the others awake. And when she was done passing out small bowls to the others, she sat and brooded over her own meal. Her eyes were drawn to a glint in the corner of her eye. She turned her head and looked down at the offending object. The bundle of metallic feathers sat haphazardly near the centre of their camp shining in the light, as though discarded or left carelessly. She wondered how much they were worth, for this many people to travel this far. She hadn't been listening when Aurelia and Gregorios had been discussing it, numbers and money had rarely entered her life and she was still unused to them. However much they were worth, someone had to make it back in the first pce to sell them anyway. She wondered detachedly if the any others had already accounted for their increased share.
Junia sitting down next to her disturbed her thoughts. The other woman didn't say anything, not yet, but she silently nudged her with her shoulder, then reached out and began to run her fingers through Thessa's hair. The touch reminded her of her mother, or her older sisters. A silent tear began to drip down her cheek as Junia slowly braided her locks. She almost stopped when she saw Thessa's face, but the tauren shook her head and guided her friend's hands back into pce.
Later, Gregorios gathered them all in a circle where they decided what they would do now that they had been dispced by the orks. Their primary goal of acquiring the feathers had been accomplished, and the survival of the remaining members was quickly judged the greatest priority. That meant that they had to get out of the wilds, and back to civilized nds. Ones without orks, preferably. The road leading directly back to Rome would be a dangerous path to take, they had been beset by orks upon it twice already. Judging by the map in Gregorios's pack, if they continued along the road away from Rome they might reach the settlement of Amiternum in another weeks time. Though the path continued through the forests, highnds, and valleys they had grown accustomed to. Heading deeper into what was almost assuredly now ork country was a prospect that left them with little joy, though Monin tried to crack a few jokes. The ughs were forced at best.
Indecision locked the party from making a choice. Going back would almost assuredly result in another battle, one they had no guarantee they could win. Going forward would lead into the unknown, though it was likely trouble lurked in that direction as well. It was Gregorios's suggestion which broke the stalemate.
"The road in either direction looks... unpleasant." He said. Withdrawing the map and spreading it so the others could see. "But if we are hale of heart and strong of leg, we might try a more... unconventional route." He pointed to a region of the map, the perspective was too broad for any detail, but it was indicated as densely forested and hilled. "This is about where we are. This-" He pointed to the nearest dot, indicating a town or city. " is Tibur. I hadn't considered it before, as there is no known road or path to get there. But the distance as the crow flies is much shorter than to either Rome or Amiternum." He took time to look each of them in the eyes.
"Are you saying we go straight through the rough all the way to Tibur?" Monin asked incredulously, his eyes just barely high enough to see the map Gregorios held aloft.
"What of the animals?" Asked Junia, gncing to where Mare and the packmule were grazing contentedly.
"It would be tough going. Though the path might be shorter, we'd be going much slower." Said Tullius. Though he wasn't able to wield his bow still, his arm and side were no longer bound. He had recovered quickly under the care of Gaius, and with Thessa helping under him.
"There are problems. Plenty of problems in fact." Said Gregorios, holding his hands up to stay any more comments. "And it's not a decision to be made lightly, though we should decide soon. Those ork beasts are excellent trackers, and it could be only a matter of time before they're upon us again, though I think it unlikely. We should decide before the day is out. We can rest today, yesterday was long and tiring. Both we and the animals need rest. But come the morn, we should be ready to leave, whatever our decision."
There was general acquiescence from the group. But that didn't stop trepidation from building deep inside Thessa. Though it was low and slow, like a stew which had been brewing for many days.
"Why is it always others who fall, and always me who's left?" mumbled Thessa under her breath.
Aurelia soared through the skies, whooping and ughing in delight. Now that she wasn't in the immediate aftermath of danger, or desperately scrambling for shelter, she found herself enjoying these moments more than any she could remember. Except, perhaps, her nights with her girls. She carried her slightly damaged spear in her hand as she swirled through the air. The bald mountain was far below her now, and she could see for what felt like thousands of miles around. The forest reduced to a formless sea of dark green, the hills and mountains ridges on a sheet of parchment, the rivers and streams clear veins on an enormous body. A person must look smaller than an ant, she thought, and wondered if that would be true. When she got back to Rome, she'd make sure to find out.
She swooped down and leveled out, marveling at the feeling of speed and grace she felt. As she did so, she felt her clothing shift slightly, and a weight settle. She had used her torn rags of clothing to bind her assets close to her body, her first experience flying with no clothing had involved a whole lot of movement which didn't involve her wings. She had to imagine that she looked rather ridiculous, using the remains of what was quite a nice robe to her, to wrap and bind her chest. She had plenty of experience with the practice from her days in the Temple, though it had seemed more difficult this time. Though she chopped that up to unconventional materials and ck of practice. Her lower clothing was different. Where binding her chest consisted of essentially just wrapping and tying, covering her nether regions in a way that left her legs free to move proved more of a challenge, and that wasn't all she had done. She carried the egg with her, though not with her hands.
As children in the Temple of Ceres, they had pyed in the temple gardens before they were old enough to do chores. Occasionally during the spring, bird eggs would make their way into the hands of the small children, whether they had been abandoned, fallen, or the parents had been caught by the many cats which inhabited the city. Sometimes, rarely, but sometimes, the children were able to hatch one of the eggs. It was always an endeavor, and sadly most of infant birds didn't st long, but Aurelia could remember at least one time where they had managed to collectively keep one alive until it was old enough to leave them behind. They had all cried that day.
The priestesses had looked on bemusedly at the whims of the children, but since it was somewhat reted to the followings of Ceres, and it taught the children to nurture the young early, they allowed the children their small pleasures. It was on these experiences that Aurelia drew on now. After she had fked off the grey coating surrounding the shell, it had begun to cool rapidly. She was no bird to brood over her young, and she had to fly much of today in search of sign of Gregorios and his company. Her stomach grumbled angrily, reminding her that she needed to find food soon was well. She had to keep the egg warm, and leave her hands and limbs free to move.
Which led her to her current situation. Using what robes were leftover from making her top, and what was still usable from her leathers, she had created a crude covering of her nethers and rear. Iri had helped as well, her small fingers able to tie fabrics together in ways Aurelia's could not. Looking at the finished product, she had to admit that it looked much like a diaper that an elder struck with incontinency might wear, to her dismay. But all it had to be was functional, there would be no prizes for beauty out here.
She banked, her eyes returning to the road where she had fled the previous day. As she did, a weight inside her shifted again. Indeed, she had decided to carry the egg inside her womanhood. She didn't have the cloth or the expertise to create a sling strong enough for flight, and she feared that contact with the air would cool the egg too much for the creature inside to survive. Her childhood experiences reminded her that those chicks which had survived to hatching had rgely been the ones which the children had kept warm, whether in the palms of hands or the insides of robes. This egg was too rge to cover entirely with her hands, and she had a spear to carry besides. So she had cleaned the surface of the egg as best she could with the water from a nearby stream, and slowly inserted the egg in her nethers. It wasn't as difficult as she had feared, thankfully. She had never been with a boy, enjoying only her fingers before, but if her female equipment were as prodigious as their male counterparts, then she could understand the ease of her actions. Now she just had to cross her fingers and hope that the heat of her insides were close enough to the temperature which the mother would have brooded at.
She followed the road north and east along the direction she had st seen the others fleeing. Aloft in the air, she moved much quicker than she would have on foot. Certainly faster than the company would have been, especially since they would be tired and carrying injured. She prayed to Mercury that their passage had been swift, and that the orks had not followed. The thought of finding nothing but cinders and bodies proved a somber one to contrast with her joy of flight.
She continued to search for the next few hours. Following the road up and down, looking for tents or a fire or anything which would signal their location. The ndscape below her changed as she travelled, going from forest and rugged hills to a mix of meadows and copses of trees. As she surveyed the ndscape, she saw a plume of smoke in the distance. It seemed awfully far for Gregorios to have led the company st night, but maybe their desperation had spurred them to distances Aurelia had underestimated. A dark thought crossed her mind. If the orks had resumed pursuit and caught them, they might have made camp nearby. If that were the case, Aurelia owed it to them to at least check it out, even if only some would be alive. Memories of the orks hesitating to strike her and the other women during their roadside ambush crossed her mind, and darkened her thoughts further. She turned from the road and aimed towards the smoke.
She didn't notice the smaller plume of smoke a little further up the road, she didn't notice that the plume was just the right size for a small campfire, and she didn't notice the tiny glint of something shiny at it's base. Thoughts of the dark fates of her friends and lovers clouded her mind as she sped away.
Evening began to descend on the camp. Tullius, who had been judged the best woodsman, returned from a day of venturing out under the cover of leaf and branch. Now that he was in reasonably good condition, he had volunteered to scout for signs of orks, or of Aurelia. He met Junia's eyes and shook his head as he emerged from the brush and made his way back into the centre of their camp. She took it to mean that he had found neither sign of orks or of Aurelia, which filled her heart with hope and disappointment.
She brushed Mare's coat, taking care to tend her horse until her brown colouring shone in the sunset's rays. The repetitive actions soothed her, and Mare deserved it after carrying her for so many days through danger. She had been trying to ease Thessa's burdens throughout the day, but the tauren woman was withdrawn, as though she had retreated deep into her own mind. It had only been a short while that she had known her, but she felt a sisterly bond growing between them in a way that surpassed the bonds of blood between her and her real sisters back in Rome. Shared suffering builds kinship, she thought dryly.
They were making final preparations to leave in the morning. Everything which was deemed unnecessary would be left behind. It would be a rough few days crossing the unknown terrain between them and Tibur, as it had been decided. And every added pound or sway of bulk would hinder them greatly. Gregorios and Comak had scouted southwest during the day, they had found a stream which they hoped would eventually wind it's way down through the highnds and join the Tibur river.
It wasn't a great pn, Junia judged, but it was better than running into orks again.
She looked to the road, which was just out of sight from their camp. She had caught herself looking in that direction whenever her mind wandered. Hoping against hope that Aurelia would appear and that everything would be alright.
If she was out there, Junia prayed that they would see each other again. Aurelia was strong, she knew, she just hoped that she had escaped the orks in good enough conditions to follow in their tread.
The plume of smoke Aurelia had spotted earlier proved to be further than even she had anticipated. What had seemed like a single rge plume of smoke from a distance revealed itself as a rge collection of columns of smoke as she approached. Much like a mountain, it had seemed small in the distance until she had gotten close, then it had gotten very rge very quickly. She could smell it in the air, fatty and dark. Like burnt hair and rotten meat. Even the green of the trees had been soiled, slowly turning more grey with soot as she approached. Her heart filled with dread, like the pce was emanating an aura of despair. But she had to see this dark pce, if not to rescue her friends then at least to be able to give an accurate accounting to those back in Rome. Though she couldn't yet discern any detail from this distance, her suspicions grew the closer she approached.
She rose high in the air, aiming to be viewed as nothing but a particurely rge bird should any prying eyes chance upon her from bellow. For it was prying eyes she now feared, nothing natural could cause this blight on the nd, not even Vulcan's mountains of fire in the south.
"Are you alright back there, Iri?" she asked. Iri had secured herself into the braids of her hair like before. She had found an odd pleasure in arranging the golden hair of her much rger companion, and Aurelia had seen no reason to deny her.
"Iri is content!" Said the sprite. After a moment she added "Though Iri admits she is not used to such heights. The small folk avoid the snatching cws of the open air. The forests much better!"
Aurelia came upon a haze as she passed into one of the plumes of smoke. Iri coughed as they entered the smog. Aurelia could commiserate, she felt the urge to hack up her stomach, and probably would have if she had eaten anything that day. But soon enough they were through to the other side. Aurelia's vision cleared, and she gasped as she saw the blight from above.
The nd had been cleared of anything green. Trees drawn down to feed the great fires, even the stumps taken and removed. Every bush and patch of grass either fed into the fmes, or churned underfoot. It looked almost like a massive anthill from above, with unnatural mounds of earth and stone raised high, and pits leading into deep shadow. Fires dotted the ndscape, the clumps of sinister light giving their surroundings a malevolent glow. Huts of scavenged material gave the impression of a chaotic settlement, as though a child had dropped them from above in clusters without rhyme or reason. Throughout it all writhed entirely too much movement. They were gathered around the fires, or in columns leading in and out of the pits. Creatures which Aurelia had grown tired of seeing as of te. Orks.
She reflected grimly that they did indeed look as small as ants from above, and their smaller counterparts, goblins, even more so. There had to be thousands of greenskins she could see, and surely more in their pits and hills. From her vantage point, they seemed to move with an ordered chaos. Pick any one ork, and it seemed to move at random. But from from where Aurelia glided through the air, she could see that when taken as a whole they looked disturbingly organized. A dark mirror to the chaos of a Roman street.
She looked on with greater dread building inside her. She didn't think it likely that these orks would be content to sit here chopping down trees and attacking the few travelers foolish enough to wander by.
The drums of war were calling, and she could only hope Rome could respond before it was too te.
They left with the dawn. Junia led her horse by hand through the thick brush. Thessa walked beside her, using her shepherds crook like a walking stick. She seemed to cling to it like a drowning man to driftwood, and though Junia tried to engage her in conversation, her replies were short and distant.
The grains they had been using for puls had been discarded, they would have to rely on what little dried meats they had left, and whatever they could hunt or forage as they journeyed. Even Junia's tent had been left behind, she had not used it for days, opting to sleep with Aurelia and Thessa. She just hoped that their gambit payed off, and sent a silent prayer to Fortuna and Mercury to guide their way.
Gregorios led from the front, as usual. His map was stowed safely away, it would be useless in the forest where there were no points of interest with with to navigate. They pced all their hopes in the stream he and Comak had found the previous day. It would be coming up ahead soon, he had said. Hopefully the brush would be less thick near the waters, Junia was tired of being swatted by branches let go by those ahead of her. Of all of them, Monin had it the best. He seemed unburdened by the heavy armor he always wore, and where others moped or dragged their feet, his back was straight and his chin high. Oh how she wished sometimes for the endurance of the dwarves, Junia thought.
After about an hour, she judged, though it was hard to tell without being able to clearly see the sun under the forest canopy, they came upon the promised stream. The brush did indeed retreat somewhat from it's rocky banks, and though they had to be mindful not to slip on the wet rocks, their vision was unobstructed and their path clear.
"So we just follow this all the way to Tibur?" Gaius asked.
"That's what we're hoping for." replied Gregorios. Though he was trying to put on a stoic face, Junia could glimpse through his fa?ade. He was as nervous as the rest of them, though doing his best to be a strong leader.
"At least we're unlikely to meet any orks in these parts, aye?" Monin added.
They continued on, Junia minding the animals didn't slip or get left behind. Comak was beside the pack mule, bringing up the rear. Every time she looked backwards, as though trying to catch an impossible glimpse of white and gold, Comak met her eyes. They weren't cruel looks, per se, though Junia knew what he would say if she opened her mouth. Adventuring was dangerous business, and not everyone would die old and asleep in their beds.
Junia just prayed that Aurelia wasn't one of them.
Aurelia wanted to tear her eyes away, but the more she looked the more she had to see. She had determined that this gathering of orks was of the lighter green, rger kind of the ambush. Rather than the darker, smaller riders of before. She had been circling above the ork encampment for at least an hour now, concealed by the smoke choking the sky. Every once in a while, mighty horns would sound, announcing something important, but Aurelia couldn't tell what. As she glided above, about to turn away after finding no sign of any captives, a new horn bellowed. This one smaller, and coming from outside the encampment. It was met with a corresponding horn call from inside the camp. She banked and turned, feeling the egg shift. Approaching from the edges of the trees where green turned to grey, there was a well trodden path. Not one constructed by intent, more akin to a wide gametrail left by the passage of many feet. It was from this way that a band or orks emerged. Aurelia would have called it a great host of orks had she not seen the encampment, for the approaching mass was at least as big as group which had chased them out of their camp, and many times rger than the ambush they had defeated.
Orks from the encampment strode out to meet the advancing group, and after a small pause, the two merged and returned together. Aurelia was about to finally leave, when something caught her eye. Not every shape in the new group was green. As she got closer to get a better look, she saw that some orks carried humans, either unconscious or tied and bound. Though she longed to do something, to help them or save them, she would need an army to assail this foul pce. Swooping in closer, she was able to count eight captives that she could see. All were female. A rush of relief filled her, followed quickly by shame. If there were eight women, it was likely that this group of captives didn't come from Gregorios's company. Though being captured by orks was a fate she would not wish upon anyone. After the captives came a group bearing a rge load. Six orks together bore a litter covered by dark fabric. Aurelia was wondering what it was when one of the orks carrying the litter let go with one hand and reached under the cloth. It removed something she couldn't quite pce, and stuffed it into it's mouth.
Aurelia let out a dry heave.
Dangling against the ork's chin, were five fingers. It quickly slurped those down.
One of the surrounding orks, bellowed something angrily, and spped the chewing ork hard on the back of it's head. Chastised, the offending ork moved it's free hand back to supporting the litter. It seemed Aurelia knew what had happened to the men.
When the group reached the encampment proper, it split into three groups. One bearing the captives, which headed deeper into the camp and down into the pits. Aurelia shuddered to think of what she might find at the bottoms. The second bearing the litter marched to the fires, and deposited their cargo to raucous celebration of their brutish fellows. But it was the third which interested Aurelia. Instead of heading deeper in the encampment, this one split off and headed off to the side near again to the edge of the forest. A pce which had gone unnoticed to Aurelia. It seemed the orks didn't care much about whatever this group was doing, and had relegated it to simply being as far away from the centre as possible. There they began dumping sacks and items into tall heaps where goblins skittered over their surfaces, appraising and sorting. This is what befell the items these people had been carrying, Aurelia realized. Most things were cast aside, clothing, personal items, and more. A rare few caused delighted giggles to stir the goblins, a sound Aurelia found she sincerely disliked. These were anything made of metal, weapons, buckles, coins and the like. They were taken away and back into the encampment, no doubt to be repurposed for nefarious purposes.
Aurelia glimpsed an opportunity, and so decided to wait until this group was done their sorting and had left the area once more.
It only took a few minutes, shockingly quick for the amount of stuff. But Aurelia supposed there was little orks would find useful in the pockets of humans. The orks left first, followed eventually by the goblins, who scampered over the piles once more to collect anything of interest to them. She saw one goblin cry out with delight, holding a shiny coin aloft in it's small hands. A slightly rger goblin quickly came over and silenced the proud goblin with the quick jerk of a rudimentary shiv. It picked the now dead goblin's body clean with a few practiced motions, and pocketed the shiny coin. A few moments ter when they had all gone, Aurelia made her move.
She had been flying for many hours by this point, and her back was starting to throb with exertion. Carrying the added weights of her spear and the egg couldn't be helping either. She flew a distance away from the encampment, and eventually set down in a small clearing where she could make her way back on foot. She still stumbled when nding, but her knees grew no more bruised from the experience, which she counted as success.
Iri extracted herself from Aurelia's hair as soon as she nded, and began to lead Aurelia through the forest back to the ork encampment. Aurelia was big, and stuck out like a sore thumb against the deep greens and browns of the surrounding foliage. She just had to put her hope in speed and get out quick before any patrolling goblin got sight of her.
Thankfully, her passage through the forest was uneventful, and soon she was crouched behind a rge bush, looking through its leaves towards the expanse of the encampment. Directly in front of her were the rge piles of the human belongings, haphazardly tossed and piled. Surveying the area, there were surprisingly few greenskins about. If she picked her time wisely, she just might be able to dart forward on her hands and knees and reach the cover of the piles, where she could again be concealed among the refuse.
"This one should be careful." Iri said in a voice that was shaking slightly. She was perched among the branches above, looking out with fear. "Iri does not like this pce, the nd is sick."
Aurelia could believe it. The nd beyond the brush in front of her was discoloured, turned grey from the constant soot and ash.
After a few more minutes of watching, waiting for her moment while her stomach growled, she finally took her chance. Sending prayers to every God she could name as she did so. After a tense moment where her hair stood on end, and her teeth shook with adrenaline, she dove into the piles with her heart pounding. But there was no relief yet, she still had to take her pickings and escape.
Among the items she had seen discarded by both goblins and orks, had been food. Meats and fruits had been taken, though Aurelia could only guess what greenskins did with fruit. This left grains and other dried things. Her stomach growled, it had been almost two full days since she had eaten, and she had been tiring herself with flying. Her hands were shaking with hunger, and her stomach protested her ck of sustenance by sending sharp pains wracking through her body.
She rummaged through the piles, there was no system that she could see. Only that the fresher stuff was on top. With a sense of delight that would have made her cry out, if she hadn't covered her mouth with her hands, she spotted a loaf of bread. Granted, when she picked it up she found that it was only half a loaf of bread, and that it was slightly moldy, but her stomach didn't care and she scarfed it down right then and there. Quickly finishing her meal she scrounged around for more. She became sticky with substances she didn't want to think about as she moved through the piles. But that was a problem for another time.
In her hunger she almost didn't hear the tumble of movement on the opposite side from where she crouched in the centre of the piles. She froze, the heel of another moldy loaf of bread halfway to her lips. A body tumbled down next to her from over the top of a nearby pile, limp and dead. The corpse of the goblin which had been stabbed. Her eyes darted to the top of the pile, dreading that she had been discovered. Just over the crest she saw two gnarled and pointed ears, shifting and twitching. Of course! Greenskins weren't squeamish about their dead. She should have realized that at least one of them would come to retrieve the body. Thankfully, for the moment the goblin on the other side of the pile was preoccupied.
If that goblin so much as poked it's head over the top, there was a very good chance she was dead. She didn't trust herself to be able to take off where she was, cramped among the refuse of orcs. She had neither stable ground to stand on, nor open space to spread her wings. She had to make a decision, and fast. Slowly, ever so slowly, she began to creep up the pile towards the goblin. Taking as much care as she could to not dislodge or disturb any of the items. As she rose up the pile, it became harder. Sacks and bags wanted to tumble and fall, and she had to take great care where to settle her considerable weight. If she mispced her foot, it was likely she could end up up to her neck in the ensuing pile colpse. But thankfully, it seemed as though her prayers were answered, and the pile stood tall as she climbed.
Her heart nearly leaped out of her chest as a bundle of filthy clothing, sticky with rotting blood, tumbled down next to her. Again she froze, worried that the goblin not a few feet away would have heard, but it was causing a ruckus of it's own as it sifted through the pile. She continued, more cautious than ever. She wanted to scream at how slow she felt like she was going, but she was nearly at the top, and had to take care to press her wings tight to her back so that they didn't give her away by protruding higher than her head.
When she as close to the top as she could get without exposing herself, she paused. She'd have to make this quick and silen-
The goblin just across from her stopped it's movements, Aurelia heard it sniff and snort. Much too close to a pig's for her liking. It began to lean forward and crawl towards the top, it's light frame moving with experienced movements which left the pile underneath undisturbed. As it snuffled forward, it's head rose enough that Aurelia could see it's foul face. It was a squinted, horrible thing. With a rge upturned nose, ears too rge for it's body, and eyes that were tiny and deep-set into it's skull. It snuffled forward with it's eyes closed, following it's nose towards the scent it had noticed.
It would be the st mistake it made. Though doubtless it was used to snuffling out unseen riches discarded in the pile, it had never encountered anything living in the piles bigger than rats. Aurelia lunged with her arm and seized it's throat. It's eyes opened in panic, but it's shrieks of arm were silenced. Aurelia quickly threw herself back down the pile, dragging the goblin over the top, and down with her. It thrashed against her, squirming and cwing at her arm. She made sure to hold it as far away from herself as she could, but she couldn't stop it from drawing long gashes down her forearm in it's struggle. She hissed in pain, and squeezed harder. Struggling, and unable to breath, the goblin quickly slowed and dropped limp. Aurelia held her grip for a few moments more just to make sure, then let go. Drawing her injured arm close to herself and wincing at the pain.
She heard no cries of arm from elsewhere in the encampment. After a few tense minutes, she rexed somewhat, and returned to her feast of stale moldy bread. Hunger was the best sauce.
There had only been two more loafs she had been able to force herself to eat. The rest were either covered in substances she didn't want to think about, or too far gone to rot or insects. Now that she was no longer shaking with hunger, she was clearheaded enough for her other senses to make themselves known. First was pain throbbing up her arm, she would have to clean the wounds quickly before infection set in. There was no way she was getting lucky with how filthy the goblins little cws were. She looked down at the second corpse which shared her spot, and gave it a little kick of frustration.
The next sense which made itself known to her, was her sense of smell. She could practically feel her nose hairs curling from the stench which emanated from the piles, and was surely coating her by now. She felt sticky in all the wrong pces, and her pure white wings were now soiled and darkened in pces.
Having gotten all she wanted, and quite a bit more, Aurelia began to slink back through the piles towards the edge of the forest. With another mad dash on hands and knees, she entered the safety of the forest. The sticky leavings of the piles meant that she had picked up much of the soot and grime of the surrounding ground. And her limbs were now caked in the stuff. She heard a small hacking sound from above, and looked up to see Iri bent over a tree branch, heaving her stomach out.
"This one NEEDS to clean herself! Iri will not fly with her!" She said.
Aurelia looked down at herself, and decided she couldn't disagree.
She flew through the air. Now with a retively filled stomach, and the smoke investigated, she returned the search for her friends which had so far been fruitless. She had found no source of water with with to clean herself or her wounds, so had made do with dirt and earth. She was still filthy, and sticky in some ways, bit being dirt dirty was different from rotting blood dirty. It had still taken much convincing to get Iri to climb aboard once more, but her hair had been among the cleanest parts of her, and so she had relented eventually. Heading back the way she had come as best she could remember, she quickly found the road again and followed it back. This time, perhaps now that hunger wasn't clouding her vision, she was able to spot a small clearing near to the road from afar. Circling lower, she spotted a sole tent, a firepit which had seen recent use, and what looked like small piles of grain.
She set down in the middle of what looked to have recently been a camp, and looking around, etion filled her heart. She recognized Junia's tent. And the grasses had been fttened nearby by one much rger, which had to have been her own. There were the imprints of all the others, and droppings from a horse and a mule. She nearly dropped to her knees with relief, but there was horse manure in front of her, and she was dirty enough as it was.
Now she just had to find where they had gone.
It was no surprise that they had moved on already, with this many orks in the nds, staying in one spot after being chased would have been foolish. She could practically hear the arguments Gregorios would have given.
Looking around, she tried to find clues to where they could have gone. She hadn't seen them on the road as the had flown here, which meant they likely hadn't taken the road deeper into the wilds. They might have taken the road back to Rome, but she wasn't sure of it. They had just been pursued from that direction, and attacked on the road to boot.
As she was pondering, she came upon the small piles of grain. The group had evidently decided to leave all they could, including the grains. Birds had quickly discovered it, and when she had nded a small flock of grey birds had flown off, squawking at her about disturbing their feast. She was about to turn away, but there in the grass was something she hadn't seen from above. Drawn in grain, low to the ground, was a letter A, an arrow, and a squiggly line. One of the her party had left it for her to find, at least if the "A" meant "Aurelia". The arrow pointed from the "A" in the direction of the woods, where a little further along was the squiggly line.
She didn't know what the squiggly line meant, but she had to trust her instincts as to what the first two meant.
Securing and readjusting her ragged "clothes", and ensuring that the egg was in no danger she reflected on how quickly she had adjusted to it's presence. It added a weight to her hips which had been unfamiliar, and somewhat uncomfortable at first. But now it was actually somewhat pleasant, and at times she forgot it was even there when she wasn't moving her legs.
Gathering up Iri once more, who had taken the opportunity to redo Aurelia's braids as she investigated, she settled herself in her little throne before Aurelia took off once more. She now had a direction to fly. Trying to follow on foot through dense wood to somewhere she didn't know the location of just seemed foolhardy to her. So she flew above the trees and hoped to be able to spot the company's camp tonight.
Junia was sobbing. They had followed the stream until it had united with other tributaries into a rger river. It had all been going well, the hills had fttened out into easy walking, and the rocky banks had turned to soft earth as the river wound back and forth. All been going well, until they had hit the marsh.
The river was too wide to try crossing, and the waters much too swift. They could have gone around, but it looked to be at least a day's detour, and they could see the far side where the ground dried again. They had all agreed to cross here, and despite the buzzing of flies and the stench of rotting pnts, they had made good progress. They had gone from isnd to isnd, crossing between spots of higher elevation where the ground was firmer beneath their feet. They had been nearly through when disaster struck. Gregorios and most of the company had been already on dry ground on the far side, only Junia, Thessa, Comak, and the animals left to cross. Mare, who had been so good at picking her path all the way there, had been scared by some small critter bolting away. It could have been a rabbit, a weasel, Junia didn't care. What mattered that Mare had startled and tugged herself free from Junia's lead, and found herself up to her neck in sopping mud.
Junia herself had been yanked in the same direction, her grip on the lead firm. And had begun to sink as well, if it weren't for Comak ying ft as close as he could on what little dry nd he could find, and holding her aloft with his cudgel jammed underneath her armpit, she was sure her head would have gone under. As it was, Mare was sinking.
Junia held her beloved horse's head aloft with her arms, pleading to the Gods to have mercy. Tears and snot ran down her face freely as her arms trembled as she struggled to keep Mare breathing. Her mare had struggled wildly when she had found herself stuck well up the barrel of her chest, and her actions had only buried her deeper. Junia had quickly followed after her, reaching out to hold her head aloft when she had stopped struggling. Mare was exhausted now, her efforts leaving her without the strength even to hold her own head out of the mud's suffocating depths. And so Junia had come, and was now pleading to every power known to her to give her the strength to hold on just a little longer.
Mare's wide, tired eyes stared into Junia's. The woman was shaking her head now, unwilling to let her companion go.
But the only think keeping Mare aloft was Junia, and the only thing keeping Junia aloft was Comak's straining arm. The man might have been strong, but there was only so much he could do in such a position. His strength was wasted along the length of his arm and cudgel, and only a small amount was delivered to keep Junia afloat.
The others had quickly raced back to help, though there wasn't much they could do. Thessa had tried lending her crook to Junia, but if she let go of Mare, even for only a moment, she wasn't sure if she could keep her head above the mud. Gregorios now stood poised to take over from Comak when he tired, and Gaius stood ready to fish Junia out of the mud with Thessa's crook.
It was a tense stalemate between woman, horse, and nature. But one that couldn't st. Inch by inch, the marsh cimed it's victim.
The mud was nearly up to Mare's eyes, Junia was holding her snout just above level. Though it wouldn't be long now.
Gregorios was about to call it there. No sense losing a member of their company for an animal that was surely lost. Just as he was about to open his mouth, a gust of wind blew away the stench of the marsh and ruffled his short salt-and-pepper hair. Dazed, all who weren't actively involved in the attempted rescue looked up. There they saw a being of white and gold floating above them. If they hadn't been in the middle of a crisis, they might have noticed that this being had little to no clothes on, only the barest rags. They might also have noticed that it was absolutely filthy, but compared to the mud of the swamp it was positively radiant.
Aurelia swooped down, tossing her half-ruined spear ft onto the small isnd of nd in the mud. It rolled off, but the wooden haft stuck, and floated nearby. With her hands free, Aurelia came in closer to the drowning horse. Using her long arms, she was able to reach around and get a solid grip on it's thick neck. Junia gasped with shock, only now that Aurelia was right in front of her did she notice. Aurelia floated there midair, she had learned that it was not the normal ws of wind and wing which allowed her to fly, and so they did not always apply. It was this fundamental understanding which had spurred her first flight, and it was that understanding that allowed her to help now.
She lurched forwards, practically horizontal above the mud as she heaved the horse forwards. It did almost nothing, but almost nothing is still something, however little.
She heaved back and forth, and with each motion, Mare moved forwards a little bit more. Only inches at a time, such was the density of the mud, but Junia's trembling arms and Comak's cudgel had more leverage with each motion. The mud split open, and Aurelia could now see Mare's back as it breached the mud.
"Hold it, just for a second!" She cried. And briefly let go and flew to retrieve her spear. Now that Mare was closer, Junia and Comak were able to keep each other aloft. Not for long, but Aurelia only needed moments. As soon as she had left, she returned bearing her spear. It was more of a long stick at the moment, the tip was ruined from the fall off the mountain. But a stick was all she needed. She floated close, and buried a fist deep into the mud, using her other hand to guide the spear under the barrel of Mare's chest, she plunged her other hand deep. With her spear now across the underside of the horse, Aurelia was able to begin lifting Mare's backside, which had been deepest in mud. Slowly, Aurelia lifted Mare forward, and Comak and Gaius drew in Junia, who still held her horse's head aloft. Her sobs had quieted now, though tears were still streaming down her face.
With a great Fwop!, Junia was pulled free of the mud, and Mare wasn't long after. There wasn't much space on the isnd, but they all heaved sighs of relief and flopped where they stood.
They soon crossed the remaining distance out of the marsh, giving every bush and reed which could hide an animal dirty looks.
SarcasticMisfit
