"If there is nothing else you need from me, then i'm taking my leave." Domam Minggud said and then turned around and left.
Rengha gave the man a profound look as he stepped out of the hall. He wondered as to why a man like Domam Minggud did not even ask for some warriors to look for his nephew. He saw the man agrue with commander Kuban Pasimo on equal footing. Surely asking for some Timawa class warriors was well within his power.
Rengha then thought that a man like Domam Minggud should have enough warriors on his own disposal. Family heads of the clan has the privilege to raise and keep their own servants and warriors. There is no actual limit as to how many they could keep as long as they can provide for their own warriors and stay loyal to the clan.
A clan is usually an alliance among families, and they will be in charge in a town or city . The important duties will be divided among the families. Duties like magical vein school supervision, administration, trade, food and farming, security an so on. Each clan has their own domains but they are all governed by the Royal City. In their case, The Lifetree clan is just one of the many clans that is Governed by the Royal City, Keh-Bu.
The Royal City deals mostly with the important matters in their region. They could deploy forces, enchanters or traders where it is needed. Rengha and his fellow Pintados warriors all came from the Royal City. And the city has more than a few thousand more of elite warriors there.
"Valiant warriors, step forward."
Rengha suddenly heard Commander Kuban Pasimo speak.
Their official orders are here.
Rengha and his group walked forward and stood up in attention. He saw Moyan Lubaw rolled up and put a seal into a leather scroll then handed it to commander Kuban. The two family head stood in front of them.
"This scroll contains the crest of the clan and a coded message for your mission. You are to show it immediately when you meet up with the lady enchantress, this is to avoid any unwanted misunderstanding." Commander Kuban said.
"The lady enchantress and her entourage will be coming from the town of Luhob, around 50 kilometers to the north-west. The road in the north is wide but it will take you a long time to reach them and you will attract too much attention. There is a road by the edge of the forest in the west side of the village that will save you a couple of hours' worth of travel, you will use it." Commander Kuban said.
Commander Kuban suveyed their group, looking at their eyes one by one af if remembering their faces. He then walked in front of him and handed him the scroll.
"If you are done preparing, you can head out now."He said.
"Yes, commander!" Rengha and his fellow Pintado said in unison. They made a salute and then walked out.
-----
Saluk has lost track of time since he entered the forest. He has been jumping and running from tree to tree like a little boy for who knows how long.
"Ahh... It has really been a long time since i was able to stretch and flex like this." He said to himself. He was sitting on a branch some ten meters from the ground, his legs swinging loosely in the air. The sun is starting to set now and he is already far away from the village. Meeting someone in a place like this is very unlikely so he finally removed the bandana that covered his eyes.
Saluk has been to the edge of the forest to the south a while ago. He found out that the tree line ended with a cliff. The raging sea was beyond. He has bad memories with the sea so he started heading north-west. The trees were so dense that he rarely has to step on the ground. Jumping from tree to tree is more to his liking and he was able to avoid roads and pathways like that. He continued doing it until he realized that the sun's rays are starting to look orange and the forest floor are getting darker. That is when he finally stopped and sit in his current location now.
'A few minutes more and i will have to start to look for food. I think there is a river up ahead. Maybe i will try and go there to catch fish. I'm hungry.' Saluk thought.
He left all his food back in the village at the time he was so focused waiting for a chance to slip into the forest. When he saw the opening, he excitedly dashed like lightning and forgot all his stuff. He was already a few kilometers from the village when he noticed that he did not have his sack-bag with him. He thought about getting it back, but finally decided against it. Now he is a hungry man.
"Hungry but a happy man!" Saluk corrected himself. He laughed and jumped to the next tree.
The sun was already setting in the horizon when he reached the river. He saw a bridge about half kilometer from him and he avoided it. He just chose a tall tree by the edge of the river to get a nice vintage point in the area. He can still watch out for the bridge at this distance.
Saluk jumped down to the ground. He surveyed the area before reaching out a tree branch a few steps away and snapped it off.
It was a meter and a half long straight branch, about two fingers thick. He quickly snapped of the mini branches in it along with the leaves. He just wanted a nice and straight stick. After which, he started biting off the end of the stick until he made it somewhat pointy and sharp.
"Now, you will help me to catch my food." Saluk said nooding, satisfied with his work.
It was getting dark when Saluk finally stepped into the river. He doesn't really have much experience in spear fishing. He only had tried it for about twice or trice in the past harvest season. Compared to this, the harvest season cannot be really called spear fishing because you just have to spear the fish to pick it up from the shallows. You can even do it by hand.
This time the river is wide and deep, Saluk was not even sure himself if he can catch a fish. 'Maybe i will just have to settle with wild berries if this doesn't work out.' He thought before diving in.
What happened afterwards surprised Saluk himself. He did catch a few big one, and he barely needed his wooden spear. At one point he even thought he can outswim a fish.
'I got lucky this time. Maybe because it was already dark that these fish didn't see me coming at them.' Saluk thought happily. He then look for a place to cook his food. Making fire is no fun, tiring even. But atleast his food is assured. Saluk chuckled to himself and started looking for a particular rock.
Being alone most of the time and having almost zero social life, Saluk developed a habit of talking to himself. He doesn't think it's anything anusual at all and keeps him from being bored.
"Time to make some food!" He happily said and started making fire.
-----
Rengha's group was walking inside the forest for around 4 hours now. They were offered carriage and transport beast by Head Luban but they respectfully declined.
Being on a mounted beast may be a faster way to travel but as a warrior, it greatly dulls their battle perception and reflexes. It is easy to ambush a group of people travelling in a carriage. Even the likes of Rengha, with his years of battle experience will still be caught off guard if he is ambushed while he is on a mounted beast. They insisted on marching on. It may took longer but they are more comfortable with it.
"Group leader Rengha, The bridge that's on the map is already up ahead, shall we scout the area first before crossing?" One of his Pintado warrior said, looking at the map at hand.
"Yes, leave the map here and take 4 warriors with you and run ahead, scout the area." Rengha affirmed.
Soon, Five Pintados ran forward noiselessly. Their weapons are tied in their back, covered by the black hooded cape they are wearing. They looked like shadows drifting swiftly under the dull moonlight.
"It might be a good place to make camp for the night. High ground level and a river that flanks at one side, pretty easy to defend." His second in command Debal said, looking at the map that was passed to him.
"I think so too." Rengha nodded, not breaking a stride.
The base of the bridge on their side is an elevated open ground. The river is around 20 meters wide. and the nearest tree line is more than a hundred meters away. They can defend it easily if something unexpected happen. This is indeed a good place to make camp.
A few minutes later, the scouting members of his group returned and gave Rengha a postive remark.
"Let's go. It's getting late, We can rest there." Rengha nodded.
The place was indeed a good place to rest. Rengha let his group take rest and have their meal while he himself took the first watch. He roamed around for about 2 hours, looking for any possible weakness in their position. They might not get any encounter in this one night but being a Pintados, this has already been part of their instincts. Satisfied with his assessment, He returned to their group.
"Debal, Pick 4 warriors to stand as look out for now, 4 warriors on 3 hour shift rotations." Rengha said, addressing his second in command. "Also set up our defensive prism, and activate a magic eye." Rengha continued.
"Yes, will do. You can take your rest now" his second in command replied.
Rengha nodded and look for a spot to lie down. He removed his cape and rolled it, intending to use it as a pillow. A while later, he heard a soft hum in the air, indicating that the defensive prism has been activated. It is a defensive magic that will detect anything that will come under its dome of coverage and paralyze it of a while, it is specially effective against wraiths, spirits and people cloaked in invisibility spell. It can also deflect some magical projectile. Their defensive prism is a low tiered one, with only a diameter of 50 meters of coverage and can only paralyze an attacker for a few minutes. But that is more than enough for Rengha. Paralyze a demon for a couple of minutes and the Pintados will do the rest.
He closed his eyes. It has been a long day.
"Group leader, we are being watched. The magic eye detected a single presence in that direction." Debal whispered to him in a calm, but serious voice. He is pointing to a direction on their left, on their side of the riverbank.
Rengha quickly raised himself up.
"Only one? What is it? Magical beast? Bandit?" He asked. The magic eye can only detect something with self awareness so it will not detect mindless animals or creatures. Some enchanters commonly use birds or insects to spy on someone, any creatures being used as a spy will have to be magically induced, and it will be detected by the magic eye. When that happens, the magic eye will recognize it as a magical beast. Humans on the other are inherently born with magic vein so it will also be easily detected by the magic eye.
A Magic eye is very sensitive and can be triggered easily within a kilometer radius in an open space so it is only used mostly inside closed rooms or at night in remote places.
"No, the one who is watching us do not possess any magic. And it is self aware." Debal said slowly.
"A demon." Rengha's face darkened. "Raise the men. I think that we will be in a fight of our lives." He said.
Even warriors of their calibre will easily be slaughtered by a single Demon if they are caught off guard, specially in the dead of the night while they are exhausted and resting.
"Group leader, we are ready!" The warriors rose up and quickly become alert, Their exhaustion was quickly replaced with sharp aura.