Gherm paused, awaiting Lev's response to his eager questions.
I… no, we have both been influenced by external powers ever since we started sharing this body Gherm. I'm starting to believe the contract I signed with that being is starting to take its effect.
Lev felt Gherm's uneasiness grow, he knew Gherm had nothing to say in the matter when Lev signed the contract. Gherm's existence, his survival within him had to be kept secret.
Ainshart's Inheritance, huh.
Lev was taken aback by Gherm's calm response. Gherm's stress hadn't waned, yet his thoughts were collected. Lev heard the sound of boots crunching snow near him and peered around. In front of him stood Orva.
Let's discuss this another time, Gherm.
"Lev, there's something you should know."
Orva tilted her head towards the bird people's position. "They're up to something."
Both of them approached the creatures, who were now repeating a guttural sound that roughly resembled a word from their language. Lev's eyes met Orva's, "what are they saying?"
"It's hard to describe. They're speaking in an older variant of their language."
Orva knelt down in front of one of the smaller bird creatures and asked something Lev couldn't understand. The creature nodded and pointed at one of the fading fire pits Lev's men had lit a few hours ago. At first, Lev didn't know what the creature meant but as soon as he saw the ash flying away from the pit, it'd become clear.
Lev placed his hand on Orva's shoulder. "They are different after all, ask them if they know more about those things."
With memories of high pitched screaming creatures charging at her with blood lust coursing through their eyes still fresh in her mind, Orva approached one of the older bird folk.
After a few brief exchangements, she returned back to Lev. "Seems like there's a legend about them. It roughly goes as follows."
"They are not sure when these events transpired, but they're certain of one thing." Lev's gaze told Orva she'd peeked his interest.
"Please continue", Lev said whilst rubbing his hands together, shielding them from the cold wind.
"So like I said, the legend is about bird people who stayed behind. I assume they refer to the frontier city, and those creatures we barely managed to escape from when we first arrived there."
The feathered creatures next to them listened intently, even though none of them could understand what Orva was saying.
"According to the legend, those who stayed behind paid with their souls to do so." Lev frowned at the last statement, he wasn't in disbelief, but was intrigued by their legend. Lev knew the truth.
They sold their souls to Kram, interesting.
At first, Lev had thought the creatures they saw back had merely been Kram's experiments. It wasn't that far fetched of Lev to assume Kram had abandoned his leftover minions before migrating to an unknown location.
"After having sold their souls to the elder, they were allowed to stay behind." Orva continued, ignoring Lev's now stern expression.
Hearing a familiar name, one of the bird people screeched in agony.
Lev glanced at the distressed avian. Looks like they know Kram.
Returning his attention back to Orva, Lev nodded, waiting for Orva to continue the tale.
"I'm sorry, I didn't understand what they told me afterwards. It seems like recalling their legend brings great distress with it. Kram was mentioned a lot amid the incoherent words that followed his name."
Having heard their legend, Lev stood up with a relaxed expression plastered on his half-frozen face. "It's fine, I have a good hunch of where this tale ends."
With her brows raised high Orva looked at Lev, the word 'puzzled' almost manifesting on her forehead. "What are you implying?"
"It's quite simple. Our feathered captives here are probably one of the few pure tribes left."
Still confused by Lev's explanation, Orva tilted her head. "Pure?"
"Exactly, I believe they are closely related to the frontier's original inhabitants, during Ainshart's golden age."
An agonizing scream interrupted their conversation.
"Waaagh", one of the bird people couldn't bare it anymore and broke free from the others, running towards a nearby forest.
One of the soldiers went out of line, and started making a run for it. "Stop, get back in formation or I'll have to use bruteforce!"
If not for Lev's frame blocking the soldier, he'd have tailed the create for miles. "Sir, are you sure about this?"
"They may be our captives, but they're still here out of choice."
The soldier briefly made eye contact with a few bird people who were still in formation, before moving back in line and marching on. All the while, the creatures were still chanting about Kram, the only name Lev recognized from their strange tongue.
Seeing Lev's confusion, Orva joined Lev at the end of their formation, next to the group of captives. Lev glanced at Orva, "Are they still singing about those things? The feral creatures and Kram?"
Orva lifted her hand up towards her chin and leaned in closer towards the creatures.
"Yes, but their tone has changed. I think one of the creatures gave up out of fear."
Lev looked behind him, barely seeing the shadow of the creature running over the hill towards the dense forest behind it. "Why would they choose to run back into enemy terrain instead of going to their ancestral home."
"Who knows. They probably believe the ferals are still hiding within the city, you know we haven't explored every part of it, especially the lower floors."
Lev thought about what Orva had just told him. The lower floors, but those have been flooded long ago.
When they had arrived at the abandoned city, the frontier, ten months ago, they had surveilled most of the upper parts, including the tall buildings that resembled skyscrapers. However, to their surprise, they weren't able to find the creatures they had escaped from during the expedition.
Seeing the blood draining from Lev's cheeks, Orva put on a smile. "Hey, don't worry about it. If they'd been hiding in the lower floors, we'd have seen them already. I'm sure even hollows need a source of sustenance."
This didn't calm Lev, instead, he'd grown even wearier. "Who's to say they need to move up to get feed? Maybe they're cannibalistic in nature. Think about it, they've been there for so long without any food."
A sweat droplet was now forming on Orva's forehead, she knew Lev was onto something. She didn't know what to make of it, but she knew Lev had keen sense when it came to things related to Ainshart.
Lev quickly changed his tone into a more relaxed one. "Hey, you're right. I shouldn't be thinking about it too much, especially not now. Let's get back to the frontier first before we make any conclusions."
Orva's face returned to her usual, neutral stance. She nodded and moved back to the front of the group, joining the shamans.
***
"Sir, is this the path you mentioned when we prepared this route?"
Lev stared at a map in front of him, his finger tracing the path they'd taken previously. "If we go left here instead of right, we should avoid running into those behemoths again."
A chorus of sighs escaped from the soldier, at least Lev had brought them some peace of mind.
Seeing how relaxed his men had become, with some even sitting down and bantering, Lev faced forwards and pointed his index finger towards clearing surrounded by several hills.
"Behind those hills lies enemy terrain, this isn't the time to slack off. We're using the hills as cover until we reach this river." Lev's index finger tapped on a blue line on his map. Behind the river was drawn a dotted red line, with the word 'frontier outer lands' crudely written next to it.
"So we're supposed to hope they don't see us? Lev, are you sure?"
Questions barraged Lev, the soldiers weren't having any of it. The battle with the deer creatures had only been a few days ago, and being so close to home meant the soldiers didn't want to see any unnecessary bloodshed.
Lev put on a stern look. "It's the only way, now move!"
The soldiers reluctantly started moving again. Upon reaching the first hill covering their path, Lev could hear the leaves of the forest on the other side rustling.
The sound is coming from above, are the leaves on the branches being pushed aside?
A soft yelp escaped from one of the soldiers at the front, still audible enough for the rest to hear.
"B-beast! I can hear one on the other side of the hills!"
The soldier readied his spear and took a few steps backwards, the shaman behind him following behind him.
Lev ran to the front and readied his glaive. "Run towards the river, we're almost there. They haven't noticed us yet, keep close to the edge of the hills and make a run for it once we reach the river."