Tracking the leader took too much time for his liking. Curtis had to push his horse to its limits to even catch up. And if he pushed it, even more, it might just collapse. At least half a day had passed since he left the group to enter the portal without him. If they followed his plan they will be near the portal for at least two days, scouting their surroundings, gathering resources from the woods while healing up from the attack.
Curtis started to make his way back to the canyon, he estimated that if he took his time he could make it there within a day, he had to give his horse some time to rest, he didn't really like the idea of walking back, especially since he had the option not to.
As he came up onto a small hill, Curtis passed a tree standing by its lonesome on the summit. The sky had turned dark, the wind blew from the horizon, letting the tall grass dance to its hymn. The plains in front of him stretched out from one side of the horizon to the other, The world had never looked so peaceful, in any other time this would have been used as farmland, to plant crops in or as a pasture for cattle. If only they weren't in a time of war, this spot would have been an ideal location for a home.
He had decided that it was time to rest up for the day, he led his horse to the tree and tied its reins onto one of its low hanging branches. He would be sleeping on the ground tonight, it wasn't the best place to sleep in, he didn't have either a tent or any gear that would help with a night out, and although he was used to it, he wouldn't mind the option to have one, but the scenery that accompanied it was good enough to ease that burden. Maybe one day, he would come back here and build a house.
On his first day back, he had encountered a town being attacked by Chaos spawn, on the second, he needed to find a place for them to stay in, he had to scout out an area, and he needed to rendezvous with another scouting team, and then he needed to fight another group of Chaos hunters.
And now he was going to end the day wherein he was sleeping outdoors. It was a familiar scenario. When he had gone out of the city in missions assigned by Hjilmar, or Sally, or Edna, he would often sleep outdoors with a team of other people, they would head for the mission area and sleep on the way. What was happening now was familiar for him, and what usually happens when they do sleep out is-.
*Clip-Clop, Clip-Clop*
And there it was.
Sounds of horses galloping were heard in the distance, and from the way that it was growing louder and louder, they were headed to his position. It wasn't a surprise to Curtis, in all the different hills in the area, the one he was on was rather distinct, there was a lone tree standing on its summit, and it had a good vantage point on its surroundings.
Curtis cleaned up whatever tracks he had, untied his horse, and rode it down the mountain, he just hoped it was dark enough for them to not notice the horse prints, he hid within a rock formation not too far from the summit, he would observe the newcomers first, rather than meeting them head-on. There was no telling whose side they were on.
"Stay here Timmy, I'll come back for you," he whispered to his horse as he moved it behind a boulder. The people who rode on the horses should have reached the summit by now, Curtis would have to sneak closer to them, his armor wouldn't help with that notion but it was better to remove it as so not to get caught.
He removed his armor and was now wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, paired with dark slacks. He even left his ax behind as to not appear as threatening if they were hostile, he could always employ his abilities to make some cover as he rushed back to retrieve his weapon.
~~~
"Sis, we need to keep moving, we're still far from reaching home, maybe we should just turn back. White needs us there." a voice said worriedly
"I told you, call me Cyan, also White can handle that area, what we should be focusing on is if we are going to survive tonight. Those bastards are still hounding us, and they've been at our tracks for a month." another voice replied.
"We've already lost Pink, Orange, and Red, we can't let their deaths be in vain." the voice added.
"Ughh, okay. I'm sorry... Si- Cyan." the worried voice replied.
As Curtis approached he spotted 5 figures unhorsing atop the hill, they were trying their horses onto the branches of the lone tree. He had heard two of them argue while the two were surveying their surroundings. And another one was laying down by the tree. It looked like they were going to set up camp on top of the hill. "Just my luck." Curtis cursed, his spot was just taken from him.
But he wondered, it didn't sound like the group was aligned with Chaos, and from what he ha read on the dossier Hjilmar had sent him, the probability of finding people outside of the big towns or cities were close to impossible, Chaos ran rampant outside of these safe havens, and any normal person would be killed without a thought.
Though from their words they weren't an ordinary group. They even used code names, calling each other colors, and from what it looked like, they were currently on a mission assigned by this *White* person.
As Curtis drew closer, he finally caught a better look at this group of squatters, they wore thick cloaks that hid their body, they wore masks that covered their faces, and colored with which what Curtis assumed was their codename, he saw Cyan, Black, Silver, Yellow, and Blue.
Cyan and Blue were the two who were arguing earlier, even now they were discussing what their next step was. Silver was sitting against the tree, he seemed injured, blood could be seen flowing down out one of the holes in his cloak, and Black and Yellow were currently setting up camp, the former was making a fire while the latter was preparing some rations for them.
"Okay look, once we finish this mission we're taking a break for at least two months, we've had too many close calls this time, and we lost two people. I'm sure White will understand." Cyan announced to the group, getting sounds of approval from everyone present.
"Those bastards will pay for what they've done, we'll gather our strength and hit them back, hit them back hard," Blue added getting a cheer from the group.
"Eat up, rest, and then tomorrow, we'll move out at first light." their leader announced.
Curtis observed the group a bit more, they were a motley group of people, one laughed where one might cry, and one cried where one might find joy. But other than that, they were careful, Curtis would have approached them if there weren't so many traps set up outside their perimeter, he hadn't expected to find so many alarms set up in such a small area. It should have been either the Black or Yellow guy who had set it up.
It was a small trick Curtis had seen Sally use before, it was done by condensing a small amount of wind in a small ball-like structure and burying it beneath the ground. And once someone had moved the earth near the condensed ball, the air inside would rapidly expand, creating an audible pop that will alarm the user and create a ball of smoke in the area. And with so many balls buried around their camp, it would be impossible to draw near without alarming them.
Curtis gave up the notion of meeting them, they hadn't noticed him yet, and he wasn't eager to make himself known to them, they didn't look hostile, but he had no idea how they would react to him. Sure he was curious, but just from the traps set up, the group likely had more ability users, and with them being that cautious, there was no telling if they were the type to shoot first and ask questions later.
Returning to his horse, Curtis decided to leave earlier than the group. He didn't want to get caught up in such a troublesome ordeal, he already had too much on his plate right now.
Laying down on the ground, the sky looked bright. Stars littered the space as it brightened the night.
"The moon's bright tonight," he commented. He missed his family, both the ones of the De Leons and also his family back in Candelabra, he wouldn't admit it to Hjilmar but he had seen him as sort of a grandfather to him, he was too old to be a father figure so he relegated him to be a grandfather. He's been gone for only a week but he already missed them.
Staring up at the sky he couldn't help but wonder, are they seeing the same stars as him?