As soon as he saw them approaching the group he spurred his horse to catch up. It had only been a few hours since he last saw them, but they were missing one person, the cloaked figure who wore a Silver masked could not be seen among them. "He must have fallen." Curtis thought as he assessed the other party.
Silva had already moved to block the group, he had Dean, Royce, and Carter backing him as a few soldiers were scrambling behind them. The group of colorfully masked people stopped a ways off of the main group. The Yellow masked person had tapped their leader's back and pointed behind them. They had detected that Curtis was approaching them from behind, and with a group in front of them, they were effectively being surrounded.
They hadn't reacted too harshly though, they kept their cool, a sign that they were at least, people that can be reasoned with. Three faced front, while the black Blue masked person faced Curtis.
Curtis hadn't meant to be threatening, it just so happened that they were going the same way, and he had caught them coming up to Silva's group. They had a good old fashioned staredown between them for a few minutes before the Cyan masked person made a move, as he approached he called out to Silva's group, and from his voice, it was revealed that he was actually a her.
"I'm Cyan, we bear no ill will." she declared, giving a moment of pause to let her declaration sink in before continuing. "We occupy this area, imagine our surprise when we found an unknown group of people squatting outside our forest," she added. And even though she said it with her beautiful voice, Curtis couldn't help but feel the irritation in her tone.
Curtis observed Silva and his groups reaction from afar, from what it looks like they haven't spotted him being behind the group. Silva broke off from his group. He walked forward to face the Cyan-masked woman and stated. "We are refugees, our town was attacked and we had nowhere to go, we had to flee and we so happened to come across this place."
He half expected Silva to reveal his strength based on what he knew about him, the guy was very protective of his people, and his strength is the only thing he had to protect those he held close. But it seems the guy had a cautious side to him.
"A Chaos horde attacked the town, we fled to the desert and chanced upon the portal that brought us here," Curtis called out from behind, startling Silva and his group. "I was looking for our scouting party, but I wasn't able to bring them back, so I was a bit behind," he explained as he spurred his horse toward the group.
The masked group was wary as Curtis moved closer to them, he thought he even detected the Yellow masked person preparing something under his cloak in case he attacked them. He couldn't help but give the man a nod, to let him know that he knew what he was doing.
"Honestly, we're just passing through, we had no choice and had to flee here, otherwise the enemy would have caught up to us," he said as he passed the group.
"Do you mean those hordes filled with mindless fanatics that destroy everything in their way?" the Blue masked person asked.
"Yes." Curtis answered, "They launched a massive attack on our town, even brought war machines to make sure that they destroyed everything in sight. We wouldn't have been able to defend if another attack occurred." his words seemed to cause the masked group to become mute.
Although it wasn't unheard of that people were able to defend their towns, most of the time that it happened, it was because the town was so big that it had more than a few powerful people that defended it. Or in some cases, the people that defended it were so powerful that Chaos wouldn't bother to attack it because of the losses it would cause. The city of Lanschan was one such place. It was so heavily fortified and backed by more than a few powerful ability users that Chaos had given up on sieging it.
And for them, seeing that this group's fighting force was so few, it had to have been a miracle for them to survive the attack.
"Let's help them," the Blue masked person whispered to their leader as soon as she had thought that Curtis was out of earshot. But he hadn't. Curtis had honed all of his senses to be better than a normal person.
"We'll need to see if they're worth it first, and we have our mission." the Cyan masked person whispered back. She was practical, Curtis thought. She was weighing the benefits if she helped them. She wouldn't have been assigned as a leader if she didn't consider a lot of things. Cautious and a Realist. Traits that would be perfect for a leading role.
"I found them, they had done their job, but they died." Curtis made it brief as he told Silva what happened to the riders. Silva nodded grimly, motioning for a few soldiers to tell their family what happened to their loved ones. He didn't want to delay the inevitable, it had been so long since they had gone south, their family already had ideas about what happened to them, but they needed to be notified. Delaying the truth would only cause them more grief down the line, it was better to get it over with as soon as possible.
"I think they're lying Red." Silva whispered, "I had sent scouts deeper into the forest, there are no towns nor cities for the span of it." to which Curtis nodded, it was a good thing that they caught it early, but what if the other party didn't lie? He had to probe them for information first. It was possible that their town was hidden from view.
Based on what he knew, they were on a mission given by someone called *White*, they lost a few people along the way, and if he had to guess, they were close to their destination, they had a few or if not all of them had abilities. Which meant they were dangerous if they turned on them.
Add to the fact that he didn't know the scope of their abilities, it was ideal if he could resolve this encounter with them peacefully.
"So what happens now?" the Cyan masked woman asked. They had a time limit. They needed to get to their destination as soon as possible, and Curtis needed to get the people to a safe place.
"We'll leave this place in a few days, we're just looking for a good place to settle for now," Silva answered for them.
"A place with a water source." Curtis listed a few things, "and can be easily defended." he added. If they were giving him free information, he would at least make the most out of it.
The Cyan masked woman thought for a bit before answering. "Go to the north mountain there." she pointed at the mountain in the distance, "There's a spring near the top, comes from an underground source. You should be able to make a base there if you have an earth and plant ability user," she added. "If not you could try your luck down south, there's fertile land there," she advised.
Earth ability users were very useful in this aspect. They could shape the land itself, with enough time they would be able to transform a desert into a paradise, provided that they had all the necessary resources at hand. Water was the most essential part, so given that they had Dean, they should go north.
"I guess we're done then, we too were just passing by as well. We need to get a move on." the Cyan masked woman said. Effectively ending their short encounter.
"Thank you for the information." Curtis smiled while Silva and the others bowed to show their gratitude. The mountain would make a good base for them. They might even follow Lanschan city's example and make the base deep in the mountain. It was not a bad idea, they'll just need to make it secure enough for their needs and it should be a decent home for them.
"Not telling me where?" Cyan asked slyly.
"It might be better to keep it a secret for now." Curtis grinned. Of course, he wouldn't tell them, it wasn't determined if they were friend or foe yet, sure they had given him information, but, it was barely enough to guarantee they were to be trusted.
"Smart," she remarked as she gathered her companions and waved them to go on.
Their group moved onward towards the forest while the woman stopped by Curtis.
"Your name?" she asked.
"You know, it's usually the other way around. And I invite them for coffee or merienda (snacks) first. But, I'll make an exception." Curtis grinned as he took off his silver helmet, catching the woman off guard. Not a lot of people talked to her that way, considering that she was highly ranked in their organization.
"I'm Cyan." she introduced as she pointed at her colored mask. She held her hand out for a handshake.
"Well, it was nice to meet you Cyan. I'm Red." Curtis shook her hand and pointed at his bloodied ax.
"See you when I see you, Red," she called out as she moved to follow her companions.
"I'll invite you for snacks when we meet again," he called out, as the woman rode off, earning him a chuckle.