The wind blew as our feet fell upon an empty road leading out of the kingdom. All in Travel garb the tigers quietly prowled along behind us. It was nice just to walk without expectation for a bit. We still were about a day's walk from the border. The feet fell as we walked in harmony with each other in silence.
Hours this went on as I felt comfort in the silence when it was broken. In the distance, a wagon rolled along with a trading caravan passing by. The large group looked at us warily as we walked past without a word of greetings or pleasantries exchanged. Part of our garb was travelers' cloaks to keep dust off of us and to hide that three women and three tigers were what our group consisted of.
Travel continued on as we started to enter into a forest as we traveled. Then into mountains as we traveled out of the kingdom and into the next country. After the mountains would we finally be leaving the Kingdom of Arlin and enter into the Human Empire of Garnock. There wasn't a lot of information on the Empire so I was excited to see for myself what a new country will entail. I was kind of hoping to expand my contacts in the Empire for later but I was just traveling through for now. The thought of a demon capital made me curious. My previous incarnation was often referred to as demonic in some ways and I wanted to see if the was true.
We reached the border and saw a fortress. Stacy was starting to complain she wanted to clean up after about a week of traveling on foot stopping only to rest in tents I agreed and made our way to the military fortress with armored guards. The kingdoms troops looked to be on alert for any movement and we were confronted at the gate when we came close.
"State your business!" A guard shouted at us and I wrily smiled. I hated to be disrespected like this and I could feel that the disrespect irked me more than it should have.
"We are travelers from the Capitol out to see the world after training in the Adventurers Academy," I stated simply loud enough for him to hear and he paused looking at us then motioned for us to approach. I took out the adventurers cards they issued us that was marked with the Academy logo showing that we had in fact been trained there.
"Why are you going to the Empire?" The soldier asked and I shrugged my shoulders.
"We are not going to the Empire of Garnock we are traveling beyond to see the world and the Empire happens to be in the way of that travel." Something told me that something had happened with the Kingdom and the Empire recently and tensions were high.
"When did you leave the capitol adventurer?" He asked and now I was starting to get annoyed.
"Look I understand we left about a week ago and have been on foot since then. We do not know of any tensions that seem to have been happening since then. Though that doesn't matter to us as adventurers in the kingdom of Arlin have not been called to arms. Therefor our travel is not banned." I stated the law of the Kingdom of Arlin, "Now we are looking for a warm bed and a bath for the night before more traveling. Is the fortress open for the night or do we simply travel around?" I stated and the soldier looked angry at the blatant snub to him that I didn't care for his questioning.
"Look, Miss Sally," He says looking down at my adventurer card, "I was tasked with questioning why you are here. Your job as a citizen of this country is to answer me when asked. I used to be an adventurer like you then I took this job to further our kingdom. That makes you respect me with the amount of respect I deserve! Now tell me where you are traveling too or go back to the capitol."
This Dumbass is pissing me off. "Look Dumbass I can kill your weak ass where it stands and the respect to the kingdom is the only thing that keeps you on your feet and not buried. You are pissing off me and my companions I only wish to know if we can rest the night. If we cant we will walk around. Now I will tell you two things soldier I will receive little to no consequences for killing you here and now. If they try they will die unless they send someone more powerful than me. They will then question whether that is worth it or not. When I write a letter stating why I did so and the laws I protected myself under they will throw your dead body in a pit never to care again. Stop pissing off your betters pig or I will gut you like the incompetent bitch you are. NOW! Tell, Me, Is, The, Fortress, Open." At this point, my blood lust was pouring out and I wanted to attack. I just really wanted to kill this dumbass.
The Soldier audibly gulped. "No, The fortress is closed for the time being Ma'am and Isn't open to the general public for the foreseeable future. Hostilities with the Empire are starting with our war to the North with the beasts being in a Stalemate."
"Good That's all I needed to know. If I feel someone following us they won't be coming back. The Next time you question someone stronger than you do it outside the uniform so we can weed out the stupidity gene from humans bloodline please." With that, I left a now blushing guard as Freya held back a snicker.
I was disappointed no one follows but we went past the Fortress and the sun was starting to set as we set up camp. The area we were in now was a small plain between this and the Empire. This was more or less no man's land. A dangerous spot to be. I laid down and realized I was a bit frustrated and I wanted to take it out on Stacy. She was such a good Perverted pain doll. I wanted to make her cry and scream for me and I felt myself moistening at the thought of torturing her again. I wanted something new too. I questioned what I would do in the Empire and see while we were traveling though if there was something we could set up quickly to start new plans for expanding my influence.
I was in thought as we started cooking with us all looking towards the fire when I noticed the silence around me. A deeply troubling Silence. I stopped and I looked towards my tigers who had not been looking at the flames but out into the plains. I let my night vision start to come back as I was no longer in thought. Something my instincts cried was out there watching us and I had no idea what. I looked out and decided that I did not want to arouse suspicion.
After a nice meal we all laid down to sleep for the night cuddled together but weapons at the ready as I whispered to them my thoughts. It was a very pointed night as we laid the bait for something unknown.