"I'll keep this short, our unit will stealthily infiltrate the camp, and I swear to Tenebrage that if any of you slow me down, or expose us I'll make sure you wish you were never born."
Miglo was a short old man, who always seemed to be grumpy and discontent. However, he was well revered due to his deeds, and Umbren was surprised Yorburn had given him the almost insulting job of overseeing rookies, for someone of his caliber.
Master Miglo crossed his arms looking around at the group making sure they were all listening.
Miglo pointed to a tent that was next to them, which Umbren hadn't noticed before, "You will find your disguises in that tent now hurry up and get changed. We leave in thirty minutes."
The tent wasn't big enough to hold the whole unit, so some, including Umbren waited outside. As Umbren was daydreaming about his upcoming mission, he noticed Master Yorburn's approach.
Master Miglo seemed more annoyed than anything at his appearance, "Why are you here Yorburn. Coming to make sure I'm handling these rookies well? I can assure you that this is nothing, so you can just go back to wherever you came from."
Miglo's words were filled with bitterness, and all the master could do was shake his head, "Don't be like that Miglo, I am your superior you know."
Miglo spit on the ground, "As if I care, we both wear the Green so what does it matter? I was your superior at one point, you know."
Yorburn almost laughed out loud, "By that logic Faldrid could boss both of us around."
Miglo's anger rose, "Don't mention his name in front of me, not after what he did."
"Aren't you a little harsh? After all that was a long time ago, and no one knows what happened."
Miglo shook his head, "Not like it matters anyway. I just can't believe that I was assigned to serve under you and him. Don't you think I don't know what our lord intended when he did such a thing, and it's not going to happen."
Umbren didn't know if he should be listening to their conversation, but the master really wasn't being subtle, so all Umbren could do was look another way and hope no one thought he was listening. Though he could not say the same for the others waiting with him.
Yorburn smiled awkwardly, "Well..."
At this point Miglo was fuming, "Don't make that face, I'm not resigning. The only way you're getting rid of me is by putting me in the ground. Besides, there's still a lot of work to do."
Yorburn gave a long sigh, "And what exactly might that work be?"
Miglo clenched his fist and one could even see a little blood if they looked hard enough.
Before Migle could respond, the first half came out in their disguises, which gave Yorburn a chance to change the topic, "Great you're all here, now I would like to give a few words, if that's okay Miglo."
Miglo didn't respond, all he did was turn away.
Yorburn nodded, "Thank you."
He raised his hands towards the group of tenebrage, "Now, I would like to wish all of you luck on your first real mission. I'm sure you won't let us down."
There was murmuring amongst the group, and Yorburn had to clear his throat to get their attention again, "You probably have already heard this, but let me repeat it. Remember if your fate is to die tonight, then you will die, though I doubt that any of us will. If your souls are to travel to the world beyond, it is Tenebrage's will, so you should not face your death with fear."
Umbren had heard this many times before, but Yorburn's words did put him at least a little at ease.
Yorburn turned back towards Miglo, "Thank you again."
Miglo didn't say a word back to him, or anything else as he left.
Umbren turned to Loutrin who was waiting with him, "I'm going to go talk to Master Miglo. Do you want to come?"
Loutrin shook his head, "No, I'm good. I hear there's no talking to that man."
Umbren couldn't really come up with any protest after witnessing Miglo's argument with Yorburn, but hopefully that wouldn't happen, and he really didn't want to go up alone.
"Those are just rumors though."
Loutrin's mouth twisted into a wry smile at this. "Rumors always hold at least an ounce of truth."
"We'll see, won't we?" Umbren said as he went to talk to Miglo.
When Miglo saw Umbren approach he wore an irritated look on his face, "What do you want?"
Umbren had more trouble coming up with what he wanted to say than he thought he would, "well... I just thought... that due to all your experience... maybe you had a piece of wisdom... that you could pass on to me."
Miglo's irritation grew, "Are you saying I'm old boy? Is this another attempt of Yorburn's to get me to hang up my cloak because if so, you can tell them I have no intention of doing so."
Umbren was caught completely off guard, "Oh, no nothing like that."
Miglo didn't look like he believed him but accepted his response, "I got no wisdom for you, but if you believe that you're special you're wrong, got it. In the big picture you are the same as any of those other kids out there, understand."
"Yes Sir," Umbren said stiffly.
"Good now stop bothering me and go get your disguise."
Umbren left Master Miglo full of resentment for his words. Umbren would show him. He wasn't like the other troops. He would be like the heroes of old. He would be as deadly and quiet as Largy Talon, and as strong as Lametaros.
Just wait, he would show Master Miglo, and anyone else who doubted him.
***
"So, you finally came out of that tent."
On his way back from talking with Miglo's unit Yorburn had run into Faldrid.
Faldrid looked like he might collapse on the spot, "I'm just getting some fresh air that's all. You should really take into consideration how much work you give to one person."
Yorburn threw his head back and gave a hearty laugh, "Well if I didn't give you much to do then it wouldn't be much of a punishment would it."
Faldrid gave a wry smile, "Just being here is punishment enough. You don't have to try to kill me from overworking. Though I thought you were one of the ones who was passed all that."
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't hold myself back, but you really didn't have to take it that far. I am sorry for all the work that I gave you, but it just couldn't be helped."
"Is that so..." Faldrid's expression hardened, "Don't you think all of this is a little off."
Yorburn furrowed his eyebrows, "What do you mean."
"It almost seems too easy. There are almost no guards for such a large caravan, and on top of that a good portion of them don't seem to be.... alert."
Yorburn closed his eyes considering Faldrid's concerns, "Hmm...they all live to the south near the border, so moving away from it might give them a false sense of security... or maybe even hope."
"Maybe..."
A smile returned to Yorburn's face, "Anyway you already took precautions if the mission is jeopardized. If anything happens our scouts will report it."
Faldrid's face darkened, "I would rather that be a last resort. We both know who is the closest to us at the moment. If they are alerted, we will pay for our failure dearly."
Yorburn walked up to Faldrid and whispered, as if what they were talking about was dangerous, "What is the worst that can happen...Even if they do have something up their sleeves, I doubt it will have much of an impact at all."
"Let's hope, for both of our sakes, you're right."
***
"Going off somewhere." Loutrin sounded slightly amused.
There was still time before the unit had to depart, and Umbren hoped he could sneak away somewhere, his anxiety had gotten the best of him.
Umbren looked back at Loutrin regretfully, "I'll be right back."
Loutrin waved his hand half-heartedly, "Don't worry I won't tell anyone, "He paused looking off into the distance with a perplexed expression, "Maybe I should do something like that. I certainly have time..."
Umbren shook his head as he turned to leave, he hated being caught by Loutrin. It was humiliating, it wasn't as if he told him why he was going, but there was only one reason he would be sneaking off.
Umbren had a rough idea as to where he might go. Ever since they had made camp in the massive trees, he had wanted to climb to the very top to see the view. That would certainly ease his worries.
He found the nearest place with a lot of footholds, and no one around, to start his climb. The trees of the forest still amazed him. Most of the trees in Skotous didn't even grow past Umbren's own height. These trees seemed as if they yearned to touch the celestial bodies above. The moonlight illuminated the lush dark green leaves that covered the massive towers. It truly was a sight to behold for a tenebrage.
With each branch that he came upon he didn't worry about its stability as, even though the branches got smaller as he ascended the tree, the smallest branch was still big enough for one person to stand on without concern over losing one's footing.
As he continued to climb, he began to think the tree actually did reach the stars, but right as he found himself believing it, he broke through a mass of green and was greeted by pleasant moonlight, and a breeze against his face.
He almost lost his footing at the sight in front of him. It was a sea of green for as far as the eye could see. He didn't even want to know how beautiful the expanse was during the day, but during the night it left him breathless.
Umbren made sure to take the whole scene in. A smell akin to mint, the cool refreshing breeze across his face, the rough, stern bark between his fingers, the...
His eyes popped open at the noise he heard. It was subtle at first, but the more he became aware of it, the louder it seemed to get. It sounded as if metal was being dragged through a stone road, but it would abruptly start and stop with an odd consistency.
His curiosity got the better of him as he left the sight before him, with great difficulty, to discover the source of such a noise. He made his way down slower than when he eagerly ascended the tree, but he knew if it was a person, he wouldn't want to be caught up there away from his unit.
Umbren came upon a figure crouching on a branch, its hands seemingly at work. It was clad in a dark green cloak.
Umben nearly fell from the thick brush of leaves he was hiding in. This was the worst possibility, apart from an actual luxcian soldier, maybe even worse. Luckily the figure didn't appear to notice, all Umbren had to do was…
"Are you going to just sit there all day rookie? You could at least have enough respect to greet me."
Master Yorburn's voice was stern, but filled with irritation.
Umbren's thoughts ran rampant: How did he know!? What should I do? I can't just run away, but it's suicide if I show myself. He may just ignore….
When he didn't get a response, Yorburn looked up from what had held his attention to where he hid. His gaze brought Umbren abruptly to his feet, nearly causing him to fall to the camp below.
"I'm sorry! How did you know!"
Master Yorburn didn't look impressed, "I'm sure everyone in the camp could hear you from how much noise you were making. Only a rookie could be so loud," He went back to the task he was carrying out before, the noise that Umbren heard before came back.
Yorburn held a black sword in his hand running a whetstone across its edge, the only way Umbren knew it was there was because it was darker than the night around it.
He berated himself for not recognizing the sound before, but that was soon drowned out by the awe he felt at the sight of the blade.
Apparently, he didn't do well hiding his envy as Yorburn spoke up, "Cronai, a gift from Lord Mortis himself. Gave it to me when he gave me my cloak."
"Mortis!" Umbren shrieked. The disciple was so far from reality he might as well have been a god himself. Seeing him was something to brag about, but receiving a gift was something else entirely. That was something the Greencloaks prided themselves on, but it never really settled in that Master Yorburn actually knew him.
"Quiet! I didn't come all the way up here only to be greeted by more noise."
Umbren almost jumped out of his skin at the master's scolding, "Forgive me! It's just that..what's he like?" Umbren could have killed himself right there. He had blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
Yorburn's glare stopped him from saying anything else, but after a moment he sighed and went back to sharpening his blade, "I tell you if you stop making such a racket."
Umbren nodded eagerly, he would have given anything short of his head to even hear about the disciple.
"For starters he would have thrown you from this tree if he saw you sneaking around, and there isn't much of a chance you could hide from him, anyone for that matter. He cares in his own way, if you can earn his respect, which is a difficult task in itself. Though there's a certain air about him that compels you to follow. He is untouchable in that way, even for as long as I've known him, I never could reason out what he was thinking."
Yorburn trailed off towards the end, but it no less amazed Umbren, "I wish I could meet him," he whispered.
Yorburn stood up, sheathing Conai,"You're never going to do that by just staying up here." He lept ever to Umbren's branch and put a hand on his shoulder, "Worry gets you nowhere. All you can do is give your best effort, no one's expecting anything else," Yorburn jumped to the branches below, vanishing into the night.
Umbren had to blink to bring himself back to reality. His talk with Yorburn was the last thing he had expected when he started his climb, "Just give my best effort, huh? Maybe one day I might meet Mortis." He doubted it, but there was still a sliver of hope in the back of his mind.
***
Umbren stood with the group standing before the walls of the luxcian camp. The walls themselves were made out of wooden pillars. The group had discovered a large enough gap in between two pillars that was just large enough for someone to slip through them.
Umbren was giddy with excitement; his head full of fantasies of all the ways he would win glory on the mission.
"Doesn't seem too practical, does it?" thought Loutrin out loud, looking at the gap.
Most of the other group members just nodded, but Master Miglo saw an opportunity to insult the luxcians and took it, "Those idiots are too lazy to actually make anything that would actually defend them from us."
He then eagerly pushed through the group and, with surprising difficulty, got through the wall. The group then took turns squeezing through the gap. Fortunately, they did not have to worry about being seen because they all were cloaking themselves in darkness and blending into the side of the wall.
After they were all in the camp they tried to assimilate into their new surroundings and blend in with the other slaves.
Umbren ended up finding one slave and started walking with him. He later recollected that it was more like he was following the slave. His eyes were lifeless, and seemed to contain no hope, he looked to have been beaten nearly to death, and his walk was so unsteady and doubtful that Umbren thought that the smallest breeze might knock him over.
Umbren shifted his attention to his clothes (if you could even call them that). They were made of a material similar to a potato sack and made him itchy all over, and the knife he was hiding up his sleeve didn't make him more comfortable either.
He stopped thinking of this and began to scold himself for thinking of such menial matters. When Umbren looked at his surroundings, the first thing he noticed was the smell of wine. Wherever he went the smell was so strong that it was almost overwhelming, and all throughout the camp there were luxcians talking and drinking.
The second thing he took notice of was the layout of the camp. The camp was circular in shape and around the perimeter of it were the tents used by the luxcians, containing a yellow symbol of a hand holding out the sun.
From the entrance of the camp to its inner circle there was a pathway supposedly for the caravan's carts, and in the inner circle of the camp the carts sat as well as the mounts. It seemed like this was where the slave that Umbren was following was going.
When they arrived in the inner circle, they met the rest of the slaves. The fact that all of them looked like the one Umbren was following made his blood boil. The slaves were arranged into four horizontal lines and before them stood a luxcian general with his silver military coat and malicious smile.
Umbren and the slave got into the formation at the very back of the line. From there he could see some of his comrades like Loutrin and a woman he didn't know much called Thestra.
To Umbren's right there were stables, in them were Loinir Attoka and vodena.
The Loinir Attoka were golden with black eyes, they had faces that were similar to that of a cat and ears that stuck straight up. Its body was similar to a bat, but they were naturally majestic.
Some vodena were still harnessed to the carts of the caravan. The beast had a feline body with two tails and the face like that of a buffalo.
After about five minutes the general nodded to two of his soldiers. They started counting the slaves, every now and then they would randomly start beating them. The slaves didn't reject this treatment at all and just accepted the blows. It took everything Umbren had to hold back from helping them, luckily none of his comrades were beaten.
It went on like this for some time until one of the soldiers got to Umbren. The soldier counted him but hesitated to go back to his general and looked Umbren over another time, "Anything wrong Tenebrage?" He said wryly
Umbren looked up at the soldier; his glare clearly portraying his feelings, "No"
Umbren drooped his head after the soldier left, but could have sworn that he smirked before walking back to his general.
When the soldier reached his general, Umbren could see out of the corner of his eyes that the soldier began to whisper something into the general's ear. At this point Umbren slowly started to raise his head out of curiosity, and somewhat fear. He never raised his head all the way.
An explosion of pain erupted from his head, it was so severe that he dropped to his knees and held it hoping it would somehow ease the pain, but he passed out only seconds later.
***
Upon a hill overlooking the camp, Faldrid almost broke the spyglass he held in his hand as he looked onto the luxcian camp. He had hoped that the scouts' report had been false or exaggerated, but this was just...How could he have let this happen! Everything was ruined.
"What should we do now, Master Faldrid?" the scout behind him asked.
Faldrid didn't even bother correcting his title, "We do what we planned. Report to the closest tenebrage force."
He reached out through his bond, and a Docha Attoka came running. It had the body of a deer, and the stamina and strength of a horse. Its face was akin to a cat, and its long-pointed ears stuck out from where two antlers stood on its head.
Faldrid stared into the creature's white eyes and rubbed its black fur, "We need to hurry girl. Sorry, but I may need to work extra hard tonight," It didn't seem to mind at all as Faldrid swung onto the small saddle on its back.
Faldrid tossed the spyglass to the scout, "Stay here, and watch over what happens, I'll be back soon with help."
As Faldrid rode off he thought he could hear the scout asking who was closest to them. Faldrid shook his head at the question, why does it have to be him! The Hounds themselves would have been better. How humiliating! There's no way he'll let me off easy this time.