"Thank Tenebrage were finally here. They better have some booze lying around here somewhere." Loutrin said reaching his hands towards the sky.
Sadine smiled wryly, "Aren't you a little young for that."
Loutrin smirked, "You're going to start caring about things like that after all this time. Besides, look around us; I don't think anyone will care."
The tenebrage force had made camp on a hilltop overlooking Sangai. They surprisingly didn't seem to be trying to keep a low profile, if anything almost the opposite. Even though there was still some daylight left there were multiple fires already lit throughout the camp. On top of that no one was worried about being quiet. Lord Mortis must also not have wanted to conceal their numbers. From what Loutrin could see the camp was overrun with soldiers. More than Loutrin had thought were actually tasked to track down the scattered caravan.
Loutrin had heard that the other remaining troops that were in camp before they had set off, had gone to some village in the south, but he couldn't remember the name of it. Apparently they were supposed to get it ready for the disciples and the others.
Sadine got down off of her attoka, "Well you know what they say, Alcohol dulls the senses."
"No offense Mistress but I don't think I'll be needing them for a while."
Sadine handed her reins off to a stable master, "Your new, so I'll give you a piece of advice. It's smart to always be looking behind your back. In camps like these luxcian attacks aren't the other things to be looking out for. You also need to be looking out for your comrades. Doze off for just a second and you might find yourself without your weapon. Though I don't know who would want those weird skewers of yours."
Loutrin waved his hand, "I don't know how the hands were trained, but for us we were encouraged to do things like that. Not directly of course. When we were, we weren't punished for stealing or killing, we were punished for being caught," He gave a yawn, "Besides, none of those guys will be able to rob me even if I was under the influence."
Sadine gave a wry smile, "I bet that I could take something from you without you even noticing."
"Eh! You're not serious are you? Even though you're a Hand, what makes you so confident?"
"Sadine, come on I need you!" Vale called out.
Sadine sighed and walked away from him, but not before giving an answer, "Well...I don't know probably the fact that you haven't realized that your glove is coming off."
Loutrin's eyes jerked open as he looked to his left hand that was fully covered by a black sleeve and glove. Without a doubt the glove had slipped off a little revealing hideous burn marks.
"Not that it's my business, but I don't think you get burns like that from your training camp."
Loutrin jerked his glove up hastily, but before he could say something back to the Hand she was already gone.
He glared at the place she had previously been, but just shook his head after a moment, "I really hope that someone here has some good stuff that I can steal. Really, are rookies put through this much in the first week usually?"
Sadine had caught up to Vale. She never seemed to have slowed down a little to wait for Sadine. Vale had always been like that. Something like a strong sense of duty always possessed her.
"So mind telling me what you needed me for or what we're doing?"
Vale looked back at her in disbelief, "You really can't figure that out? We're going to give our report. I also have some questions in regards to what we're doing here."
Sadine grimaced, "It's not like I tried to figure it out in the first place, but can't we take a little break before then."
"We're already late as it is. What if something happens while we're taking a break? We have to know what's going on as soon as possible. Morta is likely also worried about the fate of the Hands that she entrusted us."
Sadine scratched the back of her neck in trying to find some other way to protest, "Yeah, but still..."
Vale raised an eyebrow, "What happened to you? You've been acting weird this entire time. It's almost as if you're not even trying anymore, or even want to try. You were so eager to do anything before now, so what happened? Even when I asked you to help me track down the caravan, you gave the bear minimal information, and didn't even try to look for other signs of their trail than the ones that I pointed out."
"You're one of the best trackers, I doubted you needed my help."
"You're better."
Sadine sighed, "I guess I'm just tired."
"Tired?"
Vale's gaze suddenly drifted from Sadine onto a figure that was sitting next to an entrance of a tent, "Oh! Relam how have you been. If I'm not mistaken you led your first unit recently. How did it go?"
Relam looked up from a picture he was drawing in the ground with a stick, "Mistress Vale...by any chance have you seen a flask anywhere, I sort of...lost mine in our journey."
Vale came to a stop in front of the man and smiled, "I asked a question first didn't I?"
Relam's look darkened as he threw the stick he was holding away, "Well...at the last minute Mor...our lord decided to take me with him instead."
Vale's eyes widened, "Our lord? How did you all fare then?"
Relam ran his hand through his unruly hair, "Well...we may of had one little misstep."
"Misstep?"
Relam picked up a stick from nearby and resumed doodling, "Yep, but I think you would rather hear it from them instead of me. How about your unit? Did anything happen to it? I saw that you all were late..."
Vale gave a genuine smile, "We had to split up from a portion of our forces, but I'm sure they'll be here soon."
Sadine could often tell when her sister was lying, and she didn't think what she said was a complete lie, but she could sense some doubt in her voice.
Vale waved as she left Relam to his doodling, "I hope you get a green cloak one of the days Relam Kymos."
"Me too, Me too." he mumbled to himself.
Sadine put a finger to her chin as the two sisters walked through the camp, "Why would you stop to talk to him? Didn't you say we had to talk to Morta as soon as possible."
"Relam's mood often reflects our lord's mood."
"What do you mean?"
"When Relam's downcast lord Mortis is usually furious, when he is in a good mood, the lord is usually not in the mood to deal with anything. Besides, he ended up telling us some news about how the disciples mission went. At least now we know to expect..." She didn't seem to be looking forward to it.
The Hands walked in silence as Vale appeared to be deep in thought, and Sadine didn't want to disturb her. She was usually more irritable in times like these.
The two finally made it to a tent that was separated from the rest of the camp. Though the most blatant sign that it was the lord and ladies tent was the fact that Alsarie stood guard next to it.
Vale was about to call out to her, but before she could her eyes widened as they drew closer.
Sadine snickered a little, "What happened to you?"
Alsarie before them looked different from the last time they had seen her. For one she looked a lot a lot more put together. Last time they saw her, her hair hung loosely over shoulders, and was unkempt. Now it looked as if she had at least ran a brush through it, and she looked to have taken a thin root or vine and used it to keep her hair out of her face like some sort of band.
Alsarie was also one of the roughest at of all the Hands If you didn't tell her to, she wouldn't wash or even take care of herself until it was absolutely necessary. A lot of the Hands didn't know if they should admire her diligence, in performing her duty, or be disgusted by her lack of hygiene.
Alsarie furrowed her brow at Sadine's comment, "What does that mean?"
Sadine's snicker only intensified, "You know exactly what I mean. Did you get a look at your reflection on the way here."
Vale looked back harshly at Sadine silencing her. Though it was all Sadine could do to stop herself from laughing when Alsarie's face turned a deep red.
Alsarie started to fidget with the spear in her hand, "I...just thought that I was not fit...to be beside Lord Mortis looking...like that." She spoke but her voice was weak.
Vale was even taken aback by the other Hand's behavior. However, it was apparent on Vale's face that she was grateful for the change. Sadine also felt the same way. Not just because of Alsarie's outward appearance improving, but because it showed signs of change.
Vale coughed to change the mood, "Where is the Lord and Lady now?"
Alsarie looked to be disappointed, "They're over there discussing important matters," she pointed in a certain direction, "I wish I could be with them right now, but our lord said to guard the tent. He wouldn't even give me a chance to protest. What if someone happens to our lord and lady? I will never forgive myself."
Vale simply smiled at her almost child-like desire to be with Morta and Mortis. Though Sadine would be lying if she said that she wasn't a little annoyed by it.
As the two walked to where Alsarie had pointed, Vale turned back as if remembering something, "I remember Relam said that your unit ran into some trouble. I hope you all got out of it all right."
Alsarie seemed to not understand what she was saying at first, "Trouble?" though a look of realization spread across her face, "Oh that! Don't worry we got out of it alright. I'm sure things could've been much worse, but it didn't really have much impact on the mission at all."
Alsarie didn't sound like she was trying to put an optimistic spin on the matter, so Vale and Sadine worried less about it as they made their way to the disciples.
As they left Sadine commented on Alsarie's change, "It's about time she started to do something. I don't think it suits her well right now, but she may grow into it."
"That's really saying something coming from you. Didn't you cut your hair short so that you could avoid as much of that stuff as possible? I think you should follow the girl's example."
Sadine just grunted in defiance and looked away from her sister.
They ended up finding the disciples at the very edge of the camp.
A table was set up just overlooking the city of Sangai, and Mortis and Morta occupied it, but from their faces the two sisters could tell they were not getting along. Because of that, no other tenebrage were around them. It was like when your parents would fight when you were little, and all you could do was either try to stop them or hide until it was over. Sadine doubted that anyone in the camp would try to help them settle their differences.
Morta's face seemed to brighten as she saw the sisters approaching, "What took you two so long? I was beginning to worry."
Vale shook her head with a smile, "We ran into some minor inconveniences."
"Like what?"
Sadine was about to greet Morta naturally, but she saw Mortis out of the corner of her eye, reminding her that it was not the place or time, "We just had some trouble setting off my lady."
Relief appeared to wash through Morta's body, "That's good to hear."
"I take it Faldrid is also back with you then?" Mortis asked, his eyes fixed on Sangai.
"He took the initiative to take some men and hunt down a luxcian general that we had taken out of the air. He should be back by now but..."
Mortis looked back at Vale's sudden silence, then after observing the doubt in her face he looked back at Sangai, "I see," from his tone he sounded disappointed, but yet disinterested at the same time.
Morta studied him for a moment then turned back to Vale, "By any chance did you run into Kagi on your way here."
Sadine tilted her head, "That little shrimp? No, why would we? Wasn't she with you?"
Morta shook her head gravely, "I sent her to bury the dead, and find any survivors."
Vale went pale, "Survivors?"
Morta looked back to Mortis who was still fixated on Sangai in the distance, "Let's talk somewhere in private."
Both Hands nodded and followed Morta out of the camp. Mortis either didn't notice that they left, or was thankful for a moment alone and didn't stop them.
As they followed Morta out of the camp, Sadine couldn't help but wonder what Morta wanted to talk about that she didn't want anyone to hear.
After they made it a decent way from the camp Morta turned around to them, "This should be far enough."
"Morta, why did you have to take us away from any one that could hear us." Vale asked, dropping the formalities.
"It's just a precaution, and so I don't have to watch my tongue as much."
Vale looked back to the camp behind them, "So...what's this about the dead and survivors."
Morta looked as if she was remembering a painful memory, "The night after we left we were attacked by luxcian scouts. Luckily I was able to shield must of the Hands, but after we got into the forest..."
Both Vale and Sadine grimaced at her words. It was always painful to lose a Hand, however many.
After a moment Sadine spoke up, "So that's what you sent the shrimp to do. If their are any survivors she'll definitely be the one to find them." She paused as if considering something, "If she doesn't do well...I guess that's just an insult to me, so I'll just have to punish her when she gets back."
Vale seemed surprised by the last part, "What do you mean."
Morta laughed to herself, "I've seen the two of them off together alone sometimes. At some points in their private session, Kagi looks worse than after actual training."
Vale smiled wryly at Sadine, "Look at you being a good mentor to a junior."
Sadine rolled her eyes, "shut up."
Morta looked up at the half moon that shined down upon them, "What was that other girl's name that was with you? The new one, ...The...Thestra. Yes, that was it. How is she?"
Vale looked back at Sadine, "Yes, how is she Sadine."
Sadine looked at them dubiously as she fidgeted with her fingers, "Hehehe, Morta it's not like you to forget someone's name like that."
"I've had to remember a lot of names Sadine, I'm surprised I've lasted this long. Though I would like to know how the girl is, so?" Morta said appearing to not have enough patience to put up with another one of Sadine's attempts to dodge the question.``
Sadine continued to fidget with her fingers, "Well I sent her to scout ahead for any luxcian scouts. I didn't want a repeat of what happened to Yorburn."
Morta narrowed her eyes at the sister, "That's all well in good, but why isn't she with you now? Surely a scout would come back to the main group."
"Well you see...I...um..."
"She let the girl run away." Vale cut in curtly.
Morta's eyes widened, "Why didn't you stop her?"
Sadine's fidgeting intensified, "Well she seemed so adamant about leaving, and she had been through so much with that massacre and all so I let her go..."
"In other words she was too lazy to stop her." Vale cut in again.
Sadine jumped and pointed at Vale, "That's not true and you know it! I could easily stop her. I just let her go out of the kindness of my heart."
"Sure you did."
Sadine looked as if she was going to make a retort but Morta stopped both of them with a wave of her hand and a deep sigh, "There's no need for that. I'm sure that Thestra will be back soon enough so I'll deal with all this then."
Sadine folded her arms like a child, while Vale simply smiled to herself at her sister's reaction.
A roar of laughter could be heard from the camp behind them. Whatever the cause was they shouldn't be this loud close to the enemy, especially a city.
Noticing this Vale spoke up, "Morta what exactly are we trying to do? The luxcian should be able to know where we are. Aren't we at risk of attack?"
Morta's gaze drifted to the camp, "Mortis apparently thinks that they wouldn't do something to provoke us this close to Galaris, out of fear that we'll retaliate."
Sadine followed her gaze towards the camp in annoyance, "But do they really have to be so damn loud? Just because they won't retaliate doesn't mean we have to give away where we are."
"I agree, but Mortis seems to think that we should still make them fear us, even while they're celebrating."
Vale nodded, "It's a cruel thing to do, especially on a day like Galaris, but I can still see why he would want to do it."
Sadine gave a deep yawn, and didn't try to even cover it up, "I get that, but are we actually going to do anything? I mean we've already destroyed the caravan, so why don't we just go home. I'm sure many of the soldiers are getting restless."
concern spread through Morta's face, "That's just it. Mortis didn't destroy the wagon's that we were after. Instead he let them go."
Both sisters looked at Morta rightfully confused.
"I'm beginning to fear what he has planned. I've asked him about it multiple times, and you both can come to the conclusion of how that ended."
Sadine remembered how Mortis and Morta were when they had first seen them. Both seemingly aggravated at the other.
Morta sounded distant almost as if she was talking to herself, "I suddenly find myself dreading Galaris more than I usually do. I can only hope that I'm only paranoid, and Mortis actually doesn't have anything up his sleeve, but then again..."
Her words were drowned out by the raucous laughter of tenebrage from a fire that had all the sudden lurched forward threatening to burn one of their comrades.