Del stride through the town in his new gear. The Chieftan had been right, once he showed the other natives the small embroidered emblem he was able to buy the supplies he needed for substantially less coin.
He learned the Ta've used a singular currency, a brown coin that appeared to be made of bronze or a similar brown metal. That what all the coins in the pouch the Chieftan had given him were.
Del had bought water, lots of it, some food for himself as he hadn't eaten since he'd been in this system. The natives offered a wide variety of food to feast on to Del's delight. He ended up getting small baked brown chips that tasted wonderful, along with some colorful berries he learned he didn't care for as much.
Del also purchased a small weapon. The Ta've at the weapons kiosk had a variety of blades, most being knives. Del though saw something more unique that he wanted, a small knife sized spear. He picked it up to feel the shaft and to his surprise it was a very thick stem leading up to the metal point, almost like a bladed baton.
Del bought the weapon and finally made to meet Nimlis back down at the base of the temple stairs. Sure enough once Del was close he saw Nimlis standing there waiting for him with the four surviving Drenziens from the earlier attack, just like the Chieftan said they would be.
"Are you prepared?" Nimlis asked Del ass he approached.
"I am, the rest of us ready?" Del replied.
"We are. We should be off, the sun only has a few hours left, and it would be unwise to travel in the dark." Nimlis stated.
Del had figured as much. It was a bad idea to travel at night regardless, but after seeing the gigantic creatures just outside the city that were docile, he didn't want to think about how big and sinister some of the predators could be.
"Let's go then." Del said falling in line behind Nimlis.
With a Kurt nod Nimlis led the group through the city heading east, and before long they were outside the city's gates. The land before them was split into a field on the left and a winding path on the right that led into another heavily forested area. Nimlis took the right path and Del followed. The Drenziens behind him begrudgingly followed along the way.
"Did you convince them to spare us?" The female Drenzien asked.
"Yes." Del said expecting to have their thanks.
"Why?" She exclaimed, to Del's surprise.
"I didn't think my chances of getting home were to good with all of you dead." Del replied.
"So, there's strings attatched too then?" She asked.
"Shut up." The male behind her said.
"We're still alive, that's our problem and not his." He added.
"Ugh." The female drenzien rolled her eyes.
Del looked back to the male and nodded in thanks but the male only looked away. By then they were closer to the treeline about to enter it. On approach Del could already see many animals that weren't in the city. Mostly small rodent type creatures but he was still cautious. Any life seemed to be able to flourish on this planet. Even dangerous life.
"We should make haste. Nimlis stated.
"We will want to get through as much of this forest as possible. We will make camp near its end."
"Alright then, sounds simple enough." Del said with a shrug still looking around at the trees.
"Hmph." Nimlis chuckled.
Del heard a sigh from one of the other Drenziens behind him. The group still followed Nimlis hastily through the woods, following the winding path through it as it seemed the only option.
The wildlife only grew larger and more menacing the deeper into the wooded jungle the group went. Large owl looking creatures with three horns sores through the trees and incessantly long thin snakes hung from branches and vines.
What Del was most worried about though were the two cat like creatures that seemed to be stalking the group from afar. One was covered in green fur, the other a yellow and orange mix. Their eyes glowed a firey amber as they drew ever closer to the group.
"Are those.." Dem began to ask, now drawing the attention of the others in the small group.
"Keep moving." Nimlis said quickly in response.
"They will see us slowing down as a weakness and move in for the kill."
That seemed to get the entire groups attention as they all doubled their speed, now jogging through the forest together. Del was beginning to question the wisdom of moving faster but sure enough soon after that the creatures broke off and left their pursuit of the group. They breathed a collective sigh of relief. Del looked up, it was getting increasingly dark as the sun set. They had an hour left at this rate he figured with the way time was going thus far.
"We should find somewhere to camp." Del said hastily.
"Agreed." Nimlis nodded looking at his surroundings.
"There." He added after a moment.
Nimlis pointed to an area of the small wooded jungle where the ground divided into a small clearing.
"Alright, come in guys." Del said to the Drenziens and the group proceeded to make camp. Once in the area Nimlis made sure it was safe, after doing so he set up his personal tent. The drenziens proved rather useful to Del's surprise as they were trained in survival. They had arranged sleeping areas and a fire going within a half hour. Del couldn't help but be impressed. It was good they had the fire as well as it was now pitch black outside.
Nimlis came out of his tent abd joined the rest of the group around the fire. The female still annoyed with the other male and her current situation, and msking no attempt to hide it, but other than that until Nimlis came out the group was largely silent. He sat on a log directly in the center of everyone, with one make drenzien between him and Del.
There was a long silence. Finally Del looked up at the female across from him and broke the silence.
"What are your names?" He asked though he was looking directly at the female.
"Does it matter?" The male next to her asked.
"We're gonna be dead out here soon anyway."
"That's optimistic." Del sighed.
"Arish." The girl said drawing the attention of her comrades. She too was looking directly at Del, but only shrugged afterward.
"Diffil." The one next to her said.
"Rozz." The one next to Nimlis said.
"Blerek." The last one muttered, and there was a long silence once more. Del looked at all their faces, each one lost in a well of despair.
"I'm Del." He said realizing he hadn't introduced himself.
"You're the prisoner they sent, right?" Blerek asked after a long stare at Del.
"Yeah, with supplies." Del replied.
"So much for that." Dimmit muttered.
"Yeah." Del said softly.
"Why are your people so hostile?" Nimlis asked the Drenzien's. The question was unexpected and caught even Del off guard.
"We.."The female, Arish began but couldn't find the words.
"Oh let's not be koi, if our people weren't the way they are than we wouldn't own most of the galaxy now would we?" Rozz answered.
"The galaxy?" Nimlis asked wide eyed.
"That's right." Said Rozz.
"I see… a race of conquerors." The groups attention now solely focused on Nimlis.
"I pity you." He said finally shocking even Del.
"Why…" Dimmit began but they all stopped at the sound of approaching footsteps.
They all turned to the direction the noise came from. Del jumped up, his short spear in hand. The Drenzien's stood up and we're in guard as well. Nimlis stood behind them.
Out of the woods and into the light of the fire a figure appeared that had purple skin, another Drenzien.
"Is that… Rozz? Arish?" The Drenzien called out.
Right away Del knew what that meant. Suddenly the others in his group weren't the only Drenzien's on the planet. The attack wasn't as absolute as Del had thought, because there were now other survivors.