After she left the campsite, the lieutenant confronted Jackals about his doubt.
"Gonna let her go back like that? She sees our place." Lieutenant talk from behind.
And so Jackals turned back, answered. "What is the solution, then?" He ask. "Chill out, man; I have a plan."
"Is that so? Hope it works, then." Lieutenants walk back into the camp.
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Cutting to the other side of the valley, comes a woman clad in chainmail and a chest plate, trotting. She sighs out loud, echoing through the mountain range.
"I should hurry up and report this to the chieftain." She thought it in a very bad mood.
Travel on the gravel beside the river where she spots the blue dye on some of the rocks, which means she has finally arrived at the dead end of the ravines, or is it?
The wall of stone before her, decorated with hundreds of hiking ropes, was weaving into a net that one could climb. Without hesitation, she mounted and started working her way up, alone in this quiet place.
Her calloused hand gripped the rough net, shielding her from discomfort as she climbed. After hundreds of meters, she fixed the anchor and rested there on the cliffs, catching her breath and maybe taking a sip of water.
A few hours passed, and she reached the top of the cliff, the flat terrain with unexpectedly loud and lively noise in the far. It is a big outpost with a watch tower in the middle and a logs wall that forms a circle. She walked to the entrance to see the gatekeeper.
Approaching the gate, there's a small cabin on the left side, and a small figure is sitting inside. He was a boy, but without any animal parts, just a regular boy who wear an oversized leather coat and a hat. He is a ticket-master, Caelix approach.
She cleared her throat, gaining attention from the young ticket-master. He speaks nervously.
"T-tickets please?" He leans on the counter. Caelix reached into one of her pouches to pick up a bundle of various metal plates. She put them on the counter, as he was willing to inspect.
He takes and compares the letters with the ones in the books he opens beside them. He returns the plates, said. "You are good to go!" With a small voice to a woman who has a dread-looking eyes.
As she takes her ticket with stone-cold altitude, our young ticket-master seems to be nervous and maybe a little unsettling.
"Thanks," she decided to stop and say with a slight, yet bright smile.
His head peeking up answers well-expressed "Your welcome!" with an innocent face that could easily melt away the maiden's heart.
She let out a small chuckle before entering the gate.
People of all races are walking hastily in and out of the log-built house. One with a scroll goes to the tall roof. One with battle gear goes to the smithing place. But her place to go is the one in the middle, the watch tower. The base of steel and gravel, the wall of brick and ash, a campfire, and the giant mirror on top act like spot lights.
She walked in.
The interior comprised multiple floors, each designated for specific purposes such as rooms, the library, the war room, and resting quarters. As she made her way towards the war room, anticipation filled her, expecting to find the chieftain. She announced her presence with three knocks on the door.
[Knock] [Knock] [Knock]
The chieftain answered, "Come in," with the voice of his middle age.
She opened the door, seeing a bunch of people reading a bunch of floating screens. She walked to a figure in the center. To the man in the brown coat who has black hair and quite an unshaved face, but more importantly, long black feathers with a white stripe grows behind his ears. He gazed at her and put the cigar down in the skull bow.
She cleared her throat and explained everything she found in her patrol: a fireball in the air, jackals, his tents, and his weird weapons. After hearing the total fantasy that came out of her mouth, he rubbed his head and sighed as if he did not trust what he had heard.
"Sorry, but...have you drunk lately?" He spoke with concern.
"I am not lying; look!" She pulled up the glowing obsidian necklet Jackals gave her.
She handed him the evidence pieces.
He takes it and inspects it carefully not to get cut by the sharp edge, then he returns it back to Caelix.
"So...how is it?" She looked at him mockingly.
He looked at her death in the eyes. "Your matter will be prioritised right now; I'll send a report to the town. You could keep an eye on those 'outsiders', which would be very helpful for us."
She nods.
She left the place fast, the belly call for food, and the inn, which sold her favorite great aper brisket. Without restraint, she hops, with her tail wagging side to side out of excitement, to break through the ragging waves of people. The dirt got kicked up in the air, dusting her fur a bit, but that didn't bother our vigilance fox from her meal.
After her stomach was full, she decided to blow some steam off in the nearby bathhouse, which is conveniently on the opposite side of the road. Looking for relaxation, she walks into a place decorated with various types of colorful flowers and sweet-smelling, smokey wood.
6:38 PM. The outpost is starting to light up some of the street lights.
Caelix approached the clerk, who clearly ruined the mood of the place with her cigarette. She lazily flicked the ash from her smoke on the counter, bored. She notices the sight of this fox-race customer.
"Greetings....today's service is free." Then she stretched her back. "Suit yourself then...." She almost sleeps on the dusty counter.
Caelix stares in confusion; she decides not to say a thing and goes into the locker room. In the room, the air was heavy and filled with the scent of iron and sweat from her long journey. She removed her battle-worn cocoon, leaving only relief from the weight of duty.
With only a thin towel, after washing away debris and mud from head to toe, she dipped her foot inside the steaming pool to check the temperature. Quite right, she thinks. She looks on the left, nobody; she looks on the right, still nobody. She put her caution, strictness, and vigilantism aside and jumped into the large body of water.
[Very big splash]
The bathhouse was divided into two pools, gentlemen and ladies, with only a few centimeters of plank in between. The slight shivered down her spine, something lurking behind the wall through the gaps of it, staring at her. She then gazes back; their eyes meet; the color of that pair of iris is familiar, but then it is gone within the blink of an eye.
Finally, the moment of peace in the warm embrace of water washed away bad emotion and bad intention, soothing stress of her body. She closed her eyes. Let her mind be dissolved by the water; let go of the fear and worry until...
7:20 PM. Her endurance in hot water was depleted like others.
She walked up from the pool. While also distracted, she mildly wiped out all the fluid that was wetting her ears and tail. A sudden thought snaps into her head about the eyes that keep staring at her. She quickly finished the suit and walked out of the bathhouse. She was missing something, though: the coffee milk. Priority changes immediately; it's better to find a drink than find the damn pervert. She thinks like that, even though finding perverts and making them pay is what suits her more.
She goes back and buys the milk from that bathhouse. Once a heavily trafficked street is now quiet, she is looking for a place to rest, so she, as usual, gets out of the outpost at this time. The entrance was full of guards; she passed them with a little nods, passed the empty ticket-stand, down to the cliff she came from with nothing but her limbless crossbow, her gear, and a crude oil lantern.
Climbed down for some distance. She decided to set up a net that can be spread with sheets of rag onto this mountain of thousands of abandon threads. She sat on the makeshift hammock, glazing on to the mesmerizing night sky and the sparkling light of stars that sail from the barren sea above. She felt the whispering wind and the smell of the fresh air. She hung the lantern by the edge, put off the little light source, and lay down, unbothered by the weight of the gear she wore. The night's still young, but it doesn't mean that our youth have to be aware.
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Caelix, the fox-like human, came across Jackals in the middle of his duty. Silvagon is the region where she was born. Just like she once said, it is nothing but a barren wilderness, full of dangerous beasts and vegetation, but even if that were the case, there's always some tribe or community that can benefit from this dreaded nature. the outpost, the gathering hub of wonderers, researchers, and mages around the country to keep an eye on this obscured forest. As for Caelix, she is a strict, vigilant, and cautious yet curious and stubborn. She was raised by her tribe...village deep inside the woods, and after she matured enough, she set off for an adventure, just like everybody else.