It took another full day of travel to make it into Tahliah.
They had not encountered any other Pa'ri or Iaderken until now, when they arrived at the border. The trees had thinned out over the past hour, and now they stood in a clearing surveying the area before them.
The border, as Shole had explained, was also a road leading between the two provinces. Inside Tahliah, there was a noticeable shortage of mountains, mainly trees and hills fanning out behind them.
Kage couldn't help but notice that the colour was a little unusual though, the foliage further in took on a brighter colour than normal, giving it almost a neon shine in the light.
She could see a river further in, and wondered if that was the source of the colour.
More pressing than the geography though, were the watchtowers on either side of the border. On their side, it was smooth stone tower with a connected house at the bottom. The rocks were carved with precision and in some places were carved with fancy swirls or shapes.
On the other side, the building was crude, as if it had been thrown together with just enough care to make it sturdy. It too had a house attached, and both of them flew the flag of their respective province.
As they approached, a couple of Iaderken with similar armour to the riders from earlier appeared from the first house. They were similarly armed as well, with a battle axe and hammer respectively.
Kage also noticed one up on top of the tower, and on the other side of the border, she could see a couple Pa’ri on top of the tower.
Artlem steered them towards the Iaderken, who had taken a comfortable stance in front of the road.
“State your business,” he said, in a voice between suspicious and bored.
“Passing through,” Artlem said, “Novill Haskerr gave us passage.”
“That so? Well, go on with ye then. The ones on the other side might not be so friendly though.”
Kage glanced across to the tower on the other side.
A couple Pa’ri had appeared from inside the building, three of them armed with bows and short swords. They didn’t look friendly, scowling at them from across the road.
“Maybe we should have just jumped the border,” Kage muttered as they made their way to the other side.
“Maybe,” Artlem mumbled back, “but I don’t want to get on the Pa’ri’s bad side. They tend to hold grudges.”
One of the Pa’ri stepped forward, a man with green and orange skin. His clothes were simple, with leather armour covering his chest and shoulders, but as if to make up for the simplicity, multiple pendants hung from his neck and coloured strips of cloth decorated his shoulder-length brown hair.
“Reason for crossing?” He demanded, in a voice slightly higher pitched that Kage had expected.
Artlem took center stage again. “We’re from the Kavalix, we’re just passing through to get to the Ra’bac.”
“Do you have any proof?” The man said.
Arltem paused. “Well, I don’t know how we’d prove that. I’m the chief’s son, Artlem Solamir. My clothes are from the Kavalix, and so are our horses. I don’t know what clan you’re from, but I know the Nasachii clan leader.”
“Hmph, how do we know you’re not spying for them?” He jutted his chin towards the Iaderken watching on the other side. “You sure aren’t here to sell horses, unless some of you are walking back.”
“And why would we be spying?” Artlem said. “The Kavalix have always been neutral to fights among the provinces-”
“But you don’t look like Kavalix,” he cut in. “You do maybe, but he looks like he's from Nafilit,” he pointed at Shole, “he’s a steel dragon and she’s - well, she just looks like some kid.”
“There’s no need for you to be making enemies right now,” Artlem said icily. “Your people buy horses just like the rest of Tobryna. You can worry about us being spies if we try to come back though here.”
The soldier scowled and looked like he was about to retort when one of the others came up and whispered something in his ear. He spoke in a language full of short sounds and clicks.
The first one sniffed, and turned faced Artlem again. "Your points are fair," he said reluctantly. "You may enter, but tread carefully, or you'll regret it."
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Artlem muttered some disparaging remarks under his breath as they moved on from the border.
"Calm down, we made it through," Shole consoled.
"Didn't you hear them? PrOvE iT" Artlem said mockingly. "As if! Little rats making trouble just 'cause they can."
"Might want to lower your voice," Bard said, glancing back. "They'll probably keep a close eye on us."
"Yeah yeah, we'll probably see a couple of them following us around while we cross. At least it'll be shorter to get to Nhi'ilatt this way."
"Tahliah goes more into lower Tobryna," Shole explained to Kage. "So we'll be in Nhi'ilatt in another day.
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The afternoon sun was shining down when Artlem's prediction about the Pa'ri came true. Shole wrote the Calligriphic for "multiply" On a his index finger, making a circle between it and his thumb, peering through his fingers like an eyeglass and confirming their suspicions.
"At least it's just Pa'ri, no other pursuers," he said. He didn't want to say Rhoringdall, but the absence of the word still hung in the air.
"Well, whatever. Won't make any difference to us," Artlem said, though he still seemed resentful about it.
The greenery got brighter as they moved through Tahlilah, and strange foliage became more common. Kage noticed a small increase in temperature, like early summer, but at least it was still nothing compared to the Dust.
"We'll be able to stock up again once we reach the Ra'bac," Shole was saying as they finished off the last of their provisions the next morning. "We did cut across country, it would've been easier to go through a Pa'ri town."
"But we don't have time for that," Artlem said.
"I know, just saying," Shole said, and then sighed. "It's been a while since we visited the Pa'ri, or the Ra'bac. I wish it was under better circumstances."
Artlem smirked. "Remember when-"
Suddenly, Kage couldn’t hear him. Her ears started ringing, quickly changing into whispers of voices. Voices of men, women, in different languages, some dialects she recognized some she didn't.
She looked up to the other three when the world shifted. Everything blurred into motion lines, and her soul felt like it was being pulled away from her body-
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, instead of lush, green foliage, she saw the emptiness of the space between worlds.
She wasn't floating, but being pulled by her Thread, and something in was wrong. It wasn't anything she could see, but a feeling, like space itself was twisting around her. She reached out her hand and touched one of the Threads that passed her by, and recoiled as the voices exploded out.
She spun in the no-gravity, but her eyes caught on something blinding, something that she realized had caught her Thread.
A blinding light shined in the middle of space, far too small to be a star, it was about the size of a-well, a person. Threads spun and twisted around it as the light flickered, plucking them and rearranging them in different directions.
As they moved, Kage felt herself being pulled closer, away from her body. She fought and pulled on her thread, trying to yank it free of whatever had caught it.
As she desperate pulled against it, the other threads seemed to stop for a moment.
She felt eyes on her, as if the glowing mass was staring at her.
She tried to make out a shape that was beginning to appear in the center when her Thread snapped free, warping her back through space.
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Kage gasped awake, gulping air.
Artlem, Shole, and Bard were leaned over where she lay in the grass.
"Kage what-" Shole began,
"-the hell was that?" Artlem exclaimed.
"I-" She began, voice trembling "I don't know. What happened?"
"You fell off your horse!" Artlem said. "And when we stopped to check up on you, you were having a seizure!"
"But, you had no pulse," Bard said, glancing down with a wary expression, "like you were possessed."
Kage looked at their faces, seeing a mix of concern and perhaps...suspicion?
"I think it's time you came clean, Kage." Artlem said.
"What do you-"
"We're not idiots!" Artlem shouted. He tilted his head back and forth and took a breath.
"We can all tell you haven't been completely honest with us. There's no way for someone to grow up so far in the middle of nowhere you don't know Rhoringdall or Tobryna, and according to you, you weren't even hidden in the mountains or something!
On top of that, you somehow know how to fight, have strange nightmares, and now this! Whatever the hell this is," he spat.
Kage's head was spinning. She didn't have time to come up with a story, but the truth would sound like fiction. She hadn't even had time to process whatever had just happened.
"Kage, this is important," Shole said more gently. "If you pass out like that again, we might not be in a position to help. If it happens on Mainspring..." he trailed off.
She had to say something, anything at all. Her mind was blank, but she still opened her mouth to speak-
"Looks like we'll have to talk later," Bard said grimly.
Kage looked up to his face, then followed his gaze along with Artlem and Shole.
Across the terrain, along a hilltop stood the silhouettes of a single figure on a horse.
"A scout-?" Shole began, when the rider made a motion with his arm, and the others appeared from behind the ridge. Six, seven more?
No time to count.
"Run!" Bard barked.
Shole helped pull Kage up, and they jumped onto their horses.
"We just have to get to the Ra'bac!" Artlem shouted as their horses charged forward. "They won't enter there!"
"What? Why not?" Was what Kage wanted to say, but for the time being, she didn't want to bring any attention to herself.
The trees and thickening foliage blurred past as they rode. Kage kept looking back over her shoulder at the pursuers. They weren't catching up, she guessed their Kavalix horses had something to do with that, but they were still too close for comfort. Kage counted twelve of them, most with regular metal armour, but a couple with light, black armour like the one who had escaped at the Kavalix's camp.
Shole noticed the same. "Nine soldiers and three agents!" He called out.
"They're not messing around," Artlem called back.
"We're nearly there!" Bard shouted. Kage could see, approaching fast, the jungle spreading out behind them, trees twice as tall as normal standing like a green wall against the scenery.
"Arrows!" Shole shouted.
Kage spun around as something whizzed by, lodging into the ground. The soldiers had drawn crossbows, and were firing bolts after them.
"Spread out!" Artlem shouted, "but make sure to fall in line once we reach the entrance! Shole, can you do anything?"
"If it's not directly against them," Shole thought aloud. He whipped out his sketchbook and scribbled out a character. A massive gust of wind flew out of the book, whipping out behind them and scattering the crossbow bolts into the wind.
It stayed out behind them, a mini cyclone acting like a shield, until a blade of wind shot through it, dissipating it.
Kage saw one of the agents holding his own book, and scribbling something else in it.
"I can't counter anything the agents do, Kage!" Shole shouted, "that's on you!"
Kage swallowed. She fought with her saddlebag pulling out her small notebook and pen. On her horse she had nothing to work with, she couldn't write on the ground, or a tree, or anything, so her only options were what was in the air, or something nearby.
Luckily, their pursuers would have the same restrictions.
Another blade of wind shot across the ground. Kage scribbled out the character for wind, feeling the energy leave her as she sent out a gust against it.
The two winds met and dissipated.
"Nice one, Kage!" Shole called, scribbling out another character in his book.
Kage grinned. She turned back, trying to see what they were doing when something sharp stabbed into her left arm. She dropped her notebook and reflexively reached for it, grunting as pain shot through her arm. The bolt was sticking straight through her arm, blood dripping off the end.
"Kage!" Shole shouted, as he released his wind shield behind them again.
"We're almost there!" Artlem shouted, turning his head, "hang in there!"
The jungle spread out before them, and Artlem pulled ahead, riding towards what appeared to be a road leading inside.
"Single file!" Artlem called out behind him.
Bard was behind him, and Shole would have been next, but he pulled back.
"Go ahead Kage, I'll protect the back!" He shouted.
Kage nodded, and followed Artlem and Bard on the path into Nhi'ilatt, the Ra'Bac's jungle.
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