Threats

Bard rode Kai through the town. Since the founding celebration, there had been a lot of merriment, and that meant some people went overboard with their ruckus. Since he had started to do patrols, it had decreased, but it wasn’t completely settled. He greeted some of the men who were cleaning up after a little brawl and then looked skyward. From this height, he could easily see over some of the houses and structures. Which made a great vantage to discover any major disturbances. It was like a sea of buildings that stretched till they reached the gap by the wall.

A shout and then some debris flew up.

“Over there Kai!” Bard shouted, pulling on the harness slightly to signal where he was indicating. Kai’s head popped up as he spotted the next debris and then pounced. They plowed around the buildings with ease, arriving before the surprised onlookers. Kai’s hackles raised, and he growled, pausing the movement of all except those lost to their rage.

“Now, Kai!” Bard shouted. Kai raised his tail and flicked it with precision. Quills raced towards the confrontation, and Bard heard them shout in displeasure before they were pulled apart by their friends. Bard counted. Six brawlers. More than last time. Two were women. His eyes narrowed as he placed a hand on Kai’s back. He then rose and Kai growled again, more threateningly than before.

“What is the meaning of this?” Bard shouted. Accusations flew, insults began to hurl. Bard tapped his foot on Kai’s harness. Quills were shot in between them. He put on his best serious face as Kai lowered his head so he could dismount with a quick jump.

As the tension rose over and over, Bard signaled to Kai to howl his low howl. Guards came over and rounded up the unwilling, summoned by the call. Bard slunk to the side while they were carried off. He watched, keeping his heart as calm as his exterior portrayed. That was the fifth time he had summoned the guards this week. Something had to be going on. Something he wasn’t aware of. Tensions didn’t just spark for no reason.

Then he noticed that one man and one woman smirked as they were led away. Bard’s eyes narrowed. He recognized them from somewhere. But where? He signaled for Kai and mounted him, feeling perturbed by this exchange. Before he could follow, another exchange claimed his help, and he gritted his teeth as he turned to Kai to take care of it.

When he finally got it resolved, he moved to the place where they had an Elder acting as judge. There was a commotion and Bard rushed Kai over. Those two from before were in the midst, and they were fighting against the dryads who guarded the Elder. Bard felt his stomach drop at the sight, and Kai took no time to shoot his quills before pouncing in between. They didn’t seem to respond to the intimidation, so Kai moved and Bard whistled to the guards. They quickly moved out of the way as Kai came down and landed on them. His weight easily caused them to buckle and screech in pain, no doubt having a bone broken. Bard slipped off and came around to get a better look at them, seeing them still moving.

Their faces suddenly came to mind as they glared at him, despite the obvious pain they were in. They were some of the people who had stood by Holger and stayed behind. Bard frowned.

“So it’s you,” he said, and they froze, but only momentary as Kai shifted his weight, and they let out cries. Bard signaled to Kai and he moved off them. Bard ignored the injuries as someone went to fetch Elvira. At her name, the two began to plead for anything but that. Bard shook his head.

“Tell me. Why are you here? What is Holger planning?” he demanded. Some of the humans present reacted to that.

The man spat at Bard.

“We’ll never tell a thief like you,” the lady growled out before groaning in pain. Bard rolled back his sleeves, displaying the armbands of chieftainship, which silenced the couple. Amir arrived, and the couple cast furious glares as Bard talked with him.

After deciding to have them interrogated, Bard began to ask about the other commotions. Not all were tied to that village, but most had said the name Holger before, which caused Bard’s heart to sink. Before he could dive any deeper, a scout ran over, calling his name.

“What is it this time?” Bard muttered. Since the day he had talked with the Eight Elders about the south, they had increased patrols down there. The armband on this one showed he was from one of those patrols.

“Reporting, Chief. It seems our hunch was right. We encountered scouts from the south. Since we had some dryads with us, they attacked on sight, claiming to wipe out our captors. We drove them off with minimal casualties, but it seems they will be back.”

Bard sighed, noting the rest of the scouts from that group had returned and were heading towards Elvira’s place. He was beginning to wonder if they had enough space for the injured and sick if a war broke out.

“Thank you for the report. Dismissed,” Bard said, and Amir smirked. Bard cast him a confused glance and Amir patted his shoulder.

“You’re growing into it,” he commented before moving away and motioning for Bard to follow. Bard excused himself from the disputes and gave chase, Amir would not wait.

They came to the edge of the lake and Bard could sense Amir was upset.

“The report bothers you,” Bard said, coming to stand beside the Dryad.

“That’s putting it lightly,” Amir grunted. He reached down and flicked a stone, making it skip. Bard waited. Having watched Amir and Elwood talk the last year, had helped to understand Amir’s communication style.

“We can’t leave, but the coming threat is going to be hard to withstand,” Amir managed to say.

“You think so? Why?” Bard asked.

“Those humans are crafty. They work in teams and will side with any who stand against us. Likely they have joined this Holger, and already have infiltrated us. Unlike when we were Dryad only, this will be more complicated.”

Bard listened, through his choppy explanation.

“You believe that the increase infighting is just a stage, a front. Some precursor to a plan?” Bard scoffed. “I doubt that. Holger isn’t-”

“Holger is not the concern. If he joined up with them…” Amir sighed heavily, and Bard felt a knot form in his stomach. “Why did we run? Why didn’t we take out those humans?” Bard didn’t have to answer, Amir was already quick to reply. “Their strategies always, always wiped out more of us than them. We played right into their hand,” He nearly shouted as he threw a larger rock and made a large splash. Bard remained calm through this. He’d had run-ins on the battlefields down south. But he knew the shades. If even a fraction of the human might had been overtaken, then there was even more hope in this.

“They don’t take well to anomalies,” Bard said, and Amir paused. “I would know, I ran into them a fair bit while training with Perspective. And we have something they don’t.”

He pulled out the tokens, and Amir’s head tilted.

“Tokens. The wisdom of not one, but eight elders. Perspective’s dealt with them more than us. And overall, human strategy is predictable because it rhymes,” Bard quoted Father Tree as he thought on this.

“It does?” Amir asked and Bard shrugged.

“Father was the one who told me that. And I trust him,” Bard said. Amir reached around his neck and pulled out his own tokens.

“So explain,” Amir said, gaining a bit of hope in his tone.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Days passed, soon leading to weeks. The threat of the south still hadn’t manifested, but the city strife was still growing.

Sen laid low as she watched one of the targets sneak out. She commended them for their bravery, but also counted them stupid. They clung to the shadows, prime targets for Shades, but hidden from prying eyes. She gritted her teeth. Bard wouldn’t like this, but she moved back to cover her sunstone lamp. After tucking, it away, she moved after the target and followed them outside the nearly completed walls.

The lights above were being readjusted, making it prime time to sneak out. How they knew it would happen, Sen would have to investigate. Step after step, she snuck behind them, weapon in hand. The person sped northeast, following the mountains before shooting out and heading south. A diversion. No one would question them for heading north, but south. Sen grinned. She was onto something. After following for a few hours, the person paused and looked about.

Sen pulled her cloak tighter to hide her silvery hair. The shattered moon was high in the sky, illuminating the surroundings just enough for her to make out their movements, but they could also spot her if she wasn’t careful. They moved to a rock and a chirping sound ushered. With a smooth motion the person pulled out a cage and in it was a bird that Sen didn’t recognize. She saw them grab the bird, which hardly squawked, before doing something to it and letting it go.

A messenger bird? How distasteful. Birds were the messengers of the trees, not some slave to the humans. She stood up from her hiding place among the grasses and pulled out her bow. The person was busy with hiding the cage and she aimed well. Hunting at night was no problem for her. And this bird had a distinguishable sound as it moved. She tracked it, then let her arrow fly. The sound quickly stopped and was followed by a low thump some distance away. Sen was already hiding again, and the person looked about, but then continued their work. They moved back towards the city, and Sen waited till they were out of sight before she pulled out her sunstone lamp.

She could sense them. Ever since the bird died, a swarm of shades was approaching. She needed to act quickly and retrieve it for evidence. She only hoped she hadn’t killed it.

As she moved to where the sound had died, she located the bird on a flat slab, easy to identify. The arrow was locked in its wing, and it seemed stunned, though with this darkness, she couldn’t make out how badly it was injured. Biting her lip, she retrieved it and kept her lamp low to stay hidden.

The air made her skin itch and glowing dots appeared behind, her shifting gaze catching them every once in a while. She pulled out the lamp and quickly pulled on her tokens, spinning them around like Bard did. The red dots came closer, and she struggled to balance the load. She needed the light above her, but didn’t have one of those sticks the catfolk had been peddling. How she wished for it now. She wrapped the bird and moved it to her pouch, and then raised the sunstone lantern as she ran. The tokens' song wasn’t very effective, just like Bard had warned her, but it was better than being alone out here all night. The Shades reached her just before she made it to the city, but someone on the wall had seen her light and sent a group out to fetch her.

As she walked into the light of the walls, she sighed in relief till someone realized who she was.

“Chieftess!” a voice cried out, and then more began to pester her. She tsked and tried to weave out of this, but was stopped by a cold voice.

“Sen!” her father shouted from the top of the wall. She shrunk. He was here? The crowd parted to let him through, and she barely caught sight of the person she had been following earlier. She would never forget that fur laden hood, it stood out from the felted material of the village.

Before she could focus on more details, her father was there, scolding. She looked around as some snickered, and Amir realized and asked her to follow him. She complied, mostly to get out of the growing crowd. This is why she preferred to be on patrol or in the safety of her home. Kai was a great deterrent.

As they walked back, she kept her face more hidden in the hood, grateful to see her home, where Kai stuck his head out to greet her.

“Bard!” Amir shouted and there was a thump inside, before Bard appeared.

“Amir!” he greeted then saw her. “Sen?” Amir signaled for them to head in and they did so.

Sen ran over how she would explain this to the two of them, determined to come out on top this time.

“I’m disappointed, Bard. You said you would keep her safe.”

“I was safe, Dad!” Sen chided, hastily. Bard looked alarmed but quickly masked it.

“I was starting to wonder where you went,” he muttered. Sen was about to explain, but her Father spoke over her.

“She was outside the walls, surrounded by shades with only a single sunstone lamp.”

“I used the tokens,” Sen countered. “Besides, there’s-”

“You were outside?” Bard asked and Sen bit her lip. It wasn’t a loud cry, but she could sense his hurt. “Sen?”

She shook her head and then reached around, figuring it would be faster to explain by showing them.

When the bird squawked, the two were alert, their discussion changing in both face and body. She gently set it on the table, unwrapping it, and Bard’s expression turned a bit ugly.

“Let me explain!” she said quickly, and Bard held back his retort, but she could see how his eyes narrowed. She looked over the bird in more detail and noticed the thing tied to its leg. She reached for it, and both of their expressions changed yet again.

“I was chasing someone, and they released the bird after tying something to it. I’ve been suspicious of them for a while, and I couldn’t follow them in the light of the sunstones when they were out there in the darkness.”

As she explained, she pulled off the message and the bird started to move around, squawking and flapping. At least it was alive. Bard quickly pulled out his tokens and placed them on the bird, which stopped and then seemingly fell asleep. He sighed and left the tokens there.

“Neat trick,” she commented, and Bard shook his head.

“What’s on there?” he asked, redirecting back to the discovery. Sen unfurled a little paper and it held strange markings. She handed it to Bard, and he seemed just as confused as her. Amir snatched it, and then his face paled.

“This isn’t good.”

“Figured.”

“This is the markings of the northern - I mean southern tribe,” Amir corrected himself. “It’s possible Elwood could read it, but it likely won’t make sense.”

“Why is that?” Sen asked.

“They use different words to convey a lot of information. It makes sense for them, but not to outsiders.”

Sen noticed that Bard was looking over the Bird.

“Nice shot, Sen.” She shook her head.

“It was dark. I only hoped I wouldn’t kill it,” she looked over the sleeping creature. “How horrible.”

Bard looked up at her and she grew flustered. “Why would the humans use birds to send messages. That’s for the trees. It’s… barbaric,” she commented, and Bard sighed.

“I agree, but from a human’s perspective, it makes sense to use them.” He moved over and pulled her close, letting out a chuckle as she pouted. “I don’t agree with their ways, I just understand it. Elvira said they did that till all their birds died of a disease.” Sen bristled.

“That’s just wrong.”

“Wrong or not, it does mean that the southern tribe is on the move, and they have people in our city feeding them information,” Amir sighed. “We usually just killed them when we found them, but it’s a bit different now.”

Bard nodded and Sen looked up at them, wondering why this was considered different.

The two talked about plans while she decidedly excused herself. That sort of stuff felt like it went over her head, and she was grateful she wasn’t in charge. Instead, she moved to the kitchen and found something to make while they talked.

After serving them and snuggling with Kai, she drifted to sleep.