A New Path

by Xander Jade

  "Max?"

  I turned to look at Cass, "Yeah?"

  "This is Leena, a wood elf. She states the group traveling with her was abducted by some slavers, gnolls and ogres. Most of the family with them perished, but the ones that survived were corralled into a cage and taken away. Leena’s father intervened when they tried to pull her into a cage, she escaped and ran away. Her captors followed for a short time, but gave up and went back."

  I turned my attention to the elf, "Any broken bones or injuries?"

  She shook her head. After she didn’t respond other than that, I continued trying to get her to speak, "Are you okay?"

  Leena replied in a low voice, "Yes."

  Nodding I kept going, "Good. Now, what happened after they left your area? Did you follow them?"

  "I tried, but it took me some time to make my way back to the site we were ambushed," she sniffled as her words came out. "After locating the direction they headed, it was dusk and I had to wait until the next morning. The tracks led somewhere around here."

  "When did the encounter take place?"

  She answered quickly, "At least a week ago. I’m not a tracker, it took me some time to discover the path they were headed because they covered their tracks. I need to find them, no telling what those disgusting creatures are doing to my mom and the others!"

  Taking that information in, I started wondering if the elves were in the same place as the caravan. I asked the tired, rundown elf, "Have you eaten anything, Leena? You look famished."

  She shook her head no and looked away. "Val, give her some of our rations and let’s take a minute to digest what was said." Val nodded and both of my girls brought the distraught elf over and sat down by a tree to rest.

  I went over and sat down near Reap and Herc, closing my eyes I thought about what had transpired. It would seem that these kidnappings are getting worse and it wasn’t just humans, other races were involved too. Ten minutes went by and I glanced over to the girls, Cass was staring at me and nodded. Getting up, I walked over to them, Herc and Reap followed and advised the girls we needed to get back to our original location. We grabbed the horses and traveled back to the road, Leena sat behind Cass. An intersection came into view and as we came upon it, I stopped and dismounted.

  "Alright ladies, let’s tie the horses up and let them graze while we look for clues. Since there were cages used, they would have to use a road or path, hopefully they came through here."

  The others dismounted, we took the horses and secured them by some lush grass while we scanned the area for clues. Herc and Reap went off to hunt and the four of us walked in different directions, investigating. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and after thirty minutes later, went back to our original position. When catching sight of Zeus, I scanned the area for my women, but they weren’t back yet it seemed. Reap and Herc were back, licking their chops and paws. I strode towards their location, but didn’t even get halfway when Cass called out as she came running in. "Guys, I found some tracks!"

  Val and Leena came into view when they heard the statement and we followed Cass to her find. Coming up to her discovery minutes later, she explained, "Babe, I noticed some irregularities on the dirt road. If you look at the crossroads, there’s wagon tracks leading from east to west and north to south. Of course there are different tracks but the ones with heavier cargo ends a thousand feet going north. While inspecting that area, I found a hidden path covered in makeshift foliage to the left side of the road." Cass showed us the foliage in question, Herc and Reap followed along with us.

  Observing that area, sure enough she was right. The direction they were going led to the peak. "Well done Cass, it looks like we’re headed for the mountain range. Let’s get our horses and see if we can follow the trail further."

  They nodded and we hustled back to our rides, then set out down that hidden pathway. The heavy tracks were easy to follow, twenty minutes of following the curvy path brought us to the bottom of the mountains and the tracks led east. We had the horses walk carefully, hoping to not get into an ambush, but looking ahead, my eyes picked up a large hole in the side of the mountain, a cave.

  Raising my hand up, "Hold up everyone. There’s a cave two hundred yards of our location, not knowing what we’ll run into, let’s leave the horses tied off the road a couple hundred feet just in case. Girls equip yourselves, make sure your blades are secure and ready."

  They nodded and did what I asked. Taking my own advice, I made sure my hidden blades were at the ready, secured the scabbard on my right hip, strapped a quiver on my back, and slipped the bow over my shoulder.

  When everyone was ready, we led our rides into the trees and tied them up where they could graze the plush green grass, then silently moved toward the cave. Herc and Reap followed closely behind, we stopped a hundred feet out and studied the entrance. No guards were seen, at least at this moment, but heard some voices inside the cave. Crouching down, we traveled up to the entrance of the chamber and stopped before the opening, there was some laughing and talking coming from inside. I took a chance and stretched my neck around to locate where the noise was coming from and found two guards sitting down, eating. Good timing. I turned back to the others and whispered to the girls.

  "Two guards, gnolls, they’re eating at the moment. We need to take them out now. Val, you take the one on the left, and I’ll take the one on the right."

  She nodded and took her throwing knives out, waiting for my signal. Manuevering her in front of me, I took out my knives and tapped her on the shoulder, signaling her to proceed. She popped up quickly and I stepped to the side, both of us throwing at the same time. The blades whistled as they flew true to their destination, mine embedding itself into the right eye of my target. Val’s hit between the eyes of her target, both guards made a squeaking noise as they fell over, not moving. Hurrying over, we pulled their dead bodies behind the rock formation out of sight. After looting the body, the only valuables were the gold coins we found. Coming back over to the entrance, I signaled the others it was okay and they walked in.

  "Okay, we must be in the right place. Those things wouldn’t be here unless something or someone was. Let’s take it slowly in case some other guards are around. Leena, can you shoot a bow or use a blade?"

  She shook her head, "No Max. I’m a healer, never needed to use them since my father and brother are the hunters of our family."

  Staring at her for a moment, I didn’t even think to ask if she was a mage and wondered if Cass did. Looking over to her, she knew what I wanted to know. "No hon, I didn’t even think about it. We will talk about this after we get out of here."

  Nodding and taking her word for it, I advised Reap and Herc to stay and guard the entrance. Getting used to the low light, we searched and scanned the area finding a tunnel leading further into the mountain. Seeing flickering light in the distance, we continued down the tunnel towards the unknown. Trying not to make a sound, we came upon a lit torch and kept going when locating other torches through the passageway. We were passing the fifth torch when voices could be heard in the distance, the girls and I crouched down waiting to see if they were coming our way, but after a few moments the noise sounded like it was getting further away. Waiting a few more minutes, we started moving again towards the area in question to check out those voices and eventually came upon them in a huge hollowed out chamber. The voices were distinct now and were speaking some language unknown to me, leaning my head out to see who or what race they were, I was not surprised to see more gnolls. What did surprise me was the cages that were lined around the chamber, filled with different races. Elves, humans or mages, I couldn’t tell the difference at the moment. Gnomes and dwarves were also here. Scanning the surroundings for the total amount of enemies, I counted eight guarding the prisoners.

  Turning to the girls I whispered, "We found the hideout, cages are in the next room. Eight gnolls are guarding them. You ready for some action?"

  They grinned maliciously and got themselves r
eady to kick some ass, I continued, "Alright, I’m going to sneak around to the other side of the chamber, wait for my signal before attacking. Leena, stay here until we’re done, okay?" Leena nodded.

  "What will be the signal?" Val asked.

  I smiled and replied, "You’ll know," and crouched, then silently made my way over behind some rock formations big enough to block their view. The girls split up as well and got into position, waiting for me.

  Two gnolls were moving around in my area, four were at a makeshift table eating and laughing, the last two were on the other end of the chamber. Storing my quiver and bow in a nook, I pulled out my dagger. Silently moving behind my first victim, I grabbed around his head to cover the assholes mouth with my left hand, and slitting the bastard’s throat open with my right. He gurgled as I gently placed his twitching body down and went over to the other asshole. Coming up behind the last one in my area, I put my arm around his throat and squeezing the air out, it couldn’t speak or shout, I slammed my dagger into its brain, killing him instantly. Lying the body down quickly and silently, I made my way back to the middle, sheathed my dagger and pulled my quiver out of my hiding spot, then slung it over my shoulder. Picking up my bow and nocking an arrow, I aimed for the nearest green colored ass wipe, took a deep breath and loosed, hitting my target in the back of the skull, killing it instantly. My signal was given and chaos ensued for the remaining gnolls as they looked over to see their dead kin. Screaming and grabbing their weapons trying to get to me, this lack of discipline gave all the time my women needed and they took over. I saw arrows come out of nowhere: one, two, three, killing the captors at the table and Val threw her knives, slaying the other two that were running towards Cass with their swords.

  Instantly I called out, "Clear!" Val and Cass walked over to loot their kills, as was I. "Look for the keys to set these people free." I scanned the cages, finding people with smiles, anxious to get out. Strolling over where the four were at a table to check them over, one of the deceased had the keys, grabbing them up I tossed them over to Cass. She in turn with Val and Leena went around opening the cages, who came in when the danger was taken care of. As they were taking care of that, my eyes picked up the captives near me and most of them had metal collars around their necks. What are those for? Noticing that it wasn’t race oriented, I couldn’t figure out what they were used for. Weird. Shrugging that off, I went to investigate the surroundings for anything of value. Nothing of interest was found on the table or their workspace, and was about to check out a back corner with a metal contraption when someone cleared their throat. Turning around to see who was behind me, I saw a group of humans that were dressed in brown trousers and white tunics. Rangers. A male with blond hair and blue eyes was in front, he seemed to be the one that got my attention.

  Raising my brow, he got the gesture for him to speak.

  "Pardon me sir, my name is Wayland. I’m the sergeant of the group of rangers you see behind me, we were sent to investigate for King William and got ourselves captured. Thank you for freeing us."

  I nodded and responded, "No problem, we were in Silvershore and heard about the kidnappings, we decided to investigate."

  He looked around and stated, "It’s a good thing you did. We overheard that someone called an overlord was coming to help ship us out to a fortress in a concealed location."

  Overlord? What the hell is that? "Not sure who or what that is, can you tell me about those metal collars?"

  A female answered my question. "They suppress magic and are used on mages and weres."

  My brows rose at her statement, it would seem they learned their lesson with the cuffs then. Hmm… Good thing Cass escaped before they implemented them. I wondered, "How do they come off then?"

  She replied, "A special key is used to release the collar, the leader of that group had it on him and I believe he locked it in that safe behind you."

  I looked back to the safe, to see it had a key lock on it. Hmm… the girls had the keys, one of them probably opens that. "Does Will know you were investigating this situation, Wayland?"

  That made them curious. He asked, "How do you know him?"

  I laughed and said, "He’s a good friend of mine."

  That didn’t really answer his question, but he didn’t pry. Wayland advised, "Yes, but not sure if he realized we were captured, although we’ve been here for a couple of weeks. When that caravan disappeared, we set out to find out the cause when they ambushed us. Orcs and gnolls."

  Taking a minute to digest his report, I responded with a smile, "Well, at least you can tell Will and His Majesty that the mystery is solved, although it would seem that something big is happening."

  "Indeed. Once again, thank you for finding us." All the rangers murmured and nodded.

  "Your welcome."

  The female spoke up, "We will need to see if any are in need of assistance." They walked away to handle that situation and I scanned for my girls, they were waiting to the side for our meeting to be done with.

  Strolling over, they were with a group of mixed gender and race, collars around their necks. "Everything okay ladies?"

  They nodded and Cass gestured to the group, "Max, as you’re probably aware those collars prohibit any magic. We don’t know how to get them off without some sort of key."

  "Yes love, you’re correct. Hand me those keys." She did and I left to see if that safe could be opened. Trying numerous keys, I finally found the right one and opened the strong box. Numerous items were found inside: parchment, a ledger, gold, silver, and a two pronged key. Taking the key out and locking it back, I went back to the girls.

  I gestured to the closest person, a female wood elf, over to see if this key would work. "Alright, let’s see if this fits." The female elf stood still as I went in a circle observing the apparatus and after a few moments two holes an inch apart came into view. Placing the pronged key inside till it stopped, then tried to turn left and right, but it wouldn’t budge. The only thing left to do was push, as I did, a loud click was heard then a hiss came from the collar as it opened an inch in the back. Grabbing the collar, I pulled it apart easily. The elf gasped and smiled at me.

  "Thank you!"

  I nodded and she walked off, glancing at the metal device I saw two needles poking out of the inside of the collar with blood dripping off. Ouch! It would seem that this gadget needs to be in contact with the captive’s blood. Throwing the collar off to the side, I gestured to the next in line. Thirty minutes later, a hundred collars were in a pile.

  Val and Cass came over as the last person rubbed their neck and walked over to a group nearby.

  Val asked, "How did you know where that key was at?"

  Grinning I replied, "One of the rangers advised me. Do you girls recognize any of these people?"

  They looked around and said no. "Val, do me a favor and go grab one of your saddle bags and bring it back here." I handed her the keys on the chain and explained my plan, "When you get back, go to that safe in the back and open it, grab all the items inside. Please." She kissed me on the cheek and ran off.

  "What’s in the safe, babe?" Cass asked.

  Smiling, "Oh nothing, just stuff."

  She smirked at me but didn’t pry and followed me down the tunnel to head outside. When we came out the sun blinded us for a moment, as our sight came back we found a crowd out looking at something in the woods, murmuring in excited tones. I walked over to see what caused the situation and almost started laughing when seeing Reap and Herc sitting by some trees. Cass and I passed by the front of the crowd, some of them actually yelled out that it was dangerous, but we didn’t pay attention to them. The duo saw us and strolled our way, then nuzzled with us when they caught up. Gasps and shouts were heard all around, after a couple of minutes we heard footsteps behind us.

  Wayland’s voice called out, "Is that what I think it is."

  Cass giggled out, "Yep, a siba."

  A male wood elf gushed out, "Wow!"

  A male dwarf stated the obvio
us, "A kodiak as well. Are they with you?"

  "Yes. Now, are there any earth mages with us?"

  A couple raised their hands and I continued, "Alright, can I speak to you and Wayland for a moment?"

  They nodded and we walked over to the side as the crowd watched my furry friends.

  "Max, that is unbelievable. Does Will know you have those creatures with you?"

  I nodded and changed the subject, "I don’t want that cave to exist anymore. Especially for a prison. Can you two mages fill it in?"

  They nodded but I continued, "Good. Wait for my signal and then crush those cages inside." We walked back over to the crowd, Val had the saddlebag around her shoulder so I went over to make sure she got the ledger and documents. Oh and of course, the currency.

  After a couple minutes, I gave the signal for the mages to handle the cave in, it didn’t take long before cracks and loud noises were heard as the cave slowly went out of existence. When they were done, nobody could tell that a cave was ever there. I thanked the two mages, took the documents and ledgers out of the saddlebag, and went over to the rangers.

  Handing the items over to Wayland, I explained, "These were found inside. Not sure what info they will give, but might give you some clues to what is happening."

  He shook my hand and thanked me. "We will leave with the ones who want an escort and see them to their destinations," Wayland said and walked away. The girls and I waved them off and turned to the people still there talking amongst themselves. A group of six were arguing back and forth about something, we just walked towards our rides to head home, but it would seem our day wasn’t over.

  The argumentative group hurried our way and stopped us. Six wood elves, two male and four female. Leena was with them. All of them had caramel skin, toned bodies and dark hair. The males were a few inches taller than six feet tall, wearing brown trousers and brown tunics. All of the females had the same clothing as Leena did, and it was hard to look away. Leena and another female came over while the others a few steps behind.

  "Max, this is my mother Sasha," Leena stated with a bright smile.