Saiai Webnovels

The following morning, the forest was shrouded in a thick fog.

Led by Fyra, the five reached the boat’s landing. The large, dark shapes, still and quiet on the shore, had something eerie about them.

Kal knew that somewhere in front of him, on the other side of the river, stood Elis harbor, but the mist covered everything more than fifteen feet away.

In the mud around the boats they found a chaotic mesh of interweaving footprints. Big, small, of light sandals and of heavy boots.

Farther from the boats, the footprints slowly aligned, heading all in one direction.

«They gathered…»

«…And then they went that way.» Fyra finished for him, pointing at the trail of mud stains and trampled grass and leaves entering the forest and disappearing in the fog.

Kal smiled at her. They couldn’t be too far, they could reach them in a day or so.

He immediately started following the trail, going once again deep into the woods, followed by the other four.

It was easier than he expected. Though the uneven terrain slowed him down and forced him to make his way moving or breaking branches, the footprints were clear and here and there he kept finding more signs of the passage of other people: a torn strip of cloth, a tree branch that had been neatly cut to open a path, a stone turned over by a kick.

And yet, the more he proceeded the more his euphoria was tempered by the feeling there was something strange about it, even if he couldn’t figure out what.

Until suddenly…

«Kal, what’s wrong?» Fyra asked him. «Why did you stop?»

«The trail… it ends here.» was all he managed to say.

No matter the direction Kal turned, he saw no other footprints. It was like the people who had left them up to that point had vanished into thin air.

And at that point, the boy understood.

The footprints he had been following belonged to multiple people, yes. But certainly to no more than twenty or thirty.

The cut branches. The rocks violently kicked away.

He looked down. The footprints now were all the same, large and heavy.

They all belonged to adults. All made with boots.

«We fell for the oldest trick.» he said, feeling the strength abandoning him.

He could imagine them now: a group of watchers advancing alone in the forest, creating a trail that would deceive pursuers, then retracing their steps, patiently and with precision, and leading the citizens in another direction, this time erasing any trace of their passage.

A shrewd move.

But that now had deceived the wrong people.

A cough called Kal back to reality. He turned. Elef was looking at him, worriedly.

He was pale, there were dark circles under his eyes and he seemed to have difficulty standing.

Seeing him made Kal understand he could not give up.

«We’ll keep going east. If our destination is the same, we’ll find them sooner or later.»

He supposed that the Exarch intended to lead everyone beyond the forest, going as far from Elis as possible, and chose to put his hope in that.

Trying to keep the others’ spirits up, he resumed walking, with sure step.

But after a few moments his sister stopped him: «Kal… east is this way, not that way. I know because I tried to remember all the changes in direction we made.»

---

They walked for about half an hour, with some difficulty. The fog restricted their vision to a dozen feet, and sometimes the underbrush was so thick they had no choice but to take brief detours.

Eventually, Kal tripped on a rock and fell down. Getting back up, he noticed that the large rock was weirdly square-like, as if it had been artificially shaped.

«What is that?» Fyra exclaimed.

Kal looked around and saw that there were other rocks similar to the one he had tripped over, scattered on the ground. Further away, a large, dark and irregular shaped partially emerged from the mist, like an enormous creature sleeping on its side.

«A… a giant?» Agatha asked, fearfully.

«Don’t be stu-» Elef was interrupted by a coughing fit.

Kal got closer, careful of where he stepped. Slowly, the shape became clearer.

«It’s a building.»

A tall building, although one that had seen much better days. The structure had crumbled down, what must once have been a long vertical cylinder now was a disorderly heap of stones and rotten wood, with rubble scattered all around them. Only the foundations still stood, worn down and blackened.

«A watchtower.» Ark said, after approaching like Kal. «This must have been one of the Principate’s old outposts.»

A gust of wind overtook them, dispersing the fog for a moment. And Kal saw they were surrounded by more ruined buildings: they might have been houses at some point, but now their roofs were caved in and their walls were covered in vines. Looking carefully, Kal realized some of them had been set on fire.

«What happened here? What do you mean “outpost”?»

Ark answered closing his eyes, as if trying to remember something he had read: «A long time ago, the Principate extended beyond the river Tuon. A network of outposts had been built in this forest, protected by garrisons of soldiers. But that was a long time ago, many decades ago, during the war with the Federation, I mean the Three Kingdoms.»

«You mean this place dates back to the Winter War?» Elef joined in.

«You can recognize poisonous berries but you never opened a History book in your life, did you?» for a moment, Ark assumed a mocking tone. «The Winter War was not against the Three Kingdoms. In fact, it was precisely during the Winter War that the Long Truce was brokered. The Principate renounced to all territories beyond the river in the south and the mountains in the north, and in exchange the Three Kingdoms did not force us to fight on two fronts.»

Kal would have gladly listened to the rest of the lesson, but right now there were more important matters to think about: «Ark, you knew of the existence of this place?»

«Yes. Do you want an apology because I didn’t talk about it before? I thought the forest had completely reclaimed it.» Kal had no idea what he had said that was wrong, but now Ark was weirdly defensive.

«No, I don’t. What I want is to know if you’ve also seen some map of this “network of outposts”.»

Ark gave him a surprised look, then he said: «Of course I have.»

Having grabbed a thin stick of wood, the young man started drawing on the ground.

«So, this is the river, at about this height there was a bridge… from there a road entered the forest, reaching a fork around this point…»

Ark had always had a peculiar talent for remembering what he saw, read or heard. In less than a glassturn he traced a detailed map of the ancient outposts of the Principate inside the forest, and of the roads that linked them.

«I’d say we probably are… here.» As he finished, Ark pointed at one of the circles that symbolized the outposts.

«Ark.» Kal said. «Maybe the Exarch has this map as well, and maybe he’s using there roads to traverse the forest. Look, all the ones leading east converge here.» he pointed at the rightmost circle.

«This is our destination.»

---

With Ark’s help, Kal drew a route on the map, then the five set off on one of the roads leaving the ruins.

Kal wasn’t sure they’d find the Exarch and the other citizens, not yet. But he had a duty to appear like he was.

The road was in better condition than what Ark expected. The journey was far quicker than when they walked in the underbrush.

But eventually, when they had almost arrived to their destination, Elef fell, unable to get back up. He had used up all of his energies.

«I need to rest.» he said, weakly.

If he closes his eyes, he’ll never open them up again. Kal was certain of that.

Ark and Fyra were the ones who lifted him up, grabbing him from both sides, as if they had agreed about it beforehand.

«Is this your limit, Decarch?» said Ark. «It’s not even midday.»

«I’ve been walking since sunrise.» Elef complained, with a little more strength in his voice.

«Like everyone else here.» Fyra replied. Kal was sure that for a moment he saw her and Ark exchange a knowing look. «Aren’t you ashamed of being the first one to get tired?»

«If only you and that other idiot had figured out from the start that those footprints were a trick…» It wasn’t clear if Elef had heard, but the fact he kept talking was a good sign. And at that point Kal understood that keeping him talking was precisely what his two friends were trying to do: as long as they managed to keep him angry, Elef wouldn’t lose consciousness.

Suddenly, from somewhere in the fog in front of them rang out the crack of a crystalarm. The bullet hit the ground in front of Kal, who immediately froze.

His first, instinctive thought was to draw his sklerygron. But at that distance it would be useless.

Then he heard a voice: «Who’s there? Identify yourselves, or the next shot won’t miss!»

A familiar voice.

Kal couldn’t believe his ears, but he answered, loudly and clearly: «Don’t shoot! I’m Kalos Aregonid, First Company of the Elis City Watch! One of our companions is gravely injured!»

There was a moment of silence. Then the familiar voice spoke back, and this time Kal was absolutely sure that it belonged to his comrade in arms Barys: «Young Kalos!? Is that really you? Precious Earth, we though you were dead! Stay where you are, we’re coming! You, go call the medic!»

As four figures in the watchers’ uniform that Kal knew so well appeared from the fog, the boy let out a relieved laugh.

They were among friends once more, and everything would be alright.

Now he really believed that.