Eana's breath hitched, a small, sharp sound, but she didn't protest. She simply nodded once, a sharp, decisive movement.
Then, without another word, she was moving, slipping down the steep slope with surprising quiet and agility, disappearing into the cover.
Garren made a strangled, desperate noise. "She... she can't. It's too dangerous for her to go alone!"
Aerion didn't even look at him, and replied him in a flat tone. "She can."
This was a test for her courage. A test for her obedience. And, in a way, a test of all of them, to see if they truly understood their new environment.
Eana reached the road below. She moved swiftly, darting between the broken carts with light steps, barely disturbing the dirt.
She paused near a half-collapsed storage shed, pressing herself against the rotting wood, listening intently for any sound.
Then she froze. Her body went utterly still.
There was a sound. Hooves.
Aerion already felt it before he saw the horses, the faint and rhythmic vibration in the ground travelling through the rock beneath him.
The others tensed, their body rigid with fear. Ryn made a panicked noise, scrambling instinctively backward.
"We're bloody fucked if they spot her!" he hissed under his breath, his voice trembling with panic.
"Quiet," Aerion hissed, his voice barely audible.
Two riders appeared around the bent, emerged from the morning mist. They were Vaelgard scouts. Their dark cloaks were damp, and their swords hung loose at their sides, ready for use.
They moved slowly and turning their heads constantly, scanning the road and the surrounding terrain with professional thoroughness.
Eana didn't move. She was utterly still, her back pressed against the rotting wood of the shed, hiding in its shadows.
The riders passed within ten feet of her, so close. Aerion could almost feel the coldness of their armors and swords.
One of them suddenly paused. His head turned slightly, as if sensing something. His gaze sweeping across the exact spot where Eana was hidden.
Aerion's fingers dug into the cold rock. The creeping fire in his body suddenly flared.
*If they saw her, if they hurt her...*
But then, the rider shook his head and muttering something to his companion with a low, distinctive sound.
Eana waited until the sound of hooves had fully faded, until she was sure they were truly gone, before she moved again.
Her movements were swift and silent. She ducked into the shed, vanishing for only a moment.
Not long, she reappeared, clutching something in her hand, before sprinting back up the slope, her body a blur against the grey stone.
She reached their hiding spot, breathless, and then thrust the crumpled paper into Aeiron's hands.
"Supply route," she said while panting. "It's marked for the next three days. And..."
She swallowed hard, fighting to catch her breath. "There's a camp, half a mile west from here. At least twenty soldiers."
Aerion studied the paper. The ink was smudged in places, forming a hasty scrawl, but the information was clear enough.
A diagram of intersecting lines, with crude symbols marking points of interest, and a jagged arrow indicating movement. He traced a finger along one of the lines, connecting it to a small, circled X—Vaelgard camp.
Twenty soldiers. A small but significant detail. It meant patrols, supply wagons, and communication.
He looked up at Eana. Her chest still heaved, but her wide, bright eyes held a spark of triumph. She had pushed through the fear, obeyed the command, and delivered. She had passed the test.
"Good," Aerion said, his voice softer than he'd intended, the single word an acknowledgement of her courage and her success. He carefully folded the paper, tucking it into a hidden pocket in his worn tunic.
Ryn, still trembling slightly, ventured, "What does it mean? A camp?"
Garren, his face a mix of relief and lingering anxiety, muttered, "More of them. Always more. Damn Vaelgard dogs."
Aerion ignored them, his gaze sweeping across the landscape, now familiar in its harshness. The mist had begun to thin, revealing more of the scarred earth, the skeletal trees, the distant, ominous outline of the hills.
'The Veridian Dominion,' he thought, 'was being bled dry, and the Vaelgard were the leeches.' He could remember the harsh treatment his vessel's kingdom had suffered at the hands of Vaelgard.
"It means they're not just passing through," Aerion finally said with a low voice, almost a whisper. "They
re establishing a presence. This isn't just about skirmishes anymore. This is about control."
He paused, letting the implication of his words hang in the air. "A camp, even a small one, is a foothold."
He turned back to the paper, his mind already working, piecing together the fragments of information they had. The supply route, the camp, the scout patrol.
They were building a picture, however incomplete. And with a picture, there were questions.
How deep did the Vaelgard presence run? How well-established were their supply lines? And what was Therion's role in all of this? Was he actively aiding the Vaelgard, or merely allowing them free rein in the shattered dominion?
"We need to know more," Aerion stated, his voice now firm, cutting through the lingering unease of the others.
He looked at each of them, his gaze direct and unwavering. "This changes things. A direct engagement with their patrol is out of the question, not with a camp so close. We'll need to observe."
He unfurled the crumpled paper again, smoothing it against the rock. "Eana, you did well. This information is critical."
He tapped a spot in the crude map. "This route, specifically the points marked with a 'C'. Those are likely consolidation points, where they gather supplies before moving them further in. And this 'S' here, that's probably where the camp is. We need to confirm its exact location and size. And we need to know what kind of forces are there.
Garren shifted uneasily. "Observe? From where? They'll have patrols, sentries."
"Precisely," Aerion said, a grim satisfaction in his tone. "And those patrols follow patterns. The supply wagons, they'll have escorts. We need to find those patterns."
He pointed to a jagged ridge in the distance. "We'll move along the higher ground, stay out of sight. From there, we can get a better vantage point, map out their movements."
Ryn whimpered softly. "But what if... what the hell if they find us?"
Aerion met Ryn's gaze, his expression unyielding. "Then we don't let them."
He looked back at the paper, his finger tracing a path away from the immediate road, leading them deeper into the desolate terrain.