The Resistance
"What do you mean?" A befuddled Kayla asked. She was beyond the state of shock, and recognizing this, Kedan relaxed somewhat. He used his thumbs to wipe away the tears streaming down her cheeks as he cupped her face in his hands.
Seeing her relax, he took out two hexham gems and placed them on her hands. Instructing her to eat them, he had her take a moment to rest. They were in no hurry as he had taken out the reinforcements, and by the time the city state learned of this, they would be long gone.
Further up ahead, the fleeing group of humans chanced upon the pack of wolves. These were the wolves that Gnome had deployed so that they would launch the pincer attack. To the human's surprise, were an army of unbeatable foes should stand lay a pile of dead bodies. Each had an arrow sticking deep in their skulls, and they all realized that this was indeed the work of the mysterious expert.
Even Reagan, the captain, was beyond shocked. He hadn't known much about the man he had brought to these shores. At first he had seen him as a potential competitor. He quickly discovered that he was just one of those loons who thought they could partake in the quest of keeling.
What an oaf! Those had been his thoughts, and seeing the kind of trouble just expressing the desire to take part in had caused, he had felt justified in his thoughts. Looking at what was happening now, he ate those words. He realized that the man had the qualifications to take part in the Quest, but would he see it through, was he strong enough to actually win? He wondered.
After waiting for a little while, Kedan decided that it was time to move again. Waiting any longer would mean meeting the response of the city state. These would certainly be more than reinforcements, and would be more organized. While he himself didn't mind, for the mortals with him, he couldn't guarantee their safety.
They quickly rejoined with the others who were also resting waiting for them. Some had even began to think that they had fallen.
On their return, many felt shame when they faced Kayla, after all, they had left her behind when she stumbled. Noting this, Kedan chose to ignore it for now, save it as an arsenal for which Kayla could use to guilt trip them, or earn points with her.
Soon as the two arrived, the entire party, which was comprised of a total of 27 humans, began walking again. This time, they were in a much more relaxed state. After a few hours of continuous walking, the old man had them stop again.
For the first time since this whole crazy mess began, he finally asked the most obvious question:
"Where are we going?" It was followed by a punctuated silence, before the old man that had dragged him out finally spoke.
"We humans of this land have faced persecution time and time again. We endured the shame and the ridicule, all the while eating the scraps that fall from the tables of those who would consider themselves better than us. We live our lives trodden upon or seriously enslaved."
It was a long pause, all the while he took time to look at the eyes of most who were present, before his eyes settled on Kedan. They had complicated emotions on them, and if one didn't know the man, they'd think that there was hope.
"Yes we have endured much, but there are some things that not even we can endure. They took our rights, our freedoms, but when they tried to take our heritage and our salvation, we couldn't take it lying down any longer. Many of us broke away from our homes and we left to fight for all we have to safeguard the only thing we had left, Hope!"
As the old man spoke, his words seemed to resonate with every human present there, to the point that some even stood up. Taking advantage of the moment he had created, he walked forward and held Kedan by his shoulders, without breaking eye contact, he asked.
"Do you think you can win the Quest of Keeling?"
"I know I will!" It was a smug sentence backed up by a smug smile. However, after seeing all that the man had done before, Kedan's statement did not sound prideful or wishful, as this was a man who had proved he could back up his words!
"Oh really?" A voice came from behind. It was a woman's voice. Kedan then felt an edge of a blade, one that was ridiculously sharp, graze him by his neck, almost drawing blood. She had on a sneer, "Can you back up your words?"
Her appearance caused a sudden disruption in the mood of everyone. The civilians, and indeed even the sailors and any other able bodied person had began to feel a bit lax. They felt that they had outran the enemy, and at least they were too insignificant to be incessantly chased, the upside of being downtrodden. Hence they were having a moment where their guard was down.
The sailors were contemplating on how to recover their losses, and many were shooting Kedan nasty glances. Now there was no way to get to their ship, which was docked in Harrow city, where they were now fugitives. In all this commotion, 2 people were not shocked, and one got the confirmation he needed.
"So you finally decided to show yourself after trailing us for so long?" As Kedan said this, he turned with his hands raised high to meet her with the same smug smile he had on. Simultaneously, two arrows were also circling his opponents' necks.
With Gravitational Sense powered on even though he was using limited range, there was very little that could sneak up on him. Maybe if the opponent could teleport, and even then, the distortions of elementary particles would alert him. Therefore when a group of 10 heavily armed warriors started trailing them, he quickly noticed them.
At first, he had wanted to attack, as he had some civilians and would want to err on the side of caution. On second examination, he realized that there wasn't any killing intent, and it was almost as though this group was protecting them, covering their tracks.
His senses told him that these people has something to do with their destination. My now they should have chanced upon a settlement, as most of these people were locals and knew their way around. He did notice that some civilians had muttered within their breath bitterly on the direction they were heading. For some reason, he sensed the old man was leading him somewhere, and it had to do with this Quest.
When the new comers had decided to show up, Kedan and the old man's eyes were still staring at each other. Analyzing the micro-expressions on the old man's face, there had been several emotions, but not shock. Even before he spoke out, the old man knew that he had been found out. The ball was in this man's court, could he be the salvation they all were waiting for?
"Drop your weapons, and let's start over." Kedan's tone carried no ill will, no malice. It was so casually spoken that one would think he was talking to some old friend about some long forgotten tale. Yet the fact stood, the arrows had the right of way.
"Good, I see you are obedient, you might still be of use." Turning to the old man, he asked, "Care to explain?"
"Sir, I and these are members of the Resistance. I assure you, they mean you no harm, and if you are really are looking to take the Quest, then these are your best friends."
***
As the red sun was rising, the beautiful morning rays hit his warm green fur, bringing a warm feeling within him. For a moment, he almost thought it was a normal day, maybe it was, but not the kind of normal he was worried about.
Bamboo was at the end of his wits with this whole leadership thing. The festival had all been fun and games, but now, he was coming to terms with what leadership was all about, and how terribly ill equipped he was to handle it.
Noting a crowd of lavels coming at him, he couldn't help but curse at them. These old geezers couldn't agree on anything. What Bamboo didn't know was that peace times governance was totally different from war times, and unfortunately for him, he was at peace times.
That feeling he'd gotten on that day, when everyone bowed at him, was too fleeting during peace. No one saw the need to revere as their life was not in danger, and there was no need for a hero. He really had been just entertainment. Too bad that was so hard to take in. At times he even imagined if he'd imagined it, but when walking down the streets, and even in such meetings when everyone paused to look at him when an important decision was to be made. In such moments, he would get a glimpse of it, just a taste.
Right now, they were squabbling over the hexham jades. There were those that saw true value in them, especially after the experience during the festival. And as these things usually are, there were those who saw it as nothing more that vasilian sorcery, something to be abstained from.
In truth, hexham jades had already become the accepted currency in many of the settlements. There were regularly used for trade and there were those that horded them. It was a new treasure, and naturally, it had caused quite a raucous.
The only problem was, it only one known source. Dane already had a plan in motion to solve this problem shortly. To maintain the fairness of the currency, it needed to be authentically sourced. He wanted to expose the fact that they were naturally occurring, and show that they could be mined. Yes, this was the next part of the plan, and as such he had to pick the right moment.
As Bamboo sat there listening to the arguments, he really hadn't learnt how to zone them out, so he still went on in trying to pacify them. He was experiencing frustration, and it was showing, as the entire environment suddenly started to charge up. Strange wind was blowing, and the elders of the clans instantly quieted down.
Yet at that moment a lavel came running to Bamboo, with a look of elation.
"Hey Kip, what's the matter?"
"Guess what, we have a guest!"
"What guest?"
"Wait and see..."
Bamboo couldn't understand what was going on, even though he prided himself to be quite sharp. He looked on to see what kind of guest would make the lavel who was usually level headed go crazy.
The head's shelter was stack in the middle of the settlement, and while this did not apply at the moment, since Bamboo still stayed at his clan's grounds, he still stayed in the middle. It was a symbol of respect accorded to the ruling clan. The clan had never had to move since establishment, so now they were still having a hard time moving.
Such rules were set back when lavels used to live a nomadic lifestyle, and now as they become more settled, it was a wonder if it would be reinforced.
Even then, the clan's ground were quite wide, and by the time the guest was arriving at the middle, there was already a sizable crowd. It had started when some of those who had taken part in the festival recognized an old lavel making his way to the settlement. Something about him stood out.
On further investigation, they realized they knew him. By the time they were getting to the clan grounds, the old lavel was flanked to the left by Maple and to the right by Hasilo, as though they were his bodyguards.
Many following didn't even know what was going on. They simply noticed a commotion and went to have a look. Also, besides hunt, lavel's really didn't have much else to do so a distraction was very much welcomed.
Those that noticed the old lavel couldn't help but wonder, who was he? He seemed give off a certain warm aura, a sense of safety about him. Also, all the top celebrities were looking at him with reverence, and as he got to the square, something unbelievable happened, Bamboo, the head of settlement, actually bowed, saying, "Welcome Master Kendar!"