Caught

'I'm getting careless,' Doevm thought as he sat with the group in the carriage. It was quiet like the last few days. Only the road bumping against the wooden wheels and the clomping of the horse hooves distracted from the intense stare Ashtehar gave Doevm and Frey. Oliver wrapped his white robe tightly around himself and folded himself into a ball at the far end.

"And you two saw nothing?" Ashtehar was just sitting, but his massive body still dwarfed the two. "I'm certain I felt something last night. I was too far away, but I was sure it was in your direction. If you saw anything, it would help fulfill your debt to the goddess." Ashtehar switched his gaze from Frey to Doevm as veins filled with false-righteous blood pulsed in his eyes. "If you two did know something and were holding back, that would be blasphemy." He settled on Frey. "I showed you our training techniques, you should be grateful. Show how grateful you are."

"Thank you for allowing me to see something so beautiful." Frey said empty words to get the war monk to back off. He glanced at Doevm and signaled with a tiny movement that they should leave. Doevm slowly shook his head a few degrees. "I did not see anything. I do not have magic, so I cannot sense anything."

"Hmmm." Ashtehar sat back in his seat, seemingly satisfied. "This won't be the end," he mumbled. That day of travel was the longest of the three. As they drew closer to the battlefront, small villages came into view. The women and children were out and playing, but there were no men in sight. The families saw the carriage and returned to their safe homes.

"We're getting close." The driver said. "Just another hour or two." The path turned from a trail of dust through the plain grass road to a trail of slightly thinner grass in thick weeds. The horses panted more in the hot and humid air. Oliver laid down on the floor. His white robe traced an outline of the demented body it hid in sweat.

"How come it's getting so hot?" Frey asked as he took off his shirt. "It was cool a few days ago."

"We're getting closer to the equator." Oliver said. "That's the hottest place in the world. That's where we'll be fighting. The jungles there are hard to traverse, so you'll need to adapt. I hear the bugs are the worst part. If you're not careful, you'll die of disease before you even get to fight.

Frey tried to slink down in his seat, but he slid onto the floor on his own trail of sweat. He slid back to his seat and blushed. "It's like I just went a round of sparring." He mumbled.

"Two rounds." Doevm fanned himself. "It's been getting hotter the past few days, but you haven't noticed because of our pace. In the last hour of our journey, it's going to get even worse." 'Having flesh is really a disability. Why are living creatures so weak?'

They kept complaining until the carriage came to a stop. "Everybody out!" A voice as loud as Jameson's roared. The tired inhabitants slid out of the carriage. Their feet hit soft ground.

All around them was green. Even when they looked up, layers and layers of leaves stopped all but a few rays of sunlight from lighting up their surroundings. It was cooler outside of the carriage because of the constant shade. Doevm guessed it was because the carriage's cloth trapped all the heat inside like a bedsheet. They were riding in an oven. While the air was cooler, the humidity didn't get any more bearable. Each breath was harder. It felt like they just got out of a bath. They were in the middle of a clearing with a single man in thick steel armor in front of the group. "Identify yourselves!" The man said.

"I am the war monk Ashtehar." Ashtehar said. He put a hand on Oliver, who flinched. "This is my apprentice. I'm sure you've been anticipating our arrival, Captain Marcus."

The man squinted underneath the slits in his helmet, "And the other two?"

"I'm Doevm, no one special," Doevm said. "Me and my friend just hitched a ride with them." He held out the scroll Reginald gave them. "This is our permission to join the…"

"Don't care." Marcus interrupted. "If you rode with these two, you're both in the clear. We need all the men we can get. Ashtehar, and I'm assuming Oliver, come right this way." He grabbed onto one of eight vines hanging down. He tugged, but nothing happened. He looked up and cursed. "Stand down." Hundreds of leaves fell as the same time as the sound of bowstrings drifted through the rainforest. Marcus pulled once again on the vine and was pulled up into the trees. Before Oliver could object, Ashtehar picked him up and tugged on a vine. Like Marcus, the two shot up into the trees.

The driver whipped his horses: "I was already paid my share of power stones, so this is as far as I go. See you." He waved goodbye.

"Do you know what Ashtehar was talking about?" Frey asked as he grabbed hold of a vine.

"No idea," Doevm said as he grabbed another vine. "I think he's as paranoid as you are. There's a difference between your paranoia and his though. He thinks he's right from the bottom of his heart and will stop at nothing until he gets a solid answer."

Frey looked up at the vine disappearing into the shrubbery. He pulled life essence around his eyes but didn't see anything. He did, however, jump back. "What the hell? My life essence is red. When did that happen?"

"You didn't notice your change?" Doevm brought out his own life essence and compared. "Look, you're as much as in the red stage as me. I guess it must have happened when you were on the brink of death for several days."

"But I used life essence a day or two ago and it was normal." Frey kept second guessing himself and thinking up half-baked guesses.

"When you used it, was it dark?" Doevm sighed. Frey nodded. "It was red, but you didn't notice the change in strength. Honestly, what am I going to do with you?" He tugged the vine and shot up into the branches.

"Sorry I'm such a disappointment." Frey mumbled. He pulled on the vine and followed Doevm. His stomach nearly fell out of his throat. He had to hold on with both hands as the wind rushed past his face. Leaves slapped his face and exposed flesh. His mouth was open, so he caught a bunch of bugs. The ride was only a dozen or so seconds. He felt the lift slow, until a click sound. He opened his eyes.

"Arms in the air." A sharp point neared his throat. "And keep your eyes closed." A bag fell over his head and he was forced to kneel. "Don't resist. If you make it out of initiation, you'll be one of us soon."

"Doevm?" Frey called out, but he got no response. His arms were tied around his back. Hands searched his body for weapons and removed them.

"Come on, hurry up." He was pulled by his new cuffs. Whenever he asked a question, the answer was a shove. He was pulled along wooden platforms that creaked and swayed in the wind.

'If they were bad, Ashtehar would have made a lot of noise. It wouldn't matter if they got him by surprise, he looked strong enough to resist capture.'

"Were there any more people?" A man asked.

"No, I didn't sense anyone else. Would you like me to extend my range with a few mor mages?" Another man asked.

"No, we can't risk those damned Fishys finding our headquarters. Just put on a few extra scouts on duty."

"Understood sir."

Frey kept getting shoved until his feet met stable ground. He was sat and bound to a chair. When his sac was lifted, he found himself in a dark wooden room next to Doevm, who was also bound. Marcus walked in front of them and held out the scroll Reginald gave them. "I have never in my life seen two idiots as obvious as you two. Did you think this would work?"