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[el-remmen]

Session #10 (part II)

“Where’s Kamir? They were hurting Kamir. . .” Jeremy said with a croaking voice. He sat with his back to a tree where Beorth had propped him up.

“He is dead,” Beorth said, dabbing at a cut above Jeremy’s right eye. “He has started his journey to Anubis’ Realm.”

“Oh, Malcolm is gonna be pissed!” Jeremy said, with a sigh. “The first one of us to greet him in Anubis’ Realm is gonna be Kamir! Oh no. . . Oh no…”

Beorth turned to the others, “He seems physically okay. A little beaten up, but he’ll be okay.”

Kazrack quickly searched the corpse of the captain after tying up the captive. Ratchis, and Jana gathered the packs of the soldiers and too several woolen blankets, water skins and trail rations. Kazrack found a leather map case and a clay vial on the captain.

Jana cast detect poison to determine if the vial’s contents were poisonous, but there were not.

“We had better get out of here in case there are other patrols around,” said Kazrack. “It is dark and we won’t get far, but at least we can put some distance between us and this place.”
Jana cast her spell of light upon Beorth’s staff again, and Kazrack quickly assembled a sledge of sorts to drag Ratchis’ unconscious form with them. Chance and Beorth carried Kamir between them.
They made their way up to the top of the hill by the pond, and decided that was as far as they could go. They were all wounded and exhausted, and Ratchis could not be moved very far because of his size and condition.

They cleared the snow from under a tree and laid out the blankets there.

“Who are you people? Who are you with?” the Menovian solider asked, bewildered.

Jana played with her dagger in his view and eyed him maliciously and he shut up. Kazrack opened the map case and found a map of the Little Kingdoms and a duty roster for Captain Lawrence Himmel and the six men in his company.

“Can you tell us what happened?” Beorth said to Jeremy who has been sitting silently wrapped in a blanket against the tree.
Jeremy opened his mouth, but no sound came out for a few minutes. He coughed and then spoke, “Kamir and I went out to get wood. I guess it was our turn to do the chores, but there was no wood near the campsite, so we wandered toward a hill we saw in the distance, but we got lost. There were several hills and they all looked the same, and we walked in circles and came up here to see if we could get a better look around. Before that, we had seen the light of the soldiers’ lanterns and heard their voices. Kamir wanted to go ask them for help, but I thought better of it, and suggested we keep looking for our way back.”
“But then…” Jeremy paused when his voice cracked. “But then, it was getting dark and it started to snow and we just chose a direction and started marching, and Kamir kept saying we should go to the light for help, and I gave in, when they found us first.”
He paused again, and looked at the bound solider. “They started bullying us and questioning us right away. Their captain knocked Kamir down and kicked him in the face and called him names. Kamir just kept apologizing. I rushed him, but two soldiers grabbed me and punched me in the stomach and head a bunch. And I, must’ve blacked out, because when I came to I was tied to that tree and they had Kamir on the ground with a sword to his neck. When I saw what they were going to do to him I cried out, but someone hit me again and I passed out again. The next thing I knew Beorth was there.”

Tears were sliding down Jeremy’s flushed cheeks, and Chance got up and walked towards the pond and stood looking at the freezing water for a while.

They gagged the soldier and set up watches for the night. Jana and Chance watched first.

It was silent for a long time, only the sound of wind swirling snow in wide circles across the top of the hill. About an hour into the watch Chance finally spoke.

“Jana?” he said, without looking towards her.

“Yes, Chance?” she replied.

“Ah. . . uh, Ah dun know what ta do,’ Chance’s voice broke, tears welled up in his eyes. “This is all me fault.”

“How so?”

“It was me turn ta go get wood. Jeremy n; Ah were suppusedta go git it, but Ah let Kamir go for me. It shoulda bin me that died, ar it shoulda bin me that had ta deal wit’ the Menovians.”
Chance sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

“You had no way of knowing that this was going to happen,” Jana said. “It is not your fault.”

“Yes, it is,” Chance insisted, he was openly crying now. “Me Da’ alwess said that tis good ta git outta wark, that that is whut it meant ta be locky, but he alsa said, that real good lock isn’t gained ot the cost ahthers.”

Jana patted Chance’s shoulder. “It will be okay,” she said. “You had not no way of knowing.”

Chance stifled his tears and was silent for the rest of the watch.

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Beorth and Kazrack watched for the next shift, and then Jeremy awoke and took over for the paladin of Anubis until morning came.

End of Session #10