Penitent

Chapter 245 Book 4 Ch 26: Crossing the Border

In the morning they resumed their journey through Broan. It was a hilly and sparse country, with the occasional wetland caused by snow runoff from the mountains. Its ugliness meant that there were few complaints about travelling through it as quickly as possible. There were the occasional stops by Broan patrols, but most let them go without even extorting a bribe once they realized how formidable the group was. This meant that, aside from a frustrating day during which they needed to wait in camp for a flooded road to clear, they made very good time.

The border to Swandia was mostly as Michael had remembered it, with small guard stations on either side of the border with blue uniformed guards on the Broan side, but Michael noticed a distinct absence of ochre coloured uniforms on the Swandian side. He also noticed that there were no wagons or travelers on the border either. As their small convoy reached the guard station he gestured to one of the Broan soldiers, a yawning man leaning back in a chair.

"Where are the Swandians?"

"They got called back inland. Too many rifts. No travelers crossing over either way anyway."

"Thanks," said Michael.

The bored guard yawned and nodded.

The convoy passed the border into Swandian territory and Michael took a moment to reach out his senses. He could feel more than a dozen small rifts scattered all around the lake of beasts and several near Southwind as well. There were enough that it seemed coordinated, as the ones on the border between Stent and Tusinya as well as those in Hume had felt. He guessed they were likely all spilling out soldiers from the Empire of Chitin and its vassals.

Michael frowned. Part of the deal with Swandia was that they'd close ten rifts. These were all in the same area, but weren't clustered together in a neat way. It would take several days to travel and seal them all. Assuming they weren't overwhelmed by whatever forces had managed to gather in the meantime.

They travelled until they reached the edge of the massive forest that covered southern Swandia and then they came to a halt.

"Everyone, be ready for an ambush or hazardous conditions. Rifts have been more active, guards have been moved to Swandia's northern border to prepare for Burndan, and we'll be on our own… Aside from the gods."

That got a chuckle from a few, and an eye roll from a few others.

"Once we get the diplomats to Southwind, the rest of us will work to seal the ten rifts that were agreed to for the mediation. Prioritize the safety of our non-combatants. Understood?"

There was a respectful series of chest-pounding salutes, even from Marcus and Ollie, and then Michael turned his horse toward the woods and made his way into it. The canopy shrouded him in shadow as he guided his horse around some tree debris that had gathered as the road had been in disuse.

As they traveled, the diplomats and knights seemed to become more and more anxious. They jumped at every bird swooping low, or squirrel scurrying through the underbrush. Even Laird and Blake, who were powerful veterans, seemed more wary than usual.

"They're not used to forests," offered Lance as he pulled his horse next to Michael's.

"Makes sense. I suppose I never saw more than a small cluster of trees in Hume."

"I was just as uncomfortable when we left the woods of Stent and reached the plains in Tusinya and Svict. All that wide open space and there was no clear cover to head toward."

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"And in their case it's all this cover for something to hide behind."

"Exactly," replied Lance.

"I wonder how they'd react to being dropped right in the center of a city back on Earth," said Marcus with a smile. "Assuming they didn't just wander into a street and get run over immediately."

"People playing loud music, alarm noises, and people screaming and yelling in a strange language. They would have an unpleasant time," said Pyotr.

"There's a lot of bards on your planet?" asked Lance.

"Yes, but there's also a lot of ways to play music that's been recorded," said Michael.

Lance regarded him blankly.

"Basically, imagine if every song you've ever heard could be saved and replayed. On Earth almost everyone has something in their pocket that could let them do that… and many young people rudely play that music loudly in public spaces."

Ollie laughed. "I am reminded every day that you're someone's grandad."

"Rude is rude. I don't think that's age specific. The fact that I had a sound system in my house to listen to music the way it was meant to be heard is what really ages me."

"That's just having good taste," responded Pyotr.

"Says the other old man," said Marcus with a smirk. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped, and suddenly he unslung his rifle, aimed it, and fired.

There was a loud screech and a silver-winged harpy dropped down, landing in front of them, dead.

"Circle the wagon!" Michael yelled to the knights as he drew Ruin and The Wall and began scanning the area.

A spear flew at him, and his shield moved to block it before he'd even fully realized what was heading for him. He created a barrier around his mount, and started to form one around the wagon, but found that Ollie had beaten him to it.

After the first spear was thrown, dozens more began to fly in their direction, and a number of harpies began to swoop low at them, their dagger-like claws extended as they attempted to rake them across them.

Pyotr's scarf whipped out and wrapped around the foot of one, pulling him from the saddle and yanking her suddenly toward him. He used the momentum to reach her wing with the tip of his longsword and tore through it. She began to fall toward the ground, and he released her, his scarf whipping forward toward a branch and letting him angle himself toward another of them.

Ollie aimed his staff carefully at the woods and muttered some foul curses sending out several arcs of magicka that sliced through the woodlands like a knife. Several horned men howled in pain as the arcs reached them, and enough of the woodland was cleared that Michael and the rest of the knights could finally see the horned men hiding and throwing their spears.

With the brush cleared, Marcus was able to land a half-dozen quick shots on the exposed horned men and bring them down.

While the three of them wrought havoc on the ambushers, Michael stayed close to the wagon and the other knights. He moved his horse into wherever the heaviest amount of fire was coming from, brought down a harpy with a well aimed strike with his longsword, and kept up a continuous level of healing to keep anyone from going down. He felt a temptation to activate his smite and run them down, but he was concerned about what kind of attention that would bring their convoy before they reached the safety of Southwind. He'd be fine with being a lightning rod once the non-combatants were in the clear, but for that moment he wanted to keep them safe.

The ambush lasted only a few more moments before they all broke and fled. There were no dead, or injured by the end of the fight, but more than a dozen horned men and harpies were strewn across the ground.

Michael did a final sweep with everyone else before slipping his shield back onto his back and returning his mace to his side.

"Well done," he said to everyone else as he looked them over, double checking that they were alright and saying a quiet prayer of thanks that they were.

"Let's stay on alert as we keep moving. Ollie, can you keep a barrier on the wagon?"

He nodded.

"It goes without saying, but everyone keep your weapons at the ready."

There were salutes of acknowledgement and then they continued along the road. That ambush was as significant as some portal sealings. If they hadn't all grown as much as they had, someone could've easily died.

The trip through the forest was tense the rest of the way. There were two more ambushes, but thanks to the anxiety that resulted from the first they were all more than prepared to deal with them. They camped in deep parts of the forest that Ollie hid by gently flattening the forest in front of them, placing a barrier over it, and then having everyone walk through so that their passage couldn't be seen. They avoided fires as well, and posted a watch every night with Michael taking nearly half of them himself.

Luckily, they managed to keep everyone alive.