Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 19: The Depths of the Forest

Toren Daen

I crouched on the roof of a building near the South Gate soon after the sun rose, listening intently to the sounds of early hustle and bustle. South Fiachra was the smallest district in the city: barely a few blocks stretching out from the southernmost gate. It was mainly home to a number of warehouses, shipping businesses, and boatyards. That made sense: the mighty Sehz River stretched from the borders of the Central Dominion, through Fiachra, skirted the edges of the Clarwood Forest, then opened into the sea.

While most of Alacrya's major cities were connected by teleportation gates and tempus warps, sea access was still invaluable. Half of Alacrya's major population centers were directly on the coast, with Fiachra essentially acting as a coastal city with the Sehz River as transport. Many villages lined the sides of the Sehz, the running water acting as an artery for people living anywhere nearby.

South Fiachra was also where expeditions into the Clarwood Forest usually set out. The Joans were set to arrive any minute now.

I had mastered muffling my steps to a far better degree than when I started a couple of days ago. I was confident I made no sound with each of my footfalls. I was also wearing my Dusk getup: the mask and dark clothing helping me blend into the shadows of the rooftop overhang I crouched underneath.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the rattle of wooden wheels on cobblestone. Glancing over the wall, I spotted four uncovered carts being hauled by horse-like mana beasts. I said horse-like because I could just barely feel mana eddying around them: wind mana, if I was correct. They had a sort of greenish sheen across their coats and small horns curling backward from their skulls.

The men in the carts were garbed in standard battle attire: loose robes, some armor, and all had weapons. There were about two scores of people across all the carts. I could sense mana from about a third of them: the rest were outfitted in gear that was clearly lower quality. I frowned in confusion. There were two reasons I wouldn't be able to sense a mage's mana core: theirs was at a higher purity or they had no mana at all.

Before I could contemplate the implications anymore, one of the mages–a skinnier man with dark hair–turned toward the side, his gaze trained up nearly toward where I was. I ducked low, cutting off my line of sight. That one's senses were keener than the rest, something I would have to watch out for.

The carts had the sigil of Blood Joan stamped on them, though: I knew these were my targets.

After a few minutes, I peeked my head over once more. The carts had ferried out the main gate, following the road that ran alongside the Sehz River. As the tall Fiachran gates closed, I slowly lost sight of my quarry. But that didn't matter: I knew where they were going.

—

I hopped along the clarwood trees in the chill late-morning air, my steps making not a single sound as I swung and bounded from bough to bough. I dodged a branch draping white leaves, correcting my midair course with a slight push of telekinesis. I landed deftly on the next branch, several yards from the treeline. Strengthening my vision with mana, I could just see the Joan mages slowly disembarking from their carts. They milled about on the river road, gearing up for their trek through the forest.

I took special note of the small boxes a couple of the men carried: they were very ornately decorated and were carried by those with the strongest mana signatures. Each was colored black with red trim along the edges. There was something important in those boxes, but I didn't know what.

I watched from my perch as the men assumed a roughly circular formation. There were about forty of them, with the men and women I couldn't sense mana from on the outside. As they began to walk towards the forest, I pulled as much mana as I could into myself, masking my signature the best I could. The leaves of the clarwood trees–colored white this close to winter–didn't provide my dark clothing the best cover. I stuck closer to the trunks of the trees, hiding in the deeper shade they provided.