The Emperor's Road

The Emperor's Road was a large well-maintained structure. For the first few miles from Xesa, a cobblestone path was painstakingly laid out. When the road turned to compact dirt, the group came across a large cart of cobblestone and men working on continuing the arduous task of building towards the capital.

As their cart carrying John Kris on his way to trial passed by the workers, they moved out of the way whispering to each other. Kris kept his head down as the cart bumped off the stone. His chains jostled. One guard sat facing him in the cart and the other drove it. The Silver Sect road a few paces behind, having purchased a few horses for the journey. Garrok rode at the back upon his large steed, towering over the normal-sized horses the Sect borrowed for the journey. The stallion came from a long line of warhorses, traditionally used in battle and powerful over short distances. However, his horse was special, an exception as seen in the derby. He rode in silence watching the road ahead as it curved towards a small forest with mountains looming in the back.

The sun began to set when the caravan reached the edge of the forest. The forest was nothing like the vastness of the jungle, the trees were less dense and smaller. Christoph, the guard driving the cart, slowed the horses down.

"We'll camp here for the night."

He and his partner began to lay out their bedrolls and build a fire. The Sect followed suit, a handful going off to gather more wood. Garrok noticed a light flicker deeper in the forest during his scavenging. Curious, he skulked towards the light which turned out to be another campfire. His eyes, attuned to low light helped him make out two silhouettes cooking a small rodent on a spigot. Behind them was a wagon with what appeared to be a portable cell, similar to their wagon. A figure was resting against the bars. It was hard for Garrok to make out their well-being, but based on the situation they looked beaten and battered. He could make out large tears in their clothes. The prisoner's face was covered by their long unkempt hair, as they kept their head down. Garrok crept closer, managing to make out the conversation of the two around the fire.

"What do you think they'll pay us?"

The one tending the fire and the skinned rabbit responded, "I'd reckon quite a lot, she wasn't easy to obtain, or did you forget how many men we lost."

"I didn't forget, just asking."

Garrok had seen men dressed like these two before, slavers. The whip on their belts and the cage were dead giveaways. There were two types of slavers in the Empire. Legal slavers and illegal slavers, these men were clearly the latter. It made sense why they had left the main road and hid in the forest. Garrok despised both. He carefully backed away and went to inform his friends.

Garrok emerged from the forest to the others sitting around the fire eating a few rations.

"We were wondering where you got to?" Erigos eyed him inquisitively. Something had angered Garrok.

His lips curled up in a snarl. "Slavers, a few minutes that way." There was a fire in his eyes as he told his companions. Erigos got the feeling that Garrok had encountered slavers in the past. He glanced at Bob and Christoph who were chatting near the cart and their own prisoner, hoping they weren't listening.

"I'm going to kill them, if you want to join you can. Don't try to stop me." Garrok began to head back into the forest, but Rothox stopped him.

"Out of my way."

He leaned around Garrok to see if the guards were listening, they weren't. "Let's wait till nightfall, I doubt the Embers will allow us to kill anyone even if they deserve it. When they fall asleep we can slip away."

Reluctantly Garrok agreed, after all, it was the smart idea. He stayed by the fire forcing himself to stay awake while the others turned in.

"Hey, wake up," Garrok whispered into Rothox's ear.

Rothox stirred, opening his eyes to the one tusked face of Garrok. He had bags under his eyes, he clearly hadn't slept. Rothox sat up onto his elbows. He checked the others, they were fast asleep. They didn't bother asking the other two, this type of work required a certain disposition that they weren't sure Erigos and Alissa had.

"I think it's better if the two of us handle this, they aren't as..."

Rothox knew what he meant. "Of course," he said.

The two made their way through the forest. Rothox realized this was familiar, like their first meeting in Realt. Without the light of the other campfire to guide them, it took a bit longer to find the camp. When they found the spot, the two men were sleeping. Rothox slowly ventured towards the first slaver. The slaver's snoring helped mask the sound of the forest floor crunching beneath Rothox's leather boots. The moonlight glinted off his blade as he unsheathed it. Just as he went to slide his blade over the man's throat a loud crash from behind woke him.

Spinning around he saw Garrok slam his axe into the metal bars of the cage on the cart, bashing the bars in. He readied another swing. So much for being stealthy. In the distraction, the man who Rothox nearly killed was able to roll away, grab his weapon and swing it. Rothox dove out of the way as the blade narrowly missed him, nicking his cloak slightly. The man used the distance his attack created to scramble to his feet. Rothox rushed him seeping low with a kick, catching the slaver's legs causing him to fall back into the dying embers of the fire. Rothox's dagger found the downed man's chest as the other slaver notched his crossbow and fired. The bolt crossed the short distance piercing deep into Rothox's shoulder. He grunted using the pain to fuel his anger.

Garrok slammed the cage one more time. The iron cracked in and gave way. Garrok summoned the remainder of his strength to pry the bars apart. If the prisoner had been sleeping they no longer were, as Garrok dragged them out of the cage. The prisoner was a female human. Her face was badly beaten as he had seen before. One eye was swollen shut, his arms were bound behind her back and her mouth was wrapped closed with a strip of cloth. Garrok pulled the cloth off the slave's mouth.

"NO!" The crossbowman yelled seeing Garrok free the woman's mouth. It was the last thing the slaver said as Rothox threw his dagger, which caught the slaver in his head. His eyes rolled back as he died slumping to the forest floor.

The prisoner began to mumble something under her breath and the shackles fell away. She seemed to regain her strength quickly, the bruising fading. The swelling around the eye faded. Garrok stepped away from her as she came to her feet.

Garrok made eye contact. He felt something penetrate his mind, he tried to force it out but the magic was too powerful. He instantly felt a strong connection to the stranger he had just freed.

"See you soon, Garrok...," the woman said before she vanished in a swirl of smoke. The voice was familiar but he didn't recognize the prisoner.

Rothox removed his dagger from the skull of the last slaver just as the prisoner vanished.

"Where did she go?" Rothox removed the dagger from the skull, wiped it on his thigh, and turned to see Garrok standing alone.

"I'm not sure, she just disappeared." Garrok just starred forward where the prisoner had just been.

"You alright, you seem…"

"I'm fine," Garrok lied. His knowledge of magic was practically none existent but he knew he felt something odd had occurred. They tossed the slavers things and found a few items; gold and paperwork pertaining to the prisoner. The notes mentioned a random location and at the bottom, it was signed TS. Whoever TS was.

Silently they walked back to their camp.

Erigos was awake when they arrived back at their camp in the middle of the night, "You could have asked me, you know," he said upon seeing the two return.

"We just figured--" Garrok began.

"Save it, as long as you guys are good."

They nodded to him. He looked at them both, noticing Rothox clutching his shoulder.

"You sure?"

"We are fine."

"Alright. Let's get some rest. We still have a long day of travel tomorrow."

Rothox checked his shoulder, the bleeding was slowing. Erigos waited for him to sit down then leaned over and handed him a small vial of red liquid.

"Drink some of this and pour a bit on the wound. It'll help."

It did help. Rothox watched the wound magically begin to repair itself. He still lay on his other side as he fell asleep.

The next leg of their journey went by smoothly. They knew they were getting near the end of the trip when the dirt road turned back into a cobblestone path and the road reached the foot of the mountains.

Garrok and Rothox had never been to Zarcum but they knew it was located between a cluster of mountains known as the Cloud Mounts. Not overly tall but there was a natural phenomenon that collected the steam from the volcano that the city was built around, and this steam formed these ever-lasting clouds around their peaks. The yellow walls of the city were built in a semi-circle pattern similar to Mirville, however, they were much grander and more heavily guarded. The front gates were the only entrance and exit to the city. It had three separate iron gates and dozens of guards patrolled the top watching all people coming and going. Another cohort of guards checked the papers of those seeking admittance. A line of people trying to enter the city fed through a camp of people who were either denied entry or had yet to try. A standard sight outside a vast city. They joined the queue and an hour later they were finally at the front.

"Approach," An Ember clad in pristine orange armor called them forward. "Papers please."

Christoph handed him a few pieces of paper. Rothox tugged his hood tight around himself and he could feel Garrok squirm in his saddle. Four other guards went and inspected them all, one by one, as well as the cart. One stopped at Rothox.

"Hood off."

Rothox hesitated.

"Hood. Off." He said sternly, his patience waning.

Slowly Rothox removed his hood revealing his demonblood appearance. Something he hadn't done since Tilamonk's. The guard nodded an appreciation before continuing on, then stopped and spoke to Erigos. They both glanced back at Rothox. Whatever was said between them the guard seemed to accept it, as he stepped back to let them pass. Rothox left it off as they were allowed entrance to the Empire capital. The archway into the city was obnoxiously large as they passed underneath into the city of Zarcum.