Shadows Rising

[Bare Minimum]

It is a mess all right.

Seichiro was led through the last picket of soldiers and into the carnage. The sun was high and casting no shadows, so the heat was making good measure of the corpses. The smell of decay lingered in the air, its virulent spikes charging into nostrils with ease. Whenever the wind picked up, soldiers surrounding the scene did their best to cover their faces in a futile attempt to reduce the onslaught on their senses.

Commander Wallabis stopped a few paces away from the carriage. He took a long glance on the scene and sighted heavily. He took his gloves off and tossed them to his adjutant who was standing close by.

"This is it, Master Seichiro. Please carry on, if you will".

His politeness veiled hints of command. The Ranger knew that he was taking Seichiro's position into consideration, and was trying his best to show proper decorum. But his voice carried an air of urgency, a need for action. He had personally carried the request for aid to the Rangers, and had urged and pleaded for one or more to be dispatched as quickly as possible. Seichiro happened to be just returning from patrolling, and as it turned out was the only one available to quickly answer the call. Doubts clouded Wallabis' eyes when they met however. He most likely wanted or expected for an experienced Ranger, perhaps someone he knew or could trust. But his doubts quickly vanished. It was either Seichiro or to wait for someone else. Time, it appears, was of the essence.

"Commander, please have the soldiers clear the area. Give me some space to investigate".

He nodded once, then relayed the proper orders to Captain Argos who was standing close by in attendance. The Captain saluted and began barking orders and curses in quick succession. Soon the soldiers stopped what they were doing and stepped away creating a perimeter of several paces around the carriage.

The Ranger gave him his thanks and approached the scene. He put the Thayne charm that hung from his neck onto his mouth and pressed it hard with his lips as he unveiled his hood and examined what laid ahead of him. Soldiers whispered and muttered as he walked past. They uttered curses, some going as far as spitting on the ground. Seichiro did not blame them. Even though some time has passed since the civil strife ended, passions and feelings still run high. Far too many lost loved ones and friends during the conflict that ensued across Corone. Such losses are difficult, if not impossible to mend.

They were the minority, fortunately. Most watched him with awe in their eyes. They whispered amongst each other in hush voices. Although from the Yarborough Barony, many have been born close enough to Concordia Forest to have grown listening to the epic tales of the Guardians of the Realm, the Protectors of the Wild, the Scorchers of Shadows. Seichiro could feel their gazes on him, keeping track of every movement, wondering what he was apt to.

Seichiro pressed hiss palm against the back of the carriage. The wood did not bulge. Firm, properly built, no sings of weathering. Someone took care to oil the planks against rain, and guessing by how thick the planks looked he deducted that the frame was quite solid. He wondered, then, what could possible have happened for the axle to break. The carriage was leaning perilously to one side, the left-rear wheel nowhere to be seen.

Seichiro used his finger to trace a line as he walked to the right side of the carriage. No soft spots, no bumps. Nothing to make you believe it was not being properly kept. Curious.

He stopped and looked down at the gap under the carriage. He knelt beside the right wheel and peeked under. It was dark, so he waited a few heartbeats for his eyes to adjust. Soon he saw the edge of the carriage leaning on the floor up ahead, and how it slowly raised as it met with the left wheel steel standing on the front. He looked carefully to where the wheel should be and something caught his attention.

The Ranger frowned. Still kneeling, he looked around and saw that the forest surrounding the road was properly trimmed. Trees too close to the road had been cut, as evidenced by the stumps that littered the sides here and there. The road itself looked relatively well-kept, all things considered. A dirt road is ever flat by no means, and travelers should expect the occasional bump, especially on rainy season. But it was obvious that someone was taking care to keep the road in as good a shape as possible. Hence, he wondered why a tree root was sprawling from under the carriage.

Seichiro ducked even further and crawled under the carriage. He heard the faint voice from Captain Argos, but his warnings had been cut short in mid-sentence. Most likely Commander Wallabis wanted Seichiro to carry his investigation without unnecessary interruptions.

Seichiro crawled until he reached the root and touched it with his hand. It felt solid, unmoving, set on the ground. He tried tugging it one way and another, but it did not budge. He then took his right glove off and scratched the root with his index nail. The surface felt hard and somewhat wet. He sniffed his finger and caught the scent of oak. Puzzled, Seichiro crawled out and looked around again.

There were no oak trees to be seen. A beech, a couple of willows, some sycamores. He ventured to look on the other side just to be sure. No oaks. Curious. He try closing his eyes and picture a carriage rolling down a dusty road on an early morning. Suddenly, a roar shook it. A wheel snapped and rolled to one side while the carriage went inevitably down.

The Commandeer and Captain followed him close by, although they did try to give him as much space as they deemed reasonable. The former looked at him with intense eyes, a gaze that urged for quickness, for an answer. The latter simply felt puzzled, as if being swayed by currents that were beyond his control. Seichiro tried his best to keep both of them out of his thoughts and try to focus again.

His attention turned to the corpses that littered the ground. All humans, by the look of it. And properly armed at that. Too well armed, in fact. Their armors shone under the bright sun. Proper metal, mind you. Not the kind of scrap you can find in smiths of dubious quality. Their weapons were top notch too, not the shambles of improvised arsenal a local militia tended to afford. A fortune all in all, a fortune that the bandits did not bother to collect.

Unfortunately the soldiers had moved most of the bodies and placed them out from the road. It looked that someone had ordered them to stop mid-way, for there were still a few awfully sprawled corpses here and there. Seichiro guessed that his request to leave the scene intact had not reached in time.

Indeed. Seichiro looked down and grimaced. Footprints everywhere. They loitered the area around the carriage. The damage done was way past Seichiro's ability to mend, and whatever evidence that could had been extracted from it was lost. The horses' carcasses, however, could shade some light into the mystery.

Seven on this side. There were more on the other. The corpses were sprawled in awful positions untouched since the moment they perished. He approached the closest one and immediately felt his heart sink. It had been a fine animal. Properly kept and trimmed, with defined muscles and cut hooves. Rigor mortis is barely beginning to set in judging by the size of the male shaft from this one.

There were signs that the animal had trashed before it perished, and that saddened Seichiro. Three arrow shafts poked out from the animal's fur, none lethal. There was also a javelin tugged on one side. It had not plunged too deep to immediately kill, but it must had surely paralyzed the animal with pain. It must have bled to death in agony. Seichiro gently closed the animal's eyes.

The Ranger closed his eyes again. He pictured the riders' alarm as the carriage stopped. They closed in by instinct either to see what had happened or to create a shield. But that's when the arrows ran down on them. They all showed signs of being shot down one way or another. It is not like they wanted to get rid of the riders. More likely, they wanted to prevent them from running away.

"Those shafts..."

Seichiro opened his eyes and saw Commander Wallabis looking directly at him. He took another look at the shape of the shafts. Sturdily made, properly trimmed, with feathers tugged for stabilization. There was no doubt in his mind. Nor in the Commander's mind, for that matter, but it seemed that he still needed confirmation.

Seichiro nodded. "Elven made."

Wallabis grimaced. Captain Argos uttered a hush curse, but was quickly put in check by his superior's intent gaze. Seichiro frowned but said nothing. They were correct in that those were Elven arrows, but things simply did not make sense. Elves seek balance in nature and care deeply both for beasts and plants. Well, it is not like they will refrain from killing horses if they need to. But that was precisely the issue. They didn't have to. They are expert marksmen and could had perfectly hit the riders without harming the beasts. Seichiro was sure that if given the option Elves would opt for the latter.

The Ranger walked back to the carriage. The right-rear wheel was still standing, barely. The axle looked in good enough shape, but Seichiro saw signs of stress across the beam. It was becoming hard for the wood to hold the weight on its own. Nevertheless, the fact that it had done so in the first place was in itself astonishing. And therein laid a fundamental problem.

A properly kept carriage with no signs of weathering. Good wood. Thick too. Fifteen or more riders. Good beasts at that, not farm raised. Armored riders, too well armored. Excellent weapons. This is no merchant cargo. The question is, then, why did they tell me that?

Seichiro slowly turned and focused his gaze on both soldiers trailing him. Commander Wallabis did not flinch at all and returned him a stern look, but Captain Argos quickly broke gaze and looked somewhere else.

Ah, I see.

They were lying to him. They came all the way to Concordia asking for help and yet opted to reserve part of the information. Everyone has their one secrets, and some secrets are better kept like that, secrets. But Seichiro saw himself on a strange spot. Could he trust them? He supposed he could not, and that meant that he should cancel the quest and go back. But, could he? He looked around and saw the lines of soldiers looking back at him. Aye, a bird lured into a cage.

Resigned, he resumed his investigation. The right side of the carriage had a door. It had been tore open, the hinges sprawling outward in weird shapes. There was also a window, but it had iron bars guarding it. Seichiro wondered why a carriage would need iron bars and reached two conclusions: either to keep people from coming in, or to keep people from getting out.

He tried to stepped inside but froze. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at the carnage inside. Four more solders laid sprawled inside, viscera spouting out from sickly gashes. Theirs had not been a quick death, but rather a last stand. The interior showed signs of an intense and desperate fight. Judging by how marred they were, Seichiro guessed that they kept fighting until their last breath. But, why? What was so dear? What where they guarding?

The Ranger concluded that he was fed with their little game and decided to question them directly.