Slipping Out Into The Night

Voah prepared herself for battle, collecting all the things she would need for someone of her station as an Arbiter and leader. She resupplied her rations, incense, holy oil, and sacred salts.

She stood beside Litany and watched Kupen’s golden orb shatter through the clouds creating a pink and purple painting on the western sky as Cambena battered the standards posted along the camp. Then she retired to her tent until after dark.

Voah did not rest that night, instead, she adorned herself in thin black and gold garments of the Silent Flock along with a Mizaran helm and took her horse as quietly as possible out into the night. She rode in haste toward the destination of a tribe known as the Red Hand, which was given to her by the Purger. If the man had already guessed that she would slip out into the night to warn them, her attempt would be short lived and she would soon meet her fate.

She had given him a truthful response, but like every other admission Voah gave the Purger, it was only part of the truth. They no longer believed in the same Pillars and her heart was also elsewhere on the plains.

She wouldn’t allow the innocent people of the tribe to be slaughtered just for being in the middle of a war they didn’t ask for. Mothers… and children like Kiora and Gyen didn’t deserve Vastad’s justice. They had never even heard of Vastad. The bonecasters… as much as she despised magik… didn’t yet deserve the wrath of the Pillars before even knowing them. She didn’t wish to be an ill omen, some warning of evil for the destruction of a culture. She didn’t want to perpetuate hate and death as Gonyaul had said. They might refuse to heed her warning, but she had to try.

“I’m so sorry…” she said aloud to everyone and no one in particular as she rode out into the plains. She was sorry. Sorry to the tribe, to the Inquisition, to herself and the friends that she made promises to and left behind.

She thought how she should have just gone with Gonyaul, wherever that took her. When she was finished with the Odsier she meant to go back and look for him. If she failed to find him, then she would head back to Aquilo, then who knows where… as far as she could get from the Inquisition. She would become one of the hunted now and would not fight them unless she had no choice. As much as she didn’t want to see innocent natives killed, she very much didn’t want to spill the blood of her own people, including the Purger. These people were doing what they believed was right, just as she had, but somehow they had all gone astray.

She made haste looking for signs of group travel, herds, and hopefully the nomadic encampment of the tribe.