Riders

JP with Bandorchu, Cindy, Lorem, Winteroak

The next few days go by without much of note happening. At night you all can sense that the Luger is stalking your camp and been following you. Once you a while you see herds of wild horses and caribou heading north. Sometimes you stumble upon long patches of land that almost look like dirty roads. Some of you even voice that this might be some form of abandoned pathways from some ancient civilization. Nicolaus and Blackwolf however explain that these trails are natural. Occuring from thousands of years of animal migration cycles. The roads of the wilds. One the morning of the 4th day while Islana is out scouting ahead trying to get some breakfast she spots a column of dust rising from the south, approaching your party fast. In the distance she can make the shape of riders and although most nomads tend to be peaceful hunters, others survive by preying upon travelers. In either case, she knows most natives are suspicious of outsiders. Before making her way back to the group she makes out around 12 riders.

Pink, purple and blue started to arrive in the sky as morning began. Islana had seen her share of sunrises but the ones on the plains seemed special, somehow.

Maybe, it was that the colors seemed to stretch out forever or that it was shared with River. It was very possible much of it had to do with the idea that the group had made it through an evening with no incident.

Ever since the first night, the group had been stalked by the Luger. It was easy to sense the danger. The young woman had spent her watches attempting to keep the creature calm and from attacking anyone by using her ability, but between needing to stay on guard and needing to be certain no one, except Alexis, saw what she was trying to do, the concentration devoted to that task could only be minimal. There was no telling if Islana's ability would even work on the Luger. Still, the creature had stalked but not attacked again, and least not yet.

Daylight hours had lead to the majestic sites of herds of wild horses and caribou headed north. The young woman would have spent hours just watching them but knew that wasn't possible, so, instead let her eyes take in the sights as her mind engraved the images into it.

This particular morning, the young hunteress was having a problem finding small game to hunt for breakfast. Riding a little further, she managed to get a few bunnies and had just gotten back on River. When green eyes took in the sight of dust rising and her ears caught the sound of hoofs. The shapes of several riders came into view. It took her only another moment to get a better picture of how many.

"Go fast River." The heels of her boots tapped the sides of the stallion.

River took off, headed back to camp. Anyone looking could easily see Islana was arriving at a much quicker speed than usual.

River came to a stop, not far from the group, even before Islana was off the horse she spoke with urgency.

"Riders, at least 12 of them. Maybe about 15 or 20 minutes away from us.".

It had been several days now being on Alexis’ no activities list. Due to his injury, Gonyaul was confined to being in the wagon; much to Amu’s delight. His responsibilities in regards to setting up, and taking down camp, were reduced to smaller less laborious tasks. By doctor’s orders, he was to be taking it easy and resting.

Gonyaul greatly appreciated how everyone was taking on the extra burdens to enable him to follow the doctor’s orders. He wished he could be of more use. He was also very grateful to be in the care of probably the best physician on the continent with Nicolaus. The wound was healing nicely and when completely healed would leave a very clean, precise, and iconic Luger claw mark scar across his upper back. In the meantime, the bandages were typically being changed a few times a day because the traveling did cause bleeding every once and a while.

He also had to try and remain out of the sun as much as possible since he wasn’t allowed to wear a shirt at the moment. The rest of the party had made comments about his marking covering his entire body, having seen them for the very first time since knowing him. He responded with explaining what they were, how he got them and their purpose. No one yet had gotten into a deeper conversation with him on the matter, save Islana who already knew about them in more detail.

Gonyaul perked up as he saw Islana near. He waved to her. He then realized by her tone and body language that something was either wrong or urgent, or both. And then he heard her words. They were about to have company. He hoped this would be a pleasant visit and they would have the opportunity to be hospitable.

Alexis took in the news with a grim expression.

“Well, we can hardly outrun them. So we better get prepared and hope we can settle this peacefully. Boyce, here’s your chance to test that language skills of yours. Still, pack up as far as possible and be ready for trouble.”