The river's water was as clear as the sky, allowing one to see the countless smooth stones making up the river bed. The river was fattened and rather violent this time of year, as the melted snow from the north flowed down into the valleys and rolling hills of the western wilderness. Telamon and Herodotos were walking along the edge of the river, ensuring that their steps landed upon the grey rocks at the river's shore, avoiding leaving footsteps on the soft forest floor. It had just rained the previous night, leaving the forest filled with the smell of damp earth and rejuvenated moss. Herodotos led the way, picking his way between the uneven shore, avoiding the jutting edges of any stones, which hadn't been tamed by the river's currents yet.
Suddenly, Herodotos stomped down with his right foot, creating several cracks in an unfortunate head-sized stone. After a brief pause, Herodotos suddenly crouched down and grasped his foot while squirming in pain. Telamon walked up to him and shook his head while sighing. "You shouldn't practice on something as hard as rocks yet. Besides, it's best not to use your powers too much now. You never know how close that guy from the capital could be." Herodotos looked up at him with a pained expression, still cradling his foot in his lap. "Got it, got it, no need to lecture me." Telamon shook his head again while recalling the events leading to their current circumstance.
After leaving Synoro, the western city, they traveled west for a night and a day. After taking some distance, they thought that there weren't any pursuers, but that night, they saw many smoke trails in the distance following their path, so they decided to continue traveling west until they lost them. They continued traveling for another two days, yet still the smoke behind them didn't seem to gain any distance, if anything it got closer. Today was the fourth day since their departure from Synoro, and they had come across a river cutting through the forest they were in. After a short discussion, they decided to follow the river south, to make it harder for others to pursue their trail. That explained how they got there, but it didn't explain Herodotos' truly bizarre behavior.
To answer that, one would need to go back to the first day after their close call with Aster. After the brothers had calmed down and had gained some distance from the city, Telamon remembered to inspect the stone tablet given to them by Lexia. Contrary to his expectations, it wasn't the tablet that they had given the city lord Zander, but instead, it was an entirely separate tablet, the contents of which had shocked the brothers. It turned out, that recorded within the tablet were instructions written by Mundus himself, on how to practice the body-strengthening technique that he had developed. The technique boiled down to infusing the limbs and body with Minsol's power and directing it outwards whenever one would strike with a limb or get struck within the body.
The force would then either absorb an enemy blow or enhance one's own attack. Every descendent of Minsol used this technique subconsciously at least somewhat, yet it was undoubtedly Mundus, who was the most adept at using it. The tablet contained instructions written by Mundus addressed at Zander, on how to improve the basic body strengthening technique, written just before the battle of the southern plains north of Victoria, the southern city. After reading the tablet, Herodotos had deepened his understanding of the technique and was eager to try it out. However, something as complicated as that could never be learned quickly, leading to the previous scene, in which Herodotos impatiently attempted to use Mundus' teachings.
"Come on, get up and let's get moving. We can't afford to waste time." Saying so, Telamon overtook his brother and continued walking along the meandering river. Herodotos sprang to his feet and was quick to follow him. The two brothers continued in silence, the sounds of birdsong, the rustling of leaves in the wind, and the splashing of the river being the only sound that accompanied them. Up ahead, a tree had toppled over, creating a natural bridge over the river. As the brothers approached this tree trunk, Herodotos spoke up. "This is perfect. We can cross the river here." Telamon nodded his head and felt a slight glimmer of satisfaction at seeing his brother learn and improve. "Yeah, it'll be harder for pursuers from further downstream to track us, if we walk on the other side. Good thinking." Saying so, he stopped before the tree and tested it with one foot.
It was a bit thin, but it should hold their weight, as long as only one person went at a time. Just as Telamon was lost in thought, his brother's voice once more came from behind him. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that we should go away from the river, deeper into the forest." Telamon stepped onto the makeshift bridge, balancing with his two arms. "We need to follow the river, it goes further south." Most of the surface of the log was covered in branches, many of which went far away from the main trunk, making navigating the improvised bridge quite challenging.
While Telamon was searching for another open space to place his foot, his brother's voice reached him from across the shore. "Yeah, but we need to continue west. The pursuers are still behind us." Telamon jumped off the log and signaled Herodotos to cross. His brother tentatively placed a foot onto the tree and after testing it, was assured that it was still stable. While keeping a lookout, Telamon responded to his brother's previous argument. "Now that we followed the river, they should have lost our trail. They should no longer know where we are, so they might think that we are still heading west. Now's the perfect opportunity to slip away and go rescue father."
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Herodotos was now halfway across the tree, the water rushing by beneath the branches. Telamon could see how Herodotos' forehead creased into wrinkles, as he weaved between the fallen tree's dead branches. The brown fingers reached upwards as if to grasp his face. "Even so, we need to head further west." Now it was Telamon's turn, to furrow his eyebrows. "Why? Didn't we agree to go save father? We don't know how much time he has, so we need to get there as soon as possible." Herodotos jumped down from the trunk, now safely on the other side. "Of course, we need to save father, but... but didn't that girl, Lexia, tell us to wait out in the western wilderness?"
Telamon scrunched his face in utter disbelief. "Are we really going to do what that stranger told us to do, instead of going and saving our father? Why are you acting like this, shouldn't you be the first one who would want to come to father's rescue?" Herodotos showed a conflicted expression, anxiety visible on his face. "Yes, yes of course I want to save father, but we need to head west first." Frustration gripped Telamon's heart as he struggled to understand Herodotos' reasoning. "If we agree on that then why are we still here discussing this, wasting precious time, instead of following the river, so we may rescue father sooner?"
Herodotos balled his fists, doubt marring his facial expressions, and yet he still said "We have to go west. We just have to." The anxiety, fear, stress, and worry of the last weeks came crashing down upon Telamon and mixed with the frustration he felt towards his brother's incomprehensible actions. The frustration within his heart condensed into a bitter rage, and it was as if a hazy cloud fell over his mind. Without thinking he gripped his brother's shoulders and shook him violently. "What do you mean 'we have to go-" Before he could even finish his sentence, he felt a strong pull on him, lifting him backward into the air, accompanied by a great building of pressure. Before the grip could solidify, Telamon's expression turned grim, and acting on instinct, he grabbed his enemy's shoulder harder, while pulling out his- Herodotos' expression was one of pure fear, his eyes ripped wide open with dilated pupils.
Telamon no longer felt a pull coming from behind. He noticed his brother's fearful expression wasn't directed at him, but at something in his hand. He followed his gaze and saw, gripped firmly within his palm, an obsidian knife. The knife that he used to- The knife fell to the floor, clinking as it collided with the stones of the river shore. Telamon stumbled two steps back, suddenly feeling drained of all his energy, his face ashen pale and his whole body trembling in cold sweat. Herodotos stayed where he was, his gaze fixed upon the blade. Telamon let out a weary sigh. "Fine, we'll go west." Saying so, he stooped down and picked up the knife. While holding it, he contemplated throwing it into the river but decided to place it back at his hip. Chances were, he would need it within the not-too-distant future. His limbs slowly stopped shaking, yet his hair was still stuck to his forehead, sweat acting as an adhesive. Herodotos lightly nodded his head, still in a fearful daze, and followed his brother as he lead the two of them deeper into the forest, away from the sounds of splashing water.
"What do you mean we've lost their tracks?" Hearing His Highness Aster's raised voice made the hunter cower before the much younger man even lower than he already was. The hunter pointed behind him at the river that cut through the forest. "The tracks lead to the river's edge. The river has concealed all other tracks, making it impossible to determine where they went." Lexia, who was beside Aster secretly celebrated the brother's ingenuity but made sure to keep a grave appearance. Aster groaned while holding his head in his palm. "Incompetent, the lot of you. I knew there was no relying on the vassals of the Zander family." The hunter shivered and dared not look up, lest he meet the fury of the child before him.
Lexia let out a cough, getting the attention of Aster. "We have already checked the far side, and the tracks there only lead a hundred paces or so. Afterward, they doubled back to the river, meaning they didn't continue further west. That means that they either followed it up or downstream." Aster placed his hand upon his smooth chin, the skin lacking the thicker hair a fully matured adult would have. "Your words make sense. It seems that you may redeem yourself yet." Lexia made a thin-lipped frown but didn't say anything rash. Due to Aster coming over so unexpectedly, the Zander household had to take the blame for the two brothers escaping.
Turns out Aster had brought portraits of the brothers, allowing them to figure out that the merchants were the escaped brothers. Lexia explained her appearance at the brothers' inn as her feeling something was off about the two of them and her investigating the two. The burst of power that was felt by Aster was explained away as her losing her temper momentarily when she noticed that they had already left. While it wasn't a perfect explanation, it was good enough, to cover her tracks for the time being. As a consequence, she had lost a lot of credibility in Aster's eyes, as he now saw her as an impulsive woman who couldn't get ahold of her emotions.
Lexia spoke once more. "Considering they don't know that their father has been captured, they would most likely head north, to escape further from Victoria. Even so, there is a possibility that they went south, so we should split up just in case. I suggest you take half the hunters and follow the river upstream, while I take the other half and head downstream. What do you think?" Aster mulled over her words for a moment, finally nodding after a few tense moments. "Very well, we'll do as you suggested." Just as Aster spoke those words, both Lexia and Aster felt a burst of power come from downstream. It was faint and very far away, yet it was unmistakable. The two descendents of Minsol exchanged a glance before Aster spoke up. "It seems I have spoken too soon. You haven't redeemed yourself at all." Saying so, he commanded the hunters and guards to follow the river downstream, leaving Lexia clenching her fists.
