2.1 - Lost, and Found

The journey started off easy enough, the road near the village was broad and dry and we made good time for the first leg. It fell off quickly after that. As we put miles behind us the road got worse. At first just a bit rougher, a bit wetter, but eventually it became a slog. Every step the mud sucked at our boots, and in places the road was almost completely hidden by swamp grass. Time and time again we followed what we thought was the road only to end up walking into the swamp. Eventually we set had to down our packs and make camp, worn out from the tough trek through the partially flooded landscape. A damp and cold night, we did not wake up much more refreshed than we went to bed.

The next day started in the much the same way as the last ended, until the Commander remembered that, many ages ago, there were stone markers along the Mire Road. He suggested we look for some to try and find our way back onto the main way. Unfortunately the markers proved elusive, and worse yet we completely lost our way trying to find them. Exhausted and frustrated, we finally found a dry patch of land next to a clear river and I called a halt for the day.

It was early still, but our spirits were low and we were in a bad way. I hoped to bolster the mood some through a full belly, so used extra supply to prepare a grand feast. Well, as grand as possible when you're lost in a swamp I suppose.

As evening set in around the camp Sera was the first to notice. Not anything overt, just a feeling. When the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and skin on your arms tightens, the feeling of being watched. Anticipating, maybe even eager for a battle I drew the blood runes, marking my face and my axe. With the ritual complete the mysticism took hold, linking my body and blade.

In the fading light I could just make them out, darker patches among the reeds and grass. Not moving directly toward us, but slowly encroaching. Wolves.

Just three of them, too small to be a pack, and wolves would rarely risk taking on a group of men, they must have been starving and desperate. I moved toward open ground and banged my axe against my shield. I wanted to push them against the river, if they attacked I wanted to know where they were coming from. It took time, until the sun went down and darkness had fully set in but my strategy worked, at the edges of the firelight we saw the glints in their eyes as they approached alongside the river, two in front and the third, a larger one, a few paces behind.