49 A Missed Rendez-Vous (2/2)

Everyone began to carefully examine the drawing and even pondered about the weird lines near the body of the creature. But the creature had only one distinct feature, his four arms and the silhouette was not precise. Meaning that either the elementals only heard about it and tried to draw it from that description or they never saw the creature clearly. As for why it was huge, they drew a small human near it, and it only reached the thigh of the monster.

Instead of carefully walking and making sure they didn't intrude in the territory of some predators, they threw away any precautions and rushed toward the trolls at full speed. Instead of three days, they only took two before seeing the wooden walls and the leather huts. But those two days were not without more strange situations.

Everything they thought they knew about this place was destroyed mercilessly by what they saw. Right before sleeping the day before, they saw a drake flying above them and going toward the North. Those cousins of the dragon were extremely territorial and never left their nest without a good reason. But this specimen was flying as quick as it could, and from their sides, it didn't look like he was regretting his choice. That only proved to the humans that the threat of the four arms monster was high enough to make a drake flee in panic.

Following this sight, all types of creatures were going toward the North, even if it meant more risk. Unlike the totally lawless areas of the South, near the fallen Kingdom of Pankow, the North was more subject to the invasion of humans. Because of this, the rule of the strongest was applied more viciously, because two threats awaited the runaways. Other monsters and greedy humans. It was because of this that the elementals still preferred to stay here and didn't try their luck in the northern mountains.

Thanks to those incredible situations, the humans never had to battle once but they were all totally exhausted mentally. Their nerves were on the verge of a breakdown, seeing more and more terrifying monsters than everything they battled passing a meter away from them. And the moment they reached the trolls, everyone collapsed and breathed normally again. A huge weight was lifted from their chest, because they could easily see some smokes inside the village, meaning that trolls were present. They didn't flee like everything else and will probably be able to explain the unusual behavior of the monsters.

”Uhanz, UHANZ!” The sentries shouted the word for humans but instead of comforting the tired group, it made them shiver. The tone employed by those guards was not of joy or surprise, like usual, but of worry and even terror.Instead of walking with big smiles on their head, they were tightly gripping their spears, pointing them on the group of humans. The leader had expected some worry and even some tension, but they were treated like a threat. His organization had centuries of dealings with trolls and other races, but it didn't look that way anymore.

Advancing toward the guards, he tried to ask what was wrong. He was one of the few interpreters capable of talking with relative ease with trolls and in no time, he received an answer that froze his blood. The huge monster that elementals drew left a day ago from the village, but he did say what he was looking for. A group of ten humans with one having long ears. The trolls didn't say that they were expecting that group to arrive, but that was the extent of their help. They didn't want to incur the fury of that monster and pressed the group of humans to immediately go back.

This time, no one knew what was the reason behind the actions of that huge creature. But they only knew that whatever will happen after they will be caught will not be pretty at all. Trying one last time to conduct the usual business, they only met a closed gate. The faces of everyone was as pale as the snow nearby, and since it was a failure, everyone wished to escape as quickly as possible.

”We need to go back in Archet as quickly as possible. Damn it, how did that monster hear of us? It is still weird, no matter how I look at the situation. But since the trolls don't want our stuff, we have no use of them. Drop everything, only keep what is needed for 5 days in those mountains.”

”But, boss. We usually take 8 days to arrive here and two additional to reach Archet?” The half-elf still voiced his worries. If they ran out of food, they wouldn't be able to survive around here. But the leader was adamant in his decision.

”I know, but unless you plan to end up in the grip of that thing, drop everything. That way, the trolls will still be able to get everything they asked, even if they let us down. They didn't totally betray us, that is still good. Imagine if the monster was rig…”

The human never managed to finish his sentence, because what he caught in the corner of his eyes was the very thing that he dreaded. At the same time, he finally understood what were the lines surrounding it.He couldn't help but curse the fact that those elementals were so bad at drawing something.