Chapter 321 Into The Imperium (2/2)

And indeed, the uessed — only gave Arran a brief look before turning his attention to the rest of the group

”Everyone!” he said in a loud but calm voice ”I welcoroup of borderlanders breathed a collective sigh of relief at his words, their worries fading as they understood they would not be treated as enemies Whatever else lay ahead, at least the worst of their fears had not come to pass

The Hunter waited for the murmurs to die down, then continued, ”We will accompany you for the next half day, to ensure your safety Understand that while you have been welcomed, you are not yet citizens of the Iroup, the punishment is death”

This time, his words caused a morewas unnecessary With a dozen Hunters guarding them, none of the borderlanders would even dare to think of fleeing

But then, this was far froroup to enter the Imperium And perhaps some of the previous outsiders had been more foolish

Or, Arran suddenly realized, soes, confident in their ability to slip away undetected If that was the case, it would also explain the Hunters' care in following the group over the previous days

But either way, Arran had no intention of trying to escape His best chance to infiltrate the Imperium was to blend in with the borderlanders And should that fail, he had the Knight's ring to protect him

”All of you, follow us,” another of the Hunters called out, a woman this time And as she spoke, the other Hunters turned around and set off along the road, with Arran and the borderlanders quickly following behind them

Several hours passedanother word to the borderlanders, and the borderlanders the, the farmer whose son Arran had saved walked up beside him, then said in a low voice, ”Not a talkative lot, are they?”

It appeared that several hours in the Hunters' presence had been enough for his fears to erode soht that had he known the Hunters could easily hear hiht have chosen his words uards,” Arran replied ”Can't expect those to be too friendly It'll be different e reach whatever place they're taking us too”

”I suppose,” the farh he didn't sound entirely convinced ”It'd be nice to learn a bit h Especially after we've coh”

The voice came from one of the Hunters a few dozen paces in front of them, and the farize,” he said hurriedly ”I didn't think…” He stopped talkingbehind the Hunters' backs wasn't the best of ideas

The Hunter, however, seemed neither amused nor offended Instead, he said in a calm voice, ”Matters will be explained to you e reach our destination For now, you would do well to be patient”

The far to speak And as the Hunter turned back toward the road ahead, the far back several dozens of paces, disappearing into the crowd as best he could

More hours passed as they traveled along the road, with the Hunters barely saying a word and the borderlanders speaking only in whispers

Slowly, however, the landscape around thees, the trees grew less dense and eventually disappeared entirely, with open grasslands taking their place

Then, close toin the distance — a vast fortress, tall and thick-walled And even from half a mile away, he could see that it had been built to withstand more than just commoners — the walls were far too massive for that

He did not need to look at the road ahead to know that the fortress here the Hunters were taking them