Rory stopped and signaled the others to be still. That wasn't to keep them from being spotted since they had already been seen. He just didn't want them to get in the way.
The figure stood. Human. That didn't make him any less dangerous.
Her.
That gave Rory an idea of what he saw, and this could go any way at this point. He hadn't thought they were that far south and inland, but this must be at least close to the Sciwhen borderland. He couldn't be sure how the Matriarchy of Sciwhen might react to them.
The woman was tall and had the stare of someone who had faced enough trouble to not be impressed by a group of muddy, bad-tempered humans of unknown origin.
"We are just passing through," Rory offered with a smile that he hoped looked more genuine than he felt. "We do not want any trouble here."
'No doubt," she said and looked at each of them in turn. "Not our usual bandits coming out of the swamps."
"We're trying to get inland," Jamison offered. "You know Kellic is now king of Euriday, right?"
"We hoped it wasn't true," she admitted.
"No one is apparently happy about it," Rory added. "We are trying to get inland to somewhere safe, or perhaps all the way to Sunry."
She looked at him with a frown. "That's a long way."
"We are hoping for somewhere closer," Jamison said, but without mentioning his father's estate.
"And you, Admiral Zorian?" she added.
"I plan to return to my place, although perhaps not for a while," he admitted. "There are many things I want to learn. This is a crisis."
The woman still frowned. There had been no change in her attitude. Rory was aware of another person in the tree. He did not want to do anything drastic before the woman decided. She had turned from disdainful to pensive, which seemed a better reaction.
"Come with me," she said at last. "There are Euriday patrols in the area, although I don't think they are looking for anything specific. Best, I think, that they don't spot any of us. It will be a difficult hike, but you made it through the swamp."
"We've been walking a long time already," Zorian warned. "If you can lead us to somewhere we can rest --"
She gave a curt nod and signaled them to follow her. Rory sighed but said nothing more. He had no reason not to trust someone from Schiwhen, and at least she wasn't rushing off. She gave one nod to her confederate and took them through a line of brush that she carefully held apart so that they didn't leave a trail.
And she led them toward some rolling hammocks. They went up one, down it, and up another, and then she stopped and sat. It looked like a small camp where they must have stayed when not in the tree.
Everyone sat down. Rory tried to brush the mud from his boots and pants and gave up. He did pull a few thorns from his clothing, though.
"Dare I sleep for a little while?" Keltrina asked, looking at their guide. "Just for a few minutes."
"Sleep," the woman agreed and even seemed kinder for it. Maybe they needed Keltrina to talk to her and not any of the men. Rory wasn't certain. He'd never done more than bow to one or two who came to the temple.
Keltrina laid her head in her husband's lap and fell almost instantly into a deep sleep. Rory assumed that he would be awake for much longer, either. In fact, he fell asleep in the middle of Zorian explaining the situation. Under normal circumstances, he would've stayed awake and ensured everything was correctly stated. You just have to trust that they were not in trouble with yet another group of people.
He slept through the night and came awake to the smell of food the following day. Both Sciwhen women were at the camp this time, and Rory thought others might have come in during the night.
"I am Andora," the woman who had brought them to the camp said. "Since it's my turn to go scout, I'm going to take you along to help you out of the area. This will also give you an idea of how many forces are in this sector.
Everyone nodded. No one looked inclined to move yet. They had a quick breakfast, and Andora found some suitable clothing for Keltrina. They were still on their way before the sun had fully cleared the distant hills.
"I am a priest of Eket," Rory said as he moved to walk by Andora sometime late in the morning. They were in the foothills and following a deer path. "I suspect no one mentioned it."
"That was your story to tell," Jami replied.
"Eket. And you know magic," Andora replied as she looked him over. "That better explains how you got clear of trouble."
"I was able to help, and I didn't want to surprise you with it at the wrong time.
"Wise. That might be a situation we wouldn't want to tempt," Andora replied with a brighter smile than he had expected.
"I've heard that there is little magic in Sciwhen," Rory replied.
"Very little and not often trusted. Lucky for you that I'm from Avanti."
Then she stopped, but he had as well. They both dropped to their heels, and the others went silent.
"Three people," Andora said with a wave of her hand at the ground. "Scouts from the looks of it. There is likely a larger group not far away. Back up, and I'll erase our prints."
No one argued. They'd passed a stand of brush no more than a quarter-mile back.
Rory could already hear the tramping of boots.
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