Zelos felt eager to keep the iron balls ready to be thrown, but he imagined that the board mentioned that kind of weapon. In any case, the group reached that area and then they raised their guard. Since he couldn’t see the abyss anymore, Irlan looked pretty refreshed.

  “Finally, some peace… humans weren’t made to exist in mountains.”

  “Perhaps you can convince the natives to leave the mountains to save you from the hassle the next time.”

  “You sure are annoying sometimes, Zelos.”

  “Opinions may vary from person to person.”

  It was pretty hard to see the sides of the path thanks to the dense vegetation. At the same time, there wasn’t a single piece of grass on their path. While looking around, Zelos was able to see some yellow fruits on the trees, so his stomach began to grunt. Heirina looked at him, completely astonished since they had lunch two hours ago. In the end, Zelos decided to leave it alone.

  After some twists and turns, the group reached the valley between the mountains one hour before sunset. That seemed like the best place for them to camp… still, it was a bit troublesome since the place was completely silent. Edea looked through the window and then raised her eyebrows. It was pretty dark already.

  “It doesn’t feel like it is a good idea to stay here… not like I can imagine a better place to camp.”

  “We will camp here… it is annoying that this kind of area isn’t mapped, but I guess it can’t be helped. I heard that the people who tried to do that disappeared when they were here.”

  Heirina looked at Zelos, wondering how he would react to that, but as usual, he didn’t show a hint of emotion on his face. In the end, he just began to look after the horses, but at some point, he stopped and then raised his head. He felt like he had heard something for a moment, but he couldn’t tell what it was. Irlan noticed Zelos’s behavior.

  “What is wrong?”

  “Nothing… I just thought that I heard something, not something human, though.”

  When the area became completely dark, the group had already finished their tasks and was resting. The air was cold, but they still didn’t light a fire, since they needed to risk burning the area somehow. They also didn’t need to alert anyone. While the mountains belonged to them, who knew what would be there and escape their gaze? Kaitrine was the one who broke the silence for several hours.

  “This place is very eerie… it gets on my nerves.”

  “It is a lot better than having to watch a massive abyss on both sides.”

  “How can you be a warrior and have a fear of heights as well?”

  “You two… stay quiet and rest.”

  After Heirina sighed, Irlan and Kaitrine went silent. Truth be told, they weren’t that tired since they didn’t do much during the day, so it couldn’t be helped that things would be like that, and they had some energy to spare. Everyone was inside the wagon trying to sleep on their improvised beds, but it was kind of hard, thanks to the situation, the darkness, and the fact that they were sleeping together without the division of boys and girls.

  Although Heirina said that, she would occasionally take glances at Zelos, who was resting with his head on his right knee while sitting on the ground. For some reason, she felt more uncomfortable with Zelos there than with Irlan.

  “What is it?”

  “... Are you talking to me?”

  “You are the only one who moves your head and makes so much noise, like the wagon when the floor is cracking.”

  “It isn’t that noisy… Anyway, you heard something earlier, didn’t you? Did you hear anything afterward or now?”

  “No, I didn’t… the wind hasn’t blown since then. I tried to put my ears on the ground after that, but I didn’t sense anything.”

  “So, you think that we are safe?”

  “No way. Someone is clearly watching us and they have some useful traits that can even control the wind. At the same time, there are enough trees around for them to stand on and not make any vibration on the ground.”

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  That was a troubling thought… and since no one was able to fall asleep, they couldn’t help but lose even more of the sleep. They all had noticed that the wind wasn’t blowing, but they found it hard to believe that the natives could do that… as for Zelos, he could easily assume that since he didn’t know many traits in the first place, so everything in his mind was possible. In any case, he got up all of a sudden.

  “... I am going to water the plants a bit.”

  “We would be fine, not knowing why you were leaving.”

  Heirina expected to hear something sarcastic in response, but Zelos just stayed silent and then stopped on the other side of the carriage standing. When Heirina was about to ask if he was planning to finish his business there, she saw him raising his arms.

  “Move slowly, everyone, and don’t panic.”

  After hearing Heirina’s words, they soon got up and then realized that the wagon was completely surrounded. A bunch of humanoid shadows had approached them without even alerting the horses who were still sleeping.

  “Let me handle this… I have a message for your leader from the emperor. We mean no harm.”

  Heirina approached Zelos and then showed them the scroll, but the natives didn’t react to it at all. It didn’t look like they’re interested in a piece of paper… Thanks to the darkness of the night and surroundings, Zelos couldn’t see those guys well, but they all looked buff and they had all kinds of weapons with them as well and ready to use. Hammers, swords, spears, bows…

  “Drop your weapons and move your hands behind your back.”

  Everyone was a bit surprised when they heard such clear words… they all had imagined that the natives didn’t speak the common tongue. In any case, everyone followed the orders and soon the natives approached and tied up their hands. After that, they moved the horses to the other side of the road and then kicked the carriage to the other side… Now they had a problem. All of their food was there, and Zelos didn’t like when people wasted food.

  “Don’t say anything…”

  Heirina could feel Zelos’s annoyance, so she whispered that… in the end, they began to be pulled by a single rope that connected them together as some of the natives began to grab their weapons. One of them frowned when he had a hard time grabbing Zelos’s sword, but soon he pulled it off.

  In silence, the group followed the path ahead for a couple of minutes, but soon they turned to the side and then began to cross the area with high grass and vegetation. They almost tripped a bunch of times, but after moving some giant leaves out of the way and vines, they eventually reached an area that was free of that, at least on the ground and they could see the massive wall of the mountain. Before long, some of the natives approached and then touched the wall, only to make it move and reveal a secret passage.

  “This is the sound I heard before.”

  Before Heirina could say anything to Zelos, he was suddenly kicked on his back and then he fell to the ground. The others almost followed him.

  After taking a deep breath, Zelos got up and then turned around, only to see a native warrior who was like two and half meters tall and was carrying a large club made of earth on his right shoulder. Zelos glared at him for a short while, but soon he looked away when he felt Heirina's eyes on him.

  “Enter.”

  The same person who said the other thing before said that and then the group began to move. The interior was completely dark, but then a torch was suddenly lit up and that illuminated the surroundings… revealing a large cave and a river flowing there.

  Before long, all the natives entered and then the cave was sealed. Several other torches began to be lit one after the other, and then the group began to move once again until they found some boats.

  “Sit down and don’t do anything.”

  The river was supposed to be flowing west, but their base was supposed to be further East… still, they jumped on the boats and then two of the natives jumped in and without any tools, they made the boat flow upstream… the other natives followed them from behind.

  “I guess they can do this much, huh? I never heard of traits that allow people to control things like the elements… I was hoping that their traits would be more wild and brute, but my guess was very wrong.”

  The tension in the boat was heavy since no one knew what was going to happen. All that they knew was the fact that they were surrounded. They lost their vehicle and they didn’t have their weapons. If the situation could get any worse… it was hard to imagine how.

  In any case, the group traveled in silence for many hours through that cave, but soon they left the mountain and began to move to another one… it was amazing that there was an underground river like that, but it helped them move a lot. In the end, it almost felt like the path was only made to make visitors waste a lot of time.

  Before morning came, the group crossed three other mountains. That showed how further in the territory their base was, but it also showed that the trait of the natives was pretty strong since it could last that long.

  When morning came, the group at the exit of the next mountain turned brighter, but soon they also noticed that they finally had arrived. The natives had created their society in the valley between several mountains. The area was several kilometers wide and long…

  As they got closer, the group could see all kinds of structures around… Some trees were insanely tall and thick and, thanks to that, some houses were built on the branches of those trees. There were some rocks around as well and other buildings used those as support.

  In their vast majority, the houses around were made of wood, but some looked like they had been made using giant pieces of rocks as well. The streets didn’t have bricks or anything like, but they were completely even. The terrain around was a mix of green and brown, and there were some lakes in the valley as well. The population was already up despite the early time, so they saw the prisoners entering the place… the natives were wearing clothes that protected their waists and chests, and they look like they had been made with only plants despite their perfect craftsmanship.

  It was an impressive sight… even more impressive considering that all of them were glaring at the group…