Escaping The Empire - The Nonhuman Chronicles

Reunited with one of the few kind of human articles of clothing that she actually tolerated, she draped the red cloak over her head, the touch of the soft fabric was actually enjoyable. Not like those rag messes from earlier. This was smooth. It fit almost perfectly keeping her ears and tail covered, though it still couldn't do anything about the predatory yellow eye color. Nothing could be done about it. On it's own, it probably wouldn't be enough to raise too many alarms. The faun was off, insisting that she wasn't to be followed...so Kerri didn't. She still had a bigger concern of getting source materials to put up a place to sleep for the night. Personally, she had her tufts of fur and cloak. She'd likely be more than fine with ruffing it, at least on a calm weather night like this...the rest. They were going to have issues.

"Hmm...nothing to be used....might have to do that..." Talking mostly to herself, her cloak still couldn't prevent the shape of her tail started to swish behind her, apparently whatever she was thinking about giving her some kind of idea.

 

“Be careful and don't take too long, Talia!” She called after the faun as she began searching for her own clothes, and didn't need long to find them. Unlike the faun she didn't bother looking for a place to hide - she had been walking around in her see-through lingerie this entire time, so all who cared had already seen her naked body – and started putting them on right there.

Once Ariel was dressed – for a given value of the word, considering how little her outfit actually covered – she waited for the others to also find their stuff, and for Talia to come back, before doing anything else.

 

Talia comes back not too long after having changed out of her clothing and seemingly have washed up. Her hair's wet and the fur on her legs is also a little damp and instead of the prisoner clothing, she's wearing something that she seems a little more comfortable with. She's wearing a dark green, loose-fitting tunic and a pair of loose leather shorts held up by a black belt. Her legs are bare, but of course, they're also covered in her fur, so it's understandable that wearing restricting clothing over them might be a bit uncomfortable.

She still has her makeshift spear with her and appears to be much more comfortable out of the clothing she was wearing. Her eyes are still alert and gauge each of you carefully. "so what do we do now?"

 

“Well, before we do anything we need information: where we are, which way we can go, and if there are any potential enemies heading towards us. I was thinking of flying up and taking a look around – unless someone can think of a good idea not to do that.” Ariel looked at each of the other people before continuing. “After that we should get as far away from here as possible – human soldiers will no doubt come to investigate the crash, and it would be best not to be here when they arrive. Once we have put some distance between us and the crash site we should look for a place to set up camp. Sound good so far? Does anyone have any objections or suggestions?” The angel asked the other ex-prisoners.

 

“They’ll find the fire eventually...think we crossed the river to lose them...then we just go away from the river while they go were they think we are...but aren’t.” Kerri was back to her quiet and simple minded manner of speaking, but she grabbed the jug she had strapped and began to take it to the river and fill it up with clean water. While she filled the jug up without any trouble and secured it back to her, she had a look that said she thought of another problem.

“...not enough for all. Just one. Need clean water. Trackers know that. First place they look is where water is. Can’t stay here...can’t move away without food or water.”

 

Axel finished chewing a number of rather long reeds of grass before returning to the rest of the group as the dog girl was saying something about taking water. It made sense, but he also had no idea where they were or what direction to travel. Then another thought hit him.

"Have dogs. Wash smell." Then proceeded to try and submerge himself in the river.

 

The wolf shook her head at hearing his claims watching the massive splash in the river bed that made her grateful she had already got her drinking water filled.

"..won't work...just pick it up again....they smell something once, remember it forever." If there was one thing in the universe that Kerri actually understood, it was how the smells of things worked. That didn't stop her from approaching closer to the river base to get a closer look at the wet fur of the Minotaur. She hadn't really seen one before and wanted to get a better look at it, while she remained quiet for a few moments before speaking again.

"..change clothes. Confuses noses for at least a little...unsure where to go...but won't help forever...still find scent of stupid itchy stuff." It was at that moment in her simple little summary of how dogs would still know where to go, that her eyes widened a bit. Apparently having some sort of idea. The exact nature might have been lost when she started tearing at her own clothes again, ripping more pieces of the cloth. At this stage, next to nothing was left other than just enough ragged scrapes to keep her pert tits covered and enough at the waist to work as a sort of loin cloth...her face still didn't look completely thrilled to be wearing any version of clothes other than the cloak she had that she drapped over herself.

Approaching the angel, the beastgirl held a whole series of stripped and torn clothes that she tried handing over to Ariel, at first holding a face like it should be completely obvious what the point was, since in Kerri's mind, it was.

"..you fly. Birds fly and they fly everywhere...if birds have it, everything smells....then take bath and make our smell weaker...dogs chase strongest trail. Most recent. So they chase away from us." Again, her thought wasn't aided by her ability to translate her line of thinking into something more comprehensible, her face still looked sure that this was a good idea.

Unloading the scraps to the angel, Kerri turned to face the river, advancing at first with cautious steps. As soon as her toe made contact with the water, she reeled it back and just stood for a few seconds, backing up....then bending herself over with her palms on the ground, taking a running start into the stream.

 

Ariel raised an eyebrow when the beast girl approached her with a pile of scraps that had been clothes. She listened carefully and tried to figure out what the idea was. “So... you want me to spread these around in the hope that the animals, mostly the birds, will spread them further and make it harder for dogs to track us? I'm not sure it will work, but it's worth a shot, I suppose...” She conceded.

Seeing that no one else had anything to add the angel made her preparations. First she cast a simple protective sphere around her body – it was almost see-through and practically unnoticeable from a distance. It was pretty weak, but good enough to deflect a few arrows or weak spells, and that was all she needed. Then she cast a weak illusion spell that would make people ignore her if they spotted her out of the corner of their eyes. Anyone who actively looked at the sky and saw her would immediately see through the spell, but all who happened to spot her by accident would assume they had seen a large bird, or something, and ignore her.

Once her preparations were done Ariel picked up the pile Kerri her dropped, spread her wings and flew up in the air. “I'll be back before long.” She promised before flying away from the crash sight, searching for any sign of humans or human activity, and for birds or any other animals she could use to spread the scraps around.

 

The angel was off doing that, leaving the wolf to feel the water rush along her face and tufts of fur. She avoided stepping too far out, mostly choosing to just splash and rub against the bare parts of her body, which was pretty much everywhere at this point. Starting with her legs, she ran her paws/claws along, rubbing gently to get off any grime and clean scratches from her crash. Slowly, she worked her way up to upper thighs, alternating between rubbing from the inner and outer regions, bringing her fingers to resting on her toned butt for a moment, the wolf peering backward to take a look at the tight bottom. She wasn't big, but she was well toned and not embarrassed about how it would look in the slightest to lift her arms up over her head, the flat and lightly muscled tones of her stomach and back no longer hidden by prisoner rags as she took steps forward to get waist deep in the water.

She didn't even need to go that far out for the water level to already reach the ragged scraps of cloth that were the closest thing she had to bra and the water not really helping keep anything hidden from anyone. But Kerri's face remained indifferent. It wasn't that she didn't know. For the life of her, she could not come up with a reason to bother with anything close to the standards of modesty that other races had. Kerri hadn't tackled any of them or bit anybody. In her own head, as far as she was concerned, she had went out of her way to be on her best behavior.

Her mind was focused on other things as she took a look at the area again, not getting a completely good visual from her place in the river, but staring at the rest who were apparently tagging along. "Flat land...fastest to travel. Not good...makes it easy to catch food...can catch us too. Mountains good. Hard for whole packs to travel and humans have heavy and clunky ones..this pack? Only a few people. Much easier to run, hard to catch....don't know what's past the river." She made her assessment, while surveying the rest around her for approval.

 

"Well. I just washed myself off, so I should be fine..." Talia hesitated to get into the water herself with either the large Minotaur or the Wolf girl and remained seated on the bank of the river. A modest girl, she makes sure to look away from the figures bathing in the river.

It doesn't take you much effort to find the animals needed to spread the scraps. Fortunatley with your charm magic, you can easily subdue the small woodland animals necessary to carry the fabric along.

From your vantage point, of course you see your little group below. You notice no human activity anywhere dangerously near your little group, but looking further up the mountainside near where the convoy was banished you do see the soldiers that were the guards for said caravan. You see at least half a dozen men left searching and scavenging among the remains. You would have to get closer to learn specifics, but moving closer would risk blowing your magical cover. They still haven't moved from the spot where they were ambushed though. Should they do so, they could probably reach the foot of the mountain safely in about an hour and then reach your little party in about ten minutes.

 

Ariel decided she'd seen enough and headed back to the rest of the group.

“I spread the scraps – the animals will take care of the rest. As for the human soldiers...” the angel explained what she had seen “It seems to me like it will be best to move and get a head start on the humans – the more distance we put between us and any pursuers – the better.” She finished and waited to hear what the rest of the group would say.

 

Pulling herself out of the river, Kerri gave her head a fast shake much to the annoyance of anyone standing too close to her. It didn't do much to change the soft wetness from her hair. Without any dirt and most of the wild curls straightened out, she looked halfway to civil despite her choice of clothing. Picking up her stuff again, she gave a puzzled look.

"It's fine...for me. They wear armor...I'll just outrun them....don't know about the rest of you. Will it be okay? Get left behind....not gonna come back."

 

Upon hearing that there were only half a dozen humans left, Axel's first instinct was to fight and teach these arrogant humans a thing or two. If they did, then at least they wouldn't have to worry about being tracked, but then he looked at the group. Despite her makeshift spear, the faun didn't look to be much of a fighter and would likely have to be protected in any kind of scrap. Neither the angel or the human woman who smelled wrong looked like they knew much of combat and Axel surmised they would probably have some difficulty holding there own. The dog girl, with her claws and apparent reflexes, could probably stand her ground against one soldier, but he wasn't sure if she or any of his so-called companions would stick around for a fight or run.

With his ax, armor, and sheer size, Axel was confident he could take two or maybe even three of the soldiers but experience told him not to bite off more than he could chew. Two capable fighters against six were not good odds. Retreat would likely be the best option.

Rising out of the river and shaking himself off, Axel put his gear back on, and huffed. "Go quick. Light stuff."

 

Seeing the minotaur properly stand upright, outside of the water, Kerri realized not picking a fight with him was one of her better choices. Likely the best made today, since she still questioned if these people were just going to slow her down or not.

Having already made it clear she had no plans to come back for any of them if they got lost or fell behind, she focused on the horizon, muscles in her legs ready to bound off and sprint in ant direction, only refraining to glance at the rest.

“...which way? Still think mountains are best...will go wherever. Get captured again...not helping. Will just go without you.”

 

Wilhelmina approaches the minotaur. "If you wish to fight, I will add my sword to yours, beast."

 

Axel, considered her words before he grunted and shook his head. "No. Hoo-man many for two."

The minotaur then hefted his ax onto his shoulder and addressed the group "Run good." He cast a glance one way then the other, "Where?"

 

Hearing the inquiry, Kerri could see that nobody else was making any suggestions. It built on her agitation to get moving. These people were useless.

"Decided. Mountains. Where I'm going. Don't know about the rest of you." She didn't let or the conversation become extended or bother explaining her reasoning. Humans still needed food and water, so they would set up their camp closest to the river, at least on the first night while they waited to assemble. Trying to scale the mountains during nightfall when it was at it's coldest and hardest to see was going to be way too dangerous. If she moved now, she could at least scale to a relatively safe space and the higher evaluation would allow her to scope out any incoming forces or smoke from their own fires. They'd expect slaves to be long gone by now on flat terrain to the next human city to lie low, so they wouldn't be worried about keeping a low profile. She had filled enough water to last her a while and get a massive head start on the potential risk of invaders. Really, it was the most practical option.

Of course, Kerri neglected to explain any of this and even if she tried, her skills at speaking the common language weren't going to help.

"Leaving. Go die."

With those words of wisdom, she bounded off at lightning speed getting a sizable distance covered on all fours, only stopping to turn her head for a few moments and see if they were following or not. Soon she looked back to the horizon of her destination, easily traversing another chunk of distance, looking back again. Seeing them stay put, she was still enough in the group's sight to see the wolf girl throw her head back, as she slumped her arms, clearly impatient, but still currently at least trying to give them time to catch up.

 

"Well, I can't really say that I'm very experienced in...anything, but I know that i'm not really much of a fighter so..." Talia squirmed and stood before walking along towards the direction that Kerri was heading.

while the mismatched crew plans their escape, another story was brewing upon the mountain...

@Daylan

While you did not have direct involvement in the Fall of Saveneas, you were in the region when it happened. You can remember the sudden influx of non-human prisoners into the camp shortly afterward that the ancient elven capital had fallen. It was only a matter of time when you were ordered to guard one of the caravans and was put under the command of Captain Tarsten. You worked under him before and he was known to be particularly abusive towards his captives. The first night, you learned that he had not changed much. You did not participate, but you distinctly remember Tarsten and his men choosing the faun for their 'entertainment' for the trip. A few of the men entered into her cell and despite her protests stripped her bare. Some cracked jokes about her furry legs and while taunting her chose to shave her pubes bare with a knife. There was no real purpose to it outside of being demeaning. Her legs were fuzzy and the fur went the whole way up over her butt to her stubby faun tail, but on the front of her body, the furline went lower and her sex was visible without the need to shave her admittedly also fuzzy pubes. From there, the worst of the men including the captain himself used her for their pleasure. You were offered a turn several times, but despite the taunts from the men nagging at your sexuality and their descriptions of how it felt to use her lithe body, you and a few more honorable soldiers refused.

Your role was mostly to scout out in front of the caravan and that was where you spent most of your time. However, once over the tallest mountain on your journey the need seemed less apparent as it was a short trip down the mountainside and into the heartlands of The Empire. Perhaps you would have caught wind of the ambush had the captain kept you working on your role, but since he kept you close to the caravan you didn't notice the trap much before the arrows started to fly. During the scuffle, the carriage and prisoner cells take off out of sight and it isn't long before a loud crash sounds throughout the mountainside. The ambushers themselves appeared to be rogue elven soldiers or bandits and after taking a few losses, they fled. However, your detachment of men had clearly suffered more casualties. The only ones left were you, Captain Tarsten, and five of his most oppressive and loyal men.

Once the fighting was settled and it appeared as if the ambush was over, Captain Tarsten stomped over to one of his remaining men and punched him in his armored chest. Not enough to injure the captain's hand, but enough to produce a loud metallic clank. "You. Return to Castle Laeves and explain what happened. Have them send us men to replenish our ranks."

Castle Laeves was the last castle that your caravan rested at before beginning the ascent. It was about a day's travel back through the mountain, but a lone person could likely make it in much less time. The man salutes and takes off on his task when the captain turns his gaze to you.

"And you..." he grimaces a little and walks over to you. "I need you to go and find out if my captives are still alive. They're worth good money to me and if they're worth good money for me, then they're worth good money for you. Do you think you can handle that without obstructing your morals?" Ever since you refused to participate in the harassment of the poor faun captive, the captain and several of the other men have taken to bullying you and the others who refused to partake as overtly moral individuals. Typically with snide remarks like the captain just made.

 

For a short while Ariel watched the beast girl move away from them. Then she shrugged. “Well, communication is clearly not one of her strong points, but I think she has the right idea and staying here is probably the worst option, as any pursuers will no doubt come to check the crash site. I'll be following her – at least for now. What about the rest of you?” The angel looked at the other prisoners for a few moments, then spread her wings and started flying after Kerri, making sure to fly as close to the ground as was safe. She noted that Talia was doing the same, just slower.

 

Kerri darted towards the mountains, Axel watched her leave and huffed. It was then that Ariel spoke up voicing Axel's own thoughts "Well, communication is clearly not one of her strong points, but I think she has the right idea and staying here is probably the worst option, as any pursuers will no doubt come to check the crash site. I'll be following her – at least for now..." Axel was already moving after Kerri when the angel finished "...What about the rest of you?"