A Friends Request

It has been weeks since Keira last saw any other human being. There was a spy out there that she had to catch for a friend. “Do not let anyone else catch him.” He said. “For neither good nor evil must know of what he knows.”

Yet he has not given any description of your target. “Once you see him, you’ll know it is him.” Was all that he described of him before he rode away in a hurry. She headed south and started searching, first by the northern ponds, then following the creeks south into the man-made marshes. Magic and artillery turned a once lush land into an inhospitable land, dividing the two realms.

It was the third week, with her rations running low, when she saw a sleek, almost starved, pale-skinned creature ahead of her. It hunched down over a creek with its knees almost reaching its ears, while it patiently stared at the water below. Quickly, she checked the wind and her surroundings, searching for a spot to lay low and observe. She found some shrubbery nearby to hide behind, giving her a good view of the creature's pond from up high. She saw rare fish, long and slender, swam in that pond. Suddenly, the creature darted into the pond, and all the fish dispersed and dove deeper into the depths of the murky water, and with them, the creature was gone. The water calmed, and the creature did not return to the surface. Yet she waited and wondered if she had just found the spy her friend spoke of, or if monsters might have taken hold in the Deadlands, undisturbed by man or machine of war. Movement further away brought her back to reality. The creature rushed out of the water of a different pool with long fish in each hand. Proud of its work, it slammed them against a stone to stop them from wriggling and hunched down to munch on them.

Keira took a deep breath, readied a rope and slowly approached the creature before her. Once it had almost finished its first fish, she rushed out and charged at it, circling the rope above her head. Surprised, the creature looked at her and dashed away. She threw the rope and caught it by its feet, yet the creature slipped out. Without looking back, it ran for the bushes ahead and vanished. She chased after it, right into the bushes, but it was faster than her, and she lost the tracks. Seeing no point in roaming around, she headed back to the pond. Finding the second fish still on the ground, still a bit hungry, she decided to cook it. She started a small fire and roasted the long fish on a stick, contemplating how to catch that thing.

The fish was new to her, it kept slipping out of her hand, as she tried to skewer it. It was mainly bones and guts, making it hardly a meal but a good snack.

She decided it was impossible for her to catch the creature on her own; she had to drive it northwards and hope her friend would hear news, or it would end up in a ravine or other dead end, allowing her to finally catch it.

The next morning, Keira picked up its trail again and soon found it fishing again. This time she snuck around it and started chasing it northward, past shrubbery and ponds. With the sun at its peak and her reaching the top of a hill she saw the creature below her near a boulder resting. She too sat down but kept an eye out for it. At the same time it kept staring at her with curious and deceptive eyes.

After half an hour, or so she guessed, it tried to sneak behind the boulder and run away. Expecting it to try something, she quickly dashed down the hill, making good some distance. This time they ran throughout the night into the southern woods of the Carandian Realm. Entering the forest she lost the tracks again. She prowled up and down the edge and quickly picked up the tracks again. The creature was skilled in avoiding the strongholds and patrols, while also avoiding her seeing it any longer, although she was hot on its heels.

It was in the fifth week when she ran into her old friend again. “Hullo.” He said with a gladness in his voice. “So, I was right in my assumptions.” – “Get out of my way.” Keira said, “It’s getting away!”

“You have not to worry about it anymore. I set it a trap further up. I was looking for you. You look hungry and tired. Let me at least fix one of those things, by offering you some Waybread.” He said undisturbed by her rush to continue her hunt. She looked in the direction of the creatures tracks and then slowly turned back to him. “You mean, you meant to use me as a hunting hound?” She responded as she grabbed the bread from his hands and sat down by the next tree. “What is it with you and using people? And why can’t the Kings know what it knows?” she asked before taking a small bite of the hard bread. “Well if you must know, I just thought you might need a bit of help, which you would have denied in the first place. I am merely aiding a bit. And concerning that creature, it knows of movements and events, that if the Kings knew about it, they would be too eager to react to it and bring us all into ruin. They must stay patient and build up their strength. They will need it soon. For the news it brings is false.” He looked at her. “Now let us leave this place. I’ve heard of a nice inn nearby.”