Book 3, chapter 20

Zee was immediately put on guard, chills running up her spine as the three huge men strode out of the forest, approaching her. They were bare-chested and bald, with intricate markings covering their muscular chests.

All three warriors radiated the blood-drenched auras, though they didn't make any hostile actions. Each of them carried a massive two-handed weapon, a battle axe, a mace, and what looked like a halberd.

Curiosity radiated from Dern's splinter. In his excitement, his thoughts leaked into her mind. Her eyes were drawn to the bone amulets that hung from each of their necks and the warlike etchings, curious.

"Etchings across the skin, and even into the bone? How did they do that?" Dern muttered, excitedly.

Zee cocked her head, focusing in on his thoughts, wondering why he was so excited. A blast of thoughts filled her mind, ranging from a complex framework of etchings to intricate arrays. It was far beyond her, a jumble of thoughts and ideas that she lacked the foundation to understand.

Just listening to his racing thoughts, and his efforts to decipher the markings made her head hurt. Zee forcibly pushed his excitement to the back of her mind focusing on the three approaching figures.

Their large size, bare chests, and tribal tattoos screamed barbarian, which piqued Zee's interest. She had never met a barbarian before and therefore was excited to meet some. Though not for the same reason Dern was.

Curiously, all of them were covered in blood-soaked bandages, as though they had recently been in combat. One of them, wielding a massive Halberd bowed towards Zee, cupping his meaty hands together in front of his chest.

"Greetings fair war leader. I am Irk, the ugly one is Pit, and the handsome one is Cleave. We are of the Derdan tribe." He said with a deep voice, the bone amulet around his neck glowing softly as he spoke.

Well, that was convenient. It looked like they had an item that could translate for them. But what was with the odd show of deference, and why were calling her war leader?

After a moment she decided to just roll with it and see what happened next. What could go wrong?

"Hello there fellow warriors. I am Zee, the short one is Bastion, the big one is Greg and the other two are Yukna and Allison. I hail from clan Viotti," Zee said smoothly, channeling her best Barbarian tone.

"It is a pleasure to meet some fellow clansman In this unforgiving place." Irk grunted.

Zee gave them her friendliest smile "So, how can we help clan Derdan?"Zee asked.

Irk winced, looking visibly pained. He took a deep breath, the others shifting nervously behind him.

"We don't mean to bother your harvest, but we are In need of sustenance, to heal our wounds and slake our hunger," Irk said falling to both knees and bowing his bald head to Zee.

Zee eyed the three barbarians dumbly, glancing to the partially rotting bugs, taking a few seconds before speaking.

"Uhh, you want to eat these bugs? Are you sure, they look gross." Zee asked.

They all nodded, giving Zee a look that conveyed some curiosity.

"Ahh, fair war leader must be of lowlander tribes with your poor sense of taste,"Pit grumbled.

"Hey, Pit, that's not nice. Don't you see her glorious red hair? No Lowlander has the bright blood red of war. You better apologize before she goes on a murderous rampage and kills us all." Irk chastised.

As fun, as it sounded being feared by these mountain men, Zee wasn't all that interested. She snapped her fingers, cutting off any further remarks.

"No need to apologize. However, may I ask why you are all injured?" Zee asked, eying the blood-soaked bandages wrapping their many wounds.

The leader, Irk, grunted, standing.

"We were ambushed by some lowlanders. Those bastards captured our war leader and robbed our supplies. Now we are without food and honor until we can free her." Irk said, shame crossing his bearded face.

Zee had a troubling idea. "The people who attacked you, were they humans, wearing brown and black uniforms?" Zee asked, knowing it was probably a long shot. It couldn't have been Ducale soldiers right?

"You know of them?" Irk asked, his tone subtly changing, the others tensing.

Zee nodded fervently. "They are from clan Ducal, and they are our enemies," Zee said quickly.

The three relaxed at her words, though they still looked worried.

"What do they want from our war leader? Until today we had no feud with clan Ducal" Irk asked. Zee winced an expression that did not go unnoticed.

"Is your war leader a woman with red hair like mine?"Zee asked, uncomfortable at their intent gazes.

Pit, the brute on the left snorted. "Your hair is far more divine, our war leader cannot compare. But yes, she is similar." Pit said hesitantly.

Zee glanced back at her team, who looked incredibly amused at her discomfort. It appeared she might be responsible for these barbarians' misfortune.

The question was, what did she do about it? Zee gestured to the beetles scattered across the forest floor. "Eat your fill, while I talk with my team," Zee said.

She scrambled away from the barbarians, meeting with her team who gather about a hundred meters away. The princess spoke first.

"I know what you are thinking. No, we can't help their war leader. It is none of our business." Allison said.

Zee folded her arms across her chest, bracing herself.

"You say that, but how is this not my problem? That squad of ducale soldiers clearly kidnapped their war leader because they thought it was me."Zee said.

Bastion glanced over at the princess. "Allison is right. Those three have blood-drenched auras, they are no pushovers. And yet it looks like they got their asses kicked. Whoever stole their war leader must be pretty damned powerful." Bastion said.

Her eyes flicked back to the three barbarians, as one of them felled a dead tree with a casual swing of his axe.

Now that he mentioned it, they were rather intimidating. Those three had impressive aura control, to the point she thought they might be early E grade. To be fair, she had a reason for not noticing how powerful they were. They hadn't exuded hostility, and she had been so excited to meet a real barbarian.

Zee sighed. "What do you think Yukna?" Zee asked. The spindly woman adjusted the mostly empty bandolier strapped across her chest.

"I am low on ordinates and need Dern to help me make some more. If we jump right into another battle, I will be deadweight." Yukna said.

See glanced over at the large Arminian. Greg simply shrugged. "Don't look at me, I just shoot things with my bow,"Greg said.

Zee bit her lip, thoughtfully. "Alright, fine. We won't get involved. Still, they might know what lies ahead of us, we wouldn't want to run into danger if we can avoid it." Zee said.

The princess gave her a suspicious glare.

"About that. You still haven't explained where we are going. After the fiasco with those beetles, I think we deserve an explanation." Allison said.

Zee swallowed nervously, coughing into her hand. One look at the princess's face let her know she wasn't getting off without a full explanation.

"We are going to steal the heart of the planar space." Zee mumbled.

Allison's lips drew to a hard line. "Why?" Allison asked.

Zee gritted her teeth, frustrated. "It's not like I want to steal it, okay? Lady Petrie is forcing me to, and threatening to kill you all if I don't." Zee explained.

"That's not all is it?" Allison asked calmly.

Zee inhaled sharply, frustrated. "No. She is aware that I am a member of the Lorocan empire, and that I am a member of the Viotti clan."Zee said.

Allison's expression turned thoughtful. "That is troubling. Though I can't fathom why would that old hag want to destroy the planar space. That would be treason against the Kelvish dominion." Allison asked.

Zee winced at that. "I am supposed to steal it without anyone finding out. Which I just failed." Zee said.

Allison glanced at the others, then back to Zee.

"You guys are not going to tell anyone are you?"Allison asked. They all shook their heads.

"See, nothing to worry about," Allison said reassuringly.

Zee palmed her face. "Maybe you should all go. Petrie will probably kill all of us to cover up her tracks even if we do succeed. It will be too risky if you come with me."Zee said.

"Zee, you are an idiot. The moment she approached you, we became targets, because we are your closest friends." Allison said.

"The princess is right. Petrie sounds like the thorough type. She was going to try killing us regardless." Bastion said.

Zee snarled. "This is lizard shit. Are we really going to just do her bidding knowing she will kill us afterward?"

Allison waved a hand through the air. "Of course not. We just need to find a way to either blackmail Petrie or find a backer strong enough to deter her from coming after us." Allison said.

Zee shook her head. "Well, I love the confidence, but I still don't have any ideas. You four can hash it out. In the meantime, I am going to talk with those Barbarians." Zee said, leaving the others to sort through the mess she just dumped on them.

Zee approached the wounded and fatigued barbarians. They were all sitting around a small fire, grilling skewered and crushed beetles on long sticks.

One of the three, Irk, took a large bite of a partially cooked beetle, looking up at her. Zee cringed, as he chewed, loud crunching filling the air.

"Ahh, fair war leader, want some?" Irk asked, offering a partially burned chunk of the beetle leg.

Zee held up a hand, shaking her head." No, thank you. I was hoping to ask you more about your attackers, in case we run into them." Zee said.

"A bunch of cowards if you ask me," Pit spat, ichor dripping down his chin. "They ambushed us, and then fled, taking our war leader."

Cleave smacked Pit on the back consolingly. "Don't worry brother, we will get her back once we heal our wounds and recover. The Ducale clan will all fear the day they crossed the Derdan tribe," Cleave said in a gruff tone.

Zee butted in, trying to get them back on track.

"So, where did they run off to, which direction?"Zee clarified.

"They went that way," Irk said, gesturing in the opposite direction Zee and the team were headed.

Zee bit her lip thoughtfully, hoping that wouldn't be a problem. She felt kind of bad for sending them in their way, but the team had spoken.

"Take as much food as you like, we are heading out," Zee said.

Irk stood and gave her a deep bow, his large frame towering over her.

"Thank you, war leader, we owe you a debt of gratitude," Irk said, his tone deep and respectful.

Zee bowed back, finding she rather liked the straightforward barbarians.

"You are welcome. Good hunting, I hope to see you again, under better circumstances." Zee said. With a wave she jogged away, leaving the barbarians to eat their fill, catching up with her team.

"Well, aren't you popular, war leader?" Bastion teased.

She smiled. "You say that jokingly but it's true, I am obviously the leader of our group," Zee said.

"Keep telling yourself that." The princess said dryly, looking back at them over one shoulder.

Zee laughed. "Well, then. What is the plan then glorious leader?" Zee asked.

Allison rolled her eyes. "We are going to do what we came here for. To fight monsters, and search for opportunities to grow stronger." Allison said.

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