Derek kept up his wary vigil while the others began to move backwards. Crawling upon his belly, Logan wiggled methodically farther and farther back away from outer edges of the forest.
“No quick movements,” Derek repeated again as the others carefully progressed. “And don’t rise up until I tell you to.”
Derek finally began to move back from the last of the trees, after the others had covered a modest distance. He moved a little more quickly, elbows and knees working in efficient concert, and soon caught up to Logan.
“Keep it low, and keep going,” Derek reiterated as he slowed down to keep pace with the other three.
Logan glanced over at Derek, and saw that he was staring hard at each of them to convey the gravity of his meaning. He gave a curt nod of acknowledgement to Derek in response.
Mershad and Erika were also faithfully doing as Derek wished, working slowly and meticulously towards the relative concealment of the deeper forest shadows. The wooded depths offered the promise of shielding the quartet from the eyes of anything out on the plains, and Logan could not avail himself of that reassuring shroud of tree and brush a moment too soon.
Logan’s heart continued to beat fast as they crept backwards, his renewing fears causing him to half-imagine that shrill cries of discovery would erupt at any given moment. He blanched thinking about one of the green-hided brutes storming down upon him, swinging one of those great iron maces down upon his vulnerable flesh and bones. One thunderous blow from such a huge weapon, wielded with the kind of force that the lumbering hulks were undoubtedly capable of, would reduce him to pulp in an instant.
The group did not cease in their crawling until they were well out of sight of the grassy plains. Logan’s elbows were scraped up from the extended, rough contact with the debris-strewn ground. Some small insects had also managed to climb up onto him, which he brushed off vigorously as he felt the tingle of their steps upon his bare arms.
Derek finally signaled to the others that they could safely rise from the ground level. Quietly, they all got up to their feet, took a moment to stretch, and readied to continue back towards their makeshift camp.
It felt good just to stand again, though Logan had to contend with a slight wave of disorientation after having endured such an extended period of rigid concentration in a prone position.
While regaining his equilibrium, Logan was momentarily startled by the sudden flutter of a couple of large ravens. His heart leapt in his chest as the two birds lifted off of a tree branch that he and his companions were crossing under. Seeing the dark birds flying off swiftly into the forest, Logan closed his eyes and breathed out a long sigh of relief. His rattled nerves began to settle back as prepared to resume his forward step, simply glad to see the feathered denizens rather than massive forms bristling with muscles, claws, and sabre-long teeth.
“We can risk a faster pace,” Derek then told them, also having twirled about in quick reflex at the abrupt commotion caused by the two sizeable ravens. Logan could see hints of relief reflected in the stoic man’s face.
After taking a couple of moments to regroup and regain their composure, the four picked up their pace behind Derek until they were back in a full run. Logan’s shoes pounded on the forest floor, as he focused his eyes upon Derek’s back at their lead. Ericka was just a few strides behind Derek, with Mershad a short distance in back of Logan. The four covered the remaining ground swiftly.
When they reached their camp, they skittered to a halt. Mershad almost tripped over his feet in the process and slammed into Logan’s back. Logan caught and steadied the young man, who was breathing heavily, before turning quickly to the sight that had stunned all of them.
Janus’, Antonio’s, and Kent’s heads snapped about towards the other four with looks of surprise, clearly startled as the four bounded into the camp area. They were gathered around a tall, white-haired old man, clad in a wide-brimmed hat and long, flowing blue robes. The loose-fitting clothing on the old man did not hide the considerable broadness of the stranger’s shoulders, made more apparent by his very erect posture and confident disposition. Interestingly, the old man had remained entirely calm when the others had burst into the camp, showing no reaction whatsoever to their sudden emergence.
Logan’s first reaction was to look all around the area rapidly, though he quickly discovered that the old man was the only individual outside of his own group within sight. The unexpected encounter disrupted Logan’s lingering tensions for only a moment, as the air and ground still carried hints of the army passing towards the north.
Adding to the abrupt mystery, Logan noticed that Derek had a look of recognition upon his face as he looked towards the old man. Showing no signs of alarm at the presence of the stranger, Derek strode over towards Janus and came to stand by his friend’s side. Erika and Mershad stood quietly at Logan’s side, watching the others with caution.
Logan watched the unfolding scene with growing interest and puzzlement, as the words of the old man cut through the air.
“Forces in thrall to the Unifier pass near to you, though others would say that those are Gallean forces. In truth, they are all of the Unifier, in this darkening age,” the old man stated, his words carrying a distinct tinge of distaste. “You must not tarry in this place much longer, lest you fall into their hands. Go to the east. Others of a different mind will be found there. Ones who can be of help.”
The old man then turned to face the newcomers who yet kept their distance, stepping slowly towards Erika, Mershad, and Logan. He moved with an easy, effortless step, showing no sign of infirmity or frailty despite his seemingly ancient years.
Logan found himself staring right into the old man’s lone blue eye, for the other was fully covered by a patch. Logan could not read the expression of the stranger, as the old man’s mouth was nestled within an abundance of white that descended to his upper chest.
The transfixing gaze appeared to be generating a jeweled sparkle within its cerulean depths, a timeless evocation that belied the apparent age of the stranger’s physical appearance. It was a look brimming with vitality, alertness, and wisdom, and the stranger’s seemingly advanced years were as nothing in context of the ageless look reflected in that single, mesmerizing eye.
Logan tried to concentrate upon the old man, but found that it was increasingly difficult to gather his thoughts, as if his mental focus was slipping, and swiftly becoming hazy. For no explicable reason, the new development did not frighten Logan in the least. If anything, he felt an absence of danger in the immediate presence of the old man, and even his badly shaken nerves were bolstered by the inexplicable placidity that washed over him.
“And you three, with your friend over there, have all seen the strength of the Unifier’s forces for yourselves. Your own eyes do not lie. You saw what you saw, a river of power that is nothing compared to the vast seas of power beyond it,” the old man stated firmly, his voice deep and resonant.
“The Unifier?” Derek responded from next to Janus, “Who is the Unifier? And where is that army going?”
“Some would say those forces herald the genesis of a new order, brought forth out of the lands of Avanor, a land far to the west from where you now stand. The truly wise would see something from a much older order, one more ancient than the world itself,” the blue-robed man explained somberly. “The Unifier… A leader cloaked in fair countenance, attractive and charming to all who behold Him, but wielding a terrible, dominating force that comes from the very depths of the Abyssal Realms themselves.”