"It's a fair question." says Djal to Morthak, flatly. "And answering it quickly would make a lot less noise than all this arguing..."
"And it might make you some more friends. Danet didn't feel like Djal or us about taking on the bandits, but he's still our people. And we're half your fighting force. We can sort out who needs who after the bandits are dead."
"Just as we can sort out motivations after the deed is done."
Arakan takes a deep breath, "Oh, by the Dragon's scaly hide, enough already. We came to find these bandits due to them raiding local merchant caravans of House Tsalaxa. Yes, they are out of their way, but they were trying to find new routes. If we can get rid of this threat, the house we work for can save some time and ceramic, and maybe make a profit by working a region with little trade. It is worth a lot to us to do this. Jareen can finally retire, and I can maybe buy into my own wagon train. The rest are just house muscle, though Morthak lost a brother on their last hit, and has a bit of a personal grudge to add to it. Are you happy? Now can we ride in peace?"
Grea nods and shuts up.
She glances at Danet and Djal with a small smile.
Danet grunts, his mind set at rest.
The group ride mostly in silence for a few more hours. The horizon to the east begin to glow slightly and Danet says, "We are nearly there. So, what exactly do you have in mind?"
"We pretend we're bandits returning with prisoners and food. We get close. We kill them all and release the villagers."
"Right, those we must disguise come to me."
"We pretend we're bandits returning with prisoners and food. We get close. We kill them all and release the villagers."
Danet yanks on the reins and brings his kank to a halt. "That's you plan? Are you suicidal or something? Do you know how many of them there are?"
When Danet asks the plan, Arakan turns his kank to look at the whole group. " Here's the plan, as I made it before, except now we have one more 'prisoner'." He stares at the man.
"Jareen will use his blessings to change the appearance of Morthak and Cahel to make them look more human. Grea, Jareen, and Djal will have to rely on their own disguises, and I will help them with it. I have my disguise already."
"Jaryx and Danet, you will be acting as prisoners. Danet, you are a prisoner, because your position in the tribe helps us show that we were making a point to the tribe."
He stops and stares at each in turn, "Most.. Importantly... I do ALL the talking. You do not open your mouth for anything EXCEPT agreeing with whatever I said, ideally with the least amount of words necessary."
"About a hundred, I reckon," says Danet, arms folded.
"About a hundred, I reckon," says Danet, arms folded.
Jareen looks at Danet suspiciously.
Arakan also questions the notion that a band of raiders that large would work an area as remote as these black sands appear to be. He thinks Danet may be once again trying to deviate them from their task, this time with fear. He thinks about anything he may have heard about the Black Sand raiders, to compare with what the man is telling them.
"He may be exaggerating, but it's not entirely unreasonable they could have those numbers. Since you think you have all the answers," He addresses Danet, "tell us wise one, should we just roll over and beg them to not kill all of us, as we grovel ourselves into wasting away while they take all we own? I mean, that's what has been working for you guys so far."
Grea mutters to herself. "Stupid or a bully or both. At least the dwarf is silent."
Grea pushes forward and stares hard at Danet. "Danet, are you with us or not?"
"No," replies Danet coldly to Arakan. "I've had enough of being pushed around by Hedla, pushed around by the bandits, pushed around by you. I want to get my wife out so we can start somewhere new. So we are going to do this. But we are going to need a better plan than riding in with the rising sun and hoping we can kill them all before they see us. You are the experts - so what do we do?"
Arakan's scowl deepens, he hates not having a ready answer on his tongue. If this were just some lie he needed to concoct, it would be no problem. "What about these ghosts? The one bandit, you know, the one killed before we got all our information from him." he looks pointedly at Danet. "He whined about some spirits in the caves. The question is, can we find another way in the caves, try to push the presence of spirits into a fear causing the bandits to fear the place? Even so, would they leave the prisoners? Hmmm, we should start with trying to find an alternate entrance via the caves."
"It's not caves," says Danet scornfully, "It's whole bloody city!" He lowers his voice again. "The bandits are camped outside the ruins. But they're big ruins. I don't know anything about who those people were, but they lived in style. In the day it's perfectly safe, but at night... Well, the stories say that anyone who goes in at night is never seen again." Danet frowns. "So, what, you think we can kid them about the ghosts or something?"
He sees Djal appears nervous about the suggestion, but Arakan points at him emphatically, "That. That right there. We brave the city, and come out with some extra visual effects," He indicates Jareen, "and maybe we convince them that the ghosts have no longer settled for haunting those entering, but are coming out for them." He looks to Jareen, and offers a little quieter, "It wouldn't be the first time we've faced the long dead." with a shrug.
"True, true. I'm not sure how much help I can be in such a display, but a couple of us being invisible should help with the effect. Assuming we get out of the caves alive."
"It's not f$cking caves, you old fool!" yells Danet, "It's a ruined city! If you can't even listen properly you'll never get this right!"
"You sound more like Arakan every moment, are you two sure you aren't related?"
Danet scowls at Jareen's put-down, but shuts-up.
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Grea begins to inventory her gear, while muttering to herself. "I begin to see why Th'kal stayed behind. "
Arakan actually nods in agreement with Danet for once, not caring that the man yelled at Jareen. It's not like he hasn't done the same on multiple occasions. "Okay, fine. Then that's what we'll do. We use the ruins to our advantage. I take it you know which side of it they are all built up around?" He asks of Danet. "We enter the ruins from the opposite side. We adjust the plan as we learn more about either what's within or get a better look at the bandit's encampment all around." His mind made up, he wheels his kank around, and adds, "Let's ride. Our timetable has already been messed up more than we can possibly afford."
"So we've decided that instead of attacking one undefeatable foe, we should attack two in quick succession? That sounds like our usual method of operations...."
Arakan has to convince them that his idea are still sound, even more, that a sneakier way of dealing with the raiders may be available. "Now, bear in mind. All we know about the ruins is that people go in, and don't come out. But we're talking about bandits that aren't necessarily known to be resourceful, or else they wouldn't have to resort to common thuggery. We do know that a large group of thugs can be a hard thing to overcome, but reports of hauntings based on not knowing what happens to people that go into the ruins is just raider speculation. If there is an enemy of the raiders within those ruins, there's also the chance that this enemy will want to help us in removing the bandits, and couldn't do it alone. Heck, it could just be sinkholes or old traps that people are walking into." He tries to summarize the whole point, "We don't know what's actually in those ruins, could be nothing, but we do know the bandits outnumber us by a long sight."
"May be mighty hunter, feeding grounds. Beast with no thought to help."
"It wouldn't be the first of those we've killed. Ok, ok, I'll go along with the plan."
On that last cheerful note, the group ride onwards. The sky turns pink and long shadows of the lowering dunes begin to emerge from the darkness. A sliver of blood-red sun has just crawled above the horizon as they climb to the top of a particularly tall rise. In the distance, perhaps three or four miles away to the south-west, squat the ruins. A grey wall perhaps a mile long, similar in colour to the sand above which it looms, encloses a roughly square site perhaps a mile on each side. Within, a few taller building reach for the sky, and otherwise look in reasonable condition. But there is no smoke, no movement of guards on the walls, or other sign of habitation.
Just to the north of it is a much livelier encampment. Inside a walled caravanserai brightly-coloured canvas flickers in the breeze. A few moving figures and animals can just be made out.
"That's it," says Danet, somewhat unnecessarily.
"We should get out of sight as quickly as possible. Who is bet at looking for any traps there may be in the ruins? Expect we will be safe from such things at first, but as we get deeper some may remain."
*** Before dawn ***
Grea remains silent throughout the new conversation. She sits on her kank with hands folded in her lap watching Djal.
*** Looking at the city and camp ***
Grea hisses at the city's size. "So big. How many people could there be?"
She quickly turns to more practical concers.
"Stay low. We will be shadowed against the morning sky. We should go left and circle in to the city."
"No," replies Danet. "Left is towards the camp. If we go right there is an entrance to the city on the opposite side to the camp."
Jaryx' brow furrows as his allies and friends and friends' friends seem very angry with one another, but once they seem to reach an agreement, he relaxes and follows along.
"Yeah, the entrance is to the right," says Danet, pointing left. Clearly that part of his education was left out.
The group circle round to the city's southern side, avoiding the camp of the bandits to the north. As they get closer, they can see the black wind-blown sand piling up against the walls. These loom silent and grey against the lurid colours of the sunrise, pitted by sandstorms but otherwise intact.
They reach the entrance that Danet mentioned. An open gateway sits between two square towers. There is no sign of the gates, which must have been claimed by the elements many years ago. Ahead is a street leading into the city. It is mostly choked with sand, the buildings on either side partially collapsed and scattering mud-bricks, the broken walls throwing long shadows.
Danet pauses in superstitious dread, looking silently to the others for guidance.
"Well, if we are going in, lets do it."
The travellers urge their mounts through the gateway. The street system is more or less intact. The shells of the former homes and shops still standing, although the roofs of the smaller buildings have collapsed and the interiors are as choked with debris. But progress is hampered by sand and rubble. There is no sign of recent occupation.
The streets are not wide, planned boulevards but narrow and twisting, winding organically between empty doorways. But they seem to be heading towards the centre of the city where some large buildings tower over the rest.
Grea looks curiously at her companions. This fear they have is quite outside her experience. She clicks softly to herself before muttering, "Things die. Then they are dead. Then we eat them. Or animals eat them. And we make tools and goods from them. There is nothing left to fear."
Nevertheless the her companions' unease is contagious. She grips her spear tightly and as she rides she glances left, right, and behind her, up at the buildings' parapets, and behind her.