Chapter 125: The Mask

The surprise on the gathered soldiers' faces only lasted a few moments, and then the entire column began to slowly turn, led by Boson and Serena, circling through the massive clearing where the enormous army camp had once stood, like a sluggish snake, after a good meal.

"What? Aren't we going home?" A few of the younger soldiers protested, their young voices filled with confusion. But a glare from their superiors quickly silenced them, every single individual who had invaded Kalun had become more powerful, and the commanding officers had become that more intimidating to their superiors.

Once the column had settled down, Tam emerged from the shadow of the trees from the path that led west, a small group of about twenty soldiers surrounding him, each more intimidating than the last.

Kothar saw the beast that Tam rode, and at that moment he knew that Tam had chosen the Lightning Hybrid in memory of the son he had missed. 

Slowly but surely, the massive column began to gather momentum and before long they were moving quite quickly through the dense jungle that surrounded them. 

"Feels weird, doesn't it?" A raspy voice called out to Kothar, Kothar looked up and found himself eye to eye with an eerie Hawk.

The soldier was one of those who wore the intricately carved wooden masks, and like many of the others, he had chosen his mask to be carved in the likeness of a hawk. 

The mask was extremely detailed, every single feather was carefully picked out of the wood, the individual barbs on each feather visible. The mask had also been carefully painted, so that while the mask was a dark blue, the colors mixed and swum together to confuse the eyes of anyone who looked at it. 

The mask wouldn't only disguise the wearer, but any enemy would be wrapped up in the blurring and mixing of the colors and be distracted, making them easy prey for the pair of curved blades that the soldier wore on his back.

"Hey, soldier! Don't get caught by the mask!" The mysterious soldier exclaimed, noticing Kothar's silence.

"No, no. I was appreciating its craftsmanship, that's all. What's weird?" Kothar quickly tried to backpedal, trying his best not to reveal the fact that he wasn't really a member of Tam's Hawks.

"You must have been out on the road a long time if you don't know these masks. One of the fellows started carving them after getting back from one of his missions. The General, sorry Grand Marshal, allowed it since it was a rescue mission." The soldier scratched his head in embarrassment, he still wasn't used to calling Tam the Grand Marshal, and many of the unitless soldiers shared the problem. Many of them had been dispatched on missions when Tam hadn't even been a general, and to return to him being virtually in charge of Ursten was confusing to say the least.

"I meant that being amongst an army for so long, sleeping and living amongst so many others, and then fighting with them also, it'll be strange." The soldier added, his eyes had a strange orange glint to them, like that of a stalking tiger.

"Of course, but you can't beat having more rations than you can eat and the peace of mind of knowing there's an entire army around you as you sleep." Kothar laughed as he responded, trying to defuse the other man's suspicions. 

"Bahahahaha. Truer words have never been spoken! And who's going to be after the head of some nameless soldiers, it's the commanding officers who should be worried!" The masked soldier burst into roaring laughter, and a few of the other unitless soldiers in earshot joined in as they heard him, resulting in a chorus of rough laughter echoing out from the group. 

A few of the Captains nearby shot Kothar and the men near him a dirty look, and it was no wonder they did, since they had just said that they would be the most likely to be assassinated.

"Come on lads,  just a bit of light banter. You'll be safer than ever with us around anyway. Your big brothers are here, don't worry!" The soldier yelled out again, he seemed determined to rile up the commanding officers, and the uproarious laughter that echoed out from almost all the unitless forces only added to the insult.

"You! I'll come over and show you who needs protecting!" The Patrol Captain had once again turned red in the face, and was being restrained by some of his men, who had gripped the reins of his horse.

"Hey! Take it easy back there, or I'll come over and give you all something to have a headache about!" Boson yelled out roughly, he had heard the commotion and was squinting back at them, a ferocious look on his face.

Up ahead, at the front of the column, Tam had a smile on his face, though he had said that Kothar was one of his many soldiers that had been away on secret missions to keep his identity a secret, he was glad that Kothar had been able to mingle with the other so well.

The column continued to make fairly quick progress through the dense jungle, and after only a few hours they came to a massive band of shindig water that cut through the river, the rough path that they had been following ended here.

Tam had raised his arm high, and all the officers echoed his signal, and the column came to a rolling stop.

Kothar looked ahead, there had been a ferry here once, that had been used to cross the river, but the dock and boats were long on, with only a few fragments of wood the only evidence of their presence, the war had visited every part of Kalun.

"We'll stop here, but don't unload your baggage, I'll have plenty of work for you all soon." Boson's voice yelled out above the clopping of horses hooves and creaking and rattling of wagon wheels.