Chapter 629: No Fighting

Chapter 629: No Fighting

No Fighting

A band of eight Khivans moved through the forest. Half of them carried muskets, the other half had swords. They talked among themselves in casual manner with the occasional laugh. Despite the proximity of enemies only a river's crossing away, they seemed at ease, and perhaps they had good reason for this; so far, they had come across no signs of Asterians on their side of the water.

A voice called out to them, shattering their complacency. "Soldiers, we seek to parley with your commander!"

The Khivans scattered, all of them seeking cover behind the nearest trees. Weapons came out, muskets pointing in every direction, though nobody fired yet, having no enemy in sight.

"Does any of you speak Asterian?" the woman spoke after a pause.

"I speak. What do you want?" yelled one of the Khivans.

"We wish to negotiate a cessation of hostilities with your commander. An armistice."

"I don't speak that good. What does that mean?"

"We want to talk peace," a man's voice interjected, sounding impatient. "No fighting. No weapons. You bring us to your leader, and we talk peace."

"No fighting? That is a promise from you?"

"We swear it, by Sol," Eleanor added. "We have no hostile intentions."

"She means we want to be friends."RreAd lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only

***

They had walked for most of the day when the Khivan in front finally gestured for everyone to stop. "I must go. Ask first before I take you. Wait here." He left without further explanation. Around them, the other Khivans sat down on the ground, taking out rations.

Martel and Eleanor did the same, if nothing else because it felt weird to remain standing as the only ones. "Is that strange? Him leaving on his own," he asked.

"No. We could be spies. It makes sense that he seeks permission before taking us into their camp or revealing its exact location," Eleanor explained. "They may also wish to take precautions before allowing us in. No maps lying around that shows all their troop deployments."

"Do you think they know that we... can do what we can?" he asked quietly, avoiding any use of the word 'magic' or 'mage', in case anybody else understood Asterian.

"We should assume that they do."

Martel felt his anxiety slowly increase. This had been his idea; if it went wrong, he would be to blame. Even if they could fight their way out of this, they had alerted the Khivans to their presence. They would be hunted down.

***

The leader returned, after what Martel felt had been a rather long time. He and Eleanor got up, looking at him expectantly.

"I asked. They agree. You may go with us to camp. But you hold weapons, you will be killed. You understand?"

Eleanor nodded. "We do. Please take us to your camp."

"Very well. You follow as before." The leader added a few words in Khivan, and the rest got on their feet. Together, the small band continued east. Soon, Martel saw palisades in the distance, and he knew that thousands of Khivan soldiers awaited beyond.