Chapter 175: Job well done
[ Old world - just crossing the Skarthheim borders into the greater woods! ]
The carriage jolted to a sudden stop.
"What the...?" Autumn muttered, fumbling for the door latch.
Before she could even press it open fully, a shadow moved past.
Autumn grabbed the edge of the velvet lined seat to steady herself, eyes darting to the small window. She saw Thorgar raise one hand high, and the entire cavalry ground to a halt like a machine suddenly unplugged.
The caravan had only just turned a sharp corner.
The signal was immediate.Even the low rustle of leaves quieted, as if holding its breath.
The horses huffed and shifted their weight, their hooves stirring dust into the morning air. Autumn leaned closer to the window.
Autumn felt the carriage lurch slightly as it caught up with the momentum with the abrupt halt, and Cerbs gave a soft grumble beside her, sensing the sudden change in rhythm.
She saw Thorgar’s silhouette ride forward to speak with Orion. Words were exchanged quickly...too low to hear...and then, with a series of quiet whistles and signs, the two split off, disappearing swiftly into the brush. Several other riders followed, melting into the dense woods like shadows.
The carriage door creaked open a moment later.
Autumn stepped out, blinking against the shifting light. The breeze had cooled here, carrying with it the damp, mineral scent of stone.
Before her, the woods gave way to a high clearing...its edge lined by moss draped rocks and a sharp drop that seemed to vanish into mist. A cliff, she realized, as she walked closer.
She inhaled deeply, stretching her arms up, arching her back, feeling the stiffness of the carriage ride slip off her shoulders like an old shawl.
Cerbs bounded ahead, sniffing, tail swishing in broad arcs.
Autumn looked back, her eyes searching for that particular someone.
"Where is he?" she whispered, more to herself than to Cerbs.
Her eyes scanned the scene again...then again, more carefully.
No,’he’ wasn’t there....and neither was his friend.
" Oh come on...How could you just vanish when I might actually want a conversation?"
She didn’t even realize her shoulders had dropped until she caught herself sighing.
" But where did they go so quickly...?!"
She rubbed her arms, not from cold, but from that peculiar feeling of being... left behind.
Still, she thought, she might as well enjoy the moment. The sunlight played softly on the ferns. A few wild flowers had grown defiantly between the stones. Birds chirped like they hadn’t a care in the world.
She turned to stroll towards the tree line, just to stretch her legs a little farther...
Two pairs of footsteps crunched behind her.
She froze mid step.
Peeking subtly over her shoulder, she found the two stationed guards shadowing her...as expected...but definitely unwelcome.
They said nothing, eyes scanning the perimeter, hands resting on the hilts of their weapons.
Autumn narrowed her eyes slightly,absolutely annoyed.
She took a few more steps. So did they. Right behind.
She turned on her heel.
"Is this really necessary?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.
One of the guards...gave a polite bow. "Princess Autumn, we have been instructed to ensure your safety. We won’t interfere, but we cannot let you wander alone."
"I am not wandering," she said, crossing her arms. "I am walking. There is a difference."
"You may walk," the other guard said, younger, a little awkward. "Freely. We are merely shadows, not obstacles."
"I don’t recall asking for shadows," she muttered through gritted teeth."Look, I am not going to throw myself off a cliff or get kidnapped by moss. You can chill."
The first guard, a tall man with a scar cutting through his left eyebrow, cleared his throat. "Princess Autumn, Alpha Thorgar ordered us..."
"I know what he ordered," she cut in, "but I am ordering you to back off."
"We can’t do that," said the younger one, his cheeks a little too flushed to be comfortable. "We are under strict instruction to..."
"To follow me around like a pair of grumpy wet nursemaids?" she snapped.
They looked at each other
But they didn’t reply.
She stomped forward, her boots crunching against the gravel path. Cerbs bounded beside her, occasionally glancing up at her with an amused expression that only dogs can manage.
As they reached a bend in the trail, Autumn leaned down and gave Cerbs a scratch behind the ear.Something passed between the two of them... a smirk played on Autumn’s lips.
Cerbs sneezed in response.
"Exactly," she grinned.
With a roll of her eyes, she turned away from them and resumed her pace...deliberately slow, heel then toe, hands clasped behind her back, as though strolling through a painting. But all the while, her mind ticked away... she was already plotting her escape...
"If I cut towards the right thicket and slip behind the fern beds, they would have to circle the path. Or maybe if Cerbs distracted them..."
She glanced to her side, where Cerbs had begun investigating a burrow with intense fascination, tail wagging like a banner.
"Yes," she mused to herself. "It might work."
The guards followed her without comment, silent as her own shadow...like promised, but far less wanted.
Autumn walked a bit further, letting the trail curve gently ahead... the she turned back at them... sharp... .
"I am going to lose you eventually, you know. Just warning you. Might be now, might be later. I am very sneaky.And I hate it when people tell me what to do! I take orders from nobody! Even if it’s my own father! My life...my rules and I live by that..."
Cerbs barked in agreement.
The guards stifled, exchanging worried glances but there was only so much they could do!
The path meandered lazily through tufts of ferns and low lying shrubs. Sunlight poured in like molasses through the tall trees, dappling the ground in shifting patterns. Autumn walked like she had all the time in the world (well, she did have at the moment...).
Her arms were still laced behind her back as she hummed something that sounded suspiciously like a tavern jig.
Behind her, the guards kept trudging dutifully...still stiff, alert, and very, very focused much to Autumn’s amusement.
Too focused, honestly.
Which meant...It was time for test number one.
Autumn slowed to a stop so suddenly, the younger guard almost collided with her.
"Wait," she whispered, staring at a patch of moss with wild eyed seriousness. "Did you hear that?"
Both guards froze.
"Where?" the older one murmured, hand flying to his hilt.
"Shh!" she hissed dramatically, crouching low. "It came from there. No...there!"
She pointed randomly at a tree root.
Cerbs tilted his head.
The guards immediately flanked her, eyes sweeping the underbrush.
She waited two beats.
Then stood up casually. "Oh never mind. Might have been a frog."
She beamed at them, clasped her hands, and continued walking like nothing happened.
The older guard’s jaw tightened.
The younger one looked like he regretted being born but carried on.
Autumn giggled under her breath, twirling a leaf between her fingers.
But just a minute later...
"Cerbs," she whispered theatrically. "Did you smell something?"
Cerbs barked. Loudly.
It was enough.
The guards snapped to attention again, reaching for their blades like actors in a badly rehearsed play.
"I think... we are being watched," Autumn said solemnly, eyes narrowed. "I have excellent intuition, you know. My instincts are like my father’s..."
The younger one squinted into the trees.
The older one muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "By the moon..."
"Wait...nope!" Autumn chirped. "It’s just a squirrel. Carry on!"
Cerbs sneezed again, as if on cue.
"False alarm!" she sang over her shoulder, clearly enjoying herself far too much.
By now, both guards looked like they were silently negotiating with fate.
"We are going to give them mental ulcers," she whispered to Cerbs, who wagged his tail in approval.
Ahhh!!! This was getting more and more interesting... Autumn rubbed her hands...
She stopped abruptly again, cocked her head, and whispered, "Did you feel that?"
This time the guards didn’t even pretend to care.
The older one just sighed audibly and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Autumn turned and grinned. "You are catching on! See, this is character development!"
The younger one gave her a tight lipped smile that screamed, "Please. Stop, Your Majesty! " Poor guy, couldn’t even say it out loud!! Autumn kind of felt sorry for them... Well, not!
As they reached a bend where thick ferns grew high and the trees leaned in like gossiping old women, Autumn’s smile faded.
Her pace slowed just enough.
She whispered down to Cerbs, "Ready?"
Cerbs wagged once.
Autumn stopped, suddenly lifting her arms...like a seer.
"Wait... do you smell smoke?" she said, eyes closed, voice hushed.
The older guard did not flinch this time. "No." He gave a straight answer.
"I do," the younger one said, visibly panicked.
The older one shot him a look. "That’s probably because your brain is melting."
"No, I really...!"
Indeed, the poor guy’s back was on fire... Evil Autumn and her devil son Cerbs... they didn’t even think what Thorgar would do to those poor guys.
At Autumn’s instruction, Cerbs had obediently shot fire at the younger guard’s buttock!!!
" Damn! Your butt!!! "
The older guard patted down the younger one’s booty cheeks!
" Ayo! Aooo!! " It took a few seconds to get the situation under control!
And by the time they looked back,Autumn was gone.
Vanished.
The bushes behind them rustled once...Cerbs’ barking faded into the trees like an echo.
"GODS DAMN IT," the older guard cursed, spinning around. "Did she just...?!"
"She pulled an escape, setting my butt on fire!Damn it! Alpha’s going to roast us alive! " the younger one shouted, scrambling towards the underbrush.
"The hound led her that way!"
"I don’t care what the mutt did, we lost the whole Princess!We need to get her back...our lives depend on that! " They darted towards where they heard Cerbs bark...
A moment passed...Then two... and then...
Back where the guards had been standing moments before...beside the ferns...Autumn pressed her back to a mossy stone and stifled a laugh with both hands.
"Cerbs..." she whispered, "You are a genius."
The hound sat down beside her proudly, panting like a champion as she patted him for the job well done. They had successfully sent them off trail.
"Now we run," she grinned, pointing in the opposite direction.