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"We'll see their campfires when we stop for the night, I guarantee it," Bee growled, staunchly struggling forward. "They've been right on my butt since the beginning. I'm barely keeping any lead."
Battledrum Hills (Closed, Stalkers More Than Welcome)
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"Ouch. You know what, Boss? Let's just follow the road, like we were planning. We'll find out how good your cloaking is sooner or later that way."
"Okay, yeah, sure," he said. "I mean, as long as they don't see us, we're all good."
"Then let's go," Bee said impatiently. "We're only losing time standing here."
~~~
General Gabriel Arc, commander of Bankport city's First Legion and Chief Military Advisor of the Western Region, stood at the edge of the hill and studied the landscape with a furrowed brow. He was tired, and his men were tired, and all of them were dusty and hungry and tired of their mission–but still it had to be completed. If they didn't find the fugitive criminal leader and bring her to Bankport City for trial, there would be consequences. And who knew what kind of chaos said criminal would spread if she remained free.
Gabriel sighed, spotting the scouting party on its way back to camp. He hailed the lead tracker and beckoned, hoping for a more conclusive report than usual.
The tracker looked even less enthusiastic than usual, trudging her way up the hill to stand next to him and tossing a metal contraption down at his feet.
Gabriel frowned down his nose at the unidentifiable object. "What is this?"
"Bear trap," she answered shortly. "The trail lead right to it. She's probably walking on a broken leg now, if at all."
"Ah! That's…..that's a good thing, right?" Gabriel studied the tracker's face uncertainly. "We'll catch up with her in no time, now."
the tracker grimaced.
"Well, about that," she said. "It lead there, and then…stops. There's no sign she ever left, but she sure as heck ain't there any more. We…lost her."
The tracker really, really didn't like to be the one to give the news that after several months of carefully planned tailing, trying to exhaust their prey until they could strike with ease, they'd lost track of her in the middle of the country, on perfectly trackable terrain.
Gabriel's expression darkened. "What do you mean, you lost her? We're probably almost on top of her right now! Go back out and keep looking."
The tracker shifted uncomfortably, but didn't move. "Sir, there is no trail," she said evenly. "If there was even the slightest blade of grass out of place, I would know it. She either wasn't there at all, or vanished. I'm sorry, but there's nothing the tracking team can do. If you want my recommendation, Sir, you know her best. If you think you know what her next move might be, you should prepare accordingly."
Gabriel remained silent for a minute, his mouth a tight, angry line. After a moment, he nodded shortly. "Fine. you're dismissed. I'll think it over and make a decision in the morning. Have the sentries on double-watch tonight just in case, and I want you up at dawn as usual in case I need you."
"Yes, Sir," she said, saluting and retreating quickly back down the hill. After only a few moment, another woman came to stand in her place.
"I heard what happened," Michael said, her tone only expressing mild interest. "Do you have a plan?"
Gabriel gave her a vague, annoyed wave of his hand. "She can't have gotten far. She's a cunning one, yes, but we knew that already, and we have her literally on her last leg. We just have to be patient and steadfast. Sooner or later, she'll make a mistake. That's when we strike."
He spoke using his Speech Voice to distract from the truth–that he did not, in fact, have a concrete plan. But that could be figured out later. Right now, he just wanted to sleep.
"Leave it to me," he said with a stiff smile. "I'll keep you posted."
Michael raised her eyebrow sceptically.
"As your sister, I'll be kind enough to pretend to believe you," she said dryly. "But you said it yourself. She's cunning. If we're not careful, she's be around us and we'll be carrying on this merry chase back the way we came. I suggest we spread out our troops, make a wall of sorts. Something she'll struggle to slip past. The sooner the better too. If we were this close to her, she might be already escaping." She shrugged. "But it's up to you of course, dear general."
Gabriel let out an irritated breath. "Your suggestions will be considered. Now why don't we both go and respectively get some rest before dawn comes? Tomorrow may be the day when this ridiculous chase finally comes to an end, and we'll have to be in top form if that's the case."
Michael gave a neutral humm, but knew when to let a matter rest. "Let's just hope we catch her before she gets all the way back to where she started," was her last comment before retreating down the hill to the troops, leaving Gabriel to stand and contemplate.
Gabriel watched her go, then shook his head and turned to watch the last light fade from the sky.
((back to the others now?))
(Yep! ^^)
Bee had long since fallen silent. Her leg was in agony, and with every step she swore she could feel it shift slightly. She had stopped trying to walk on her own either, leaning heavily on Indy, Boss leading the way and muttering to himself.
Indy was getting tired as well. She could keep walking for hours in normal conditions, but not when she was half-dragging a full-grown woman along with her. And the increasing volume of her rumbling stomach didn't help things either.
"Hey Boss," she called after a minute. "We might have to stop and rest for a bit. See any good camping spots up ahead, by chance?"
"Uh, sure," Boss said, stopping on another hill and scanning the horizon. "We could go down there," he suggested. "It looks like something that we could take shelter in."
He gestured down the hill and across on old, barely recognizable road towards a tangle of tall grass, trees and solid wooden fencing.
"It's a little ways away, but I think it's our best bet."
Bee's heart sank as she saw how far she would have to walk, but she didn't say a word. She wasn't about to complain.
"Aight. Just gimme a sec to breathe here." Indy straightened up with a wince, rolling the stiffness out of her shoulders and resting for a minute before glancing back at Bee. "Okay, ready?"
Bee nodded determinedly. She straightened as best she could and set off without Indy, no longer even trying to disguise her limp, staggering down the hill. Boss hovered beside her, scared she would fall.
Indy sighed and trudged after them. "Hey Bee, you don't happen to have any food on you, by chance?"
"No," came the brusque answer. Bee didn't want to expend any more focus than she had to, it was getting hard enough to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Boss glanced back at Indy with a gesture of helpless uncertainty, making all sorts of subtle movements that could eventually be read to say Help. Help. Help. Injured person. Scary injured person. Help.
Indy rolled her eyes and caught up to them, giving Boss a quick hug before slinging Bee's arm over her shoulder. "C'mon, we're almost there. We can find something to eat in the morning if we have to."
(What time is it lol How long has it been since Gabe to now? I'm imagining that by the time he caught up with her, it'd been a few hours, and then maybe it's about midday?)
They made it to the tangle of long grasses eventually. Bee collapsed as soon as she could, trying to catch her breath and closing her eyes, trying to ignore the throbbing in her leg.
"Do we have any food left over at all?" Boss muttered to Indy, digging through his bag. "Any emergency rations? She really needs something."
(lol I was actually thinking it might be twilight-ish atm, and Boss/Indy/Bee are finding shelter at about the same time as Gabe and Michael are talking?? But in much different locations. Idk, is that what you were asking?)
"I've always got something," Indy reminded him, checking the dark ground for rock or rusty metal before she sat down. Taking off her backpack, she rummaged in a side pocket and pulled out a tightly-wrapped bundle of cloth. "There's a dry soup mix in here. It's pretty basic, but filling. Think we can risk a fire? If not, I think we could eat this stuff raw, but it wouldn't be very pleasant."
(well, that's what I was thinking, until I remembered it was literally first thing in the morning for Indy/Boss when they found Bee? And Gabe's bois weren't too far behind her, which is why she was so frantic to get out, AND I don't think she could physically walk that long on a broken leg w/out a rest lol But yeah, this sheler finding should be about the same time as Gabe and Micheal were talking.)
(Okay fair point XD I guess it's high noon then, like you suggested heh)