Outracing the Flames RPG

[Nogrod]

They rode cautiously towards the blanket-covered thing, but had to soon leave their orientation to memory as they hit the lower ground of the grassland. The grass was so tall, they could only get an occasional glimpse of the the thing. Sythric was a bit ahead of the others at the right flank, his rider’s spear pointed forwards, every nerve directed to the imediate landscape ahead and around of them. Suddenly he stopped and raised his left hand, palm open. The others stopped too. Sythric was still for a moment, scanning the surroundings with his eyes only, not moving his head, not even breathing. Slowly he started to turn his head to left and right, looking for any signs of movement or unnaturally bended grass. His hand was still raised in the air, immovable.

Slowly and carefully Sythric made Thydrë to back a few steps. The thing was about 20 yards away from them now. He gave a fast glance to the right, as if he had seen or heard something, but then seemed to relax, lowered his hand and turned to the others. He addressed them in a low voice. “I managed to get a sight at the thing between some bent grass. That something under the blanket is a body, and it has not received it’s wounds but a very short while ago. The blood that has just a while ago run from under the blanket is still producing a faint vapour as it is warmer than the air around. And there’s lots of blood around the blanket too.” Sythric took a look at all the others, kind of thinking, how to word his grim forethoughts to them. For a moment he listened, with everyone else, to a blackbird giving a whistle somewhere to the south-west of them.

“In the grim instance, it might be one of our brave scouts, or then it might be a trap, made to us, or to them. Or with the worst scenario, it’s both of them: a body of our fellow and a trap to us. It’s so fresh a body, that I can’t imagine anyone other to have been going about in here, after them and before us. If they killed someone, why would they have covered him? Or why didn’t they come to tell us about this incident?” He paused again, but as Raedwald seemed to delve in his thoughts and was not saying anything, Sythric decided to finish his thoughts.

“This grass is so tall, it could hide almost anything, those mythical oliphants probably not included.” He tried to lighten the situation a bit, forcing a half-smile towards Eostre and Meghan, but clearly didn’t succeed in it – even though he himself was somewhat amused about the thought of an oliphant trying to hide in this grass here. “And so, if it’s a trap, we have been well sighted by now, anyhow. If there are someone waiting for us, they know to wait us, and most clearly know, where we are, and how many we are.” He tried to look somewhat comfortable, looking at Meghan and Eostre, but as he met Raedwald’s eyes, his expression was concerned enough for everyone to see quite openly his anxiety. Raedwald looked quite grim too, thoughtful.

Sythric had really had to fight against the urge to just rush on to the blanket-covered body, to see whether it was Osmod or Fion. Luckily I’m too cunning a war-horse to do that kind of reckless things... But how hard it is, everytime one really has to hold back one’s primal concerns and feelings! How near it was, that I just rushed to try and “save” Osmod or Fion from under the blanket, like a teenager worried about his mom being hurt? Remember, you are here to help these people from doing that kind of foolish things, so don’t you go tumbling into them yourself!

For a while it was quiet, everyone was just trying to hear and see anything out of the usual around. No-one dared to say anything. Should we just ride around that one, Raedwald and I, with some banging and noise made by the girls on top of it. If there are someone within the grasses, they might reveal themselves? The girls could shoot, we could charge... And we would be able to see, what there really is under that blanket in safety. But do I dare to see it?