Once both boats were filled and all parties were prepared to paddle; the boats broke away from the shore and Pitt vanished into the woods. For the most part paddling was fairly easy save a few times when the boats crossed shallow cuts of water that forced the crew to work extra hard to force the keel across the bed of the creek. The creek itself was about 15 metres wide and on both sides it was covered with ominous, thick forest. The waters of the creek were a heavy, brown, muddy colour which kept the crews of the vessels from seeing the bottom of the creek which in turn forced both sail-canoes to move gradually and deliberately for a little over two hours. Eventually though the boats passed a tributary which not only served to clear the water of the murky creek but speed up the water flow as well. Gonye and his men at this point began to relax, leaving the boats to drift towards their ultimate destination, the river that splits the east from the west.

Nero followed Gonye's lead and took to resting once they had hit rapid waters, the two mercenaries in the boat stayed cautiously alert though they refrained from paddling at this point as well. It wasn't long after this point that both boats hit the open waters of the river which seemed so wide that the opposite bank was barely visible.

"Drop sails!" The sails on the first boat, Gonye's boat, dropped hard from the small mast positioned at the center of the canoe before immediately catching wind and power on. The mercenary at the back of Nero's boat leaned to the side to look ahead at the mast. "Ey, you near the front!" the mercenary shouted as Nero turned to meet his call. "Pull on the rope right behind you to release the sail." Nero quickly and clumsily fumbled with the rope for some time before successfully releasing the sail allowing their boat to pull along side Gonye's. Gonye leaned from the side of his boat to be within shouting distance of the group's boat before bellowing out an order against the the sound of the wind and water. "We'll be across the river in less than an hour! We'll have to make quick to move inland and begin our little journey. Though we're going to have to split into groups once we make it to our first destination and I want two of yins in my group." pausing for a moment to catch his breath he began once more. "I don't care who it is, but decide which two of yins are comin' with me!"

Lucia was pleased when they were told to stop paddling, the amount of effort required for one to paddle was beyond the normal exertion she normally put her arms through. She supposed it was a different part of her fingers and thumbs that had been strengthened as a result of her weaving. As the sails dropped and caught the wind, the boat began to pick up speed, and her hair blew in the wind. She turned her attention to Gonye who was telling them that they needed to do. She was unsure of why Gonye needed to split up their group, but seeing as she expected the gypsies to want to stay together, and Nero and Khast had arrived together, it wouldn't disturb too much of the group if she went along with Gonye.

"I guess I'll go" she said lightly in a positive manner.

Naturally since Lucia had volunteered to go with Gonye Nero figured he would volunteer as well. After all she was the only one in the group he had almost complete faith in. Sadly before he could even raise his voice Gonye began shouting once more. "Alright then! If yer comin' with my party then I'm takin' him!" Gonye's finger shot up in a pointing gesture towards Erratus. "So the gypsies and the boy are goin' to find Kariya and you two are goin' with me to Genneberg, aye?"

Nero's heart sank as he returned to his seat. It shouldn't have been so disappointing for him to be grouped away from Lucia but for some reason he couldn't help but be a little upset.


"Kariya?" Nadya seemed irritated once more by Gonye and Pitt's dealings. "Just who is this Kariya? And better yet why do we need to find him?"


"He's our contact with Ostarius, and you'll be the ones lookin' for 'em because I don't need all of yins together at Gennenberg!" Gonye barked before turning his back to Nadya. "These orders are final." He sharply added before leaning forward to inspect the coast which was just coming into view through the light morning fog on the slow moving river.

Talaitha inconspicuously sighed in relief when it was determined she would be with Nadya. She was not ready to be separated from her just yet, mostly because she felt she could trust her elder and she could teach her more along the way. She could care less about Nero coming along, and she was sure he would avoid conversation, seeing how he seemed aloof. Of course, they were both detached from the group as well, and perhaps Nero would try to bridge that gap eventually.

However, she was confused as to what they were to accomplish and turned to Gonye to ask a final question.
"How are we even supposed to find this man? You've given us no directions or things to look for," she prodded, annoyed.

Erratus shrugged as Gonye called him forward, moving over to him without so much as a word. The others' guesses as to what was waiting for them on the opposite bank was as good as his, and it really didn't matter to him in the least who he was traveling with.

Lucia looked back at Nero, who seemed to be dejected that he and her wouldn't be able to work together. In an attempt to reassure him that things would be alright she smiled at him, as if to say "see you soon". She briefly wondered what would be waiting for them once they reached Gennenberg.

"I was gettin' to that!" Gonye snapped almost immediately in response to Talaitha's questioning. "Two of my men are going with ya' down south to look for Kariya. They'll be able to guide you to where we last had contact with him but you'll have to fan out and search the area for 'em." Upon completing his snapping rant Gonye took a moment to compose himself as he eyed the shore which was hastily approaching. With a quick motion the men on the back of both boats dropped an anchor like device that brought both boats to a steady decline in speed before their bows slid against the sandy shores of the Gennenberg province.

Exiting the mid section of the canoe Nero trudged through about half a metre of water before making it ashore. This side of the river seemed much more overgrown than the other. There appeared to be no path off the beach head save for bush whacking and to make matters worst it seemed impossible to just follow the coast as the water levels were slowly rising. "You landed us in a swamp.." Nero muttered coldly turning to Gonye who seemed far too busy unloading bundled up equipment from the boats. Nadya, who had also taken notice of their situation immediately charged towards Gonye and pushed herself into his view.

"So, will we be cutting through the dense forest all day? Or perhaps swimming was the idea?" Gonye seemed irritated by Nadya's clear lack of patience for his landing position but he refrained from even responding to here hyper-critical 'nagging'. Instead he made quick to divide the group in two, four mercenaries, Erratus, Lucia, and himself in one party and two mercenaries, Nadya, Nero and Talaitha in the other.

"Now, we'll be cutting through the forest until we reach a path that shouldn't be too far away from this very location. Your group, my dear gypsy, will be moving as fast as possible down the coast before the river's tidal cycle peaks." While Gonye was giving instruction the four men which he allocated to his group began their work of cutting a path through the dense forest, and in fact they were making quite good work. "You best hurry now, if you don't make it you'll be swimming." Without a seconds warning the two mercenary-guides scrambled back to the boats grabbed a set of scrolls and motioned for their group to follow. "You heard the man! We don't have much time!" sprinting down the coast through a shallow stream of water the mercenaries made sure that they would not be forced to swim. Seeing this incredible display of human will and generally being frustrated once more with Gonye's attitude Nero followed the men. Nadya remained behind for a moment to watch, but eventually grabbed for Talaitha and took off with her younger kin in tow.

Pleased to see the other group vacate the premise Gonye nudged Erratus gently to catch his attention. "See if ya' can't muscle one of those boats up on shore a bit, we need to keep 'em from gettin' caught in the tide." Gonye himself made for one of the boats and began to pull the canoe through the dirt and sand that made up much of the river shore.

Erratus gave the least sincere solute possible and proceeded to do as the man said. Heavy lifting wasn't exactly his forte, but pulling a boat ashore would be a simple task.

When Gonye finished dragging his canoe ashore he immediately shifted to Erratus' side and helped him pull his boat up the sand and mud mess that made up the river side.
"Hey, listen up." Gonye leaned in close to Erratus and lowered his voice to a slight whisper. "I have a favor to ask of ya, and it's a big one." turning his head Gonye quickly checked on his men's progress and Lucia before continuing on. "Ya see, you're not like the others in your group are ya'? You're untrusting, ya do whatever you need to do to survive, and ya don't hold any strong morals. You're the classic lone wolf and that's why I picked ya to come with us. See, I need someone like you to help me get what I'm lookin' for in Gennenberg mostly 'cause it won't be some cake walk gettin' in and around the city because it's been overrun by those husks and Ostarius' men. But, with a little bit of kidnapping we could clear the whole ordeal up and use Ostarius' men to clear a path for us" A small grin glanced Gonye's face has he continued to explain his plan to Erratus. "According to a very reliable source there's a girl locked away in a ruined tower in Genneberg. From what I've heard Ostarius won't harm the girl and doesn't want her harmed he just wants to keep her locked away. So if we can get into the tower and rescue the girl we could use her to clear a path to the center of the city. The only problem is we know the girl won't cooperate with us and so the next best thing is to kidnap her. You don't seem to be much of a fighter and my men and I are going to have to give it our all to hold the entrance of the tower once we get inside so naturally that would leave you to secure the girl for us. So, how about it? Would you be willing to tie and gag our little damsel in distress so that we could complete our mission?"

Under normal circumstances, Erratus would have no problem tying or gagging anyone for any reason. But this time was different. This time, it was Gonye asking him to do it. Gonye was right about one thing. The nomad wasn't trusting, not in the least. However, he trusted Nero and the others far more than this manipulative mercenary at this point.
How courteous of him to offer to risk his life and the life of his men solely so that we can reach Ostarius to find a cure. He thought with bitter cynicism. He knew full well that Gonye wouldn't do something like that unless he had something to gain from it.
"It must be convenient to have us at such a disadvantage." Erratus responded. "Thank you, at any rate, for giving me the pretense of a choice. I'll do it." He finished.
The nomad only wished that he could dig up more information on the mercenary's plans. Who had been his "reliable source" for the information on the girl?

"I'm glad you see things my way but there's just one more thing I need from you. Keep this whole matter to yourself, don't mention it to your companion. I'm certain she'll object to the idea of a kidnapping and we really can't spend the time dealing with any kind of objection." While awaiting a response from Erratus a barely audible voice shouted from deep within the forest. "We've cleared a way sir! We found the path!" Gonye turned instantly upon hearing the news and quickly made way for the opening his men had cut. "I trust you'll make the right decision!" he called out before passing Lucia. "Come on now, we've got to reach the city before dark!" he shouted once more before vanishing down the narrow path that had been cleared.

Diving through the thicket while being tugged along by Nadya, Talaitha wondered why they were still with Gonye at this point in time. His explanation that they had a chance of being discovered and arrested as escaped fugitives if they left made no sense considering that Gonye was taking two of them directly into one of the largest cities in the area. If what he said was true, then it would be stupid to even think about walking outside the city walls.

"Nadya," she called, "what do you make of all this? Does this feel shady to you at all?"

"Of course it does!" Nadya called back to Talaitha as she continued to run through the filth and muck of the river. "But we don't have any choice! If we run away to the west there's a great chance of us being caught by the army and an even greater chance of turning into a walking corpse. Why? What's on your mind" Talaitha was beginning to tire and was running out of breath. Regardless she continued to power on as she noticed the water level was indeed rising. Where the water had once been at her ankles it had soon risen just above her shins.

"How much further!" Nero called out to the mercenaries ahead of him who were obviously struggling to run with both their light armour and equipment on. "Not... not much. There's some coast right up there." a breathless mercenary responded while inspecting a map. For a little while longer the group trudged through the river until they reached the shore, by then the water had risen to well over their knees. Each of the mercenaries quickly tossed themselves upon the ground to catch their breath. Meanwhile Nero attempted to dry out his trousers while inspecting his bag to make sure nothing inside got waterlogged. Nadya simply trudged away further onto a hill where she sat away from the wet, muddy shore. The new shore the group found was much more open then the last, there was no forest for miles and the area seemed to be completely composed of hills and grass.

_____

"Good show, good show!" Gonye called out as he exited the path his men cut through the forest. For the most part the path was fairly small and sloppily cut but it got the job done if even a fairly large man like Gonye was able to pass through. Once the whole group collected on the other side Gonye quickly pulled for a map on his back and began charting their route. The area the mercenaries cut into was a less-dense-but-still-fairly-dense forest which was filled with tall oaks and pines which formed a great canopy far above that blocked out the sun. For some time the group remained in the new area Gonye's men had cut into as Gonye himself continued to toy with his map. "Hey, uh" Gonye directed himself toward Erratus, he seemed lost for words. "Khast! That's it forgive me I'm terrible with names. I've got word that you're plenty good at climbin'." Gonye gave a keen smile as he backed himself against a tree. "Think ya' could climb one of these buggers for me and see if ya' can spot a city, or a way out? And you..." directing himself to Lucia, he approached the girl carefully. "You know magic right? Just how much can ya' do?"

Erratus didn't bother responding, instead promptly making his way up the nearest tree. Once or twice, he had to jump onto a different one because it wasn't high enough, but once he reached the top, he saw the thick canopy of trees spreading out for quite some distance on either side. It was much shorter from the shoreline to the opposite treeline, however. From his perch, the nomad couldn't see anything that looked like a city just yet, but he did spy a large clearing just to their left. If they cut through it, it would be a much quicker journey to the forest edge. With that out of the way, he began shimmying his way back down the tree to report his findings.

Lucia had remained at the sidelines throughout most of the ordeal until they began hacking through the brush. She wasn't entire sure what she was supposed to be doing, so she found herself in the way rather than an actual aid to anyone in her vicinity. She followed passively, keeping behind so that no one was hindered from what they were doing until she was approached by Gonye.

"You know magic right? Just how much can ya' do?"

"Umm yes, yes I do" she replied, unsure of whether she looked magical, then she reminded herself that her silver bangs made it fairly obvious that she could practice some sort of magic. "I can do however much I need...at least I think I can"