She rushed forward, as fast as she managed to move without losing stealth. She could not go South east and to her west was still the rock wall.. But she soon lost the wall that made a square corner turn towards the west. She reached a vast clearing,where rare, contorted trees spread among big rocks were offering less hiding. In front of her, on the horizon, the crumbled walls of an old keep were drawing their phantasmagoric shape against the night’s sky. It could only be Dar Gazat, there was no other keep on that part of the maps, and that meant she walked right into the enemy’s second most important lair in the area. Fires from inside the walls were casting pale light to the taller walls that were still standing making it into an impressive decor and telling of the troops inhabiting it. Such size of fires were the type the trolls preferred and such light against a tall rock would tell, in the Trollshaws, to any sensible traveler to move away, with speed and stealth.
To her right, where the rock wall that she followed made its sharp turn, she could see far in the distance fires as well, small in the distance but many enough to discourage her. Besides, why would she go west, further even from the frontline held by the free people, if she could avoid it? To her left, now still at a safe distance, she also could see fires and crude tents, but they were still closer than the fires to her right. The elf had little options, and once the cover of the night would vanish so would her chances of remaining unseen.
She made her choice based only on the number of fires that were adding a risk of hidden eyes skiing her moving against their light, eyes that would be guarding instead of sleeping the night’s sleep. She made a detour to her right and continued to sneak, making her small frame even smaller behind the rocks. She felt again closer to the presence and smell of wargs, another camp was for sure to her right, maybe there was a cave in the rock wall or was it that wooden gate-like structure that she saw more far ahead. The way the land was beaten into a road by countless feet walking showed this place was the corossing of many intense use roads, and that meant even more urgency of getting out of there, and fast.
The rock she was hiding beneath, tall and of a stranger shape, felt more smooth to the touch and she looked up. It looked like a troll silhouette, and the unusual opening at its base, making the rock look like it was standing on two huge, bulky feet suddenly made more sense and she could not stop from shivering. Why would that troll be idiot enough to be caught by sunlight so close to the safety of caves and encampment. Or was this a punishment for cowardice among the ranks of the enemy, a reminder to others? She dismissed the thought that her hiding used to breathe some time ago before it made her sick.
She was getting closer to Dar Gazat now. She could see the opening of a cave or tunnel dig into a rock, but an armored troll was guarding it and he was moving. Behind that there was a big gate
Of the keep, atop a tiny slope with fires and tents to its sides. She could not sneak by there, the guarding was way too heavy and the roads too well lit by the fires.She headed strength east, even though some fires in the distance were telling she is not getting out of the line of encampments. Wargs again, their smell near, but no movement. She was definitely in luck and none woke up. Closer to the fires she saw a patrol. Two armored orcs walking bored some perimeter of their tent and fire. They did not pay enough attention to notice the change of shape of a rock, and the huntress even stopped breathing while they were the nearest. She moved again when they returned to their camp and their fire, joining their small company. A thin light on the horizon told her that she was running out of time, the cover of the night was to vanish soon, making her visible against the green of the grass. The road ahead was going slightly uphill and the trees were fewer and farther apart, but there was no other road she could take.
