Into the Forest

"Acolyte, thank you for bringing them here. You are dismissed."

The man gestured for the Acolyte to leave, and he quickly turned and disappeared into the shadows.

"Zaiyah - if you can behave yourself, you may stay. To the rest of you, please follow me. And you..." He glanced at Lilith. "We will speak later, once we have reached a safe place for you to stay tonight."

The man walked towards the front of the group, and Zaiyah followed closely behind him. He held up his hand with his palm facing up as he walked, and a little flicker of light appeared as if he was holding it. It grew steadily, lighting up the pitch black trail by emanating ghostly rays of light so the group behind him could at least see where they were walking.

Lilith followed behind him without a word more on the topic. Her eyes fixed on the women whom had come before him. She seemed to be studying her, anticipating her every movement so that she may not have a chance to lash out.

Zaiyah watched the outsiders closely, but made no attempt to speak with them, bother them, or threaten them at all aside from the occasional nasty glare in their direction.

The man who was guiding them now moved more slowly and with a calmer, more dignified presence.

"We will reach a clearing soon. We have no formal place for guests to stay, but I hope our accomodations will suit you for the night."

If they looked closely, Lilith, Armando, and the dust men would be able to see the same glyphs etched into the trees that Zelinda saw. The tiny wooden dolls were everywhere, very discreetly woven into the brush and the limbs of the trees. The forest seemed to move and breathe along with the strange figure they were following down the twisting trails.

Armando would walk along with them and glance at the sigils finding them very interesting "Whatever accomodations you can give will be fine...I have a questions, if you want to answer, what significance do these sigils have?"

Lilith seemed uninterested in the glyphs but backed Armando in his inquiry.
"The glyphs seem out of place amongst the trees, tell me what would the purpose for these be?"

"These designs are symbols of our people - they are a writing, of sorts. Like runes. Some of them are signs, some of them are wards, some of them are glyphs or sigils. They mean different things, depending on their design and how they are carved. And, of course, they have multiple purposes."

The man would pause by a tree with a sigil etched into the bark.

"Any other questions?"

Armando would shake his head "No im....im good." Then he would notice a doll. "Actually, those wooden dolls....what about those?"

"My apologies. I cannot speak of those figures to anyone outside of my brethren."

Zaiya smirked at the man's response.

The light glowing from the man's hand illuminated parts of the tree limbs and the treetops. It looked as if there were hundreds of the tiny wooden dolls hanging down or woven into the branches of the trees - as they went further into the forest, there were even more of them.

Armando nodded and saw her smirk. He would glance at her letting the red visor light shine at certain vital points on her body letting her know 'smirk again. you've already pissed me off' then he looked away making any claim she might make completely un supportable.

The group would hear a few voices in the distance. After about half an hour, the trail started to get slightly wider, as if it was leading into a larger area.

In front of them, the trail opened up into a small clearing. There were a few signs of movement in the darkness, and a few torches staked into the ground shone light on what looked like a few wooden buildings nestled close together in the trees.

Armando would look around "Is this where you live? Or our accomadations?"

Lilith was uninterested in the "accommodation" for the night. She seemed more concerned about the "power source" the figure had mentioned.
"Tell me, when would it be appropriate to speak more about this...power source you mentioned?"

The man would lead the others closer into what looked like a tiny little village, made up of a few salvaged huts and shacks. Some people watched from the darkness, speaking in hushed whispers amongst each other after they had come outside to see what had happened...and why there were outsiders in the woods.

"This isn't where I live, but it will be a suitable place for you to stay tonight. It is safe here. And we will be able to speak of the power source whenever you would like after everyone has had the chance to get settled in."

He turned to Zaiya.

"Go and prepare a few of the huts. Tell everyone that we are having some...guests tonight."

Zaiya nodded obediently, but sneered and muttered under her breath while she walked off towards the village.

Armando nodded and smiled "Thank you. You are very kind for letting us stay here for the night." The dustmen would load off the tankers which were now parked, their weapons wouldn't be up or trained on anything, but you can tell they were holding them tight just in case.

Some of the people watching them from within the village were illuminated by the torchlight. There were a few Acolytes, as well as men and women dressed in clothing ranging from black leather outfits and scavenged clothes from before the Cataclysm to full-length Gothic-style cloaks and robes. Most of them had pale skin and dark hair. Even though the group of outsiders wouldn't be able to get a good look at the people in the village yet, none of them looked as inhuman as Zaiya or as foreboding and, unlike the Acolytes, they did not keep their faces covered constantly.

After speaking briefly with Zaiya, another Acolyte stepped forward from the village and bowed his head.

"Warden, we have been expecting you and our new guests. We will have rooms prepared shortly."

"Thank you, Acolyte."

The Warden led the group closer towards the village. An old, tall, mangled, wrought-iron fence that looked like it was scavenged from a graveyard surrounded the village. Its gates creaked quietly and menacingly.

"Please, come inside." The Warden stepped in and waited for the others to follow.

Lilith followed the warden through the gates and waited for the others to pass her. She stepped off to the side and faced the warden. She scanned him thoroughly, reading his movements.

The others would follow through. Armando would smile "Very nice place."

The Warden passed through the gates and waited for everyone else to walk through.

"This is an outpost...but we will have enough room for you."

Lilith might notice that the Warden's every movement was extremely calm, graceful, and calculated - as if he was hardly human. It would be impossible to see his face under his hood.

After returning from speaking to a few Acolytes and other people, Zaiya walked back over reluctantly.

"So...what brings you into our forest?"

Armando looked at her smiling and said "Me and my men were just getting water for our people, it was getting late, and the man out there offered us a place to stay after we took his side in a disagreement."

Zaiya glared.

"I heard one of our Acolytes was shot at. I knew you were involved in that somehow..."

The man shook his head.

"Zaiya, calm yourself."

Armando kept smiling "Took your side. Not shot at you. Perhaps you should listen when other people try and explain themselves?"

"I don't care! If you outsiders wouldn't be lurking around my forest, none of this would've happened! Sickening..."

Zaiya felt the cold, harsh gaze of the Warden on her and stopped. She huffed under her breath and walked off to close the gate behind the last of the dust men as they walked into the outpost.

Lilith was growing tired of Zaiya's accusations but remained somewhat calm in the matter of speaking to the warden.
"I think you need to discipline her more than you have. She seems to be searching out trouble for your people, not helping them."

The man nodded sagely at Lilith.

"Wise words, indeed. Yes, it is unfortunate that some of our people have this manner of disposition - but one can hardly blame them in times like these. It is difficult to trust anyone."

Zaiya secured the gate behind her and left.

"I'll be out for the night. I can't be expected to stay here with these...things." She walked off and disappeared down the trail. The Warden made no acknowledgement of her leaving.

Armando turned and looked at the warden "Things? Oh comon i just have a visor instead of normal eyes is that to much?"