Ernest had seen no one for three days. She was following directions from the leader of a band of troopers she had met it the forest - "Follow the dirt roads, the fallen trees, eventually you will find it." Well, she was on a dirt road, and there were plenty of fallen trees, but she felt like she was missing something, like there was a deeper hint somewhere in there. She shrugged, keeping on the path.
It was a strange turn of events that had led her here - being kidnapped, escaping, and then slowly becoming friends with the troopers she couldn't seem to get rid of. She still wasn't sure what all she thought of them. They were not like most other people she had met. 
Sighing, she crested the latest hill. It was nearly dark, and she thought she saw torches ahead of her. They were far ahead, but she thought, if they didn't move, she might catch up to them in a day or so. If she was being honest with herself, she would have said she just wanted to see people again. Ernest had never been so alone.
Well, she decided, no rest for the weary. She set off toward the group of torches, not noticing the shadow that followed her through the darkness.

The torches simply vanished. Why? Easy, the men had entered a brighter area, one where a torch would be useless, also it was risky since it could light a fire in all these woods. After all, it was a forest. Silanus and his few remaining soldiers from the accident of the Rainforest had finally found three mounted patrolmen, who, surprised to see their general, escorted him and his troopers into safety with haste.

Meanwhile, somebody was stalking Ernest, somebody who was not very happy with her visit. Moving through the shadows, unseen, a silent orc grabbed Ernest by her arm and put his hand-axe near her neck. Then he whispered: "Intruders in the Steppes are not welcome, pest. Why are you here? This place is no place for you at all!"

Things were never as easy as they appeared. It should have come as no surprise that it would not be a simple journey to where the torches were. Firstly, barely five minutes after she set off, the torches vanished. There was no discernible reason, at least as far as Ernest could see. They just vanished.
It was less than two minutes later when the orc grabbed her. "Intruders in the Steppes are not welcome, pest," it whispered. "Why are you here? This place is no place for you at all." 
"I am no intruder," said Ernest, hoping the creature would care. "I was invited."
The orc cackled. "Well," he said. "Seeing as you have no friends, no one will miss you when you vanish." 
Ernest knew he wasn't lying, but it didn't really surprise her when he didn't let her go. "I suppose that means you won't miss me either," she said. jerking her arm free with a twist. The creature tried to stab her with his hand-axe, but missed her neck, only hitting her shoulder. Ernest ran full force for the last place she had seen the torches, hearing many pairs of footsteps behind her.

Outraged by the girl's swift escape, the orc tried to throw his axe as a last attempt to end her life. However, his axe missed her again, hitting nothing but a tree next to Ernest. After that, the orc stopped pursuing her, for she was too fast.

It seemed that Ernest ran more than one would expect, because eventually she reached an outpost belonging to the Fratians. It was not very protected and had only 5 guards and a horse, with two small wooden barricades. The guards were quite surprised when they saw a running girl, escaping from… Something? Her shoulder wound was too notorious, so they immediately asked her to stop.

Two guards, curiously dressed with the same exact armor the soldiers that captured Ernest had, approached her. One of them, who had his hand stretched indicating her to halt, said: "Who injured you? I don't see anybody… were you assaulted, outsider?" The other man, who seemed to be indifferent by her condition, asked: "And why might you be here, approaching a city? Not everyone is allowed in Amiternum, home of Fratians… You're no merchant, nor an ambassador. Who are you?" 

The third guard, who seemed to be the one in charge, approached Ernest. It was notable that this captain was a woman, something not very common in the Fratian ranks. She softly placed her right hand on the girl's wound, then spoke to his guardsmen: "Bring something to stop the blood!" In merely one minute, Ernest's wound was stopped by a leather patch. The three soldiers, surrounding her, guided Ernest to their outpost: "You seem tired and agitated. What happened out there?" Asked the captain.

Ernest answered the last question first. "There was an orc stalking me. There might have been more, I don't know." She seemed to remember other forms in the shadows, but she wasn't sure. "As for 'who am I'," she continued, "my name is Ernest. You have probably never heard of me, but I was invited here by a general of yours. His name is Silanus - you've probably heard of him." She paused. "Thank you for helping me. I kind of… got lost." She didn't bother mentioning that she wasn't fully sure if she had ever been on the right track. It didn't seem worth it.
Whatever response the captain was about to give her was lost in a deep, reverberating horn call that echoed through the valley. Ernest turned, and, from where she was standing, could see roughly a dozen orcs scattered at the edge of the woods. She stared at the ground. There went her chances of making people like her. She was pretty sure this was her fault, one way or another.

Why would the orcs surround the well-known patrol outpost? They had an alliance with the Fratians… Well, most orcs and natives of the Steppes have, even if some weren't really happy with it. Of course, the guards un-sheated their swords and readied their shields, but how would they even stand a chance against dozen orcs?

Those were no elite soldiers, reason they guard a patrol outpost; the only decent fighter was the captain, but she and her patrolmen would never stand a chance ce against those orcs, so she decided to "negotiate" "Stay here, if one orc raises an axe, follow the road made of gravel, follow the sign!" The captain pointed at a sign. It had three arrows, one of them indicated a road which was supposed to lead to Amiternum, home of the Fratians. 

Acting calm, the captain walked towards them, hand ready to pull out her sword if necessary. When she was close enough, she spoke to them: "May I know the reason you were brought here, socii orcs? Would you like to solicit a meeting with Tacitus Silanus, or something?" One orc, the one with the thickest armor stepped towards her and replied: "No more outsiders. Your city has enough of them, this shit keeps going more outsiders than orcs there will be here. Kill her, give her to us." (Socii means member in latin, a position which meant the member was independent, but still served under the military if he was ordered to.)

All the soldiers looked back at Ernest. They would have agreed and handed her over, however the captain knew that if their "dictator" Silanus invited her, she must have been alive. "I must refuse." Said the captain. "She is needed alive, by order of Tacitus Silanus." Before she could finish, one orc threw an axe at her, which pierced through her helmet and, of course, stuck in her skull. She fell to the ground, dead, while the rest of the soldiers charged into a hopeless battle. The orcs raised their weapons, which meant that there would be death.

Ernest stared at the scene in front of her. In a matter of moments, this had gone from one stalking orc to a battleground. She stood on the edge of the fight, watching, unsure if she could help, or do anything at all, really. Ernest wasn't a fighter. She never had been. But she couldn't let innocent people die to protect her. 
Her fingers twitched with anger. She was so… helpless. Then, for a moment, she stopped. She wasn't quite helpless. She could use magic, couldn't she? She had never done something of this magnitude, but there seemed no other option. Desperate times call for desperate measures. She didn't know what exactly she could do, but she pictured what she wanted - the orcs, flying through the air, landing… well, as far away as she could make them.
"Get back!" she hollered to the soldiers. Unable to wait to see if they heard, she reached for her magic and cast a spell. 
She collapsed suddenly, surprised at the sudden decrease in her strength. Gasping, she pulled herself to her feet and peered over the rim of the blockade, afraid of what she might see on the other side.

Everyone, be orc or man, turned to see Ernest, who was warning them about something. Naturally, when the Fratians saw her hands glowing some kind of white, they dropped to the ground and took cover. The orcs, on the other hand, ran towards her; if she was a danger, they would try to deal with her as fast as possible.

However, right before one orc could hit Ernest with his mace, she cast a spell which sent him, and all the other standing orcs around 12 meters away, quite a surprising attack! The Fratian soldiers, however, were barely moved, perhaps it was thanks to them being laying on the floor, or maybe there's another reason, who knows.

Orcs are relentless creatures, who preferred to die over fleeing, so once they got on their feet, they approached the border men once again. It seemed that it was not Ernest's fate to die here, as a barrage or crossbow bolts fall upon the barbarians. Not only that, but Tacitus Silanus himself had arrived, with his personal group of skirmishers, who were standing right behind Ernest and the border patrol. Another barrage of bolts was shot, this time finishing the other orcs. "Did I miss something?" Asked the general, sarcastically grinning. 

Ernest spun around at the sound of that voice. She recognized it. How could she not have? Silanus was… memorable. "Did I miss something?" he asked, grinning. Ernest studied him, a smile slowly breaking out across her face.
"Only an orc attack. Nothing much, really." She paused for breath and suddenly remembered the captain. "I'm afraid your captain didn't make it, however," she said sadly. 
"I'm sorry about the orcs. They followed me here." The words came out of her mouth before she thought, and it was only after a moment that she realized she truly was sorry. Apology didn't usually come naturally to her. "This may have been my fault. They don't like outsiders, apparently. That's why they attacked."
Suddenly realizing it might not be her place to speak about it, she added, "Sorry if I'm out of line. I thought I should tell you." Inwardly, she sighed. She didn't seem to be making a very good first impression upon most of the people.

Tacitus Silanus frowned, thinking about what Ernest nervously said. Orcs attacked her… It was clear! There was only one native tribe of orcs who disliked humans so much, the Breleks. "The Breleks, I imagine. They don't recognise this area as Fratian territory, and refuse to accept us as neighbours. They have finally found an excuse to turn hostile…" Said Silanus, his grin turning in an expression of sorrow when he gazed upon the dead captain.

"May your deeds be remembered, Marcia." Whispered the general; after that, he grabbed a spear from captain Marcia's corpse and, with a rapid movement, placed it in the ground, then he placed her helmet in the spear-head as a memorial. "Give her an honest funeral" said Silanus to his bodyguards. After that, while they carried her body to a pack horse, Silanus walked towards Ernest.

"Don't be sorry, they would have attacked anyways. She died as every Fratian wants to, in battle." With his hands, Silanus raised Ernest's chin, who seemed to be looking down, as if she was somewhat anxious. "Let's go to Amiternum, perhaps this time you shall find it without getting assaulted by any mad orc"  Said, removing his hand from her face. A confident smirk appeared on his face, hopefully his confidence would make Ernest feel less sorry. He wanted to make her know it wasn't her fault.

As they went towards the city in two different horses, both being guided by a professional chivalry man, they finally arrives to Amiternum. It was a beautiful city, it didn't cover as much space as a huge city, but it was definitely bigger than an average town. Around the entrance, 6 crucified dead men could be seen. Their bodies covered with blood and their legs with a little of their other body fluids. Walls of 9 meters tall and a large gate blocked their entry, of course they were opened immediately. Inside the city, a lot of light gray stone buildings could be seen, all of them were made with a different style that the ones most buildings had.

The city was antique fashioned, however for some reason, it gave a feeling of modernization and even art. Everyone had different clothing styles, even the poor plebeians! These tunics were truly unique. Fountains, statues, this city seemed different than most, even if it had some resemblance with the cities of the Other Continent, as the Fratians call it. They stopped on the main Street, both of them dismounting their horses. "It's a beauty, isn't it?" Asked Silanus, proud of Amiternum. "Welcome to Amiternum."