-----Just below their position, quite a few yards away, Sol can see the four scouts keeping a watch on the village below.
-----Sol sighed inwardly, realizing it could be a while yet before the scouts returned. He looked over at Pil, and motioned the man back. Carefully, the Gorian headed back to where the horses were and remounted. Thunder then started the journey back to where the rest of the party remained.
-----Sol and Pil now ride back down the hill in shadowed dusk as they down the eastern side of the hill. As they go, they notice the four horses belonging to the four scouts.
-----As they reach the foot of the hill, a few stars are seen in the eastern sky as the sun sets behind them. With the sunlight continuing to diminish with the twilight, Sol heads for the spot where he left the rest of the party.
-----Sol can tell that Pil slows his horse somewhat, leery of riding at full gallop across the darkening plain.
-----As they go, Sol gets the strange notion of looking behind them. In the distance to the west, Sol can tell there are four riders descending the hill riding in the direction that he and Pil are going in. Whether it is the four scouts is unclear.
-----Sol continues to ride back to where Pil and he left Lovan and the others. He was not overly concerned at who the following four were.
-----About an hour later, Sol finds the others gathered together in the deep twilight of the evening. Within moments, they hear the rumble of approaching horses. Soon Raven, Rinda, Whisper and Garrison ride in and quickly dismount. They relay to the others pretty much what Sol had seen of the village on the other side of the hill.
-----“They send a wagon out of the village toward the west every hour or so,” Garrison said. “We wondered if that would be the direction toward the town where they could be imprisoning the people.”
-----“That would be in the direction of Kulendra,” added Jyan urgently.
-----“Whisper had the idea of all of us circling around the village and ambushing a few slave wagons on that western road,” continued Garrison. He then looked at Sol to see his reaction.
-----Raven nods, "Ambush sounds good. Every slave we free will weaken our enemies and aid these poor people. I'm for a few ambushes."
-----Sol looked oddly calm as he faced the scouts. Sol paused his reply to Garrison's question as Raven added his own opinion. To the hunter's willingness to free slaves, he nodded, "Aiding th' people is all well an' good, an' if we keep what we take in tact, we may find we have a way into Kulendra itself. How many guards did these caravans usually have?"
-----“It looked like there were about forty guards for the five wagons that left the village,” Garrison answers. “I noticed that one group of wagons would carry women and children, while the next would be carrying more able-bodied men. They tended to reorganize the families in this little village,” he adds as he points back toward the hill where beyond the village they scouted was. “You said it was called East Bend?” the woodsman asks looking at Jyan.
-----The young mage silently nods and then adds, “It would sound as if the troops are separating the families from the stronger fathers so that there will be less resistance.” Jyan suddenly looks afflicted as if realizing what could be happening to his own family.
-----“If we do this, and I think we should,” Garrison then says, “I’d advise caution that no innocents are harmed, especially if we attack those bearing women and children.”
-----"Well, let's go ahead and try it then. It's a bit late t'head out now, so perhaps on th' morrow we can head out an' pick a decent place t'set up our ambush. Fer now, we should get what rest we can." Sol suggests amiably as before calmly breathing a couple of deep lungfuls of air.
-----Raven nods, "We should try to free the men from their wagon. They can help free their families." Raven looks toward the direction the slavers are heading, "We could follow until they make camp and hit them while they sleep."
-----"When did th' latest batch o' wagons leave fer Kulendra?" Sol asks Raven before turning to Jyan and asking the mage a separate question, "How long is th' journey t'Ku by wagon, roughly?"
-----The young mage takes a few moments to think and then responses, “Kulendra would be about 15 miles up the river. Some of the wagons probably will need to camp along the way.”
-----A certain kind of relief and anticipation had stolen over Whisper in the last few moments. Having had reticence forced upon him, and then having lived mostly for and by himself, he found discourse a trial.