Hollen didn"t know what to do and had no power to do anything. Even if he tracked down his tribe, it was very likely that this time the humans brought a powerful expert in order to pull off such a large heist. Seeing how this an orchestrated effort, they surely had plans to handle the likes of him. He was also unsure of how Rathe and the other gorillas would handle the situation, considering how all previous leaders were too selfish to go out of their way for a lowly tribe."Hollen," Rathe turned to Chief Hollen, bowing his head to him and speaking softly but surely, "we didn"t come here to show off my strength or force your tribe"s obedience so there"s no need to be scared for yourself or your tribe. We will find them, and we kill every last bandit for even thinking they could try this. My only hope is that they haven"t yet crossed the border. By the look of things here, the bandits must"ve taken them away about a day or two ago. I think we can still catch them."
Teardrops fell to the gra.s.s. Hollen began to kneel before Rathe, following the customs of tribal chiefs officially acknowledging their territory rulers, but Rathe stopped him and shook his head. Noticing Rathe"s sincerity, Hollen said, "Thank you, Master Rathe. The Thick-skin Stallion tribe will be forever in your debt."
The search continued for a few hours before everyone heard the far-off sound of a gorilla"s roar. All gorillas and Hollen took off for the location of the roar and gathered there within thirty minutes. Rathe stood in the center of everyone, ready to call the gorillas to action after rus.h.i.+ng to inspect the spot.
"Everyone, listen up! We have what we think was their camp. No one is sure of when they left but it was probably within two days" time. I estimate that this was their first camp after taking the stallion tribe away, which means that we"ll have to hurry if we don"t want them crossing the border," said Rathe.
"Actually, there is something that happened," the gorillas and Hollen turned to see Oli over fifty krin away and made their way to see what he was pointing at. Oli continued, "The gra.s.s here was pressed down in a strange way. Here, there"s a rectangular indent in the ground and starting there this patch of gra.s.s was almost uprooted. My guess is that something fell here and was dragged for a bit before finally stopping. And the spots of dirt that were pulled up awkwardly are still fresh and haven"t fully dried up."
Rathe picked up on Oli"s train of thought and said, "Which means that this must"ve been yesterday at the latest! There"s no way they can move faster than us while guarding the stallion tribe and since it was dragged that way, we know which way to find them. Alright everyone, let"s move out and catch up to those bandits!"
Rathe let out an earth-shattering roar, almost turning Oli deaf. Then, Rathe took off and led them towards the bandits, who were less than three thousand krin away.
* * * * *
ROOOOAAARRR!!!
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All the stallions stared back at where roar came from. The older stallions were startled, knowing that it wasn"t from a beast commonly found around the border. The stallion youths were confused, and the youngest stallions were a little scared, having never heard such a roar.
"Keep moving!" The guards whipped the stallions. The whips were specially made with metal bits sewn into the leather to handle Thick-skin Stallions, so they left bruises all over the adult stallions, as well as cuts on the younger stallions" softer skin.
"Hey! Who gave you all permission to stop, you d.a.m.n stallions!? Move it already!" Artio yelled, trying to hurry them along. He didn"t like the sound of that roar and it made Artio suspicious.
Though he was confident in himself and Brado, he still didn"t want a fight to break out if it were possible to avoid it. Their bandit group only had eight elders with them, and the rest were all novices or adepts that were hired as able bodies for the job. This was more than enough to handle the stallion tribe whose only elder was the chief, but he would still prefer to stay away from a fight if it were possible.
Suddenly, the stallion missing his tail began to tackle the side of the cage, not caring if the guards heard him. He failed to do anything to the cage, but the stallion was relentless and tried, again and again, to knock the cage over.
"Ha! You think that"ll work? Those three cages are designed to handle elder stage cultivators. Good luck breaking out!" Artio mocked them from the side.
The stallion paid Artio no attention and kept trying, applying more force as he went. Soon another caged stallion joined in. More laughter broke out from the mercenaries, but they nearly fell off their horses when they saw the third caged stallion joining in. All that was heard were continuous thuds as the stallions gave it their all.
"Hahaha! Didn"t I already tell you that it"s impossible, just give up!" Artio laughed.
Then, all three stallions jumped in unison towards the corner of the cages where the bars meet the roof of the cages. With their inertia causing all three cages to tip up slightly, the already warped and weakened floorboard under couldn"t hold the newly tipped weight and splintered.
"Hey! What are you—" yelled Artio as he realized what was happening, but he couldn"t get them to stop in time.
Once more, all three stallions repeated the same action, causing the floorboards to crack under the pressure and the cages to topple onto their sides. The tipped cages slammed into the unprepared wagon and crushed the rest of the floor, along with the wheel.
"HALT!" yelled Artio.
The company stopped and Brado rode to the back to question him. As he approached, he was baffled to see the three cages on their sides with the crushed wagon beneath them. "What the h.e.l.l happened!?"
"Brado, these three stallions started banging on the sides of the cages. But all of a sudden, the three together tipped the cages and destroyed the wagon in the process," Artio looked to Brado in disarray. "What do you want to do, Brado?"
"Kill them and move on," Brado"s words stung the hearts of many mercenaries.