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"Empty. Nothing has been here for some time." He turns to leave heading to investigate the forest ahead and see if anyone could be hiding there.

The soldiers followed. From what could be seen, the Forest seemed fairly normal, save for the lack of birds chirping. "Paladin." Called one of the soldiers, who dismounted his horse and knelt next to a line tracks. They were clearly clearly reptillian, with three distinct toes. The footprints were large, larger than a human hand. "Dragons don't come that small do they?" Asked the other soldier, after he inspected the foot print. "Hatchlings, but they never leave their nests if I'm right." The first soldier said.

"We're approaching the boarder. Wouldn't be impossible for some smaller Drakes to have wandered over here. About the size of a bear. The Y'kish used them like dogs." Wilhelm explains a possible theory. "They're too big to be Y'kish themselves." He pondered this knowing the snow footprints could easily be distorted he looked around without turning his head.

"What are Drakes?" Asked one of the soldiers. "They're like miniature dragons, yeah?" Asked the second.

"Yea usually flightless. They don't have wings but act much like terrestrial carnivores. Savage creatures." He adds havign experience fighting them.

"Think we should hunt this one down?" Askedo ne of the soldiers. "Incase it decides we, or our horses, would make good food?" He added.

"It could have been here days ago. Assuming it even was one. We could spend days hunting it down when we're less than one day from the boarder. We shall finish our sweep and then continue."

The soldiers nodded and the three continued their sweep. They didn't find anything else suspicious or odd on the rest of the sweep, before they turned around and came back to the main group. "Did you guys find anything?" Jackie asked as they returned to the convoy.

"Nothing other then possible wildlife and that is speculation at best. We should continue moving." Wilhelm says and Alrick nods in agreement.
"Alright everyone in formation. We head off in one minute." Alrick cries and once in position the convoy resumed it's journey.

The journey continued, mostly in silence. Hours passed, and the already low temperature seemed to drop even more. Jackie looked at the map they'd brought. "I think we passed the border by now." Jackie said. Save for mountains being on the horizon, the scenery didn't change much. There were still forests near by, though of trees clearly adapted to the frigid temperatures. They'd occasionally pass a ruined farm house.

Wilhelm snickered and huffed.
"Oh trust me we'd know if we passed the boarder. It's another three hundred meters up the road. We'll likely see Y'kish out front most likely armed." Wilhelm explains and Alrick glares forward.
"A little unsubtle but what Paladin Lupen says is correct. The boarder is just ahead and you can see your people."

Jackie blinked. "Oh..." She said, looking more closely at the map. They continued on further up the road, soon reaching and crossing the border into Kyldrii. The path they followed was cut out of a large forest. Thick trees were on either side of the path.

It wasn't much longer before a loud, howl like call echoed through the air. The Horses instinctively let out worried cries. Dozens of Drakes came from the trees surrounding the path. As described, they were about the size of a bear. Oddly, they had some anatomical similarities to wolves and dogs, having dog-like legs and a short neck. Most of the Drakes at tufts of fur interspersing their scales. Several of the soldiers drew their weapons as the owners of the drakes, dozens of Y'kish warriors, stepped from the woods as well. Unlike human weapons, Y'kish blades were katar-like in design, with the hilt being perpendicular to the blade. Many of the swords had hand guards and were clearly made of ice.

The Y'kish wore armor made of similar ice, though it was clearly reinforced with metal. Under the armor they wore padded clothing that had chain mail inserted between the padding. Their faces were covered by their helmets, which had a clear skull-like design. Further down the path more Y'kish rose from the snow

The soldiers on horse back drew their pistols and the ones in carts grabbed their blades. Alrick called for calm.
"Lower your weapons. These are their boarder guard." He explains. Wilhelm brought his horse to heel and looked at all of them surrounding him. Last time he was in this situation he shattered many bones. All his enemies however. This time more class and caution was needed. Alrick trotted forward on his horse. "We're the Empire convoy sent by his majesty Emperor Ludwig Wolfen with gifts and offerings for the Y'kish people and their leaders. This is for diplomatic discussions we were promised days ago." Alrick says bowing his head to show respect and presenting what was in honesty a strongly scripted explanation for their arrival. "We were told you would be meeting us here."

The Soldiers reluctantly obeyed, sheathing their sword and holstering their pistols. "Do you take us for fools?" Asked one of the Y'kish. "If you think we're going to let humans cross into our territory without proof you were coming, you're more of a fool than you look." He hissed. The Y'kish turned to the largest of their warriors. The Average Y'kish was nearly two feet taller than a man, at least. This Y'kish towered over the others by nearly three feet and was nearly twice the size of Wilhelm. "I say we unleash our Drakes. Let them dine on Human for the evening." The first Y'kish Warrior said. The Largest, apparently the one in charge, let out a growl at the smaller warrior. "Hold your tongue, Yiv'ix. You are threatening Paladins. The ones who got that pointless war ended peacefully." He hissed, before stepping forward. "I was told you were coming, but didn't know when you would arrive, nor by what means. Please forgive us for our eagerness for battle, Paladins." The Warrior said, giving a bow. "Come. We are to escort you to Myggsp'l." The Wrrior said, before turning to his men. He barked out several orders in Y'kish. Most of his men stepped aside, and put away their weapons. Those with Drakes pulled their beasts back.

The Drakes snapped and snarled walking back. This commander was somewhat more levelheaded then his fellow soldiers. At least he was informed which was curious to why the other spoke out of line. Though this was likely the result of old wounds. Wilhelm thought about this and noticed some white scar tissue on his collar bone. He pondered if it was a war wound, sparring wound or some other form of injury. Alrick nodded.
"Thank you honorable commander. We shall follow suit in whatever manner you see fit. It must be requested that my men keep access to their weapons. A sign of trust we can both be armed without hostility." Alrick explains knowing the men wouldn't want to part with their weapons but the option for going unarmed on either side alone was not going to happen. Trust was barely stable. The slightest incident could set everything off.

"I can allow you to keep your weapons forn ow. But I can't gaurantee you'll be allowed to keep them once we reach Myggsp'l." The commander said. "That would be up to Chieftain Borsiv." The Commander said. He turned and let out a draconic roar. Soon, several Drakes arrived. Where as the one's used as war hounds were the size of bears, these were the size of small Dragons. Judging by the saddles on them, they were mounts. The Commander and the few of his men that would be joining them climbed on top of their mounts, before the commander motioned for the others to follow him as he headed off.

Not many of the Y'kish seemed to take notice of Jackie. Or if they did, they simply didn't care. The few that did seem to notice glared at her from behind their helmets' face plates. Some of them spoke maonst themselves in Y'kish.

"I suspected as much." Alrick says regarding to rule with their weapons. The great roar summoned the Drakes and as they ran over lowering down they were mounted. You'd be shocked by how quickly they could run. Despite their size if the horses slowed for even a second or anything less then their full speed the mighty beasts would tear them apart. They began following their escort. The weather was cold. Frosty despite being midday. The horses hooves crunched the snow and frost beneath them. It would be easy to get lost in these forests. Were often the ground had a layer or three of snow. Wilhelm looked over to Jackie making sure she was ok.

Jackie was clearly uncomfortable. Whether it was the drakes making her uncomfortable, or the other Y'kish, who didn't seem all too warm to Jackie, as expected, was unclear.

Wilhelm got his horse to be at the same pace as Jackie's. They could see each other in the gap between two carriages.
"Don't panic." He says softly and keeping his eyes forward. "Just breath."

Jackie glanced over at Wilhelm, eventually managing to maneuver herself over to his side. They traveled for a while, mostly in silence. Occasionally some of the soldiers would talk amongst themselves. After a short few hours they came upon a large wall, with a pair of massive doors in it. A Y'kish standing at a guard post let out an order, glancing behind the wall. The doors slowly began to open, allowing the convoy and Y'kish warriors into the village. The buildings on the inside had a mix of stone, wood, and ice in their construction.

There were several Y'kish out on the streets, most laring daggers at the paladins and the soldiers with them. The head Warrior gave an order to one of his men, who charged off elsewhere in the city with his drake. "Bexim is going to alert the Chieftain of our arrival." The Commander explained.