Finally, after years of being preoccupied with his previous assignment and personal matters Zuberi was home. His proper home. He had grown fond of the Rogue lands in their own way, he had a particular soft spot for the Bahari and it's wonderfully inclusive residences, but nothing could beat being back in the dramatic landscapes of the Al-Siq.
Alas, Zuberi wasn't here on pleasure, he had important news to report back that he did not trust to send back via bird. When Yukio had came to him about wanting to permanently move to the Bahari he had granted her permission and allowed her the illusion that she was being trusted to make her way there by herself. He was curious to see how exactly she would handle herself alone in the Rogue lands. She was a smart and resourceful girl, he had no doubt that she could find her way back home if no trouble arose.
Unfortunately for her that was exactly what he had found lurking around.
There had been rumors of Phantoms that had managed to escape beyond the wall - hell that was the whole point of him being out to begin with! But he hadn't expected such a high amount, worse yet is he hadn't expected them to be seemingly gathering. Strength was in numbers, if the Phantoms needed to call that many in one area he could only imagine that it was to preform a massive attack. He had to get back to the Al-Siq and inform his Justicar about the brewing situation.
As soon as he ensured that Yukio and her new traveling companion were safely inside the borders of the Bahari Zuberi had bolted in the opposite direction.
Pushing himself to his limits he had managed to cut a soild weeks travel down to just a couple of days. His body might not thank him for such an endeavor, but it was completely necessary. He highly doubted the Phantoms would waste any time once they gathered enough numbers to press forward on whatever their plans were. If he had taken any longer there was a fairly good chance that their window of opportunity to intercept them would be closed before they even got there.
As is he was nervous about their chances of making it back in time.
Ducking his head into the burrow Zuberi confidently strode into the large abode. The jingling chimes that one had to pass through in order to fully enter into the made room jingled with a pleasant tune, alerting any inhabitant to his presence.
"Zu-zu." A soft voice purred out from the inner depths of the den. The owner of the voice shortly followed their greeting, stepping into the light with a mild smile. "I got your message, what's going on?" Aquila inquired as she moved forward to a large stone slab laid out in the middle of the room. With a wave of her foot she gestured to Zuberi to join her before she sat at the edge of the slab.
"Aquila." He responded with a respectful nod. He let out a small sigh of relief as he relented to her invitation, joining her at the make shift table. Good, he was glad that she had received his message ahead of time. Skipping all the bullshit pleasantries would make this whole affair a lot easier. "I encountered Phantoms out in the rogue lands." Zuberi started, pausing for a moment as he leaned heavily against the table. A paw coming up to run through his already tangled mess of a mane.
Her eyebrows rose in interest, but she wasn't shocked at the confirmation that Phantoms had been spotted in the rogue lands. Reports had come in well before now that had let them know of that dilemma. She popped open a sealed hallowed out coconut shell that most used to carry and transport large amounts of clean drinking water. He looked like s**t, knowing Zuberi he had forsaken properly taking care of himself in favor of getting here as quickly as he could. Sliding the shell over to him she made no other moves to interrupt his story, instead focusing on listening.
Oh, bless this woman. "Thank you." He stated before picking up the shell taking a large swing of the sweet water that was kept inside, in the process slopping a good portion of it over himself. Did he particularly care? No, not really. Did he miss the slight twitch of an eye from Aquila now that water was covering her floor? No, but he couldn't be arsed to give a damn about it right now. With a deep breath he slammed the now empty shell back down onto the table. "They're gathering forces together, I highly suspect that they're planning on attacking one of the neighboring prides in that area. I didn't see any hostages present, nor any preparations for one of their rituals."
Oh ho, now that was certainly interesting news, albeit a bit alarming if his implications were correct. No wonder he had rushed back so quickly. "How large of number have they gathered?" She finally spoke up, her head tilting to the side as she regarded him.
He gave a loose shrug in response to her. "It's hard to tell if they had more numbers coming or not, but the size I saw was a fairly large group. I would say at least thirty plus?" With a slight frown his brows furrowed. "I need to speak to Osiris about this." The silent question of 'where the ******** is he' fell back to Aquila.
She knew he was bound to ask that. It was a open secret amongst the purple's collective that their Justicar and her were closer than they had originally let on. None-the-less this connection didn't mean that she wasn't just as much in the dark of his workings as the rest of them. "I don't know where he is. He's been off doing his own investigation now for a while." She confessed truthfully.
"You might not, but I highly doubt that you're not in contact with him." He shot back. "You act more like his wife than anything else and in my experience a wife rarely can't get in touch with her husband."
Her eyes narrowed slightly at the jab, but she elected not to respond to it. The man was tired, stressed, and he did have a twang of truth behind his words. She might not have been the 'wife' that most assumed she was but there was always point of contact between her and Osiris. Or well, most of the time. This was one of the few occasions where the Justicar was off the grid completely, not even she had heard a single word from him in some time now.
"I can't guarantee a message successfully reaching him in time, but I will try my best to get in touch with him. In the mean time I will send word to the others to get as many dispatched out as I can." Pursing her lips slightly she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Do you have any idea on where they might be targeting?" She inquired. Last she could remember Zuberi had been assigned to stay near the south, could the Phantoms really have made it that far down?
"There's a few prides in that area. I can't say which one they might target, or if they are gunning for them all." He replied with a grimace. Although they had far greater numbers on their side most of the people down there had never seen a single battle in their lives. They lived in peace and thus well, aside from the limited guard ranks each pride had, they were susceptible to being sitting ducks.
"I see." She mused softly. Well that wasn't much to go off of, but it would have to be enough for now. They would need to start acting asap if they had any hope of reaching the affected areas in time. "We'll meet you there then as soon as we can."
His shoulder relaxed slightly as he let out a sigh of relief. Pushing himself away from the table Zuberi moved to rise when he was stopped by Aquila's voice. "Zu-zu before you go please rest for a moment for god's sake."
"Tell me that's not an order." He moaned disgruntled. There was no time for him to sit around drinking tea like the rest of the pompous nobles! He had things to prepare and plan, he needed to get back to continue tracking the movement of the Phantoms, he had a child and secondary home to ensure was actually going to be left standing!
Rising to her feet she followed after Zuberi. Resting a paw on his shoulder she casted a wry smile to him. "No, of course not. It's a suggestion from a friend. You'll be no good to anyone if you keel over from exhaustion half way there. At least stay and brief me more on the situation at hand why Lia resupplies you, yes?"
There was a pause as he weighed his opinions between staying or leaving now. With a annoyed grunt at himself he gave a clipped nod to her, turning his back to the exit once more. "Alright, Aquila. Let's get started then."