Thousands of legs marched onward at the pace set by their lord, Torval Rainblood. Torval lead the line in his gold chainmail and silver plating, his golden cape hanging over his back. The sigil of a dragon held his cape to his breast plate as he rode upon his great destrier, Windsbane. Beside him road the Dread Lord, Dalian Dagnar. His eyes sat deep into his head as they always had, but now his hair was no more than a few wisps of gray fluff that sat upon a charred face. Torval had insisted that the Dread Lord maintain a veil over the lower half of his face so that no one might have to glance upon his horrifying mouth. His helm was buckled into the stirrups of his horse. The Dread Lord had spoken little since dismembering the Traitor Thane, but he led the way upon his fearsome horse towards the promised throne of Mestrane.
Torval had winced at the sight of the horse. His men had dared not look. The left side of the horse's face lacked anything besides bone. Its eyes were a hollow black, but Torval had made every effort not to meet those eyes. His henchman Renfred had risked a glance and the horse had neighed aggressively, spooking Renfred's own horse and throwing him from his saddle.
Meanwhile, some ways back along the rows and rows of horseman was Torval's captured prize, Egalo Elgamar, whom the Dread Lord had promised would be a worthy gift to the great lord of Mestrane whom he sought.
"It is in dire times that a Magi apprentice becomes a true Knight of the Order. Believe that, and it shall be true." The words echoed through the mind of Egalo as he laid upon the back of a horse, dragged along with the massive host of Torval's men towards the forsaken land of darkness. Why is it that the land where darkness dwells is the same land that the greatest paradise used to reign? Egalo began to come-to as he lay there on the back of the steed. He resisted the urge to open his eyes. Instead, he took in his surroundings through his other senses, so as not to alert his captives that he had awoken.
He heard two men on either side of his horse having a crude conversation about what they'd do when they arrived at the gate to the golden palace of Mestrane.
"The first thing I'm going to do is find myself a golden woman and bless her with my seed so that we may have golden babies." The two laughed obnoxiously together but their laughs were cut short when a third voice chimed in, "I will smother your babies and take your wife for my own if you so much as enter my line of vision once we get there. I'm tired of listening to your japes, Ugwar. Your head is a hollow vase with nothing inside it, I'm fairly sure of that."
Egalo shifted his attention elsewhere. The stench of uncleansed men dominated the air. Traveling in close proximity was certainly a mistake, at least Egalo thought so. Maybe when you smelled that bad you didn't smell other's stenches. Egalo cracked his eyes ever so slightly and realized they must have passed through the Carnakanes already because the ground was now solid black rock as compared to the orange sands of the desert. There were lines and lines of men as far back as the eye could see. The army was impressive, if Egalo were honest with himself. However, because of their size they moved incredibly slow. Heads were held low whilst other grumbled about food and rest. Torval was full steam ahead somewhere at the front of the lines.
Men began to tap out of the line and take a rest to the side, never to return to his feet. There was disease and sickness that ran rampant through some of the men. The insects and bugs in the Carnakanes were brutal, and Egalo was fortunate enough himself to have escaped anything too serious besides his injuries from his escape attempt a week prior. Severe dehydration had also bogged his energy levels. He wretched quite often, but most often nothing besides bile would come up because he had nothing in his stomach. He had grown accustomed to it. His last chance of escape had come when he had evaded Dalian Dagnar in the desert. He wanted nothing to do with life now, if he died it was a welcome escape.
Night came and the air was dry. Not a drop of moisture was about, and men were whining for water. Eventually a scuffle broke out in an attempt at getting a few last drops from a near-empty canteen. Eventually more people got involved than needed, and at some point Egalo heard the scrape of metal escaping a scabbard and the sound of men struggling against each other. Eventually, Egalo was sure he heard the grunt of a blade going through someone's soft belly, followed by the sound of blood guzzling busily from the stab wound.
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The entire spectacle triggered fights within the camp, and suddenly Egalo found himself tied to a horse right in the middle of the crossfire. At one point a dagger whizzed by Egalo's head, burrowing right into the horse's rear side right behind him. The horse clattered to the ground, Egalo narrowly escaping suffocation beneath the horse. Amidst the chaos, no one paid Egalo a second thought. He withdrew the dagger from the horse and cut the tied bonds loose. Freedom, it's too good to be true.
Egalo's feet only carried him a couple steps before the men in proximity to him raised a shout and soon they became alerted to his escape. Egalo still clutched the dagger but it felt useless once the warriors withdrew their longswords from their scabbards. The night air had grown darker and colder, but the men didn't seem to notice. Egalo coud feel the change in the air. Wind pushed from all sides and the men who stood shouting insults and threats swayed with the wind. We must be close, thought Egalo.
He was frozen now, nowhere to go. The men encircled him and began to close on him. Egalo picked the weakest man he could spot, a scrawny man who was getting on in age. Egalo made straight for him with his dagger in hand. He held his sword clumsily and Egalo kicked his hand, knocking the blade. He caught its hilt and with his other hand and he swung it through the center of the man's torso. He had no time to admire his maneuver as the next man was upon him. His sword came flying in as a side stroke at Egalo. He blocked it but the blow was too strong and as quickly as he had acquired a sword, it was knocked from his hand. The next blow came from behind, but Egalo was sharp and ducked from it. There's no way, there's too many. Chaos continued all around the camp, men grappling and wrestling with each other.
Egalo said a prayer and it must have been answered, because in that moment, Egalo was eternally grateful for his time in the Carnakanes digging holes. From nowhere came the vicious night creatures, fangs bared and claws in full fruition. The men were cut down around him, and Egalo was knocked from his feet by one of the night wolves. They were small as a coyote, but together they caught his fall, his body landing on the support of their backs. Men backed away at their vicious yellow glowing eyes, and off they trotted with Egalo amongst them.
Suddenly the scuffling amongst the men of Torval's army began to cease and their attention turned to Egalo, who was being carried off into the distance on the night wolves. One of Torval's henchmen barked at a group of men to chase after them. After a dismayed look, the men made a half-hearted attempt after him, but they had no intention of actually catching up to vicious creatures. The henchmen screamed out curses. Amidst the chaos, a stray dirk went flying into the eye of one of the men, who fell to the ground flailing at his punctured eye wildly. His brown beard soon had turned a bright red as the crimson blood gushed out from the dirk in his face. The man beside him gutted him viciously to put him out of his screaming fit and bring an end to his misery.
The henchmen let out another scream and muttered curses, "You'll be sorry when Torval hears of your foolishness. He might even put you to the rope, you'll be lucky if he doesn't, bunch of useless brutes." One of the men who hadn't made a wholehearted attempt to run in pursuit had had enough, "I didn't see you busting a gut after the escaped prisoner either, Renfred."
The man Renfred needed no extra invitation for confrontation. He lunged at the man, making him flinch. He then spit on the man's face, "pathetic," he spat. The two went at it, fists and knuckles. They bloodied each other up until both men bore unrecognizable faces, and the men around them cheered the effort from both men with swords and axes clanking and raised in the air. The man Renfred grasped his sword from the dirt and put his challenger to the sword, swiping his blade down upon his skull. The body's remains were fed to the horses. A few desperate men flocked to the corpse and helped themselves, fighting off opposition who questioned their actions. Hours later, the men had moved on and they continued their long trek south towards Mestrane. The camp of over two thousand men journeyed onward, and Renfred didn't mention a word of Egalo's escape to Torval. He didn't dare for his life's sake.