Chris slept through the whole day, waking up in the middle of the night. He could hear a lot of commotion outside. Larka was beside him, normally she would be out in the night but with all the noise outside, she chose to stay in. She was acting restless, he knew when she was. He patted her head to calm her down "It's okay girl, it's okay." She calmed a bit at this.
Chris got up and checked outside on what the commotion was about. There were a lot of men in green robes, moving around. There was a purpose in their walk. He remembered the news of the civil war "Perhaps it is about that?".
He couldn't see Roger nearby, Chris went back to his bed. He tried to sleep but sleep wouldn't take him.
After some time Roger entered the tent. He called for Chris "Master Philip, are you awake?"
Chris who was awake, immediately responded "Yes Roger."
"Master Philip, our conditions have changed we need to leave immediately to the village."
Chris could sense that Roger was on edge and worried. He didn't inquire more.
"Okay, Roger." He replied.
He asked Larka to climb on his shoulder and they followed Roger.
They went straight to Terran's tent. "Oh my little Dracan, how are you feeling now?" Terran greeted Chris the moment he saw them enter.
"I am fine Terran, thank you," he replied.
Terran looked at Roger and back at him "Ragar would have already explained to you, due to unforeseen circumstances, your travel plans have to be preponed."
Terran looked at Toor who was standing beside him. "I believe you already met Toor in the morning, he is one of the captains of the order and a reliable draconate clan member, he and three men from the order would act as your escort."
Chris looked at Toor who was smiling at Chris, he smiled back.
"It's unfortunate my little Dracan that I couldn't spend much time with you, I could have taught you some ways of the clan. But the world doesn't move to our whim and here we are."
Though their meeting was so brief he liked Terran from the get-go, not even once did Terran mention his lack of magic or show a change in his behavior towards him. Terran treated him like a fellow clan member. There were very few people Chris knew well in this life, Terran felt like someone who will be added to that list. He felt a sense of comradeship with Terran, something he had felt rarely in this world.
Terran continued "I must bid you farewell my little Dracan for now, may our path cross soon." He got up and came near Chris lifting him up, he felt like a child in his embrace.
He put Chris down and looked at him straight in his eyes and spoke "I sense your presence Philip of the Druex clan."
Chris now knew what that greeting meant.
He looked at Terran and spoke, "I sense your presence too Terran."
Terran finished off by saying "The next time we meet I will call you with your Dracanate name."
Chris reacted with a smile, but sighed inside "Another name, another naming ceremony?"
Roger and Terran said their farewell. The carriage had to be left behind as they needed to move fast. They mounted their horses, Chris had to ride with Roger as he was too short to ride a horse. Larka sat on his shoulder.
In the cover of the night, five horses along with six riders and a lewt left the borders of Farlan Kingdom and into the no race zone.
------
They rode through the night using the Sinop Light crystal to light the way. Chris felt amazed at how much the world depended on these crystals and the different usage they served.
There wasn't much to see in the darkness, they rode hard and nonstop. They rode for what felt like hours. The night started to fade with the sun slowly showing its presence.
With light, Chris now saw there was nothing around, it was just plain desert. A vast expanse of nothingness. On his left very far away he saw what looked like a wall. Roger noticing it said, "That's the great wall of Beazard beastdom." He wondered how big it would be from near.
Soon the sun broke out, along with it the heat, making it difficult for the horses, they stopped at a small oasis with water to feed the horses and shade for them to rest. Chris welcomed the stop. Larka showed her own enthusiasm by jumping from his lap and directly into the water.
Chris guessed, it would be a pitstop for travelers, though for now there was no one around except them. The men were on alert and kept looking out for any possible threats. They were all on edge, Chris guessed he is the only one who didn't feel the danger that others are feeling.
Chris knew why he wasn't feeling so. He looked at the reason, a lean man with receding hair. Having Roger around made Chris feel safe, it was not only because he was strong, but also because of the way he treated Chris.
He realised how Roger has been around him since the day he had come to this world. Though they haven't shared a lot of personal talks, as Roger mostly kept to himself, his actions though always spoke louder than words, even taking personal risks by training Chris and going against William and Sarah's wish. With him around Chris could be himself and there was a sense of safety he had like with no one else. Without Larka and Roger around he would feel completely lonely in this world.
His attention came back when he noticed Roger use "Repel" on the ground to make a small hole and place some wood, to which one of the men used something in his hand to create a spark followed by fire.
He realised the order didn't only have earth mages, making him wonder if it was the case with the other orders as well.
Post eating they took some time to relax. Chris used the opportunity to ask Toor about the civil war.
Toor spoke to him about the Beazard beastdom that unlike the Farlan kingdom it was divided into three major tribes. All three have Beast blood in them. They were "The Insek", "The Eidech" and "The Saugetier". The Insek and Eidech are the ruling class while Sauget mainly consists of the common folks.
Their culture is all about the rule of the strongest, for centuries the Eidech and the Insek have been in an endless fight to rule the country. The power dynamics have kept interchanging between these two tribes for generations. They seek battle as the purpose of their life and it forms a major part of their culture.
The throne is taken by the strongest who can defeat the existing ruler. This has been their way of life for centuries.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
But something odd has happened this time, though Toor has limited knowledge on why the civil war broke out, he knows that the current king who belonged to the Insek tribe died under mysterious circumstances, leaving a vacuum which in turn led to conflict between the two tribes. The tension has been mounting for months.
Not being able to reach common ground, war has broken out between the Insek and the Eidech. Being such a big and prominent Beastdom the impact will be felt throughout the continent, he also added without explaining much that there was another reason why this war will have a major impact on other kingdoms which can even lead to their intervention in the internal matter of the beastdom.
As of now the kingdoms which border the Beazard beastdom have been closed. It was also the reason why they moved out early in the morning today, as officially the borders of the Farlan kingdom have been closed.
-------
The sun's intensity reduced and they decided to move again. Except for spotting desert creatures periodically, Chris didn't see any other life forms.
By nightfall they reached the entry of what looked like a big forest, they decided to camp there for the night. They kept their fire small to avoid unwanted attention.
Larka was unusually calm with the men around, as by now she became familiar with them. She mostly stayed on Chris's shoulders.
Toor looked at Larka and spoke to Chris "It's rare to see a lewt so close to someone."
Chris said, "I guess she just likes me." Larka moved to his other shoulder.
Toor spoke again "I am assuming you must have a strong beast affinity to have a strong bond."
Chris looked at Roger at the mention of this. He nodded back at Toor with a smile.
It was not a known fact that Chris didn't have any affinity or magic, Roger had asked Chris to keep it like that. Terran knew, but Chris guessed he wouldn't have shared it with others.
Chris also got familiar with the three mages who had joined them, the fire mage's name was Brenton and the remaining two earth mages were Owen and Alan. Chris was very curious and kept asking them about their lives.
Owen had joined the order three years back and was about to leave to meet his family, he had heard a week before the news of his newborn son, but due to the possibilities of civil war he was asked to stay. Chris felt bad that his visit home will be further delayed because of this journey, but Owen didn't show any remorse he was a very cheerful guy passing on his energy to others. He acted nice with Chris.
Brenton had joined the order inspired by one of the earth mages from the order who had saved him in his childhood. He decided to choose Adamah over Ignees. There were very few mages inside the order with other affinities than earth.
Alan who was keeping guard with Roger was a bit reserved, but Chris could feel that it was because he was taking his duty more seriously than others.
He was getting to know Toor better as well, like him, he belonged to the Draconate clan, his affinity was the "Attract" side of earth magic. Like many others of the clan, he had joined the order to experience more battle. He was one of the strongest captains of the order.
The conversations went late into the night until Chris slept off.
------
They started early the next day. Chris was told that the journey moving forward will be through the forest. Though the Draconate clan was part of the Farlan kingdom, there was no direct route between the main city, due to the Anabastha forest. The most commonly used route was through adjacent forests.
The path had a lot of outposts manned by different clans, they were often used by travelers to rest and refill their supplies. The journey would ideally take three months but they were planning to cover the same in two.
The view changed from wast expanse to a close-knit forest. Larka was on high alert with her eyes and ears chasing any movement, she was just looking for her potential prey. They would stop only to eat and sleep in the night.
A month passed by after entering the forest, and they were only a few days away from the first outpost. They would rest there for a few days before starting again, Chris looked forward to it as he would love to have a straight bed to sleep on, continuous travel and sleeping on the hard ground wasn't kind to his back.
They stopped for the night, Larka like every night went into the forest to hunt. After having their usual talk around the fire, Chris went to sleep.
In the middle of the night, he woke up with Roger's voice "Please wake up Master Philip."
Chris opened his eyes to see the fire was out, Toor and Brenton were mounting the horse, while Alan and Owen were keeping guard. Roger spoke again "Please get up Master Philip we have to leave."
Chris knew something has happened or Roger wouldn't react like this. He followed him to the horse. He realised something missing "Where's Larka? Where's Larka Roger?"
"I don't know Master Philip, but we cant wait we need to leave now." He replied.
"No! we can't leave without her," Chris responded.
"Master Philip yours and the men's lives are in danger, we cannot stay, we are moving to the outpost, I promise we will come back searching for her with more men, but we need to leave now, I want you to trust me, Master Philip."
Chris didn't want to accept it, he knew they needed to leave, he didn't want to, not without Larka.
Roger came closer and lifted Chris onto the horse and mounted it. "No Roger, not without Larka."
"I am sorry Master Philip."Roger gave the cue to others and they all mounted their horses and started.
They moved swiftly through the forest's darkness with a small light from the "Sinop" crystal guiding them.
Chris's thoughts kept running back to leaving Larka behind, when suddenly Roger pulled his horse's leash trying to avoid something but the horse nor the other riders reacted fast to it, the ground beneath gave in, the horses lost their footing and they all fell down. Toor who was trailing a bit behind managed to stop his horse right on time.
Roger was up immediately he helped Chris get up, other men were also back on their feet. Chris stood behind Roger. Chris knew an attack was coming, and it came.
But unlike the night when the assassins attacked this was not a single attacker, it was a whole mob, they were surrounded, Toor was still in his horse, Roger looked at Toor and gave him a signal, at this he charged ahead, as he came closer, Roger immediately lifted Chris to the horse.
Toor took off immediately. Chris turned to see Roger evading the mob's attack and jumping right over them to follow Chris and Toor, he was right behind them using repel to accelerate. He looked at the men caught in between the mob, they were trapped. He could see a fire in the middle of it, but there were too many people and they were right in the middle, Chris's heart gave away he couldn't watch anymore, he didn't want to imagine what will happen.
After some distance, he worriedly looked back and saw Roger still behind them. But, then Roger stopped, three men came at him, he evaded them. Toor stopped trying to dismount.
Roger called out "No, I will meet you at the outpost, I will manage them. Go"
Toor hesitated, but to Chris's shock he didn't get down, they rode again.
Chris shouted, "Nooo, Roger! Toor, we have to go back."
"I am sorry Philip, your safety comes first, Ragar is a strong warrior he will manage them," Toor replied firmly.
Chris felt his world crumbling down first Larka, Owen, Brenton, Allan, and now Roger. "Why is this happening to me?"
Toor continued to ride, and after making some distance he diverted from the main path and into the forest. They rode some distance and came to a clearing and stopped. Chris couldn't see far in the darkness.
"We will wait here for some time, they might continue chasing us through the main road," Toor spoke while dismounting, helping Chris to dismount.
Chris was barely holding in, he asked Toor "Who were they? Why did they attack us?"
Toor replied, "They were Beast men."
"Beast Men, why would they attack me? What reason could they have to attack me?" Chris thought.
They kept silent for some time. Then Toor spoke.
"You know the first time I saw you, I was surprised that you were Saraya's child, Saraya the immovable? one of the strongest warriors of the clan having such a weak-looking child and that too without magic?"
Chris looked at him. "How does he know?" he thought.
Toor sensing this "You might be thinking how did I know right? You might be thinking who could have told me, was it Terran or Ragar or even if it was Saraya?"
"What is he talking about?" Chris thought. He noticed Toor sounded different, his eyes were not the same. Chris knew something was wrong.
"You know I would have changed my mind if I hadn't seen you evade Terran, but alas I saw you, oh how I wish I hadn't seen you spar and that Lewt's connection with you is abnormal, I would have just told them he is nothing, he is no threat, but it wasn't meant to be, you know you cannot reach the village, it is so sad I have to do this, guess you can blame your lucky stars little one."
Panic started taking over Chirs, he knew he needed to run, he needed to stall Toor or distract him.
"Toor I don't know what you are talking about, but as you said I don't have any magic I am no threat, I am a nobody. I am sure there is some mistake" Chris started moving back while getting up he took some mud in his hands to throw at Toor and use that opportunity to run.
Toor got up and slowly moved along with Chris.
Chris was just about to throw the mud in his hands.
Toor spoke, "It's funny how you are moving in the same direction that I wanted you to."
Chris reflexively turned and saw there was nothing behind him. He was standing on the edge of a cliff.
"Oh but you are not a nobody Philip." The last words Chris heard before the ground below him gave away.
He fell.