Traveling continued with a somber tone throughout the convoy, while as the hours passed some conversations did finally begin to spread across the convoy they were few and far between.
Only once in the distance the smoke of chimneys could be seen did conversations begin to bolster, excitement of getting into the city tried to wash away the anguish that many were feeling over the losses.
I jogged to catch up with Tulip and Brimrose who had ended up a dozen or so paces ahead of me while I had simply just spent time listening to the handful of conversations. Many were just talking about their families, their friends, and their homes.
“Barely more than an hour and we will be there, we should arrive at sunset.” Brimrose stated once I slowed my pace to walk beside Tulip.
“You said that there is someone here who can get me out of these cuffs?” Tulip asked in a low tone. “When… Would we be able to do that?” She asked after a beat of silence.
“I will have to find him, sadly it will likely be a day or two before it can be done.” Brimrose sighed, looking down towards the two of us at her side. “I will get you both a room inside of the main keep, as guests, you will be able to practice and train there while you wait. I am deeply sorry that you’ll have to wait.”
“No- It’s fine. I know I should be patient here.” Tulip sighed. “Just, hopeful.”
“Well, you get to kick me around more while we practice at least.” I offered with a grin. “Though I’ll make you work for it even harder this time.”
“That's not really a challenge.” Tulip bit back with her own grin, shaking her head. “But fine, I’ll take you up on it.”
Brimrose fell silent, a somber smile on her face as she raised a hand to hide the soft giggle that broke from her. The moderately heightened mood of everyone lasted until we reached the edges of the city.
The name ‘Dust’ could barely even encompass how ruined the city was, its outer walls were caved in, nothing more than rubble of the soft yellow stone that made it up. Though a handful of towers still stood by some miracle, with handfuls of guards that were visibly wounded even from the distance we were approaching from, bandaged arms, torsos, missing limbs and more.
The convoy slowly pressed inwards, moving towards the city in a more organized, less spread apart line. With people giving way for Brimrose to take the lead of the convoy, her voice called out from the front while we remained near the center.
“We are the support group sent from Ellidon! Inform whoever remains in charge to meet with me in the main keep as soon as they can get there! The guards from the convoy will take over watch positions for the evening!” Her voice could hardly be described as calm or elegant when she raised it to such an extent. It was so bafflingly loud that every word sounded like a threat.
Yet, the elves around the walls all began to cheer, resounding echoes of joy at the relief they were receiving.
“This all happened from a mana surge?...” I asked, my gaze flicked towards Tulip for a beat while we walked through what could only be assumed was once the gate to the city.
“A freak mana surge on this scale… It’s lucky that so little damage actually got dealt to the city.” Tulip answered, her own gaze was washing around the city to examine the damages.
Buildings lay on their sides, the vile stench of death still filled the city under some of the rubble. I could only assume they were the people who didn’t make it out. Yet even more vile was looking at the paved road, where there were lines of charring, only to have gaps in it in the shape of people.
Deeper into the city the damages only grew worse, with the only building still standing in an almost healthy condition being the keep at the center of the city. It was made of the same black tinted rock that most of the buildings in Arcadia had been, which left me growing more curious as to what the stone actually was.
“You two, follow me, Her Majesty has requested I escort you both to the keep and to your wing you will be staying in for the evening.” James spoke out of nowhere, leaving me to panic as I pulled a hard one eighty, though once it registered that the voice was familiar I let out a relieved breath, at the same moment James let out a soft chuckle. “Sorry about that, didn’t mean to sneak up on you both.”
“It’s fine. Just a little lost in thought…” My mind traveled back to when Darek had been bringing me to Arcadia for my trial, when in the early morning he roused me to see the Mana Surge.
It was so beautiful that I had forgotten his warnings of how deadly they could be, even despite the fact that I had been knocked clean over from dozens of miles away.
Tulip seemed to be similarly lost in her thoughts, only registering enough that we were following James now as we split off from the main group.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Deeper into the city things had been undergoing some repairs already, debris was cleared out, being ground down with several mages working on using their magic to shift the rubble around and reset it into the shape the buildings had once held.
The paths had already been repaved, seemingly one of the first things to be done. The countless Elves we passed all looked at Tulip and me with scorn in their eyes, hatred and anger. It practically forced my eyes to move dead ahead, trying to ignore the hate filled glares of the Elves.
“Ignore them.” James spoke in a low tone. “Many of us have a distaste for humans, and in a time of such dire circumstances that hate will only increase. It will be best for the two of you to remain within the keep until your escorts arrive.”
“I think that was already pretty much the plan.” I spoke in a similarly low tone, which Tulip just nodded to.
The rest of the walk was painfully slow with such hate oozing from the Elves, only to thin out and become somewhat tolerable once we arrived at the entrance to the keep. Two guards sat beside the door, though with a single glance at James they parted to let the three of us through.
Inside the keep I was surprised to see that it was scarcely decorated, the floors, wall, and ceiling all nearly the same color with a handful of torches lighting the paths. It was a far cry from the grandiose keep back in Arcadia, if anything it felt like a bland, empty building that simply stood to be imposing.
“There’s… So little here.” I eventually spoke my thoughts, which left James to sigh gently.
“We keep very little wealth sitting around in this keep, or in this city in general. Raiders are a continued problem for the city, and more wealth would simply make raiders even more likely to attack.” James answered. “The keep itself mainly acts as a form of protection as the sturdiest building in the city, it helps when disasters strike.”
“There are Raiders out here?” Tulip asked, seeming confused by the statement.
“We call them Raiders, they are closer to Brigands, sanctioned by the powers of Alcor to raid this city. If they crack Dust open, then they could easily push through the border knowing that any reinforcements would be weeks out.” James answered again, pausing only to turn down another corridor which led to a staircase.
Leading up to a higher level, judging by the size of the building from the exterior I could only assume that this would be the second of three floors.
“I would call them out for the act, but it would be rather hypocritical when many of the powerful Elves do the same within Alcor. Continuing a pointless war that does nothing but harm both of our nations.” James continued, sighing once he finished.
“So… The people don’t want this war, but the Nobles continue it anyways? Why?” I was left genuinely confused as I looked to Tulip and James both for answers.
“Because the Nobles gain power through these gambits, their Brigands succeed in a raid? The Nobles get all of the credit for the small price of a handful of gold coins. And if their Brigands fail, they lose nothing.” Tulip answered, which left James to just grunt in agreement.
I fell silent as I took that information in, James for his part stopped at a doorway with a sign hanging above for ‘Guest Wing’. He pushed the old, drying door open just to reveal an entire section of the Keep that was actually decorated.
It was a single large, main room. A few hallways split off from it, one with a sign that had the depiction of a bed overtop of it, and another with a tub of water which I assumed to be the bathrooms. The main area was divided into two pieces, a large training mat, and a few small chairs that were covered in some clearly aged cloth.
“Excuse the… Lack of cleaning. Very few guests ever visit this city. I will inform the kitchen to send a meal for both of you up here. In the meantime, Her Majesty should bring whoever is to get you out of your bindings when she is ready, or when she prepares to contact Berinia.” James spoke as he stepped to the side to let the two of us into the room.
“In case of an emergency, the last room on the right has access to a Balcony with an emergency exit that will let you scale down the side of the building.”
I paused as James stated that, but before I could even ask anything he stepped away. Leaving the door to swing close behind him, though we didn’t have to worry about being locked in her as the locking system was entirely accessible from this side.
“Guess we wait.” I sighed, only to flinch in reflexive pain as Tulip poked me with the wooden Practice Blade from her ring.
“Guess we train. We have bathrooms here, may as well put some work in before we clean up.” Tulip had a devious smirk on her face, and I just had to hide my fearful groan over the number of bruises I was about to acquire.
----------------------------------------
“What do you mean they’re in Dust now?” Andrew shouted out at Markus, they had been stuck in one of their camps in the desert for almost a week now after they lost the trail of the two girls.
“I mean that the damn Elven Queen in the south happened to have a convoy moving through, that happened to pick them up.” Markus spat back, his own anger was plain and obvious.
“Dammit all…” Andrew cursed under his breath as he turned to walk to another room, he needed to contact their Employer now to find their next step forwards. Attacking an Elven city was a suicide mission for just the two of them.
His eyes went wide as the mirror flashed to life, the black figure clear and obvious, yet entirely hidden was any detail that could identify them. Andrew reflexively fell to one knee, his head falling with eyes wide.
“So you failed again.” Their Employer spoke, a cruel, cold tone obvious in their voice. “I already have plans moving in place, you will be joining a group of Raiders, North of Dust by thirty miles. They are a unique group, if you leave now you will make it there in four days.” The Employer spoke further.
“Understood.” Andrew spoke in a dreadfully cold voice, the breath he was holding only broke free from his chest once the light from the mirror faded away. They were lucky that they were able to move to one of their only camps that had a mirror on standby.
“Markus, gather what you need, we're leaving now!” Andrew shouted out as he stood up, he made sure to grab his crossbow as he walked by it, alongside his travel pack. These next four days were going to be some of the worst in his career, and he couldn’t be more furious about that fact.