Word of the battle being over quickly spread through town. Hensdrake’s surviving people emerged from their hiding to see a massacred remains of their home. Blood dressed the streets and corpses of their loved ones laid scattered. A mother weeped over her dead son’s body while just a few houses down, a dazed husband stumbled down the streets holding the body of his wife whose face was nothing but bits of hanging flesh. Even children found themselves lost, without a parent to find.
A heavy silence was felt by all the soldiers marching back to the barracks. Some of the soldiers were local to Hensdrake while others came from different parts of Red March, but the pain was all felt the same. Their sacrifice in battle never felt like it was enough.
Zrokaan couldn’t help but feel responsible. He had a love for his people like no other ruler, tears watered his eyes as he walked through the massacred town alongside his soldiers.
Walking through the very center of town Solomon spotted a face he hoped he would see again. It was Ana with General Rahim and a handful of his own soldiers.
Solomon pushed his way past the soldiers he was with and ran towards Ana whose face lit up like a christmas tree the moment she saw him. She wasted no time in running towards him, the two collided into an embrace with Solomon wrapping his arms tightly around her. “I see you fought well,” Solomon laughed out.
“I told you, I would,” Ana replied, her eyes fixed on the bloodied wound on his shoulder, “you’re injured.”
“I’ll be fine my love,” Solomon whispered, leaning over Ana and planting a kiss on her head. “We are together now. Let us relish in that, instead.”
General Rahim grinned with happiness seeing Zrokaan, he opened his arms and greeted the young baron with a warm hug and a couple pats on the back, “it's good to see you in one piece, Zrokaan.”
The Baron hugged the old man with equal gratitude. Returning alive from battle with the Veiled Ones was always a blessing. The two respected one another similarly to a father and son, with General Rahim being the eldest and most knowledgeable in the Baron’s army.
“It's good to see you too, old man,” Zrokaan smiled, planting a hand on each of the General’s shoulders. Although, his smile was fake, masking the real sadness he felt.
“Your advisor Ana, she’s a fierce one,” Rahim followed up with a chuckle. However, his wrinkled face furrowed, seeing the Baron’s face did not share the same sort of relief the others did. “What’s on your mind, boy?”
Zrokaan adjusted the red shawl around his neck using the fabric to wipe dried blood from his bruised face, “Kabaal fell in battle.”
The General unfurrowed his face, his expression was plain. Rahim wasn’t emotionless but his many years fighting in the Baron’s army led to many losses of life. So many he couldn’t bear to stomach, yet this was a harsh reality he lived in.
He had to learn to make peace with so many of the lives he felt responsible for sending to their early graves. The General understood how the young Baron felt more than anyone.
“May he rest in peace. He fought for his people, and died a true warrior,” Rahim spoke with a proud smile painted across his face. “You must move forward. Everything that happened here in Hensdrake was no fault of your own.”
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“Thank you for your kind words General,” the Baron said, with a single nod of his head. “But if I may ask a favor of you, can you stay here in Hensdrake with your men and appoint a new garrison commander for me?” Zrokaan looked over his shoulder at his two advisors, Ana and Solomon, “I have to return to Barinza to investigate something.”
“Of course my Baron, but may I ask if everything is ok?” The General asked with concern.
“No, I’ve been betrayed and something was stolen from me during the attack. I have to find it at all costs,” the Baron said plainly.
The old General gave the Baron a warm smile, reaching his arms out and hugging Zrokaan once more. A brief embrace was shared between the two men, “do not worry about Hensdrake, Zrokaan, you go and handle whatever business you have to handle,” Rahim assured.
Zrokaan bowed his head in respect to the elder. After their farewells, the two went their separate ways.
Solomon and Ana were standing under an sandstone archway that curved between two townhomes, leading to and from the center of town where the bulk of the surviving soldiers migrated to.
Zrokaan walked over to his two advisors waiting by the archway, but to his surprise Ana was flooded with tears and Solomon was trying desperately to comfort her. Zrokaan raised a single brow and looked at Solomon as if asking ‘what the hell is going on’
“I’m sorry Zrokaan, Solomon told me everything. That damned Gremoris,” Ana cried out with a quicked shutter to her breathing.
“Sorry Zrokaan, I didn’t think she’d start crying..” Solomon followed up with.
“It’s alright, but I plan on finding that bastard and what he stole from me,” the Baron said, clenching his jaw. He paused for a moment taking a deep breath. “Prep your horses, we are riding back to Barinza”
“You don’t want to stay and help?” Ana asked, sniffling with an almost insisting tone.
“No, Rahim will stay here and help. We can’t waste any time in finding him,” Zrokaan ordered.
“Let's get the horses ready then,” Solomon said.
The three walked through the archway path to the stables directly across the barracks. There, their horses were peacefully and blissfully unaware of the attack and horrors that just took place. Eating away happily at piles of hay laid out for them in a long wooden trunk.
Solomon never brought anything other than two pouches of ward dust and a canteen of water with him to travel, and of course his sword. Ana always packed the extras, making sure the party was well fed with extra bags of rations she tied to the saddle of her horse. Zrokaan meanwhile fastened the clasps of his saddle tightly around his horse making sure it wouldn’t go undone. Once the three were ready, they each mounted on their horses and rode off.
The three galloped through the streets of Hensdrake, kicking up clouds of dust as they rode through the town heading eastward. All that laid between them and Barinza was four days of traveling through the northern reaches of the Sea of Sunder which were all just savannah plains of high grass and exotic wildlife.
On the third day, nearing the very peak of the afternoon, Ana spotted a lone rider on horseback. He was dressed in the ensemble of a soldier with the common red and gold coloring of the Baron’s army. He was galloping in a hurry towards their direction. “Stop, who goes there?!” shouted Ana, getting Solomon and Zrokaan’ attention.
The horseman halted in place, removing a shawl from the bridge of his nose and licking his dried lips. “I am a royal messenger of the Baron’s Chosen Army. My message is for the Baron’s ears only,” he stated.
Zrokaan rode forward on his horse, cautiously approaching the front to reveal his face to the messenger. “What's the message?” Zrokaan demanded to know with concern stretched across his sweaty face.
The horseman widened his eyes with surprise, not expecting to find the Baron in the middle of nowhere. “Apologies my Baron, I did not recognize you,” the man said bowing his head in respect.
“It’s quite alright, what's the message?”
“Barinza has fallen to the Veiled Ones.”