Chida and Zakar stood in contemplation. Whether to follow the tracks of the ruckus that was happening, or to flee. "Zakar, I'm going. The fishes would have to do tonight." Zakar grimaced then raised his hands violently. "You said you had no plans to follow. How can you be so...." Zakar said angrily.
Chida closed her eyes and averted her face away from him. "Remember how to roast fishes? You have to...." "Chida!!!" Zakar erupted. "You will stay. Or have you forgotten I am the older one here?" Chida laughed. "They cast us out. You rejected them more than me too. Now, you're trying to compel me to action using their social construction," Chida said angrily.
"When I fed you, fetched water, hunted with you. Did you forget you were the elder?" Zakar shook his head furiously. "Enough!" Zakar shouted. "I'll follow you," Zakar conceded. Chida gave a smile of relief. "You put yourself in danger to move my hand," Zakar said in a murmur barely loud enough for Chida to hear.
Chida moved closer to him. "I'm sorry for imposing," she said gently. Zakar made a wry smile. "We should be able to track it without informing it of our presence." Zakar picked up a broken twig from the ground. "Even if it sees us, it won't try to kill us, I believe. None of them have ever tried to us." Zakar stood and jumped to the branch of a tall tree.
Both of them travelled across the forest, jumping from branch to branch. Inside this area of this forest, the sunlight could only intrude a little. The trees covered the sun with an umbrella of leaves and branches.
Chida was dressed in a green fur-made shirt and trousers that looked dark in the absence of sunlight. Zakar on the other hand wore a brown leather shirt-like armour and brown breeches. "Can you keep up, Chida?" Zakar said, smiling. "You hope," Chida said, arrogantly.
After minutes of running or rather, jumping from tree to tree, they stopped. The sight was bloody. Blood wet and coloured various trees and painted a picture of red on the grass below. Chida had a look of disgust. Zakar was resolute. He jumped down to a bloodless strip of grass and observed closely.
First, he found a head that looked like a squeezed paper. Or maybe something that had fallen from a very long distance. Moving forward, he found a second body. Or rather, pieces of a body scattered about. He picked each piece of body he could and made a heap from them.
Just a few paces away from the tree, Zakar saw a third body. The person was tall and plump and only both of his arms were missing. Zakar shook his head. "Chida, remain vigilant. I'll bury them and offer a prayer."
Zakar made a shovel-like carving from a large branch that had just fallen. With it, he dug against the somewhat wet ground. After a while, he had dug a grave deep and wide enough to bury what remained of the three of them. He offered prayers and jumped to the branch Chida was standing.
"Who are they?" Chida asked. "I don't know," Zakar said wearily.
The two siblings carried on for a few minutes. Both of them were clearly in contemplation, regarding the identity of the dead men they found. They soon stumbled upon a fourth body.
Like he did before, Zakar jumped down to examine the body among other things. This man was lanky. His head was smashed against a tree, with his body still intact. His sword lay across him by at least twenty paces. And like he had done for the others, he buried him and offered a prayer.
Zakar inspected the tracks left by two separate footprints and together with Chida, he followed it. After some minutes, he found pieces of bones on the ground. The splashes of blood on the trees indicated a violent feeding. The traces of bite on some of the bones were evidence.
Zakar didn't bother to bury this one. He carried on with Chida and after some time they found a sixth body. It was whole except the missing legs which were most likely severed. Zakar buried the body and offered a prayer.
Zakar looked quite frustrated as he observed the ground. "What is it, brother?" Chida asked. "From the first three bodies we've always followed a track of footprints. Now there is none. Only that man made it this far. And now, he's dead." Zakar said, blankly.
For the first time Chida shunned her duty to cover Zakar and jumped down. "Do we go back?" Chida asked, painfully. "You can if you want. I know you're the reason we even came here. But with these strangers here, so close to home, I want to know." Zakar said. "Know why they came?" Chida questioned. "Yes. More than that too." Zakar said with curiosity.
Chida made a small smile. "They have a peculiar colour, lighter than both of us and far lighter than any other." Zakar shook his spear with the sharp point to the ground. "We've been shunned for our somewhat light colour among other things. They would be scandalised if they see a new kind of people," Zakar said, lightly.
Chida cast her gaze to Zakar. "We continue, then?" She asked. Zakar removed his spear from the ground. "Yes. I want to see the wind that will bring a great change." Zakar said. "Perhaps, I will be part of it," he mumbled to himself.
Without a sign of any track left by human or beast. Zakar and Chida continued on. Their journey was easy, though. At this point in the forest, there were only two ways a person could go. Either backwards, which they had just shunned, or forward which was dark and coated with warnings of danger. Either way, they had made their choice. They would court this danger.
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The sky was covered with various moving colours as birds of many kinds fled from the forest. Caster laid on a camp bed on the open beach. He covered his face with a brown straw-made hat to block the sun. Cara sat on a chair beside him. Her wavy long brown hair that almost covered her eyes was enough to protect her from the sun's onslaught.
A day passed and no word from the scouts. This helpless situation had left Dejar pacing around almost every time he stood. From time to time he would come to Caster and try to give him assurances. Caster on the other hand, felt relaxed. He argued that scouting through an unknown land could be more difficult than they had assumed.
But today, the fleeing birds alerted them, most especially Caster. He began to consider that something must have happened in the forest. Cara tried to calm him down, but instead he chose to dive into the Ocean, wetting his grey shirt in the process.
After being seemingly calm, Caster instructed Dejar that they would wait for a while. "How many days, High-Prince?" The Captain asked. Caster met his question with a stare and silence. When Caster was like this, no one could predict his actions. Worse still, trying to push him in the right direction only resulted in unsheathing his anger.
By the time the next day broke, a third day since the scout team left, Caster had made his decision. He called for a meeting with Dejar and other senior military men. He called the sailors, navigators and geographers. They had expected a meeting, but not one with a bad air around it.
A large tent was made to host Caster's meeting. The tent was grey and silver in colour and at its peak, the banners of House Clovis danced. Within its thickness were six men. Dejar with two other senior officers, the Chief Sailor, the Chief Navigator and the Chief Geographer. They were all men who could father Caster, some of them could even be his grandfather. Yet, he kept them waiting.
The soldiers guarding various positions in the tent, all fiercely loyal to House Clovis, prevented the men sitting on red cushions from complaining about the High-Prince's tardiness.
After a few minutes, Caster appeared, dressed in a long red coat. The day might be hot on this side of Velecor but the nights were twice as cold. Without apology for his lateness, Caster proceeded to sit on the cushion facing the two rows of three.
"Good evening, we'll be leaving tomorrow. Rouse your men, tell them of the order and prepare for the expedition. Dejar, see to the arrangements we agreed upon." Caster's brown gaze looked at the Chief Sailor and Navigator. "Don't worry, we'll leave ten men to protect you." They both nodded in agreement.
Clearly, they were not all convinced but no one tried to voice their complaints. And as soon as the meeting began it ended. Caster sent them away one by one to their tents to prevent a common voice of dissent sewn from a meeting in his absence.
After Dejar, the last man left the tent, Caster asked for it to be dismantled. As Caster went back to his tent, he could hear the men being roused up and informed of their orders, as per his instructions. A few paces before he could reach his tent. Cara who had been sleeping before he left stood angrily in front of the red tent.
She folded her arms and pouted. "What is going on?" she asked almost angrily. "We march tomorrow. Cara. Cara, you should stay with the sailors. I agreed for ten men to stay behind to protect the ship only because... because I wanted you to stay." Caster said, pleadingly.
Cara shook her head in disappointment. "I came here because I wanted to be with you all through the way. I will share your dangers, and your fears." Cara argued. Cara was Caster's weakness. Disregarding her request was impossible for him. Also, there was a longing, a yearning. Caster yearned for Cara to be with him.
They both retired to their camp with Caster agreeing to Cara's plea. In the morning, Caster summoned the crew of the Wavekiller, all of them. Standing before them, he was lightly armoured and ready.
Caster scanned through the more than hundred people in front of him. "The scouts have become silent. Or rather, they have been silenced." The crowd murmured. Caster gestured for them to remain calm. "But their mission did not die with them. Today, we begin our expedition. An expedition to meet new peoples."
"Yes, some kind of success was recorded in the past. Yes, they made history. But ours would be greater. Their deeds would only account for a page or two in a book. But ours?" The crowd began to feel something.
Caster raised his hand. "Ours would be the tale of thousands of books, poems and lyrics on the lips of bards," the crowd erupted. "Onward!" Caster shouted.
The Nusen was a special breed of horse that could survive various situations. After more than a hundred days at sea, the great golden mare still stood strong as Caster mounted it. Only four of those horses were brought. One for Caster, one for the Captain, one for the Chief Geographer and of course, one for Cara.
Caster travelled at the front of the Vanguard, flanked only by Lays Noris, the Chief Geographer and Dejar, the Captain of the Wavekiller. Cara stood slightly behind him. Derek walked alongside the other soldiers, who covered up in threes.
The light of the morning was exchanged for the darkness of the forest. The umbrella-like curvature of the trees created a dome in the forest—blocking most of the light.
The journey was somewhat easy at this point. They only had to follow straight as that was the only route provided. Going left or right was impossible—walls of trees blocked that passage.
They rode till dusk before resting. They brought a chef with them and his food increased morale and aided better rest. Cara had now changed her light green dress that had a riding skirt to a dark green dress of the same kind. Her house sigil of a hand with six fingers was however, missing in both of the dresses.
They rested for about an hour before Caster gave the order to continue their mission. The dark in the forest had become more darker. It was about five hours before midnight and Caster meant for them to keep going.
Without any obstacles they travelled on. Not before they reached a section where the trees were painted red with blood. "Could it be?" Caster murmured to himself. The Captain dismounted and was followed by the tracker to check.
Just a foot from him, Dejar saw the remains of a familiar uniform. It bore the sigil of a Brown Falcon, a Firehawk. "You're right, High-Prince. But we should keep going." Caster nodded in agreement. He scanned through the faces of his men and Cara and saw concern colouring their faces.
"We march on!" They continued till they passed the place where the commander of the scouts died till they reached where three scouts were killed. In spite of the absence of full bodies, the site was dreadful. Blood coloured everywhere and houseflies, bigger than a dove, perched about.
Cara was the first to react as she vomited the bread and egg she ate only hours ago. Some soldiers and others were disgusted. But the others.... the others were terrified. Blue eyes shone in the dark of the night. A growl, akin to that of a wild animal, was the only pointer to what was standing on a dark branch.
The growling became louder. This time, the other soldiers took a pace backward in fear. "I be waiting for you," a deep human-like animalistic voice said. Dejar drew his sword and approached the beast. Clearly, he underestimated it.
Dejar had been blessed with the ability to control animals. To him, this was but a species of animal that was unique to only Negrichor. An animal that could talk. He thought of what he could do with the animal. But when it speedily moved to grab him, he thought nothing.
The grip of a Cursed Beast was that of trepidation. Whoever they held, froze with fear. Dejar's fear was ended as the beast ripped off his head and drank his blood.
The beast stepped forward into a space illuminated by Caster's men lanterns. It was tiger-like, though it had arms and legs like a human. The tiger roared loudly. A roar that brought fear to some in the camp. And after about two tens of a second, hell broke loose.
Animals, mutated animals of every kind attacked them from everywhere, even from the ground they stood. Every soldier sprang into action. The first wave of attack was carried out by about two scores of beasts. Most of them taken care of by Caster and his men. Caster was particularly ferocious, his flames burned a lion's share of their attackers.
The tiger-like beast took a step backward. "Fire boy. There's something about fire boy." After, it roared louder and this time a host of thousands attacked from everywhere. "Fuck!" Caster shouted. A large Eagle tried to grab Caster by his shoulder but its legs were cut off as Caster unsheathed Bellkyn.
After he had dealt with the Eagle-like beast a bear struck against him but he blocked with the sharp edge of Bellkyn. Despite that, Caster was knocked to a tree but he still had it better. The Bear was clearly losing weight and dying. "So that's how it is," Caster muttered to himself.
Caster glanced around to find Cara but she was in the safety of two knights Caster had charged to guard her. Though, one of them was getting his head pounded by a Gorilla-like creature. One on one, none of them could have matched Caster. But their assault was never ending. An eternity of creatures continued to attack them and even Caster was overwhelmed.
His men did no better. They were outnumbered to the point that it wouldn't be crazy to say a group of twenty beasts attacked a soldier.
Throughout the course of the battle, Derek hid at the top of a tree. "Emon, why did you let me go." He muttered irritably to himself. Derek had not wanted to be part of the expedition but the Emperor ordered him to go.
He was ordered to go for one purpose alone. To take Caster away from a near death situation, even if the cost was most likely his life. Derek's brown gaze studied the battlefield with fear. He had no love for Caster but he loved Emon. As Emon's best friend, he didn't want him to lose his brother. And yet, he longed to save his own skin. To do what he must, Derek first had to summon up courage and condemn himself to the possibility of his death.
The perfect opportunity presented itself when Caster and Cara hid behind a huge tree. Caster was injured and Cara was no better. Derek teleported to Caster who seemed surprised that the effeminate friend of his brother's was alive.
Caster cleaned the blood flowing down from his forehead. "Take Cara and flee. Board the ship and sail back to Velecor," Caster pleaded. "Better still, with your death, you could take her back to Velecor in an instant. Either way, leave me. I have condemned men to die today." Caster was surprisingly remorseful after what happened. "I won't...." "For my sake, please," Caster said to cut her words short.
Derek had made up his mind just before he teleported. It was Caster or nothing. He would not waste his life on a stupid girl. Nor would he go back to Velecor without the High-Prince. The few soldiers left were strong, they fought off the horde of beasts. But even they were almost at their limits.
But the beasts were like eternity. They overwhelmed the remaining men that acted as decoy for Caster and slew the last of them. That made Derek's decision for him. He stretched out his hand to hold Caster's arm. Just as he was about to teleport him back to Velecor, everything became black.
The tiger-like beast slapped Derek away with his head hitting a tree. "That blade. I don't like." As the beast was about to grab Bellkyn's hilt, Caster released it all. Using himself and Cara as the epicenter, Caster released a blast of fire that engulfed and eviscerated almost everything in a radius of two tenths of a league.
Cara was saved but Caster was drained. He had used most of his lifeforce to launch such a powerful attack. As he drowned in the waters of unconsciousness, two people, a boy and a girl reached out to him in the depths.