Path Of The Broken

8. Evacuation

8

Evacuation

Booted feet ran, doors slammed, people yelled, there was the distinct scrape of wood against the stone floors of the castle, and the sound of horses milling in the courtyard below. An energy, a feeling, panic. Scholar Clements stood at the window looking at the milling people, his people below. Despite the warning they had received, he didn’t panic. The king’s men would come for them due to the failed kidnap attempt, but he knew it took time to mobilise such a force.

It wasn’t the first time he had been driven and forced to abandon his home. He ran his hand along the rough stone wall, evidence every block had been crafted by hand in a different era to this one. This keep would stand as it had for generations and he would come back one day. It amazed him the attachment that could be woken by coming back to a place.

He remembered a different time in these halls. The blue eyes of his sweet little Isa. He’d seen her in the village so long ago, dancing with some other girls. Her beauty had shone in her eyes and smile. He’d selected her to be his, taken her into his home. He still recalled her scream of fear as she’d been torn from his arms. All his girls taken from him as the screaming and yelling from an angry mob who’d mustered up the courage to attack echoed through these halls and rooms. As flames spread and thick smoke filled the rooms he’d fled then, too.

Turning from the window, he glanced around the now bare room that had been his home. Memories of a long-ago time still assaulted his mind. He’d never been able to forget so he’d come back, abandoned what he’d built elsewhere. Discovering the Killiam Order, he’d joined their number. It hadn’t been hard to spin a tale of despair at the hands of monsters that they’d believed. An exercise in patience had allowed him to rise through their ranks. He’d learned lessons from his long-ago past.

He’d gathered people to him. This time the mob would be on his side.

Scholar Clements rode out the large gates of the keep with some of his people around him, yet he was isolated despite the company. As they had discussed, during the exodus they rode out in small groups rather than one big party, using the different exits to mask their departure as much as they could. The longer it took for word to get back to the king that they had evacuated the stronghold, the safer they would all be.

Their next base wasn’t as salubrious as the Keep, but he’d been assured they’d made the village they’d taken over as comfortable as they could. Still, it was only a short-term solution. They would move onto a safer base on the lands of an ally, once they’d received word their intended home had been searched for their presence. Not all the high lords had turned their back on their duty, as they saw it, to the common people. Or forgotten their allegiance to him, to the Order.

Clements was aware that some of his people shouldered guilt at the villages and farmers who’d lost their lives as they had been cleared out of their homes. They’d organised multiple raids by the Sundered and their Controllers to achieve the panic and fear. That fit in with their goals. The population did not fear attacks by the Sundered as much as they should. It was time to change that, as the time of fulfilling his retribution on the people of Vallantia was close to being realised.

As fear spread throughout the two major sprawling cities overcrowded with people, Clements knew they would put pressure on the king to act. That thought made Clements smile. Kevin had assured him that their actions were being noticed, and it was only the king noticing his people suffer that would force him to act.

Kevin coming into the fold of the Order had been a turning point. The Order's progress had accelerated, and they had achieved so much since he’d come to them. A trained Master Healer, it had been his idea to recruit others with the mind control gift from the ranks of the Healers’ Guild. That had proved to be a strategic move of pure genius. His work at refining their medication, continuing from the Order’s founding father, the great Gail Killiam, had heralded a number of major breakthroughs, putting them in a good position.

It was in the annuals from the Founding articulating the path the Order should follow. They would keep refining the medication until they had an army of the Sundered under their control. Once that goal was achieved, they would take the fight to the monsters in this world, regardless whether the king approved the action or not. Once Vallantia was under their control, they would spread their reach, bringing safety to all the lands. Clements smiled, it was so nice that the Orders long term goals and plans happed to fit in with his own desires. He wanted it all back and he would use the Order to achieve it.

“Scholar Clements?”

Clements turned to see Stacey Frost frowning as she moved her horse closer to him and repressed a sigh. Some members of the Order really tested his patience. Stacey was one of them but she was a good follower. An organisation such as this could never have enough followers, even if he could wish that she didn’t question so much.

“Yes Stacey, how can I assist you?” He kept his irritation out of his tone.

“I don’t understand why we are abandoning the keep.” Stacey’s lips compressed.

“The king’s people will come after us there.”

“We’re ready, we can fight them now! With the strong walls around us we’d have the advantage over the guard.” Her back stiffened as she turned and gestured to the stronghold they were leaving behind them.

Clements smiled coldly. At least Stacey was one of his people that wasn’t afraid to fight. Indeed, she and her partner were spoiling to engage in the war they knew was coming. Even if they were a little premature in that desire.

“The time is fast approaching, a few more pieces need to fall into place. Then we will take the fight to the king and his people.”

“You keep saying that, yet year after year we hide rather than fight directly and now we run…”

Clements cut her off, his temper snapping. “Enough, Stacey. The steps we take are necessary. We have more allies than you know and we will need all of us in this fight.”

Seeing others nearby turn, their eyes wide at the argument, Clements pressed his lips together. He turned his gaze on them all, waiting until they broke eye contact and looked away before he spurred his horse to a trot, putting some distance between himself and the others.

It took all of his willpower not to kill Stacey for questioning him in front of the group. At least Stacey wanted the fight and wasn’t one of the ones who wailed over the death of innocents; those would have to be dealt with. He pushed down his irritation and remembered his goal. A smile spread on his lips.

Soon a time would come when none would dare question him.