Blade and blood 2

1b

After everyone rode out, Rokkena ordered Ahasthi to close the doors. Ahasthi, along with Xeora, closed the gates and sealed them. They were all tired after the fight. The fight lasted almost two hours. The saurotaurs never gave them time to breathe. One after the other, they kept on coming at them from the darkness.

Even the horses were tired after carrying their riders through the fight. Some of them were injured as they suffered many blows. The horses neighed in pain as they stopped in their tracks. They didn’t want to move. They must have sensed they were out of danger, at least for now.

Garem climbed down from his horse and turned back to look at the gate. All the others also climbed down. It had been so long that he was stuck inside those walls. He had no purpose coming out through those gates until now. His destiny is linked with the blue-eyed prince as for now. Can he ever come back to his home? He didn’t know. His destiny hasn’t been revealed to him. He has to travel with the blue-eyed prince and take him to Hroshala. What would happen in Hroshala, he hoped, would be revealed to him in time? He had seen the prince fight, unlike any man. He looks soft-hearted but fights fiercely.

He might never return to Shavarath. This must be the last time he will see the ghost city. Garem sighed. You were hell, yet you were my home. He wished to see the city in its glory for one last time before he dies. He saw the invisible wall masking the city. He will never be able to get inside the city again. He has to live the last days of his life away from this city, even in some other country.

Rokkena and Nakhakantan looked at the landscape in front of them. They could see the vast plains covered with thick green grass. The plains were curved down before rising into a forest. They hoped the forest wasn’t big enough to be lost. They wished they could cross the woods without too much delay.

Rokkena’s big black destrier limped towards the plains. The rest of the herd huddled together and followed the black stallion. It was a wretched sight as they were moving miserably. Some of them were bleeding and some of them were covered in blood, as did their riders.

Nakhakantan walked forward towards the edge of the curve to see the depth of the curve. The plains weren’t too deep, and it was shaped like a bowl. In the middle of the plains he saw a small lake, a pond would be right. A little away from where he stood, Nakhakantan saw a faint trail that led to the lake. The trail was almost vanishing. It hadn’t been in use for so many years.

“I can see a pond. I hope the water is drinkable.” Nakhakantan turned towards his troops. From behind, the breeze blew sending chills all over his body. He was shaken by the cold and for an instant, goose bumps filled all over his arms.

Rokkena walked towards the prince while Nakhakantan helped himself to sit on the ground.

Rokkena saw a pale shade of light in the east. Tsaush is opening his eye. The dawn was breaking free from the clutches of darkness. He was dizzy after the long fight, but the sight of dawn was a soothing welcome. He had fought against men all his life but never engaged against such beasts. There were no creatures in the south. The battles were against men and with blades and spears. The north was no place for a straight forward battle. This was the land of magic, black magic and sorcery, to be precise. He heard there were demons and shape-shifters in the north. You will never know whom you are fighting against unless they reveal their true nature.

Rokkena looked at the prince. He was covered in blood and looked exhausted. It was hard to say whether he was wounded or not. “Are you alright?”

Nakhakantan raised his head and looked at the pradhanya. “I never felt alive before. I never thought the battle on the field would be exciting.”

Exciting? Rokkena thought the prince must have used the wrong word. The battles are always grueling. It will drain you. “I assume you enjoyed your first real battle.”

“I guess I did. It was frightening, too, I admit. When I was swinging my Iyoru, I felt I was unstoppable. I was feeling a different vigor, like I was dancing to the rhythm of hell. I have never felt like that before,” Nakhakantan said.

“You had the best battle for your first. We were fortunate to survive it. These beasts were from hell.” Rokkena still saw the creatures in front of his eyes. Their snarls reverberated in his ears.

“They are called saurotaurs or squamas.” The prince informed Rokkena. “Someone summoned them to kill us.”

Rokkena remembered Garem’s words. Their target was the prince. Only our people knew that the prince was travelling by ship with the reinforcements. He felt that the storm in Meya wasn’t the anger of her sons. It was sorcery. Rokkena never heard of any wizards or witches in Nakha. Who wants to harm the prince? Who among the crowd was the traitor?

“We lost five men in the battle,” Rokkena said. He looked at the rest of the group. They were sitting on the ground, weak and weary. Some were drowsy because of incomplete sleep. Most of them were covered in blood.

Nakhakantan counted ten, including Garem. “Do you think going with Garem is the right choice?”

“We don’t have another alternative. He might know the shortest path to Hroshala. From there we can travel to Magandry,” Rokkena hoped.

“What if he is trying to mislead us?” Nakhakantan shared his doubt.

“We have to get out of this country. We don’t have any maps. At least we have to follow him to the next city.” Rokkena wanted to trust the old man.

“I hope we won’t lose more men. We lost too many.” Nakhakantan sighed.

“Why do you think he is misleading us?” Rokkena asked in a hushed tone.

“I don’t know. I only shared my doubts. He knows that we are at his mercy. You remember he wasn’t there under the tree when we went to search for him. Then, he appeared out of nowhere from the darkness.” Nakhakantan recalled. He couldn’t find anything to blame the old man. Yet, he wasn’t ready to trust him.

“He urged us to leave the city without delay. But we had to get Stei. If we had left at the moment he told us, we wouldn’t have encountered the creatures. I don’t think he wants harm.” Rokkena believed the man.

“I don’t feel like trusting him completely. If we left early, we would have lost more men. Either way, the loss was ours. Our strength has weakened. As you said, let us go with him to the next city and find out if we are going on the right path.” Nakhakantan removed his armor. Only then did he notice the wound on his arm. The cut wasn’t deep. There was no bleeding. He needed a thorough wash. All the blood that covered his body had dried up. He was stinking with squama blood. It had a nauseating smell.

“We lost many horses too,” Nakhakantan reminded Rokkena.

Rokkena shook his head. “Eight horses left.” he looked at the plains where the horses were grazing.

“The rest of the horses are on the other side of the city.” Nakhakantan heaved a sigh. They leave the other surviving horses near the shore before entering the ghost city. There were so many horses that some of them swam towards the shore before the ship sunk.

“There is no way we are going back into that wretched city,” Rokkena commented. Yet, he was ready if the prince commanded. “I don’t want to lose more men.”

“Neither do I.” Nakhakantan sniffed.

“Eight horses and twelve men,” Rokkena uttered softly. No way could they travel comfortably with more men and fewer horses. They need more horses, at least four more.

“That’s not a favorable number,” Nakhakantan whispered. He dug his head in his palms and started thinking. They needed to go to the shore to get the horses and the supplies from the wagons. They left the wagons at the shore before entering Shavarath. He hoped that the horses were safe. Can they go around the city? That was a better choice than to enter the ghost city again. “We can go around. Don’t you think?” Nakhakantan removed his palms from his face and looked at Rokkena.

“We could try.” Rokkena shrugged. “We can ask the old man if there is a way around the city.”

“The scouts said there was dry land to the west and traveling by foot wasn’t possible. We have horses now, and we can try going through those dry lands.” Nakhakantan said.

“What about the east?” Rokkena enquired.

“Cliffs and rocks. And he saw water beyond that. West is the way I think.”

“Then, west it is. First we need Stei. I will ask the old man if he can help him.” Rokkena stood up to leave.

“He said he could do something outside the gates.” Nakhakantan was hopeful.

The soldiers rose to their feet when they saw the prince and the commander. Nakhakantan gestured them to sit and rest. No need to show respect when you are drained.

Garem was still staring at the gates. He was reminiscing old memories. He turned back when he heard the footsteps approaching him. “Give me a moment,” Garem said, even before they asked anything. He stood there a few more minutes. “An ambititious witch,” Garem whispered. “This was just a beginning.” He muttered the words. “Fire,” Garem raised his hands and made some signs in the air. “Desolation,” words poured from his mouth. “Death, blood.”

Rokkena and Nakhakantan looked at each other. They waited until Garem calmed himself down. He addressed them. “The destiny of your country has changed. I saw fire and death. There is a witch hiding somewhere in your country and is guarded by someone who shares the same hunger for power as her. Her purpose is not to kill you but something more sinister.”

“Who is she?” Rokkena couldn’t resist asking. A witch in Nakha?

“I don’t know. Revelations take time.” Garem smirked.

“Can you save my man?” Nakhakantan asked. Stei was still on the horse, sitting like a stone. He wasn’t breathing.

“Take him to Sheill Lake. Its waters can help him.”

“Where is this lake?” Rokkena asked.

“You have seen it.” Garem pointed towards the plains.

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