Chapter 117: The Road Back
The villagers gathered what they could carry.
Some took sacks of grain.
Others carried blankets, cooking pots, and tools.
A few farmers refused to leave their homes.
Kael understood why.
A home wasn’t something a person abandoned easily.
But the cracks spreading through the ground had changed the matter.
Kael stood near the village gate while the soldiers organized everyone into groups.
The village headman approached him.
"My lord."
Kael turned.
"We cannot take everything."
"I know."
"What happens to our homes?"
Kael looked back toward the village.
"For now, they remain here."
The headman swallowed.
"And if we cannot return?"
Kael didn’t answer immediately.
He looked toward the distant hills.
"We will return when it is safe."
The old man studied his face.
"You truly believe that?"
Kael nodded.
"I don’t make promises lightly."
The headman lowered his head.
"Then I will trust you."
Kael turned toward the soldiers.
"Keep the families in the center."
One of the soldiers bowed.
"Yes."
"The strongest among us walk at the front and rear."
"Understood."
"Nobody separates from the group."
The soldiers moved immediately.
Kael looked at the road.
The first light of dawn was beginning to appear.
They had lost valuable time.
And he wanted the villagers back at the western settlement before nightfall.
The journey was slow.
Children became tired.
Older villagers struggled to keep pace.
Kael eventually ordered several horses to carry those who could no longer walk.
Nobody complained.
They simply kept moving.
Around midday, the youngest boy from the previous village approached Kael.
He had stayed close to his mother since the attack.
Now he walked beside Kael’s horse.
Kael looked down.
"Something troubling you?"
The boy nodded.
"Are the monsters coming after us?"
Kael glanced toward the hills.
"No."
"How do you know?"
Kael thought about the creatures running from the village.
"They were afraid."
"Of us?"
"No."
The boy looked confused.
"Then what?"
Kael’s expression became serious.
"Something else."
The boy became quiet.
After a moment, he asked,
"Are you afraid?"
Kael looked down at him.
He could have lied.
Instead, he answered honestly.
"Sometimes."
The boy’s eyes widened.
"But you’re strong."
"Being strong doesn’t mean you never feel fear."
Kael looked ahead.
"It means you don’t let fear decide what you do."
The boy considered that.
Then he nodded.
"Okay."
He returned to his mother.
Kael watched him go.
Lyra rode closer.
"You have a way with children."
Kael looked at her.
"I didn’t say anything special."
"You didn’t need to."
Kael shook his head.
"Keep watching the road."
Lyra smiled.
"Yes, Your Highness."
They reached the western village before sunset.
The people there were surprised to see them.
The village headman rushed forward.
"What happened?"
Kael dismounted.
"Your neighbors need shelter."
The man looked at the large group behind him.
"Of course."
He immediately began organizing homes and empty storage buildings.
The villagers helped without being asked.
Within an hour, food was being prepared.
Water was distributed.
The wounded were taken to the healer.
The sight reminded Kael of something.
People did not always need an army.
Sometimes they needed someone willing to organize them.
He stood outside the healer’s small building.
Several injured villagers had been brought inside.
The healer, an elderly woman named Mara, stepped outside.
She wore a plain cream-colored robe with a dark shawl around her shoulders.
"Some of them will recover."
Kael nodded.
"Anyone badly wounded?"
"Two."
"Will they live?"
"If the fever doesn’t take them."
Kael looked toward the building.
"Give them whatever medicine they need."
Mara smiled faintly.
"That sounds simple."
"It isn’t?"
"Medicine costs coin."
Kael reached into his pouch.
"Then use mine."
Mara stared at him.
"Your Highness, this is too much."
"Use what you need."
She bowed.
"Thank you."
Kael turned away.
That evening, Kael gathered the soldiers inside the village hall.
A rough map covered the table.
Torren stood beside it.
"We have confirmed attacks in four villages."
Kael looked at the markings.
"And the other eight?"
"Nothing confirmed."
"Yet."
Torren nodded.
Kael placed a finger on the map.
"The attacks are moving away from the river."
Lyra looked at the markings.
"And the water changes before the creatures appear."
"Yes."
Torren frowned.
"Which means the two problems are connected."
Kael nodded.
"But we still don’t know how."
One of the soldiers spoke.
"Could the creatures be drinking the water?"
Kael shook his head.
"They were trying to reach the wells."
"Perhaps they were hungry."
"No."
Kael looked at him.
"If they wanted water, they wouldn’t have fled when the wells changed."
The soldier nodded.
"Then what were they doing?"
Kael didn’t answer.
Because he didn’t know.
He looked at the map.
The river.
The villages.
The mountains.
The chamber.
The seal.
The strange fragment.
Everything seemed connected.
But the connection remained just beyond his reach.
Kael took the fragment from his coat.
He didn’t remove it from the wooden box.
He simply placed the box on the table.
Torren looked at it.
"That’s the object you found beneath the river?"
Kael nodded.
"You still haven’t opened it?"
"I know what’s inside."
"Then why keep it locked?"
Kael looked at him.
"Because I don’t know what happens when I don’t."
Torren nodded slowly.
"Fair."
Kael returned his attention to the map.
"We aren’t going back to the chamber."
Lyra looked surprised.
"Not yet?"
"Not until we have more information."
"Then what do we do?"
Kael looked at the village outside.
"We report everything."
Torren nodded.
"To the governor?"
"To the governor first."
"And then?"
"The Emperor."
The room became quiet.
Kael understood the weight of that decision.
He was no longer dealing with a provincial problem.
Something was happening across multiple settlements.
The Empire needed to know.
Later that night, Kael stood alone outside.
The village was quiet.
Families slept inside homes that had opened their doors to strangers.
Soldiers rested beside their weapons.
The fire burned low.
Kael looked toward the northern mountains.
His night aura stirred faintly.
He frowned.
He hadn’t summoned it.
The darkness around him seemed to deepen for a heartbeat.
Then it vanished.
Kael touched the wooden box beneath his coat.
The fragment remained still.
But the feeling was there.
Something was calling from far away.
Not a voice.
Not words.
A pull.
Kael closed his eyes.
For one brief moment, he saw something.
A vast darkness beneath stone.
Chains.
Black water.
And two enormous eyes opening in the distance.
Kael’s eyes snapped open.
The vision disappeared.
He stood completely still.
His breathing was controlled.
His hand slowly moved toward his sword.
Nothing was there.
Only the night.
Only the village.
Only the wind.
Kael looked toward the mountains again.
He didn’t know what he had seen.
But he knew one thing.
The creatures weren’t the true danger.
They were running from it.
Kael turned toward the village hall.
Tomorrow, they would continue toward the capital.
He had a report to deliver.
And for the first time, that report would not be about a broken dam or dying crops.
It would be about something spreading beneath the Empire’s soil.
Something even the monsters feared.