Chapter 118: Before the Capital
Morning came quietly.
Kael was already awake when the first light reached the village rooftops.
He stood beside the road, looking over the horses while the soldiers prepared for departure.
The refugees had been given food and shelter for the night. Those who were wounded had been treated by Mara, the village healer, and the worst of the injuries had stabilized.
Kael looked toward the village hall.
Torren stepped outside carrying a rolled map.
"They’re ready."
Kael nodded.
"Good."
Torren walked beside him.
"You didn’t sleep."
"I did."
"For how long?"
Kael glanced at him.
"Enough."
Torren laughed.
"That’s not an answer."
Kael ignored him.
His eyes moved toward the mountains.
The strange vision from the previous night remained in his thoughts.
Chains.
Black water.
Two enormous eyes.
He hadn’t told anyone.
Not yet.
There was no reason to frighten people with something he couldn’t prove.
But he couldn’t dismiss it either.
Something had stirred beneath the earth.
And somehow, his powers had sensed it.
The villagers gathered near the road.
The old man who had first spoken with Kael stepped forward.
"You are leaving again."
Kael nodded.
"We must reach the capital."
"Will you return?"
Kael looked at the village.
The answer took him a moment.
"Yes."
The old man smiled faintly.
"Then we will wait."
Kael nodded.
He mounted his horse.
Before he could leave, the young boy approached.
He looked up at Kael.
"You said strong people don’t let fear decide what they do."
Kael remembered the conversation.
"I did."
The boy nodded seriously.
"Then I’ll be strong too."
Kael looked at him for a moment.
"Start by listening to your mother."
The boy frowned.
His mother laughed.
Kael smiled faintly.
"That will be the hardest part."
Several villagers laughed.
The tension that had followed them since the attack finally eased.
Kael turned his horse toward the road.
"Take care of one another."
The villagers bowed their heads.
The expedition continued.
The first day passed without incident.
The road gradually widened as they moved toward the capital.
More travelers appeared.
Merchants.
Farmers.
Caravans.
Mounted guards.
The Empire seemed completely unaware of what was happening beyond the northern settlements.
That bothered Kael.
He saw merchants discussing prices.
Farmers complaining about taxes.
Children chasing one another beside wagons.
Life continued normally.
Yet only a few days away, villages had been abandoning their homes.
Kael watched a merchant caravan pass.
Several men were laughing around a wagon loaded with cloth.
Torren noticed him staring.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Torren followed his gaze.
"You think they should know?"
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because we don’t know enough."
Torren nodded.
"Fair."
Kael looked ahead.
"But if the attacks continue..."
He paused.
"They will know soon enough."
Near sunset, they stopped at a roadside settlement.
It was larger than the villages they had passed.
A stone wall surrounded the houses.
A watchtower stood near the gate.
Kael immediately noticed the difference.
There were armed guards.
More importantly, there were monster warning bells mounted along the wall.
Torren looked up.
"That’s new."
Kael dismounted.
A guard approached.
He wore a dark leather vest over a gray tunic and carried a spear.
"Travelers?"
Kael showed the Imperial insignia.
The guard immediately straightened.
"My apologies."
Kael nodded.
"Have there been attacks?"
The guard hesitated.
"Not here."
"Nearby?"
"Three villages north."
Kael’s expression hardened.
"How long ago?"
"Within the last week."
"How many creatures?"
"Nobody knows."
The guard looked toward the mountains.
"More every night."
Kael looked at the warning bells.
"Have any come here?"
"Not yet."
"Then why the bells?"
The guard looked embarrassed.
"Because we’re expecting them."
Kael looked at the wall.
The settlement was preparing for a siege.
But nobody knew when it would come.
"How many soldiers do you have?"
"Twenty-four."
Kael frowned.
"Twenty-four?"
"That’s all the provincial office sent."
Kael looked toward the road.
"And the villages?"
"Most have none."
There it was again.
The same problem.
Too many settlements.
Too few soldiers.
Too many roads.
Too many dangers.
Kael looked at the guards.
"What happens when the creatures attack?"
"We sound the bells."
"And if someone is outside the walls?"
The guard looked away.
"We hope they make it back."
Kael said nothing.
That answer bothered him more than he wanted to admit.
They stayed at the settlement for the night.
Kael ate with his soldiers inside a small tavern.
The room smelled of roasted meat, wood smoke, and old ale.
Conversation filled the room.
Then a merchant at the next table spoke loudly.
"Three villages gone."
Another man shook his head.
"Not gone. Abandoned."
"Same thing if nobody returns."
Kael continued eating.
A woman nearby joined the conversation.
"My cousin lives near the northern road."
"What happened to her?"
"She fled two nights ago."
"Where?"
"Here."
The room became quieter.
The tavern keeper sighed.
"Half the people coming through these gates are refugees."
Kael slowly put his cup down.
He looked around the room.
Nobody knew who he was.
They weren’t speaking to impress him.
They were simply afraid.
A merchant shook his head.
"The provincial soldiers can’t handle it."
Another man replied:
"They can’t be everywhere."
Kael listened.
That sentence stayed with him.
They can’t be everywhere.
He looked down at his hands.
His own soldiers had been stretched thin during the expedition.
He had only a small force.
Even if he had ten times as many, there would still be places they couldn’t reach in time.
Kael said nothing.
But a thought had begun forming.
Not a plan.
Not yet.
Just a question.
What happens to the people when soldiers cannot reach them?
He pushed the thought aside.
There were more immediate matters.
The river.
The seal.
The strange energy.
The Emperor.
Those came first.
A bell suddenly rang outside.
CLANG!
The entire tavern fell silent.
Another bell answered.
CLANG!
Then another.
People rushed toward the doors.
Kael stood.
His soldiers immediately grabbed their weapons.
Torren looked at him.
"Monsters?"
Kael listened.
The bells continued.
But something was wrong.
There were no screams.
No horns.
No soldiers shouting.
Only bells.
Kael stepped outside.
The settlement guards were running toward the northern wall.
Kael followed.
When he reached the top of the wall, he saw them.
Several shapes moved along the distant road.
Too many to count.
The creatures weren’t attacking.
They were running.
Away from the mountains.
Away from the north.
And straight toward the settlement.
The guards raised their weapons.
Kael stared at the approaching creatures.
Then he looked beyond them.
Far in the distance, beneath the mountains, something dark moved across the horizon.
Even from this distance, Kael felt it.
That same pressure.
The same sensation from the chamber.
His night-aura stirred beneath his skin.
Kael’s expression hardened.
"Something has changed."
Torren looked at him.
"What?"
Kael drew his sword.
"The creatures aren’t coming here to attack us."
He stared toward the mountains.
"They’re running from something."
The first creature reached the outer field.
Then another.
Then ten more.
The guards prepared themselves.
Kael stepped forward.
"Open the gate."
The captain stared at him.
"Open it?"
"Yes."
"Those things are coming straight toward us!"
"They’re trying to escape."
"Escape what?"
Kael looked toward the dark horizon.
"I don’t know."
The ground trembled.
The bells shook on their own.
Kael’s eyes narrowed.
"But we’re about to find out."