Chereads / Rising From the Ashes : A Phoenix's Tale / Chapter 40 - Journey to the West

Chapter 40 - Journey to the West

By the time Curtis had returned to the fort, most of the residents of Dierac had already learned of the evacuation orders. There was less than an hour before they would evacuate. Many had opposed the order, citing that they had nowhere to go, and having some sort of shelter would be better than camping out in the wild, the lands of the continent were dangerous, other than the occasional wild beast that roamed the lands, there were brigands, bandits, renegades, and other sorts of dangers lurking about. Not to mention that the occasional Chaos raiding party would scour the land looking for something to maim or kill.

When Silva had announced that those who didn't want to come with them can stay behind, all the people who were sitting on fences had immediately announced their support to leave. With their number 1 protector leaving himself, why else would they stay behind? Without him, they would just be food for the wolves.

Every person has their niche, something they are good at, something that they excel at. Those who are good at tracking and hunting will excel at gathering meat. A person who is good at fishing will find no trouble in putting food on the table. While those who are strong and can fight will be able to protect those who cannot.

Silva waved him towards him as he was talking to the 2 other people. He was discussing plans for the townspeople, about the evacuation, and the direction in where they would go.

"This is Cur- I mean Red." Silva introduced Curtis to the two he was talking to. Remembering at the last second of what they had discussed during their talk earlier.

"I'm Royce, and this is Carter. Thanks for helping us" the older man bowed as he introduced himself, the two of them were veteran guards of the town. When the attack began they had begun to gather the townsfolk and direct them towards the fort. But, when the walls started to rise, they gathered all the people they could and holed up in one of the easier to defend homes.

They had led the people they were with towards the fort after the events had died down. On their way, they had picked up more stragglers and brought them to safety. They were as noble as they come. They had helped those that had needed assistance, rather than run to safety by themselves.

"They weren't at the fort when I arrived, but, when I was organizing the people for the evacuation, they had arrived, with more than 50 townsfolk," Silva added. Highlighting the work that the two older men had done.

"Nice to meet you two, good job on saving more people." Curtis praised, the townsfolk were the legs of the community. Without them, the town wouldn't move forward and prosper.

"It's nothing, we may be useless in a fight since we're old, but we can't just stand still when the people are suffering," Carter explained, feeling embarrassed by the praise. The old man wasn't used to being recognized.

"It's nothing short of what you deserved. Every deed has its merit." Curtis always did like those who were noble. Death and sorrow had plagued the battlefield, moments of valor, and kindness should be always be rewarded.

"Now, how is the evacuation process?" he inquired.

"It's going fine, but, we have too many wounded, we'll need carriages for them, and most of our horses died in the attack." Silva sighed, most of the animals were killed initially, they had kept them on the outskirts of the town, the stables, barns, and coops were placed outside the town, mostly because they had wanted to minimize the smell it would bring to the town, in hindsight it was a good idea, but now after the attack, they had lost most of the animals.

"Grain, fish, jerky, and other dried food are kept in the fort, so for that part were set. Setting aside the issue of transporting the wounded, we should be set to after we pick a direction. Did you finish scouting?"

Silva laid out everything that they had discussed since he had left to scout. Curtis nodded. The problem of transporting the wounded should be a minor one, they would just need to combine some of the carriages and that should solve it. For the matter of the direction though.

"During my interrogation of the ones that survived your attack on the trebuchet, they had fled north. It should be the direction where they will most likely come from. If my estimates are correct, they should arrive here within half a day. We should leave as soon as we can, erase our tracks, that should prevent them from tracking us."

Curtis told of the plan he had come up with. They would need to find shelter west. After he had gotten the map of the area from one of the guards, he had figured out which part of the continent he arrived at. If he wasn't so focused on fighting he would have figured it out earlier.

This town was the same town that he had fled to 10 years ago, it was much different from what he had remembered, even the forest that should have been north of the town has disappeared. No doubt to supply the town with wood to build homes. The desert that should be west of the town should still be there, and it was where Curtis planned to bring them.

Having explained parts of the plan, Silva and the two older men gave him odd looks. Curtis disregarded their gaze and explained that going west was the best plan of action. And it was! The enemy was located north, if they marched towards them and found the town empty, they would assume that they had fled south. It would have been the best course of action in any other scenario because getting as far away from the enemy would be ideal.

West of their current position was the desert. Going towards certain doom would not be in anyone's mind at all, the desert was unforgiving, it had no qualms in taking lives. But, there was a secret in that desert.

Hidden in that desert was the tunnels!

The tunnels there would shelter Silva and his people, it would also allow them access into Shesari, through the hidden path they would be able to enter the city. Curtis didn't know what to expect in the City, he would have to discuss it later with Silva and the other two, but it was important for them to move as soon as possible.

Moving towards the city was dangerous, it might be abandoned, or it might be occupied by Chaos, but it was better than moving south, towards nothing. From his lessons with his father, the south was where people went to rest, permanently.

It was a barren wasteland, it was a land where the nomads had taken residency in, they moved in small groups scavenging the wasteland in a poor attempt at survival, a lawless land where death came knocking at one's door at every hour. It was a place worse than the desert, poison had consumed the land. Countless fauna will be seen in that wasteland, poisonous fauna that is. It was a mysterious land, a land that always won.

He could remember his father telling him one story about that place. His father had fled to that place before because of an attempt at his life. He and his guards had not known that they had entered the wasteland's boundaries. One of his men had made the mistake of washing his body on a nearby river, as he was doing so, the water had shown its true colors, the man's body began to melt under the toxicity of the clear pristine water. His skin and bones were devoured by the river, a river that still remained clear, as it ate a person whole, bones and all.

"West it is." Silva acquiesced, nodding to the two older men, they had ordered for the preparation to be sped up. They did not want to stay here any longer, seeing the town they had built up with sweat and blood be reduced to ash was heartbreaking for them.

~~~

In an hour the men had finished attaching the carriages together, it would put more strain on the horses, but there was nothing they could do. They did not want to leave anyone behind, as that would be a death sentence.

Before they had left, they were able to amass a group of over 500 people. Earlier they had thought that they would peak at 400, but with more people crawling out of the rubble of the town they once had, they had been able to make a sizeable group. The fighting force was around 100, it would have been more if there weren't a number of them injured from the battle earlier.

As they moved west, many people had complained, they knew what was in that place. But they had to follow their leaders. Separating from a group would mean death. Together they were stronger.

Looking at the group moving west, it was a bit harrowing. Many men and women were bandaged, some still bleeding, and were receiving treatment as they moved in the carriages. Countless people had been lost in this attack, both young and old.

The most depressing sight was a child still looking for her mother during the evacuation. There was little chance that the girl's mother was alive. Most of the families and relatives had reunited in the fort, during the preparation for the migration.

Curtis approached the child, guilt slowly creeping up to him. If he had gotten here earlier, the child might still have her parent. Curtis looked at the child, troubled about what he should do. He had no experience in being a parent, even in his past life he had never reached that point.

He reached out, tapping the girl on her shoulder.

"Come with me little girl, we'll look for your mother together."