Careon and Lana both heard the sounds of bones crackling from behind. It sent chills down their spine. The two slowly looked back on the creature Careon had just defeated, hoping for the best.
"What?!" Even a necromancer such as Careon was surprised by the sight of the creature slowly turning its head toward them, accompanied by even more bone crackling sounds.
Lana herself could only freeze in her place, with a pale face, tears slowly coming out of her watery eyes. The creature slowly, really slowly moved, dragging its leg on the ground.
"Run for the door, now!" Careon shouted as loud as he could. If he could, he wanted to summon a creature of his own to fight against the enemy. But all he could do right now was run.
The creature, where once it was slowly dragging its leg on the ground, noticeably got faster, and faster. From dragging, to walking, to running in such a short time, even though its ankle was dislocated, it kept on moving its leg without any regard for pain.
SLAM!
The two of them barely made it behind the door, leading from the hallway to the yard of the estate. It was so close that Careon saw the white of the eyes of the creature and its mouth filled with broken teeth.
His sigh of relief could be heard from even heaven. But that relief did not last long at all. The yard had presented him with yet another sight of horror that sent chills down his spine.
Bodies of all kinds of men and women and even children. Some were only gardeners, but some were men at arms with their swords still tightly held in their hands.
"What-?" It was a look that silenced both him and especially the young maid.
But not long after that, "Robert! Jacob!"
It was a scream heard not from the ears, but by heart. Lana screamed not only because those she called for didn't respond, but it was also a scream of affliction of her friends that were no longer with her.
Careon knew what was happening to the young maid. How could he not after all? It was not only once or twice he heard the name of the two men at arms called Robert and Jacob, he often met them in the training yards or just playing with Lana.
Now the two of them were gone. He also felt something in the deepest part of his mind. But a necromancer was taught to rid their emotions.
He toughen up, and closed the eyes of the young maid, he didn't even care that his eyes was slowly filled with tears. With his arm around the maid's shoulder, he carefully made his way toward the knight's quarter.
Twice he was greeted by the sight of horror, men all around the yard of the knight's quarter. Some are the same type of creature he saw in the hallway before was also on the ground, most riddled with slash wounds all over. Some had their arms or legs cut off.
But without a doubt, all of them had their heads decapitated, separated from their body.
"Lana… It looks like we won't be getting any help from anyone in knight's quarter…" Careon said slowly to the young maid, with his hands still covering her eyes.
The maid gave no response to him, but it seemed that she had begun to accept the reality as it is.
The two of them slowly made their way to the stable.
Fortunately for the two of them, even from afar, it could be seen that there were multiple horses in the stable, neighing as if the horses were greeting Careon and Lana.
"Can you ride a horse?" Careon asked to the young maid as soon as they got into the stable and began untying the saddle that was tied to the fence.
"Yes… Rob-robert taught me,"
Careon didn't ask anything after that. He got on their horses and so did Lana. Leading the way while the young maid just followed behind him.
'Where should we go now… And where would father go in this situation,' He thought for a while, searching for where he should seek refuge.
"Th-the castle of Lord Re-Renald," Lana said out of nowhere, still gasping for air as she cleaned away the tears on her face.
'The castle of Lord Renald? Well, that could be it, a castle situated near a forest and a river. It would be wise to seek refuge there,' Careon thought for a while.
"Then let's go!" He kicked the horse's belly with the side of his legs and soon, the horse was galloping.
"Who's there!" A guard high on the wall shouted toward the two riders approaching the closed castle gate.
"Careon, the son of Lord Marcus! Here to seek refuge, I hope that the humble Lord Renald would accept our cry for help!" He shouted back to the guard. It was one hour later from when they escaped from the estate.
The guard seemed hesitant for a moment, though he disappeared momentarily behind the palisade of the stone walls. There was a moment of silence between the rest of the guards and Careon.
Creak
The huge wooden gate was slowly being pulled by the guard from the other side.
He drove his horse forward, and Lana did the same. At the point where they were inside the castle, the gate was instantly closed. Though it was visible that a person of noble status was waiting in front of them.
"Lord Renald, I presume?" Careon asked politely and in a format voice, confirming the identity of the man with long brown hair, but cleanly shaven.
"Indeed, you seem to have grown, Careon. Last we met was at your tenth birthday," Lord Renald voiced, with a slight smile on his face, trying to break the ice.
Careon only responded with a slight smile of his own, "It is a pleasure to meet you again. Have you heard any news about my father?"
"I have received news that he was gathering all the other nobles slightly south of here. This place will be the meeting point tomorrow. Such a righteous person your dad is." Lord Renald responded.
"…Thank you for your answer, Lord Renald,"
"You must be extremely tired, right? Let this maid here guide you to your room."
…
It was only a few hours after that, Careon took great care of cleaning himself and was just out of the bathroom when he saw a letter on his table. He approached it and with mixed emotions of excitement while at the same time fearful; he smirked.
'It seems that master wants to meet me!'