"By the gods, It's gone, the whole town is just gone."
Lothac's words were untrue; ash remained, and bones. Everything else had been picked clean; even the corpses were stripped of valuables. If it wasn't bolted down, it was gone, and only that was partially true. The raiders had worked through the night to steal everything they could.
"So Much for resupplying here." Willam tried to keep the frustration out of his voice, but it was a hopeless objective. "Spread out, scavenge for anything of value that remains. Boots, Food, herbs, Anything."
Lothac and Selene started to issue orders to the rest of the group. Those not scavenging were stationed at any holes in the perimeter wall, they would not be surprised again.
Now that they were inside the walls, it was plain to see that the town was much smaller than he originally thought. The only thing that made it any different from a simple village was the palisade that circled them and an inn that sat by the entrance of the main gate at the south side of the town.
A large stone well and a single house were marked by overgrown moss and decay to be the eldest structures in the town. Everything was built around those two buildings, slowly, over decades, growing in size and population until it became necessary to build a wall. The tavern would have been more recent, a place to offer housing for trappers who hunted in the mountains and woods. As word of plentiful meats and furs spread, traders began to trickle in, and one enterprising wealthier common folk or another decided to build a place of rest and food.
It was all gone now. This is what war did to the land, to the common people, that had nothing to do with the greed and corruption of the elite of society. The southland was no better than this far-flung territory. Even now, southern countries battle for land or to avenge some feud or another. Most were secretly controlled by his association so they could reach one end or another.
"Willam, you should see this." Selene's use of his name put him on edge immediately. It was uncommon for her to address him with it.
She led him past a collapsed Market stall and through the ruins of a small house. They walked until they reached the northmost gate. Hrothgar greeted them as he stood over a pile of vomit that he, with his hands on his knees kept adding too.
They passed the gate, it was surprisingly intact and showed no signs of damage. Much like their group had been in the forest, the Khorigdluud raiders had caught them completely unaware and, in a swift attack, overwhelmed any guards that may have been posted at the gates and secured the gate before it could have been closed.
"What do I need to see?" He asked, almost wishing he hadn't
Selene pointed a finger past the gate down the dirt road that led to the distant mountain.
Few sights gave Willam pause anymore. He had seen much and had been trained to brave the worst since he was brought to the citadel as a young boy. But that sight had the potential to haunt his sleep for years to come.
There were thirty-three of them in all if the number had some cultural or religious significance to the Khorigdluud, it was lost to him. They were all nailed to wooden posts twelve feet into the air, Their hands bolted above them and their feet twisted in ways that would leave their bones as much below them.
Some lived, the groans and cries that left their mouths made him pity them, for they would have been more fortunate to have died like some of their number.
Naked muscle shone red in the light of dawn, every slight breeze bringing about another cry from the unfortunate. Their skin was piled neatly in mounds at the base of their stakes. They had all been gruesomely skinned and scalped.
One was raised higher than the others. At first glance, he looked to have suffered the same fate, but after another look, he could see that the man's skin had been removed only to be glued or laced haphazardly back onto his body.
"Rugar." There was no mistaking him, even with the disfiguration he suffered.
"Kill Me," The flayed man pleaded with a tormented voice. "Please, kill me."
Willam raised his hand to the knight and whispered, "Aquae telum." A droplet of water formed at the tip of his finger. He willed it to fly, it pierced the eye and killed Rugar quickly. Not even the best of healers could save him.
"Put them out of their misery and bury them, We have until mid-day to scavenge what we can. After that, I want to get as far away from here as possible." He yelled to any who could hear him.
Hrothgar joined him as he bounded up a sloped road that led to the longhouse of the previous lord of the town. He still smelled of vomit, but the smell of fire and death was enough that it didn't stand out.
"Where shall we go then, boss? Our route takes us northeast but that would bring us to the scoundrels who did this." Hrothgar asked. It was a good question, they could head back to the citadel and take ship to the east, but that would mean his group would have to split up. One group would have to go south along the steppe and the other east to investigate all tribes.
"What does Ilkhan mean? The raider we had captured kept repeating it." Willam knew full well about the khans, the warrior kings that led many peoples of the steppe, but Ilkhan was foreign to him.
"Ilkhan. Are you sure that is what he said?" the guide suddenly had an air of worry about him. "Well, Are you."
"Yes, he kept repeating Ilkhan, Chagadai, and the name of his tribe. That is all I could understand, at least." At his words, Hrothgar dropped to the floor; he leaned against the outer wall of the longhall. "What do you know?"
With a groan, he spoke, "If the raider truly said that word. Well, it means you are going to have a very rough time."
"Me? Not We?"
He laughed, then looked at Willam seriously. "When you came to me asking for a guide for thirty people, I knew everything was not as it seemed. Then, when you started unleashing magic I knew I was in over my head. But even then I was still willing to go for the gold." He paused for a breath. "But this. This is too much, I refuse to take you any further, Now I wish you all the best of luck, but I will be leaving within the hour."
With haste, Hrothgar made to leave for the door, but Willam blocked him before he could leave.
"Wait, tell me what Ilkhan means."
The guide looked at him questioningly, as if he knew nothing.
"It means death, wizard, death, and devastation."