Kingdom's Bloodline, page 428
*Clip clop, clip clop, clip clop...*
Dull and quiet, rapid yet quite rhythmic. The sound drew closer.
Almost at the same time, the scream of an orc warrior came from the other side of the sand dunes. "Kerol—"
The sound ended abruptly, and whatever the orc was trying to say, it did not manage to finish because its shout turned into a pained scream. "NARGHHHHHHH—"
Before Thales could register what was going on, the orcs around them had changed their expressions. The pained scream from the warrior had not disappeared.
Nevertheless, Kandarll had let out a furious howl and turned fiercely to its soldiers. The tribe's warchief swung its powerful arms without hesitation and roared with the loudest voice ever since it came, "MUSA!!"
In the next second, all the orc warriors roared and unsheathed their weapons faster than Thales could blink. They strode forward under Yaku and Lusana's guidance, formed groups on their own, and moved!
Except for Duraman. Agitated, it pointed at Thales who was among the captives and said something to Kandarll.
This orc who had a blood feud with Thales seemed to have already made its decision to end things in this place and take revenge for its brother's soul.
Thales' heart sank.
"Don't worry," Dean said in a whisper by his side. "I've already spoken to Louisa. We'll find a chance to strike back."
But his words of comfort did not bring about any effect because Kandarll was shouting even louder and more angrily at Duraman. In fact, it had even punched the Holy Guard.
In the end, Duraman cast Thales a resentful gaze before it turned around and joined its the ranks of its comrades.
The captives stood in the center of the area. They watched the zealous expressions on the busy orcs while remaining bewildered and surprised. With heavy footsteps, the orcs ran past them in rows, heading in the opposite direction of the sparks!
They practically did not have time to care about the captives.
"What..?" came from the surprised Louisa.
The next scene told them the answer.
On a sand dune not too far away from them was a tall figure, and he moved across the sand which hampered his travel. In the night sky, he rushed forth and appeared under the illumination of the firelight.
It was a cavalier. A horse and a person. His feet were placed in the stirrups and held the reins in his hands.
He made the horse gallop swiftly, and with experienced movements, he had his entire body pressed close to the horse's back. As he charged forward his body rose and fell, and he rushed down the sand dune.
Two orc sentinels on the dune saw the cavalier. They roared and raised their terrifying weapons. With fear-inducing footsteps, they dashed towards the invader with their strong bodies!
The cavalier on the horse ignored the incoming threat; he only bent his body and increased the speed of his charge. Both parties drew closer until they were right in front of each other.
The orcs' roars were laced with hatred. One held a heavy hammer, and the other a greatsword. These weapons drew dangerous arcs as they brandished them in their hands. The swings of their weapons charged forth with a murderous momentum, terrifying strength, and the shrill whistles of death, and they looked as though they were about to slice the horse's stomach open.
'No, their strength is too great.' Thales felt his heart seize in fear. He instinctively wanted to open his mouth and yell a warning...
...but the cavalier only whistled.
At that moment, the steed beneath him turned around nimbly, moved its hooves, and changed direction with the weapons barely grazing its body.
Right when the cavalier turned around, the observant Thales noticed the picture on the cavalier's shirt: a crow. A dark blue crow with only one wing.
The cavalier barely avoided the orcs' barricade and the two murderous weapons… but things had not ended just yet.
A light and sharp spear shot out from the horse with accuracy and pierced into one of the orc's neck. As the two orcs roared, the cavalier retrieved the spearhead. Then, with great horse-riding skills, he fled far away from the area, leaving a trail of his enemy's blood behind him as well as several inches of the horse's tail.
"That symbol… That is the Kroma Family's Raven Whistle Light Cavalier." Old Hammer could not suppress the excitement in his heart. "It's the famous Crow Guards' second shock brigade, the Lightning Ravens!"
A thought came to Thales. 'Kroma Family… Kroma Family? Sounds a little familiar…'
The orc that had its neck pierced through roared continuously. With terrifyingly heavy footsteps, it pursued the cavalier with its comrade, not caring about its gushing blood… but they could not catch up.
The cavalier rode in an arc, riding further away into the sand dune, and went faster with each passing moment. Once the orc with the pierced neck had run quite the distance and had almost dyed all the sand red, it finally collapsed into a heap.
Once every drop of its blood was emptied from its body, the orc—who had been persevering through its great vitality—lifted its weapon to the cavalier's drifting figure... but its weapon was too short. It could not hit the cavalier.
As it thought of this, its thick arm shuddered in the air before falling limply to the ground in the end and it moved no longer...
Warchief Kandarll watched its warrior fall to the ground in the distance while it stood under the sand dune. It roared in anger and grief. The orcs shouted with it, venting the hatred in their hearts.
"Hey, mixed breeds of Shattered Stone. It has been two days since we met!"
The human cavalier stared at the burning camp not too far away, then at the raging orcs under him. He made his horse come to a halt. He stopped on the sand dune and his laughter came echoing from the distance, landing on every orc's ears.
"The Day of Holy Pursuit isn't even here yet and you're already setting up a bonfire and having a party...? Isn't it a bit too early?"
The other orc sentinel screamed before it rushed at the cavalier, but it never reached its destination...
*Thump! Thump!*
A second cavalier rushed forth from another direction on the dune. When the orc turned its head around, he drew a saber and ran past it.
As Kandarll roared shrilly, the second orc's head flew into the air with eyes were filled with anger and the unwillingness to admit defeat.
The captives were stunned silent. The orcs roared in anger and sadness.
Thales stared at this scene in a trance. The orcs, despite their ferocious strength, died one after another. Kandarll's shouts became more anxious and quicker.
Under its command, the nearly one hundred orcs quickly split into two groups. With a frightening presence, nearly twenty orcs lifted heavy weapons and took a step forward to settle into formation, turning themselves to face the sand dune where the cavaliers were.
The remaining orcs shouted their battle cry, then gritted their teeth in hatred. They put away their weapons, turned their bodies around, and dashed forward madly in the opposite direction.
"What are they doing?" Quick Rope looked surprised.
Old Hammer shook his head. Since he had a vast pool of experience, he knew what was going on. He answered curtly,
"They're fleeing."
Thales was about to ask a question only to discover that in the next moment, a huge orc had grabbed his neck!
"Wya!" As Dean and Louisa shouted, Thales was pinned under Kandarll's left arm.
The orcs watching the captives did not move. They stood coldly behind the humans' backs, suppressing all those who tried to fight back.
Thales wanted to exert force... only to find that his opponent's strength was the most terrifying out of all the opponents he had seen in his life. "You—"
He did not manage to finish speaking, because in the next moment Kandarll's iron fork had pressed down on his neck.
"Quiet!"
The orc Warchief seized Thales' neck and stared into his surprised and bewildered eyes. It said coldly to the captives, "This will end soon. I don't want the situation to become too ugly."
In the next second, Kandarll pressed its mouth against Thales' ear, then at a volume only the both of them could hear, it said, "Tell your father, as well as Morat… that I was the one who found you first, and I also know who you are."
Then, Thales froze up completely.
Dean and Louisa were still shouting something agitatedly, but that was no longer important.
'What? Father? Morat? Found me first? Knows who I am? Just… what does this mean?'
Kandarll turned Thales' head towards it and its bright yellow eyes were fierce.
The very confused Thales stared at Kandarll. He suddenly realized that its expression was incredibly stern; it no longer looked jovial, and that sad and enraged face from moments ago was gone as well.
There was only calm, a rarely seen calm look on its face.
"So, Jadestar, I fulfilled my promise." Kandarll lowered its voice and said, "What about you?... We'll meet again, secca."
In the next moment, Thales felt pain on his forehead and he instantly had a mouthful of sand enter his mouth.
"Wya!"
Several seconds later, the surprised and bewildered Thales was lifted to his feet, courtesy of Dean. With shock and puzzlement in his heart, he watched the orc warchief leave into the distance. Kandarll and his warriors joined his tribe's team and ran into the distance.
'What's going on?'
"Are you okay? What did it do to you?"
Thales did not answer him. He only blinked while his face was filled with shock.
'Its promise? Jadestar's promise? I don't understand. This orc… Just what is it…?'
"My god." Quick Rope blinked incredulously, then yanked Mickey up from the ground. "We survived… They left!"
Dean watched the orcs fleeing into the distance, then at the orcs who stayed behind to form their formation. His expression was complicated.
The cavaliers charged down the sand dune whistling. There were around a dozen of them now. They nimbly moved away from the orcs who were already standing in formation and pursued the fleeing Kandarll.
As the orcs left, the captives regained their freedom, but they did not have the time to celebrate their luck because soon, the next occurrence completely attracted their attention.
Waves.
During that second, Thales thought he had misheard things… but he was not wrong. He did hear waves. The barely discernible sound of waves crashed into his ears.
*Whoosh… Whoosh…*
"What is that?!" Quick Rope asked in fear.
"This is bad…" Old Hammer's expression was dark.
Under the illumination of the firelight, the captives looked fearfully around them, but they did not see anything, only the dark horizon. However, the sounds of waves had not disappeared.
*Whoosh…*
Around a dozen seconds later, those wave-like sounds drew closer and louder. They became frightening billows!
*Rumble… Rumble…*
In the next instant, the captives looked at the ground in terror, then at the distance.
"F*ck me!" Dean cursed.
Everyone sensed it; a tremor they could not ignore was traveling continuously to the area beneath their feet. The tremor moved up their spines and shook their chests as well as their hearts.
*Rumble…*
The tremors in the ground became greater, more prominent, and more frequent.
*Rumble…*
Thales even felt as if his organs were about to be shaken out of his body.
*Rumble…*
But the unease brought by the raging billow went away in the end because in the next instant, countless black figures appeared simultaneously atop the sand dune in front of them, right at the spot where the sky and earth connected to each other.
*Rumble…*
As the fire crackled, the black figures formed a long, continuous black line.
They were like densely packed ants, but also like a black wave charging towards them. They covered the sand dune from top to bottom, dyeing the fire-illumined sand black, making it resemble the night.
"Oh heavens, that's…" Louisa narrowed her eyes, and her face turned stark pale.
Thales could not help but hold his breath. He saw the black figures clearly now. They were people, or rather, they were cavaliers.
'One, two, ten, one hundred…' The prince counted in shock.
Cavaliers. So many cavaliers.
*Rumble…*
As their horses rode forth on their iron hooves, they spread out over the land with an astonishing momentum, like black magma, about to devour all living beings, spilling forth swiftly from the mouth of a volcano, and flowing towards the small camp at a rate that could not be stopped nor blocked.
Thales watched this scene in a daze.
A cavalier who looked like a commander appeared at the top of the dune—in the area where the fire could illuminate him—and he shouted his orders.
The cavaliers responded to his orders uniformly, but Thales did not pay any attention to him. What he saw was another cavalier charging forth from behind the commanding cavalier. In his hand he held a flag and raised it high into the sky.
As he rode forth, the flag was completely spread and was illuminated by the fire. Thales stared at the flag in a daze. He stared at the picture, one he no longer knew whether it was familiar or unfamiliar to him, and a myriad of emotions rose in his heart.
'That's a… a…'
A flag with white borders and a blue background… with double cross-shaped silver stars.
In the next second, the commanding cavalier raised his sword high, pointed at the camp with an air of superiority, and with a stern face, he then shouted loudly,
"In the name of King Kessel… do not leave anything with less than four legs alive!"
Chapter 377: The Destructive Army |
Among the sound of the thunderous hooves was the sound of the sand on the ground trembling slightly.
It sounded like the whole world was collapsing.
Under the lighting of the fire, the cavaliers on the sand dune were indistinct. Countless hooves struck the sand floor, bringing a dull, thunderous roar to the ears. Thales could hardly hear the nearest voice.
They rushed towards the small campsite of the merchant group.
They got closer and closer.
"No, no no," said Tormorden, the completely terrified owner of the merchant group. He looked at the group of orcs who were in front of him and looked at Shattered Stone Tribe, who was running away from them. He finally looked back to see the Constellation cavaliers, who were sweeping towards them from every single part of his field of vision. He muttered while completely scared out of his wits, "We… we…"
The other merchants were not that much better than he was, and some even cried in fear.
"Dean, we are caught in the middle!"
The dazed Thales was dragged back to reality by the female captain. He looked at the ferocious and murderous cavaliers who came charging towards them in the name of his father. He turned pale.
Obviously, this was not the best moment for him to smile and say, 'Hello, fellow comrades.'
After all, he did not have four legs.
"They are charging!"
While the sound of hooves and warcries filled the air, Louisa's expression turned anxious, and she shouted with all her strength, "We won't be able to survive!"
The captives panicked.
"Oh, Desert God…" A merchant shuddered while he stared at the approaching cavaliers. He was unable to speak.
"No, no." Tormorden squatted down. While he curled into a ball, he said in a teary voice. "We will die… we will die… and my goods…"
"Fatty, you f*cking stand up and shut up!" The bald mercenary picked up Tormorden from the ground and violently interrupted the impromptu speech from the owner of the merchant group.
The sound of the hooves were thunderous, and the ground shook.
More cavaliers entered the illumination of the light. They still could not be seen clearly.
The twenty or so orcs who blocked their path screamed wildly as they swung the weapons in their hands. They were ready to put their lives on the line.
"Their goal are the orcs…"
Dean's expression had never been so grave. His eyes moved back and forth between the orcs and Constellation cavaliers. His gaze was as hard as steel. "As long as we can find shelter and avoid their first attack…"
Old Hammer coughed. "Also, don't forget the orcs who are fleeing for their lives. The Constellation army will not let them go. We have to stay away from their line of pursuit!"
Mickey spat out a bloody tooth and pointed to a remote dune on the left side of the camp, "There!"
"Very good!" Dean's eyes lit up. He stepped forward and struggled to kick away a box that stood in the way, "All of you, come with me! Don't take any weapons with you!"
The female captain of the mercenaries clenched her teeth behind Dean, "Go!"
The group of captives fled helter-skelter on the sand.
Behind them, the distance between the twenty or so orc interceptors and cavaliers drew closer.
The captives eventually managed to hide under the sand dune on the side of the battlefield. They threw themselves down and shielded themselves away from the cavaliers' sight, and felt a little relief.
Thales slid quickly down the sand dune after the others, then turned over and climbed up two steps. He mimicked Dean and showed half his head above the dune. He then nervously looked at the cavaliers who rushed down the dune and occupied most of his view.
"There're at least one hundred of them." By his side was Old Hammer, and he did not appear to be in good condition. He was pale and panted as he leaned against Quick Rope. But when he stared at the battlefield, his gaze was still sharp. "There are even twenty Raven Whistle Light cavaliers among them. This is not common."
'One hundred cavaliers?
'It felt like there're a thousand horses among them.'
Thales squeezed his palms and stated silently in his heart.
In the distance, Warchief Kandarll fled quickly to the opposite direction of where the cavaliers appeared with its one hundred or so subordinates. The distance between them and their companions who stayed back as rearguards became wider.
