The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 55)
It was a week later before we ran into anything along the trail. We had all been riding together and using our sight to see far ahead of us. I was the first to see it. A burned village on the side of the trail. The skeletons of the huts were still smoldering. It hand’t been long since the Raiders had been there causing havoc.
“Sir Darius, there is a village…”
“I can see it Pitre. We need to be cautious. I can see smoke still rising. This was not done too long ago.”
“I agree. We are still far enough away, that we should not have been seen yet. Let me and a few others go ahead and gather information.?”
“I will do just that. It will be you, Rolf, and myself.”
“That is the perfect group for this.”
“Men, there is a burned village ahead. If you are using your sight, you may be able to see it from here. Sir Pitre, Rolf and myself are going to sneak ahead and gather what information we can. You will wait here until we return with a plan of action.”
A collective,”Yes sir.” came from the rest of the men. Sir Darius, Rolf and I dismounted our horses and handed the reigns off. We snuck into the woods a little further up the trail and traveled in silence. As we approached the village we could smell the smoldering huts and cottages, as well as a pungently sweet smell.
We stopped at the tree line and could see the burning bones of the buildings and three other structures. These seemed to have been erected by the Raiders. They were three large Xs with something tied to them. It became clear what that sweet smell was. A body was tied to each X, and had been burnt along with the village. It was even worse as we approached the Xs. The bodies were small. They had been children.
“This is something that we had never done when I was with the Raiders. We never killed children. We were told that they were the future of the Mudwood. They would be abused until they were broken and then they were trained to fight for the Mudwood. This is abhorrent.”
“Look there.”
“Where?”
“There at the base of one of the Xs. There is something buried below. I can see a visible corner.”
I walked over averting my eyes from the disgusting sight that was right above me. I could see the corner of a board of some kind. I scrapped the dirt away with my hands. It was some sort of a sign, and it had a message on it. “Patchwork Knight, you will save no more. We will kill them all in your name.”. The message was for me.
“Pitre, don’t believe that. That is only deception by the Raiders.”
“Look above you Darius. Those are the bodies of children. That is no deception.”
“Pitre, there are no other bodies here though. Those are the only ones. I’m not saying that is a good thing, but it does prove that they are lying. They didn’t kill all of the villagers. They will always need slaves to do their work for them.”
“Rolf is right. That means there is a caravan of villagers somewhere being dragged behind a group of Raiders. You will get the chance to save more. We will get the chance to save more.”
I began looking around, and it was true. There were no other bodies other than those hung above me.
“We have to get back to the men. You two wait here, I can run faster than the both of you. I will get the men and bring them up with your horses.”
“That is an excellent idea Pitre. We will check the immediate area for any signs of just how long ago they were here.”
I gathered every bit of energy from the euphoria and the aether that I could and ran back along the trail to the men.
“The village is empty, but we have reason to believe that they aren’t far ahead of us. We need to ride fast to the village and gather Sir Darius and Rolf. They are searching for signs of just how long ago this happened.”
The men didn’t waste anytime. I was handed the reigns of my horse and we ran off in a sprint to the village. We arrived in minutes and found Sir Darius and Rolf waiting for us.
“I need three volunteers. Three men to stay behind just long enough to cut those bodies down and give then a fitting burial.”
“I volunteer.”
Sir Lionel was the first to speak up. Then two more followed quickly behind.
“Very good. As soon as you are finished ride as hard as you can to catch up with us. If we come to a fork, we will leave someone to tell you the direction that we went. Come as quick as you can. We think that the Raiders left only an hour ago. If we ride hard and fast, we should be able to catch them. they are traveling with imprisoned villagers, so they won’t be able to travel fast. We will catch them and save those villagers.”
“Yes sir. We will be right behind you.”
“I expect nothing less.”
With that, we rode off leaving Sir Lionel and the other two behind. We traveled like a storm across the Realm. Nothing would impede our progress. I used my sight to it’s limits to see ahead of us as we rode. I was sure that others were doing the same. Despite the time they had spent training, I could still see farther than any one, by a mile. I began seeing a faint cloud of dust along the trail. As we rode that cloud got bigger and bigger. Then I could see figures in the dust. It was the caravan. We were within three miles of them. I waved for everyone to stop.
“I can see the caravan ahead. They are nearly three miles ahead.”
“That is brilliant Pitre. I could only see a small cloud of dust on the horizon. I think we should stay back for now.”
“But every minute we wait, could be death for one of those villagers.”
“I realize that Pitre, but we have to be smart about this. If we attack now, there is a very good chance that the guards that are with the villagers will kill them when we get in sight of them. If we wait, we can have a chance to get them while the guards are limited in numbers. What saved the villagers when you attacked the Raiders by the lake?”
“Rolf.”
“Well, yes, he did. There is also the fact that there were only two guards watching over them, while the rest of the men were resting and eating. If we wait until they make camp for the night, we can do the same. We will have that same element of surprise, but this time you won’t be alone. We will run through them and have a couple of men to take out the guards seeing over the villagers.”
“Yes, I see now.”
“Keep an eye on them with your sight, and we will stay our distance, until you say that they have stopped. We will give them time to set up camp and then fall asleep. Then and only then, we will attack. They will not know what hit them.”
“I like this plan, I like it very much.”
“Thank you Rolf.”
“I will keep my sight on them, let’s move forward at a slow pace to keep with theirs.”
For Chapter 56 follow the link below.
