PELAIR. The Gems of the Golden Serpent.

18. The Road to Azcangor

Galahar was the Duke of Tricia and had been a close friend of King Lugor, the late husband of Queen Miralia. He had demanded an audience with the queen when he had learned of her alleged abdication. Herald had refused to do that, so he assumed that finally, Herald had dared to carry out the plans he had long dreamed of getting a hold on the crown.

"I don't think it's safe to remain in town," commented Rinna to Balin. "Soon, there will be troops, and that means looting and violence. We cannot expose our protégée. In any case, there isn't much we can do to help."

Then, they quickly packed their few belongings, and paying the landlord the amount of their stay, rushed to leave town. They headed for the road that led towards the mountains.

Tricia was at a bay at the northern end of a peninsula of the same name. It was a wide strip of land that jutted from mainland Terrara into the Gulf of Pelair. A single road that skirted and generally followed the course of the Oroko River, which disembogued at the bay, communicated the city with the rest of the kingdom.

A large number of city residents flooded the road, joined by a host of villagers and farmers fleeing toward the mountains of Tricia, trying to avoid the upcoming war.

The battle for Tricia had already started. Catapult from Terrara's fleet hurled massive incendiary bolls aimed at the part of the city controlled by the forces of Duke Galahar.

The warships were equipped with devices that could throw at a considerable distance, large boulders covered with flat bags containing explosive powders. Some pyrites fastened to those stones, emitted sparks when slammed against their target, igniting the gunpowder and causing their outburst.

The Duke of Tricia, in turn, had his share of similar gadgets ready to defend the port. His troops also fired their deadly loads, thus impeding Herald's troops from eventually disembarking in the city.

Rows of wagons led by peasants with their entire families, including children and the elderly, and loaded with the few belongings they could carry, as well as poultry, cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, thronged the road that ran from the city. Many others were on foot carrying on their backs, heavy bundles with their belongings.

"It's unbelievable and sickening how the ambitions of one man affect the lives of many people," commented Rinna to her pupil. "This can only benefit the tyrant of The Triad," sentenced the woman.

Duke Galahar had ordered a contingent of troops to escort the busy road, to avoid the massive migration from becoming victims of the excesses of the bandits who abounded in those days of unrest in the region.

"Would you like a ride?" asked one peasant to Rinna, who had caught up with them with his cart loaded up to the last space. Beside him sat a woman with a pair of filthy young children on her lap, who looked at them with eyes of curiosity, and an elderly couple who sat embraced at the back of the wagon.

"You're very kind, but you don't seem to have space," Rinna answered.

"If you don't mind going perched up there," the peasant said, pointing with his eyes to the top of the mountain that made his belongings.

Thereby, the three travelers came to ride on the crowded carriage.

They traveled in this manner for about a week, camping during the days for shelter in the shade of a grove, when the inclement midday sun made it difficult to continue and to stop at night to sleep.

The voyagers finally reached a crossroads where the road forked in three different ways. One road headed directly east toward the mountains of Tricia, another one continued along the river towards the Oroko plains, and the third headed south, toward the Terrara's capital city of Azcangor.