The young Maad warrior eyed the passing storm as he shivered atop his horse. They had continued to ride through the rain and thunder until the clouds passed over them on their way southeast. He could still see the wall of rain as it moved and flowed, and was glad they were no longer caught in it. Lightning continued to strike underneath the massive dark clouds, and thunder still roared in every direction, but they were safe.
"We are almost at the cliffs Master Carthus!" Theo called to him from the group. They were all clustered together in a small circle, mounted while they waited. He turned to them and nodded to Theo.
"Let's keep moving then!" the Maad commander ordered the men and forced his horse to move with a nudge from his heels. He rode on, and the others followed in a line of twos. Their horses moved slower than usual as their hooves sunk into the muddy plains with each step. After a while, Carthus pulled the reins and stopped, dismounting quickly.
"What is it?" Enlief asked as the others stopped as well.
"We should walk the horses for a while. This mud is no good with them carrying our weight" Carthus replied and waved for them all to dismount.
"You and I are of one mind, Master Carthus" Theo joked.
"I prefer to walk" Farg growled with a wide grin. He lept down into the mud from his oversized horse.
"Being barefoot doesn't bother you, with the cold, wet dirt?" Enlief asked, glaring at the Tre'Ahn.
"Ah, no! I feel more this way" Farg replied.
"Besides, no one makes boots to fit over those claws of his" Theo quipped.
"Of course!" the Nord chuckled in return.
"Tre'Ahn don't need boots...we are faster without them" Farg grinned at the joke.
"I am sure of it, you big brute" Enlief nodded.
Carthus grinned at the men and turned to walk away. He continued to lead them through the open plains, picking his steps carefully in the tall grass and thick mud. The Spears of Redriver sloshed through it all without slowing down, and as the day went on, they finally caught sight of cliffs.
About a mile west, they could see a few columns of black smoke rising into the sky. They were scattered apart and seemed to come straight out of the flat ground. As the Spears drew closer though, Carthus spotted the first cracks and cliffs cutting deep into the earth, where they all met and formed a massive canyon valley. Each column of smoke rose from somewhere in the valley below.
"This is it" Theo declared when they finally reached the first drop where the ground just stopped and opened up into the canyon before them.
"This is it?" Carthus asked, glaring into the pit. There was nothing but scorched earth below, blackened and dry. From a distance, it didn't look like anything was alive or growing within the canyon, except for a few sparse trees, which were burning brightly. Deeper in the distance, on the opposite side of the canyon floor, sat a few structures and houses from which a thick pillar of smoke rose up. Their mud-brick walls were blackened and barely standing, but their roofs had either burned away or collapsed. T
"Look there!" Enlief pointed north along the cliff face. Carthus followed his gaze and saw a sprawling campsite with hundreds of tents and large wooden walls and towers. Blue banners waved atop every tower.
"Blue Army...King Feluthar's forces" Theo declared.
"And what are those?" Farg asked, pointing down into the canyon below. He had a frown displayed on his furry face.
Carthus turned his attention back down and blinked. He had missed them before, but even from this distance, he could see hundreds of scattered skeletons and charred bodies spread throughout the canyon floor like dead ants.
YOU ARE READING
Spears of Redriver
幻想Carthus, a young orphan trained to be a warrior like his father before him, is considered to be one of the best Maeli in his clan. However, he is forced to run for his life, along with two of his closest friends, for winning a sanctioned duel. They...
