A/N so my computer broke down…again. That means that I am doing these chapters on my iPhone, which will obviously make me more prone to spelling mistakes. Of course I will do my best to avoid them and check for errors, but you all know how it is. You proof read it 3 times, it looks fine, you publish it, and there's all these errors. Well, bare with me guys, and I hope you enjoy the chapter. I am going to be aiming for 5,000 words a chapter. Hopefully more. Have a good weekend guys! (;
Morning came to soon, and the group of wolves all felt fatigued and tired after such a long day of travel. It didn't provide any comfort that they weren't even half way there, either. Hutch cooked up a quick breakfast, and the four ate in silence. They also gave the horses a few minutes to drink and gorge upon the edible grass alongside the banks of the Node river. After everything was packed up and the horses saddled and prepped for another long trek through the Startongo desert, the four grouped around a map of the land.
"If we curve a little to the left, we can get out of the desert quicker. It would take longer to reach the second division, but it would give the horses some needed vegetation. And it would be much cooler" said Humphrey, tracing the route on the map with his finger. Hutch and Cando agreed, but again Kate didn't see eye to eye with the three soldiers.
"Times of the essences. If we push the horses to maintain a set pace, we should be able to get out of the desert by tomorrow morning." Cando instantly intervened, pointing out the flaws in Kate's idea. If Kate's plan was put into motion, they would leave behind the Node river. With the blaring heat and the little amount on vegetation, it could mean death for the horses, and in-turn, them. Once this was made clear to Kate, she agreed with the original route, apologizing for her "stupidity" which was dismissed by the males, seeing it as an honest mistake any of them could have made.
With their plan setting in motion, the four steered their horses to the left, following the Node. The river would provide a steady supply of water until the desert ended, in which the group would then follow the edge of the forest around the desert and come from behind of the last known location of division two.
All members of the group had chosen not to done armor. With the heat, it would be almost unbearable. Humphrey had on a brown leather tunic and some travel worn pants, Hutch and Cando copying him. Kate had the same color and type of tunic, but more appropriate, almost royal looking pants. Humphrey couldn't help but stare. She looked stunning. The pants outlined her legs and rear very nicely, as the pair of pants were skin tight to help keep out the sand, with extremely small holes along its white coating to help cope with the temperature that accompanied the desert. Humphrey also couldn't help but notice he wasn't alone in marveling her apparel, and her gorgeous appearance.
Cando and Hutch were discreetly taking looks back, acting as if they were fixing their saddles or grabbing something from their travel bags. In reality they were also tracing Kate's curves through her elegant pants. Humphrey met their eyes every now and then, and they all seemed to be a little embarrassed at being caught. But Cando wasn't as easily extinguished, and soon slowed his horse to allow Kate to get even with him. Once they were even, Cando jumped into action and immediately noted her under-ware. ( her pants, obviously. I just don't want to over use the word, so yeah)
Kate smiled at him warmly, and it made Humphrey and Hutch heat up in jealousy. "These? My mother found them in one of the cities we had concurred before we entered the desert. She gave these to me, and the matching tunic, which didn't fit me, was given to Lilly."
"They'er very nice. They must have belonged to some one very rich to afford it. More then likely royalty or someone of importance. Looks like they found their way to another who matches the description." Humphrey and Hutch cringed at the cheesy attempt of flirt, and hoped Kate would do the same for their own sakes. But to their dismay Kate blushed heavily and gave a wide smile.
"Thank you so much! I didn't realize we had such nice gentleman in our ranks" responded Kate, which made Cando smile as well. Though it placed a frown on the other two males. Humphrey worked up the courage and used blindside to get even with Kate on the opposite side, determined to steal Cando's Thunder. Of course, he couldn't copy his compliment on her luxurious apparel, so he decided to recount some of his and her moments together. And he was lucky, because he had something that related to where she had gotten her apparel.
"Hey Kate, do you remember the name of that city?" He asked with a smile. Her head turned the opposite direction to face him as she answered with a puzzled expression. "I can't say I do, though I remember it had those two big light houses on either side of the main castle, right?"
Humphrey nodded happily. "Yes that's right. The name of the city was igne natantes, remember now?" Again Humphrey was pleased with the result, as her face lit up in recognition.
"Yeah I do now! We lit off the floating lanterns in the light house towers to signal our victory! God if I could re-live that night, it was so beautiful. You were the one who lit them with me to. That really was an amazing night Humphrey." She said, giving him a warm smile that he melted into. Humphrey returned the smile, but on the inside he gave a victorious fist pump. Cando might have been able to give her a winning compliment, but he didn't have the history with her that he did. He established to Cando that he would be winning this small battle that was being fought between the three males. Cando discreetly moved his horse away, giving Humphrey this victory has he joined Hutch.
Humphrey's steed Blindside stayed in stride with Kate's much larger horse as their conversation continued on without the other soldier. "It was also one of the first time you were able to openly test your magic skills" pointed out Humphrey, now focusing on just the conversation and not trying to undermine Cando.
"Yeah that to. I'm glad we were able to see past their disguises and realize that there weren't any enemy magicians nearby. I always liked testing out the new spells I learn at full effect with the empire" she said with a devious smile.
"The spells that results in their deaths?" Humphrey asked with a knowing smile. Kate just gave him a nod and returned her eyes to the vast ocean of sand. He followed her gaze. It always shocked him how so much sand could be in one place. There had to be millions upon millions of individual grains of the stuff. And it all stayed together. Finding any source of sand outside the desert was obviously rare. In reality, it was like a vast, unimaginably large kingdom. It remained him of how the Startongo used to be back in the day.
Everyone had lived together in perfect harmony in peace. Four kingdoms made up the whole of Startongo, named only by the section that each kingdom owned. The East controlled the vast forest of Mare Ligno (sea of wood), which had the appearance of a crescent moon, trying to go around the whole of Startongo. The North had control of the largest body of water in the country, which was called Aquæ vitæ (Life Water). It had a large abundance of fresh water fish, as well as supplying the people with drinking water. The South was centered around the Cloud High mountain range, which produced many of the metals used for architecture, weapons and armor, and much more. Because of the immense size of the mountains, water and food was hard to find, so they traded their metals often for food and water. The West had access to the most fertile land in Startongo, and did much of their trading and economic growth with the South.
This peace lasted a couple hundred years, but soon a power hungry leader took the reins of the East. The wolf went only by the generic name of Tony. He discreetly massed an army of soldiers that reached thousands strong. Then they secretly Invaded and conquered the entire Northen Kingdom, using weapons of war as their main method of attack. Very few survivors made it out alive, and quickly went to warn the West, and in-turn the South. When they learned of this both kingdoms readied defenses, and the south sent soldiers to help protect the West, as it was the most obvious target because of how much closer it was to the North where most of Tony's army now was. In the coming days the army reached the edge of Western territory. Many battles were fought there, and many men and woman killed. Within a few months, the West was over taken, and the few survivors, along with any from the north, then retreated to the South.
The Cloud High mountain range provided cover and hard terrain, which forced , Tony's army to abandon their highly effective and mechanical weapons of war. It seemed as though the South would be able to hold their lines, as the South had an immense military due to the amount of weapons and armor they produced. But eventually the South ran out of food, after losing their main supply's from the West, and the rare trade from the North. The south was forced to surrender, though they sent many civilians who could do the normal work, as well as a small army out a small passage that lead to the east. While Tony occupied himself with finishing his work in the south, it all started to come undone as the small but combined might of the renaming Kingdoms armies took over the land in the East, and quickly expanded all over the territory.
And now in present times, the "Rebellion" are attacking the now defending East, which occupied all territory's besides the original East. With the element of surprise under their feet, and for other reasons, including the fear of being overwhelmed, the combined armies instantly started to attack. It was the only chance they had to gain enough territory to amass an army to combat the East head on. So as the reaming soldiers under the military guidance of King, the leader of the South, put the East under pressure, soldiers were being trained and weapons were being built in the old Eastern Territory. And surprisingly they had made it to the Startongo desert, which lies in the middle of the land. They were giving the East a run for their money. With the motivation and increase of moral blanketing the Rebellion, King decided to split the already small army into 4 divisions to conquer more territory. The only Error made by King was now becoming Fatal, so the division's had halted. In this absence of advance, the second division had stopped communication. And now here they were.
Humphrey found it incredibly amusing that the entire story of Startongo could be started and described as one peaceful sea of sand. With just a very large sand storm taking the place of the East. Within the time it took for Humphrey to recount the history of his home land, their group had reached a desirable resting place along the bank of the Node. Giving the horses the rest they desperately needed, the party of four got ready to eat a quick lunch and fill up their canteens.
As Hutch filled their canteens, Kate's nose wrinkled as she sniffed the air.
"That's smoke, a lot of it" she said. The rest of the group smelled the air as well, and it was pretty obvious what it was.
"It's drifting over from the the edge of the desert, right where division two was last heard of…" Trailed off Humphrey, implying that the worst outcome imaginable had happened to the division. Kate shook her head vigorously, denying what Humphrey was trying to get at.
"An entire division can't be taken out that quickly! Sure were split thin, but it would still take the Empire a lot of man power and time to get rid of them."
"Not if they used their war machines" Cando pointed out. "They could have lobbed large boulders covered in pitch and fire, and after the bombardment, send in a group of soldiers to clean up the stragglers."
Kate retorted instantly. "Tony's huge advantage over us before was his war machines. They would have all been with the main army charging the Southern capital. It would take them a while to get all the way back here after most were destroyed in the last stand of the South. And with how much desert is around, and considering our location and the location of the Empires city's in this area, they would have had to cross the desert to even get building materials."
"Well what do you think happened then huh?"
"Maybe their battle is still going on, and their defending their ground as we speak. We should fill up as much water and food as possible, then do as I said earlier and head straight across the desert. They may need the help right away."
As Hutch was crouched over the bank of the Node refilling their water reserves, he spoke up.
"What are three soldiers and a magician going to do? We'll just die along with them. We should continue on our route, and finish their mission ourselves."
"It will be e-"
Kate was interrupted as a drum role of horse hooves were heard in the distance of the hard desert. Turning towards the noise, the group of four saw at least a dozen or so wolves in battle gear heading straight towards them. They all drew their weapons, Kate making sure to close any connection to magic she had open just in case, she had to stay hidden. Their horses whined at the oncoming barrage of soldiers.
Humphrey ran to blindside, running his hand along his snout to calm him as he grabbed his pack off the animals back. He drew his bow case, and quiver. He had taken the bow just for this reason, hoping he wouldn't have to use though. Testing the string, he slipped an arrow into the notch and returned to his group. Pulling the arrow back and taking a deep breath, he released the arrow and string. A "twang" noise was heard as the arrow whistled through the sky, and bury it's self in a horse men in the back of the charge. The wolf fell off and the horse stopped, starring down the rest of his race as they charged.
Humphrey didn't have time to fire another arrow and drew his sword, getting in a defensive position. The calvary had a serious advantage on the small band of reinforcements, and death was a likely out come. But Humphrey would do whatever it took to protect Kate.
As I said earlier, each chapter will be at least 5000, this being an exception for 3 reasons. A: school. It's not that big of a deal, but homework does take a few hours off my writing time. B: family. I have had a few cousins and aunts/ uncles over most of this week and weekend, so I apologize. And C: My computer will not work! I think I said this up above, but it's being a pain in the ass, and it's even more of a pain in the ass to update using an iPhone. Either way, hope you enjoyed, and be sure to fav/ review, and follow to see when a new chapter comes out (;