PART VII: Preparations
After finishing from hunting down scouts alongside his sister, Sao was cleaning Widow from the Stellan blood.
Images flashing of desperate men running away from him and his sister's forces that caught them by surprise lying in wait for them in the woods.
He recalled as the inexperienced scout begged for his life, "Please, I have a wife and a child, Please spare me."
"He looked... young." Sao muttered out to himself as he sat on the bed in his tent, with the smell of blood mixing with the scent of the southern river running past his tent.
"And yet... His blood stains you regardless, Widow."
He wiped his sword's blade from blood, as Temptation sat on the stand across from him, with its white sheath and clean and beautiful hilt, almost the complete opposite of Widow's dark and grim sheath with its dirty and ugly hilt.
Widow was made for comfort and for regular usage, Temptation was a trap, beautiful and tempting yet discomforting in battle and sharpness was its only useful trait.
He glanced over to the stand as he cleaned the hilt, and he remembered his conversation with the young prince Nex.
He chuckled a bit, "Maybe I should take out this gem and gift it to him when he returns to the palace."He stood up as he laid down Widow on the bed and ran his fingers across Devil's Gaze.
Although, I bet he is more interested in you than he is in the sword." He let go of the gem and unsheathed his knife, trying to pry the Devil's Gaze from its socket, when a loud cry in the distance caught his attention—growing closer and more urgent.
"Your grace, Your grace!"
Sao sheathed his knife and put Temptation back down where it was, the call grew closer and between each word a long pause took place.
"Your...Inhale...Exhale...Grace..." The voice was just outside of his tent.
Sao went outside meeting the owner of the voice to find a small figured man who is in charge of carrier pigeons.
"Lord Sao... I... I carry a message from your father."
Sao's expression carried a weird sense of familiarity, "A letter from my father?" He asked with confusion.
His father always preferred to send one of his men to communicate with Sao and Athena.
While being handed the letter Sao's heart quickened with each breath, remembering the last and only time his father sent him a letter.
Sao opened the letter and saw the beginning as his mind flashed back to the previous words his father had sent him as they almost the same.
"Hello Son, I will keep it brief.
Your mother has passed."
His mind flashed back to the present, he focused back on the letter to reread it.
"Hello Son, I will keep it brief.
Nex is missing, He was last seen in the village of Lif as Andras Boltmot and his men burnt it, Go confront him with your men, and look for Nex, but do not cross into Stella, even if Nex is there."
Sao's expressions hardened, He ran inside the tent ignoring the messenger's question for a reply.
He placed the letter in his pouch and wore his leather armor leaving behind his Useg armor for speed.
He picked up Widow and Temptation and ran outside, his mind was racing with thoughts but he was calm and calculated.
"Boltmot, They are not many nor they have experience in war. I only need two hundred men." He thought to himself as he marched to the stable.
He ran through the camp, shoved aside the knights and soldiers in his way, as he reached his own unit's tents he yelled out.
"Mars! MARS!" A young knight rushed out of his tent sluggish as his face still wore sleep.
"Yes, Sa- Ahem I mean Yes my lord." He stiffened up to his mistake and he rubbed his eyes clearing his vision.
"Wake up my guards and your best hundred Knights and meet me at the village of Lif north west of here, we will ride out from there to meet and kill the Pig of the South."
"Wait, My lord we are to kill Count Boltmot?" Mars asked.
Sao did not wait longer than needed he continued his march to the stables to grab himself a horse and search the ruins of Lif.
His march was stopped with a group of people gathered around a weary young boy, and he yelled out. "MOVE!"
As he pushed past them, he was stopped with the words of the tired boy. "I told you, The Prince is in danger, I need to see one of the Loras children, It is urgent I beg of you let me through." Achlys pleaded.
Sao stopped immediately and pushed aside the foot soldiers that circled the source of the voice.
"Which prince?" Sao asked. The laughter of the crowd died out when they realized it was Sao who asked.
"Please, sir, you look important enough I need to have a word with Lord Sao or his sister, Andras massacred my people and now-" His words were cut out by Sao's cold question.
"Which, Prince?" He asked again.
Achlys was taken aback, he was reminded how different the lives of his people and nobility were.
"Prince Nex, He told me to find Sao or his sister and request help for himself and my people, whatever remains of them." Achlys calmed himself and answered with respect.
"And where is Prince Nex now boy?" Sao asked.
"He was being chased by Andras's men while carrying an infant, last I saw him he was in the woods west from here as he was running southeast." Achlys responded.
Sao turned away and started walking to the stable but he remembered something and turned back and asked.
"What about his friends the giant and his friend Actaeon, what happened to them."
"Tazan and Actaeon both went missing as they carried out a plan to attack Andras and his men." Achlys answered.
"And why didn't they send for me to instead of fight him themselves?" Sao asked annoyed.
"Because he was planning to attack our village and kill us all before we had even sent for you... My lord."
Achlys was annoyed at his own right, Sao never asked about the well being people of the village or even the well being of the boy standing in front of him giving him this valuable information.
Sao stood still for a bit, lost in thoughts as he assessed the state of the young boy, blood running down his neck, his feet dragged a trail of blood with them, his feet barely holding his weight, and his burnt flesh stuck with his clothes.
"Tend to his wounds, and send a few soldiers to search for his people with Tazan and Actaeon."
Sao commanded as he turned away to the stable running there with all of his speed.
"Thank you my lord." Achlys answered confused and collapsing on the ground, earlier he had ignored every mention of his people and now he sends help for them.
Sao mounted his famed horse, and without hesitation he sped up south alone, as he planned to cross into the kingdom of Stella, to find the prince he swore an oath to, no matter the cost, no matter the orders from his father.
And now as Athena searched the camp for her brother, she only found Mars and his men marching out to the Village of Lif.
"Wait!" She called out to mars who wore his green cape behind his Useg white heavy armor on top of his famed black horse.
His fiery yellow eyes showed no interest in her or her order as they stared at her from the crack of his helmet as he wore it.
"Where is my brother?!" She called out again as he ignored her and started marching with his men.
"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION MARS!" She unsheathed her sword pointing it at him, but she knew it would never reach him, as the soldiers behind him were all ready to give their lives to him.
Some foot soldiers stood by and behind Athena and held their hilts, ready if a fight was to ever break out.
And some watched, waiting for a chance to betray her.
The men behind Athena were not on the same level as the knights that followed Mars, she knew it but she needed him to stop, she needed to know her brother is not heading over to the enemy forces.
He signaled his men to stop marching. "What is it you want from me Athena?" He asked.
"I need to know where my brother is and where did he order you to march." She answered as she lowered her sword.
"He... He rode first and we are heading to the village of Lif to meet him and head together to Andras Boltmot's post... Those were his words and orders." He answered back without looking at her.
"Is that all Athena? If so I shall carry out my lord's command." He said as he started marching again
She caught on rather easily, "Wait. You said those were his words and orders, but did he actually ride out to the village of Lif?"
He finally looked at her and cracked a smile, "No, the village is north west from here and he rode straight south from what I saw, He is heading to Stella... But that does not stop me from carrying out his orders."
He started marching again, as Athena stood there conflicted on what to do.
She glanced around looking at the faces of her men, They had only known war for the past month or more.
If she left them and followed her brother, into the kingdom of Stella these poor men who follow her, the loyal or disloyal ones would be left out here without a capable leader to die.
"What shall we do, your grace?" one of the foot soldiers behind her asked.
She looked lost in thought as she stared at Mars marching with his hundred knights.
"Nothing." She answered back finally after a moment or two.
"We will continue on as we were when he wasn't here, find me the messenger, tell him I wish to send a letter to my father."
She said as she walked back to her tent.
Meanwhile in the Post of Andras, where Tazan and the Silver Knights had been carrying the food supplies into the post to feed the surviors of the Death Company.
"Tazan!" Actaeon yelled from a distance, an eye patch covering his right eye as he walked toward the post from his usual hunt, while two archers from the Death Company carried his prey behind him.
Tazan dropped of the handles wagon of medical aid he was pushing filled with ointment, herbs, bandages, and some surgical equipment.
He looked to his left, through the very door he had broken down with his axe, and waved at Actaeon before he picked up the handles again and moved the wagon towards the cages where the hostages were being held.
When he moved out of the way, a small man was revealed holding a small paper with his right hand and writing things down with his left, as he was giving orders to Tazan, and a bunch of Silver Knights.
It was Tex, and as he wrote down something after ordering Tazan he looked up and saw Actaeon he started marching forward to meet him just outside the gate.
"Is that all you have hunted, Actaeon?" he asked without wasting a breath as he pulled out another paper from his leather bag and wrote down something on it.
"No, I have hunted fifty boars and twenty deer, but only brought back two deer with me," Actaeon answered back mockingly.
Tex looked up from his paper and stared at Actaeon with confusion, they didn't know each other enough to notice sarcasm.
"Yes, that is all I was able to hunt down Tex," Actaeon answered back as his smile disappeared.
"You were out for..." Tex looked at his pocket watch.
"Nineteen hours. With you three, I at least expected three deer, but what are we supposed to do with two?
We have about sixty knights who eat like bears, not to mention a guy who is almost the size of a bear, not counting the hostages who haven't eaten for the first time in days, along with the survivors of the village who exhausted themselves in fighting!"
Tex's words grew louder with desperation and anger, but it wasn't directed at Actaeon nor the other two —it was directed at no one; it was directed at the helpless siutution they were in.
The two men behind Actaeon dropped the deer, Actaeon responded.
"I know you have impossible work to do, but make no mistake —I hunted those two deer by myself, the men behind me can barely shoot an arrow correctly even after I taught them, and they are by no means an experienced hunters.
Actually, far from it. For the first three hours, whatever prey we found they scared away with noise by accident.
Moreover, I have not been myself lately —if I had both of my eyes, I could have fed an entire village."
Actaeon's words carried their own anger and frustration just as Tex's did.
"I can barely tell where my arrow will land anymore, Hell, sometimes I even stumble because I forget to balance myself correctly, BECAUSE I CAN'T SEE OUT OF MY RIGHT EYE!"
"Easy now, boy." a tall figure stepped out of the trees with his white armor and winged helmet in hand.
"Commander Riger, where have you been, my lord?" Tex responded and rushed to aid him, only for Riger to stop him with a signal.
He walked forward unaided, but with every step he would use a stick to find his next step.
Actaeon looked away in shame of his earlier outburst, complaining about his loss of eyesight when Commander Riger had led armies fully blind for years and achieved many great feats.
"Don't be too harsh on him, boy, Tex here is just worried about how he is meant to keep us all alive behind enemy lines, that is it." Riger said with a smirk.
"I am sorry, commander Riger. It is just..." Actaeon couldn't countuine his words; he didn't want to complain about his injury.
"You have it worse, you know? —I adapted and learnt how to work around it many years ago—but you only recently lost yours when you are almost a grown man, and you only lost one. You still have the need to see, and you can never work around it the same way I did because you are able to use your left eye."
Commander Riger stepped forward towards Actaeon, following his voice.
He placed his hand on his head and slowly worked his way to his shoulder.
"You did well, boy. Now go and rest with your men— we will leave for Stella after the hostages are treated."
He said this with his smile melting away all of Tex's and Actaeon's problems.
"How are they? The hostages, I saw their condition and we have no doctor. How are we supposed to treat missing teeth, fingers, hands, legs, eyes, skin? all of that— how are we meant to do anything about that?"
Actaeon asked as Riger's smile disappeared.
"We can't. you know as much as I do even if we find a way to subdue the pain their and fix whatever they are missing replacing it, they will never be the same.
These woman and childern are beyond saving; the best we can do is keep them alive and try to keep them from ending their own suffering."
Actaeon broke the quiet that fell between them.
"We can't stay here any longer— we don't know where Andras and his main force went, and we don't know where the other force that killed the fake hostages went."
As his mind flashed with memories of the massacred fake hostages, who had struggled, giving him enough time to escape.
Tex responded. "We need food, for our journey, and we need horses to carry those unable to walk as well as to make sure everyone is able to walk for a long time before actually heading back south."
"We will look for a nearby village for food, then we will load the injuried on the backs of every horse, and if needed then we shall carry them ourselves all the way back.
Our mission here is done. we will be heading back south in two days— prepare for that."
Commander Riger commanded as he walked back inside the post.
Actaeon hesitated, but he also knew the best way to find Nex and is to go to with Commander Riger.
Tex and Actaeon responded at the same time: "Understood."
The men behind Actaeon carried the deer again as Tex hurried inside to order the Silver Knights to head out looking for food.