"A bunch of guys came in and bothered El," Merill replied
"And did they hurt her?" Caden asked.
"No," Merill replied briefly.
"What about Amelia?"
"She's with El now, in your room, they both are fine, so sit down!" Merill urged him.
"I have to take the dark elves out of town," Caden said.
"What? And why?"
"Didn't you see what it looks like outside? The cult no longer manages the situation, and the elves cannot defend themselves."
"Okay, I'll go with you," Merill stood up.
"But what about El?"
"We'll all go," Merill walked up the stairs and brought El and Amelia.
They all went out and led the dark elves out of town all night.
In the morning, everyone left the city and headed for the warden's base, including El, Amelia, and Gorej and his friends also joined.
"So we'll just leave the city here? The whole thing for nothing?" Merill asked.
"The situation could not be maintained, Merill," Caden replied.
"Hmm... I guess you're right," Merill nodded and continued.
Finally, they reached the fortified base of Wardens.
"Hmm... Is this all?" Mormir laughed while looking at the small castle with the flag of wardens.
"Now, will you let me proceed according to my plan?" Mormir asked Caden.
Caden rolled his eyes. "Yes," he replied.
What happened then was like the worst nightmare of the wardens. Mormir overthrew the drawbridge with his power and alone entered the castle while breaking neck to anyone who stood in his way. After around fifteen minutes, Mormir stepped out to the gate. "So, are you coming?"
They all entered the castle and encamped there.
Meanwhile, the Imperial army was in front of the Oakdome…
"Sir, this is the city," the officer said.
"Burn it to the ashes."
"But, sir... there are civilians!"
"This town has voluntarily joined the mages and has denigrated the Empire! And now burn it!" On the order of the general of the Imperial Army, trebuchets began to fire burning bales of hay on the town.
Regiments of soldiers with rifles were assembled in front of the main gate. The first groups of horrified inhabitants of the town began to run to the gate.
"Fire!" the captain of the regiment shouted. The first line fired into the townsfolk. "Kneel! The second line, fire!" The confused surviving townsmen ran back to the burning city. For the next few hours, the Imperial army watched as Oakdome burned, then they headed north.
"What do we plan now?" Caden asked.
"Now we can go east, but I'm not going to attack the Wall of Sorrow and unleash the Dark Ones, forget it. I'd rather strengthen our ranks. We have a few experienced mages, perhaps we can find a school of magic for the elders. They must have something in the files," Mormir looked around the chief office.
"There's something here!" Cassandra pulled a map out of the closet.
"It looks new. The crosses are certainly locations of magic schools. Somewhere there must be writings about those... schools, statistics, specifications, just something!" Mormir scrambled through the papers.
"Here's a... book," Merill dug out a thin little book.
"Show me!" Mormir took the book and opened it.
"There are only numbers!" Mormir dropped the book.
"It's encrypted. If you didn't kill everyone right away, we could have decrypted it!" Cassandra took the book from the ground.
"There will be a key somewhere," Cassandra added.
"We don't have time for that. We'll just head for the nearest of those crosses," Mormir said.
"Fine, as you wish, but I'll take it with me!" Cassandra motioned.
"What about the dark elves?" Merill asked.
"We'll leave them here. The more of us goes, the worse will be getting into the school. They must not see us as a big threat, afterwards, they will launch the new defence mechanism," Mormir explained.
"They have to learn to fight again," Cassandra added, and Merill and Cassandra looked at each other thoughtfully.
"Well... do you want to stay here and train them?" Mormir asked.
"And can you do it without us?" Cassandra laughed.
"Of course," Mormir stopped her smile.
"Hmm... fine, we'll stay. If you happen to come across something that explains the numbers in the book, please bring it here," Cassandra said and walked away with Merill.
"So, Caden? Will we go east, south, or back west beyond Oakdome?" Mormir asked while reading the map.
"West, beyond the Oakdome," Caden replied.
"Hmm... do you want to travel all the way back? Well, as you like," Mormir nodded.
And so, they went west with a group of mages.
They reached Oakdome, they were surprised by what they saw. The city was burned, the only thing left untouched was a sign in front of the town gate, "Oakdome the city of traitors".
"It looks like the entire army with siege equipment has swept around here," Mormir glanced at the meadow above the town.
"By all the Saints! Everyone died because of us," Caden was horrified.
"So what? Don't worry, they'll still serve us!" Mormir put a hand on Caden's shoulder and sent several mages to the city.
"Well, are you coming?" Mormir said.
"Are we leaving them here?" Caden asked.
"They'll take care of themselves, the school of magic, remember?" Mormir retorted and mounted his horse again.
"Well... Alright," Caden mounted his horse in confusion.
Mormir just shrugged over the burned-out city and headed on.
After about an hour they reached the forest and saw the carriage.
"Look! We have to follow them, they'll take us to the school of magic, but don't let them see us," Mormir ordered and followed the carriage.
Soon the carriage slowed down and a large building was visible in the distance.
"Now! Onto them!" Mormir exclaimed, and they all attacked the carriage.
The attack was clean and quick.
"What are we going to do now?" Caden asked Mormir.
"You will see. Get into the carriage!" Mormir ordered and got into the coachman's seat.
Only the two of them reached the gate. The wardens at the gate seemed to be in disbelief. "It seems that four of them ran away!" one of the wardens turned to Mormir.
"What? No... I caught this one near here!" Mormir replied.
"Alone? Your job is to carry the prisoners, you should not catch them yourself. What were you doing there?!" the warden stared at him.
"Ahh... Screw this…" Mormir tossed his hands and killed all the wardens around him with his power.
"Change of plan, we're going to attack," Mormir jumped off the carriage.
"Put on the clothes of the wardens and get in quickly!" Mormir decided.
They both did so and went inside the school.
"What are you doing here? There's no more... eec..." the warden wanted to stop them but Mormir strangled him with his power.
"What the…?!" another one ran to them.
"He wasn't feeling well. We must go to report!" Mormir smiled, the warden didn't notice them in the chaos and ran to the other warden on the ground.
The school of magic was built just like the one in which Caden was imprisoned. They walked down the long corridor, through many new mages, despite the unbelieving staring of everyone around. They entered the dining room.
"Kill all the wardens who seem to know what the green devices are for," Mormir whispered to Caden and left.
"How in the Saint's names... ah, okay, I'll just kill everyone," Caden told himself, and walked over to one of the wardens.
"Who are you? I haven't seen you here yet," the warden asked Caden.
"Um... random check," Caden said and began to strangle him with his power and shout, "Help! Warden in danger! He's choking or something," Caden explained to the arriving wardens.
Mormir stared in disbelief at the balcony above the dining room.
When all the wardens from the room stood near the warden on the ground, Caden broke their necks. The rest of the complex was handled easily, and the mages were freed.
"Well... that should do, now back to Oakdome," Mormir proclaimed.494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ74K1aVtHnP
