The Wildlands (working title)

Chapter 6 - Khodra

Not long ago Khodra and Dzelen had been walking the relatively peaceful streets of Barigbal. Naturally, Khodra couldn't keep his eyes off of the villagers, their houses and especially the people wearing brightly colored wraps. Perhaps it was because of his staring or the green Imperial shawl in his neck, but the locals returned his curious gaze. Based on Dzelen's description, Khodra had expected the journey itself to be the most dangerous part of their little trip. They had come to Barigbal to trade, to hopefully bring a few bags of grain back to Goransug. Now the formerly peaceful and quite charming village was the site of utter chaos.

Preceded by frightened cries - the words of which he couldn't possibly make out - a familiar and yet completely new sight greeted Khodra. Imperial cavalry. Not trotting around main squares and palaces to intimidate commoners, but charging through the gates at full speed with their glaives forward. Khodra's mind couldn't process the vision before him. It was something out of a history book. So sudden, so fast and so hard to believe. On some level he knew he should move, run and hide, do something, but he found himself frozen in the middle of the street, the terrible scene approaching at an alarming pace.

All of a sudden he was pulled roughly by his arm toward the houses. "Follow me!" Dzelen yelled while dragging him away from the main road as fast as possible. This snapped Khodra out of his petrified state and he did his best to focus on Dzelen and his instructions. They ran behind a house and stopped for just a moment as Dzelen glanced around to take in their environment.

"Look at me," he said, grabbing Khodra by the shoulder. "We're going back to the horses. You hear me?" Khodra nodded frantically. "Keep close."

With that, Dzelen turned around and after a quick glance at the nearby houses and the panicking villagers, he darted out from the cover of the mud wall. Khodra did as he was told, trying to ignore the chaos and the horrible screams around them, and pay attention only to Dzelen. With a mind like his it was not an easy task. For one, he was terrified and every time he heard a loud noise he wanted to spin around to see its source. And while he didn't have the time to get into any philosophical reflections, his mind kept producing fragments of plans, interpretations of current threats and fears of future ones.

Even though he tried his best to ignore his surroundings and his distracting thoughts, he noticed certain details as they ran through the village. A salchan man dashing toward an open door only to be slashed across the back by several glaives moments later. A mother carrying a small child and dragging another one after her as a rider approached, then a large man jumping in front of her, battling the attacker. People in bright colors thrusting spears toward the Imperials surrounding them. Black smoke filling the sky behind a thatch roof.

"Shit," Dzelen yelled all of a sudden. "Alright, new plan..." Khodra's mind had a hard time keeping up with the chaos. For a few seconds he had no idea why Dzelen had stopped, then he slowly began to recognize their environment. This was the place where they had left their horses, and those two villagers riding away must have been the ones who took said horses. Panic began to overwhelm Khodra's body, pushing all logical thoughts out of his mind.

"Come this way," Dzelen's order snapped him out of his frozen state once again. They ran back the way they came from, trying to take cover between houses. One of those houses was emitting thick smoke, which only added urgency to their steps. As they hurried out from the alleyway, a rider's image flew across Khodra's view and Dzelen stopped, then fell to his knees. Once again, Khodra's mind was way behind the events around him. It took him long, way too long to realize that Dzelen was clutching at his stomach and curling up in pain.

"No!" he heard himself scream with an inhuman voice. He crouched down next to the salchan man, whose shirt and hands were covered in blood.

"Go find a horse. And run," Dzelen told him through gritted teeth.