When Twins War: Book I

Chapter Eight

The ferocious heat of the day and the equally as ferocious cold at night took its toll on the Dernium contingent travelling northwards on the Colone Road. They were travelling at night, deciding that this would be far quicker than trying to compete against the day's heat. But they could not truly escape the blistering sun during the day, despite their tents and camps, or the caves and crags they hid themselves in.

The endless beach of the desert made the road all the more difficult. The shifting sands caused ceaseless change; if the landscape looked one way during the night, it was very different the next evening. Landmarks helped – a certain collection of rocks, crevices, or perhaps even the remains of ancient ruins or villages; or lonely limestone pillars which were once archways. These were often seen and were peculiar. They were positioned in a way that made it seem that there could have once been a road paved all the way to the Twin Cities. At one stage they passed under an archway that was still unbroken, as wide as forty men and two storeys high. Most of the archway was still hidden under the sand.

It was even more uncanny when they passed beside a lonely pillar accompanied by a statue of a woman holding a ball above her head. All they could see was the face of the woman, or it seemed to be a face, for it was worn away considerably. It also looked as if there may have been something else attached to the ball at one stage.

They army travelled mostly on foot while the forty knights led in the front with horses. The Looin Warriors, who were not knights, were of the top eschelon of fighters in Dernium. These were trained by Outlanders who had a very strong relationship with Dernium; one that was closer than many of the other nations. That wasn't always seen in a very positive light.

Looin warriors wore a plated half-armour, which was a similar to the Knights when occasion called for it. The Knights, though, preferred simple chain mail, which gave them speed and agility. The Knights also preferred the rapier while the Warriors used the broadsword. But neither of their battle-armour was conducive to the conditions of the desert. This made things considerably worse. They wrapped cloth around their faces and heads to keep the sunlight from burning them in the day, but it was only of little help. Three weeks of punishing conditions forced the army to be significantly weaker in heart and strength.

It was one early morning when they approached a ruin that looked like it could have been a flourishing town at one time; perhaps before the great war. Only a few gray walls and colonnades protruded out from the sand and the real form of the place was lost to the desert. It must have certainly been very large. Cadell ordered the men to find wells, but he knew that even if they did the water would be poisoned. He hoped they would soon come in contact with a nomad tribe and barter with them.

The gray of the sand and horizon in the early morning sun soon turned to a sudden yellow with an expansive blue sky. The last star disappeared. The men drifted off just as quickly to sleep, pitching tents in between the ruins of the stone walls and pillars. Gerald was part of the watch for the first half of the morning, taking his place under a small tent-covering up on some crooked rocks nearby. He didn't know the man who he was to watch with well, and neither of them were entirely in the mood for conversation, so they each sat silently under the mounting sun and heat.

It was not an hour before his fellow watchman got up, startled. "What's that?" he said, looking far into the distance ahead of them. Before them were mostly ruins and Gerald couldn't see anything peculiar.

"What did you see?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," his fellow answered, snatching up the small mirror they held between them. The mirror served as a signal between the various watch points. He tilted it to catch the sun and then pointed it to the other watch point. They signalled back in a similar fashion. He then moved it to reflect against the nearest possible point that signalled more-or-less the direction of what alarmed him — a few gray pillars far off before them. It looked like it might have been some sort of court at one time.