The sun once more started rising, on a bright day, the people's morals collapsed under the pressure of what had to happen, yet their feet stayed strong, they know that emotions aren't going to bring food for the table, silence and determination filled the air, as the walk continued and continued, the people's resolve only grew larger
Ron suddenly decided to stop the march, took a desert hawk, and sent it flying, as everybody sat down for a rest, Ron walked to set next to us
"What is the purpose of sending hawks?" Torden asked
"You see, once we start to get to the main parts of the desert, we need to check if our camps are truly safe, you never know if bandits attacked or are attacking the? Ron replied
"And you check by waiting for a replay with the hawk? Then why not just send a scout?" Lord Torden asked not grasping the full situation yet
"Hawks are faster and cooler, and they are basically our symbol" Ron answered
"Can't the bandits just track the path of wish the hawk came from by sending it back and following it?" Torden asked still confused about this system
"Well logically, no army can match the speed of an eagle on foot that a first, and we wait for a certain code wrapped around the hawk's leg, if it seems suspicious, we change location and goal" replied Ron before drinking some water and continuing "And we always send messages in case of a sudden attack on a camp to cross it off"
They sat around resting for a moment before the hawk returned, the message had some weird symbol on it, only thing Ron said was "Clear" before we set march, it wasn't long till we reached the location, A village with fallen walls and empty houses it looked as if it was a ghost town
"Is everything okay?" I asked out of worry
"It might seem weird but we rather keep the all our camps like this, blends well with the environment, plus repairing them when ever we switch from one to another is expensive" said Ron, wish convinced Lord Torden who found it a very smart idea
As they got closer to the camp, they saw no one at all, but everyone was sure that the people in the camp were hiding so the bandits would not notice them
As They entered the Brocken walls the group stopped moving, Torden walked out of the carriage stepping to the front only to see the camp guards dead on the floor, Ron swiftly went to the centre of the camp to see the food supply haven't gone anywhere, he walked up the tower in the centre to see the one in charge of communication's body, but he couldn't find it.
As he wanted to go back down from the bright yellowness of the desert, he saw horses coming from every side, they were just around the number of the march
"Ambush!!" shouted Ron at the top of his lunges
Everyone went into defence form, as Ron went back down Torden came up to him and spoke
"This is not going to work, if they surround us, we are dead, we can't with the men tired and the walls frail" Torden spoke in a hurry covering his voice
"Then what do you want us to do?" asked Ron as despair was the colour of his eyes
"We get into the houses and close all exist except the ones we are suing to lure them in to lower their numbers" Torden said "your men won't listen to me, but they obey you"
On Ron's face agreement of the plan was obvious as he shouted to his group of men women and children to do the plan right
Horses barged into the village but couldn't do the same to the houses, a great portion of the men stepped out of their mounts and on foot tried to break into the houses, spears, swords, hammers, you name it, they used everything even fire couldn't take down the defence ad the houses were made out of brocks and clay, as the bandit's numbers went down a horn sent a voice screeching towards the bones
The bandits finally retreated, but not far, they circled around the village keeping people from going out as the horn bearer went behind the sand hills
"So, what do we do now Lord Torden" said Ron looking at them stuck in them foots
"With the advantage of our numbers we can take them down and run towards another one of your camps but we need to regroup" said Lord Torden sure of his plan to work just to hear another scream from the horn
Behind the sand hills came forth what was hiding behind the village, Black sheep heads drawn on the banners of even more men, they had 4 rams in total
"This is no normal plunder; this is a straight up war declaration from the black sheep" said Ron as shock painted his face Gray
"We can't win a battle of this rate" said Lord Torden as he knew the walls of the houses wouldn't stand long
"We can't, but we can buy time, they either escaped a battle or have been noticed by some scouts with these numbers, with enough time help will reach us" said Ron full of confidence as if he was in this situation before
From behind the bandits stepped a man with a sheep's skull as a helmet and spoke
"We wish you no harm no more, if you are just to hand over the high born within your walls, you will then be free to go, and your food will not be touched today"
Temptation struck the air as the escort knights pointed their swords at Ron and his men, the noise grew larger in the other houses full of his men, Torden wanted to leave at that moment,
"They will just end up trading me for food, and we can take our trade another time as long as you have your side of it" Torden said before Ron stopped him with the sword
"These men wish not to trade you, we are fighting them for years, they want to execute you to stop any political relation between us and your house and the kingdom of Kazar" Ron said before getting outside the house and shout
"If we sacrifice our guests for one more day to live, just to die of hunger, what will the men and the king in the mountain say about us, if anyone wishes to live by himself, the desert is a Freeland for all"
Those words might not seem as such a Stronge ones, but for people who understand their own situation they can see what's going to bring more profit
"Help is on the way, slaughter every sheep before they take the credit"
Ron's men started shouting and screaming, no hint of fear was in their voices, the commander of that team from the black sheep only said
"Then death it is" before his men charged with their heavy weaponry towards the village
Walls fell as people started to fight on the street the sun turned into mud for the blood painted the grounds, houses crushed people, friend or foe, as Torden managed to strike down someone from their horse, he took it and charged towards the rams, with help he managed to burn one down, as another was crushed under the pressure of a fallen wall
As men started believing in Torden and his orders more, the black sheep commander had his target clear, charging towards Torden he struck him down of his horse, Torden covered in blood he did not distinguish it from his own was barley able to stand up as the man charged back at him, another horse threw the man away as they both collapsed, Ron was the rider
He took Torden with him and tried reaching a house nearby, as they entered and tried to find an escape they were surrounded by men, not many could enter the house at once, but just enough to be a threat
Strike after strike? Torden saw his knights' escorts trying to cave a path towards him, but they fell one after another, as he faced Ron he saw Ron's sword shatter to pieces, and a bandit stuck an axe down Ron's Skull, although Ron died the bandit's numbers went low enough for him to fight back, as the rest were busy outside
"There is still hop" Torden whispered to himself before he heard another horn scream, it was more of a hard whistle, new banners with hawk head were surrounding the houses, Torden was alone in his house, when he saw them enter, he gave up, dropped his sword he saw the one that did the horn scream, he used a hawk's skull
As the man entered the house, pity and sadness blurred his eyes as he looked at Ron's body
"He had so much potential" said the man before looking at Torden with eyes filled with disgust and anger
"No need to fret my lord, we are here to help"
Torden fell cold on the ground as people rushed to help him.
He woke up the next day as his injuries were stitched, he over heard a conversation of the man that told him to rest last time in the house talking with some
"So, you couldn't find that group's leader? forget it we can't track him in the desert," said the man
Before coming in and handing Torden a box, in it was some journals
"What is this" asked Torden with tired eyes and weak voice
"This is the part of the tired my men died to give you, you will be escorted back to your kingdom with more men of ours, and they will take the food promised" replied the man as he was leaving
"What do you mean that is it? Both my men and yours died for some books?" replied Torden filled with frustration, it wasn't pointed at the man, it was pointed at Torden himself
"And what do you want more? A pat on the back and an applause for surviving? "Said the man "Go back to your high castle walls My lord" said the man after turning back once more to leave
"And then you were escorted back towards the sea and handed over your promised side of the trade" said a guard in a cell questioning Torden with another writing down
"Yes, and those are the journals I told you about" replied Torden his voice still weak
"Thanks for your hard work we will be sure to tell the king about your achievements" said the guard before sending Torden away in a carriage across a green field towards his home