The Song of Sword and Magic - Chapter 67

Chapter 67: The Deserters

[Translator — Asuka]

[Proofreader — Karane]

Basorem and another warrior set up a pot on a fire pit to prepare dinner as two other warriors were digging a hole silently in the distance. “That’s for Horus. We can only bury the stuff he left behind.” Basorem said after a sigh.

Rae and Stan were seated as their energy hadn’t recovered. It was already difficult for Stan to climb down the pine tree. At that moment, he was trying to unwind his legs.

“Are all of you the soldiers from Sara?” Seeing how they were able to kindle a fire with ease, Rae was certain that they were not civilians.

After cutting a sweet potato into a few pieces, Basorem took a seat on the ground. “Yes, my name is Basorem, the leader of the Northern Knights in Sara. This is Clamence. We come from the same group. The shorter guy over there is Enderman, a knight from Usgart Royal Guards. We came across him when we returned to Usgart. The taller guy is Tyrin, a knight from the Usgart Guardians. We bumped into him when we were retreating to the South.”

“Since all of you come from different groups, you were supposed to be stationed in different areas. How did all of you come together?” Stan asked curiously as he wasn’t familiar with the knight groups in Sara.

Basorem passed the sweet potatoes to Clamence and started telling his story. “Clamence and I were stationed on the Northern border to keep watch on any possible intrusion of the Dark Tide. Since I joined Northern Knights, there hadn’t been any suspicious activities. But one day, without a warning, a raven sent us a letter which said that Usgart had been surrounded by the Dark Tide, so they wanted us to return to the capital city to help them.”

“This is why it’s rumored that the Dark Tide appeared in Sara all of a sudden.” Stan connected Basorem’s words and what he knew.

“I think so.” Rae replied and shifted her attention to Basorem. “What happened next? If Northern Knights and Usgart Guardians joined forces, the Dark Tide wouldn’t have been able to break into the capital city.”

“When we were on our way back, we didn’t know what happened in Usgart. According to Enderman, whom we met on the road, right after the Dark Tide appeared, they started attacking the capital city violently. If they were just fiends and zombies, Royal Guards and Guardians wouldn’t have retreated so quickly. Even though fiends are horrifying, we, as the Northern soldiers, aren’t powerless to deal with them.” Basorem spoke in a hesitant way as though there was something more terrifying than the fiends.

“We saw from the battle just now that fiends wouldn’t be your biggest threat. So what was it that could quickly destroy Usgart?” Rae was anxious as this was the question that had been plaguing her.

***

Basorem rubbed his hands together to pull himself together and raised his head to look at them. “Enderman told us that he saw a black dragon.”

“A dragon?” Rae and Stan yelled in surprise.

Dejectedly, Basorem gazed at the boiling water and continued, “According to Enderman, the dragon was impenetrable and no one could deal with it. Wherever it went, it could kill people with ease with its claws. Initially, we didn’t believe him and thought that he was just too terrified.” He wiped away the sweat on his forehead. “When we reached Usgart, we saw the dragon ourselves. It was as big as the largest cathedral in the city as it hovered over the demolished capital. Its howling was petrifying and it was a hundred times more intimidating than the fiends. Before we could even fight with it, we were devastated.”

“All of you can’t be blamed. Anyone would be stupefied if they came across such a monster.” Stan shook his head and said.

Basorem nodded and looked gratefully at him. “If our enemies were fiends, we still stood a chance to win the battle. However, when we were confronted by a dragon, we didn’t even have the courage to stand up. In fact, a large group of fiends would be difficult enough for us. It took a dozen brilliant knights to deal with one fiend. With countless zombies on their side, it was already near impossible for us to win the war. The situation was made worse with the appearance of a dragon.”

“So all of you retreated?” Rae questioned.

“No. No one gave the order for us to retreat as there was nowhere else we could go.” Basorem lowered his head and recollected the painful memories. “We ran away as cowards because there was no way we could defeat the dragon. When it flew above our heads, we were engulfed in its shadow, and the wind brought by its wings could easily blow us away. It was a more intense fear than when we were confronted by fiends. It was as though our hearts were about to explode. Therefore, we threw away our weapons and ran Southward. The outcome of the battle was already decided in the beginning.”

Stan heaved a sigh helplessly and turned to look at Rae. “Do you know anything about dragons? Why would it appear in Wallis all of a sudden?”

Rae frowned as she had no idea about the origin of the dragons. “I’m clueless about it as well. We shall ask Niss when we meet up with them. She should know better.”

“You have companions?” Basorem asked in shock.

“Yes, there are four of us. Two of them have gone North. We’ll meet up in Talheim.” Stan replied.

“Are they Saras as well?” Basorem took out a pine nut from a bag and started peeling it. “If they’re not, then they might be in trouble. The snowstorm has been ongoing for some time.”

Rae and Stan looked up at the sky, which was mostly covered by the trees. “We were too focused on the battle just now. Moreover, we didn’t notice it since we’re in the forest. In that case, Fern and Niss might be in danger as a snowstorm is no safer than the Dark Tide for them.” Stan rubbed his hands together as he was worried.

“Fern will have a way to deal with it. There’s nothing else we can do, so we can only trust them.” Rae heaved a sigh.

***

After the two warriors were done digging the hole, they came over and said, “We’ll try to look for some snow lotus flowers around this area. We’ll come back before dusk.”

Basorem nodded without uttering a word.

Gazing at the four warriors, Rae wondered why they chose to stay in Sara despite the hostile environment. “Why did all of you stop here? Why didn’t you keep going South? This place isn’t liveable anymore.”

Basorem threw the peeled nut into the pot and started peeling another one. “Initially, we had more than twenty people with us who were all deserters as well. However, some of them were already injured. Without any doctors around and in such a climate, many of them passed away on the road. All we could do was to end their lives to stop their suffering.” He paused for a moment. “It was extremely heart-wrenching to kill our own companions, even though that would mean the end of their suffering. There were only eleven of us left when we reached here. About six people weren’t willing to stay, so they kept going South. Eventually, there were only five of us.” He let out a breath. “And there are only four of us left today.”

“We’re sorry for luring the fiend to this place.” Stan apologized to him sincerely.

“You don’t have to apologize to me. It’s our duty to kill all the fiends and zombies. We had deserted from our duty before, so I’m really happy to have the chance to do something to compensate for it.” Basorem waved his hand to motion for Stan to not worry about it. “Moreover, even if Horus wasn’t killed by the fiend, his days were numbered.”

“What happened to him?” Stan asked curiously. “I saw how the fiend slashed at him. He was a Northern soldier, so even if he couldn’t dodge the attack, he could make sure that his vital parts wouldn’t be harmed. However, he didn’t dodge the attack at all.”

“You’re right. In fact, Horus was already injured, and his wounds worsened by the day.” Basorem rolled up his sleeve to show his arm to them. “Recently, there have been some problems with our bodies. Other than these lumps on my arm, there are more on my body.”

Rae and Stan widened their eyes as they examined the red and suppurated lumps on his arm. “What are these?”

“No one knows what they are. They started appearing on our bodies one month ago, and they worsen by the day. It’s still alright for us, but Horus was already injured in the first place, so his wounds started festering due to these lumps. He would soon lose his life due to the infection anyway. Now, he had died in a more meaningful way, and it was also a glory for him.” Basorem shook his head helplessly and rolled down his sleeve.

Stan fell silent as the pain these warriors suffered from physically and psychologically exceeded his imagination.

Rae still had some questions to ask. “Why are you looking for snow lotus flowers? Why didn’t you go to the South like the rest of your companions did?”

The lumps on Basorem’s body became itchy again, so he impatiently tried to scratch his back. “In Horus’s last moments, he told us to put some snow lotus flowers in front of his tomb. It was the favorite flower of his dead wife, Sheen.”

Rae fell silent as she was beginning to understand why these warriors wouldn’t want to leave Sara.

***