Chronicles of Viltarion I - A Song of Stone and Iron

Chapter 70 - The enemy of fire

The smell of smoke had become so intense that Termidas could do no more than cover his mask with a piece of cloth.

Iril had burned all night and was still smouldering in the morning, but no inhabitants other than those who had escaped the small settlement the day before had reached the fortress... A heavy sense of helplessness came over the warriors as they drew their mounts closer to the river that separated Duner from the neighbouring nation.

"Everything is burnt..." Uvil muttered as he calmed his mount to get a clear view of the state of the village.

The others imitated the young captain, Termidas could not see the faces of the soldiers, but he knew exactly what face they were hiding underneath. The solemn silence was all he needed to know the anger his countrymen harboured within.

"The bridge, too..." Nirte pointed to the structure that allowed passage to Tander, which had been destroyed at only one end, the end they were at.

The advance party rode up to the crossing and looked around, searching for any scouts or enemy soldiers that might be hiding, then stopped their mounts and looked at the damage the crossing had sustained...

The bridge was formed of stone blocks in the shape of an arch, but that arch was gone, only stones and shattered mortar lay under the shadow of the structure, beneath the water.

Termidas was the first to dismount and see the place where the enemy had concentrated their power, right at the beginning of the arch there were clear signs of intense heat etched into the stone.

"It's recent." He said as he touched the burnt rock, warm to the touch despite the early hour.

"They must have cut off access to the villagers to prevent them from escaping," Nirte deduced as he looked towards the village and the dark cloud emanating from it, only a kilometre away. "Look." He pointed to the other end, where at least a dozen corpses lay near the crossroads.

"Bastards..." Uvil muttered.

Ozoku and Ozoki dismounted from the single mount the commander had provided and approached him to look at the destroyed blocks.

"Sultan's elementalists, yes, yes." The young materialiser clapped her hands enthusiastically and materialised repeatedly around the soldiers. "They hate us, don't they, Ozoku? Yes, yes, they should attack if they see me."

"It's possible, Ozoki, just look at the outcome across the river, they might want to fight, they might want to look at us." the other replied. "If you get too tired of popping up here and there you might get killed if they attack us."

"Damn it, control your impulses, I don't want to attract more attention than necessary, just find out where those responsible for this attack have gone." Nirte spoke with a clear tone of irritation.

"Our motivation is different from yours, but the result we seek is the same, why should we censor our thoughts?" Ozoku asked.

"Out of respect for those who have lost their lives there." The Austere Wolf pointed out, seeing the lack of empathy those two often displayed made him question Yvelde's reasoning.

"Respect is earned with effort, Captain, aye, aye... And once dead, no effort is worth it." The materialising girl replied, it was the first time she had heard a thread of sternness in her voice.

"Do as you please, but by all the elementals, don't attract more enemies than necessary with your nonsense."

"Only if you promise to fight alongside us when we find the southerners." Ozoku said, equally as serious as his companion.