Arrival

Waking up in a cold tent, Henry finally understood how the other knights seemed to do it so readily. There was no longer resistance to the cold, only acceptance. It was like the harsh coldness was an unshakeable reality so living to live next to it was the only option.

The only way to keep going forward was to neither like it nor dislike it.

There was nothing to eat for breakfast but everyone had gotten used to the lack of food by that point. It made getting back on the path quick and everyone was anxious to see what was next for them.

Just as the commander said, they were there in less than half a day and were finally able to take some kind of rest and eat from the supplies that were already there. It felt good to finally have an idea of where they were going to be.

They were going through a small forest when they made it upon a tall stone wall that seemed ancient and not connected to anything else.

Making their way around the wall, the expanse of land in front of them was barren and rocky but mostly covered in snow. Further north in the distance, there was a hill in which a tall fortified tower sat, castle walls going away from it on either side. It was made of grey brick and had tall, thin windows carved out of the tower and in some of the high points of the wall. It was obscured by slight fogginess so details were somewhat skewed. Behind it were harsh, snowy mountains that it seemed to protect. It was even bigger than the fortress the knights spent most of their time around in Hydrogia.

The building seemed overwhelmingly large and incredibly cold as it stood above the snowy ground. It wasn't just the appearance, but the mood was cold.

Henry had overheard knights wondering if there were still people trapped inside of the castle and he couldn't help feeling a sense of horror for who must be having to live through that hell. It seemed that knights weren't the only ones that had died in the battle with the monsters.

It felt that no one would ever be able to restore something like that to its former glory. He understood why the knights of this place decided to seek help.

Chemois was different than Hydrogia. It was considered its own country because of the vast amount of untouched land, unlike Hydrogia which was part of Peroda, but it was a country with a single city inside of it. The king still had authority over Chemois, but he allowed a duke to call most of the shots for the country. The royal family historically wanted nothing to do with the untamable northern lands that were constantly in danger of being attacked by monsters.

It seemed now what everyone predicted was finally coming true.

As Henry pondered this with the duke's tower in front of him, he almost wanted to be on Chemois's side for this battle, though they were all fighting for the same cause. He wanted the underdog, Chemois, to get out of this on the upper hand.

The knights kept navigating to the side of the wall facing the tower and they saw that's where the other knights had set up tents and put their supplies while battles were being fought.

The newly arrived were greeted with open arms by the knights and apprentices who were still left.

Henry noticed that they all seemed less unkempt and skinnier. The winter must have been hard for them so far considering they had been there since the beginning of autumn.

There were even knights he knew to be Chemoian who greeted their fellow Chemoian knights with more somber expressions. The towns that they lived in were close to the duke's tower and they were all asked to evacuate to nearby villages until the battles were over.

The somber expressions were not without reason. As Henry brought his and Trenton's horse to the fenced area where the other knights' horses were staying, he saw areas with piles of bodies stacked up. There were what seemed to be priests there, blessing and burning the bodies so that necromancers of autumn wouldn't find them in the future and use their decaying forms for something sinister.

Knights that risked their lives on the battlefield were being left off in what felt like a heartless way to Henry. The moment he got the horses to the opening of the gate, he slapped both of their backsides and they ran forward in time for him to run around the corner of the fence and vomit stomach bile into the sparse bush, devoid of leaves from winter. He felt lucky he hadn't eaten yet and didn't waste any supplies.

Bodies of monsters were one thing, but the bodies of humans made him feel his legs go numb.

Soldiers more qualified than he was to be there were dead before he was. It made him wonder what kind of business he had in a place like this if even those tougher than him couldn't survive.

There were even bodies small enough to be years younger than him. They had entire lives ahead of them and they were collateral damage from monsters who shouldn't be allowed to see the light of day.

Making sure no one saw him, he wiped his mouth quickly and made his way back to where he had left Sir Trenton who was going through a tent and finding them both shields in case they were to make it to the front lines themselves soon.

Henry was led to another large tent that was set up that had rows and rows of cots inside of it. It seemed to be makeshift barracks where knights and apprentices were going to sleep whenever they had a chance.

At least it felt warm inside with torches burning and a fire in the center blowing smoke up into the circular hole in the ceiling of the tent.

He quickly dropped off his things and made it back to Sir Trenton.

As he walked up, he heard the last thing he wanted to hear.

"About northwest of here, there's a medical tent. You'll find Sir Maximus there," a knight with light brown hair and a scraggly beard pointed in the direction he was indicating and Trenton nodded in return.

"Thank you," was all Trenton said before turning to see his apprentice return. "Henry, let's go visit Maximus."

Henry's heart was in his throat and he considered running away to be sick once again.

How was Maximus, one of the fastest swordfighters in all of the Hydrogian Knights, going to get hurt enough to be in a medical tent?

All Henry could do was nod. He felt he would throw up if he opened his mouth to speak.

Too excited to see his old friend, Trenton didn't notice his apprentice turning paler in his face and he turned to quickly walk over to the medical tent where the knight would be.

Not one for subtlety, Trenton slapped the makeshift opening to the tent open and his eyes scanned the room for Maximus.

Sitting in the corner with his arms crossed, the brown-haired knight with green eyes turned his head suddenly at the unexpected sound of his name.

It was the most cheerful noise he had heard in what felt like months.