Chapter Three

Mufaun rode down the hill and into the forest. Oakhaven would be deserted, he knew that, its people had been warned of the pending destruction at the hands of the Emperor’s Grand Marshall. Hopefully, hopefully they had done as he had suggested. As he entered the village, he found exactly what he had hoped: an army with no one to fight.

The soldiers stood dumbfounded in the streets of the village. How could the villagers possibly have been fooled by a handful of common folk? Some sorcery was at work here, some magic the soldiers had not yet faced. Many had been serving under Mufaun for many years. They were no stranger to battles, no child to the mysteries of the uncivilized world. But this, this vanishing act perpetrated by a whole village without a trace of their flight was something none of them, even the most seasoned, had seen. So they turned to their leader, the man they trusted above all others.

Mufaun brought his horse to standstill amidst his soldiers and sat quietly, listening. The village was silent. Silent in a way that was unsettling, not as though the inhabitants had abandoned it willingly, but as something evil had driven them from it. The men began to get restless, shifting about, turning to keep their backs away from the unsettling darkness in each of the buildings.

“Captain Steed.”

A Knight stepped to his commander’s side. A battle horn hung at his side. A visible relief ran through the silent battalion at the sound of their leader. Mufaun's voice was calm, soothing in its confidence. And suddenly, everything was business as usual.

“Yes, my lord.” Steed was a man larger than most, partly because of the Orrish blood that ran through his veins, but mostly just because he was. The Orres were a fiercely loyal people. And Steed served only one master.

“Have your scouts scour the village. I want to know where the villagers have gone, then have them gather what supplies they can.”

“They’re already hard at it, my lord.”

Steed was Mufaun’s only friend. There were no secrets between them. Not one. And it made Steed all the more fiercely loyal to his commander. Mufaun was counting on Steed, not only as a friend but as a soldier as well. Even if they made it through the day, by nightfall, there would be few who would stand with them, not for lack of loyalty, but for fear of the Emperor. He couldn’t expect his soldiers to follow him to an end that surely lead to nothing more than a cold soulless tomb. Many of them had homes, wives, children. He didn’t. Steed didn’t. And the four other captains who had sworn fealty to Mufaun, had little they feared to lose when, if they succeeded in their endeavor, what they might gain was beyond their wildest dreams.

The soldiers began to relax. They were all familiar with how Mufaun set about securing a city of any size. He was thorough, ordered, and well-practiced at taking control of a strange new land, be it city or wilderness. He’d been taught well, and his men trusted him above all other commanders. All they had to do for the moment was wait for the scouts to report in. Once the reports were in, the real work would begin.