Jason, Seryon, Doryon, and whoever stood alongside them watched as the three men walked empty handed, no limbs were lost, no body parts broken, small injuries covered them alongside broken spirits
Once they reached the end of the path, the chief stared they're at the team leader before, looking into his eyes for a moment he said to the crowd
"We shall announce all that has happened tomorrow's morning"
Chaos erupted as the men walked beside toward the part where his tent was placed, with only things stopping them from attempting anything that could hurt him is the fear of punishment, after all, his is of royal blood
"Do you think the rest of them died?" a boy asked Seryon
"Probably, after all they hadn't my brother alongside them,"
"They don't look that injured for it to be true though" said Doryon
"They might've fled the scene leaving the rest as bait or human shield" replied Seryon
"Or they might've split apart to confuse the enemy forces" said Doryon
"Same thing as making them bait" said Seryon as Doryon gave him a dumbfounded look
"We will know tomorrow anyways, what use is speculating about it now," said Jason as they went away towards their dormitory, except for Jason who was escorted by a guard to the nurse's place
In the chief's tent, Baro, their sat Ramo, Pharam, Noor and Sarom, they stared the three men before the royal blood spoke
"So? Wont you speak up already?"
"We were caught by surprise" said the man in front
"That is visible enough or the naked eye. I'm asking how it happened, was it a prepared team? Do they know of our location?" said chief Baro
"No, neither of those" said the man in front of, the leader of the team "As you know, chief Baro, our team contained 10 in total, we were walking by the river, just for a carriage from the distance to come straight towards us out of nowhere"
"So, you got spotted by the military of the Varish?" said chief Baro
"That is, half the truth, it looked as if, they found us by cheer luck," said the man
"How could it be luck?" said the chief
"They changed paths once they saw us, they looked to be heading nowhere", said the man
"What do you mean nowhere?! Say everything at once already!" said Baro
"They were heading towards the western forest, but, the carriage did not look to contain enough food for them to reach it, and they travelled the night wish was even weirder" said the man
"The carriage did not contain food? How did you know of this" said Pharam
"Once they got close enough to us, out of it stepped even more of their warriors," said the man
"As if it was a trap" said Pharam thinking to himself
"Where did the other parties go?" asked the chief
"They went into different direction distracting them so they won't know wish place we inhibited," said the man
"You are free to go" replied the chief" Take some rest for the time being until further discussion"
"What do you think of it?" said chief Baro
"They must be trying to hide something through distractions" replied Pharam "and I am certain they are not trying to hid it from us"
"It is meaningless to fear us at this point, especially with how weak we've become, and how cornered we are," said the chief
"So, they must be fearing the Kazar" said Ramo
"That is my theory as well, but what could they be hiding?" said Pharam
"Maybe another weapon, just like the old days when they used rains of fire on us" said Ramo
"Sigh… I don't feel good about whatever it is" said the chief "But the thing now is what can way say to the public," said the chief
"What do you mean? Wont we tell the truth?!" said Sarom
"And tell the people that we lost an outside shelter?" said Baro
"For how long will we keep doing this huh?!" said Sarom "Continuing like this is like building a foundation on sand, all it needs is a smell or water for it to crush us all"
"If we say that our expedition team was caught, questions about the camps will arise, wish shall never happen," said the chief
"Well, you know that boy, Jason, is from a slavery camp, WISH WAS ONE OF OUR MAIN DEFENCES! Will you kill him to silence him as well?" said Sarom
"We've assigned a guard to accompany him removing any chances of him knowing or leaking any info" said Chief Baro
"And you think questions won't arise about it?" said Sarom
"We will say that he is still unstable mentally" said Baro
"And what if the expedition team decides to spill it out? Will you murder them as well?!" said Sarom
Chief Baro looked up at him annoyed and said "Boy, I don't care if you are Vonir's disciple, I shall pin you to the wall if you ever question my actions once more" said Baro
Sarom shut his mouth as Pharam continued
"Will you be speaking up tomorrow?"
"When the morning rises, we will be doing so" said Baro
"We?" replied Sarom
"Yes, you will stand by my side, all of you, showing that whatever I state is the truth, after all, you are the reason I sent so many expedition teams" said Baro "If it wasn't for the appearance of that boy, Jaso, and your instance on searching for others this act wouldn't have come out of me"
The room went silent for his words were absolute, he finished the meeting saying "You are free to go"
By the sunrise people gathered around the log where the chief stands, it was empty, surrounded by guards, and accompanied by his close team, Pharam and the others
From the crowd the chief with Noor to his side walked cutting through
He walked stood towering them all
"My deer people, my family, I wish to tell you the sad news up first" said chief Baro wearing a mask wish isn't his own, the moth of a snake with couldn't fit his
"The Varish managed to break through one of our main 3 defences" said Baro
The crowd gasped in disbelieve, it came as a shock to everyone
"I know, it is hard for me as well, our friends that died out there, the ones that got enslaved, the ones that are lost in the vast green flats"
"But even though it came with many loses, our mighty warriors came with a stop to their beastly acts, out camps stood for 10s of years, and they shall stand for 10s to come—" he was cut by a sound from the crowd
"Lies!" said a man
The chief kept the cheerful face as he wanted to talk up, but he was stopped once
"You are a fake lie!" the chief's face shifted colours slowly as the man appeared, messing a hand and most his facial features, poor bandaging skills were visible over his severe wounds
He was one from the expedition teams that were yet to come
"He is a Lier! There are no other camps, there is no 'hope' outside, he sent us to our death—" guards took him away shutting his mouth as he fought to speak more
"I LOST MY FRIENDS FIGHTING YOUR WAR!!" he yelled from a far
The crowd stared the chief in shock, all he could do is watch coldly as the man was brought away and out of his sight