Chapter 422: The Price of The Road

The two humans appeared no different from me, they had black hair, and brown skin, likely from being in the sun for a long time, and what was important was that I could not feel any channels in their bodies, I may have to carefully investigate if I had the chance, but these two were not mages, although I could feel that they were not normal mortals, as a subtle hint of danger surrounded them.

The heat haze covering the last unknown mount moved to the side of the last figure among the nine that I had not looked at.

Then the haze vanished, revealing a massive tiger the size of a cart, with its left flank torn open from the shoulder down to the hip and packed with something dark, standing there with its head low and its ears flat while its breath comes out in slow clouds the wind keeps pulling apart.

The beast was magnificent and I swallowed as a silver figure with four tails flashed across my memory, before I shook my head, and focused on the last figure, it was a tall man with a powerful frame, this was clear even while he was on one knee... but he had the head of a lion.

When the tiger appeared beside the man, he looked up, and I saw that he had only one eye, the other had been gouged away, and it was still bleeding. He slowly rested his right hand on the neck of the tiger and his single golden eye fell on me.

Beastkin... reportedly one of the most powerful races on Terra.

I did not look away from the Lion man, and I thought I saw something of astonishment flash in his eyes as he looked from me to Dorrik, before returning back to me.

Except for him, the rest were staring at the ground, and I glanced at Dorrik. The only reason these nine were like this was most likely because they were waiting to be received, and I wondered if Dorrik was going to welcome them.

∞

Dorrik did not make any motion, he just arched his brows, and the Beastkin looked away from me and got up.

I don’t know the battles they had endured, but it took him three attempts to get to his feet before he gave up and shifted his hand to the tiger’s shoulder and used it as a crutch to slowly get to his feet.

There was something solemn about this moment that I could not place my finger on. The Lion man gets halfway to his feet and stops, and I can see his whole side shaking from four hundred paces, and then he pushes off the animal and comes up the rest of the way. When he is standing he does not straighten out all the way, and one of his legs is not taking his full weight.

Damn... these people must have been through a hellish ordeal to reach here, and I wondered how many had begun this journey, when only nine were left at the end of it.

The tiger turns its head and pushes its muzzle into the Lion Man’s chest and leaves it there, and I felt a profound feeling of pain pass through my soul. I know someone that used to do this to comfort me.

She was one of the reasons I needed to do the impossible, there were just too many counting on me to change the world, and I could not let them down.

The Beastkin comes forward four paces and stops, and then he faces the mountain, and he bows his head.

"God of the Unending Flame." His deep voice that was strangely lyrical resounded across the mountain, carrying great power and authority. "We saw the sign in the heavens, and we have come to confer with you. We do not have any sacrifice worthy of your presence, but our blood and souls can be freely given, we only implore you to consider our words."

The Lion man paused, as if waiting for a reply, but Dorrik did not make any sound, just stared at the Beastkin with a profound look in his eyes. The Lion man gritted his teeth, and I could see that they were bloodied, and I wondered if they were from him, or from a foe whose throat was torn out with his massive fangs.

"We come from Serrath field. There were four hundred of us." He raises his head, and stared without flinching at Dorrik. "Now, there are nine, and your mountain is safe for a while because of the sacrifice of my soldiers. We implore you to consider our request."

The wind goes across the slope and on it I could smell the desolation, fear and anguish from the nine figures here. They stared at the ground, but some of their shoulders were shaking.

I fucking hate wars and what it left behind.

"We ask nothing for ourselves. We ask only that you receive us, and that you hear what is coming up behind us." He bows his head again. "We will kneel here until you do."

Then he goes back down on one knee in the gravel, and he does not get up again.

∞

Dorrik let them kneel, and I stood there beside the old man watching everything happen, and slowly it dawned on me that he was not deciding whether to receive them at all.

Then he spoke, "Your account is... interesting, and your sacrifices are noble. But there is an odd note about it that does not sit well with me. Serrath is four days away from here and yet, you set out when the heavens acknowledged my creation a moment ago. As you can see, those two things do not add up."

The Lion man raised his head and did not answer straight away, and his single golden eye closed for a moment while the tiger shifted its weight beside him.

Then he lifted his right hand off the animal’s neck and touched the side of his own face beside the socket where the other eye should have been, and when he took the fingers away there was fresh blood on them.

"I paid for the road," he said, and Dorrik cocked his head to the side, an unknown light in his eyes.

"I told you we were four hundred, but a month ago, we were thirty thousand, and our numbers were being thinned on a daily basis. There was no path out of Serrath, and I looked for one for two days and there was none to be found anywhere, and I gave what I had and asked to be shown a way where any hope of survival remained." His hand went back to the tiger. "So I was shown a mountain, and fire, and the last four hundred rode for your mountain, and we are all that is left. We were about to give up until we saw the signs in the heavens, and we knew there was a chance our salvation lay here."

Dorrik was quiet for a long while, and then he made a low sound in his chest and rolled his shoulders once.

"You have the blood of the Nemean Lion, and your eyes are your foundations... who did you sacrifice them to?"

"That is my own business, Great One."

"Aye. So it is." Dorrik sighed, "Make camp and take care of your mounts."