Book 7: Chapter 38


    Dawnes earlier in the desert than other ces. However, I felt this dawn came toote. Perhaps it was because the heavens saw how bright this ce was and decided to ignore it, since it was already so bright.


    But the heavens didnt catch the stifling smell of smoke and blood spraying forth from people choking. They didnt see the mountain of corpses which dyed therge area red. The golden sand was now dyed red. Step down into it and the blood would gurgle. The darkness nearly covered the entire sky. The wind blew the clothing of the corpses up into the air and took the stench of blood away with it.


    Previously, we felt this ce was hell.


    Now, it really had be hell.


    I sat on the empty ammunition barrel, feeling exhausted. I looked at the guards in front of me, who were lying on the wet ground in all sorts of postures and spaced out. I then looked up at the sky above. Just half an hour ago, this ce was rowdy with roars in all differentnguages, the sounds of guns fired and des nging. The entire desert quaked at the frenzy. But it was now silent as if nobody ever existed here.


    I have no idea how many bullets I fired nor do I know how many people I killedst night. I didnt even make sense ofst nights situation. Ive never witnessed such a chaotic battle. The teams that attacked us werent united. In fact, they got into a fight right outside of our camp. More and more teams entered the fray. There was no alliance. If they werent the people who came with you, they were your enemies. I dont have the foggiest clue as to who attacked us. Actually, I think itd be more urate to say, everyone was attacking us.


    We relied on just barricades about the height of a human being and our guns to push back the waves of enemies that came at us. After one hectic ughter, the darkness before us had been reced with a mountain of corpses. My guard unit was exhausted, too. About twenty of our men died in the battle, while the others suffered either severe or minor wounds. Luna wasing over helping bandage the soldiers.


    We had emptied our barrel of gunpowder. The ammunition we brought had been used up. I was originally nning to fight another battle at the ruins, but Ive yed all my cards already, and for nothing. Instead of calling it a defence battle, itd be better to say we got pulled into a pointless battle royale.


    We killed enough people, but we got nothing out of it. If anything, we lost our resources for survival in the desert. Our guns are different to theirs. Their bullets arepletely different to ours. Even if we were to take their guns and ammunition, wevepletely lost the ability to put pressure on the enemy with our firepower.


    Weve lost almost half of our fighting power. Of the remaining half, we need men to escort the severely wounded out of the desert, as well. In other words, I only have thirty men to dispatch now, and I had some minor wounds myself.


    <em>Shall I leave?</em>


    If we leave now, we will be able to reach safety. The smartest choice in this situation is to leave. If you had a brain, youd leave now. The desert is an extremely dangerous ce. Continuing to stay without weapons and men is the equivalent of marching to your own death.


    Your Majesty, this is the child.


    I heard a fatigued voice from behind. I spun around and Tarak led a young kid up to me. The kid had dark skin and wore tattered clothing. He wore a pendant which was the tooth of some animal I was unsure of at his chest. He was evidently covered in filth.


    I wonder how long hes been running around in the desert.


    He looked at Tarak and he looked back at me. He suddenly dropped down to his knees before me with a thud. He grabbed onto my leg and cried about I dont know. I looked at him nkly and then looked at Tarak. In a tired voice I asked, Tarak, can you understand what hes saying?


    I can.


    Tarak bent over and stroked his head gently. Heforted him in the samenguage. The kid wiped his tears and then murmured for a long while. He grabbed Taraks arm and said something. Tarak nodded as he listened in. He then looked up at me with a serious look and said, Your Majesty, he said that his tribesmen are stuck at the ruins and he was hoping wed be able to go rescue them.


    I chuckled in a ridiculing tone. I then hopped off the gunpowder barrel and lifted the kids arm up. I didnt care if he could understand me or not. I pointed at the messy camp and empty barrel. I then said, Look. Look, kid. Take a good look at this ce and then you tell me. Does it look like I can go to your tribesmens rescue?


    Tarak didnt trante it right away. He, instead, looked at me and frowned. He asked, Your Majesty, would that be too cruel of us?


    Cruel? I stood up while looking at Tarak. I made an open hand gesture to say, whatever you say, and eximed, Tarak, how do you think were going to go rescue them? You tell me. You witnessed first handst nights events and you know about our current circumstance, with our regards to our resources. You tell me, do I have spare manpower to go and rescue someone? What Im thinking about right now is how to return, not how to advance! If you want to be justices sidekick, please replenish my resources for me, so that I can go and save them!


    The kid seemed to understand what I said. He grabbed my arm and pulled out a sheet of paper that was so old Id virtually tear it if I touched it and handed it to me. I picked it up and took a look. It resembled a treasure-map. However, this should be years ago. It must a treasure from ages ago.


    Your Majesty, he said that this is the location of the mine everyone is searching for.


    Tarak looked at me and I detected rays of hope in his gaze. I was stunned at first. I looked at the sheet of paper. The problem was the sheet of paper wasntplete. There was only half of it. The direction the arrow pointed was missing. In other words, I have the useless half. As for the other half


    Interesting


    I smirked and then looked at the map in my hand again. It was the first time I felt my dream was so close to me, yet impossible to get my hands on, just as the stars in the sky. Theyre right in front of you, but reach for them as you may, you cant touch them.


    <em>Ive stargazed countless time. Does that prove my point?</em>


    Your Majesty, what are we going to do? Are we going to continue forward or are we returning now? If we return now, we can still make it. We cane back at another time


    Do you think the trapped people willst until wee back?


    I sighed. I then stood up and pinched the map in my hand tightly. This was the tribes way of pleading for help. They handed over half of the map and kept the other half, so I must save them. I now understand why that group chased this kid. They were trying to snatch this half.


    Or maybe this was a deal with the tribe. Kill them and you wont get theplete map. That would exin why they chose to trap them in a siege, yet not harm them. After trapping them, they could obtain theplete map if they could strike up a deal.


    ;What should I do? Ive already obtained half of the map. Am I just going to return like this? If I return like this, I cant get the other half and this will just be a pointless piece of scrap paper.


    What do you want us to do then, Your Majesty?


    Let me have a think let me have a think. Call Lorana and Philes here. I need to have a think We cant be hasty about this I need to have a think about it.