Chapter 27: Now go.

Kalon looked up at the mountains' peaks seeing glaciers and snow caps glistening like gemstones from the sunlight setting behind them with his mouth wide open.

He was in awe at the beauty of the mountain pass that he had long since heard off. It seemed as though everyone in the empire had been there at least one, and not a single one of them told stories of its beauty.

He couldn't understand why no one talked about the scenery, but as a cold breeze drifted towards him, a familiar scent hit him from the direction of the mountains.

"Well, as much as I would love to stick around, the longer I stay here, the higher the risk is of me being seen by one of the patrols. And I don't want to die anytime soon, so I will have to leave you here." Roland said casually before turning his hips and picking up Kalon's belongings from his back and then lowering to the ground.

"But I don't know where to go", Kalon complained at the sudden notice of their departure. He wasn't expecting to fall asleep while riding on Roland's back, so he felt as though things were moving a little too quickly.

But since they had already reached the mountain range that divided the two provenances, he knew it was too late to turn back now.

"The hard part was getting this far. From this point onwards, you should be relatively safe. The human military sends patrols to take care of any of us that get too close to the border.

All you have to do is follow the road that we are currently standing on, and it will lead you to the mountain pass." Roland reassured Kalon that it would be okay, but he couldn't stop himself from having doubts.

"The people back home say that humans are despicable creatures that kill their own people for money. Are you sure it's going to be okay?

What if they kill me so they can steal my belongings?" Kalon asked, feeling worried about his first meeting with humans other than his mother.

"I promise you it will be okay. Do you know why the humans built the mountain pass?" Roland asked with his brows slightly raised.

Kalon hadn't thought about it before, as politics were only for people who loved within the palace.

He didn't have the luxury to learn why the enemy did certain things, so he just shrugged his shoulders in response to Roland's question, not knowing anything at all about the mountain pass other than the fact that humans lived beyond it.

"You don't know a single thing?" Roland asked while criticising Kalon's intelligence. Almost everyone in the empire knows why the humans built the mountain pass, and it was common knowledge between the townspeople when they wanted to have their turn to talk about military affairs.

"No, Should I?" Kalon asked with an innocent gaze. It was as though he was sheltered ever since he was a baby, but that couldn't be any further from the truth, but Roland didn't know much about Kalon's upbringing.

"Well, most people know, but it's understandable since you are so young," Roland replied while trying not to make Kalon look like a fool since he had seen before what happens when someone made a fool out of the emperor's children when one of his friends mocked Octavian for being too weak to tame him.

To Roland, it seemed as though all of the emperor's children were incredibly strong, and he didn't want to be on the receiving end of whatever strength Kalon was hiding.

"Is that so? Then can you tell me why?" Kalon asked Roland to continue and then went silent and awaited his response. A few moments went by before Roland suddenly shivered and then moved on to tell Kalon what he wanted to know.

"Sure, The mountain pass was built by the humans to stop us from invading their lands. Although they are despicable and greedy creatures, humans enjoy working together to fight back against us. One day almost twenty years ago, your father had sent a force to try to take over the Kingdom of Ysaven.

He thought that he would finally manage to defeat them once and for all since he had gathered thousands of soldiers. But they didn't know the humans had also been preparing to find a way to fight back against us.

So when the time came to fight, the human army had already thought of a counter plan to the large scale attack that the emperor had sent to deal with them. We made it to the mountain range and diverged on the only path to the human kingdom. It was narrow, and only three soldiers could stand within the pathway side by side, so it took them a long time to get through to the other side.

But as soon as they did, they were attacked by the human army that was lying in wait for them and knew that they would only be able to take that particular path. They launched large scale attacks with their powers and sent fireballs raining down upon the soldiers stuck in the cavern.

Hundreds of soldiers were wiped out within seconds, and the generals had no choice but to retreat. But as soon as they ordered their army to retreat, another attack came from behind them, and they were trapped within an ambush that they had no idea they were walking into.

Only a few people managed to survive that day. And if they did, their bodies were covered in scars from what happened that day. I don't know if you noticed back at the stables, but my wife was one of the survivors from that day." Roland said with a sigh as he thought about the horrors that she had to endure.

"Your wife was fighting in the war too?" Kalon asked, confused since, from what he knew, his father had made it extremely difficult for women to enter the army because the humans would often kidnap and torture females of the beast races before selling them to be slaves.

"Yeah, she was; the person she was partnered with died, though, and she swore never to allow anyone to ride upon her again. So that is why I brought you here instead." Roland replied with a weak smile, but Kalon still had one more question on his mind.

"But why can't my father send the army to the mountain pass again?" Kalon asked. Ranwald had told him that after the mountain pass was built, the Sylton army had to change their route and go over the mountains instead of through them. So they could only attack during the summer so they wouldn't freeze to death due to the extreme weather.

"You don't even know that much? He can't send the army because the human's built a gigantic wall to keep us out. We have sent orcs and ogres to try to destroy it, but it is reinforced with their strange power, and we can't even put a dent in it.

It's impenetrable, and they will just kill the people who are foolish enough to attack from the front. But you should get going now. Before it gets too dark and some enraged beasts pick up your scent." Roland advised Kalon and then handed him his sword that was still wrapped in the table cloth.

"Make sure that you stick to the story that the emperor told you to, okay. But if you just follow this path, you will be safe. Don't feel too scared. I'm sure everything will be okay." Roland said while helping Kalon put on the backpack that he filled with clothes and then gave him a gentle push in the direction of the mountains.

"Now go," Roland said before watching as Kalon walked off into the distance.

"I do hope everything works out for him." He said with a sigh before turning back and heading towards the Sylton empire to let the emperor know that he had done what was asked of him.