On a rugged road, a platoon of knights were escorting twenty-five carriages. Seeing this caravan being heavily guarded by knights, a group of a hundred bandits had initially planned to attack the caravan since they believed that the carriages most likely held certain treasures. But upon seeing the emblem that was brandished unto the armours of the knights, the bandits got frightened and departed the place as fast as they could. The bandits were a small force that was controlled by the infamous Beel Group. Even though they had powerful backers behind them, they weren’t foolish enough to fight against the elite knights of the Bradford Empire. It was common knowledge that a single elite knight could easily dispose of fifteen men and knowing that it was a whole platoon of knights, the bandits made the right decision to flee.

“Halt!!”

A loud voice abruptly announced to the platoon of elite knights to stop in their tracks. In an orderly fashion, the elite knights who were directly behind their leader stopped in succession.

“We will make camp here. Proceed to deal with the preparations and secure the perimeter.”

The elite knights saluted and in groups went do the things they were told. One of group elite knights was tasked with securing the perimeter while another was to prepare the meal. These elite knights would always follow the command of their leader no matter how foolish the command would be. They were trained to never question a command by a direct superior. While these elite knights would seem to be merely following orders due to their training, there was another factor that increased the discipline of the knights. Their leader, Captain-General Hugh Falconair, was an established elite knight of the Bradford Empire. He was regarded as a hero to the masses because of his contributions to the empire.

Apparently, Hugh Falconair had huge contributions to the empire, enough for him to be granted a title of nobility but due to his character he refused the offer and remained a servant to the empire. This action won the hearts of many especially the commoners. They saw Hugh Falconair as a man who was benevolent, brave and extremely gallant. But that was only the outside. People were oblivious to the true nature of Captain-General Hugh Falconair. In actuality, the man was a sadistic person. He loved torturing criminals and outcasts. The real reason why he denied to receive a title of nobility was that he didn’t want to be over showered with political tasks. He wanted to remain in the military so that he can continue with sickening acts. To the elite knights under his command, they saw that his acts were justifiable since the people at the receiving end were not good men. As they saw it, their leader was enforcing an act of justice, they nobly believed that such as acts were morally accepted like what they were currently doing.

They had abducted an entire village of non-humans as a form of punishment for the villagers. According to Hugh Falconair, the villagers were allies with the Beel Group and that they had to be incarcerated to prevent anything bad happening to the Bradford Empire. The elite knights believed the lies of their leader and dutifully followed his orders.

Now why would an elite knight of high position go all out just to capture and imprison a bunch of weak villagers? The answer was simple; Hugh Falconair extremely hated non-human races. The reason why he was able to locate such a village was that a couple months ago he witnessed a disturbance in the capital, the palace of the Emperor. He saw three people, one male and two females, making a ruckus at the gates of the palace. From what he could hear, he was able to determine their goal. He understood that the trio had wanted an audience with the Emperor. They wanted aid for their village.

Things like these didn’t naturally occur, however; it wasn’t that unusual as well. Hugh knew that there were numerous villages that needed the help of the empire but he knew that it was futile to ask the Emperor since the current Emperor was not a kind person. Emperor Hale Flameheart was the second son of the late Emperor Jack Flameheart. Usually the throne would be passed on to the first born son but things didn’t go according to plan. The first son of the late Emperor Jack Flameheart was assassinated during one of his trips to another country. He was killed by the Beel Group as an act of terror for the Bradford Empire but the truth was that it was the current Emperor who conspired the assassination. Emperor Hale Flameheart desired for power and he knew that it was a far-off dream if his brother was still alive. So he paid a generous amount to someone to assassinate the prince and that someone happened to be Hugh.

Hugh accepted the job because he was afraid of Emperor Hale. Unluckily for him, he was caught by the current Emperor torturing criminals, even the criminals who had light offences such as stealing. Hugh didn’t discriminate the criminals in terms of age, gender or their criminal act. He just went and tortured them all because he took pleasure in hearing the painful screams of the criminals. Emperor Hale got hold of evidence for his acts and used it against him to force him to accept the job. If he hadn’t done so then he would have been the one at the receiving end of torture since what he had done was breaking the laws set by the empire.

He accepted the job and accompanied the first son of Emperor Jack, Gale Flameheart. Hugh travelled with him as his escort. With an opportunity presenting itself, Hugh took the life of Gale without alerting the rest of knights. He then proceeded to kill the rest of the group, all the nobles, knights and servants so that the truth would remain hidden. He hired bandits to dispose of the body and afterwards some were to act as knights. He brought with him the bandits and reported the details of the event.

The whole empire knew of the death of Gale Flameheart. They were told that Gale died by the hands of the Beel Group and that Captain-General Hugh Falconair did all he could to protect the first son of the Emperor but failed to do so. He was gravely injured but they managed to fend off their attackers but when he assessed the health of the people around him, he found out that the first son of the Emperor had been stabbed in the heart. That was the story that was officially circulated amongst the citizens of the Bradford Empire but he knew and the current Emperor knew that it was all false. This secret would never be released and would be kept by him and the Emperor Hale Flameheart to their graves.

Back to the issue at hand, Hugh saw these meddling trio and wanted to punish them for the disturbing the peace of the palace. But before he could do so the situation was dealt with and the trio left. He approached the knights who were stationed at the gates and asked about what happened.

“I heard a disturbance at the gates. Report to me the details of what happened.”

When they saw the Captain-General, they saluted and immediately reported what happened to him.

“Captain-General, there were three people who wanted to speak with the Emperor but we told them that it was impossible for them to do so. They wanted help to be rendered to their village. We initially asked them to leave quietly but they were stubborn and we had to act accordingly. So we teached them a lesson and they backed away. That is all.”

“I see. From which village did they come from?”

“Sir, I believe they came from Ravenmount village.”

Upon hearing this, the anger in Hugh’s body boiled. He was aware of what happened in that village. The non-humans poisoned and made the human children sick. This event made his hate for non-humans grow.

“So a bunch of non-humans had the nerve of coming to the palace to cause a ruckus. They don’t deserve the help of the empire at all. With what happened to day, I think it’s time that due punishment must be given to Ravenmount Village.” Hugh muttered as he went back to his quarters.

So that’s how it happened. The story behind a platoon of knights capturing the villagers of Ravenmount Village. In truth, Hugh couldn’t imprison the villagers. He didn’t have the authority nor the evidence to do so. With that in mind, he planned to do something else. They would tie the villagers up and bring them into the deepest parts of the Mountains of Skotadi where they will be attacked and eaten by the terrifying magical beast that lurked in those forests. And they were just a day’s travel away from the foot of the Mountains of Skotadi. Judging from their speed of travel, they can return to the capital city of the Bradford Empire in four days time. They had been done for five days already and had to return within twelve days. Hugh had informed the military that he was bringing his men to train. The military leaders had already enforced a procedure that training will only last for twelve days at a single time since the Bradford Empire was currently under constant threat of invasion from surrounding countries that held enmity towards the empire. With this procedure, it ensures that the military power of the Bradford Empire would not go down in times of war.

The knights had finished up their preparations. Hugh was called by his subordinate to join them in their meal. He went out and ate with the elite knights. After finishing their meal, the leftovers were given to the villagers and were served on the floor of the carriages. This made the villagers feel like they were animals and they refused to go as low as to eat leftover food on the floor just to satiate their hunger. They had to protect their dignity.

Viashna was among the villagers that were tied up inside carriages. She felt despair knowing that this would not end well. She was aware that the elite knights had planned something sinister that would lead to the deaths of all the villagers. Viashna was afraid of death just like the rest of the villagers. She could see a beast woman comfort her child telling her that everything was okay. The elderly were already looking as if they were already dead. They had no life in their eyes so did the rest of the villagers. It was truly unfortunate for them to encounter such a thing in their lives. They could only hope that someone would rescue them. She thought of Azzard at that moment but knew that it was a farfetched idea. In her eyes, Azzard was brave and good person but she was fully aware of Azzard’s strength. He couldn’t possibly fight against the elite knights of the Bradford Empire. Knowing that it was hopeless for them, she could only hope for Darshee to be well.

She was successful in hiding Darshee in their home. Although she was captured and was feeling negative about her situation, she still had something that could make her happy and that was knowing that Darshee was in a safer situation than she was. She hoped that Darshee would be able to protect herself until Azzard came back because Viashna knew that he would coming back.

The night went on and Viashna was feeling sleepy. Just as she was about to fall asleep, she heard loud voices from outside.

“We’re under attack!!!”, an elite knight was able to alert his companions just before he was slain by a sword pierced through his back.