Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn (40 page)

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Sierra endearingly traced the writings on the stone monument, which towered over ten-meters in the vast field, south of Verbrannt.
It was a statue of König Mitleid sitting on his throne, looking to the east.

This place was where countless Farmers and Fishermen were slaughtered by the invading Brandals. It was also where Mitleid sacrificed his life. He held off thousands of bandits from attacking their village, while waiting for Smoke and Sierra to arrive.
Now, this vast stony plain of twenty square kilometers had become a part of their home.
Tall earth-walls of over thirty-meters blocked out the threat of invading forces. Standing on them, were scattered Archers, trained by the Banalite Archers. They acted as the first line of defense for the village.
Always vigilant from attacks, Verbrannt was presently surrounded by eight walls, each one independent from the other. A blanket of defenses before reaching Rauch Castle, the center of the village.
They needed to expand quick, and to have more fertile grounds. With the promise of a good life, protection from robbers, and monsters, the population of Verbrannt had grown to twice its size.
In the span of six months, Mamelon had brought in close to thirty-thousand immigrants. They came from the neglected villages of Centeo and Centza, the northern cities of Chayotl Kingdom.
'Maybe soon we will expand up to the vast plains of Warten,' mused Sierra, thinking about the field five kilometers away from their most recently completed wall.
Sitting down next to Mitleid's plaque, Sierra enjoyed the rays of the rising sun.
"Verbrannt Status Window," called out Sierra.

Sierra clicked her tongue. She was dissappointed after she saw how low their offensive power still was, but she did not mind as much. The important thing was that the people living inside the village were safe, healthy, and happy.
Then, her eyes caught movements from the inner wall. The gates of the seventh fortification opened, ushering in a crowd carrying pick-axes, shovels, or pulling on wooden-carts. They were the new immigrants, eager to till the land and cultivate its soil. The field allotted to them was rocky, dry, and uneven, but they still wore smiles on their faces.
Then, a Tikbalang with massive bat-like wings flew overhead. Sierra watched the creator of the Verbrannt walls go by.
Ledur proceeded to dig deep irrigation canals. As a part of their expansion plan, they were going to have the waters of the Murray river reach here.
Next, four Maneators stepped out from the inner gate. They carried specially crafted shovels over two-meters wide. Behind them, were three-thousand men who were at their beck and call.
Sierra got off Mitleid's monument and walked up to the last of the Maneators.
"Hey, Guys, starting work already?" Sierra asked the gray Maneator.
"Yeah, we have to. Otherwise, we won't make Ledur's schedule," replied Weise.
With cheerful disposition, the Maneators and their subordinates began clearing out the earth left by Ledur. They then proceeded to smoothen out the canal in preparation for the reinforcement and filtration layer.
After the immigrants gathered up the large stones and rocks from the field, they gave them to the gray Maneator.
"Here you go, Weise," said one of them pulling a cart full of stones.
"Thanks," replied Weise, and lifted the cart with both his hands, dropping its content into the trench.
A red Maneator then scooped the rubble from the pile, and pounded them into the floor of the irrigation canal.
"Stark, don't over do it," said Weise. "You're suppose to line the stones in the flooring, not turn them to powdered sound."
"Stark sorry," replied the red Maneator. "Stark be more careful."
On another pile of rocks, an orange Maneator moved in and out between his subordinates. Rasant carried large buckets of the rocks and speedily placed them on the flooring of the canal.
"That's too close together, Rasant," said Weise from above the canal. "We just want to filter the water, not make a swimming pool."
"Of course! What was I thinking? I was just rushing and as always I forgot to space them right," said Rasant in one breath. "I'll fix it in a jiffy, and I'll tell my men to do the same as well. Don't worry, Weise. I got this covered," he said and ran off to do just that.
And on another pile, a golden Maneator led her group to form one straight line. They handed each other small buckets filled with rocks, until it reached a worker putting them into the canal flooring.
"What about me, Weise?" asked Adelige. "Any advise?"
"None," said Weise and grinned. "Just keep doing what you're doing."
Sierra left them alone and was headed to Rauch Castle, but she stopped when saw the outermost southern gate open. She saw Mamelon leading another group of new residents for Verbrannt.
This time, the Aqua Knight wrangled five-hundred golden jackals with her.
"Hey," called out Sierra who ran towards her. "Where's your usual herd of aardwolves?"
Mamelon got off her golden jackal and the two of them hugged.
"I stopped going after them," replied Mamelon. "It seems that Macher and Sagen have picked up on where their feeding grounds are."
Sierra's eyes widened with worry. "You didn't meet them again, did you?"
"No, no," said Mamelon. "But my men and I had to go through a lot of trouble just to get these golden jackals."
"Of course," said Sierra. "These mounts are as expensive as dirus wolves, right?"
Mamelon nodded. "But this batch will be my last one," she said.
"What? You're not going to gather mounts anymore?" asked Sierra. "But we only have about ten-thousand, and I was hoping that we could get at least twenty-thousand before the war."
"Sorry, that's not what I meant," replied Mamelon. "Courant and Virer will still continue to round up dirus wolves and golden jackals, but I suspect it will be even less than this bunch."
"Okay, as long as they're still going to be hunting more mounts," said a relieved Sierra. "So, what are you planning to do?"
"I have a special pet project of my own," said Mamelon.
"What kind?" asked Sierra.
"Before I tell you, let me first share what I learned after I went to Centeo City," replied the Aqua Knight. "There, I met a Zectian named Kalim Sulimov, and he told me something really interesting."
Sierra's eyebrows raised, intrigued. "And? What is it? Spit it out already."
Mamelon chuckled. "Well, he told me that there's supposed to be a special breed of mount that rarely appears in the wild."
The busty Aqua Knight paused to tease Sierra.
Sierra lightly tapped her left arm and said. "Stop stalling!"
"It's suppose to be larger than a dirus wolf and has the same golden fur as the jackal," said Mamelon. "But the most interesting part, is that it's suppose to have an active and passive ability."
"So, did this guy tell you where to get this special mount?" asked Sierra.
An excited Mamelon nodded. "Not where, but how."
"Eh?" asked Sierra, confused.
"Apparently, this mount is a hybrid between a dirus wolf and a golden jackal," replied Mamelon. "So, that's what I'm going to be doing for a while. I'm going to breed an Aureus."
"Is that the name of the hybrid mount?" asked Sierra.
A giddy Mamelon nodded.
Sierra's face grew to a grin, imagining what the mount would look like. Then, it hit her. "If you're still about to breed it, then we won't be able to use it in time for the war," she said to Mamelon.
"That's most likely," replied the Aqua Knight. "But we also need to think about the future."
"For when after we win against Duke Burmistrz," added Mamelon.
"Alright," said Sierra, with half the enthusiasm as she had before. "Good luck on that pet project then."
Sierra's shoulders sank. "Listen, I have to go," she said. "I need to check if the preparations for my departure is done."
"Wait," called out Mamelon, and strongly grabbed Sierra's arm. "Before you leave, I want to know how Smoke and Ilad are doing."
Sierra looked at Mamelon's hand holding her arm tightly.
"Oh, sorry. It's just that I haven't seen Ilad for so long. I was wondering if he's still around or he dropped out, or something," explained Mamelon.
"Smoke and Ilad are still out recruiting," said Sierra. "Smoke said that they should return with really powerful allies."
"And Ilad too?" asked Mamelon.
"Of course, Ilad will return together with Smoke," answered Sierra.
Mamelon laughed, clearly relieved of what Sierra told her.
"You know, I've been missing him for so long, that I even thought Ilad was the DarkElf who has been famous in the forums lately," said Mamelon.
"What are you talking about?" asked Sierra.
"When you told me that Smoke and Ilad had gone south, I thought that they crossed the seas and were now in the Sawtorn Continent," explained Mamelon, and hollowly laughed. "I thought Ilad was Faux in disguise, but then after I read how he entered the Magi Gagnant Tournament, I knew that it wasn't him."
"Yeah, Faux definitely isn't Ilad," nervously said Sierra. "I think I read somewhere that they were suppose to fight against an Ork Horde? But that it hasn't happened yet?" added the Lady of Verbrannt.
"Oh, I just read that the invasion happened," said Mamelon. "But the Orks threw a fast one over Faux."
"What do you mean?" asked Sierra.
"Well, it seems like Faux had most of the people from the other cities defend its capital, Volt City or something like that," began Mamelon. "Because of that, they defended the capital city against the Orks, but then there were other Ork Hordes lying in wait. Now, I think they're about to attack the other undefended cities."
"Oh, no!" gasped Sierra.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Mamelon asked Sierra.
"Nothing," Sierra quickly answered. "I'm just wondering what Faux will do now."
"I don't know," replied Mamelon. "The distance between cities is quite far."
"Yeah, it really is," said Sierra with a stricken expression.
"Anyway, tell Ilad I said hi," said Mamelon. "How silly of me to think that this Faux character was him. I mean Ilad would never fall for such a trick like that."
"That's right," said Sierra, forcibly nodding her head in agreement. "He definitely wouldn't."