38 The Hoomans (1/2)
The past couple of days had to be the most confusing experience for Sherene Goldrose. The short-eared strangers were called hoo-mans, in their language from her loop sided conversations with the hoo-man called Ca-ra.
The magical equipment Ca-ra held in her hand was nothing like any magical item she has ever seen before! It can converse with someone else thousands of paces away, show moving or still images and even text! They have no need of scrolls or parchment as all come be writing into that device.
Ca-ra calls this ”tek-no-lo-gee” or something and Sherene realizes with each passing hour she spends conversing with Ca-ra, her grasp of to her language gets better and better. How powerful that must be!
Not to mention how humble, polite and efficient their people are. The hoo-mans spend less than a day setting up the tents for her people, providing food and waving off offers of payment with kind smiles.
Ca-ra had tried to explain to her that they are here to help or save them from disaster. She got confused with all the terms the hooman uses. But she has to admit hat they hoomans are very dedicated to their work.
The magical wagons which Ca-ra calls as ”Jee” and ”Haf-tak”, regularly ran up and down, bringing supplies and men to help build the city of tents, was nothing short of a miracle.
And they must have seers of some kind, as they could tell when Empire soldiers are attacking, even at nights! And they could even see in the dark, defeating the Empire soldiers three times with their deadly thundersticks with no casualties at all on their side! I wonder how much more secrets they hold.
She smiles as she watches an ongoing game between the hoomans and the children, involving a ball, and the objective seems to be to kick the ball into the middle of two poles set at both ends of the field, Some of the soldiers in the weird color scheme clothing taught the ball game to the children. she hears the laughter of the children playing and the cheers from the accompanying adults and felt truly at ease and safe after all that has happened.
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The Empire's delegation had entered the palace to discuss a treaty of peace, but it was just a farce, the so-called ambassadors plotted with some of Goldrose Kingdom's own ministers and murdered the King, Queen and other members of the Court while hidden agents of the Empire set fire to various parts of the Capital, sowing panic and confusion throughout the Kingdom.
Luckily, she was at the Summer Palace, when Joesph came bearing the grave news. The Empire's army, hidden along the borders, launched a surprise attack, forcing the Kingdom to its knees. Her two elder brothers, lead the Goldrose army against the invading Empire, but they fell one after another.
In just three short weeks, all five major cities, including the Goldrose Capital fell, the refugees from those cities, towns, villages and retreating soldiers gathered to her banner and, holding back her pain, she led them through the goblin-infested forests before arriving at the Sawtooth Mountains.
At the start, she had an initial band of over 11,000 soldiers and refugees. After three weeks of running, getting ambushed by the numerous crafty goblins and hounded to death by the Empire's soldiers while others fell to diseases or illness, some even lost the will to go on, had diminished to less than two thousand people now.
All that remains of her Kingdom are now gathered in a tiny tent city built in the middle of the grass plains.
Today, she dresses in her best finery she has left, an ivory dress with long wide sleeves, trimmed in gold lace, tied with a golden ribbon around her slender waist. Her hair braided up like a crown with the rest cascading down her back and wearing a simple tiara.
With her were Lord General Joesph, bareheaded, in his armor, and sword polished till shiny with a golden cloak draped over his shoulder, stood on her left, while Magister Thorn looking pale but cheerful, holding a blue mana stone topped ironwood staff, and wearing a midnight blue scholar robes trimmed with gold thread stood on her right.
The medical skills of the Hoomans proved to be another marvel. Master Thorn, who himself has given up hope of recovery due to the serious injuries incurred from the Empire soldiers, was healed easily by the Hooman's maa-dis.