78 Meeting Kang (1/2)
Rays of golden sunshine shone down on the unnatural rubble that was stacked 50 meters high like a landfill in the middle of the populated town, there was a deathly silence and at this elevation one could only hear the eerie howling of the wind as it made its way over the newly formed barrier, whipping up massive whirls of grey dust-clouds that swirled and billowed like smoke as it rose towards the blue sky in columns. Atop the rubble Hartley fell to his butt with a plop in exhaustion and relief, he was feelingas weak as a newborn calf with trembling limbs. He breathed in and out, not minding the dust as he sat on the rubble of destruction like a junkyard king. Having just been on a roller coaster ride of emotions he took a couple of minutes to compose and gather himself. Hartley could remember an incident he had witnessed what feels like ages ago. He had been there when Patriarch Lou had cricked the neck of Lou Panjie by just reaching out, and now he had been on the receiving end of a similar exchange and had somehow lived to tell the tale.
After a few minutes of silence, murmurs and screams began to emerge in the surroundings as people returned one by one to see the carnage that was wreaked and what remained of their beloved southern border town, just minutes ago they had fled one of the most developed places in Aidonia and when the explosions and rumblings had died down for a while, the bravest among the civilians had returned to find what looked like 200 square meters of freshly tilled farmland and a landfill sitting where buildings once stood proud in a bustling commercial part of town, only the Holy Matriarch herself could tell the death toll of the innocent civilians buried alive or swept away within the rubble. Hartley pulled himself together and decided it was time to leave.
Retrieving a healing dan and a new black robe from his space ring, he swallowed the dan while he got dressed and moved to the south side of where the crack had appeared, on this side was unblemished and relatively unaffected as it wasn't in the path of the punch of SongZemin. Hartley could sense fluctuations of Qin Li and Zhi Ruo and shouted out Zhi Ruo's name at the top of his lungs in panic, his voice rang out over the mainly empty area and soon four people emerged from near the open gates that was now abandoned by all guards.
Zhi Ruo recognized the voicebut didn't recognize the bald headed person using the voice. It was an awkward reunion as everyone stared at Hartley's new look, Zhi Ruo came over and lovingly touched his bald head while staring into his eyes, ”It'll grow back,” he said as he took her into his embrace.
”We've lost Ryu Hang and two of the escorts, they died without even leaving their corpses behind” said Qin Li in a sad tone as he walked forward holding his ribs with a slight grimace of his face. Hartley took a deep breath and looked into the sky, he felt tension worming under his skin ”may they find peace on their journey to the river of reincarnation, but unfortunately there is not time for funeral rites now, we have to head north before we run into any more trouble.” he said this with strained emotion. Yang Yi suddenly barged into the conversation. ”Sir.... Sir are we still moving north?” he obviously had had his fill of this adventure, he would love nothing more than returning to the comforts of the Wawrika province and abandon this quest to reach the capital. Hartley gritted his teeth to stop himself from strangling the man while he shouted ”What did Sanzu do, Why were they calling him a traitor?”
The two escorts took a step back as they both noticed that Hartley didn't address Viscount Sanzu by his title, their faces went pale, they knew Hartley's power and knew that they had zero chance of surviving if Hartley attacked them in anger.
”Si.....Sir we have no idea, we are just guards.” the men said nervously.Hartley sighed knowing that this wasn't the time or place to go into details about what had happened. He put one hand around Zhi Ruo's shoulder and the other up to and over his scalp, as if running it through thick long raven-black hair, forgetting for a moment that in fact his head was now bald.
Hartley turned and headed north with his arm wrapped around Zhi Ruo's shoulder, Qin Li followed closely behind. Hartley said over his shoulder without looking back ”leave if you wish.....”
An hour later four people commandeered a carriage and left the original occupants frustrated and seething by the side of the street, shaking their fists at the disappearing carriage in a fit of anger, to the red faced owner, it was like watching gold coins grow legs and walk away.....
Hartley sat lethargically on the rear seat of the dark carriage that was dragged along by a pair of huge white wild beasts, swallowing another rank 1 healing dan as he stretched his hand forward andpassed four of them to Qin Li who sat opposite to him facing the back window of the carriage. Qin Li swallowed one of the dans with appreciation as he massaged his ribs, wincing at every touch.
Zhi Ruo was snuggled up beside Hartley resting her head against his shoulder quietly. The carriage rumbled forward with Yang Yi sat at the driver's position. He had decided to follow Hartley after deliberating with his squad mate for a short moment. The other escort chose to take his chances on the road back to the Wawrika province, it would be a long and dangerous trek for a lone person but compared to the danger going further north, the man felt going south was the safer option for himself.
The quartet had made their way on foot for a kilometer before seeing a carriage ripe for the picking, Hartley was strapped for time so decided to just take it. After all that he had seen and been through earlier in the day, worrying about the feelings of the owner was the last thing on his agenda. Once one stood before a crack in reality and survived, how can he ever truly feel safe again, knowing that he was never truly out of the range of such an attack.
For the rest of that day they made their way north on the wide highway-like road, stopping periodically to inquire about the lake surrounded by willow trees and rushed forward non-stop.