My Yandere Empress

Chapter 24: Ch 24: Pre-destined Failure

Outside the caravan, the scene was completely chaotic. Four caravans stood in the middle of a plateau, one of them damaged significantly.

From this damaged vehicle, a dozen people came out. They looked quite dirty, their hairs unkempt and their clothes nothing more than animal hides.

One of them leapt upwards on the high ground as he saw what was happening around them. And as he had suspected, the grey armoured soldiers of the Windsor Empire were entangled in a clash with several mercenaries. Each of these assaulters had covered their faces to prevent being identified later on.

The barbarian then glanced at the other three caravans. He knew that inside them, there were his other clan members. Waiting for someone to set them free.

He quickly climbed down to his companions and reported the situation.

"We can’t take them. The wooden things are just too far from here. Those invaders shall catch us."

One of them spoke and the others nodded in support.

"Indeed. Also where not there seven or eight of those uh, what did they call it? Carlavn?"

"The name doesn’t matter. The main point is we need to run away before they take notice of us. We could have saved the others but it would be useless. Remember he just said there are 7 of those wooden carlavn...uhh, so that means three to four of them are somewhere else. We need to rescue them as well...and we shall do that later. But first, we need to regroup at the Great Forest."

And so, with hopes of gaining freedom once again, they turned towards the same direction the five prisoners from before and later, a few soldiers had run to.

"Are you sure those two won’t come with us?" Someone questioned as they pointed towards their own caravan.

"Who knows. If they don’t even have the basic survival instincts, it’s better they be left alone."

With everyone in sync, they ran.

What they didn’t take into account or more specifically, what they didn’t know was that their plans were already destined to fail.

They knew about slavery but not having ever stepped out of the Great Forest, they didn’t know the process.

They didn’t know that the very collar resting at their throats was the same device that was used to enslave everyone. They were in other words, not yet aware that they were already slaves to the empire.

Any direction they chose to go,their slave collars would lead the Windsor Empire to them.

But their luck turned out to be even more desolate as one of the soldiers who had retreated a few steps and was taking in deep breaths, suddenly turned around. freёwebnovel.com

"Hey! Hold, you all!"

His angered tone halted all the fleeing barbarians in their steps.

Using the sudden and momentary distraction of the Windsor men, the assaulters quickly ran away and soon, using an artifact, they all disappeared into thin air.

They had only mission: to distract until their leaders escaped. And now that the task was done, there was no need for any unnecessary stay.

A middle aged Sihapi looked at the disappearing figures and clicked his tongue. He was leading this expedition and now, all hell had broken loose. He knew how severely he would be punished for this incompetence.

"Boys, catch those filthy bastards! They have truly ruined my day today."

He roared and dashed forward as his subordinates followed on his steps.

"Run, run, don’t let them get to us!"

The Hermanns shouted in panic as they ran. One of them took a split second decision and ran towards the caravan. He quickly unclasped all the collars of the harness and kicked the horses on their back.

The horses now freed and in pain, neighed loudly and charged at the soldiers. Buying a little more time, the man followed his other clan members.

The Sihapis sidestepped the wrath of the horses easily and gave chase. Two of them chose to remain back and catch the horses that were trying to flee.

The true victims were however, the two people inside the caravan.

With no horses acting as a support, the entire caravan leaned forward and...collapsed.

The wheels rolled as the two shafts of the caravan crashed into the ground and snapped from the middle under the combined weight of the wooden vehicle and the people inside it.

Enzo was suddenly jolted from his feigned sleep as he tumbled into the other girl.

They both recovered quickly and tried to hold their balance when the broken shaft pierced the wooden walls and passed by them. Their eyes widened visibly as they gazed at the long pole that could have impaled both of them had it deviated a few inches in their direction.

The caravan finally turned upside down as wooden planks shattered on impact with the ground.

Enzo groaned as he felt sharp, pointed wood piercing and lodging inside his skin. His nose bled, his skin cracked as blood seeped out.

To his horror, he saw one of the wheels rolling in circles before falling at his direction.

"What the fuck?! No!"

Enzo rolled out the wheel’s range and then crouching on the ground, his hands flew towards the girl who was in no better condition than him and dragged her out as well.

Both of them fell on open ground as the caravan was completely done for.

"So much for my sleep..." Enzo spoke in a sarcastic tone as his chest heaved in relief, the adrenaline from the crash finally seeping away.

The sound of footsteps alerted them as they rose up from the ground with great efforts. However, when they saw soldiers approaching them, they sighed in relief.

The two men who had remained behind, were now trudging the horses forward as they looked at the battered barbarians.

"Oh? You two stayed behind while the rest of your lot ran away?"

"Running away was useless. They didn’t understand that though." Enzo grimaced in reply.

The men laughed dryly as if confirming his words. The other one then stepped forward and said, "For now, take out the small pieces of wood from your skin. Although we have some first aid kits with us, those aren’t as effective as healing magic. Not to say, our brothers need it more than you. The battle earlier was fierce..." He waved around them as he said that.

Enzo hesitatingly nodded.

Then the first guy joined in. "Well, you two are lucky at the very least. We should reach the Southern Capital by tomorrow dawn if things go right. You can then go to a healer."

He looked at his colleague as he muttered in a low voice, "I am blowing the horn. We need more carriages."

A while later, the loud sound of a horn pierced the air. The sound travelled far and wide, carrying the tremors of not anger or a declaration. Rather, it carried a sad undertone as if calling for help.