Chapter 302: March of Ash

Chapter 302 March of Ash

Overhead, Hawk laughed at their plan. It was like a huge face slap to the giants. First, the Dragon's friends smashed their city, now the humans showed up, and they were going to loot the place dry, leaving with a wagon caravan full of pilfered people and supplies.

It was kinder than the Frost Giants deserved for being Ice Element creatures, and he was looking forward to roasting any of them who tried to stop the caravan from leaving.

There were a half dozen wagons there, and everyone understood the plan without too much confusion. The carts were moved to link up in a chain, with a harness made by Rae for Thor to pull the whole convoy. They were strong, made to pull huge loads of gear and food for the Frost Giants, not just to carry a load of small Satyrs and starving humans. Thor looked at the six wagons with pleasure. That was more than enough to make a proper train behind him, and the General would definitely be impressed with him when he made it to the camp. Karl caught that thought, and realized that it was genius. Instead of going to the active lines, they could go through the smooth ash at the edge of the Magma Dragon's territory. The Frost Giants wouldn't follow them, and it was the fastest way out of the combat zone, though there was a long walk to the front lines, which had retreated away from the destruction, and they would have to rest or walk all night to make it there.

"Everyone into the carts. I will run along with Rae, but everyone else can rest while they protect the convoy. Once we exit the city, the patrols will see us, but stay with the caravan and let me and the beasts take care of them. We will catch up with you soon enough." Karl explained.

"Wait, we didn't find the summoning stone." Dana realized.

One of the satyr boys looked at her in terror, shaking his head. He whispered too low for her to hear, but Lotus relayed it for her. "He says that the stone is gone. The burning things smashed it into a million pieces, then melted the pieces."

Well, that was one way to guarantee that it wasn't used again.

With everyone loaded, Karl sent Thor out of the open gate and into the open.

The convoy was unmistakable, and a round of shouts went out as the patrol realized that the hidden survivors were escaping with a Lightning Cerro.

Thor took the convoy up to a gentle trot, which was as fast as he was comfortable going without tipping the wagons or throwing anyone out of them when they hit a bump.

[Rae, it's your time to shine. We made you behave all day, but you can make a mess now if you'd like.] Karl suggested.

Hawk laughed at them as Rae and her Golems sped toward the scouts, then the ice hating bird began to bombard the hapless Frost Giants with fireballs, intent on killing all of them before Rae could get to them.

But Rae was fast, and so were her Spider Golems. The Frost Giants hurled themselves to the side to avoid the bombardment, but that left them on the ground when the spiders arrived and tore them apart before moving on to everything else that they could see.

[Thank you for bringing them down to my level, that was much easier than jumping up on them.] Rae taunted Hawk as the bird moved to attack the next group before Rae got to them.

The refugees in the wagons didn't see a friendly sibling rivalry. What they saw was an Elite with a flaming bow in his hands, and a group of monsters tearing apart the Frost Giant patrols that had kept them captive for most of their lives. They didn't know what they had done to deserve this rescue, but they were definitely thanking the Dragon Gods for the assistance.

"Thor, where are you going?" Tessa asked from her spot on the Cerro's shoulders.

He had turned for the ash wastes between the volcano and the Dwarven Village, which would take them through the Ash Wastes, where the Dragon's minions were in charge. It was the best flat route that he had found, and it was faster to not have to pull the wagons uphill, so that was the route he chose. A little extra time in the ash was no big deal in Thor's mind, so he just snorted happily and gestured with his head toward the valley that was their target.

"Alright, big guy, I trust you to pick the best route for us." She agreed, stroking his horns in encouragement as he continued to trot along with his precious cargo.

The Frost Giants hadn't even tried to chase after them. They were too concerned with the full-scale assault that Karl and the spiders were launching on their patrols. There were none of them above Ascended left, and that was barely one in twenty among the mostly Awakened Rank trainees who were assigned to prevent exactly this sort of incident.

But none of them had expected the human Elites to be so brazen as to assault their city, even if they somehow learned that it had been razed by the Dragon's minions.

In the distance, Thor heard a Frost Giant war horn blow the tone for retreat, and knew that they wouldn't have any more pursuers for a while. But he didn't slow down, and kept to the pace that his barrier could refresh his stamina at, so he could travel all night.

Karl and Rae would catch up soon enough, as they were much faster than his wagon train. They just had to finish playing with the fleeing Frost Giants, and then they would be satisfied.

[Hawk, go scout for Thor and keep the path clear. I don't want any delays on their retreat.] Karl instructed as he watched the last of the Frost Giants following the same retreat path as the others into the distance.

That was valuable information, as it told him that it wasn't a random retreat in the only safe direction, but a deliberate choice where they were going. He didn't have a map of their territory, but that should be toward the centre of the nation, and presumably toward a larger safe zone.

That should also be where their Royal Rank elders were waiting for the battle's outcome.

They weren't something that Karl would look to go challenge without a good reason, so he just asked Rae to let them run and to scout the area between them and Thor for anything that might delay the convoy.

[That was fun. We should do that more often. Did you see their faces when they realized that we stole from them? It was even better than Hawk when he realizes that someone is stealing his food.] Rae commented as she searched for signs of life.

[Stupid Yetis, losing my pigs.] Hawk complained, still not over the betrayal by the supply caravan, who had been attacked in advance.

They caught up to the convoy within thirty minutes, and paced alongside it at a distance, with the Golems on one side, Rae and Karl on the other, and Hawk leading.

That put Thor's train in a bubble of protection, but they didn't see anything all afternoon, and Thor had just passed back piles of feed to be spread among the wagons for dinner when they reached the edge of the ash.

"Thor, pause here for a moment. We will all eat and rest a moment, then we will head through the ash tonight. If we press all night, we can make the lines in the morning. It won't be fun, but it will be the safest way. The Magma Elementals glow in the dark, so we will be more easily able to see them coming. We might not see any this far away from the Volcano, but following Larkin's Law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

Lotus giggled. The legend of Larkin the Unlucky was a common children's story. According to the legend, he had been an aspiring adventurer, who had been brazen enough to try to see a nature goddess in the bath. He had been caught, of course, and from there, his misadventures only got worse, with every plan that he attempted to form failing in ever more spectacular fashion, until the World Dragon took pity on him and calmed the ire of everyone the unlucky man had upset along the way.

Then, true to his name as Larkin The Unlucky, he had been caught peeping into the baths again.