Chapter 78
The next morning at dawn, all the troops departed from the packhouse and left for Crimson Fortress.
The Fortress was about 800 miles far from the packhouse, which would take them roughly 2 days on the road.
As they headed towards the north, the weather started to get colder, and the daylight shortened.
The wind that gushed through the woods turned from soothing to icy and bitter. Tress in the northern region were more sparse and stunted.
One time when Aurora looked up, she was astonished to find that there was frosting on the tree branches.
The terrible weather was not the only thing they had to face along the way. They also encountered many refugees from the North.
Many of these refugees were once residents atthe Crimson Fortress. But the rogues took their houses and chased them out. Now they had no where else to go.
“It was brutal,” said one refugee to Damien. “They ravaged our city, set our houses on fire and killed many people. Some of us tried to fight back but the rogues captured them, peeled their clothes off and let them freeze to death. They said that they wanted to make more of these ‘human popsicles‘… We are just lucky enough to get out of that living hell.”
There was a look of grief and anger on everyone’s face when they heard it.
And Damien asked, “The Crimson Fortress is guarded by a large group of soldiers. Why didn’t they protect you?”
The refugee let out a bitter laugh, “The rogues blend into the crowd and got passed by the guards easily. Then they started an attack at midnight from the inside. Who would have thought? They looked just like us. There was no way to identify a rogue from the citizens.”
Aurora’s face grew dark.
Angelina was right.
These rogues were cunning as hell.
They might not be as trained as the soldiers were, but they were definitely good at pulling dirty schemes.
Damien went to talk to his captains. He was thinking about having a group of soldiers from the main force escorting these refugees back to the packhouse. He also needed to contact the elders and asked them to help these people to get back on their feet.
The day was getting dark. So they decided to camp out in the woods for tonight while Damien took care of those refugees.
After talking to some of the refugees, Aurora returned to the camp with a heavy heart.
One her way back, she found Kaelan leaning against a tree outside of a tent.
He seemed to be waiting for her.
“I heard what those people said about the rogues. About how brutal they were,” Kaelan spoke up first, his voice light.
Aurora stayed in silence.
This was the first time they spoke to one another after that big fight.
“What happened to them used to be my daily life.”
There was a deep grief in Kaelan’s brown eyes.
“So are you still questioning my loyalty?” he asked.
Aurora sighed and tried to walk pass by Kaclan. But he grabbed her hand and stopped her forcefully.
“So are you going to keep ignoring me like this?” Kaelan hissed, “I told you my secret because I trusted you! If I want, I can still keep you in the dark as I had done in the past! Would you have preferred that?!”
Aurora shook him off and glared back, “What you should do is tell me the truth the minute you joined our army! Not wait till you become the captain and I defended you in front of all other Gammas!”
“If I told you in the beginning, would you still trust me the same? I know you wouldn’t! We all see how discriminated you are when it comes to the rogues-”
“Discriminated? Don’t you think there is a reason for that? You see how ruthless and evil those savages are!”
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11:02 AM M
Chapter 78
“But I am not like-”
Their quarrels were interrupted abruptly by a voice from the back:
“Hey are you guys fighting over something?”
Aurora and Kaelan jerked around at the same time.
They found Glen standing a few steps away from them while looking at them suspiciously.
“I heard arguments,” Glen narrowed his eyes. “Did something happen?”
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Kaelan’s face was stiff. Aurora answered on his behalf, “Nothing. We were just talking about the plan about tomorrow. Kaelan had some questions.
A flicker of doubt appeared in Glen’s eyes.
But eventually he chose to say nothing.
“Other Gammas and I are cooking dinner,” Glen smiled. “You want to join us?”
Aurora nodded, “Sure. You head out first. I’ll come over in just a second.”
Glen waved his hands and disappeared behind the tent.
“Listen,” Aurora turned back to Kaelan and whispered, “I can’t keep this thing any longer. Tomorrow, I will tell Damien. He will decide what happens to you.”
Kaelan widened his eyes in shock, “He will rip my throat apart in a blink of an eye! And you are OK with that?!”
“I won’t let him kill you. But as the leader, he deserves to know!” Aurora snapped.
“No. Please don’t do this to me-
But Aurora didn’t let him finish and walked away hastily. She knew if she stayed any longer, she would turn soft again.
Aurora found the other 4 Gammas sitting around a campfire. They were having some cookies and canned beans in silence.
“God, these snacks are so dry. I think it is hurting my tongue!” Jeff complained gloomily as Aurora sat down by Maxie’s side.
“You have never had a field ration before?” Glen asked.
“Of course I have. But our food packet had sausages, dried fruits and instant coffee in it. These are complete garbage,” Jeff made a puking face. “Don’t tell me you are seriously enjoying this, Glen.”
Glen shrugged and took another bite at his cookie, “I don’t mind it. Gray Claw is always short on food supplies. Our field ration is way worse than this.”
Aurora took a sip from her can. Jeff was right. It tasted like overnight water with dirty rags soaked in it.
But like Glen, she didn’t mind it either. When she was living under the Ravenwood’s roof, she had to feed on leftovers and those tasted just as bad. “So Aurora,” Steven spoke up abruptly. “Glen told us that you were arguing with that soldier of yours, Kaelan. Did something happen?”
Aurora looked up. Steven was staring at her across the campfire, his eyes narrowed into slits.
“Nothing,” Aurora replied briefly,
“You sure?” Steven asked coldly, “You know that we are not supposed to give them more information than they need to know, right? Especially since that Kaelan is our number one suspect right now.”
Aurora set the can on the ground, “I don’t need you to lecture me on how to communicate with my
soldiers.”
Steven’s face turned cold. They glared each other across the campfire. The atmosphere gradually tensed up. “Hey,” Maxie tugged at Aurora’s sleeve. “You want to take the food back to our tents?”
Aurora grabbed the canned bean and cookies and stood up from the ground. She walked away in fume. Maxie quickly caught up with her from behind.
“Don’t mind Steven. He is just being grumpy as always. Before you came, he couldn’t shut his mouth about how bad the weather is. What a baby,” Maxie whispered into her ears. “If you ask me, he is the suspicious one.”
Aurora sighed and rubbed her temples.
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Chapter 78
The bad weather had a bad impact on their spirit. And the suspicion that was spreading made it worse.
“I appreciate it, Maxie,” Aurora said exhaustedly. “Actually I had lost all my appetite. Probably just want to go back and lie down.”
“Yeah sure. Go have some rests. Everything will be fine soon,” Maxic patted her shoulder.
Aurora went back into her tent and lied down in the darkness. She was worn out so the sleep found her quickly.
Yet she didn’t sleep too soundly. Bad dreams came at her one after another.
She vaguely heard some strange noises in her sleep. And that made her to snap her eyes open.
It was still pitch black in her tent.
And there was dark shadow standing by her bed side.
Without second thought, Aurora grabbed the flashlight she kept on the table and turned it on.
The strong light lit up the tent, along with the person standing in front of her.
It was Kaclan.
There was a horror–struck look on his face.
And a knife in his hand.
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