54 The Evacuation

Sean was supervising his workers as they loaded up everything into the carts. The uranium mines had been producing ore steadily. Sean oversaw the process to make sure nothing went wrong. However, now their production had to stop, and it wasn't from any fault of his. Their mining operation at Cage Mountain was being suspended because of the ongoing demon invasion of the Kingdom of Dawn.

The demons had bypassed the defenses and were now running amok. In such a situation, it would no longer be possible to transport the uranium ore to Neverwinter because of the demons. Furthermore, King Roland feared that the demons might end up overrunning the area and taking the uranium mines. So, they were ordered to pack everything up and evacuate. The uranium ore was loaded onto the carts as well as the mining equipment. The king didn't want the demons to end up recovering any of their technology. In addition, the mine entrances would be closed up and disguised so that the demons would not find them. Roland didn't want them finding out about the significance of uranium, even if it was unlikely they could do anything with it.

The way back to Neverwinter had too many demons in the middle so it was deemed too risky to try to go in that direction. So, they were to head through the mountains and cross over to the lands controlled by the church. Sean was told that arrangements have already been made and that they would be received and given a place to store their equipment and ores.

The group traveled through a small pass in the mountains. In the past, the area had been covered in traps. When the mining operation was first set up they searched for and dismantled those traps. Still, there were a few that might not have gotten found. They made sure to send a group to do a detailed search to remove any traps they might have missed the first time.

The miners didn't really care much about the change in routine. Sure, they had to do a lot of difficult work to pack everything up, but their work on normal days was tough too. Also, they were bound to work for 10 years and during this break the clock was still ticking and the miners didn't care much about whether they were getting work done or not. In fact, the miners were rather happy that they wouldn't have to do work for a while.

Sean on the other hand, was irked by the whole disturbance. Even though the situation was not his fault, and he knew the king wouldn't blame him for it, he had wanted to do a good job here so that he would be recognized for his contribution. Now it seems the project would be set back and he wouldn't be able to complete his job ahead of schedule. Sean put those thoughts out of his mind and returned to focusing on directing the workers.

When they finally arrived at their destination, their arrival was reported and church officials came to direct them to their next destination. They were taken to a medium sized town in the interior of the nation. There, they were given housing and food, enough for all of the people in their group. The uranium was taken off their hands and taken away to somewhere else to store. The church would later turn it over to Neverwinter, but they would keep some of it to study.

Sean and the rest of the workers soon found themselves with nothing much to do. With boredom setting in, the workers started becoming rowdy, and Sean now found his job just as tiring, if not more so, than before. He had to keep the workers in line and stop them from running off. After all, they were still prisoners that were forced to work in the mines for 10 years.

Fortunately, a solution was found to the growing boredom of the workers. Sets of cards were delivered to Sean, allowing the workers to play the card games which had become popular in Neverwinter. They also received a few sets of a board game called Risk. For now, it was enough to keep the idle workers occupied and distracted so that they wouldn't cause too much trouble.

While Sean and his workers had evacuated from the path of the demon advance in good order, others were not so lucky. Countless villages were abandoned as the demons approached, forcing the civilians to flee, usually by foot. It would be a dangerous journey, the people faced starvation and sickness as they traveled long distances in search of safety. Forced to leave almost everything behind, if they were fortunate enough to find a new home, they would be destitute.

The Kingdom of Dawn was in a state of emergency. After news of invasion spread, the king issued a call to arms. Able bodied men were drafted and given weapons. They would not have much time to train and most could do not much more than simply hold a spear. The hastily raised armies were in poor shape and had low morale. After several defeats, many of those in the army began to desert. Although the king ordered that all deserters be executed, they could not spare men to hunt them down.

The core of the kingdom's army was the knights, composed of the many nobles in the kingdom. Trained from a young age to fight, the knights were well disciplined and were much more skilled than the peasant rabble. The knights from the Kingdom of Dawn were reinforced with knights from what were formerly the kingdoms of wolfheart and everwinter. The knights were all eager to earn glory in the war against the demons.

For a while, bands of knights roamed the countryside, picking off groups of demons. The demons responded by consolidating their forces. When the main demon force was spotted, the human army gathered to engage them in pitched battle. The knights were ready to show off their great power. Many of them hoped to demonstrate their superiority over the "riflemen" which seemed to be gaining so much favor recently. The knights figured that those commoners trained only for a few months couldn't possibly match up to the knights who trained for years.

The initial cavalry charge appeared very successful. The knights broke through the ranks of the demons and began inflicting many casualties on the demon army. The knights believed they had the battle in hand as the rest of the army moved in to take advantage of the breakthrough. Then, the demons turned the tables on them. Spider demons emerged and began bombarding the human army with spikes. Even the heavy plate armor of the knights were unable to protect them from the spikes raining down from the sky. Matters only became worse when a powerful Senior Demon appeared, killing knights casually. The knights tried to charge him, but their attacks were ineffective and any who tried only earned themselves a swifter death. The demon army quickly reformed their lines and encircled the knights.

As the knights were massacred, the horrified infantry quickly turned around and fled. With even the knights being torn apart, none of them felt like they had any chance of winning whatsoever. With the main army of the Kingdom of Dawn routed, the demons were free to advance.