West village XI

The next day we finally reach the edge of the forest and I can see the west village I smile at the sight but stop myself from sprinting towards the guards, I look at barg

Whitney:" I guess this is goodbye for a little while I will come visit again the little ones are counting on me anyway to come back and play with them" I smile up at him as he nods and smirks kissing me and leaning down to my ear

Barg:"yes you better come back or I'll come kidnap you in the middle of the night" he snarls playfully in my ear I chuckle and nod

Whitney:" of course I will but you do have to be patient" I say before leaving the forest edge sprinting towards the guards they look alarmed as I run to them I explain what happened to my village and they quickly gather four knights and horses one helps me up onto his horse before we leave I look towards the forest and see barg watching me I wave bye to him sneakily as we take off towards my village. It only takes about a day to reach my village we can see the ruins of what was once a thriving village the horse comes to a stop as he gets off and the other knights follow suit the knight helps me off the horse as I look at the ruins of my village, we all spread out the only thing left standing are a couple mostly burnt pieces of walls that hadn't fallen down the rest was nothing bush ashes a few had stone walls but even they had been scorched by the fires and covered in ash, my heart breaks as I head to Benjamin's house it had the same fate as the others and the barn was just a pile of burnt wood and ashes nothing was left there was no people and no houses no shops, everything I had known was gone now I have no home and no family to go to, my eyes fill with tears as I kneel in front of Benjamin's house praying that he is still alive somewhere

Knight 1:" my lady there is nothing left of the village what or who attacked and how long ago"

Whitney:" I would say about 10 days ago but I'm not sure who Benjamin said it was bandits but that's all i know I ran off into the woods to get help but I was to slow I failed them all" I look down as tears drip off my face

Knight 1:" that isn't true you did what you said you would do you got help for your village sadly it doesn't seem the bandits or raiders or whoever it was, left anything standing they must have really wanted something to destroy a whole village and leave no one behind"

Knight 2:" yes I agree but in fact there are no remains human or animal either everyone fled or they took the dead with them"

Knight 3:" that is very strange I've never heard of such bandits before perhaps it wasn't bandits at all" he suggests as they stand talking I only stand up and keep listening

Knight 1:" very few other creatures could have done this and not left any traces except for burnt buildings and ashes"

Knight 2:" that's true but there have been more then one attack a village in the south it was months ago but there was talk of this exact situation they couldn't find any survivors and nothing was left but burnt buildings and ash perhaps this isn't just a random attack, maybe whoever is doing this is trying to send a message to the rulers of the four kingdoms"

Knight 3:" perhaps but we can't know that for sure for now we should go back to our village and head to the west kingdom tell the king and Queen what has happened and they will be able to notify the north kingdom"

Knight 1:" yes I agree we will send a warning to all villages north, south, east and west they might have a better chance that way if they strike again, my lady come with us, I will see to it that you have a place to sleep and food for the time being"

I shake my head at him

Whitney:" thank you for the kind offer but I cannot I'm going to head south I must keep looking for Benjamin he's the only family I have left I must know that he is safe"

He nods his head in understanding they depart from the ruins of my village as I go into the four stone walls that are still standing it won't help much but it's better then nothing, I make a small camp fire as the sun begins to set. I cry for my village for the people I called family and friends, I cry until my eyes are puffy and sore, after everything I still failed my village eventually I fall asleep not able to keep my tired eyes open for another minute the fire helps keep me warm but the cool night air doesn't allow me to be comfortable.