Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 63 -The Journey

"Do we have all the necessary equipment ready?" Eagle spoke out inquiring to the 6-man covert operations team. Sparrow who was just loading the burlap that stored their gears into the wagon replied affirmatively. "Alright, let's move out. All the citizens were deployed to perform their tasks, we would meet the Prince and asked for his blessings before we move out."

The 5 other members nodded and went to the courtyard while Eagle traversed the wagon and parked just outside my house where I was updating the squiggly handwriting of Heather into more legible handwriting of mine. I looked up and saw Eagle had adorned an archer's hood, just like the rest of them too.

Eagle jumped down from the wagon and greeted me on one knee. I quickly asked him to recover as I don't want others to witness this uncommon gesture that might expose me. The rest of the men arrived shortly after and too began to greet me in the same manner.

"Recover, lest others will find out about me. Eagle, just behave as per normal. This is not the right moment to have such curtsy and salutes et cetera. Even your student, Heather the Madhatter, punches me around in public, even though she knew who I am. Just pretend that I'm just only a young master, a scholar and nothing more."

Kayla approached and brought out 12 loaves of bread, filled with sweet corn kernels, curd and when it was just being brought out from the oven, it was glazed with sprinkled sugar on top, making the surface shiny and enticing. The 12 loaves were placed inside one of the gatherer's basket.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality, Kayla. Appreciate it very much. Your bread has never disappointed us before. No wonder Marcel goes crazy over these. We would be returning this basket to you upon our return. Your Lordship, please do give us your blessings for this covert operations."

"Yes, Eagle... I bade you safe journey from and to GraceHaven. May you be able to recover the items that we require from you and may you be able to perform the last rites for the Royal family. I bade you good health and tidings and we will see you in 5 days time. Take good care of yourself and the team and we would be seeing you soon."

"Thank you, your Lordship. Your blessing is true as par as the old King. We would be seeing you then in 5 days time. Take good care of yourself too, Your Lordship."

With a wave of his hand, Kayla and I bade Eagle and his 5 other members as they hopped onto the back of the wagon as it made its journey towards Darlington. Crystal and Heather were with Kayla earlier and fanning the flames of the oven as they waved at the departing Shadows.

Both Crystal and Heather were preparing the bread for the horses treats and frankly speaking, the fillings of the mashed fruits and vegetables smelled very enticing, unfortunately, it is not fit to be consumed as it was bits of pieces of everything but pretty good for horses and pigs.

They knew about it when the horses saw the bread, as they would nod their heads, neighs and use the front hoofs to sort of pawed the ground. The bread for the horses was not mixed with gluten to make it rise and the fillings were made in 1 large serving bowl and each ladle-full was used to scoop the contents and be used as the filling. The cob of corn was also diced and cooked together in the mashup of fruits and vegetables.

"Kayla, could you summon Gwen over? There's something I would like to discuss to her and informed her to bring 1 foot of green bamboo with her. (there's 2 kinds of bamboo, the green with various thickness size that would be good for bows, barricades and such while the other is a very mellow yellow colour that normally would be at most 2 inches thick from the base. It's normally meant to be used for light structuring work like frames of the thatched roofs as well as wall frames.)

"Yes, young master. I will inform Heather to do it since she is busy smelling those bread that is meant for the horses. Heather...! It's not for eating...!" Kayla explained to me and she had to sternly warn Heather since the horses' bread, even though how enticing it looked and how wonderful it smelled, it is not fit for human consumption at all because of the mashup ingredients inside."

"Hahaha...I know it is for the horses, Kayla. But my, if you put it aside, no one knows it's a treat for the horses at all. Hehe. I almost take a bite out of it and it looked so scrumptious."

"Heh, these are energy foods for the horses, dear. A small reward for them for pulling the heavy load of earth. It would have weighed quite a lot for them to pull if they do not have the energy."

"By the way, ladies... These horses, I mean... Do they not need to leave their stables? I mean they stand on their limbs for so many days, it would do them good for them to gallop around and have some exercise, don't you think so?" I asked since they might be required to have an enclosure for these horses to run about and graze.

"Young Master. These breed of horses does not gallop around or use their hind legs to kick around and throw a tantrum of any kind. They are very docile and if you put them on a pasteur to graze, they would most likely stay on a particular spot from daybreak to sundown." Crystal explained to me since I'm dumb enough about these farm animals.

"However, what have you got in mind to ask for Gwen? She's leading the team for the hunting bows, right?"

"I was thinking of sending 4 of you together to venture the area where the wild boar came from. That part had not been ventured right? I myself had not personally seen that part of the forest. If Jack wanted to enter that unexplored forest, he would definitely call Sir Blackie. Why not take him with you too? Take the three horses along, one to pull the wagon, and 2 can ride horseback."

"Yes, Young Master I will go and fetch Gwen and we can get ready to move to the other side of the forest once these bread are ready. Frank did mention clumps of bamboo right? Well, we sure need a lot of bamboos especially to build the house structure and also to improve our houses."

"Thank you so much, alright I'm going to update my records again. Also, I need to balance up some accounts. It's been some time I've checked since the last purchases."

=*=

A multitude of stars littered the sky and it indicates that the weather would hold any signs of rain at bay. They had not taken a break since they were in a wagon and had given their horses part of their ration.

In the deathly silence of the forest, Eagle finally pulled the reins of his horse to stop the wagon. "Come, take up arms everyone. We are now entering a radius about 10 miles within Darlington. We would be ready for anything. Scouts, perform a reconnaissance up ahead for every mile. Watch out for activities ahead. Avoid common paths."

It was a tight squeeze as Eagle traversed the horse and wagon amidst the jungle but he knew those parts like the back of his hand. Avoiding the trader's path, he guided the horse and wagon through tight spaces between trees as he flanked to enter through the other side of the kingdom.

Eagle knew that Darlington had fallen for slightly more than 2 months now and he only got back there 3 days after it was sieged by the rebellions. There were no survivors, not a single one and bodies were either charred, bloated beyond recognition, disembodied or simple riddled with crossbow bolts.

Even the rebels had long left the massacre and damage their wake. 3 days, those rebels might have even travelled more than 90 miles to God knows where.

Almost half of the residents from the outer perimeter, belonging to the serf's, did not give in to the rebels. In their hands were sharpened homemade spears, pitchforks and clubs and they died trying to protect their turf.

The higher class district was not spared either. Some of the citizens were hanged from their house's rafters, their heads decapitated and were hung from the kerosene lamppost, while many bled to death or even suffered the same fate as the serfs. They too, never gave in to the rebels and most of them were armed with a longsword and short spears as they perished, protecting the loved ones.

When the time he and his men entered the grounds, the burning wood from most of the houses was still smouldering. Almost all the serf's houses were razed to the ground as it was made of the simplest and most combustible material. Personal livestock that was put up inside the cruck houses with them had perished as well while some managed to escape unscathed.

He slowly traversed the wagon, with Sparrow beside him, watching closely around and listening to other movements around him. The 3 scouts had gone ahead to run in a zig-zag manner, using the shadows to conceal themselves as they move while covering as much ground as possible and to be on the lookout for last known activities such as piles of bones and pelts, burnt out campfires, or even clothing that was forgotten after laundry.

It seems that the grounds were as it were when he last saw. A short distance away he saw a gatherer's hut, and he knew it might belong to Kayla before the planting beds around the front yard and side of the house seemed well taken care off as if someone periodically comes in to clear the weeds and such. But the signs of vines crawling up the sides of the house and doors pictured the abandonment.

Next to the gatherer's hut, we're empty enclosures and it surely belonged to Crystal. Either she had released the animals during her getaway or the animals had died within. A few familiar huts belonging to Ben and Frank could be seen as a lumberjack and a carpenter would normally choose to work together.

All the 4 houses were empty, dilapidated and these houses might not have seen any human being since it was last abandoned. He stopped the wagon a few distances away and decided to peer in to see if there's any survivor that might have hidden there once they heard an approaching wagon.

But the search proved to be futile and he soon rode back on the wagon continued to press on. The scouts noticed no changes since they the time they came and decided to wait within a mile radius from the gates of the kingdom. The kingdom of Darlington had ceased to exist the day it fell.