Rise of the Horde

The Ereians run as fast as their legs could carry them and even the surviving members of the Ereian Royal Army ditched their equipment to be able to run faster. The battle was quickly turned into a slaughter fest as both the Rhakaddon and Warg Cavalry trampled on those who were slower than the others, any stragglers that were left behind by the two pursuing cavalries would be finished off by the Skallsers and trolls who were just behind the two cavalries in terms of speed.

Arriving at the scene of the battle, Khao'khen shook his head after seeing how messy the battle became after they made their presence known to the enemy. He wanted the Skallsers and Drakhars to win the fight on their own but their enemies just had to send their cavalry towards them which resulted into the chaotic pursuit that was now happening.

"Evelyn!" Baron Masud shouted when he was near his tent as he hastily dismounted from his steed before hurriedly getting inside his tent. What he saw inside made him seethe in anger, the inside of his tent was almost empty except for his belongings that doesn't have much value. With nose flaring in anger, he started searching around for anyone that might be able to answer to the questions that were brewing inside his mind but he didn't manage to find a single soul inside the camp.

Hearing the panic screams of his soldiers drawing closer and closer, the Baron quickly grabbed the reins of his steed and mounted before steering it towards the other gate of their camp. As soon as he exited from the other gate, the orcs started flooding in inside their camp as they pursued the Ereians who fled in their camp thinking that it was safer place than in the open but they were totally mistaken as the walls of their camp which was supposed to give them a sense of security against their foes became the cage the trapped them with the murderous creatures that continued to slaughter anyone that came into their sights.

A blaring horn echoed all around catching the attention of the excited trolls and orcs who were still in pursuit which was telling them to fall back and gather. Unwillingly, the Warg and Rhakaddon Cavalry along with the trolls and Skallsers halted in their tracks as they watched their preys getting further and further away.

The sun was at almost at its peak when the enemy camp completely fell into the hands of the Yohan First Horde and all those who were hiding within the camp were either captured or killed.  Staring at the captives who were restricted by ropes, Khao'khen gave off a sigh of relief as his warriors didn't tie their captives like how they bounded Badz and the others before.

Upon noticing that most of the captives were females, one of his eyebrows rose up as he observed their physical feature. The females can't be called beauties but they weren't ugly too, just mediocre on the standards of men.

Noticing the gaze of Khao'khen who was focused on the female servants, Badz came forward and stood beside with a huge piece of meat in his hand.

"They are but some regular servants since the higher quality women would be serving the commanders and nobles." He commented while chewing on the dried piece of meat.

"Is that so?" Khao'khen responded as he turned around and headed towards what obviously looks like the tent of the enemy commander. Arriving in front of the tent, he met with Adhalia who was busy cursing the enemy commander for not leaving behind anything that was of value little did she know that all the wealth that the baron brought with him was no longer in his possession.

"What do we now, chief?" Sakh'arran came along and waited for the orders of their chieftain after he was done checking on their warriors.

"Prepare a small feast to celebrate our victory and to honor our fallen. Tomorrow by the first light, we will continue on the march. We need to move fast before our enemies can gather a sizeable army that would be able to stand against us." Khao'khen replied as he went inside the tent to have some time alone to think of his next plans.

*****

After honoring their dead and celebrating their victory, the Yohan First Horde continued on the march and along their way, they saw the now dead bodies of some of their enemies who fled while the others they managed to capture. They spent weeks traversing through the hot desert which caused them some problems along the way like some warriors receiving minor burns because of their armor which was quickly resolved by draping some cloth over the metal.

They soon reached a place where the sand was literally burning as it was aflame. The temperature that was already hot turned even hotter as tall pillars of flame rose into the air very second while smaller columns remained steadily burning.

"That is one of the Burning Fields which are scattered around the Burning Sands. It's but just a normal phenomenon for Ereians to witness flames suddenly sprouting from the ground." Adhalia softly explained as she pointed her finger at the flaming field in the distance.

"Sometimes a new Burning Field would appear while others disappear. It's also because of this phenomenon that the desert of Ereia is called the Burning Sands." She continued to explain.

"Is it not dangerous if a Burning Field will suddenly appear within a settlement?" Khao'khen questioned as he was curios about the phenomenon that he was witnessing. He had seen water suddenly shooting up in the air in his previous life personally which was called geysers but fire, he hadn't witness any, well personally, except for one news where an accident happened in the oil wells of the oil producing countries in his previous life.

"Oil wells…" he mumbled and then it suddenly dawned on him. Sand isn't flammable at all unless something is mixed with it and the most likely substance that it is mixed with in the desert would be oil. 'The Burning Sands must be really rich in oil if the oil itself is making its way into the surface without human or any creature's intervention" Khao'khen thought.

Just the discovery that the Burning Sands is rich in oil was already a huge harvest for Khao'khen even if they wouldn't be able to find any other resources that he was expecting to find within the land of Ereia. After taking a detour around the Burning Field, the Yohan First continued on their march and Khao'khen finally confirmed it himself that there was really oil mixed with the grains of sand after discovering the black icky liquid that was forcing its way to the surface before being quickly consumed by the raging flames.