Devourer's Legacy: I Regressed With The Primordial Crest
Chapter 85: Journey towards the Monastery (2)

Chapter 85: Journey towards the Monastery (2)

The following week passed in a blur of misery and fear.

There was nothing Renard could do except wait and watch. The walls of the wagon were built high enough that even standing on tiptoes, none of them could see out the small barred windows near the roof. The only way to tell they were still moving was the constant creaking of wheels, the occasional sharp turns that threw everyone against the walls, and the bone-jarring bumps when they hit rocks or ruts in the mountain road.

’Like cattle being shipped to market,’ Renard thought as he shifted position for the hundredth time that day. ’Except cattle probably get treated better.’

Thankfully, Aldric and Veil weren’t cruel enough to let them starve or die of thirst. They provided breaks twice a day - morning and evening - when the children were allowed out to relieve themselves under heavy guard. Food came with each break, though calling it food was generous. A few pieces of stale bread, sometimes with a thin slice of cheese or dried meat. Water came from whatever stream or well they happened to stop near.

’Just enough to keep us alive. Nothing more.’

During those breaks, Renard got his only glimpses of their surroundings. Rolling hills had given way to steep mountain slopes. Pine trees grew thicker and taller. The air got colder each day, and mist seemed to cling to everything like a wet blanket.

But it was inside the wagon that Renard learned the most about his fellow capitives.

Kai and Zameena had attached themselves to him like scared puppies. They sat close enough that their shoulders touched his, and whenever the wagon lurched or someone made a sudden noise, they pressed even closer.

It wasn’t friendship - it was pure fear of being alone in this nightmare.

"Do you think they’ll really teach us magic?" Zameena whispered on the third day, her voice so quiet Renard had to strain to hear it.

"Maybe," Renard replied, because telling her the truth wouldn’t help anyone right now.

Kai spent most of his time staring at the other children, trying to understand what had happened to them. The bound ones never spoke, just sat with dead eyes and watched the walls. The unconscious ones were rotated regularly - Veil would put one to sleep and wake another up, like she was managing inventory.

’I have to be wary of spells like that.’

Spells which directly affected mind. Renard wasn’t sure if he could even defend against them. He just hoped there wouldn’t come a situation where he would have to.

Anyway, there were also others who had started the journey conscious but had learned hard lessons along the way.

A group of three siblings who whispered to each other in a language Renard didn’t recognize. Twin boys who looked like they hadn’t eaten a proper meal in weeks even before being captured. A girl with red hair who kept tracing symbols in the dirt with her finger whenever they stopped - probably some kind of prayer or ritual from her village.

At first, most of them spent their days crying. Quiet, desperate sobs that echoed in the cramped space. The sound got under everyone’s skin, making the whole wagon feel like one big wound that wouldn’t stop bleeding.

But after a few days, even the crying stopped. Not because they felt better - because they realized it wouldn’t do any good. The tears didn’t bring their parents. The prayers didn’t open the locked door. The begging didn’t soften their captors’ hearts.

Then there was this guy, the brave kid who attempted to run away.

’Well, he tried at least.’

Renard looked at the scrawny boy laying unconscious at one side of the wagon. He was the scrawniest of the group, all sharp angles and hollow cheeks. During one of their morning breaks, he’d made his move.

He waited until Aldric was distracted, then bolted for the tree line like his life depended on it.

Which it probably did.

Veil had dropped him with a sleep spell before he’d made it ten steps. When he’d woken up hours later, he was tied hand and foot like the others. That’s when Renard learned the boy’s real story.

His name was Ian, and he wasn’t an orphan like most of them. His parents had sold him to the Silent Monastery for ten silver pieces. Handed their own son over to strangers for money they probably spent the same day.

’The world is such a cruel place.’

Renard couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like to be betrayed by your own parents.

To learn that your value to the people who were supposed to love you most was exactly ten pieces of silver.

What did that do to a kid’s mind? How did you come back from that kind of betrayal?

But that was as far as Renard let his sympathy go. He couldn’t afford to care too much about these children.

He wasn’t here to save everyone - he was here for one specific job. To rescue the Martial Kin’s daughter. Everything else was just background noise.

’Stay focused. Don’t get involved.’

-BOOM!

Suddenly, a loud explosive sound shattered the relative quiet of their rolling prison. The entire wagon shook, and several children screamed in terror.

"Kyaaa! What’s happening?" one of the girls shrieked.

"Save me, oh God!" another voice cried out.

Within seconds, the cramped space filled with panicked voices as children who’d been silent for days suddenly found their voices again. Fear did that - stripped away all the careful control and left only raw animal terror.

Renard, however, sat silently and watched the chaos around him.

’We’re close.’

The Stormy Hills. They were finally here.

The explosion they’d heard wasn’t an attack or an accident - it was just lightning striking somewhere nearby. The mountains were famous for their constant storms, where thunder rolled like drumbeats and lightning split the sky even on clear days. Soon they’d be hearing a lot more of it.

’Almost there.’

"Keep it down, you brats!" Aldric screamed from the driver’s seat, his voice cutting through the panic like a blade.

The children fell silent immediately, but Renard could feel the terror vibrating in the air around them. They all knew, somewhere deep in their bones, that whatever was coming next would make the last week look like a pleasant vacation.

Another rumble of thunder rolled across the mountains, closer this time. Through the small windows, Renard could see flashes of unnatural light - not quite lightning, but something else entirely.

The wagon continued its climb into the hills, carrying its cargo of frightened children toward whatever light....or darkness waited at the end of the mountain road.

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