Honey : The Empire's Treasure 126 Unfortunate Events 2

Looking at the legendary wall of Ash City, Braeden felt a shiver run down his spine. It was bad enough that they had to enter the Steppes, but now the enemy wanted them to enter this sacred city.

Braeden's men awaited his orders, for they too were apprehension about entering this city.

Making his decision, Braeden stared into his men's eyes.

"We have our orders! We are to capture these men alive. If they persist on fighting, our orders are to kill. We will enter in groups of five. Prepare yourselves!"

Braeden turned to his second in command and his captains.

"Two of you with your platoon will stay here and guard the entrance. If anyone other than our men come out, detain them. Until I come back." Two captains ran off the see to securing the entrance.

"Trevan set up camp 50 meters away from the gates. I doubt we will finish before nightfall."

"En."

With all the captains getting their men ready to enter the city, Braeden took some time to comm Ailwin to let him know of the situation here.

With communication in the Steppes' being almost non-existent, it took a while for the comm to get through.

By the time he finished, the men were already separated into groups of five.

"Stay sharp! And don't let your emotions control you!" Braeden could still see the anxiety on some of these men faces. He did need them to be afraid of their own shadows while hunting down the enemy.

"Yes, sir!"

Leading the men into the city, Braeden couldn't help the rise of trepidation in his own heart.

____

Yumsa led Mika to a small crumbled opening in the wall.

"This is the only break in the wall for the next 100 miles..." Yumsa said as Mika was wary of the crack.

It was a straight cut down the middle of the wall, but you couldn't see to the other side, it was completely dark. Mika looked at the fracture, she would be able to make it through, but only because she is petite. If she was the average size of a thirteen-year-old, she fears she would have to walk the 100 miles.

"Mikaela...?" Yumsa wondered why Mika wasn't going in.

"You sure this hole goes through to the other side?" Mika did not like tight or trapped spaces. She didn't have this fear before, but experiencing being trapped in a sleeper cell seems to have developed this phobia.

"I'm sure. I've used this way before."

Believing Yumsa, Mika walked in the darkness.

____

Having captured and eliminated all the small clan leaders on his side, Ailwin was assisting some of the Steppe's clans in rebuilding their homes when he received a comm from Braeden.

Looking at the message, Ailwin cursed.

"I can't leave him by himself for one minute."

Gathering his men, Ailwin left for Ash City.

___

"I am not doing that again." Mika rubbed her bruised head and body. Due to the fracture's crumbled walls and darkness, Mika didn't know when to crouch her head or walk sideways to avoid jutting rocks, resulting in her steadily walking into them.

"Sorry, Mikaela. If I had more strength, I would have been able to light the way for you." Yumsa could see in the dark, but she forgot that Mika couldn't, which made her late to tell Mika about the protruding rocks.

"It's okay. Live and learn." Mika brushed the dust off of her clothes and stretched of the kinks in her body.

"Mikaela, that way..." When Mika was done, Yumsa pointed in a direction she knew well.

"En." Placing Yumsa on her shoulder, Mika proceeded to walk in that direction while taking a look at the legendary city around her.

When they called the city Ash City, they weren't joking. Ash and soot covered everything from the ground to the ruins, nothing was left untouched by Analise's fire.

Mika tried to picture the once thriving city, but couldn't find any traces of it here.

"Turn right..."

"En." Turning right, Mika was bought into the heart of Ash city. The buildings here were much more intact than the ones on the outer edges.

Here Mika could see the old Pharsas city.

"Wow..." Mika touched one of the crumbled buildings only to come away with a hand covered in soot.

"Yes, it was beautiful, but now it's just a grave." Yumsa gentle reminder quickly killed any fascination this city held.

"...let's continue on. Show me were the first honey trees were."

"En...continue walking forward until you reach that corner then turn left."

"Okay."

Mika followed Yumsa directions until they reached a barren area.

"Is this it?" Mika looked at the field before her and frowned.

"Yes. The honey trees were here....but, I'm not sure about where the ones Analise planted are."

"!?... Why?" Mika thought Yumsa was taking her to the trees Analise had planted not the ones the Urmuris Empire transplanted over.

"I wasn't the Steppe leader then...my father was."Yumsa looked over at the dead field as tears fell from her eyes. "He died trying to fix the problem with the honey trees, he was the one who reported the problem."

Mika didn't really know what she would find on this trip to Ash City, but she had hoped that she would be able to touch a piece of her great-great grandmother's trees.

"Do you have any thoughts to where they might have been?" Mika didn't want to give up just yet.

"....there might be one place that comes to mind..." Yumsa said after thinking for a while.

"Where?"

"The Vlacca clan estate."

"...? We came from the Vlacca clan estate." Mika could believe that she wasted a trip here.

"Oh no, you've misunderstood me. I meant the old Vlacca clan estate inside Pharsas city."

"Wait! I thought this city was built by the Umuris Empire for their people, why would the Vlacca clan make their home here?"

"There were many clans who chose to help and stand with the Umuris Empire during those times, one of those clans was the Vlacca clan."

"Is that why they made their new clan estate right next to the city?"

"En...they were banished to the Steppes, but the clans here didn't welcome them either. The only place they could seek rest was here, next to Pharsas city...Over the years they made a comeback though with the honey tree not flourishing like they once were, slowly the Vlacca clan started to decline once more."

Thinking over what Yumsa said, Mika thought it made sense that one of the clans living in the city would have had one of Analise's trees in their estate back then.

"Okay...let's search."

Chapter end