Dark Road, Part 3 by Hideyuki Kikuchi

Author:Hideyuki Kikuchi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Published: 2012-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

LORD ROCAMBOLE

CHAPTER 5

—

I

—

After they’d raced three miles to the south, Juke finally halted the wagons. Everyone—even the villagers—turned to D. Though rapture glazed their eyes, this time there was more than one cause of it: his good looks—and his sword.

“We managed to break out, but the real problem is what comes next,” Juke declared. “The surrounding villages have probably been notified that victims of the horrible fountain plague have escaped—meaning they can’t go anywhere. If they were to go to another Frontier sector, everything would be fine, but we don’t have time for that. So, what do we do?”

They all just tilted their heads to one side.

On the Frontier, people simply didn’t like strangers. Even if they were to make a new village, as soon as they were discovered, the flaming arrows were sure to fly. If they couldn’t settle anywhere, they’d be left no choice but to become drifters, but travelers were checked quite strictly, and people would be ready to deal with them no matter where they went.

“We have to get other villages to recognize that they’ve been cured,” D said.

Sergei nodded and added, “Yeah. If we could do that, they could find some free land and start over again.”

“There is a way.”

Everyone held their breath at this, and then let out a cry of something like joy. If this young man said it, then they all believed it.

“The Frontier Medical Corps from the Capital is supposed to be making the rounds in this part of the Frontier. If they were to check these people out, they could send guarantees to all the villages ahead that there’s nothing wrong with them.”

“Yeah—the Medical Corps!” Gordo said, pounding his beefy chest. “That’d fix everything. If we told ’em about the situation, they’d know how to handle this.”

The villagers hugged one another, and their tears began to flow.

Watching them out of the corner of his eye, Sergei whispered to Juke, “But where’s the Medical Corps? We can’t fall any further behind in our deliveries.”

“If everything goes smoothly, we should reach the post town of Cactus by this evening,” said D.

“Yeah, if things go smoothly.”

“Then we’ll leave that to heaven above,” Juke declared.

Leave it to heaven above—these were usually famous last words on the Frontier.

—

The next thing Lady Ann knew, she was lying naked on the ground. There was rope around her hands and feet. She focused her strength on the amateurish bonds, but they wouldn’t budge. It wasn’t a matter of the rope being resilient, but rather a case of having lost her strength.

The location seemed to be an abandoned hut for huntsmen. The stench of the blood and gristle of beasts clung to the walls and floor. Through the broken windowpanes, a tired excuse for sunlight filtered in.

Lady Ann guessed it was shortly before dusk. She grew alarmed. The membrane the general had given her to protect her from sunlight should be losing its efficacy about now. Though she took a panicked look at her hands and feet, they weren’t burnt or decaying.

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