"My lord, this is the foreman Rashid and his second Bennam," Yurlov motioned towards the two bowing men, before he himself bowed to the woman as he introduced her, "and Her Eminence, Circe Boreas."
Rowan nodded at them, as he looked over their heads and into the town, which was an easy thing to do because he was more than seven feet tall. Of course, he already swept through the town with his Spatial sight, but it was always safe to always keep your cards hidden until when needed.
"I can see you are already packing up." Rowan eyes followed the lines of people loading goods into heavy-duty vehicles that resembled buses that had the tires of tractors.
"Yes my lord, it is clear that we are no longer safe here, and since the Great winter ’is coming, and with this calamity that has befallen us, it’s expected that we are to move to the iron fortress for refuge." This time it was the foreman Rashid that replied to him.
"That’s good, but you have to move up your schedule. They are coming." Rowan pointed towards the west, "I checked their speed of movements, and in a week, they would be here. An army of monsters, millions strong. They are coming from both land and air, and you would be quickly surrounded."
He saw the panic wash over them, as the foreman gave rushed instructions to Yurlov, who nodded and ran back into the town, their faces were white, and their breath quickened, all except the woman—Circe Boreas.
In fact, the look of fascination had never left her face as she peered at him, she gave a little smile as she turned and touched the arm of the foreman lightly, "Rachid, I think it would be expedient to do away with everything that would delay our movements, except for all the basic commodities we need for survival, please do away with the rest. I want us to be out of here within the hour."
Her words were like a whip, and both men straightened and bowed to her, and they hurried into the town.
"A week, you said?" Circe turned to him, and with a flash, the big book disappeared from her hands, most likely she had a Spatial treasure, looking closer, he saw a silver ring on her left hand, on her middle finger, Rowan stifled the urge to investigate the storage ring with his Spatial sight.
"with the momentum I observed from the creatures in the horde? Yes. But, that is not the problem, smaller offshoots like the wolf travel ahead of the horde and those are the riskiest factors to determine the survival of these people."
"Yeah… It is. This is an unprecedented disaster, and I never imagined Jarkarr would ever face a situation like this. We’re so far from the front lines." Circe spoke softly as she looked down, "You know, you never did introduce yourself."
"I believe I did not." Rowan looked away.
She waited for a while and hearing no further response from him, she said, "Not that it would matter much anyway because folks here have already given it to you. A name."
"They gave me a name?" surprise colored his tone, Rowan did not think what he did warranted such attention, yeah he saved their people, but anyone sufficiently powerful would be able to easily do that. He did not necessarily think his actions deserve a name, seemed excessive.
"Yes." Circe gave a small laugh as she covered her mouth, "Do you want to hear it?"
"Do tell."
"Erohim!" Circe announced it with a little flair, as she raised the edge of her gown, "Please come with me, while I facilitate the quick movement of these people. They all fall under my responsibilities."
She turned and waited for Rowan, who began walking beside her. She was around six feet two, tall for a woman, but she had to look up when talking to Rowan.
He had been mouthing the name in his mouth, as if he was tasting it. It was not an unconventional phrase, yet he still wondered why he had been given that name, most likely it was because of his actions of saving these people or was it something more?
Indeed, he began hearing whispers of the name—Erohim— from the mouth of the people who were throwing him furtive glances as they hurried around, packing up, around the back of some of the men were weapons that resembled rifles with some carrying broad bladed machetes on their waist.
Rowan was genuinely interested in this weapon that resembled a gun, he would try to get his hands on some of them later.
Circe suddenly said, "Did my brother send you? If he does not think I can handle this crisis, he should inform me, not go behind my back making plans I have no idea of."
"No! I mean, your brother did not send me, I don’t know him, you or anyone else in this town." Rowan’s reply was curt, as his eyes never stopped looking around as he observed everything around him.
The town was fairly large, and Rowan estimated that between 20,000 – 30,000 people would reside here. It was clear that this town served as the home base for the workers who used the other location that had been destroyed by the wolves as a factory.
Rowan noticed hundreds of crates of blue flowers, that had an unpleasant smell. They were being offloaded amidst panicked cries. Those arguments were quickly dispelled by men with guns, and food and other necessary provisions were now being stocked inside the vehicles.
"Avud!" Circe gestured all around her, "the name of the town … not that its name would matter much, seeing it’s about to be crushed to dust soon."
"It will matter to them." Rowan said as his eyes looked at the people around, those that came near him gave a hurried bow with the whisper of "Erohim!", and they seemed to walk with less burden on their shoulders. Rowan noticed these events and silently pondered their meaning.
"So, you would have me believe you came here with no stakes in any of this, purely for the sake of what? Goodwill?"
"I never said I had no stakes in this conflict. I believe the term mercenaries should not be strange to you."
"You want me to hire you?"
"I want you to compensate me for whatever services I’m going to render for you and your town. I will not be taking orders from you or anyone else, for I believe you would not be able to utilize my abilities to their full scope"
"Whoever says I need such a service, Erohim?"
"Come now, you are too smart to be playing this game, or I think you are, don’t make me doubt my judgment. You are undoubtedly here as a manager of this place, and if you had no stakes in whatever happens here, you would be nowhere near this planet."
She laughed, and it was a hearty laugh that carried with the breeze, they reached a five-storey structure, which was the tallest building inside the town, a large metallic sign in front of it read Rema Trading House.
Rowan was familiar with this sign, as with most people, although before now he did not think its reach extended to other planets outside Trion. Hell, he did not there were other habitable planets outside Trion.
Four men in heavy Guardsmen Armor, stood outside the door like statues, two on each side, and they gave crisp salutes and Rowan noticed the color of their armor was blue with a lightning bolt on the chest, they carried a similar Rifle on their back, but this one had been magnified ten times over and should be termed cannons.
Hmm… Boreas family… Lightning bolts… Blue hair. This must be a planet under their family’s control. Their Pathway should be that of the Storm callers.
