I continued urging Phalon away. All that could have been said had been. Though a witness had been raised from the grave to bear witness to the truths of the past, still the people would not believe, for they rejected the path laid down in the Holy Scrolls and substituted it for the doctrines of man. There was nothing more to be done as even the Holy Scrolls had predicted this.

I led the people behind me across the valley. Almost a third of the Yesathurim had come and I was grateful for every one of them. It would have been a sad tale to come so far, to risk so much, only to return with nothing, but as I had come to learn over and over in my life, the words of El Elyon never failed to deliver what they promised. Even so there was, as prophesied, a remnant behind me of those who believed.

Thankfully, we were soon distanced from the internal groaning of rock against rock and the infernal humming of the dark ones' song of destruction. The knowledge of how soon the wall was likely to collapse drove us all on at a fast clip. I only held back from a cantering trot because of the slow oxcarts filled with children and those too old to run along.

The valley's environment became more lush in its vegetation as we went deeper into it. Soon I saw the small lake that lay in the valley's center and around it was gathered a large herd of Tricans.

My mind drifted back to the big female I had ridden into battle and idly I called out to her in my mind. The herd moved away from the water then and began moving towards our destination point in the opposing mountain slope.

My brow furrowed in perplexity of the strange reaction and then it occurred to me that these high order beasts had been gifted with an exceptionally keen intelligence. Their fate as a giant's or a Gargon's meal was sealed once the valley was overrun.

They were escaping the Valley too, but they had been held in readiness against doing so by a higher power so they did not give away the valley's only other exit. El Elyon was always so thoughtful of even the most minor of details, I mused to myself.

The Tricans acted as if they were nothing more than big tame cattle as they trotted into the cavern located in the rocky side of the mountain slope ahead of us. Their passage would help clear the way of obstructions for the oxcarts as any loose stones would be crushed to gravel beneath their great weight.




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