"Let this be our last stand??!"
"ARE YOU FRICKING KIDDING ME"
Laurel was so dumbstruck after reading this letter that he just couldn't help but shout out loud. He looks towards the man collapsed right in front of him and bend down to see whether he's still alive.
Laurel seemed almost unfazed, even after seeing a man lying dead right in front of him. It wasn't really that rare to see a man dying in front of you, the country of Zion has been struggling with internal strife among it's populance. This from time to time escalates to the point of communal riots, resulting in many deaths at a time.
The country of Zion was composed of many races but the primary ones being the humans and the lizardmen, the humans were in majority constituting about 60% of it's population while the population of lizardmen was roughly around 30%. Zion was previously part of it's neighbouring country of Iguana. Iguana was primarily inhabited by the lizardmen but humans came and inhabited this land. Years later when human population boomed, Even though the land retained it's name but due to humans reproducing and their population increasing exponentially, overtime the population split changed drastically. While Humans were still the minority in the land, they still coexisted somehow. But that all changed 200 years ago, the humans demanded their own land and with lots of struggles and help from foreign nations , they broke free and got their own land, the country of Zion.
Zion was a utopia for humans and it was presumed that the lizardmen from these areas will vacate this land and will migrate to Iguana, while many did, most refused to leave their land and evacuate with nothing. The human authorities of Zion did not force them to vacate due to the manual labour required for the development needed for the newly formed country. While the idea of coexisting with lizardmen did seem good on papers , the truth couldn't be far off. There was undeniable racism among the populance, though they coexisted, the sheer hatred present among the lizardmen and humans towards each other could cause the nations demise.
This only got worse with the iguanian invasions. The country of the lizardmen iguana invaded the lands of Zion periodically, several peace treaties have been signed between the countries, but with no exceptions, each and every single one of them had been violated by the lizardmen. The human populance categorised all the lizardmen to be untrustworthy.
As the saying goes in Zion, "believe the person who beheaded you for once, but not the lizardmen".
Laurel's parents had died 2 years back in a riot between the lizardmen and humans, he was too young, hence spared.
"Get your shit together!"
Spoke laurel to himself
"I have to bring this over to the military base before it's too late."
Laurel started running towards the town, to relay the letter to whoever so was at command at the base.
There was no time to waste, he turned his head around to see the blazing slum for one last time, this resulted in him stumbling and falling from a rock. He got up and started running again, there were some scratches on his knees from falling, but those were the least of laurel's concern at the moment. He could think of nothing but getting back to the town as soon as possible.
*Maybe the knight about whom jack was talking about could handle this, if not then there's also sir mage*
Laurel thought to himself while running towards the town, the town was a small distance away from the slums. The slum which was originally situated near the city wall was relocated and the people were chased away, but that was before Laurel was born. Since the moment he has gained his consciousness, that's where he has lived.
The town was in view, he could see the city walls. As he drew near and near to the city wall, something seemed a bit odd.
"Why aren't there any guards". It was late at night, the guards are at their duty from even before the sunset, and the guard duty lasted throughout the night. Aside from that there are always men stationed at the gates and a few people on the city walls for surveillance, sake.
" This all seems too fishy, how can they not see the burning slum from such a distance".
Even though it was fishy, Laurel went on towards the towns northern gate, he was exhausted from all the running, and wanted nothing more than to pass on the letter to the guard and rest.
When he was almost at the gate, he saw bunch of armoured guards, running towards them, he was relieved, his body started limping, Laurel was a skinny boy of 13 years of age, he was obviously exhausted from all the running but he was still persistent, just to deliver that letter.
"Another person, whoever catches him shall keep him, a boy of such age must fetch a great reward from sir mage." Shouted one of the armoured guards.