And then the unexpected happened.
As the army advanced through the ruins, the silence began to break.
At first, it was a faint sound.
A sob.
Then another.
Lusian raised his head.
Something moved among the remains of a destroyed house.
A man slowly emerged from beneath some burned beams.
He was covered in dust.
There was a wound on his forehead, and he could barely remain standing.
A woman appeared behind him.
She was carrying a child.
Then another man.
Then two elderly people.
And then more.
Lusian stood motionless.
They were not soldiers.
They were civilians.
They had survived by hiding among the ruins.
Some had taken shelter in dry wells.
Others had spent days inside makeshift caves.
Some had remained hidden among the roots of trees, too terrified to come out.
They had survived without food.
Without water.
Without knowing whether anyone would come looking for them.
A woman stumbled out of what remained of her house.
She held a baby against her chest.
Her legs were trembling.
When she saw the Douglas banners, she stopped.
"Are you... from the Douglas Duchy?"
Lusian dismounted.
"Yes."
The woman stared at him as if she could not believe it.
"Did you come to help us?"
Lusian looked at the ruins behind her.
Then at the baby.
"Yes."
He paused.
"You're safe now."
The woman fell to her knees.
She began to cry.
It was not a cry of fear.
It was the cry of someone who had spent days waiting to die and had just discovered that she could still live.
The baby began crying too.
But that sound was different.
It was the cry of something alive.
Around Lusian, more people began emerging from their hiding places.
Some prayed.
Others embraced their families.
Some simply stood there, unable to understand that the nightmare was over.
Lusian looked at Albert.
"How many?"
Albert quickly surveyed the area.
"About two hundred."
Lusian closed his eyes for a moment.
Two hundred.
It was not a huge number for an army.
But every one of them needed food.
Water.
Protection.
And somewhere to sleep.
"Add them to the caravan."
Albert nodded.
"Yes, my lord."
They continued forward.
But the next village was the same.
And the next.
And the next.
Every time they passed through a destroyed area, more survivors emerged from their hiding places.
An old woman hiding inside a basement.
Three brothers sheltering beneath an overturned wagon.
An entire family inside a cave.
Children covered in soot.
Men too weak to walk.
Women who had spent days surviving on nothing but water.
And among them was a girl of about six years old.
She was sitting beside the remains of a house.
She held a rag doll that was missing one eye.
She was not crying.
She was not speaking.
She simply watched the soldiers.
Albert approached Lusian.
His expression was serious.
"My lord."
Lusian looked at him.
"If we keep taking in survivors, the march will be delayed."
Lusian did not answer.
He looked at the girl.
Then at the others.
There were hundreds.
Perhaps thousands.
And they were all looking at him.
Waiting for a decision.
Albert lowered his voice.
"Our destination is still Carter territory."
Lusian slowly clenched his fingers.
He knew.
Every hour they spent there was one less hour to reach their destination.
And the problem was that he knew the future.
He knew what would happen if he arrived too late.
Emily would lose her mother.
Carter County would fall.
And history would follow the same path again.
But he also knew what would happen if he left these people behind.
They would die.
Not years from now.
Not in some future war.
Now.
That very night.
Lusian looked at the girl again.
He remembered something he had learned too late.
Changing the future did not mean always choosing the perfect path.
Sometimes it meant choosing which disaster you were willing to prevent first.
"Albert."
"Yes, my lord?"
"How many people can we transport?"
Albert hesitated.
"With our current supplies... perhaps two thousand without compromising our mobility too much."
Lusian looked at the caravan.
"Then we'll increase our supplies."
Albert blinked.
"My lord?"
"Wagons."
He pointed toward the ruins.
"Use anything that can be useful. Carts, pack animals, any vehicle we can find."
"But that will slow us down."
"I know."
Lusian looked back toward the road.
"I won't let them die."
Albert remained silent.
"Organize them into groups," Lusian continued. "The wounded will travel in the wagons. Those who can walk will stay in the center of the column. The soldiers will protect the flanks."
"And the children?"
"In the center."
"And the elderly?"
"Them too."
Albert nodded.
"Understood."
Lusian took a deep breath.
"We'll keep moving."
He looked at the survivors.
"But no one gets left behind."
Albert bowed his head.
"Yes, my lord."
The news spread quickly.
The soldiers began organizing the column.
The mages raised small barriers around the groups of civilians.
The medics set up makeshift treatment stations.
The cooks began preparing whatever they could.
And the survivors began walking.
Some were still crying.
Others prayed.
But they all moved forward.
The eight-day journey stopped being an eight-day journey.
First, it became ten.
Then twelve.
Then fifteen.
The column that had left the Duchy with barely two thousand people grew to more than seven thousand.
It no longer looked like an army.
It looked like a city on the move.
Makeshift wagons carried the wounded.
Soldiers escorted the civilians.
Mages watched the surroundings.
Cooks prepared huge pots of food.
Children walked beside their parents.
And every day, new survivors appeared.
Fortunately, the monsters killed during the migrations provided enough meat to feed the caravan.
Mages specialized in cooking prepared the meat while healers tended to the sick.
For many children, it was the first hot meal they had eaten in days.
A little girl held a bowl with both hands.
She blew on the soup.
Then took a sip.
Her eyes slowly widened.
"It's warm..."
The woman beside her smiled through her tears.
"Yes."
The girl began eating again.
Lusian watched the scene from Thunder.
He did not smile.
The map of Carter territory was still too present in his mind.
Every passing day increased the distance between him and his objective.
But he could not regret it either.
He had made a decision.
And now he had to bear its consequences.
Albert approached on horseback.
"My lord."
Lusian looked at him.
"What is it?"
"We found another group of survivors."
Lusian closed his eyes.
"How many?"
"About three hundred."
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he opened his eyes.
"Bring them in."
Albert nodded.
"Yes, my lord."
The man began riding away.
Lusian turned his gaze toward the horizon.
Carter territory was there.
Somewhere beyond the mountains.
Emily was waiting.
And every passing day could mean the difference between saving her...
or arriving too late.
Lusian tightened his grip on the reins.
"We need to move faster."
Thunder neighed.
But behind him, thousands of people were walking.
And Lusian knew he could not simply leave them behind.
He had set out to save a county.
Now he had to find a way to save a county...
without condemning thousands of others along the way.