After the refugee convoy left the valley, they headed east without illumination from open flas, the entire long line advancing in darkness.
Occasionally, the convoy wound through mountain streams, looking at the darkened mountain peaks which appeared as shadowy fir tips. Without the stars, it would be difficult for anyone to discern directions in such an environnt; those at the rear often had to passively follow the front convoy, one by one. The entire convoy consisted of ordinary citizens—although the fear made them sowhat conscientious, they inevitably jingled and clanged as they moved forward.
Following Brand’s instructions, Frey divided the refugees into several zones, with each zone having two key mbers responsible for maintaining order. Frey explained to these small citizens what they should do, while Brand told them what might happen if they didn’t follow these instructions—thus combining grace and threat, they managed to barely restrain the whole convoy.
However, several experienced leaders were not overly concerned; Reto and Mano, with rich combat experience, inford Brand that sounds do not travel far in thick woods, at most a bowshot away, becoming re whispers.
Similarly, the Fir Dragon Tower of the White Maned Knight Order listened as the wind swept over the mountain peak, the rustling sound of trees overpowering all other sounds, telling Brand that in such an environnt, hearing was less effective than sight.
Brand listened to the wind’s sound, coming from afar, resembling pine waves, or the flocks of birds rising in the fir forest, making squeaking noises. Upon closer listening—it had a distinct flavor: light, distant, and long, like a group of wonderful instrunts playing in the mountain wind; it also felt like mysterious whispers, an unknown existence in the forest speaking to the world.
In Golan-Elsen and even the entire southern territory of Erune, people described the whispers from the forest as the witch’s seductive whispers, with legends claiming many people never returned from the forest due to the witch’s sches.
These legends were obviously not credible, though tasting them in the mont gave an unusual sense of mystery.
Brand led his horse, walking beside the convoy, followed by other rcenaries. Since everyone had only one horse, the riders saved the horse’s stamina for potential upcoming battles. Although the warhorses in this world were exceptionally robust, about twenty percent more stamina than ordinary horses, cavalry rarely used them as mounts because in wars here—they still appeared ’frail.’
They had deviated east about ten miles from the valley, essentially leaving the Silver Sparrow Mountain’s range. This place didn’t resemble a society with advanced civilization; even the smallest peaks were labeled with codes, such as this mountain peak, whose na Brand did not know.
It should be part of the southeastern extension of the Stag Hills but deviated from the main road, desolate, with hunters only passing through during hunting seasons, thus occasionally seeing hunter cabins in the mountains.
Brand had long sent the Stone Statue Ghost out, letting it proceed south-westward. Simultaneously, reconnaissance cavalry were tracing back their route.
After about half an hour, information returned. The two seasoned rcenaries eting Brand looked pale, discovering a vast area covered with bone skeletons at the halfway distance.
Brand could envision such a scene:
Seeing a greyish-white, dense sea of skeletons slowly erging from the mountain top, gradually overrunning the forest, cascading downwards, leaving only the sound of ’rustling,’ is truly unsettling.
Hence, he soothed the two rcenaries kindly to rest while telling others about these skeletons’ weaknesses, to prevent them from losing morale due to the approaching danger.
He dispatched spies northwestwards—
Brand understood Madara’s habitual deploynt during this season. Layered progression allowed flexible maneuvering, with scouts controlling a vast range, supporting front and back. This tactic aid to fully utilize the Madara Undead Army’s nurical advantage—in fact, during the early Black Rose War, the dark lords significantly exploited this tactic using excellent mid and lower-level commanders.
But it had a deadly flaw.
That was vision. Once the support from ghosts was lost, large gaps would appear between squads, especially in such mountainous terrain, easily allowing opponents to penetrate and segnt. Another weakness was that if the commanders were too inept, such deploynts could easily result in classic ’pieceal tactics.’
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