Talla's Fallen Temple Ch. 30

'Utterly pointless,' Zhair'lo declared. 'They accomplished nothing but the loss of their own lives.'

'I don't think they cared, Zhai. I really don't.'

'Enraged,' he thought. 'That's what they were.'

Talla broke contact.

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They resumed their march for several more wary bells, their progress slowed by a number of false alarms. Despite their collective fears, however, they arrived uneventfully at the feet of the dark hills which guarded the western edge of Beshenna's domain. The sun had not truly set, merely gone down low enough to hide behind the hills at the marching army's back. The word came from the front that they would crest the hill and soon thereafter see the towers and Temple of Beshenna. If all went well, they'd find themselves at the gates of Sweetness before sunset.

The head of the marching column moved around a bend in the path as it turned to go straight up into the hills. As Zhair'lo saw this happen well ahead of his place in the order, he felt a disturbed hush works its way back. A moment later, he saw why.

A tall, sandstone tower rose at the top of the path, a guardian of Beshenna's western approach. The cylindrical building, strong as it looked, ought to have given the approaching Soldiers some assurance.

Instead, black smoke poured out of the tower's highest balcony.

"No point signalling to them, I suppose," Zhair'lo stared in awe. "No one could breathe in that."

"The fire will have been set by local Fighters," Sonja pointed out, stepping up behind him. "Letting us know they could not hold the tower."

"They burned their own tower?" Tara cried out in disbelief.

"They made it unusable by the enemy for quite some time," Sonja admonished in a calm voice. "And it serves as a warning signal, clear to anyone who approaches. It was likely the best the retreating Fighters could do for us."

All fell silent again as the wary Soldiers climbed the hill. Zhair'lo started to feel his legs aching and knew the dizziness of exhaustion lingered close behind, but said nothing. They had brought no cart and his legs represented his only method of transport. He would have to hold out.

At the top of the hill, a wide area had been cleared around the tower, presumably with the goal giving it excellent lines of fire for any archers in its balconies. The other benefit, however, went to those standing in the clearing. From this position, with the trees cleared back so far down the eastern side of the hill, all looked down into the Temple and surrounding city of Beshenna.

Beshenna burned.

Every eye saw the ruination.

Every one one of the towers dotting the cityscape billowed with heavy black smoke from fires struck much more recently than the one in the tower behind them.

More than that, however, buildings burned. Zhair'lo couldn't identify, from his distance, the purpose of each building, but the cluster-like randomness of the pattern showed indiscriminate destruction. Bakeries and mills suffered in infernos along with nurseries, forges and depots.

What would possess anyone to think this insanity constituted a valid way forward? What possibility for alliance lay with people who did such things?

'What is this, Talla?' he whispered in his mind.

Though clearly present through the link, she had no reply.