Chapter IV
A Night of Tears

"How could something like the Encampment have been allowed by the people? It just doesn't make sense, how could citizens allow something so horrible to be built?"
"I do not know how things are in the Grasslands Kayla, but in the Territories, the only thing people care about is making a profit and not having to work themselves. The Territories are not what they used to be. People don't care about each other and now that the war has come to nearly every city one way or another, people are realizing how they have failed. But no matter how much people try to gain forgiveness, it can't change what is happening. Things will never be the same."
"Yes it can! Things can change if people try to make things better. If people could find out how much power they have inside, the people of the Territories can fight back! But the only thing the people do is cower and hope they aren't killed in the night. The people have the power to destroy the King's image and much of his army!"
"Kayla! Most of the peasants don't even know how to fight, they would be slaughtered before they even made a dent in his army."
"I am not talking about going head on into a battle. I am talking about taking down his empire from the inside. The Encampment is in the heart of the Territories, we could cut a hole through The Black King's defenses."
"We can not do this without weapons, which we could only get more weapons if we already have some. There is no way to take over even a small quadrant."
"There has to be a way! Every thing, person, army, or city has it's own weakness, a weak spot in their defenses were we could strike and cripple them."
"I know not of a way, I have spent nearly my entire childhood in the Encampment, and never saw such a thing. Perhaps once we reach the outskirts of the city, we will soon find a way, but until that time... We are just wasting air. Now Kayla, it is late, and I am tired. Once we reach the Encampment we will have to work hard on the fortifications. That is what grounded slaves do there, dig, and build walls."
"Constantly? How long could thousands of slaves build walls?"
"A long time, for nearly a century walls have been built by the slaves, starting with the first fifty slaves to ever come and camp there. Since then more and more have come and been born, and more walls have been erected. There are nearly one hundred walls of mud and logs. Then there is the stone wall which is being constructed about twenty miles out. That will give room for about fifty thousand more slaves and it would take at least ten days to make a breach in it."
"Why couldn't a master of earth just go and break a whole in it?"
"Because it is reinforced with strong magical barriers. It would take a long time for even a hundred masters of earth to take it down. By then the archers and Delviner would have destroyed them. It will take years to finish it though. The slaves won't even begin to work on it for a few years, they will build more walls to form the quadrants so people can begin to migrate to the outside. The foundations for the wall that faces the lands of the enemies of The Black King are already being laid by Territory engineers. Soon the slaves will begin stacking up bricks and plastering them into the largest fortification ever made."
"This is horrible Hadvak, we can't let this happen."
"Kayla, you don't understand. Even with a Water Master and a warrior like me leading slaves we could not get past over one hundred thousand soldiers. You have to get it into your head that it can't be done without a massive army. The army that is stationed there is to powerful, not to mention over half of them are masters of fire."
"Fire Masters! I can't believe it, I have always wanted to meet one before, but we never saw one in the Grasslands."
"Kayla, you don't want to meet one that is in the Encampment. They use their power to oppress the slaves and steal the few belongings they are allowed to have. The are nothing but a bunch of bullies."
"Those don't sound like the Fire Masters I have heard about."
"I killed many of them."
"What?"
"I killed over one hundred Fire Masters when I was eight years old. One of them were beating my little brother for not being able to carry large buckets of water. He was going to kill him for speaking out against him, and I couldn't control myself. He was about to use fire on him and I unsheathed my staff and swung at him. Unfortunately he saw me coming and used his sword to fight me. We battled for almost ten seconds when I detached the other half of my staff and unsheathed it as well. He proved to be un-expierienced, and I cut off his head. I was soon surrounded, and they attacked me. I fought back. I fought for at least ten minutes and killed over a hundred of them. But soon they had me outnumbered. I surrendered to them."
Hadvak began to weep softly under his breath.
"I was taken out of the Encampment, and sent to The Black King's fortress in the once great Territory capital. I sat in front of the very man who now controls nearly half of the continent. He seemed so nice, and kind. Almost as if he was a father of hundreds and loved them all with great compassion. He told me of how he was the proud king of the eastern half of the continent, and how he wished to be king of the eastern half of the world at least. He began to tell me of how he was forming an elite team of the greatest warriors around the world to complete a series of special missions. He wanted me."
"What? He wanted an eight year old slave to join him. That is crazy to think about. Being selected to serve directly under the most evil man in the Territories."
"And why is that funny?"
"It's... it's just strange to think about an eight year old boy fighting the most challenging adult warriors The White King has to offer that's all."
"I'm not a helpless kid Kayla! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself alright! You don't know anything about me, so don't just act like you do. You haven't seen me fight! You haven't seen how powerful I am, how scary and dangerous I can be! When I am fighting for survival I get this strange feeling and I become extremely powerful. I have killed so many people that probably didn't deserve it, they were most likely just following orders so they weren't murdered by The Black King!"
Hadvak fell to his knees crying, with his hands hanging from the ceiling.
"I am sorry Hadvak, I didn't mean to make you angry, I am sorry I said anything. And your right, I don't know you that well and by what you have told me about when you were fighting those soldiers, it sounds horrible. I hate taking lives, even if they need to be killed for the greater good. I once had to kill some bandits who came to our house. They nearly beat my father to death, and when my mother tried to flee they... they..."
Kayla shut her eyes, fighting back tears. They fell down and dripped off of her cheek.
"I understand. My mother was taken by the guards back to their barracks. They tried to take her when they were there. She resisted, and was killed for trying to kill the guards and escape, that is what they told their commanding officer anyway."
"They are so cruel to us, when I saw what they were doing to my family, I lost control of myself."
"You did what you had to do Kayla, just like I did what I had to do."
"I used a disc of ice to cut one of them in half Hadvak, I could have at least just frozen them in ice and waited for the authorities to come, but I didn't. Instead I murdered them in cold blood."
"We do what we have to Kayla, we do what we need to in order to survive."
"I know, but it is hard when you are just beginning to have to fight in order to live."
"When you are alone it can be very hard, but with each other I think we can survive the Encampment."