I hadn’t seen such a grim sight since the day I died.
No one stood outside the city, unless the dead hanging from the walls counted. The eyes of the corpses had been picked clean by crows, and intestines hung out of one body, half eaten and oozing blood and guts. Nearing the city, I averted my gaze, fighting the memories the scene stirred in me. Resisting the urge to run.
The decaying corn fields leading to the wall held nothing but those cawing crows. Satiated and fattened, they perched mockingly on the thatched roofs of farmers’ hovels. Not a kernel remained and no one peeked out from behind rotting doors. Amidst all that ugly lay ripe tomatoes, red as the dripping blood. They’d rot soon, if nobody harvested them. What a waste.
A flurry of movement at the gates captured my attention.
“Halt, stranger! Don’t take one more step.”
The rough, hard accent confused me. I didn’t know how to respond, so I held my hands spread out to the side and empty. I hoped they would understand I meant them no harm, but there was no telling the mind of a Ledonian.
More movement and noise sounded from behind the gates. Somebody approached, dragging their feet as if they were wounded. The wooden gates creaked open a crack and a hand beckoned me forward.
“Come closer,” the same voice said.
I moved forward.
“Slowly!”
So I slackened my pace, noticing for the first time the archers upon the wall with their bows and arrows trained onto me. I kept my hands in view and ignored the archers. Better not to give them a reason to shoot me.
Reaching the gates, I halted. No way was I going to squeeze through that crack. The Mother Creator only knew what lay behind. A sword? An axe? Another archer ready to shoot me down?
I didn’t have to, in the end. The man that had shouted at me came through. He wore an old coat of rusty chainmail and a sword at his hip. His gaze was curious, like I was an oddity from a Ledonian noble’s menagerie. Of course, I was – an oddity, at least.
“Who are you?”
“Is this Ledonia City?” I pronounced each word with care. He stared at me so dumbfounded, I wanted to make sure he understood me. He continued to stare.
“Excuse me?” he asked, rubbing his stubbly chin.
“Is this Ledonia City?” I stared back at him. Did I have to be more specific for the dimwit? “The capital city of your kingdom?” Where the king sat on a gilded throne in a palace of exquisite beauty and luxury. Or so I’d read. For all I knew, the palace was one of squalor and the throne a glorified wooden piece of dung.
It started as a rumble and then grew into full blown laughter. Not just from the man before me but from whoever lay behind the gates. I didn’t appreciate the ridicule. With a fierce look of remonstration, I let my hand hover over the hilt of Niri. This only added fuel to the laughter. I turned around, ready to find a way around this place which clearly was not Ledonia City.
“This arsehole of a town is called Elderbrooke,” the man said.
I swiveled around to face him. His laughter ceased but his eyes watered from the embarrassment I had caused myself.
“Ledonia,” the man repeated to himself, shaking his head and clearing his eyes of the tears of laughter. “You mustn’t be from around here to mistake this place for the glittering capital. And from the looks of you, you aren’t from around here.”
I ignored his questioning gaze. I didn’t know how much to trust any Ledonian; after all, they had attacked my village. This man before me could have been part of it, with Elderbrooke being the closest Ledonian town to where my village used to stand. I folded my arms and nodded toward the dead men hanging from the wall.
“What has happened here?”
The man glanced where I gestured. “Blasted marauders.” He spat on the ground, all amusement fleeing from his face. “Thieves and murderers, the lot of them. They tried to attack us, again. But we held them off. Chained the bloody bastards whom we caught to the wall, and let the birds finish them off.”
“There is an army behind those walls?”
He looked at me like he was about to laugh again, but then decided against it. “Just the town’s garrison. Why do you want to know? Are you one of the marauding scouts? If so, there’s nothing here, lassie. Go away.”
“I am curious as to why the king does not aid you from these roaming bandits.”
The man bunched his brows in my direction. Treason, perhaps, lay at the tip of his tongue. But in the end, he would not speak against his king, not to a stranger who could have been a spy. “What brings you here? The countryside is a dangerous place for a woman alone.”
I would give him a partial truth. “My village was attacked.” Five years ago.
“Yours and every other village in Ledonia.”
“I was hoping for answers.” I was looking for my mother.
“You’ll not find any here, but you will find a warm meal and a soft bed for the night, should you wish it.” The man strode back to the gates and pushed them open wider, welcoming me to Elderbrooke.
I shook my head. I did not want to go into that town. The walls were large and looming and they held death. The thought of spending a night with these strange men suffocated me already. They looked at me as if I were an exotic creature that could amuse them at their whims. No, I would not risk a night there. My heart sank.
“There are wolves out there,” the man said. His eyes softened. He meant more than just the beasts by his warning. As if that would change my mind.
I showed my back to Elderbrooke.
“And I am one of them.”
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