Arrin shrugged the ropes loose and shook his arms to speed the blood flow through them. He gave the sergeant a grateful smile.
Commander Maltis waved Arrin on as the soldiers drew closer. “Welcome back, old friend. I suppose today is as good a day to die as any.” He spun on his heels and marched off.
Arrin fell in step as they walked beneath the great arch of the gates. While the sense of coming home had struck him when he crossed the border, to walk through the gates of Lathah was to be bludgeoned with the feeling.
The odious scents of civilization lay thick in the air, but Arrin drew them in with vigor, savoring even the basest of them. The smell of horse dung wafted rank into his nose, second only to that of the shallow sewers that ran behind the clustered houses and stores of those who lived on the lowest level, the Ninth. With the slight downward grade from the top levels down providing the momentum, the Ninth was assailed the worst by the odor before the waste was collected and sent out to fertilize the fields.
The sharp scent of cooking meat and fragrant spices mingled with the other less attractive smells, and Arrin’s stomach rumbled in hungry dissent. He’d traveled for days without stopping, not realizing how much he’d relied on the power of the collar to see him through it. It had seen him through it all since he had been cast from Lathah.
He was glad that Barold and his men hadn’t noticed it when they searched him for weapons. Not that they could have removed it if they had. The collar was bonded to his flesh by snaky tendrils that were sunk deep into the flesh of his neck and ran throughout the network of his veins. It was a part of him until his death. A death that was likely close at hand. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, though the dreaded weight of certainty pressed down upon him.
Possessing the collar now was a dilemma, a thought he had never before entertained. He had to resist the urge to use it when he confronted Olenn. With its power, he could easily kill the prince and slaughter his guards, and perhaps even escape from Lathah. But what then?
No matter how much he hated the prince, Malya was still Olenn’s sister. She loved him as all sisters with good hearts would. Even if the people of Lathah let her ascend to the throne after what Arrin had done, knowing what their relationship had once been, she would be obligated to do what she must; what was expected of her.
That would be to order Arrin’s death.
However, the more likely outcome would be that another of the royal households would supply one of their own to be leader and remove the line of Orrick from the throne altogether. At the very least, that would leave Malya without a future, an outcast princess brought low by the irresponsible acts of her young lover, fifteen years removed from her life. That would be little better than death.
Neither option sat well with Arrin, thus making the choice of sacrificing himself to save Lathah and Malya the only viable course of action.
Not having noticed he had slowed, his legs leaden with his thoughts, Arrin muttered an apology to the soldier at his side who nudged his shoulder. He sped his pace as they wound their way through the city, once more keeping his chin tucked to avoid possible recognition.
Built like a puzzle to thwart any invaders that might make it past the outer wall, the gates to the next highest level had been placed on opposite sides of the city, each level alternated. From one gate to the next, an enemy force would need to traverse the entire span of the crowded level to reach the next entryway. Caught between two walls and slowed by the multitude of buildings between them, the passage was a charnel house waiting to happen.
Defensive battlements lined each and every wall, all prepared with the same instruments of war that the outer wall was. An enemy force would be bombarded along the entire route without mercy or reprieve. Were all else to fail, the level could be fired, the inner walls keeping the flames contained and the upper city safe from harm as Lathah’s enemies were consumed.
Against any normal foe, such defensive preparations were a guarantee of safety. However, against the empowered Grol, who didn’t need to traverse the gauntlet of levels to reach the throne, they were nothing.
Able to rain down fire from the sky, the Grol needed do nothing but attack and wait. Soon enough, the fires would flare up or the walls would crumble and chase the Lathahns from their holes and out into the open.
It would be a slaughter.
Arrin shook the vision from his head as they continued on, winding their way through the crowded city streets as the sun slowly set behind the wall of the fortress Mountains. He gritted his teeth at what was to come.
While he was in no hurry to see the prince and learn of his fate, the trip to the Crown seemed as though it would take yet another fifteen years.
With a sigh he swallowed his impatience. His death would come soon enough.
Chapter Ten
Desperate to not be caught out in the open fields by the Korme soldiers, Cael hugged the tree line, traveling just within the shadowed boundary of the Dead Lands. Despite its well-deserved reputation for terror, he had encountered nothing in his day-long flight from Nurale. For that, he was grateful.
His limbs tingling and unsteady, he stumbled to a halt beside a thick copse of twisted bushes. He dropped to his knees to catch his breath, setting the bag his father had given him beside him on the ground. His fingers ached when he released it, having clutched it so tight, for so long.
The rumble in his stomach had turned into a searing boil over the course of the day. His throat was parched and it stung each time he swallowed, a painful reminder of his thirst. Days from the river, Cael didn’t think he’d make it. He felt weak.
His head throbbed, pressure pushing against his eyes. There was a constant ringing in his ears that only seemed to further emphasize the near silence of the woods. His thoughts were mired in an agonizing quicksand, each sucked screaming into the depths before reaching full coherency.
Anger and adrenaline had spurred him onward since dawn. Each and every sound that sprung up around him was but another dose that lightened his step and sent him scurrying for cover. With no food or water to fuel his horrified flight, he had run until his joints felt on fire and his heart threatened to burst from the cage of his ribs. He had not stopped since he saw the Korme cavalry mowing down the vineyards that morning. It had taken its toll upon his flesh and his spirit.
Disjointed, he crawled and propped his back against the nearest tree trunk. His burden seemed to ooze from his shoulders as the tree bore his weight. Glad to be rid of it, he loosed a whistling sigh as waves of exhaustion washed over him. As he rested, the pain in his skull eased. Reveling in the opportunity to sit and do nothing, he stared off into the cluster of withered foliage before him. His eyelids blinked once, twice, and then stayed shut.
~
Cael’s eyes sprung wide to an ear-splitting screech. He sat upright, searching the trees for signs of movement. The shadows that had sheltered him as he made his way along the tree line had deepened, sinking into the true darkness of night. The silence that had allowed him to sleep so easily was gone, replaced by the screeches and cries of the unknown. He held his panicked breath at a rustle of branches just to his side. An instant later, he heard it again, only closer.
He crept to his feet with pained effort, nearly hissing as he realized he no longer had his father’s bag. It lay in the darkness, just feet away; somewhere. Certain of what was inside, Cael knew he could never leave it behind. What he wasn’t so sure of was exactly where he had left it. He remembered dropping it before he had fallen asleep, but with the exception of the morning’s horror, everything that happened before his eyes closed was a tangled blur in his head.
The rustle of branches seemed even closer, a low, feral growl accompanying it. With his breath held Cael inched forward, barely daring to let his feet touch the ground before taking the next step. His heart thundered as he squinted, doing his best to see in the nocturnal gloom. His eyes were slow to adjust. After several steps his foot bumped something solid that seemed to shift with the impact. Sure it was the bag he squatted and reached for it. Warm relief flooded his cheeks as his fingers closed around the clasp of his bag.
