Page 84 of The Broken Prince

I left Nightshade and let my boots hit the ground, ground that felt the same as it did back home. When I looked at the soil, I saw that it had a red hue, which was something I hadn’t seen before. I kneeled down to grab a handful, feeling the distinct moisture in the dirt.

Nightshade watched me. Their earth is different from ours.

Yes.

“I’ll take the first watch,” Jeremiah said.

“There will be no watch. We’ll walk to the ruins. I want to see it.”

Jeremiah turned to me. “Sounds like a risky plan.”

“We won’t be able to identify anything in the darkness.”

Jeremiah gave a slight nod. “We’ll move on foot. Once the ruins are in sight, we’ll decide what to do then.”

We began the journey, the sun moving higher in the sky and searing our clothing with heat. It was a land where snow and heat were close together, even though their climates were not at all similar. We were close to the mountains, and that was the only difference.

In silence, we moved, the dragons staying behind us since they were bigger and bulkier. It took most of the day to get there because the distance was great, even if it didn’t feel that way on the back of a dragon.

We arrived, looking at the massive rubble from the tree line. The piles were enormous and stretched far and wide, an entire city destroyed, a legacy erased.

“I’m not sure what we’ll discover here.”

“This must be Palladium,” I said. “The fallen city. Perhaps it’ll provide clues where the survivors have gone.”

“Unlikely,” he said. “If I were to escape, I would flee as far as I could.” He looked at the mountains. “Probably in there. But I don’t have another suggestion, so…”

“I suspect the demons are nowhere nearby. They wouldn’t have destroyed the city like this if they intended to stay.”

“I didn’t see any kingdoms along the way.”

“I’m not sure if their cities are on the ground—or below the ground.”

“That ring of fire… What is it?”

I stared at the rubble, waiting for the sun to drop farther so I could explore. “I have no idea.”

Jeremiah stared straight ahead, releasing a heavy sigh.

“We’ll make our move at sunset.”

“Then I’ll take the first watch, Steward Ian.”

“Ian is fine.”

He looked at me.

“I’m not a steward out here. You aren’t a soldier. Right now, we’re just two men trying to survive.”

* * *

At sunset, we made our move into the remains of the fallen city. Everywhere I stepped, I hit stone. It was hard to imagine how the city had looked when it was in such disarray. Without a line of men to move stones to uncover what was underneath, it was difficult to distinguish anything.

I kicked away rocks and stone, hoping to find something meaningful somewhere, and all I came across was a skeleton. I stilled when I stared at it, the white bones speckled with dust and grime. I’d seen dead people on the battlefield, seen horrific sights that made me want to vomit, but skeletal remains…that was new.

I kicked away more pieces and saw the dark stains of blood. There was a lot of it, so this person had probably bled out and died, the rubble falling on top of them afterward. “I found something.”

Jeremiah crested a hill of rubble then approached me. Right away, he spotted the bones, which were still intact. “This happened a while ago.”