Page 75 of Veil of Vasara (Fate of the Five #1)

CHAPTER 75 – HESTAN

“I t looks the same,” Dyna observed as we approached the border.

“There is no way to tell from here,” I reminded her.

Her face twisted painfully. “But surely,” she cut herself off, grabbing her reins tighter. “You’re right,” she whispered, “I only wish we could have returned sooner. All of this has been for nothing.”

I thought about the note, the Healer, the Prince.

It had not all been for nothing, far from it.

But it had nearly cost us both our lives, at one time or another.

“We came as soon as we could. Your father and your uncle will know of your efforts.” I smiled at her.

It was true, we had left before sunrise this morning, when the Palace was hushed, the air still cool.

Dyna pursed her lips, her eyelids lowering.

“I…hope so.” She sighed deeply. “I wish I’d had the opportunity to say farewell. To some of the others, I mean.”

“They won’t be aggrieved, My Lady. I am sure several of them have departed as well.”

“Some will stay for the wedding, will they not?”

I nodded. “Some.”

Dyna shuddered. “On second thought… Perhaps it is for the best. I’m not sure I could have stood to see the look on that Prince’s face as he bid us farewell.”

I chuckled under my breath.

I thought about how the Prince might have looked, what he might have said. A teasing smile, a probing remark. A parting gift perhaps. Something ridiculous.

I would see the Prince again. Of this, I had no doubt. There was no need for farewells between us.

We came closer to the gates of the outer city. Some of the armed guards who had arrived to accompany us back began to ride ahead.

“My Lady, Sir, it will be better if we ride ahead of you as well.”

Dyna and I cast a glance at once another.

“Why, may I ask?” I said.

The guard hovered near us as the others got into formation.

“For your safety, Sir. You will see.”

With that, he jolted his horse forwards, joining the others.

Dyna’s face was cast with fear.

“Ride closer to me, My Lady.” I gestured for her to close the gap between our horses some more.

She did as I asked, peering anxiously around her.

Moments later the gates opened.

Nothing.

It was not that there was nothing which amounted to the threat to our safety the guard had alluded to. It was that there was nothing at all.

It was utterly silent. Normally, there would have been people bustling around, even this close to the gates at the outer border. But there was only the howl of eerie silence, carried by the breeze, and the rustle of stones and leaves, being pushed along the ground.

“Where is everyone?” Dyna mumbled.

I took in the scene around me, the grey cobbled road, the small and inexpensive houses, the alleyways the…

The bodies.

A family of four had hung themselves outside of their home.

A couple, huddled in an alleyway, dead in each other’s grip.

A young man, who could be hardly older than Dyna, collapsed outside his front door, his face grey, his lips blue.

Disjointed sobs escaped Dyna’s lips.

“Get those bodies down! Don’t you have a brain? The Lady is here you fool!” One of the guards shouted to the gate’s attendants, some of whom were now escorting us as well.

The man nodded and agreed meekly, shuffling over to scale the roof of the family’s home, and cut down their bodies with his blade.

Dyna watched as he did.

“My Lady, look away.” I tried to get her attention.

But she didn’t turn around, only replied, facing away from me.

“What would be the use now?” Her broken voice was shattering.

I couldn’t think. It was as if her question had wiped my grasp of vocabulary from my mind.

What would be the use? Such images, once seen, could not be wiped away by the closure of your eyes.

At times, closing them only made them even brighter, clearer.

Dyna had already seen far too much for someone of her age.

I frowned, recalling the scenes I myself had witnessed, six years her junior.

And all the scenes since.

“Oi! You little brat…get back here!”

My head snapped around. One of the guard’s fists was clenched tightly around the collar of a figure standing by his horse.

The figure was a child.

The child’s jade pale skin looked even more stark against his slit dark blue eyes, which he averted, refusing to make any eye contact. Some of his dark matted hair was also caught in the guard’s clutch.

In response to the boy’s silence, the guard jerked his collar even harder. The child let out a small yell, and tripped over his own feet, falling to the ground, his palms scraping against the stone.

A small coin pouch emerged from the boy’s right hand.

The boy trembled, his face pressed into the dirt, but still, he gripped that coin pouch as tightly as possible.

The guard dismounted, he raised his foot and went to kick the boy away. The boy curled up into himself, anticipating the strike.

But it never came.

The guard drew his foot back and narrowed his eyes at me.

“Captain. You’re not defending this thief, are you?” His words were laced with disdain.

I smiled tightly. “Sir, you’re not assaulting a child a fraction of your size…are you?”

The guard huffed and spat on the ground at my feet.

“Captain, maybe the rumours are true? The Hunt was keeping all the goods for themselves"—he eyed the boy behind me — “and the coin.”

“This child is not part of the Hunt.”

“Ha. That’s right. That would be impossible." He grinned unkindly.

“Sir?” I asked.

“The Hunt no longer exists…and you’re no longer a Captain.”

I made no sign this revelation disturbed me. It most certainly did, but there was a part of me that had predicted this outcome.

I swallowed and cast a brief glance at my feet before meeting the guard’s eyes again.

“This child is only hungry,” I stated.

The guard turned to look at another two men behind him. Slowly, one by one, they all cast glances at one other.

And erupted into laughter.

I clenched my fists behind my back, watching them. I did not turn around, but I could feel the boy behind me approaching, growing closer to my back.

The boy grabbed one of my clenched fists with his own small hand. I swivelled my head over my shoulder, looking down, but the boy did not meet my eye, only glared at the guards with disapproval.

This close, I could see just how small he was, but because of his state of starvation, it was hard to estimate his age. He could have been five, or ten.

The guard finally spoke again. “Hungry, is he?” He jabbed a finger in the boy’s direction. “What right does a skinny mutt like him have to take our money? What about our bellies? Our hunger? Huh? The blight in this place doesn’t exclusively apply to children. There’s no time for charity here.” He spat the words out aggressively, spittle jumping through his teeth.

“What did time ever have to do with it?” I asked flatly.

The man clapped his hands together as if amused. “I get it. You’re one of those. Feel free to starve to death after giving all your money and food to the little ones then. Ha.”

“If everyone thought the same way you do Sir, your gold pouch wouldn’t exist at all. After all, somebody still pays you,” I reminded him.

“That’s because I earned it!” The guard stepped closer to me. At this, Dyna, who had been watching from a distance atop her horse, got off it.

I shook my head no. She should stay where she was.

“This brat, what did he do, huh? Nothing!”

“He’s a child. What is it that you expect him to do, Sir?” My irritation grew every time he spoke, rekindled anew with his obtuse selfishness.

“Give me my money back, that’s what!” He half-jumped on the spot, pressing his heels up off the ground, “And receive the punishment that he deserves.”

“There will be no punishment.” I iterated every word clearly, enunciated them precisely.

The guard raised his brows. “Won’t there now?” He turned around to his men. “You hear that lads, no punishment!”

Some of the men laughed along with him, a minority looked slightly uncomfortable.

“How about you take it for him then?” the guard said.

Dyna strode forwards then, purposefully, her face twisted in determination.

“Sir! Have you forgotten who you are speaking with? Even if the Hunt is no more, the Captain has been the reason you have filled your own stomach for years! Have some respect!” Her nostrils flared from anger, but I could see the trembling of her arms as well.

The guard, faced with a descendant of the King, seemed a little less agitated suddenly.

“My Lady, I respect him very much.” He eyed me mockingly, “But also I respect the King’s justice…your uncle’s justice.”

The false demureness in his voice was so painfully obvious that even Dyna, who was usually oblivious to such things, noticed it.

“My Uncle would be appalled if he heard of your actions! The boy will give you your money and that will be the end of it.”

The guard thought for a few moments then bowed. “Yes, My Lady.”

Dyna turned to me and the boy. I faced the child, he glared at me imploringly, silently begging for my intervention.

“It’s alright,” I said quietly so that only he could hear. “I’ll give you some of my money later.”

The boy blinked multiple times but still refused to let go of the pouch.

“And some food,” I added.

The boy’s brows loosened at that promise.

I reached over and gently removed the pouch from his grasp.

I stretched out my arm, the guard came and snatched the pouch from my palm. Dyna nodded and walked away.

“And the boy is travelling with me,” I called out.

The guard laughed, pocketing the pouch deeper within his clothing.

“You can’t be serious. You wish for us to travel with a thief?”

“Sir, you have my word, should the boy attempt to steal from another, then I will take his punishment in full.”

The man’s eyes glittered with satisfaction.

In my haste, I had spoken too rashly. That statement, I now realised, was a mistake. It would be easy for any one of the guards to feign a lost object, some stolen money. It would be easy for them to create an excuse to punish me now.

“Oh really? And what if he does, what then?” The guard arched a brow.

“Then he and I will travel the rest of the way alone.”

“What about the Lady?”

“I trust you will bring her to safety.”

There was no way they could not. Despicable as they were, they had been tasked with Dyna’s safe arrival, and they could not risk the King’s wrath should they fail.

The guard tilted his head looking down at the boy. The boy drew closer to me as he did, now clutching my entire forearm.

“He’s very attached to you, isn’t he?” The guard probed.

I didn’t reply.

“I wonder how long it will be before he’s just meat in someone else’s stew.”

Without taking my eyes off the guard, I reached out and placed my hand over the boy’s ears drawing him closer to my side.

“Yours perhaps, Captain?” His suggestive voice drifted as he walked away, chuckling to himself.

I removed my hand and looked down at the boy.

“No more stealing, or I’ll be punished,” I said.

He nodded enthusiastically.

I took his hand and led him to my horse, placing him in front of me and my saddle, before I mounted it as well.

The boy said nothing, he had bandages around his wrists, which were dirtied and frayed. He rubbed at them silently, peering around him nervously.

The company grew quiet, and combined with the barren nature of our surroundings, an illusion of calm was in the air. But it was only that.

I wondered who the boy was, what his name was, what had happened to him, where his family were. But it was clear he was in no mood to speak, and I didn’t wish to pry his worst memories from him.

We rode for a while longer. At some point, noises stretched towards us. Clamouring and brittle in nature, urgent and aggressive.

After the outer city and its villages, came the Central City, Celion.

Normally there would be guards here, soldiers that the King had deployed to keep watch at the gates.

Now, there were indeed individuals standing at the gates, but they were not the King’s guards.

Three men and one woman, all armed with a variety of weapons approached us. Behind them, a mob of people hovered, outside their homes, around posts and pillars, watching us with darkened expressions.

“Let us pass, woman,” the lead guard spoke again, addressing the female at the front of the group.

The woman quirked a brow, her eyes flicking over our company quickly. They rested upon me and the boy for a brief second, her mouth twitching slightly.

“I don’t think so,” one of the men from behind her said.

“It’s been too long since we’ve seen you lot out of that Palace,” a second one replied, his long dark hair tied back.

“You must have seen us leave,” the guard replied angrily.

The woman at the front of the group shrugged, narrowing her silver eyes. “There was no reason for us to stop you from leaving. You could have left at any time, we couldn’t predict that.”

She took a step closer.

“But we could predict your return. Easier to greet you that way.” She batted her eyelashes mockingly.

“I won’t warn you again, woman. Let us pass or I’ll cut you and your friends down.”

The woman pressed her tongue against her lower lip and raised her eyebrows disbelievingly. “You won't have the chance.”

The horses became uneasy, as if sensing the danger, the imminent threat all around us.

“What is it you want?” I asked the woman.

She drew her eyes away from the guard and towards me.

“I recognise you.”

“He was the Hunt’s Captain, most people recognise him,” the guard interjected.

“Isn’t it obvious what we want?” The woman ignored him. “We want to eat. We want what her uncle has.” She pointed exaggeratedly at Dyna.

“We don’t have much food on us,” I replied warily.

The woman waltzed towards my horse with confidence. “You misunderstand me. You and your envoy will stay here. We’re taking you, holding you hostage if you will. One of you can go and report the incident to the King. And they’ll tell him” — she rested her elbow on my saddle. The boy in front of me flinched away from her slightly— “that either he releases some of his food stores, that he meets with us to discuss our starvation, or we will start sending him a fresh corpse each day. And once we get to his niece, we’ll start with her fingers, then her toes, then—"

A sword was plunged straight through her mouth. She choked on her own blood and coughed it up, straight onto my leg, and onto the boy’s side.

I yanked at the reins, and pulled the horse to the side. My face contorted in horror. The boy’s eyes were wide with terror.

The guard she had been conversing with just seconds before, wiped blood off the back of his face as he yanked his sword out.

Chaos erupted within seconds.

The villagers were plunging toward us, loathing in their eyes.

I frantically swivelled my head around in search of Dyna. She had already begun to ride ferociously into the distance, a few of the guards following her.

But it wasn’t long before several of them fell to the ground, with arrows and knives in their backs.

Amidst the confusion, my horse gave out from under me, and threw myself and the boy forwards. I reached out and grabbed my arms around him, twisting in the air to land on my back, and cushion his fall.

The horse partially landed on top of my lower legs, I let out a groan at the pain, which was especially piercing in the leg that had already been injured, the one that was already scarred.

The horse’s legs had been slit, and approaching me now, was a man, a sword hung by his side, covered in thick blood.

I shoved the boy to the side and dragged myself from out under the horse’s legs. I just managed to grab my spear on time to block the blow the man had directed at my head.

I had barely stood on aching legs before he attacked again. I spun the spear in front of me, defending myself once more.

I had no interest in killing these people.

But as the man charged at me for a third time, unbridled rage in his reddened face, I realised with crushing clarity, that I may not have a choice.

The boy stood behind me, crouching as if ready to attack someone, watching and waiting.

The man before us yelled and lunged forwards for my head again. I ducked and rose, thrusting my spear forwards, intending to disarm him.

Instead, he produced another sword and trapped my spear between it. It wobbled and vibrated under the strain of two blades crushing it from each side.

At that moment, my gaze scurried around. All before me, a flurry of people, even children were fighting. Several villagers were dead. Several guards were dead. There was the distinct smell of guts, and the iron tang of blood in the air. The sound of metal clashing on metal, of the wild screams of those intent to kill, and the agonised ones of the mortally wounded and dying. The cries of the mothers who knelt by their children’s bodies, of the children who knelt by their fathers.

The man pressed down further, intending to break my spear in half. I freed myself by jumping off the ground, spinning in the air to the side, and landing on my feet, crouched.

I got up. He went for my torso. I blocked his strike and hit him in the face with my other hand, now clenched into a fist. He grabbed his bleeding nose and looked up at me, shocked. With his bloodied fingers, he reached for my neck. I jerked back and swung my spear from top to bottom diagonally, striking at his legs. He fell to the ground.

I kicked him back and rested my foot on his chest. He struggled, and attempted to get up, but I struck him hard in the face with my heel. He fell unconscious.

The boy was watching me in half-awe, half-petrification. I ran over and grabbed his hand, pulling him with me as I said, “You need to hide! Go!”

I let go, but the boy refused to do the same.

“You’d be safer with them not us,” I insisted urgently, having to raise my voice over all the noise.

The boy still gripped me tightly. Then his eyes widened, looking over my shoulder.

I turned, a woman, who was also wielding a spear, had been inches from piercing me through the neck. I smacked her weapon away with my own. She tried to raise it back up again, but before she could, someone, another villager ran into her, making her lose her balance. She fell onto her face.

I stepped back, pressing the boy back as well. We watched on as the villager who had knocked my attacker to the ground, was followed by many others, who all snapped, and grabbed at his clothing.

He was pressing something close to his chest.

“I found it! It’s mine!”

“We’ve got children! We all need to eat!”

“That’s right you have to share some!”

“Why should I? WHY SHOULD I? HAHAHAHA.” The man’s wide eyes were fixed on the bundle in his arms.

Another woman stepped forwards. A baby was cradled in her left arm. She lifted her fist, and with a kitchen knife, stabbed the man in the eye.

He wailed, he screamed incorrigibly, but still with one hand, he gripped the bundle ardently, only using the other to stop his bleeding.

He was still screaming as he tried to run away.

The woman who had been holding her baby, a vacant look in her eyes, a hollowness to her cheeks, reached out and grabbed his hair, pulling him back.

Someone else standing in front of the man reached out, ready to take the bundle from his arms. The woman’s eyes widened as she watched, as she realised her perceived prize would go to someone else. But she only had one hand.

She discarded her baby, practically threw it to the ground.

Within seconds, its muffled cries were halted as it was trampled over.

Not one person stopped. Not one person spared a second thought for the new-born.

I instinctively pressed the boy and myself further back, my eyes widening, but we couldn’t escape this place, this scene.

The woman gritted her teeth and grabbed the package from his hands. The now half-blinded man reached out screaming, trying to retrieve the food back, but he couldn’t see. The woman tried to run away, but the villagers followed her still, fighting amongst themselves. Some drawing weapons.

They grabbed at her skirts and she fell to the ground, the food leaping from her palms.

Still, she didn’t make a sound as they walked over her back and crushed her skull, as they clawed at the small package, huddling over it, stretching it, grabbing as much as they could from its meagre contents.

In the distance, the small figures of Dyna and one guard could be made out, higher up in the village. They were heading towards the Palace. They had gotten away it seemed. Just one of them. Just her.

I let out a sigh of relief and turned, intending to find a place to lie low.

The boy followed me.

“Stay with them…they…”

But I frowned and glanced over my shoulder at the trampled baby on the ground, the trampled mother just metres ahead of it, at the ongoing brutality all around us.

I had been wrong. He was most certainly not safer here, with these people.

The boy watched my face almost sympathetically, as if he were waiting for me to realise something he had known all this time. As if I were the child and he the grown man.

“Come with me." I grabbed his hand. The slight smile in the boy’s eyes was evident. Even now, he could smile. Even now, he was glad.

But he had probably been alone for weeks, perhaps months now, and there was no way of knowing what had happened to him before then.

I ran with him, weaving through the disarray, leaping over the corpses. I found it, a small dark road, one I had used before, we could go down there and…

“Stop!”

I pressed my feet firmly in place. Before us was a much larger group of villagers this time.

“He’ll do nicely,” one of the men said, eyeing the boy hungrily.

“Mmmmm…” another woman said beside him. “He’s a little thin but…meatier than the one from last week.”

I frowned, trying to conceive of a plan.

There was no way I could envisage escaping this alive without killing now.

My fingers twitched. I reached behind me, for my spear.

“Not this one,” a voice commanded the herd of people.

Upon hearing it, the air felt like lead in my lungs.

With my hand still on my weapon, over my shoulder, I slowly pivoted around, to face the source of the voice behind me.

Kaspian. The man I had discharged from the Hunt just a day before leaving for Vasara, was standing before me, seemingly the leader of his own kind of unit now. His hair was longer and his grey clothes more worn, but he still had that steely presence, that determined air.

He didn’t move. He eyed the child beside me, then the people behind us, who had quailed at his glare, before he spoke.

“As you can see, Captain, I didn’t need that medallion after all.”