by Tara Brown
I shook my head in small twitches. “I don’t know but I like it. I like the idea that I made her pay for every whip mark. I gave them justice and I liked it. I will do it again and again until they are all dead.”
The tears were streaming down my hot cheeks, stinging the whip cut on my face.
He cried with me. “We can’t let this make us like them. We need to be better.”
I shook my head. “I will sacrifice myself for them all. I will be the hand of judgment to stop the rest of them from feeling it. I have no guilt for what I have done. None. I think I am broken.”
Amber sat next to me. “What did you do?”
I looked down at the fire. “I made someone pay for the crimes they committed against the innocent.”
She nodded. “Sounds fair to me.”
“Yes. It was fair. She could have killed me in the struggle but my anger was worth more. I bested her and she bled to death. I had no advantage over her.”
Amber looked at me. “You did the right thing.”
I smiled through the tears.
My eyes burned from scouring the hillside and trying to see through the thick smoke, but I saw no movement. We sat in silence for a long time. The sky was black, and in the haze of the smoke I could barely see the stars. The light we did see was from the angry flames of the burning city below.
I was about to stand and march back to The Undead City, now burning and filled with the dead, when I heard his voice.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I believe there is a sizable group of angry men heading this way.”
I looked over at the pained face of Lyle, staring at me in the dark. He was leaning against a tree and breathing heavily.
I smiled wide and leapt at him.
He grabbed my hand and started to run. “We had better hurry. They were very angry that all of their coal went up in flames.”
We started into the dark forest as the night got blacker and the stars became visible.
The Kingdom
The vast plane was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was an entire field of dry brown grass that was itchy to walk through and knee high. The naked people kept bending and scratching. There was a lake at the edge of the kingdom and mountains as far as the eye could see. The castle was beyond large, made of stone and brick. There was a wall of sharpened poles and stones surrounding the entire kingdom.
Michael smirked as he stopped midway across the field. “I’ll wait here, don’t be long, please.” We left him and crossed the plane in one large group.
We neared the gates and a small bridge, with a river under it that fed into the lake. The guards at the gate gave us a horrified look as we crossed the bridge.
“What is this?” the man asked as if humored by our group. He was dressed in leathers and carried a long knife.
I shuddered seeing it. It reminded me of the hacking that had happened that night.
Greg stepped forward. “We have escaped from The Undead City. We are from The Last City of Men. Most have the reset still. We seek something called asylum.”
The man glanced over the mostly naked people and grinned. “Come on in. No weapons though.” He glanced at my knife. I stepped back. “I’ll wait out here.”
Greg shook his head. “Just leave it with them.”
Lyle started dropping weapons onto the ground. He had them stashed in his clothes. I started to smile, seeing the pile he’d built. The guards laughed.
The naked people looked horrified.
Dawn was coming behind us.
I dropped my knife and looked at the guard. “I want it back when I leave, is that alright?”
He grinned. “Leave? Why would you leave?”
I shook my head. “I’m not done yet.”
He gave me hard look. “What aren’t you done?”
I smiled brightly. “Killing.”
He nodded. “Fair enough. The blade will be here. If you want a better one, we have them for trade.”
I shook my head. “I have nothing to trade.”
His lip curled into a grin. “That’s not entirely true, though is it?”
Lyle stepped in front of him. “It is true.”
The guard put a hand up. “Okay, stay calm, lad.”
The other guard pointed inside as the gate opened. “Go to the right. There is a man named Lori. He will outfit you all and make certain you find the right places to work.”
We walked in, Greg in the lead with Amber gripping to his arm. Lyle and I brought up the back. The inside of the castle grounds was a city of sorts. There were small houses and a patted-down, dirty road that was hard, not muddy. There was smoke in the air and the smell of wood-burning fire. It was cozy and reminded me of the river people. I missed them in a sick way.
People were dressed in long clothes; the bite in the early morning air was intense. A man with a broad chest and a dark beard walked toward us. He put his arms out. “You must be here for me.”
Greg put a hand out. “Lori.”
The man chuckled, taking Greg’s hand and shaking it. “I am.”
Greg looked back at us all. His face was filled with worry. He cleared his throat. “Well, we were told to report to you.”
He nodded, stroking his beard. “Yes. The Last City folk always need a bit of help adjusting. We don’t get many, but the ones we do get can annoy the heck out of everyone else. That reset is nasty business.”
I scowled. “Imagine having it.”
He shook his head. “I meant no insult. Don’t get your knickers in a knot. We are not like your people. We live free but under the rule of his highness, King Philip. He protects us and helps us to maintain the order we need.”
I nodded. “We just came from the river people and The Undead City.”
He nodded. “That would explain the shocking sight of you all. You are a mess. The rules of the kingdom are as follows: no violence within the walls, no stealing, no cruelty, no traitors. If you don’t like it here, you are always welcomed to leave. We have plots of land and lumber; you may build a home for yourselves. The first few weeks of work will pay for the clothes we give you, the food you eat, and the hay you sleep in. Eventually, you will earn our trust and respect. We have several of your kind here; they live amongst us. They have been here long enough that they remember where they are and who they are. We have a system; it works. If you don’t like it, you are welcome to go back to where you came from.” He clapped his hands. “That is the end of my speech.”
I nodded and looked around at the frightened faces. “It is no different than the deal we had with the River City people. We lived the same way with them. The only difference is, I don’t think these people will sell you into slavery.”
Lori held a hand out. “We don’t do slavery. We don’t have slaves. The king may request things that he is obliged but he is never cruel. We live in peace.”
Lyle folded his arms over his chest. “Why do you do it?”
Lori smiled and nodded. “If we live with only our numbers, we face the same problem you faced in the cities; new blood balances the gene pool. The larger our city is, the less likely we will be attacked and destroyed. As of now, we are a large army of people. We are feared by the heathens, the river folk, and the undead. We live in peace. We have for hundreds of years. We don’t want your technology and we don’t want your ways. We like our life the way it is.”
I narrowed my gaze. “You’re from The Last City.”
He laughed. “You are a smart girl.”
I smiled. “You have always had your memories then?”
He nodded. “The Last City has never been a place for people like me.”
Greg nodded. “I agree.”
Lori herded the people to a shop. Plain clothes, worse than ours back home, were given out. The group we were with didn’t care. They just wanted to be dressed again.
Greg stayed in his black pants and black sleeveless shirt. He carried a stack of laundry. He nodded at me. “There’s a washhouse.”
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sp; I frowned. “For clothes?”
He shook his head. “No. For people.”
My eyes lit up. I glanced at Lyle who was chatting up Lori and a few of the other men who were handing out clothes. I followed Greg and Amber to the washhouse. I smiled. “So, I’m leaving tomorrow. I want to go back with Michael and find a way into the city and figure out how to stop all of this.”
Amber frowned. “Let’s stay here. Let’s just rebuild our lives here, Gwyn. I don’t want to hike and walk and fight. I don’t even remember much of it but I know I’m tired. I’m tired with every inch of my body.”
I shook my head. “I need to go back and get Helena. I need to put an end to this. I need to find Brooke.”
Greg scowled. “You’ve got a taste for blood now.” He passed me a cloth for toweling off and a pat of soap.
I nodded. “It’s justice I’ve got a taste for.” We stepped into the washhouse and looked at the stalls. Each one had a curtain to draw across a rod and a nozzle made of metal. It wasn’t like a shower at home but it was close. I stepped inside and peeled my clothing from my body. The cloth smelled and looked rotten almost, but the leathers felt good still. I turned the crank on the wall and water poured out on top of me. It was cool. I tensed and jumped. I soaked my body, noting the smell in the water. It was part me and part lake. I made a lather and soaped my entire body, including my hair. I turned the crank again and the water came pouring out. I scrubbed and rinsed until I was certain I was clean, and then lathered again. The soap burned my cuts and scrapes. My skin was a mess, but when I toweled off, I felt like a new person. I made a lather and washed my leathers. I stayed in the huge sheet of a towel and took my leathers to the fire on the side of the building. Greg and Amber were there cuddled into each other.
I smiled. “You two, huh?”
She looked confused but he smiled and nodded. “I think us two.”
I shivered next to the fire. The sun was rising over the mountains. I sighed. “I’m so tired, I can hardly see straight.”
Lyle walked out of the washhouse in a sheet towel too. He draped his pants and his shirt over the line. His skin was marked in places. When he stood next to me, I dragged a finger along the line on his chest. “What’s this?”
He grinned. “Whip mark. Those undead people are an angry lot.” He turned so I could see the marks on his back.
I gasped, “Lyle, who did this?”
He laughed. “The man who caught me lighting the fires. I let him think I was an escaped slave.” His eyes twinkled. “Only for a minute though.”
He ran a finger along the cut on my cheek. “I see you met with the same fate.”
I nodded. “Only for a minute.” I looked out at the gate. “We need to get going. Rest for a bit and go?”
He shrugged. “We could stay. Lori and the guys were saying it’s amazing here. Lori came when he was twenty-nine after his wife went missing. He’s forty now and loves it still. Says that the king is a sensible man.”
I winced. “I can’t leave Brooke out there. If she’s alive, I need to find her.”
He shook his head. “You barely knew her. She wasn’t a close friend.”
I felt the disgusted look on my face. “But I know her fate. I know she is one of the slaves. I would hope if the shoe were on the other foot, she would come for me.”
He sighed. “Okay.”
“Not just that, but Bran. Don’t you think he would love it here? You would leave him to rot in the city, having his seed taken and used to make babies in people who don’t know? You would let Lisabeth run us like her own slave army?” My eyes lit up. “Where do the old people go? I see old people here, walking about. The river folk have old people, the undead have old people, and we don’t. Where are they? I didn’t see the homes in the maps. I didn’t see where they lived. It wasn’t on the city map.”
His eyes fought something. I pointed at him. “You know the answer to that.” I looked behind me at Greg whose face was stoic. He swallowed hard. “They die. When they become a burden to society, they die. It’s peaceful; they’re put to sleep.”
I grimaced. “Grandpa and Grandma went there?”
He nodded.
I looked back at Lyle. He put his hands up. “I agree, we go. Okay. I’m just tired and sore and those undead people are going to be looking for me. Thus far, I think we’ve been really lucky and I don’t know how long that’s going to last.”
I scoffed. “Lucky? Have you seen your back?”
He shook his head and grinned. “I’m scared to look.” I pressed my hands on his chest and stood on my tiptoes. “Kiss me.”
He lowered his face, lightly pressing his lips against mine. We held our faces there as if just savoring the second we had.
I snuggled into him. “I need to sleep.”
He nodded. “Lori said we could sleep in the guesthouse for tonight.”
I sighed and grabbed his hand. “Lead the way.”
The guesthouse was not nice, compared to our old life, but compared to the River City it was glamorous. The bed was made of hay and straw. The blankets were thick and soft. Everything smelled earthy but nice. The lady who ran the guesthouse was older and sweet. She smiled too hard at Lyle. It made me smile at her. She blushed when she showed us the room and closed the door.
We crawled into the blankets, so exhausted neither of us even cared the other person had no clothes on. I had my blanket and he had his. I muttered, “I’m going to be so embarrassed when I wake up.”
I felt him smile against my face. “I won’t look, I swear.”
And we were gone instantly.
I must have been too tired to dream. I woke with my blankets around my waist. It was dark in the room, thankfully.
I sighed and looked around. Lyle was staring down at me. I blushed and reached for the blankets. “You said you wouldn’t look.”
He bent his face onto mine. “I lied.”
I laughed as he kissed my cheek softly. “I am starving.” My stomach rumbled as if it were making a point of what I’d said.
He kissed lightly. “One of these days, you and I are going to stay in a bed, and I am going to show you how much I love you.”
I smiled and nodded. “Okay. For me that means you will bring trays of food and drink, and massage cream into my battered feet.”
He nodded. “Done.” He sighed against my skin, rubbing his body against mine slightly. “You owe me something, you know?”
I pulled back. “What?”
His eyes twinkled, even in the dark. “You told me that if I came back from The Undead City and met you on the hill, you would tell me how you feel about me. That was the only thing that kept me going.”
I grabbed his chin and looked into his eyes. “I love you, Lyle. Not because I have to or because they made me. I love you because you’re strong and sweet and funny and kind, and you make me feel loved. I think that is a rare thing in this world. Now that I have seen other places, I know the kind of man you are is a rare gift.”
He kissed my cheek. “Marry me.”
I swallowed hard. “I murdered someone savagely, and I intend to do it again and again.”
He nodded. “Me too. But I still want you to marry me.”
I nodded. “Okay. I want to marry you.” I kissed him softly. “When we get back here, and I’m not a seventeen-year-old girl. I need to be at least nineteen.”
He groaned, “Noooooo.”
I laughed. “Yes. And another thing, poor Michael is out there sleeping in the woods, and you and I are about to eat whatever that smell is, and have slept on a bed. We can’t ask him to wait much longer. We need to go.”
He sighed against my face again. “Okay. We will get married when we get back here safe and sound. If we get separated or anything, we will meet here, in this bed.”
I laughed. “I will wait a thousand years, if I have to.”
He nodded. “Deal.”
“Deal.”
We snuggled for a second longer before getting up. I wrapp
ed myself in the sheet towel again. We slipped down the stairs to the line by the fire. My leathers were nearly crunchy from being wet and drying. I wrestled into them in the shower stall.
They felt funny with no underwear and no shirt over top. I was certain I looked exactly like the river people. My body was exposed and covered in marks and tanned skin. I stepped into the firelight to see Lyle. He was speaking with a barrel-chested man.
He glanced at me. “This is Gwyndolyn, my betrothed.”
The barrel-chested man chuckled. “Yes, well, I can see the appeal. That is a very attractive manner of dress. Lovely to meet you, dear. I am King Philip.”
I let him shake my hand, stunned at the size and warmth of him. His hand nearly burned mine. He was about my father’s age with a beard like Lori’s, but he was plump.
I could see it though. “You are from The Last City as well?”
He nodded. “In a way, I am. My father was from the city. He came here and stayed for many years. He ruled for a time and then left my mother, the queen, pregnant with their fourth child. He was feared dead, until one day he returned an old man. He said he had gone back to the city to ensure that his family knew about the rest of the world.”
I gulped. “I believe you and Lyle share that family member then.”
Lyle nodded. “My grandfather had the same story but in reverse. He left the city for many years and came home with stories of the outside.”
King Philip pulled Lyle into him. “I am your uncle then. Welcome, Lyle of my blood.” He hugged him hard. Lyle looked stunned.
The man hugged him and pulled him back. “You do look exactly as my father did. Same hair and eyes.”
I looked between the two men and shook my head. “You do look similar.”
“What was his name?” the king asked.
Lyle smiled. “Philip.”
The king laughed. “That it was.”
“Philip Reginald McCarthy.”
The king beamed. “That is a strange coincidence that you would come here too. The great Lord God works in wonderful ways.” He patted Lyle on the back.
I frowned. “God?”
The king laughed again. “We follow the ancient Christian ways here. We live by the Ten Commandments here. Philip the First brought them here when he left the city. He was a devout man. We have a full cathedral and have service every Sunday.”