by Alex Alcasid
Loren sighed, and relented. She was uncomfortable with leaving any of her party behind, but it was a safer option than risking Ma’trii shot by the sentry guards. The princess spurred her horse on again, continuing at a steady pace through the tall grass of the plains till they got to a clearing.
It was a wide space, where the tall grass was periodically cut down, providing the sentries upon the walls with a clear view around the city’s gates. The walls themselves were made of packed earth, mud, and straw, with high towers spaced around the city. As Loren approached the closed gate of the city, a Beastman posted above the gate called down to them.
“Who goes there?” said a raven Beastman, angling his head with a jerk to look at them.
“Travelers from Aldoran.” Loren replied, raising her voice to be heard above the wind of the plains. “We’d like to buy supplies before continuing on our journey.”
The Beastman angled his head again, taking note of the travelers. They did not look like a threat, and travelled simply. He turned to another guard and discussed quietly. “The gate will open, hold there.” The raven Beastman called down, before disappearing out of sight behind a wall. The gate creaked open, rising steadily into the wall.
Loren urged her horse on as the portcullis slid to a stop. She rode at a walk into the city, but was stopped by the same raven Beastman that she saw atop the wall.
“Is there a problem, sir?” Loren asked politely, trying not to show her nerves. She suspected that her parents had sent word to neighboring kingdoms that their daughter was missing. The princess realized, belatedly, that the guards of Rhodia might recognize her, as she had been invited with her family to Rhodia by Gaturr every so often as she was growing up.
This Beastman at least didn’t seem to recognize her. “Standard checks, ma’am. By orders of Doreos, King of the Beastmen.” The raven squawked.
Loren frowned. She recognized that name. “Doreos? I thought the king was Gaturr?”
The raven jerked his head side to side. Loren realized that the crest he wore on his armor had changed, it was no longer a tree on a green ground as it had been for generations. It was now a pair of golden horns on red. “No ma’am, the former king was assassinated. His Warmaster, the bull Doreos, assumed command.”
“But the heir to the throne is-“ Loren started.
The guard held up a taloned hand, and uneasily looked over his shoulder. “I know ma’am, and I agree.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “But prince Kaiten has yet to be found. I would suggest, while you’re here, keep your head down and don’t say a word against Doreos. He has carried out executions against Beastmen who have spoken out against his succession already. And he doesn’t care for humans.” He lowered his hand and held his halberd at the ready, the picture of a guard standing at attention. “Buy your provisions and be on your way, ma’am.”
Loren nodded, muttering her thanks to the raven and led her friends on down the packed dirt road. The streets of Rhodia were familiar to Loren. The air was dusty from the dirt and sand kicked up by Beastman feet, wagon wheels, and horses’ hooves. The path from the main gate wound through a sprawling market, with the noise of merchants yelling over each other, calling their prices cheaper than their competitors, and proclaiming their produce was fresher. Loren noticed a lion Beastman selling live chickens. She shook her head; it couldn’t possibly be the same chicken-selling lion Beastman she had seen in Markholme. Maybe there were chicken-selling lion Beastmen in every major city. The princess couldn’t help but smile; the Rhodia market was so much like Markholme, she missed it already.
Kae and Cassendir followed Loren closely, but slowly. They took their time looking around, pausing their horses’s walk to take a closer look at some of the wares the merchants were selling. Kae was so distracted, and Cassendir paused so often to write in his book even on horseback, that Loren had to turn around and come back for them.
Loren found Kae pausing at a merchant’s stall where weapons were laid out on a velvet sheet. There were knives of all kinds, alongside swords, spears, maces, and halberds. The huntress picked up a particularly handsome looking bow made of a study lightwood, and smiled as wide as she could. The princess couldn’t help but laugh as she pulled the gold coins needed to buy the bow and a quiver full of arrows and pressed it into the merchant’s hand. She also nudged the princess for a knew dagger while they were at it.
Eventually, they reached the center of the sprawling city, where the king’s palace stood.
Loren led them towards an inn, only a couple streets away from the central palace. The princess had tried other inns, some closer to the market, others closer to the craftsman’s quarters, but all they turned them away. They were humans, the innkeepers had said, and so would have to be turned away. Loren remembered these same innkeepers taking in human travelers as coin was coin and business was business. The innkeepers looked uneasy, and one of them, a gerbil Beastman whose inn stood at the edge of the market, visibly shook when he explained that they cannot allow humans. His beady eyes kept darting towards the palace in the center of the city, and Loren understood.
The inn that finally accepted them was a small hole in the wall establishment that was far enough from the main street that guards didn’t bother to patrol. The Beastman that greeted them at the door was a dog, pot-bellied and with a cheerful smile. He waved the humans in, thanking them up and down for their patronage.
“Welcome, welcome my friends!” The innkeeper grinned, showing yellowed teeth with gaps and rotted spots. His fingers looked like over-stuffed sausages as he rubbed them together. “Humans don’ come into Rhodia no more. Doreos ‘n his boys see to that. But way I sees it, gold is gold!” his laugh was short, sharp bark. Kae’s nose scrunched up from the smell of the inkeeper’s rancid breath.
“Yes, I see.” Loren said patiently. Every inch of the inn was covered in a fine layer of dust, with a path cut into it from the door to a counter. “Well, we are willing to pay gold for a night’s rest, some food, and...” she paused, glancing at the shuttered windows. “…some information.”
The dog Beastman gave Loren a smarmy wink that set her skin crawling, and took a long look at Loren, eyes going up and down over her body. “Information, you say? I gots that ‘n more. Maybe I’ll even tell you somefin’ for a trade.”
“Food first.” Kae said curtly, pointedly laying a hand on the new dagger in her belt. “Then talk.”
The innkeeper huffed at the obvious threat and gestured at one of the dusty tables. “Sit if you want food. I’ll have me lovely prepare a room for you, but first I want to know if y’can pay!”
Loren sighed. She began to feel a pressure building in her temples from having to listen to this man speak. She was tired from the journey, she needed to find Kaiten, and she just wished this would be all over. Without a word, she reached to her belt and withdrew her coin purse. It was full and heavy in her hand from gold coins. Loren tugged at the string that knotted it closed, and offered the innkeeper the barest peek of the gold. He grinned the widest she had seen a Beastman grin, and his sausage-like fingers waggled in delight.
“Wonderful! Food and a room for you, my new friends, right away!” He laughed his bark-like laugh and set back along the path cut in the dust. Loren shared a look with Kae, and shrugged.
Loren idly picked at the meal the innkeeper provided for them. It wasn’t entirely bad; hard and stale bread paired with a cold stew of meat and lentils, to be washed down with ale that smelled like an old saddle. It was still somehow palatable. The innkeeper sat with them, watching Loren a bit too closely as she ate. Having the innkeeper’s beady eyes and hot, heavy breathing so close to her face killed her appetite very quickly.
“So, sir…” Cassendir started slowly, noticing Loren’s discomfort. “We heard from the gate guard that the king has been assassinated? My apologies for being so forward, we heard the news only now and it comes as quite a shock.”
The innkeeper huffed. “Gaturr? Heard that his flayed hide was offered as a
gift to the human king. Probably threw his carcass to the hounds.”
Loren swallowed a chunk of dry bread. “What happened to the king’s son? Kaiten?”
“The little lion cub got himself captured, I heard. Saw the ruckus in the streets for myself. They dragged him by the tail out of the palace and threw him face first into the mud. Then they threw him into a sack, threw the sack into a carriage, and went off.” The innkeeper was nonchalant as he picked at this teeth with a long grimy nail.
“You saw it yourself?”
“I did. You see right there-“ He pointed to the shuttered window and the main road past the alley, “-That road leads up to the palace itself. I can see enough from the alley, I can hear even more from in here. That cub put up a fight, but there was a human with swords, wicked mean ones too. Threatened to skin him from crotch to gizzard just like his da’ if he didn’t stop screaming.”
Kae made a face, and gulped down a spoonful of the cold soup. “A human that’s good with swords, and better with scaring people. Does it sounds like someone you know?”
Loren nodded. “Seraphis Dagan. Good sir, did you see which way the carriage went?”
“Oh, I dunno.” The innkeeper drawled, scratching at a spot with his chin. “My memory isn’t as good as it used to be, you know? My old age and all that…” he winked at Loren.
The princess sighed and rolled her eyes. She flicked a gold coin at the innkeeper’s face. “Which way did they go, innkeeper?”
“Up the road, you know? Past the palace, the barracks, and towards the gate.”
Another coin sailed towards the innkeeper.
“The human with the swords, it was a female I think, fiery hair, two swords at her belt and a travelling cloak over her shoulders. The men guarding the carriage had a sigil on the armor that I got a peek of under their own cloaks; was two lions it was.”
“And which way did they go? North or south.”
“I can’t remember, my old mind and all-“
Kae stood abruptly. “Listen, old man! We gave you enough money! Answer the question! Out of which gate did the Sagnian carriage take Kaiten?”
The innkeeper gulped, and almost toppled right out of his seat. “Alright, alright I’ll tell you everything! They wore the flames and lions of Sagna, you’re right. But the gate they hauled the prince out of, it was the one to the north. No one bothers to pass that way. The woman with the swords, she didn’t go with them. She left after them a couple hours later, I think.”
“The north?”
“There are no worthwhile trade routes in that direction. Or any reasonable path through the Kilrough Mountains.” Cassendir mused.
“Yureun.” Loren said, and all eyes were on her. “They took him to the Ruins of Yureun. The Plaguelands.”
“The Plaguelands, y’say?” The innkeeper’s voice held a d note of fear. “No one goes to Yuren. That land is cursed. Are you sure, girl? I only saw them leave through the northern gate; maybe they went around the city?”
Loren shook her head. “No, they wouldn’t have gone around. You said Kaiten was loaded into a carriage, correct? The grass around Rhodia is too thick, it would snare a carriage’s wheels. If they had gone on horseback, they wouldn’t have to strictly follow a path. There must be old roads up to the Plaguelands, maybe even some leading to disused trade routes to the northern part of the mountains. In any case, they went north and that’s where we have to go.”
The innkeeper shook his head and stood, hands flying up in a surrendering gesture. “Whatever you adventurers plan, I want no part of it! I’ll be in m’room, holler if you need anything else and have the coin to spare!”
Kae sneered at the innkeeper’s retreating back. “As if we’d give you anymore of Loren’s gold, you—” she whispered.
“Kae! Not now.” Loren’s tone was reprimanding, but she wore a slight smile. “Maybe later, in private. Let’s just finish our food and get to bed.”
The room offered by the innkeeper was small and cramped, with a single large bed standing on only three legs. There was no chamber pot, or any furniture at all aside from the broken bed. There was a fine layer of dust on everything. Loren made a face when she saw the state of the room, and Kae was expecting the princess to leave the room, storm up to the innkeeper, and demand better accommodations. Instead, the princess merely sighed, defeated, and kicked her boots off onto the floor.
“No fiery words for the innkeeper about this, dragon princess?” Kae said in a joking tone. “You paid a lot for this shit hole.”
“Not now, Kae. I just want to sleep, and get started on the path to the Plaguelands as quickly as possible. Every spare second we waste here gets us closer to getting caught. And the Beastman palace isn’t that far from here; Doreos might already know some humans are in Rhodia.”
“Makes sense.” Kae grunted. She set her pack on the floor, and started to remove her knife belt.
Cassendir awkwardly cleared his throat. He hadn’t moved from the doorway.
Loren threw herself onto the bed, and coughed hard as the movement kicked up a cloud of dust. “Oh gods, when was the last time they cleaned this room? Is something wrong, Cassendir?”
“Well…There is only one bed.” He pointed to it, and the scholar’s brain had seemed to grind to a halt.
“Yes there is only one bed. What about it?”
“I’ve never— I mean, you two—girls…” He trailed off, and was met with a boot thrown at his head.
“Who cares?” Kae said, working to take off her other boot. “Sleep on the floor with your bedroll, its fine.”
“But… Me alone in a room with two females? Isn’t that improper? After all, the Aldoran princess—”
“Cassendir!” Loren barked, cutting the scholar off. “I don’t care! Kae is right, just use your bedroll and sleep on the floor. There’s enough room on this god-cursed bed for three people, but its tilting to the side, someone might get crushed.”
“If Ma’trii was here, he would make a good pillow.” Kae offered, chuckling.
With a defeated sigh, Cassendir set down his travelling pack, and unfurled the bedroll.
After everyone has settled in for a rough night in the dusty room, Kae stood by the bed. She watched Loren lying in it and shifting here and there, trying to get comfortable. They had shaken the dust out of the sheet as much as possible, and borrowed a few of Cassendir’s Kespian silks to wrap around their heads to keep from breathing in any more dust, but it still didn’t improve the experience. The huntress watched as Loren eventually settled, silks covering her head, and her chest rising and falling slowly with breath. She couldn’t help but smile. Loren was always so uptight and headstrong, but in these little moments when she could be at peace, Kae noticed she was happy. Loren’s expression eased, and her body relaxed, and she looked vulnerable. Kae felt the urge to protect the princess welling in her chest. She climbed into the tilted, dusty bed, trying not to disturb the princess.
Chapter Nine
The night passed uneventfully, save for a quite a bit of tossing and turning throughout the night. When the girls woke, they found their bodies stiff from the inn’s bed and with dust motes in their hair. Cassendir, on the other hand, had a comparably better night on his bed roll. They changed in silence. An air of misery hung over their heads, tempered with a sense of tension from Loren. The princess’s face was set in stone, and her movements were mechanical.
Undershirt then tunic, padded trousers then leather armor, then surcoat on top. Boots then buckled sword belt, followed by camping pack. Loren sighed, feeling like she had only blinked once in ten minutes. She touched the dragon pendant that settled in the hollow of her throat, and looked at her friends.
Kae brushed herself off, patting out the dust that clung to her trousers and tunic. Shaking out her hunting furs took quite a while. Cassendir was just as meticulous as Loren was, but with his scrolls and notes. After putting on his riding clothes, he set right to scribbling notes about Rhodia into this notebook. Come to think
of it, Loren recalled hearing the scratching of a quill or coal stick in the middle of the night. She chuckled to herself. They made an odd team.
Loren led the way down the dark and dusty hall of the inn, and down the rickety stairs. The innkeeper was by the tables. He was speaking in hushed tones, and gesturing about with shaking hands, but Loren could not see who he was talking to. She saw the innkeeper’s ears perk up, saw him turn to her on the stairs, and raise a gnarled finger to her direction. The princess was almost at the last step when she saw the other speaker, and her blood froze.
“Loren!” a deep voice boomed with an authoritative tone.
Kae’s hand flew to her knife belt in alarm, and Cassendir’s mage markings flared in response.
Loren’s eyes were wide, and her face drained of color. With a deep breath, she descended the last few steps and faced the speaker. He was a tall man with a broad chest, clad in heavy plate armor adorned with the blue and gold of Aldoran. Loren found her voice, and found it to be meek even in her ears. “F-Father.”
King Jorrne strode closer to the princess, his heavy boots shaking the creaking floor with every step. With barely a bend in his knee, he scooped up Loren into a tight hug. “Loren! You’ve had me worried sick! I’ve sent men halfway up the Kilrough range looking for you! What did you think you were doing, going out on your own? Again?” He set her down, and saw the ragtag group still cowering on the stairs. After hearing Loren call him ‘father’, the three of them respectfully bowed their heads. “And who are these?”
“They’re my friends.” Loren said, finding her voice. She approached them, ready to defend them if King Jorrne found them unfit to be travelling with a princess. “This is Cassendir of Kespia, and Kae—”
“Yes, yes Kae, I remember. The huntress from the forest.” King Jorrne said. He stood back, stroking his rough beard as he appraised her friends. “It seems you have a knack for finding strange fellows, Loren. I see they have not hurt you in anyway, and I do trust you’ve kept to your wits and your training with Sairus and Isran.”