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Three cloaked figures rode horses along the road leading to Ni’En from the rest stop that Linda’s carriage had resided in. They were riding side by side with their legs nearly touching, the yellow moonlight paving their path. The figure in the center turned his head to the left. “How long were you planning this for?” he asked.
Carmella met Owen’s gaze. “Ever since I joined the army,” she said. “There’s no glory in death. Why would anyone stay to die for a cause? It’s not like we get paid more when the risk of dying gets higher. That’s just a shitty investment to make.”
“So you planted these horses that far in advance?” Gerome asked from across Owen. When the trio had arrived at the rest stop, there were three horses conveniently tied to a stable with a bag of food nearby which now rested on Carmella’s lap.
“No,” Carmella said. “I didn’t think we’d find free horses at the rest stop, but there’s no reason to refuse a nice gift, right?” They had traveled for three days by foot to make it to the rest stop from Marossa. Every time they heard a carriage, they had to duck down and take cover underneath Owen’s makeshift bulwark. Thankfully, there weren’t many carriages heading in that direction.
“So I’ve also become a thief,” Owen said and sighed.
“We’re just borrowing them,” Carmella said. “We’ll release them when we’re done. If they don’t return to their owner, then it means he was abusive and we did the horses a favor.”
“It’s funny how you can twist every wrongdoing into a righteous deed,” Owen said as he narrowed his eyes at Carmella.
She shrugged. “That’s what angels do best,” she said and smiled. “I learned from my environment.”
“Forget it,” Owen said and shook his head. He hated arguing with her because he always found himself on the losing end. “Do you think Lady Raea is still in Ni’En?” Although he disliked Carmella’s morals, he couldn’t deny her ability to analyze a situation.
“Well,” Carmella said and furrowed her brow. “I really can’t say anything because we’ve been isolated from news, but I want to say she’s still there. Just call it a hunch. Clearly she wanted to be found by someone; otherwise, she wouldn’t have spread those rumors in the first place. We’ll find out when we get there.”
The first sun reached its zenith by the time the trio arrived at Ni’En. “Holy crap,” Gerome said as the three entered the city. “It’s crowded.” The streets were filled with angels, and they were all dressed in armor. The quality of the metal wasn’t as good as the army’s, but they were still usable.
“What?” Carmella asked as she lowered her hood. “Never been to a real city before?” They had released the horses at the gate. “The ones the army occupied don’t count,” she said before Gerome could say anything. His mouth closed after that comment. Carmella looked around and frowned. “Something special must be happening.”
“Then there’s a good chance of Lady Raea being here,” Owen said as his face darkened. “Special things always happen around her demon.”
Carmella nodded and approached a nearby angel. She tapped him on the shoulder and smiled when he turned around. “Hello, we’re travelers,” she said and gestured towards Owen and Gerome. “Is anything special happening? I don’t recall Ni’En ever being this busy before.”
The angel glanced at the trio’s dusty bodies. They had discarded their armor when they left Marossa. Anyone could recognize them as deserters if they kept wearing the army’s emblem. “Well, these dungeons”—the angel air quoted with his fingers—“cropped up all over the city, and the mayor is offering a reward to everyone who clears one. They’re really simple, but if you touch something wrong, you get some nasty poison in your system. A few people have died.”
“Dungeons?” Carmella asked as she tiptoed. She couldn’t see beyond the crowd. “How do you clear one?”
The angel stared hard at Carmella before scratching his head. “Now, I don’t want to scare you…,” he said.
“I’ve seen some things,” Carmella said, beckoning for the angel to continue.
“There’s a bunch of body parts inside of these dungeons,” the angel said with a grimace. “They belong to the owners of the buildings actually. Clearing a dungeon just means removing the fleshy bits from inside and destroying any traps you encounter along the way.”
“I see,” Carmella said and lowered her head. “How long has it been since these dungeons started appearing?”
“Three or four days,” the angel said. “Two or three pop up every night. There’s been a mass exodus recently. Everyone’s scared, can’t blame them really.”
“Alright,” Carmella said and nodded. “Thank you. That was very informative.”
“Of course.”
Carmella exchange glances with Owen and Gerome before walking past the crowd. They saw bloody spikes around the entrance to a small shop. The air smelled like rotting flesh. And poop, but it always smelled like poop. “I’m willing to bet half my kidney that that’s Palan’s doing,” Carmella said as they made their way through the city. “Let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.”
“While it’s reassuring to know Lady Raea and her demon are here,” Owen said, “I’m worried about the consequences something like this will bring. The council will never forgive something of this scale. Murdering people and terrorizing a city, I don’t even want to think of how many counts of execution that adds up to.” He shook his head.
“No one has to find out,” Carmella said and shrugged. “I have no plans of telling anyone. Long ago, I made the decision to not piss Palan off. He’s really good at torturing people. At least the council’s nice enough to give people a quick, clean death.”
***
Two angels, one male and one female, stood in front of the gate leading to Ni’En. They both wore silver robes with golden embroidery on the sides and sleeves. They were standing close enough to be recognized as traveling together, but far enough so that they were just out of arm’s reach from each other. The woman turned her head to look at the man. “Do you think the rumors are true?”
“I know you don’t want to do this,” the man said as he met her gaze, “but it’ll be less painful the quicker we deal with the problem.”
The woman sighed, and they both stepped inside the city.
🙂
Typo thread:
but it’ll be less painful the quicker deal with the problem.
Add a “you” or “we” after “quicker”.
Thanks as always. 🙂