Haliden's Fire: A fantasy novel by Chris Sendrowski

Author:Chris Sendrowski [Sendrowski, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pine Fire Pulishing
Published: 2019-05-12T22:00:00+00:00

18

The two runners sat silent in the tower cell, listening as wind howled through the tiny window several footfalls above them.

In one corner, flies buzzed above a bucket of hardened shit. Opposite it, a pile of moldering hay clicked and popped with hungry fleas.

Haliden sighed. After everything we’ve been through…. to die here?

A hundred footfalls below, a handful of braziers and humble fires peppered the otherwise black cityscape. To the south, though, the sky glowed a deep crimson that grew brighter with every passing call.

Haliden swallowed. Even if they somehow escaped the city, how many days did they really have left? One? Maybe two at best? How far could they hope to get with two venermins and a cartload of refugees?

And what of the boys?

He wished he could see their faces. Kytle had promised they were being cared for, that they were safe with the other children of Marigel. But then he remembered the gutter filled with bones.

“We’ve failed,” Evetner said. The right side of his face was swollen and distorted and dried rivulets of blood spider webbed across his bruised cheeks and neck.

Haliden sighed. “Could we have ever really succeeded?”

Evetner turned to him, his eyes trembling with rage. “Would I have abandoned everything I cherish if I thought differently?”

A whinny echoed outside.

Haliden stood and gazed through the window. “Instar!” he cried.

The familiar whinny echoed in reply as a black form raced across the square’s weed choked cobbles.

“Here, girl! I’m here!” he shouted as several figures chased after her.

“What’s happening?” Evetner asked.

“Instar’s loose!”

Evetner laughed. “Your horse has good sense.”

A whip cracked in the distance, followed by more shouting. Haliden pounded the wall. “Leave her be, you bastards!”

Evetner shook his head. “You’re wasting your breath. They’ve mouths to feed and your strider will feed two families for a month. Maybe more.”

Haliden grasped the bars as Instar vanished down an alleyway. “I’ll fucking kill the man who lays a hand on her!”

The cell door burst open, scattering roaches and mice into the shadows as Kytle and two emaciated men entered, chains in hand.

“Bind them,” Kytle ordered.

One of the men grabbed Evetner’s shoulder, but the boy quickly lashed out and punched him in the nose.

Haliden tensed, fists clenched at his sides as the other man approached.

“Easy or hard?” the man asked him.

“What do you think?” Haliden replied.

For the next ten turns the guards beat Haliden and Evetner senseless. When it was over, they bound their hands behind their backs and pressed their faces onto the floor.

“Take them to the gate,” Kytle said. “But don’t send them off just yet. I want them to see that animal prepped for the feast.”

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