Hero of the Fallen by W Sherry

Author:W Sherry [Sherry, W]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

REIGNS TRAVELED AS quickly as possible the rest of the day. He pushed thoughts of the gaunt captives from his mind, choosing instead to focus on the most efficient route through the undergrowth.

That night the rain finally broke. Reigns still did not dare to build a fire, but once again found a dry spot under a fir tree to sleep. After draping the wettest of his clothes on the branches, he lay down and closed his eyes.

Reigns’s dreams became night terrors. In one dream, he was in Petronev and the city guard captured him. When he went to compete in the games, he had to fight Atslan. The emperor was there. When Reigns refused, the emperor sent an army of the half-starved slaves to attack him. They surrounded him and impaled him with spears. Reigns woke in a cold sweat. Until this dream, he did not realize how evil the emperor was. The emperor was a patron and facilitator as women and children fought each other to the death. Sleep would not find Reigns the rest of the night.

Taking advantage of his inability to sleep, Reigns got an earlier start than he otherwise would have. The storm yielded to sunshine, with only a few light clouds drifting lazily. Reigns still avoided the road but kept close enough to it that it could guide him. The route became mountainous, and at certain points Reigns climbed large boulders and pushed through thick mountain laurel. As Reigns progressed, there was a gradual increase of travelers on the road which became a steady stream. The first glimpse that Reigns had of Petronev was the city’s tall, gray walls carved from the mountain.

As Reigns crept closer, still attempting to remain unseen, the mountain city stood before him. The city was quite literally the mountain, and the mountain was the city. The two were indistinguishable, as many of the structures were carved out of the rocky mountainside. The geography caused the city to slope with the mountain. As Reigns could see over the walls there were not many tall or impressive buildings, but there were innumerable small structures roughly hewn from rock. There were almost no wooden structures. The place was gray and gloomy. The few colors stemmed from fires, which in turn made the mountain city look angry and embittered. At the top of the city, there was a small, rectangular section of various-colored buildings. This must be where the affluent of the city lived.

Reigns knew the best time to get into the city and avoid suspicion was during the day. If he tried to sneak in during the night, it might lead to unwanted questions. He quickly joined one of the trickling lines walking toward a city gate. To Reigns’s surprise, the line never halted but flowed continually into the city. Shouldn’t there be a checkpoint here? As he got closer, he saw that there was, in fact, a checkpoint established, but the guards that were supposed to be manning it were occupied.

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