Kingshold: The Wildfire Cycle: Volume 1 by D. P. Woolliscroft

Author:D. P. Woolliscroft
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2021-11-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 35

Running Toward Trouble

Motega was a few steps behind the bard as he ran for the door, a couple of things at the forefront of his mind. First, he, too, was concerned what the tolling of the bells meant. He’d never heard the city alarm rung here in Kingshold, but he’d experienced it before in other cities around the Emerald Sea, and it was never a good thing. Secondly, he didn’t trust these guards, who were apparently operating without authority, not to attack Mareth from behind.

“Get out of the way, man!” he called out to a guard who was about to follow Mareth out onto the streets, and, surprisingly, he stepped aside. Outside, the fog was thick, but Motega heard the sounds of chaos in the night. He caught sight of Mareth disappearing around the corner, and so, he pelted after him, almost colliding with the bard who had stopped dead in the street, looking at the blooms of yellow and gold reflecting in the fog bank.

“What the fuck is going on?” Motega asked the world at large.

“I don’t know. Doesn’t look good. Are we under attack?” said Mareth incredulously. Motega heard the others run from the inn, and then slow to a halt beside them.

“What in the name of Arloth is that?” asked the knight, the standoff of moments earlier seemingly forgotten. At least for a while.

“We’ve just covered that,” said Motega. “We don’t know.” He whistled, and Per flew down and landed on his forearm. Instructions were whispered into its ear, and then it took flight and disappeared into the fog. The bells were still ringing, coming from the harbor but, thankfully, the peeling hadn’t extended further into the city. No bells from the Curtain Wall hopefully meant there wasn’t an army outside the gates. But what was going on?

“So, do I remember rightly the bells weren’t ringing last night during the riot?” Motega asked all, and no one in particular.

“Correct, little brother,” said Neenahwi. “I’ve never heard the bells ring like this before. There’s something bad going on, and it’s that way. I suggest we stop gawping and we get to looking.”

Motega turned to face his sister. She had a look of concern, but she also seemed tensed and ready to be released, the glow in the night sky reflecting on her face. She met his gaze, and he nodded.

“You heard her,” said Motega. “Let’s go.” And he sprinted off, with Neenahwi only half a step behind.

At the rear, he heard Trypp call out a question, “Why are we always running toward trouble?”

They skirted the northern end of the Cherry Tree District before cutting to the south and toward the direction of the market square. It was a little out of the way from how the falcon would fly, but he wanted to keep to major streets and avoid ending up in dead ends or unexpected twists from heading through streets he didn’t know so well.

“I thought you could turn into a wolf?” he shouted over to his sister, his feet pounding the pavement, but she didn’t struggle to match his pace.

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