Majesty by Stefanie Lozinski

Author:Stefanie Lozinski [Stefanie Lozinski]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stefanie Lozinski
Published: 2022-10-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The streets of High Keep were quieter than Alder remembered.

Even before dawn on a gloomy day such as this, there were usually people off to begin the day’s more urgent business. Men would head out to the fields to work as soon as there was enough light. A few industrious housewives would hurry to set out the milk bottles.

Today, there was no one. He saw a few soldiers at the gate of the city when he arrived, but they paid him no attention. They probably should have. He made his way deeper into the maze of neat stone streets, feeling rather unimpressed with the quality of the men who guarded his home city. Then again, his height and bulk were not so out of the ordinary among other Aridmoorians as it was in Galeharbor or Silverfell, and he gave them no other reason to be suspicious of him.

The neighborhood where he’d grown up was not a nice one. He braced himself as he turned the corner that led toward his street, expecting the usual company of drunks and other various riffraff, but even they were nowhere to be seen. Alder shivered. It had begun to rain a little, though not enough to explain the lonely feeling that enveloped the place.

Everything about the architecture of High Keep reflected stability, strength, and order. The streets were set in a tidy grid, they were almost always kept swept and clean, and statues of their various war heroes marked many a corner. It was a bizarre contrast to see it so empty, like mother’s neat kitchen left empty with breakfast on the table.

At least no one will remember me when the King’s men come knocking. He strode toward his door, listening to the lonely sound of his boots hitting the ground. In this part of the city, the homes tended to resemble those found in the smaller rural village, usually made of cob rather than wood or stone.

As a child, he would play out front with his sisters Violet and Marya, who promptly ignored him as soon as their older, more interesting friends arrived. Back then, there were children everywhere. Though the neighborhood had never been particularly safe, it was at least alive, and he’d never had much trouble so long as he stayed away from those his mother called the ‘hollow-eyes’.

“Now, girls, you keep your brother away from those hollow-eyes, hear?” she would say, looking up from her baking and resting her rolling pin on her hip. “Most of them are drunks trying to take the pain away–”

“Or they’re tinkering with the black craft,” Marya would finish, promising that they would stay far away.

A smile rose to Alder’s face. He and Marya always fought, but they were alike, too. They were both stubborn when they knew what they wanted. It always bothered her that Alder was not only older, but also a boy. Still, he was thankful that he’d been the oldest, able to protect her and their youngest sister, especially in those early years.

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