Prince of the Fallen Kingdom by C. A. Doehrmann

Author:C. A. Doehrmann [Doehrmann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: C. A. Doehrmann

* * *

With a yawn, Adeya wandered into the city circle by herself. She wore a loose pair of breeches and a white tunic the same style as Wynne’s; all made from thick, coarse cloth, plainly cut and sewn. Her long gold tresses fell loose and clean down her back. She walked, not noticing the men’s stares that followed her or the strangely quiet group gathered close around the training area. She yawned again, trying to stifle it with a hand, but it just grew larger.

Entering the common hall, Adeya crossed to the back chamber and pushed aside the mat. She stopped.

The bed lay stripped. Every bandage and bowl had been clear away. The folded blankets sat stacked in the corner.

Adeya paled. Hurrying away, she crossed the common hall to the nearest cook fire. Two Avanna women tended a large cauldron of stew while another worked a cleaver at a chopping block.

“Where’s Kyen?” She stopped the woman at the cauldron. The woman shrugged, made to keep on, but Adeya gripped her. “Nella—where’s Nella?”

“Hands off! Left to pick a goat for slaughter, I reckon.”

Adeya released the woman and trotted out the door. She ran to the herd pens. Standing on tiptoe, she looked over the horned heads and fuzzy backs of brown and white, but only two men and a handful of boys stood in their midst.

“Nella? Have you seen Nella?”

One man shook his head. The other shrugged.

Adeya scanned the circle, biting her lip. The crowd at the training area had dispersed, but Oda and Inen remained. She caught sight of them picking up pieces of poles and ran to them. “Kyen? Where’s Kyen?”

Oda and Inen exchanged a look.

“Dead,” said Oda. “He gave up the ghost while you were gone.”

“What? No...” Her face fell. “He was doing better when I left. How?”

He shrugged. “Dunno. Gennen and the others dragged his body up the slope to bury him, last I saw.”

Inen kept a straight face beside Oda, saying nothing.

“Which—which way?” she cried.

“Up the mount, along the path to the baths, but an offshoot will take you to the burial spot.” Odallyan pointed.

Adeya took off running even before he’d finished his sentence.

Oda and Inen watched her go. They looked at each other and sniggered.

“Heh! I can’t believe she thought I was serious,” said Oda. “Poor little chitling!”

“Mainlanders!”

The two swordsmen walked off together chuckling.

Adeya ran halfway back up the path to the bathing pool before she stopped. Gasping for breath, she looked up the mountain. The rims of the valley rose, sheer and steep, golden under the late arclight, with bits of green clinging here or there. Not a shape or shadow could be seen moving further up. She frowned as she searched the still cliffs.

“There is no offshoot,” she said to herself. Tears bubbled into her eyes, but she scrunched up her face. Her fists clenched at her sides. Turning, she set off back down the path, running so fast she tripped. She pushed her long hair out of her face and climbed back to her feet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.