Guardian of Chaos: Nyx Fortuna, #1 by Michelle Manus

Author:Michelle Manus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seclusion Publishing

19

The city rang with the hum and buzz of activity that marked all cities, albeit this one carried a distinctly medieval feel. Nyx trod the path of rough, uneven stone that ran between crude structures, most of them cobbled together out of mud and vegetation that had been pressed and dried to form a sheet-like material.

The nicer structures were made of the same onyx stone as the wall, but every building without fail shared the same roof, made of a thatched, black straw-like material resting on a latticework built from white poles. Nyx edged closer to the buildings, wondering where the white poles came from when every other building material here was so basic.

They passed a small hut, its resident nowhere in sight, and Nyx sidled close enough to get a good look. Close enough to see a skeletal hand hanging down the corner of the hut’s roof. Bones. The houses were built from human bones.

She saw them everywhere, after that. A door made from femurs lashed tightly together, a circle of skulls forming a fire ring, even a laundry line made from bones and black straw.

Nyx saw loiterers, scrappers, pickpockets, and laborers. She didn’t see any children. She might have been able to imagine this was any other medieval city were it not for that notable absence. The youngest person she saw looked at least nineteen.

Scooting close to Morgen, Nyx ducked her head. “There aren’t any children here?”

Morgen’s mouth pressed into a grim line. “Only those here by accident. All of the prisoners are sterilized off-world before admission.”

“Oh.” Maybe it was a kindness—certainly a prison planet was no place to bring a child into the world.

“Though mind you tell Evra,” Morgen said, shifting from somber to mischievous in the space of a second, “that since I wasn’t technically sentenced here, they didn’t get around to the sterilization part with me, so I can bless her with as many little Amazon children as she wants.”

“I’ll be sure to mention it to her.” Nyx had a hard time picturing Evra with kids.

The guard escorting them paused in front of a low building that reminded Nyx of a longhouse, the building built entirely of the black straw that had formed so many of the roofs she’d seen. A harsh and sour smell wafted from it, like rancid meat. Guards ringed the door, then flanked around the entire perimeter of the building.

Behind the building towered a ring of bone and straw bleachers, the stands already packed with people. She noticed a narrow chute leading from the building to the stands.

Guess that’s where the fights take place. Which gave her a pretty good idea of what—or who—was inside the building and why so many guards were posted around it.

Every inch of Nyx’s body told her the building before her was no place she wanted to enter and yet the man led them in, the contingent of guards at their backs pressing them forward.

The source of the smell became apparent once Nyx’s eyes adjusted to the building’s dim interior.

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