Raven's Knight (The Eternal Flame Book 1) by Steve R. Yeager

Author:Steve R. Yeager [Yeager, Steve R.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2019-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

DELVIN CASTLE SAT atop a steep hill on an outcropping of exposed granite. The only access to the castle was a winding road that circled the hillside. Below the castle was a poorly built village of lean-to housing and dilapidated buildings that seemed mostly half-rotten wood. Everything sagged. The cobblestone road leading to the castle was also in serious disrepair. The limestone mortar was cracked and filled with dirt and dung. More huge piles of dung lined the streets and insects hovered over the piles in dark clouds. Twin rutted paths ran right through the village and up to where an elevated checkpoint was stationed. Goods were being offloaded at the checkpoint and transferred to different, more ornate carts that were then being pulled by hand up the steep and winding road to the castle by a line of overly lean servants.

Nathan glanced at the roadway ahead and sighed loudly enough that Raven coughed to get his attention. She shook her head a tiny amount and he understood what she had meant immediately. People were probably watching him already. He had to hide his reactions better, lest he give offense. But all he wanted to do was turn away. This was nothing like where he had grown up. Why would his father wish to make an alliance with a king who treated his subjects so poorly?

Even his father would never—

Before he could turn and ride from the wretched place, soldiers on horseback rounded a wooden-stake palisade near the checkpoint and headed his way at a fast trot.

He swallowed hard. “Be ready for anything,” he whispered to Raven, as if she needed to hear it but realized too late that she did not. One corner of her mouth twitched, and he tried to grin back his apologies.

The soldiers rode straight through the village without slowing. Men, women, and children were forced to scramble aside to let them through. A man with a ring of frizzy white hair did not move fast enough and was knocked down to his hands and knees by one of the soldier’s mounts, then nearly trampled to death as the following horse strode past him.

Nathan straightened in his saddle and watched the poor wretch attempt to rise from the muck on his own. Not a single person in the village came to the man’s aid.

“Lord Nathan?” the first soldier to arrive asked.

“Aye,” Nathan responded, though that was not his official title. He raised his chin and gazed blankly at the soldier.

The soldier leaned forward in his saddle and appraised Nathan carefully. “You were expected days ago. Were you waylaid by those vermin who infest the roads?”

“Nay, the roads were clear. The rains forced my delay.”

The man snorted and spat. “We have been sent to escort you to the castle. Follow us, and we will keep this miserable rabble from assaulting you, though nothing can be done about the stench.” And with that, the soldier spun his horse around and headed off at a trot through the squalor.

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