The Warrior Priestess: Book Two of the Warrior Midwife Trilogy by E.P. Bali

Author:E.P. Bali
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blue Moon Rising Publishing

21

SARAYA

I knew something was wrong right away.

Being Lobrathia’s neighbouring kingdom, the capital of Kaalon, Peach Tree City, was a place I was very familiar with. Approaching the city from the south in the dark of night, we should have seen a multitude of quartz lights in orange and yellow, shining brightly from the battlements and up on the hill within the palace windows.

But the city was a blanket of darkness.

Worse still, on our way here, although we had skirted past villages at a distance, we had not seen any other sign of human movement.

A shadow formed a fist over my heart as Drake pulled our horse to a stop before we exited the line of trees we were in. He held a fist up to halt the demon contingent.

“Something’s very wrong,” I muttered.

“You’re sure no one got here before us?” Drake directed to Argoth.

The captain made a rumbling sound in his chest with a drop in pitch at the end that I’d learned was their way of saying ‘no.’

“We’ll head in cautiously on foot,” said Drake to the others. “Stick to the shadows, could be a trap.”

They grumbled in assent and we tied the group of horses to low branches in the surrounding forest. Creeping forward, we kept low and headed right for the city gates.

To my surprise, the grand wooden gates stood wide open, a maw of black emptiness welcoming us in. There was not a soul, not a sound or smell that I could make out. An eerie feeling encompassed the entire city, and it stood as if in mourning. As we stuck to the walls, the demons around us jittered nervously. These particular warriors had been otherwise stoic in nature, but now they stepped from foot to foot and grunted with uncertainty. I couldn’t help but feel the same. This felt awfully wrong. I hoped Opal had found a place to hide safely.

“Where is everyone?” I whispered to Drake as we came up with echoing footsteps to the city square, a hexagonal tiled area they often gathered in on peach harvest days.

But something was more than wrong about this, because even if the people had fled the city, the quartz lights should have been here. But everything was absent, even dirt and debris. Everything was too clean. I relayed my suspicions to Drake mind to mind.

He abruptly turned to Argoth. “We need to scout the place. We’ll split into four groups and head to cardinal points. Meet back here in half an hour to report.

Since there were only ten demons, the captain decided he would come with Drake and me. My stomach churned and I wondered if there was a way to separate from him and run off. If we both had weapons, we might have stood a chance against ten demons, but I knew the reality of it. Ten was still too many to run from. And we had no supplies or anything.

So after Drake sniffed the air, he decided we would go eastwards with the captain.

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