Webs & Wards (Beesong Chronicles Book 2) by Benjamin Medrano

Author:Benjamin Medrano [Medrano, Benjamin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-13T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Brianna paused and vigorously brushed off the upper portion of the waystone, cleaning off the dirt and moss that had adhered to it. Cora noted the words carved into the stone and smiled as Brianna sighed loudly and stretched.

“Oh, thank the gods! I was beginning to feel like we’d never get to Bearton!” Brianna groused, wrinkling her nose as she added, “At least we’re far away from that swamp. The smell was… bleh.”

“It wasn’t that bad! Sure, there was a lot of rotting plants, but there were lots of flowers, too! I even got some tasty nectar!” Joy replied happily, looking at the waystone curiously as she considered, then asked, “What does the three mean? Three what?”

“Three miles, Joy,” Cora said, laughing softly as she pointed down the left fork of the road. “The town is probably obscured by the trees over there… I’d guess it’s an orchard, as regularly spaced as the trees are. Still, we aren’t far from town.”

“Oh! Okay, I understand now!” Joy said, fluttering her wings and lifting off with a buzzing sound, though the apis only flew twenty feet or so into the air before she paused and added cheerfully. “Yep! I can see a temple spire and some other buildings from up here. I think it has a stone wall, too… not a wooden one.”

“We’re near the border, which is why they probably built it out of stone. Usually, only big, wealthy cities tend to build stone walls since they take ages to build, Joy,” Stella said, putting her hands on her hips as she looked upward at the apis in amusement. “It also takes a lot of stone in the area, so some areas tend not to use them even if they’re wealthy. Would you come back down here?”

“Sure!” Joy agreed happily, flying back down again, and the loud buzzing of her wings ended. The apis adjusted her footing as she landed, then added, “The fields look strange, though.”

“Oh? What do you mean?” Cora asked, pausing just as she was about to start down the road.

“There were lots of people in the fields out around Irador and Seldrim, but there aren’t any I saw here, even though there’s lots of fields,” Joy explained, waving her hand toward the town casually. “I just thought it was odd. I hope they aren’t going to let their harvests go bad…”

“What?” Brianna asked sharply, her head jerking upward and her eyes narrowing. “You didn’t see anyone?”

“No? Maybe a couple on the walls, but that’s it. The fields looked really empty, which was why I noticed that no one was there,” Joy said, blinking at Brianna, then looking at Cora and Stella as they exchanged worried looks, prompting the apis to frown, then she asked, “Is… that strange?”

“Very. It’s the middle of the day, and farmers tend to work for almost as long as they have daylight,” Brianna said, frowning as she glanced around. “For the fields to be abandoned… that’s a really bad sign. You didn’t

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