Before On’esquin could reply, Feanne—who had been watching Estin peculiarly—asked, “You have children? I hadn’t realized there were more of…whatever you are. How did you find another of your breed to mate with? It was my assumption you were the only one of your kind.”
Estin’s humor faded instantly and his jaw clenched angrily.
“Feanne,” Raeln interjected, trying to distract her from causing any more damage, “I need your help cleaning up the bodies outside before anyone comes looking for them.” Raeln saw her hesitate and he grabbed Feanne’s elbow and dragged her with him out of the wagon and out onto the road, where the last of the bodies had stopped burning. All of the corpses still steamed ominously, though none appeared able to stand back up, as undead had a bad habit of doing.
“Drag them to the brush off the road,” Raeln told her and began doing the same. The first charred body he grabbed fell apart in his hands, making his stomach lurch. “And give Estin some time to forget what you just said.”
Feanne stopped with half of an undead in her arms, giving him a queer look. “Was that mean in some way? I don’t know what he is, so I was surprised there are more like him. It wasn’t meant to be an attack on his children.”
“He might have taken it that way, though,” Raeln told her.
“I understand,” she admitted, looking somewhat crestfallen. “I’ll apologize once he’s less upset.”
Looking back at the wagon, Raeln saw Estin was sitting on one of the crates, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Kneeling in front of him, Yoska was clearly trying to help, though Raeln could not imagine what could ease that kind of hurt. He could not fathom the pain Estin was dealing with, compounded by having to hide the fact that the children were Feanne’s. Worse still, Raeln vaguely remembered something Estin had hinted at during their first meeting—that some of the children might not even be his. He had lost everything and could not even talk about his pain openly.
Throughout the task of collecting the bodies and stashing them in the high wet grass that lined ditches near the road, Feanne never gave any indication of any more emotion than disappointment with what she had said. She simply showed nothing on her face, calmly going about the task like she was as dead as the corpses they were dragging.
*
“The three sister cities should be past the next section of mountains,” On’esquin declared a day later, pointing toward a section of tall hills that blocked most of their view to the north. “Two hundred thousand people lived there during my time. Dorralt’s forces would likely go around and come back once their hold on the region is more secure. We may be able to find some shelter here, if we have finished using up all of our bad luck.”
Before Raeln could ask about the cities from his perch atop the wagon, Yoska clicked his tongue and shook his head. That reaction had become a little too frequent for Raeln’s taste and usually meant bad news.
“Is not three sisters,” chided Yoska. “Is more like old woman and two infants. These cities have grown almost into one large city, though they keep walls between them. Northern district is wealthy and has all good shopping places…this place holds most of the many people. The other two cities are…how you say…dirt-poor and dangerous. Though normally I say we go for posh place to lighten some purses, I think given our welcome recently that we stay in less-nice places where they do not look for us. Is better idea, yes?”
“Yes, indeed,” On’esquin agreed. “Raeln, do you have any objections?”
“I’d sleep in a gutter if it meant that we didn’t have to worry about being executed for a day or two,” he confessed, watching the hills for a break through which he could see the cities.
Having snuck up onto the top of the wagon near Raeln, Estin added, “Gutters are comfortable in good weather. I recommend somewhere else during the winter months.”
Rolling off of his belly and sitting up, Raeln greeted Estin as the man came over to sit beside him, watching the hills in the distance. “Are you feeling any better today?” he asked eventually, trying to spark some small degree of conversation.
Things had been tense between himself and Estin since he had begun training Feanne to fight, but matters had only gotten worse in the week since they had been attacked by the undead. Two nights prior, Raeln had woken to find Feanne trying to slip under his blanket with him and yelped in surprise when she had groped him. Estin had woken up but said nothing, even after Raeln had physically picked up Feanne and carried her at arm’s length back to her own blankets. It had taken nearly an hour for Raeln to get back to sleep, wondering whether he would find a knife in his chest or Feanne in his bed first.
Estin seemed to think a little while. “Better. Magic is getting a little easier, but I’m too weak to do much more than street magician tricks.”
“How is she?”
His whiskers trembling angrily for a brief moment, Estin answered, “She’s starting to understand that you don’t want her, but she can’t figure out why. I think the next step is that she’s going to get angry and confront you and point out that you have three choices: Dalania, her, or a cold bed. She thinks you’re an idiot for turning her down.”
“If I were interested in her, I would tend to agree. She’s a lovely, strong, and strong-willed woman, Estin. Most men would be proud to have her as a wife. I hope that she remembers that she loves you sooner rather than later. I doubt there are many men out there that have a wife that can watch their back and kill whatever is stalking them.”
That seemed to lighten Estin’s mood and he smiled warmly, nodding. “I’ve been around enough wildlings that I have to ask,” Estin said, looking pointedly away from Raeln. “Most wouldn’t hesitate to bed her the moment I was out of sight, unless they were afraid of me, which is rarely the case when dealing with predator wildlings. For a while I thought that you might be like them, which was why I wouldn’t let you two go far alone. If I hadn’t saved you near Lantonne, would you be so willing to turn her down?”
“Estin…”
“Let’s be honest here, Raeln. She’s willing to accept me as an ally, but she isn’t my wife anymore. I lost that when she died. We mated for life and I think maybe we moved past that. If you and she were alone or I were dead—”
“Please stop this, Estin,” Raeln snapped, grabbing Estin’s arm to draw his attention. “She’s your wife. Even if you were dead, I would not do anything. I have promised you this more than once. You need to trust me.”
“Why?” he asked Raeln. “I’m not angry, Raeln. I just want to know why you’re trying so hard to protect me, when there’s no reason to anymore.”
“Can’t you just accept that she isn’t my type?”
Estin stared at Raeln until he felt uncomfortable.
“Right now, you’re the only ones with anything close to a real life left,” Raeln finally added. “The rest of us are doing this, knowing we’ll probably die but having nowhere else to go. We don’t have a family waiting for us and there’s no hope of seeing our loved ones again. I’ll protect what you should have, if only because it’s what we lost. I want to see you go home to your family…it’s the closest thing to normal life I can imagine anymore.”
Estin smiled and thanked him, squeezing his hand tightly. “You’re a good friend, Raeln, even if I don’t deserve it. You have no idea how much I appreciate it all. I know it can’t be easy saying ‘no’ this often. Know that every time you do, you have my gratitude.”
From down below Yoska said just barley loud enough for them to hear, “Is easier for him than you think, no?”
Raeln’s skin prickled and he wanted to run and hide, but Estin held his hand tightly, studying his face for answers.
“What’s he talking about?” Estin asked.
“Nothing,” Raeln answered quickly, wanting to go punch the gypsy. There were some things he simply had no desire to talk about.
“The ladies, they do not figure these things out because they do not wish to know,” Yoska prattled on. “Some of us are not so ignorant. I spend many years fixing cousins up with wives and husbands. Is easy to watch who they look at and know what works best for them. In wildling camp you watch for which tails they stare at and you can better find partner for them. This one, he does very little looking, but when he does—”
“Shut your mouth right now, Yoska. I’ll come down and break your neck if you don’t,” Raeln warned and saw Yoska jump a little in surprise.
Raeln yanked his hand away from Estin and hurried toward the back of the wagon, intending to go hide under his blankets until the cities were in sight. Before he made it to the edge, Estin spoke up again.
“You said once that a Turessian killed your friend.”
Raeln hesitated near the back edge of the wagon.
“Did you love him?” Estin asked a moment later.
“I did, but never told him,” replied Raeln, hanging his head.
“Whenever you want, I can try to bring him back so you can tell him,” Estin offered, sounding sincere, with no judgment in his tone. “I’m still weak, but I’ll try whenever you ask. Just say the word. I’ll do what I can to make Feanne stop pestering you, but you’ll need to explain this to her or she’ll keep it up. Hells, she might keep it up anyway in an attempt to change your mind.”
That made Raeln laugh and he started to head down below when he heard Yoska whistle loudly to announce something on the horizon. Turning in place, Raeln nearly fell off the wagon as he saw a low-hanging black haze and burned ground covering much of the plains in the distance. Where he would have expected to see the cities, there were the remains of thousands of small structures that looked more like skeletal fingers reaching up in the haze.
No one said anything as the wagon slowed and continued toward the ruins, all of them watching with slumped shoulders as they approached. They either leaned over the edge of the wagon roof or out the open windows of the wagon, eyes wide. Soon Raeln could see all of the taller buildings had been toppled, though some still had massive stones from catapults wedged in the top remaining floor. He saw nothing that rose above three floors anymore. Even the walls were broken open, with twenty-foot-wide cracks in spots, mostly near the gates that still stood.
It took them hours to reach the city, spanning much of the day, giving them plenty of time to stare at the destruction. During all that time, the only movement Raeln saw were the occasional crows and vultures that came and went from the city.
They approached the largest hole in the southern wall, which was easily wide enough to drive the wagon through, but Yoska brought them to a halt about fifty feet from the wall.
“City looks empty,” Yoska announced, leaning in his seat to look both ways through the broken wall. “Undead do not loot cities, so is possible to find things to help us. City is huge and will take many days to explore. Ancestors say staying that long is not wise, and today I do not argue.”
Raeln studied the interior of the city from the top of the wagon, seeing a single wide street ran from the nearby gates through at least halfway into the city. Two other streets branched off to either side, appearing to run in parallel with the outer walls. If he had to guess, they would meet back up with the central avenue near the far end of the city. As he looked around, Estin, Dalania, and Feanne got down off the wagon and stretched their legs.
“They aren’t expecting us yet, so let’s go through as fast as we can,” Raeln said loud enough that everyone could hear him clearly. “Yoska, go right down the middle with the wagon. I will take the western road—” Raeln saw Feanne’s ears perk and he immediately pointed at Dalania. “—with Dalania, while Estin, Feanne, and On’esquin take the eastern. We meet up on the far end of the city with whatever we can carry. Do not stop for anything. If you encounter resistance, you are to run and find a way to let us know. Scream, howl, whatever you want, but don’t let them take you.”
Muttering their agreement, Estin and On’esquin drew their weapons, while Dalania wrung her hands and eyed the city as though a horde of undead would charge out at any moment. Feanne appeared almost bored.
Unfastening two of the six horses from the wagon, Yoska passed one set of reins each to Estin and Dalania.