Datura

CHAPTER 18:BROKEN VILLAGE

Vladimir's shoes clattered as his walked through the glass floor of the hollow palace halls Barely paying attention to servants that greeted him on his way.

He came to a halt once he arrived at the royal throne dressed in Gold and showered in emeralds.

''Vladimir a deep voice boomed through the room. "And to what Do I owe your Audience?''

Vladimir bowed his head at the king, whose aged gray hair rested on his shoulders and beard as white as snow majestically covered half his face, they say sorrow ages a man before his time and in his case it was proven to be true.
''Must I have a reason to visit my dear brother?'',
''No but you only ever visit the palace when you wish to make special request.''
''AHHH then I must admit dear brother you've caught me", he grinned

The king sighed ''What is it this time Vladimir '',

''Oh your majesty Before I do make my request I must ask how is our beloved queen holding up ?''
'' The king's expression dropped he batted his eyes staring at the empty throne beside him' 'At least she's breathing''.
''I see maybe things will be better the next time I visit", Vladimir says Dishonestly he could care less if she was dead or not.
"We all pray she wakes up soon "the king says with so much sorrow.

"Indeed brother ,Moving on I need a favor for our Allies, the Mercenaries, In North, it's the least we could do after all the help they've offered us over the years.
The king frowned even more ''Havent i given them all they asked ? what is it they want now?'

DH POV:

Existing the woods everyone rode silently Datura and sage, Henry on his own and her with Alex.
She couldn't ride with sage because once again Sage couldn't stand her plus she preferred to ride peacefully in the scorching heat without a red head nagging her the whole way.
This time her view was the back of Alex's head, his wavy black hair bouncing up and down and she wasn't complaining. They had travelled for a few days now and the weather was the least favourable during these days . This morning they were hoping to get through Anslow quick since their food supplies had been running out.

''Were here says henry pointing towards the 'welcome to Anslow' sign, it was tattered up and covered in bullet holes .

20 years ago the wars began in Anslow it was the first town Salian's Our enemy's on the West attacked backed. Dahlia sneaked glances at Dautra as they rode into the town, she wondered why she found it so hard to ignore he was even there. She had been avoiding him since the night at the lake .She decided to keep her distance from him for the time being ,she wasn't so sure how long she could keep this up

DT POV:
Datura was taken aback by the first sight of the town it looked disserted, the trees and grass where all dried up and there was no sign of a single person the houses looked old and broken down not to mention the eerie feeling it had as soon as they arrived
''What happened? He asked why does the town look so broken?

''Well, henry replied ,Anslow is one of the towns that werent so lucky during the second wave of the wars they had it really bad here ''.
Datura glance at the abounded shops with holes in the windows a pot holes that marked the streets like patterns ''Does that mean they killed off an entire town?''

''Not really they majority of the elderly were killed now most of the people that live here now are kids that have nowhere else to go".

''You forgot this place is well known for having the kingdoms most dangerous Criminals '', Sage added ''I say we offer Dahlia if we come across any, She's the reason were here
''Ha ha very funny Sage '', Dahlia remarked

No wonder they didn't want to travel through here he thought , they came across a group of men gambling over a bottle of beer one of them shoot Datura a death glare he quickly looked away ''Don't stare '', Sage nudged his shoulder.