Sieged

Chapter Fifteen

'I wish I was coming with you,' Seamil replies, patting the rump of the steed. 

'It would be nice to ride together like we once did.' 

A smirk graces Seamil. 'That's not the reason. I want to join you to make sure you don't fuck this up.' 

I smile back at the jest but it bites at me like a cold winter's night. Deep down, does he believe I'll do something foolish, too? 

'Can you believe the king has put the fate of the city, of our people, in my aching hands and leg?' I say. 

'I can believe it.' Seamil comes closer and whispers, 'He's an idiot. A fucking jester.' 

My smile widens and I take out the letter. 'It's from Lorma.' 

Seamil takes it and gives it a sniff before tucking it away in his uniform. 'And I've got something for you, too. A parting gift.' He pulls out a corked glass hip bottle, a milky white substance sloshing away inside. 

'What's that?' 

'A most potent firewater. The strongest yet. Sincerely, be careful with it, Pannor. Take too much and I'm sure you'll go blind. Nay, your body will render into a pool of slop.' 

I grab the bottle, slightly concerned it may erupt, explode like the enemy's newest weapon, and put it away. 

'Now enough with this standing around,' says Seamil. 'I may get emotional.' 

'Like the time at Giantfoot Bluff.' 

Seamil frowns, making me chuckle, before he cranes his neck and yells, 'Open the gate.' 

With a thunderous crack, the wooden bolts begin to slide, funneling through large slits in the side of the wall until they vanish with a rap. Then a soft creak sets off the gate. It opens up slowly from the middle before the gap widens in a rush. 

'Safe travels, Pannor.' Seamil sticks out his arm. 'And come back in one piece.' 

'Will do.' I lean over and grab his forearm and he grabs mine, a soldier's handshake. 'And don't steal anything while I'm gone.' 

We share a hearty laugh before I steer the steed through the gateway and out of the city. 

How strange, I say to myself, as a brisk breeze ruffles my hair. And all I see is the vast swath of brush and saplings where farmers fields once dotted the landscape. I also see the charred remnants of countless crashed wooden dragons. 

I haven't been outside since the siege began. It feels like I've been set free. Yet set free into the unknown, as if I've plunked onto the shores of some distant mysterious land with monsters ready to eat me alive. 

I turn to see Seamil standing inside the gate. He gives me a salute, which I return eagerly and with esteem. Rules be damned. 

The last time I shared a moment like this with him was when I retired from the army. 

Seamil then yells, 'Close the gate.' 

Swivelling back around, I set off, the Dragontop Mountains my guide to the siege line, to King Jarbora. 

A road barely visible through the overgrowth and remains sends me passing farmhouse after farmhouse, with many looking as they did before my people's imprisonment but I'm sure the roofs are as leaky as my home's. 

And one farmhouse in particular makes me stop, the stone hovel looking as small as it ever has. 

I'm thankful my parents aren't with me anymore, dying when this kingdom was at its highest, its biggest, when their son was still fighting, bringing honour to them and the family.