The Crown of the Thunder King

CHAPTER THREE

"A town?"

Dobrea nodded in response to Adlai's question.

"A small village, just a little further down the road." She turned to Sanja. "It wasn't on the map, was it?"

The pitch-haired man closed his eyes in concentration.

"I don't remember. I'd have to make sure, but it's possible that I missed it."

Adlai sat on the ground, cross-legged. They'd sent Dobrea ahead to see if there were any bandits on the road, two days after they'd broken camp and started to Maxorien, but instead she'd returned with a report of a tiny settlement. It was just big enough to be called a town, apparently, and it didn't even have gates. Just a low stone wall and a halfhearted fence.

Well, whatever. They didn't have time for a detour, anyway. Sanja would probably just tell them to move on and disregard it.

"Let's go check it out, then," Lily said brightly, just as Sanja was opening his mouth. "It's our job to take care of everyone and make sure they're doing well. Isn't that right, Sanja?"

Sanja gazed down at her shining, earnest eyes, and simply said, "...Sure."

"Haaahhh?" Kolohe said, staring up at the others from his own position on the ground. "We're really doing this? I though for sure-"

"No, no, Lily's right," Dobrea cut in, resting a hand on the small girl's fiery head. "We can't pass them by."

Adlai flopped his head over his other shoulder, hoping to see what Elke made of all this, but she was just staring down the road in the direction of the town, hand slack on her gun. Her face was strange... Restive? Adlai didn't know the word for it.

"Alright, then," Sanja said, hitching up his sack. "We'll stop by and do a cursory check. Don't loiter too long."

Lily cheered, and Kolohe's jaw fell open in disbelief. He stared at Sanja through narrowed eyes.

"Huh? That's all it takes you to cave? Man, if I'd known that-"

"Impossible." Sanja turned his back on Kolohe and started off down the road.

"What does that mean?" Kolohe bounded up and took off after him. Sanja didn't look back, and only picked up his pace. "Hey! Don't ignore me! What's wrong? Is it 'cause I'm not wearing a skirt? You want me to put on a skirt?! I'll do it!"

"Impossible," said Sanja a second time, and then they were out of sight.

Adlai shook his head and tore his gaze away, looking instead at Dobrea's similarly confused face. Oh, the lengths people would go to just to get out of something they didn't want to do. It was impressive, actually.

Well, Adlai didn't have any right to call Kolohe out. He didn't really want to go through the trouble of performing another inspection. It was ridiculously boring.

"Adlai!" Lily waved to him, already halfway down the path. "Why are you all the way back there?" Dobrea and Elke were with her, too, glancing back at him. He'd lingered longer than he'd thought.

Adlai shook himself out of his stupor and set off as well, breaking into a jog to catch up to the others.

The village really was miniscule. From what Adlai could see of it, it was divided into four main parts by two roads that cut through the center. Bordering the roads were a slew of timber houses and shops, with only a couple taller than one story. Every building looked kind of haphazardly placed, and clusters of fences and stubby stone walls complicated the layout even more. The outer walls broke for the road, and a thin wooden structure was propped up over the gap, forming a kind of makeshift portico, as if there was supposed to be a door, but there was none.