CHAPTER 57
Nakira can see smoke billowing from the glowing metropolis ahead of her. Mortimus is still making great strides toward closing what little gap remains between them and the city.
The road they are traversing is still unpaved and muddy, but the frequency of farmhouses has increased as they enter the rural outskirts of the city of Aldin.
She can see the great castle of Aldin towering over the urban landscape like a giant mountain of stone and mortar. It is well-lit and gleams in the night sky.
The rains are not as severe as the weather she and her vampiric stead had passed only hours before, but lightning flashes still flare behind her, though the thunder is late in catching up. She is riding on the cusp of the storm front and the wrath of the heavens will soon follow her.
Noticing again the sooty vapors emitting from the grand city, Nakira senses something amiss.
Mortimus shrieks his agreement.
She absently smoothes a hand on the black stallion's mane, and whispers toward the city, "My son, whatever are you up to?"