Page 23 of The Dragon Queen
One of the soldiers stepped forward and looked straight at Talon.
Talon stared back.
As if the soldier was offended, he stopped and waited for Talon to look away.
But Talon remained steady.
“What are the contents of your cart?” He was a big man, bigger than Talon in size and height, which was saying something.
“Steel, silver, and fruits,” Talon answered.
The other soldier moved forward, climbed into the wagon, and began an unnecessary and extensive search.
The first soldier stared at Talon, metal pins across his uniform, like he was of high status even though he was down at the docks. “I’ve never seen you before.”
“I’m new on the crew,” Talon answered.
The soldier continued to search the contents, ransacking the cart. It went on for a solid ten minutes, the fruits coming loose and rolling around the bottom of the cart, the sound of metal clanking when it came out of its chest.
Talon said nothing.
I stayed near the rear of the cart, and no one gave me a second glance.
The soldier finally climbed out of the cart. “Clear.”
The first soldier stepped aside. “The gate closes at sunset.”
We finally passed through and said nothing as we continued the long walk down the dusty road, the double gates that led into the city in the far distance. Rocks eventually turned into sandand lovely beaches with blue waters were visible, but despite the beautiful morning, there was no one around to enjoy it.
We passed through the double gates and stepped on the cobblestones, one of the sailors guiding our horse to the market.
Talon continued to walk at the front and survey his surroundings, staring at the commoners who passed, the other carts that headed to the town square with a fountain in the center. Except the fountain didn’t produce water. It was bone-dry.
Talon stopped and stared at it.
The sailor brought the cart to a halt.
Talon stared at the fountain for a long time before he climbed into the wagon and retrieved our things from underneath the hidden floorboard. He secured his sword across his back then hid its appearance with a black cloak.
The two of us and the sailors went our separate ways.
Talon walked to the dry fountain and stared at the stone. Chunks of it were missing, like fallen debris had cracked it in places where it’d gone weak.
I surveyed the market around us, and the first thing I noticed was the quiet. There was no music, no one playing a guitar trying to earn a couple coins from the public. Most of the stands had little to offer, a small amount of produce and meat, like they’d already sold most of their stock for the day…or there simply wasn’t enough.
Everyone was thin, very thin, and they looked dead behind the eyes. There was no laughter or uproarious conversation. There was a subdued energy to the air, a palpable misery like a cloudof fog. The sun was shining and the weather was agreeable, but everyone looked like it was the coldest day of winter.
When I looked at Talon again, his eyes were on the people, examining them just the way I was. His eyes were guarded and hard, a slight tension in his jaw. Earlier on the ship, he hadn’t looked angry, but he certainly looked angry now. “Follow me.”
We left the main part of the city and approached the cliff that sprouted from the earth. High above the city was the castle, and other pavilions were perched at the top, looking like the kingdom of heaven in the clouds.
Talon headed to those cliffs like he was about to march straight to the steel gates that blocked the path of the hill to the crown jewel at the top.
“They won’t let us pass the gate.”
“We aren’t going to the gate.” He took a detour off the road, leaving the cobblestone path where the remaining houses sat. He stepped into a field of olive trees and passed underneath their tall branches as he moved farther into the wild.
“Then where are we going?”