Page 18 of Cage of Darkness
The deeper into Russek they traveled,the harsher the weather and landscape became. The air turned bitterand cold. The green valley gave way to rocky mountains.
They rode all day untilthey came to a village. Small, single-story shacks lined the onlyroad. Some of the doors hung loose on their hinges, giving thevillage an abandoned feel. Maybe it was due to the upcoming war, ormaybe this village only existed to house those passing by. Soma ledthem to a crude, two-story building with the wordLodgingpainted above thefront door. He ordered four of the soldiers to take the horses tothe stables around back. The remaining two accompanied them inside.A dozen or so round tables were situated throughout a square room,a single torch lighting the space. The hearth was empty.
“Anyone here?” Soma calledout.
A woman in her thirties wearing a wornapron appeared. Soma secured three rooms for the night and orderedfood. When the woman left, they sat at one of the tables, no onespeaking. A few minutes later, the woman returned with bowls ofstew. Allyssa raised her bound wrists toward Soma, but he shook hishead.
“How am I supposed toeat?”
“I’m sure you can figuresomething out.”
Odar had already grabbed his spoon andwas shoveling stew into his mouth despite having his wrists tiedtogether. Allyssa sighed and attempted to do the same. The food wasbarely warm and had an odd taste to it. She couldn’t quite identifythe meat. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the womanhuddled in the doorway to the kitchen, watching her.
When they finished eating, they headedto the second floor where the rooms were located. The place smelledof mildew and the floors creaked. Soma assigned three people toeach room, ensuring Odar and Allyssa were separated. While shedidn’t particularly like sleeping in a room with two strange men,she was too exhausted to argue. Climbing onto the stiff strawmattress, she cuddled into herself, trying to warm up, and fellasleep.
The next morning, a fur-lined cape layatop her. When she questioned where it came from, neither of thesoldiers knew. She stood and tied it around her neck, the lengthfitting perfectly. The two men led her downstairs. As they passedthrough the tavern toward the exit, Allyssa saw the woman from lastnight at a table kneading bread. She glanced up at Allyssa andsmiled. The fur-lined cape must have come from her. Given thepoverty of this village, she didn’t feel worthy of such a preciousgift. When she went to remove it, the woman insisted she keepit.
“She’s right,” one of thesoldiers said. “You’re going to need it so you don’t freeze todeath.”
Allyssa thanked the woman and exitedthe inn. When they reached the stables, everyone else was there,ready to ride out. Thankfully, Soma didn’t say anything about thecape. She mounted her horse, and they left the village behind,traveling deeper into Russek.
No matter where they went, thereaction was always the same—no one seemed to recognize PrinceSoma, and he made no attempt to flaunt his identity. Instead, herepeatedly stated that they were a group of soldiers heading toClovek, the town where the king’s castle was located. No onequestioned the story.
They rode for days—each day becomingcolder than the previous one. They only stopped to eat and sleep.Because the temperature plummeted at night, they always stayed atan inn.
Even though they traveled on a mainroad, they passed very few villages. Allyssa was beginning towonder where everyone lived. The settlements she did see consistedof dilapidated wooden or stone houses, a single well as the mainwater source, and very few people out and about. The ground was socold and hard that hardly any crops grew in this region. The mutedcolors made everything look dreary and depressing.
A week into their trip, a vicioussnowstorm hit, causing them to seek shelter in an abandonedbuilding until it passed. Even huddled around a fire, she didn’tthink she’d ever be warm again. Snow blew in through the cracks inthe ceiling, the howling wind mirroring her turbulent thoughts.Soma made each of them take a turn melting snow in a pot over thefire, then drinking the warm water. She found herself crying for noreason, the tears freezing on her cheeks. At some point, she fellasleep.
She woke up in Soma’s arms.
“Oh good, you’re not dead,”he said sardonically.
He carried her outside and sat heratop a horse; everyone else was already mounted and ready to ride.She squinted, shielding her eyes from the blinding light. Snowcovered everything, including the surrounding hills. The roads andvalleys looked like they had been wrapped in a white furryblanket.
The horses trudged along, havingdifficulty navigating through the snow. As they rode into a valleybetween two mountains, the wind whipped through, howling like ananimal. Allyssa pulled the cape tightly around her body. She nolonger felt her fingers, feet, or nose. Odar was lying against hishorse, trying to avoid the frigid wind. Even with a blanket wrappedaround him, his body shook. She offered him her cape, but herefused, saying she needed it more. Her breath came out in whitepuffs, and her eyes stung. She longed for home—the lush green hillsand warm sunshine. No wonder so few people lived in this blastedplace.
At the end of the valley, Prince Somaled the group to the right. When they rounded the mountain, anominous castle stood in the distance. Constructed out of darkstones, it seemed as if it grew out of the rocky land. Dark, lowclouds cast a gray hue over the snowy landscape.
Allyssa’s body shook—not from theweather, but from the fact that they had arrived in Clovek, thecapital of Russek. She was going to have to face her father’s evil,bitter half sister, who would use her as a bargaining chip to gaincontrol of Emperion. Her stomach twisted at the thought. Sincechildhood, she had been taught that the kingdom came first. Herparents would never meet Jana’s demands. She was going todie.
“What are you doing?” Somademanded, glancing over his shoulder at her.
She had started to slide off thehorse, one foot only inches above the snowy ground.
Vladek came alongside her. He reachedout with his good hand, helping her back onto the saddle. His handwith the missing finger had been wrapped with strips of fabric, andhe still wasn’t using it. “She just slipped,” Vladek replied toSoma. “She’s secure now.”
The assassin faced forwardagain.
“I wouldn’t try to escape,”Vladek whispered. “Besides this fortified castle, the only otherplace nearby is a military compound. There’s nowhere to go forhelp, and you wouldn’t last a day out here in thisweather.”
But she had to try, especially sinceshe was going to die anyway. When she peered over at Odar, he shookhis head, his eyes pleading with her not to do anything stupid—likemake a run for it.
“There are six of us plusPrince Soma,” Vladek stated. “We’re armed and on horses. How far doyou think you’d get on foot in unfamiliar land?”
“Perhaps it’s better to bestruck down out here rather than in there,” Allyssawhispered.
Vladek shrugged. “He won’t allow youto be killed right now. Injured maybe.” He held up his hand withthe missing finger to emphasize his point. “You’re going to betaken into the castle, I guarantee it. You can fight and make itmore difficult, maybe getting hurt in the process. Or, you can saveyour energy for when you need it. Because you will need every ounceof strength you can muster. Of that you can be certain.”
