David

  The two mile trek to the city was kinda miserable for me. Not that my travel companions seemed to care. My legs were longer than they used to be, so I kept stubbing my toe, or smming my foot into the ground. My center of gravity was all kinds of off, so I kept stumbling whenever the forest trail had a bump or dip. And my clothes? The sweats were doing alright enough, but my top felt like it was at risk of tearing every time I moved my arms around.

  The only small mercy I had was that my shoes still fit, meaning I might be able to avoid blisters on this nightmare of a trip.

  “Rex. We’re almost there.” Lonna smiled as she spoke. With the moonlight reflected in her golden eyes, and that smile on her face, she looked… kinda… pretty. Pretty enough to make me blush, anyways. I looked away in a hurry to hide it. Unnecessary? Maybe, but I knew exactly two people in this world - I wasn’t dumb enough to risk driving one of them away by flirting. Besides, I was pretty sure Lonna wasn’t into me.

  It was the Heroine she wanted. I was just the idiot who’d shown up in her pce.

  That particurly depressing thought was still rattling in my brain when Lonna came to a sudden stop, causing me to bump into her. Hard enough to send her stumbling forward a few more steps, while I windmilled in pce to avoid falling over.

  Talith, who’d been keeping a watch behind us, made a noise like grinding rock. I’d heard it a few times, over the course of our trip, and I was pretty sure it was his equivalent to a sigh.

  “He’s like a newborn cyling,” Talith muttered, loud enough for everyone present to hear. I felt my cheeks flushing - hell, even my ears were turning red. “He doesn’t even know how to stop on command, and you want him to take on the Queen?”

  “Sorry for not knowing how to move a body I got an hour ago,” I grumbled back, my voice as low as my new vocal cords allowed. “Maybe if you all weren’t in such a hurry to get back to the city, I could have practiced walking.”

  Lonna jabbed a finger against my waist, then put it to her lips, gesturing for the two of us to be quiet. Then she waved Talith forward, past me to join her.

  “...Shit," he muttered. "Didn’t realize we were so close.”

  “How close are we?” I stood on tiptoes to try and get a better view, but it didn’t do me much good - Talith was too big an obstacle to see around.

  “Too close, considering how loud you two were being,” Lonna whispered, gesturing for me to crouch down, as she pulled the branches of a tree aside.

  We were on top of a hill. A city sprawled across the nd in front of us, starting about fifty feet from the foot of the hill. Farmnd stretched out behind it, covering a wide expanse of territory, and stretching right up to the back end of the city wall itself. Despite the te hour, I could see a few people walking about fields of maize, beans, barley and emmer wheat. The rest were probably sleeping, within the squat farmhouses that dotted the ndscape.

  As for the city wall itself, it towered even higher than the buildings, so high up as to be eye level with us on the hill. The wall was constructed of heavy stones, was spotted with crenetions, and had archers peeking down from atop it. It had exactly one opening, so far as I could see: a solid iron gate, illuminated by nterns and guarded by two men.

  “Think they heard us?” Talith whispered, his voice lower and quieter than I’d heard it, so far.

  Lonna shook her head, though. “You weren’t that loud. Besides, they’re not going to get in our way today, of all days.”

  “And why not?” Talith asked. The red flickers of light that represented his eyes didn’t change in any visible way, but I was pretty sure he was giving her a dubious look, just going off his tone.

  Lonna hesitated for a moment before jutting her chin out and proudly decring, “Because it’s my birthday!”

  Saying so, she calmly stepped out from the treeline and began to walk down the hill, in full sight of the guards at the gate.

  There was a loud thud as Talith spped a hand against his forehead with great force. Still, despite shaking his head, the cy man slowly followed his sister.

  As for me? I was alone, right at the forest’s edge. That’s when it occurred to me - if I wanted to go, if I wanted to find my own way - home or otherwise - this was probably my st chance. If I stayed near Lonna, I was going to get pulled into her pns. If I turned and fled, though, I could probably get some distance into the forest before she even noticed I was gone.

  …I’d also probably get lost and die soon after, though.

  “W-Wait for me!” I called out, running down the hill, straight past Talith, not stopping until I was side by side with Lonna.

  Right in front of the guards.

  “Who’s this?” muttered the one on the right, while the one on the left moved his spear to aim the tip towards my neck.

  Although the guard didn't actually make any move to thrust, or even threaten me, I still stepped back, heart pounding. Could anyone bme me, though? It was the first time I’d ever had a weapon pointed at me.

  But then Lonna stepped in front of the guard. Which… was very nice, and kinda cool, symbolically speaking. I guess? But she was short enough that the guard could skewer me over her shoulder, just fine.

  Instead, he immediately lowered his weapon.

  “He’s with me,” Lonna decred, shooting an annoyed look my way. “Goes by-”

  “Melissa,” I interrupted. The guard’s eyes narrowed, but I put on a nervous smile and kept talking anyway. “My name is Melissa.”

  The guard frowned, faintly, looking first at Lonna, and then at me again. For my part, I stared right back, trying to memorize what sort of uniforms guards wore in this world.

  The answer appeared to be “not much.” He was wearing a maille shirt, and pauldrons embzoned with what looked to be a red sun, on a bck field. Or, as I would have been told to call it in css: sable, a sun guiles. I could only assume that it was the (supposedly) wicked queen’s symbol - on Earth, a golden sun on bck would make more sense and wouldn't break the rule of tincture; which implied whoever bore this coat of arms had enough power to break the rules in this ominous way.

  …Unless this world just had different rules, anyways.

  Either way, the guard’s companion was dressed in much the same way - right down to the same sized chain shirt, which left his midriff covered only by a coarse brown fabric. The parts of his clothes that weren’t armor must have been the soldier’s responsibility: while both guards were wearing brown trousers, the one who had been speaking so far had thin, tan ones compared to the other’s tough, dark pants.

  The guard on the right, who’d been speaking so far, had short-cropped brown hair and hard green eyes. The one on the left who was too tall and nky for his gear had dirty blond hair, brown eyes, and an adolescent face - complete with acne. He couldn't have been older than 18, and that was doubtful. They obviously hired soldiers young in this world.

  Considering the other one looked to be in his early thirties, though… Maybe they were partnered as mentor and student?

  …I was a bit of a history nerd, on top of being a pnt nerd. Majored in botany, minored in medieval history. This sort of thing was kinda fascinating to me.

  Also, it was a lot more fun to think about than intrusive questions like, ‘Why do they look so scared of Lonna?’

  “A-Alright,” muttered the guard on the right, apparently having gotten his fill of staring at me. “ So his name’s Melissa…”

  “Um… Her…. Her name is Melissa,” I corrected, rubbing the back of my neck. Though maybe ‘corrected’ isn’t quite the right word in this case, since I was obviously lying. “Lonna had a… slip of the tongue?” I smiled, trying to appear as natural as possible. I knew I was being a bit dumb - pulling extra attention to myself by correcting Lonna in front of the guards - but I had a reason for it!

  A fake name would help me blend in. Same with feminine pronouns. I mean, sure, Lonna and Talith had been surprisingly respectful of the whole ‘I’m a dude’ thing, and maybe that was the culture here at rge? But either way, someone who looked like me calling themselves a guy and going by David was bound to stand out. A perfectly normal girl named Melissa on the other hand? I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’d blend with the crowd, but I’d certainly draw a lot less attention to myself.

  So why were the guards narrowing their eyes?

  …Why were Lonna and Talith narrowing their eyes?

  “Lonna?” the older guard asked, raising an eyebrow, and turned his gaze to the redhead. “I thought your name was Rigara.”

  “Does it matter?” Lonna asked, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. “You’re going to let me through no matter what my name is, aren’t you? Because you know that if you don’t-”

  “She’ll light your pants on fire,” Talith interrupted, coming into position behind me and Lonna. He’d taken his time coming down, but the effect of a huge cy creature on the guards was…

  Not very noticeable, honestly; they were still just trembling at the sight of Lonna.

  I turned to look at the small sorceress. “Please tell me you haven’t actually lit anyone’s pants on fire? Please?”

  Lonna averted her eyes. “I didn’t know the guy was keeping an oily rag in his pants… I mean, who even does that? And I healed him afterwards, didn’t I?”

  “The captain of the city guard has strict orders not to allow her arrest,” Talith expined, his voice pitched low, like a whisper. A very loud whisper that the guards couldn’t help but hear. “Heard around town that someone higher up in the food chain wants to recruit her. Personally.”

  “Those rumors can go fuck themselves.” Lonna’s voice was an actual whisper, but I heard it anyway.

  Had my hearing improved, maybe?

  By the time I shook that thought off and shifted my focus back to Lonna, she was already halfway towards the guards.

  “Now, are you going to open the gates? Because I’m telling you right now - I won't have Breath to waste on healing you, this time.”

  The guard's faces turned ashen at that.

  “O-Open the gate for the Lady!” stuttered the nky one. The older one on the right was sullenly silent as the gate started to crank open, sliding upward until there was enough room for even Talith to walk under it without stooping.

  Experiencing the city for the first time, with no walls between me and the streets, my first thought was not directly about the people, or the buildings.

  “It stinks.”

  So far, I’d been treated to the smell of woods, and open fields, untouched by industry. Clear, wonderful, natural scents. But now I was confronted by the sheer stench of people crammed in close quarters and surrounded by a wall.

  A sheer wave of nausea overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t help but pinch my nose.

  “Come on,” Lonna muttered, pulling the hood of her green cloak over her head, hunching herself over, and walking into the city. It was obvious, to anyone looking, that she didn’t want to be bothered or recognized.

  Talith, who’d obviously have a hard time pulling that off, began to stomp as he walked, his feet making loud noises against the pavement. Almost like a threat against whatever happened to get in his way.

  Personally? I didn't want to go. I didn’t want to walk into a stench so strong it seemed nearly a solid barrier. But with Lonna and Talith already inside, the gate was closing and I basically had no choice but to lower my head and duck within, scrambling to enter before the entrance closed.

  “Gd to see you made it,” muttered Talith. His face was set into a scowl, however, as he looked about the city.

  “Welcome to Ife,” Lonna procimed, striding forward now that I’d joined them. “It used to be the greatest city on the continent. Before Sorissa.”

  “How can one person cause this kind of decay?” I asked, taking it in. Though the stench made my eyes water, I figured that it was normal for a medieval type city. The mouldering and pockmarked buildings, on the other hand, spoke of something more sinister.

  The city was squalid. The buildings did seem a little more solidly built, as they moved toward the wealthier center of town - but only the architecture improved. No matter how far we traveled inward, nothing was cleaner, and there wasn’t a single sign of wealth or prosperity. The shops I saw had dingy signs, with smudged symbols I couldn’t make out and faded pictures with peeling, washed-out paint. I was guessing that at least some of them had to be open during daylight hours - but all of them had their windows boarded up.

  Even more upsetting were the people - or the ck thereof. It might have only been because of the teness of the hour, but I saw next to no one on the streets. Those I did see wore clothes saturated with sweat and dirt and reek and hasty patchwork. They kept their heads bowed, and moved straight toward their destinations.

  Lonna, Talith and I walked through street after street, but throughout it all I saw nothing but poverty.

  Eventually, we came to a stop in front of a rge house, built of unpainted red stone. It had a red door - and no roof.

  “The second floor was shattered when the st owner apparently pissed off a magi,” Lonna informed me. “But it hasn’t colpsed yet, and everyone here knows I’ve cimed it as my territory, so no one should bother us during the night.”

  Lonna then pulled two slender pieces of metal out of her cloak, no longer than her pinky and no wider than its fingernail. She inserted the metal into the lock mechanism, and began to fiddle.

  “You’re… picking the lock?” I asked, fbbergasted. “Don’t you have a key?”

  “I told you, I cimed this pce after the st person and most of the second floor exploded. And the key with them, probably!”

  The lock clicked open as Lonna spoke, so she gave the doorknob a test turn before nodding and pulling it open.

  “Come on in, Heroine. Talith, you okay with keeping a full watch?”

  Talith crossed his arms. “Fine. But tomorrow evening, the Heroine’s taking her share of it.” He turned to face the outside world.

  From the conversation, I could only hope that cy beings - Lapsi? - didn’t require sleep, because it was clear that he wasn’t going to get any.

  I needed sleep, though . God, I needed sleep. I was only human, after all, and it was getting te even before I was summoned. Between the drama after, and the hike after that, and the final danger at the city threshold, I was exhausted.

  “Come on, ‘Melissa,” Lonna called, from deep inside the house, her voice desiccating when it touched my new name. You’d think she had a problem with it, or something. “You can take the bed tonight.”

  “The bed?” I called back. “What about you? You were out of Breath, right? You should-”

  “The Heroine needs her strength.” Lonna decreed. Neither her words nor her feet were willing to wait for me, it seemed.

  Chasing after her, I found myself in front of a bare-boned bed frame. There was no mattress or box-spring, but several thick looking bnkets had been piled on top of a single wooden st.

  “Sleep,” Lonna imperiously demanded, apparently unaware of how disappointed I was with the bed. I was going to miss memory foam…

  I nodded all the same, though, yawning, and climbed into the bed. The wood was pretty hard beneath my knees, even through the bnkets, but since the night was comfortably warm, I decided to just y on top of the heavy wool and linen, using them as cushions.

  “What’s with the Melissa thing, anyway?” Lonna asked me. “And the ‘she her’ pronouns? Are you trying to disguise yourself as a girl?”

  “...Thought it would draw less attention…” My next yawn was even wider, accompanied by the stretching of my arms above my head, immediately followed by me curling up in as small a ball as I could make of myself.

  “...Besides…” I added, drifting away into sleep. “It felt… Better. Being called that. In this form…”

  As my eyes fluttered closed, my st thought before losing consciousness was, ‘Why does she look so confused? I just want to be seen as a girl, for a little bit…’

  Maybe if I’d been a bit more awake, I could have analyzed that thought - but in that moment, sleep swallowed me up.

  EmilieEmber