All I’d wanted to do was protect my family, now my mother was dead and my siblings were being held captive by King Richard in the citadel.
Part of me wanted to throw in with the rebels, gather bombs, burst through the doors and burn everything down. But I knew now, after seeing my mother’s glassy eyes in the dirt, it only took a second to have everything you loved ripped away, and the elite were fast. Too fast to stop. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone else. I couldn’t.
We reached Sezomp by the third day. We were tired, but uninjured, which I knew better than to take for granted. We’d been forced to escape from Crollust without the weapons that had been seized at the gate. The guns were pretty useless anyway, and we had a few daggers and knives between us, but no real weapons.
The landscape had changed, instead of thick pines, we trudged through forests of white alder, their knotty trunks rising out of muddy marshlands. The thin canopy of leaves had been burned away, leaving the reaching branches charred and blackened, and the air thick with ash. Even with my hood up and the mask hot around my mouth, visibility was poor. And after hours of walking through mud, my legs felt stiff and heavy. Finally we came across a series of wooden pathways, weaving a path through the trees.
“Are we really sure we want to enter another compound?” Luke complained. “Things didn’t exactly go very well last time.”
“Yeah and things went so much better out in the woods alone,” Jazmine said, gesturing towards her leg. The wound was practically healed now, other than the row of curving scars down her calf, like a paper doll someone had tried to sew back together.
“We have elixir, and we have the map,” Trevor said. “What’s in Sezomp that’s worth the risk?”
I studied the tall fence that surrounded the compound, cutting though the mud and sparse trees. It was a scrappy thing, made of thin strands of barbed wire and long thin planks of wood. No doubt electrified like the one in Algrave. I could feel the hum as I got closer. I peered in through the fence, examining the town.
A few men were standing by the side of a building, smoking tobacco in a long pipe. Otherwise the town seemed quiet, mostly empty. Tingles spread up my spine.
Luke was right to be careful, but we’d be strangers here, and I wouldn’t need to steal. Maybe things would go smoothly, and we’d be gone by the morning.
Plus, I knew they were looking at me for a plan, and I didn’t have one. I barely knew what I was doing, and if I was forced to think about it too long I might fall apart. I needed some time, and a good sleep, before I was ready for this conversation.
“Let’s go in,” I said. “If Fanno Creek is around here, they may know the way. It beats stumbling around in the dark, unless you want to sleep in the mud. And it might be our last hot meal for awhile.”
“Fair point,” Jazmine said. “I feel gross.”
We crossed over towards the open dirt road that lead into the compound entrance. A handful of men with orange beards guarded the gate, with pistols stuck into their belts. My eyes widened at the firearms, which shouldn’t have been permitted in the compounds.
“Militia,” Trevor said, nodding at the purple insignia on their battered cloaks.
“I suppose we should be thankful they aren’t royal guards,” I said under my breath as we approached.
“That’s far enough,” one of the men, with a thick gray moustache, stepped forward.
“State your business.”
I raised my palms, closing the gap between us.
“We’re seeking food and shelter,” I said, “for my companions and myself. We’ll be gone by morning.”
“This compound is protected by King Richard. We don’t share our supplies with strangers.”
“We can trade,” I said.
“With what?” another man asked, standing up.
I clenched my jaw, stalling for time. Besides our weapons, we didn’t have any coin. Our stolen elixir was probably worth a fortune, but it was also illegal contraband.
“Information,” Jazmine said, stepping forward. “News from the citadel, and Crollust. Surely you saw the lanterns a few days ago, no wonder you’re on edge. And if that’s not enough, some very fine dresses and materials. We hid them a few days away, we can draw you a map to them.”
“Ain’t got much use for dresses,” the man spat, with