I got up, donned my leather suit, and laced up my boots. I stepped on a floorboard that creaked under my weight, and Ifroze, listening. Everything remained quiet, and I continued moving through the room.
Carefully, I entered the hall and crossed the gallery to the eastern side of the palace. I opened the window and climbed to the top of the roof. Increasing my speed, I ran along the edge of the stone wall, before jumping down to the pavement below.
I had always thought the palace was poorly guarded, but every night when I left it behind, I was grateful for it. The Queen’s Palace was in fact, a separate compound within the city lines, but instead of protecting the non-infected population from the crawlers, it protected the men and women of power from the commoners.
There were still hours before the sun would reappear on the horizon, but the capital was never completely quiet. I would bet anything I owned, that the light of the torches and the sounds from the entertainment district drove the undead behind the city walls absolutely insane. One glance at Railand from above confirmed it; waves of crawlers gathered at the base of the colossal, thick walls, stretching out their veiny hands, hoping one day the massive construction would fail.
Loud screams shattered the usual hum of the city, and I looked around. Homeless people, drunks, and drug addicts still lingered, making themselves comfortable around the gambling dens and opium dives. Railand was vast and overcrowded, with its tiny, box-shaped apartments crammed into every availablespace like a grotesque cluster of fungi. People from the surrounding territories all made their way into the city after the disease ravaged their region, overpopulating an already crowded territory even more. I did not blame them, it was almost impossible to survive outside the city’s walls. After the infection flourished in Talman, people from the big cities slowly transported all the wood and metal from the nearby settlements into the capital, creating an abundance of building materials. But everything around me was repurposed without care, or proper consideration of the utilities, or any sort of aesthetics.
My eyes darted toward the monumental stone wall that separated the city’s edge from the wasteland outside. There were watchtowers along the walls and soldiers who guarded the last standing capital of all dragon clans.
I navigated through the constricted passages and after a couple wrong turns and congested bridges, I entered an alley, where the prostitutes took a break from working the streets. Their bright dresses and the assortment of colorful wigs only partially concealed what was underneath; the decay of living flesh and bone, abnormalities and gruesome lesions. A new disease was infecting the commoners of the big cities, and it was flourishing in all the overpopulated areas. I averted my eyes, not yet used to seeing the disfigurements of the women and men who had no choice but to work the streets for the coin that was so difficult to get.
Finally, the contours of the unremarkable, well concealed house that was clearly leaning to one side came into sight.The lights were on, and I lifted myself up and walked along the thin metal wall to my target.
“Ty!” Frid called when I entered the single room apartment through the window.
“Long time no see, man.” Victor gave me a mock salute and Sol inclined his head.
“How’s everybody?” I stretched my shoulders, looking around.
“Bored,” Victor said.
“How’s the girl?” Frid spoke over him.
“Not good.” I sighed and walked to the metal sink to wash up.
“Is she still sick?” she continued.
“Yeah.” I looked up at the reflection of my face in a miniscule, cracked mirror.
“I still can’t believe we’re here to save someone we don’t know, and who doesn’t know us,” Victor mumbled.
I turned, picking up a fresh towel from the shelving nearby.
“You don’t have to participate if you don’t want to,” I said looking at each and every one of them.
“Don’t be mad at him, he’s just been stuck indoors for way too long. I think the ladies of the night frightened him too much to leave the house,” Frid explained.
“I’m not scared of them!”
“Yeah, right. How else would you explain why you haven’t gone out with any of the girls from the city? It’s been what? A whole month?” Frid snickered.
I looked back at Victor. His ash blond hair was getting too long and he did look restless, especially when he glanced back at Frid. I never told them the whole story of my vision, everything that happened to all of us in Darragh. I still was not sure if it was a good idea, things were very different there.
My thoughts went back to the image of Alina’s face when she looked at me. Her hand in my hand, the endless fields and mountains. That echo of the past brought other memories. Victor holding Frid in his arms, their kiss at the winter solstice. And shortly after, Sol’s decimated body. Followed by Sage dying, two burning bodies tangled together.
“Ty? Ty?” Frid shook my shoulder.
“Yeah. Sorry.”
“You did that thing again. You just blanked out.” Frid looked into my eyes.
“Flashbacks?” Sol asked, and I nodded.
“Man, I still can’t understand how that’s even possible.” Victor rubbed his forehead.
“I’m not sure either,” I responded.
