Chapter Twenty
The city below the castle was just as devoid of life as the gardens and courtyards that they had explored. Once they were away from the seal, the air was still and stagnant again, with only occasional gusts of wind rustling between buildings and down wide stone streets.
Thaddeus had few memories of the city itself, so walking through it was far less disorienting for Florian than the castle grounds. Still, though, the way almost everything looked untouched by time was disturbing. If not for the distinct lack of all plant life—and occasional patches of ash and dust, where wood or cloth items had burned away—it looked as if they could turn any corner and see a bustling city street. But everything was silent except for their own footsteps.
The streets were mostly cobblestone, but occasionally there were patches of colorful tile, similar to the stepping-stones that they had seen in the courtyards of the palace. Some were too covered with dust to make out, but most were still visible. Somewere just swirling abstract patterns; but some were in the shape of various animals, or a sun and moon dotted with stars, or long vines interspersed with multicolored flowers. He wondered who had put them there and why; maybe it was a way of identifying streets, or maybe the people who lived nearby made the mosaics themselves to decorate their community.
“I think we’re about halfway down,” Kade said, when they’d been walking for around half an hour. “All these buildings seem in pretty good shape, so let’s look for something along this road. If there’s anything with an intact door, that’ll probably be our best option.”
They hadn’t seen any buildings with a door still standing—all the doors must have been wood, burned away long ago—so Florian wasn’t confident that they would find one now. But maybe they could find a building with some intact inner rooms, like they had found when exploring the sky islands near the dragon kingdom.
As they walked along the main road, Florian poked his head into several of the doorless buildings just to check them out. They were all quite empty, mostly everything within burned away. But he could make out counters and the occasional stone table, and some kitchens were configured in such a way that a metal stove tucked into a shaded corner still looked usable.
One of the homes they passed had a glimmer of blue tile over the arched doorway. Florian stepped closer and paused to look at it more closely.Our Happy Home, it read.
The inscription made him choke up with emotion, eyes burning. All these lives, gone in an instant. How was this a justified consequence of one forbidden act? Who had even made the rules of old magic that could think something like this was a proportional reaction? Soleil had tried to bring a single person back to life, and destroyed nearly the entire world as a result. It wasn’t remotely fair. Whoever had lived here surelyhadn’t deserved to die in such a way—none of the citizens of the Summer Court did.
“Shit,” he heard Rune murmur next to him. “That’s depressing.”
He sucked in a deep, steadying breath. Itwasdepressing. He had to do whatever it took to fix this. He couldn’t make things right for the people who had died so long ago, but he could course-correct for the future. That was why they were here. He had to succeed; there was no other choice.
“Yeah,” he said quickly, wincing at how clipped his tone was as he turned away from the building. “This is all messed up.”
Even without looking at her, he could tell Rune wanted to make some sort of comment or question; but she seemed to hold her tongue, and they continued on in silence.
It took scouring a few cross-streets, but after some time, they found what would be their best option for a safe base of operations. A sliding stone door was barely visible through the open entrance to what might have once been some sort of cafe or restaurant. Kade was the one who spotted it, making the rest of them stay outside as he went to inspect it. Cautiously, he slid the door open just a crack to peek inside.
Florian watched him, but Kade made no outward movement, only tilting his head slightly to peer around the room, then he slid the stone door closed and turned to face them.
“There’s, uh, bones,” he said, sounding perplexed. “But it looks like opening the door made them start to burn. So it’s at least keeping the Blight out, but someone died in here. Do we still want to stay?”
Florian frowned, taken aback. When he glanced over at Koji and Rune, they also looked unsettled. But this was the best option they’d found so far, and there was no guarantee there would be another place like this nearby.
“Do you mean like a whole skeleton?” Rune asked dubiously, brows furrowed. Kade nodded, and her nose wrinkled. “I don’t know about that.”
“I can go in and clean it up,” Florian offered, though he was uncertain if his usual cleaning spell would work on something like a decomposed body. “I mean, it seems like staying here is probably gonna be our best bet, so if that’s what it takes...”
Rune still pulled a face. Koji nodded slowly, and Kade remained expressionless, seemingly deferring to Florian.
“If that door was keeping out the Blight, then we should stay here,” Koji said. “I’m sure anywhere we go there would be... remains of some sort.”
“Yeah, okay,” Rune sighed, running her hands nervously over her braided hair. “This is giving me the creeps, but you’re right. If you can clean it up, Florian, then, yeah, this is good.” It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than truly agreeing, but Florian wasn’t going to argue.
“Okay,” he said, sighing. “Let’s... try and keep the Blight out as much as we can. They deserve that much. I’ll do what I can, then let you guys know.”
“Should I go in there with you?” Kade asked. Florian hesitated. There wasn’t much Kade would be able to do to help, but the moral support at least would be nice. He’d never had to deal with a skeleton before, so having someone familiar with him could only help.
“Yeah, okay,” he said. “Rune, Koji, you guys keep watch just in case. We’ll go in and clean up, then let you in once it’s... Once it’s as good as we can get it. Okay?”
Rune nodded quickly. She had never struck Florian as particularly squeamish, but this was obviously bothering her more than the other things that they had encountered so far. Koji nodded as well, though his expression was far more placid.
“Ready?” Kade asked, pressing his hands to the stone door again. “Yeah,” Florian replied. Kade pushed the door open, and they both slipped inside quickly, then shut the door behind them.
It was pitch black in the room. “Light,” Florian whispered, and a glowing globule of light appeared in his open palm, illuminating the room like a candle. This room was smaller than the outer chamber, but would still have enough space for them to sleep and cook. It looked like a walk-in fridge, Florian thought as he glanced around. Shelves lined the walls on each side, but they were all empty save for one, which had a set of tools on it: a hammer and a pick. It must have been an ice room, which was why the stone door sealed so tightly.
On the far end of the room was the skeleton, slumped against the wall with its legs straight out and arms folded in its lap. The bones of its feet and legs were dark and charred, even smoking a bit—just that instant of the Blight entering the room had started to burn the parts of the skeleton closest to the door. The wall and floor around it were stained black, and ash was scattered along its torso and legs. The ash was from cloth, Florian realized—the skeleton had still had its clothes, but the Blight had burned it all away to dust in an instant.
“Jeez,” Florian breathed, staring down at it. “What do you think happened to them?”
