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No one was to be released unless a ridiculously high sum was paid. King Taven must have been receiving a good amount of taxes from the sale of slaves, and he wasn’t ready to let anybody go so easily. A fisherman said he’d lost his two brothers that night, and he couldn’t afford such a price to buy them back. He wasn’t even sure if they were alive. A few wealthy people had been able to locate and purchase back family members, and a couple had done it for those with little money.
“After you were taken that night, most of the trouble was done before dawn. The ships left with the prisoners, but many soldiers remained.” The fisherman wiped his face with his sleeve. “Some of the people had tried to fight back, and our dead were still in the streets. We never had a chance because men came from docks and even beyond the walls. Others came from inside the Castle later. The city guards tried, but there were too many of King Taven’s men. Before dawn, the remaining soldiers and a couple of Commanders took over. We had to clean up the city ourselves. We heard you were alive because some saw you being taken to a ship. No one was allowed in the Castle for a couple of days. I think it had been cleared of valuables the first night by those who were with King Taven, and then the rest got to pick it over.” He stopped.
“My family?” Oriel asked in a tight voice.
“They’re-they’re all dead,” said the fishermen. “I thought you knew.”
“I know. Where are the bodies?”
The fisherman looked away.
Oriel couldn’t keep his voice down. “Tell me where their bodies are!”
The fisherman’s eyes grew glassy. "They hung the bodies from the gate into the grounds. That’s how we knew you were the only one to make it. I don’t know if that was an order or if someone simply decided to do it from spite. I didn’t see, but some said your family was tossed into a common grave outside of the city in the woods. No one has been allowed to go there because the soldiers have a spot set up. Many are in the city, but they have a location there too.”
For a moment, Oriel saw red at the thought of his family being tossed into Ymir’s Earth like utter trash and not given a proper burial. Even a simple, proper grave like a citizen would have been better.
“Fuck.” He took a deep breath. “And the Castle?”
“It’s being used as a station for soldiers, but they don’t have Lork properly defended. I don’t know what they plan to do here. No lord was assigned here like in other holdings where the original died.”
“We’ve just been waiting,” said a woman.
“For what?” asked Rhys.
She lifted a shoulder. “Something. I guess it’s this since you’re here now. I think the soldiers were just to keep us under control while King Taven figures out what to do around here since it was the capital of Lork.”
Oriel and his little group moved into the city. He spotted a few dead bodies in leather armor in the street which showed King Taven’s soldiers had been patrolling. Of course, they hadn’t stood a chance against the army. By not setting up any form of proper defenses, they had paid. It wasn’t like King Taven suspected Oriel would be back with reinforcements anyway.
Where some of the citizens had seemed terrified before, their faces now showed joy since they knew these new soldiers weren’t to create havoc and slaughter the city. The night of the initial betrayal had beaten the fight from many, and plenty had lost family members to death or slavery that night. They didn’t seem ready to storm the Castle and tear down the intruders, but they were waiting for Oriel to do something.
They hadn’t been saved before, and they wanted someone to do it now.
Some soldiers had left to check outside the walls and get the small encampment. Oriel had no idea what that was for, but he didn’t care right now. The gate to the Castle grounds had been opened, but the soldiers hadn’t gone inside. Men had come out and been dealt with, but Oriel had said he wanted to be the first to step inside if possible.
They dismounted, and he took his strung bow. There were likely more inside. Judging by the broken windows and a horrid stain on the front door, likely old blood, the enemy hadn’t taken care of the place.
The last time Oriel went through those doors, he’d been naked and collared. This time, he stepped through as a free fairy once again.
For a moment, it almost looked the same.
But as he took in the entrance Hall, the differences were obvious. No one had made a real effort to clean up. The huge rug that ran toward the stairs must have taken ages for someone to weave. It had been there since before Oriel’s birth and had only been removed to be cleaned or have the dust beaten from it.
Brown stains from old blood showed on the dark green filigree pattern. Some of the spindles on the first flight of stairs had been busted out. A few holes and stains marred the walls in the entrance hall as well, and the doors to the Hall were open. Singe marks showed on the carved wood.
When Oriel, Roth, Kalen, and Rhys gathered in the entrance to the Hall with several behind them, the sight of the empty High Table was like a stab. A few soldiers went ahead to check behind and under it just in case.
Many of the smaller tables and chairs were overturned. Tablecloths had been torn, and broken glass littered the floor in some spots. It looked like someone had tried to sweep, and the food from that night’s dinner was gone, but overall, the Hall was trashed. A few righted tables and the High Table had likely been used to sit at and eat, but these soldiers had been using his dirtied home like a simple spot to plant their arses while they awaited new orders.
While soldiers spread out through the rest of the Castle to check, Oriel approached the High Table. Of course, his family's bodies were elsewhere, but he almost expected to see the corpses still there. Or to find Aspen bleeding on the floor even though he was safe on the ship right now.
“Roth, can you please go with some men and make sure that other encampment is taken care of? Bring a Mage. I want my family dug up, and I know you’ll make sure they do it right. I want them placed in coffins.”
“I’ll do it,” said Roth.
Oriel should probably do it, but he couldn’t bear to see the rotted corpses. He already had enough bad images of their final moments in his head, and he didn’t want more added. Simply being in this place was threatening to choke him. He left Kalen and Rhys to head upstairs. Other soldiers had gone ahead, and he heard a scream which proved some of the enemy had tried to hide.
Good mixed with bad. Trash littered the once pristine halls where he had often run with his brothers as a child. Soldiers had made messes, and the rooms they slept in were cluttered with crap. Blood marked the floors and walls. Paintings were gone. Others had been slashed. Furniture had been taken.
