Our horses dutifully followed in a line behind hers, not needing any direction. Outside of the property the landscape lacked beautiful green and colorful flowers. There was patchy yellow and brown grass, occasional sagebrush, and large boulders scattered about. Ugly. Nothing to marvel at to pass the time. A few animals skittered from one hiding place to the next as we rode by and I tried to see what they were. Maybe ground squirrels or mice but they were so dang fast.
“How about a song?” Legacy shouted at us. “Ten miles of silence is going to kill me.”
“Start singing and we’ll join in,” Lora said and cleared her throat as if to get ready.
Legacy started with humming a tune that I recognized instantly and after a few words we all joined in, singing as loudly as we could. It was sort of silly but I hadn’t had this much carefree fun in a while. The simple joy of riding a horse through the wilderness, singing with my friends, no pressures, no worries, simply being young girls. We laughed at certain parts, and carried on song after song, I even heard Madison singing a few lines in front of me. Until Henalae appeared on the horizon and we cheered.
It was bigger than I thought it would be. At least a hundred homes, a couple tall buildings, one I guessed to be a library and the other a worship center, and that’s just what I could see.
When we arrived at the gate, the only visible opening in the surrounding stone wall, it was guarded by seven men. They didn’t wear uniforms to signify where they came from; their attire was a mixture of browns and dark grays. Perhaps to blend in with the environment.
“Welcome,” said an approaching gentleman. His use of the Heshan language, full black beard and copper skin made me think him Hesstian but I wasn’t sure. “You lot must be from the Allied Kingdoms Academy.”
“We are,” Madison said. “These girls and I came to visit for the day.”
“That’s great.” His eyes followed each of us down the line. “Are all of you from Delhoon?”
“Yes,” Madison replied. There was no feeling in her voice but I could sense her tense up.
“You’ll find many Delhoon inspired stores, pubs, and other establishments to the west, we call it Little Delhoon.” He gestured to his right. “Another small pocket of Hesstian places to the east, and some of the Collweyans have founded an area in the center but it’s much smaller than the other two. But mostly everyone here is intermixed. Delhoon neighboring with Hesstians and so forth.”
“Interesting,” Madison said, her eyes lifting to the town. “I’m sure it will be a fascinating day.”
He waved at his guards and they stepped aside allowing us to pass. “Oh!” The guard exclaimed running up to Madison. “You’ll want to be back at the academy before it gets dark if you aren’t staying the night here.”
“Is there a particular reason why?” she asked.
“There’s been talk of strange creatures and a few people have gone missing.”
My heart leaped. Blood drinkers.
Madison’s eyes slid to mine briefly. “Within the city or outside?”
“Outside. A handful of people have left after dark and never returned. We found no trace of them.”
“It is common knowledge that the Gap of Freeole is dangerous. Was it pack of rogue Wargon trolls?”
“The Wargons slaughter and leave bodies. Animals eat their victims. We have not even found bones.”
“Thank you,” was all Madison said.
If it was vampires and they were only attacking outside the city, they were probably the savage ones Aric talked about. The creatures who couldn’t survive in sunlight. If no bodies were found—what if they are creating an army? There was no hunting party here to keep them in check. Hardly anyone even knew they existed.
I pushed that thought to the back of my mind. I had no proof it was even blood drinkers. Like my grandmother said, the Gap of Freeole is a notoriously dangerous place, and people who aren’t trained could easily be killed out here in the territory that none of the three kingdoms claimed as their own.
After we rode through the gates we were greeted by a group of people walking down the street. The women wore day dresses of pastels with ruffles and puffy sleeves. They were most definitely Hesstian; it was customary there for the women to wear dresses daily, not only for special occasions. There were also very few Hesstian girls at our academy I noticed. They didn’t allow their women to fight in battles either, at least they hadn’t in the last war.
My mother grew up there, and it was so strange to me to think she’d lived like them. Docile and expected to keep to the cooking then became the Queen of Delhoon and one of the most, if not the most, powerful person on the continent. Perhaps the world, but we knew nothing about the lands beyond the oceans. The merfolk said there were other nations with great power and immortal beings they called Fae but we’d never encountered them. At a certain point the waters became too dangerous and if the ships ventured too far, they didn’t return. Either the Fae had no interest in us or their ships couldn’t make it here either. I had a feeling we were glad they hadn’t come.
One thing clear in this city was that everyone seemed happy. They wore smiles and waved at us. The main streets teemed with people. All races, the wealthy, the poor, women in dresses or women in pants with swords, men in suits or in armored leathers, all together. They sat at the same restaurants and shopped in the same places. On the surface they appeared unified but as I looked harder they still grouped. Wealthy with wealthy, poor with poor, I could see the difference in their outerwear. The Hesstian women in poufy fine dresses didn’t sit with the women like us. I wasn’t sure who was prejudiced there. Madison told me that the wealthy women in Hesstia were snooty pigs. They probably thought us barbaric. Skin tone didn’t appear to be a factor, however, but that was not what separated us. It was ideals, traditions, customs, magic, non magic, and separate allegiances.
“Shall we go to Little Delhoon first? Or start somewhere else?” Madison asked, brushing a piece of golden hair out of her face. “We have about four hours to play and then we need to start on our way so we don’t get caught out after sundown.”
“I miss home,” Lora said, softly. “I vote Little Delhoon for some brunch.”
I patted my horse’s neck. “That sounds good to me.”
We headed to the right, down the main road and had to stop several times for children running, people crossing, vendors shouting for us to try a bite, or finally chickens barging out in front of us to peck at whatever it was they could see but I could not.
“Shoo!” Madison said with the wave of her hand and the birds bowled over and out of the way as if by a blast of wind. I laughed as they shrieked and flipped end over end.
It was apparent when we arrived at the Little Delhoon section. A pair of unicorns grazed in a small corral, both white and stunning. I would have loved to pet them but it was bad manners to touch another person’s unicorn without permission.
Another indicator was very few women wore dresses, and a large phoenix sat perched on a stand outside a shop. The sign above read: Kurney’s Enchanted Goods
“I want to stop in here,” I said, pulling my horse over to a post.
“I’m starving, Vis,” Legacy complained, giving me sad eyes.