It takes more than one slaughter to see a people flee from everything they’ve ever known. I’ve seen hints of the truth around me, I’ve seen the poverty that has consumed the people that live here, but with the final layers of desperate deceit stripped away, it’s more obvious now than ever the reason for why the people want to leave.

There is no hope here.

There is no future to be found for most.

Bodies lie in old ruins, left to the rats and scavengers.

Brigands, like those that ambushed my carriage, stalk the streets looking for any opportunity to take something of value. They’re desperate, more so now than ever before, to the point that they’d attack a noble openly in the street.

Bakeries lie empty, the bread that would feed the citizenry now simply non-existent. Instead, I can smell the rats being roasted deeper in the nest of ruins around us.

“They can find more in the wilds than in this city,” I say, staring at the slumped corpse of a man leaning against a wall. A few crows stand defensively over their feast, not frightened enough to flee at the sight of us. “They can’t fight against the powers that rule this city. None of us can. Even if they all fight together, they’ll achieve nothing but their own deaths.”

“The more of them that run, the worse our city becomes, and the less reason there is for the rest to stay. When the baker, the butcher, and the candlestick maker all piss off, you know it’s time to follow,” Reeve Lewark mutters, leaning heavily on his cane. “What we have left now is… you’ll see.”

“Injustice. What we have left is injustice,” Grand Reeve Kaine says, striding alongside us. The man is the same who has been ingratiating himself with my aunt, he was with Lewark when my guards arrived at their station to ask for assistance and decided to come along. The reeves served little enough purpose, as the witness testimony of my guards was enough to clear up the issues with the ambush.

My guards still walk alongside us as we travel through familiar streets toward a severely changed scene. The streets ahead are better kept, a place for the lesser nobility living in their mansions.

Even in the dark of the early morning, there are some differences that I can tell from streets away. Crying and tears are a constant chorus in the homes surrounding us, something that I’ve simply come to accept, but there are considerably more people snoring away in comfort ahead of us. More than can be explained by the nobles alone.

The faint scent of bread warming in the ovens drifts down the streets from ahead of us.

I don’t know what I expect, but the guards blockading and gating the street ahead of us still manage to give me pause. Old carriages, made into mobile walls with long planks of wood, sit in the middle of the street to stop any passage. The armoured guards converse as they nervously take in the sight of us.

Henry steps forward to announce us, and we’re let in after only a short wait. The guards offer us their respect with straight backs and firm nods.

“What is this?” I ask, crossing my arms as I listen in on the casual conversation between commoners in the streets and homes around us, morning is soon to come and servants are always early to rise. This is a snapshot of what the city was before it started to decay.

“This territory is a part of the lesser noble faction,” Lewark says, smirking as he looks over at his peer. “Think of it like a street gang or one of the wild northern tribes, from before they came together as a kingdom. The nobles need servants and they need to keep them safe, so they’ve had their guards section off this part of the city to house them, and to keep out the brigands and various riff-raff.”

“It’s criminal,” Grand Reeve Kaine says, clearly disgusted by the current state of things. “They’re openly rebelling against the throne trying to create their own little provinces without regard to the legal titles to these lands.”

“This isn’t really any different to what the high nobles are doing,” Lewark replies, stopping to glare at his peer. “They’re building their gangs into their estates, but it’s not any different Kaine. Besides, what else are they meant to do? Leave their servants to die in the chaos that has spread through the city?”

“They should be gathering their knights to support us in cleansing this city of the gangs and criminals that are causing all this destruction,” Kaine replies, lifting his fist. “Once the criminals are dealt with, peace will return.”

“Crime is not born from the æther,” I whisper, shaking my head as I take in the state of this tiny moment of peace surrounding us. I hear more than most, so it is nearly impossible to overlook the desperation twisting things into a more terrible state than ever before.

“No, we know where this is coming from,” Lewark remarks, glancing back at me. “Are you still hesitating to leave? All the city’s ills draw back to that one man. It’s pointless for you to stay unless you can do something about him.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“What are you talking about?” Kaine asks, looking between us. “You’re not still going on about those ‘Vampires’, are you?”

“I’m more sure of what I’m doing now than ever before,” I answer Lewark, ignoring the other idiot in our company. “I am to protect those that I deem my own and do what I can to mitigate the damages done to the people of this city. I have no concern for the crown or the throne, and I do not care about the stacked stones inside these walls. Aldramodore can keep his garden just as he likes it.”

Lewark nods along slowly, not finding any reply.

“You say that we will see the same as this all across the city?” I ask. “Small villages kept safe from the ‘wilds’ the rest of the city has become?”

“It is the same,” Lewark says. “But you’re more right than I think you know. There are more than just thieves and bandits in the street now. People have come to us about monsters hunting in the night.”

“Are you certain?” I ask. “It would explain why everyone is grouping into secured places like this, but I’ve seen no signs of it myself. Unless… it might be strays that he’s sent against the fleeing refugees.”

Reeve Lewark nods slowly, already aware of the situation.

Kaine is looking between us with his brows pressing together in consternation. I suppose he’s upset that we’re ignoring him, but I couldn’t care to explain the details when it seems that he’s already loath to believe what he’s already been told.

“So, what does this change?” I turn to the pair of reeves, those who are meant to act as enforcers of the law, pacing back and forth along the width of the dark street.

“What do you mean?” Lewark turns to me, leaning heavily on his cane.

“What you are saying, and showing me, is that the city is changing form. Small and secure villages are forming throughout the city centred around powerful influences, criminal organisations, noble houses, and likely other groups as well. The space between is becoming filled with violence, brigands, monsters, and other such things.

“The ‘towns’ need food and resources brought in from outside of the city walls, but I doubt that ordinary merchants will continue to visit. Nobles, and others with sufficient influence, will call upon their contacts to bring in the supplies they require, and others will be focused on stealing from them. Some nobles with less means may even take to ‘taxing’ these supplies.

“More people will starve, which means there will be more crime and violence.”

“That seems a likely turn of events,” Lewark shrugs. “But there’s a chance that someone powerful intervenes and shifts things around.”

“Then, I see nothing for us to do but to ensure that our own people are kept safe,” I face them, straightening up. “I’ll need guards and knights, but that’s been a problem for some time now and I still see no easy solution. I’ll see about allying with some other factions to solidify our supply routes into the city, but we aren’t in a pinch yet.”

Kaine shakes his head in clear disappointment, crossing his arms.

“More can and should be done,” he says, meeting my eyes. “I know that you’re still young, and not prepared for your position, Miss Greystone, but you are a Countess now and-”

“Stop,” I hold up my hand to him, and he begrudgingly pauses. In the face of his obnoxious attitude, I hesitate to continue, but the truth of the situation hasn’t changed just because this man is something of a bother.

I can always kill him if he’s too much trouble.

“Nobles do not work alone, they rely upon advisors, who serve them. My current focus is saving as many of the people escaping this city as is possible while preparing my own retreat, and that will not change. I only intend to keep my place in this city so far as to ensure that it is useful to those goals.

“I’ve noticed your interest in my aunt,” I say, meeting Kaine’s eyes. “Do you have noble blood?” As a Grand Reeve, dealing with the nobility, it’s fairly certain that he has some strong relation to the nobility.

“I do,” he nods slowly.

“Good, then it would not be against good reason to have you acting in support of me,” I say. “You would need to retire from your current position, but that shouldn’t be an issue. I am going to be strict about one thing. You would be serving me. Come to me with every plan before it is enacted, and do not act on your own.

“If you impress me, then I may be willing to allow you the role of looking after the holdings in this city in place of my cousin, who is still much too young to take charge of anything here,” I say. “I would be glad for the support, if you are willing to consider it.”

He opens and closes his mouth like a fish pulled from the pond, as he looks for a response.

“Lewark, are you still insistent on your own suicidal goals?” I ask, facing him. “There are many good things left to be done, that do not necessitate that path.”

“Oh?” Reeve Lewark asks. “What could an old investigator possibly do in the face of all this? No, I’m not giving up. I’m going to be careful, and I won’t cause you trouble, but this is what I do. It’s who I am.”

“Lewark…”

He shakes his head, resting a hand on my shoulder and meeting my eyes.

“You focus on your own path, let me walk mine.”

“You’ll die, it’ll be meaningless.”

“You think anything in this city has meaning?” He asks, shaking his head. “I’m glad that you’re leaving, Christina. You’re still young, and you can still do so much in this world, so go out there and do it. Me? I’ve spent my whole life trying to make this city shine just a little bit brighter, and I’m not stopping now.”

I pause in the act of replying and keep my judgements to myself. His eyes are like iron, solid and reliable but covered in a layer of rust, he’s lived through more tragedies than I can count. Will they wear me down the same?

Somehow, I don’t think so.

“There is just one thing, Kai. The kid I’ve been mentoring.” He speaks slowly, there’s a weight hanging from his shoulders, and it doesn’t seem like pretend.

“You want him to leave with me? Would he want that?”

Lewark barks a loud laugh, shaking his head at me.

“For a chance to study your magics, he’d leave me in the dust,” Reeve Lewark says. “He’s a bright young man, he could easily become a scholar, or a reeve, with his skills. Just give him a chance to shine, somewhere far from here.”

“That’s ultimately the role of a leader, isn’t it?” I ask. “I’ll see to it.”

The sun is soon to rise on the horizon, and I have meetings to be about shortly. There is no more time to waste on introspection and schemes.

I have a tea party to attend.