Theresa had turned a shade paler during his explanation. “Forgive me, I overreacted. I believe I know who you speak of, though I have only heard from others. Your safety will be guaranteed. Yes, let us wait here…”
“That seems… like a strong reaction. Is there something I should be worried about?”
“No. Not as far as you and your safety are concerned. I simply hope that I will be able to convince this Knight to protect more than is already assigned. The royalty is fu- Ah… in trouble. The nobles will be in trouble.”
“Well then, I guess I should avoid receiving any titles right now.”
She looked him once over, eyebrow raised at his attempted humor. Sighing, she continued speaking. “Perhaps. On second thought, I do not know if the enemy will fight all the way here, but if they do, this will be a prime spot for danger. The best decision may be to move forward through them, where we may find danger, but hopefully lesser.”
There should have been a tough decision to make here, after all, combat implied he may have to fight other people, something he has never done before, yet he did not hesitate. “Let’s move forward. I think if we move…”, Thomas paused to orient himself with the last remains of sunlight, “That way. I think we should go that way,” making his decision to move towards where he believed the entrypoint of the city was, the only hole he saw in the invasion.
“Quite a peculiar divination you have gotten. Though not very surprising, I presume it was a way to secure your protection. The System would not have liked you dying on the first day, through no fault of your own. Yes, let us move before the pandemonium strikes.”
That’s great, getting protection after being tossed in the middle of a raid. Pandemonium might end up an understatement.
This time, Thomas did have to start running to keep up with her shuffling along, not giving him space to question her last words any further. It proved to be unnecessary regardless, as he saw the effect of the bell that had rung prior.
The streets remained empty for now, but the people started moving about on the properties, panicking, some fortifying their housing along with what looked to be hired arms, others preparing to relocate to what they deemed to be a safer place, most likely towards the center. The castle had yet to open its gates.
“I do hope you have good endurance, it is quite a distance we have to cross.”
Oh trust me, that’s my specialty.
Deciding against joking this time, Thomas sped up a bit to keep next to her. “Yeah, I’ve run endurance before. As long as we don’t sprint the entire way, I should be fine.”
“Good. It is not far to exit the housing of the city, but there are fields beyond that. I doubt those will be safe either.”
The road that was only lit by the occasional lantern was quickly engulfed in light from all surrounding houses as they bustled with activity, though it was not until they reached further out into the city, where the buildings grew tighter and the roads turned into streets, that they saw people outside. There was a semblance of panic, but it seemed more fueled by confusion than fear.
“The bells only alert of an invasion. I doubt many know the true scales of this, no one could imagine how dangerous it is right now. I would hardly believe it either, without the System's notification.”
Thomas grimaced, reminded of the image he saw, the entire city in flames. Sure, he didn’t know any of these people, but it still felt terrible seeing people that will probably not see the sun rise again. Unfortunately, there was little he could do, since he himself would most likely have to struggle to survive.
“This feels really fucking bitter, doesn’t it. Hope the divination is more wrong than you think it is, because otherwise I doubt these people will live.”
She didn’t respond, but their pace turned ever so slightly faster.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
—
The faces and buildings blurred past as they continued their run, finally reaching towards the first point of their escape, the city walls. As they neared the barred gate, Tom realized it was closed. “You think they’ll open it for us?”, he half-joked.
“They will. Or, to be precise, they do not have a choice.”
Finally slowing to a stop in front of the gates, he steadied his breath as he shifted from leg to leg, looking around. The gate was even larger than the walls, which he estimated to be at least 10 meters tall. The guardsmen were moving about on top of the wall, looking to be on high alert, awaiting the yet to be seen enemy.
Theresa approached the one guard who was currently posted next to the gate, though he was paying no attention to them, anxiously focused on looking through the bars.
“Open the gate.”
The guard jumped in surprise from suddenly being addressed, her now authoritative tone no doubt adding to his panic.
“I- I- What… What are you doing here? What do you mean open the gates, we can’t!”, he sputtered out. Looking closer at him, he seemed to be very young, a child in Thomas’ eyes.
“Are you a newbie? Go grab an officer. We will be let through,” Theresa responded with anger now filling her words. The now obviously young guard stared, frightened, eyes flicking at Tom, who shrugged in response. Clearly finding no comfort in him either, he finally broke from his frozen stance, running off to the side, the tower hugging the wall housing a door to the inside.
As soon as he disappeared beyond the door, she moved in towards the gate, grabbing the bars with a hand. “Get ready to walk through. You will have a few seconds, but I would rather not see you crushed under the bars.”
She's about to lift it, isn't she. Right, fantasy world, let's get used to this.
Tom moved next to the gate, which she acknowledged by grabbing it with both hands, and tossing it upwards. Thankfully prepared, he dashed through, but he could not deny his surprise. He was expecting it, since it was obvious what she was planning on doing, but he did not expect the gate to just… fly up, causing tremors in the structure.
The priestess walked out right behind him, massaging her wrists, followed by the gate falling back seconds later. “Hmm. I have not done this in a while, so I used too much strength..”
Thomas was frozen for a second. “Ah, of course, flicking open gates, I forgot that’s a part of priest training. By the way, why not just wait for them to open it?”
“Our priests are not exactly popular with some religious people, and if I remember correctly, the officer assigned here can be… hostile. I presume we are to keep following this road?”, she looked towards the large road, maintained to a relatively decent degree, surrounded by large fields.
Being on the offending side against someone who can throw open literal tons of metal seems like a bad idea, but what do I know.
He was about to start back into his jog, but even before Theresa could start moving, the castle bell rang out once more.
Although muffled by the walls behind them, the bell was still loud enough for them to hear its now hastened beats. "It seems it is starting. I see smoke."
Looking over the way she was, there wasn’t much visible, the distance being too far for Thomas to see something properly, but there definitely was more light over there. “Yeah, we keep going, though do we wanna keep running? It doesn’t look like we are under danger here after all.”
“Let us just keep moving. Speed can be decided while we move.”
—
A lone knight was about to sit down on a flat rock by the road, but then hesitated. Looking over at the city, she stared into the distance for a while.
“They are moving towards me. Did you tell them?”
It was necessary. Their kind hearts would only lead them towards death.
“Still. Why? Die. Stop giving me overtime work.”
A sigh could be heard, as she picked herself up from the low stance and took off towards her destination.
…
“They will wish for me to save anyone but themselves, will they? Your order should’ve left this kingdom in ruins, yet I am here to save them.”
The price of the kingdom is nothing compared to the two. Regardless, no matter what powers they bring, the Saintess is too powerful for them to come out with anything more than mutual destruction.
“We will see. I have heard of one person of interest. If it comes to it, I will leave the fates in her hands.”
There was no response, but soon she paused her walk regardless. Despite her pace seeming slow, she had crossed quite a distance. “If they come to see me, then perhaps I should prepare a welcome. Clearing this place of pests is a priority then.”