Chapter 463: Lanterns And The Dead

As we came closer to the town, I saw that they were burying bodies. It was evening, and so there were a lot of lanterns around them.

I counted the lanterns instead of the graves. It was always... easier. The burying ground lay outside the wall of the town on the south side, and it had been extended at least three times that I could see. I noted each extension by the different age of grass on the ground, the newest one raw black earth with no grass on it at all, while the oldest had been fully covered.

Close to a hundred men with spades were digging into the earth while a Stoneborn priest went along the line saying something too far away to hear.

No, I could hear it if I wanted, but a part of me always found it easier to suppress certain information from reaching me.

From the maps, I knew the name of the town was Musk, a weird name for a town, but there must be an interesting story behind it.

It used to have a great wall, and someone had tried to maintain it, but only a few of its original stones still showed in patches near the bottom, and the wall now enclosed half of what it once had. Above it the town went up the slope in tight grey terraces, and above that stood the garrison tower with four banners on it.

Ruggah cursed when he saw those banners. It meant that the resistance that had held this town for the free gods had been conquered, and this was now a town under the banners of the fallen gods and the System.

We lay on the black rock two miles out and watched the town until it became really dark, and my eyes could not leave the men burying the dead. Then I thought that it was good that there were at least still people left to bury the dead. It meant there was still order, and everything had not gone to shit.

∞

Two roads went in and out of the town. One continued north out of the hills, and I suspected that this would be the road we would be taking for a while. The other continued towards the east before bending south towards Serrath.

If we had taken that road from Serrath instead of cutting across country, it would have taken two weeks to get to this place, maybe even more, due to the heavy movement on the road. A lot of wagons and soldiers were moving along it, most likely heading towards Serrath.

On the road going north were people... refugees. I could see it by the way they were walking. I wondered why they had not remained in the town but chose to leave. Maybe it was because this place was now an engine for war, and not a place where you built a life anymore.

As we waited, Ruggah sent Sen ahead. I still could not reliably tell the three Shades apart. Ruggah could.

He came back a little past midnight and crouched by Ruggah’s boot, holding up four fingers and then folding down three, then a flat palm, then a twist of the wrist, then a short chopping motion.

Ruggah grunted. "Four inns still available. Three have soldiers billeted in them; we don’t want to be seen near that place. The fourth is on the east side by the tanners’ road; it has beds, and the woman who runs it does not ask." He glanced at me. "You will not enjoy the smell."

"I have spent a week sleeping beside Thurrim."

"I heard that," said Thurrim, from the dark.

"You were meant to."

In my head, I thought, You could get all that information from those short gestures. And here I thought I was the only one who could do magic.

∞

Getting through the gate was easier than it should have been, as no one here seemed bothered with stopping people from getting in, or going out. I had a sense that the management of this town wanted as much coin as possible.

The sergeant on the south gate was a Beastkin with the head of a boar. He counted us, lost count, started again, gave up, and waved us through with a bandaged hand, the bandage gone grey at the edges. Not, however, before he collected five silver from each of us, and I saw that what really drew his attention was the Drakespawn, but there were too many people passing through, or I bet we would have been delayed.

A board was nailed beside the gate with notices on it; one was a long list of names, added in three different inks. One pass with my perception, and I did not see any familiar names.

Inside, the streets were full of sleeping men. Every doorway had somebody in it. Every stable yard had a picket line, and every inn wall had a row of packs laid along it with a boy sitting on the end of the row to watch them. The gutters stank of latrine and horse. Somebody’s field forge was still going three streets over, and the ring of the hammer came down the alleys at regular intervals like a slow clock.

We passed a schoolhouse with all the windows lit and the door open, and it was not a school anymore. The desks had been pushed against the walls and there were men lying on the floor between them in rows, and a woman walked the rows with a lamp in one hand, and the smell that came out of that door was the one I know best out of every smell in the world... pain... death.

Ogg slowed as we went past it.

"Do not," Ruggah said quietly, without turning round.

"I can help."

"You can help nine people get out of this town in the morning. If a Troll starts healing soldiers in the street, we will have four armies asking who we belong to before the sun is up." He kept walking. "I do not like it either, but this is not a place for us to be distracted."

Ogg looked at that doorway for a long moment. Then he ducked his head and came on, and I noticed he did not look at any more of them after that.

I did. I am not sure why.

∞

The inn on the east side had no name and a door mended with what resembled a ship’s plank.

The common room was dark, with four men drinking at a corner table in complete silence, who barely glanced at us when we entered, and the woman who ran the place looked at Ruggah, then at the rest of us, before naming the price for the three rooms she had left, which included one meal at the end of the day.

Ruggah paid without a word of argument, and we all shuffled off to our rooms. I had a room by myself, and the warband would share the remaining two. I knew there was no use arguing about the arrangement, since no matter what I did, there was a slight gap between me and the warband, and this gap was power.

Ruggah came to me before leaving the inn. "I should still have contacts in this town. I should be able to arrange a more comprehensive map and take care of our supplies. This could take a few days to arrange, so I suggest you get comfortable in the meantime."

I nodded. "Take someone with you, and in case of any trouble you cannot handle, call out my name. It does not matter where you are in this town, I would hear you."

He looked at me and gave a small bow before he turned and left, and I entered my room.