The west side of town held the large brick mansions of the Markis and Marksinna, but most of the town consisted of smaller cottages, looking like a quaint village from another time.
Not too far from the palace was the stable, where my loft apartment had been. The huge Tralla horses were out in the yard beside it, and though I was too far away to see for sure, I imagined that I saw Bloom running out with them, with his silver fur and lush white mane flowing behind him.
In the town square, the clock tower soared above everything, and it began to toll for the last time of the night. Between ten p.m. and six a.m., the clock went silent.
My parents lived right off the town square, and I tried to pick out their place. But the houses were packed in tightly, like town homes, and they all had matching roofs. There was no way to know for sure, but I strained my eyes, as if I would somehow be able to see my parents through the walls.
On the far east side of town along the wall was the house Ember shared with her parents. It was easier to pick out, because the houses were a bit more spread out in that area to make room for “farming.” Ember’s mother raised angora goats and Gotland rabbits, but I couldn’t really see them.
I could see people walking around town, and though I wanted desperately to see a familiar face, they were all too far away to discern. Occasionally, I caught a flash of light from the epaulets of the H?gdragen uniform, so I knew there were many guards out patrolling Doldastam.
Mixed in with them, I saw much larger figures bundled up in brown coats. The Omte were inside, working with the guards.
Just outside the walls, a huge campsite had been set up in the valley. Personal tents were set up, along with larger rectangular marquee tents, where meetings could be held or meals could be served. Several fires were burning, casting plumes of smoke over the site.
Flying above the camp, bearded vultures circled. The Omte had brought along their birds. Legend had it that the Omte had chosen the vultures because of how much the Omte liked killing others. Since the vultures subsided mostly on bones, they would clean up the mess the Omte left behind.
“What do you see?” Finn asked. He stood back behind us, with Ludlow and Konstantin.
Baltsar, Ridley, and I lay at the top of the hill, scoping out Doldastam. Baltsar had a pair of binoculars, while Ridley and I were left gauging it with our eyes.
“It’s definitely not good.” Baltsar lowered his binoculars, so I held out my hand for them, and he passed them to me.
“What do you mean?” Finn asked. “Is it worse than we thought?”
I adjusted the binoculars, fixing them on the campsite outside the walls, and I immediately saw what the problem was. Not only were there a great deal of Omte soldiers, but members of the H?gdragen and Kanin soldiers were mixed among them. It appeared that Viktor’s army had fully acclimated with the Kanin and the Omte, and they were all blended together.
Konstantin had said that Viktor’s army had been camping outside of Doldastam, and we were hoping that we could take care of them before moving on to deal with the Omte. Doldastam was too big to house the entire Omte army, so we’d assumed they’d also be camping outside the city walls.
Our plan had been to take out Viktor’s men and the Omte without ever having to touch a Kanin. If we eliminated the first two threats, there was a good chance that Mina and her army would surrender, because at that point they would be outnumbered. Assuming we could take out Viktor and the Omte first.
But I wanted to avoid Kanin bloodshed as much as possible. These were people I had grown up with and trained with. They were good people, and they were going to end up dead.
FIFTY-EIGHT
fortified
Shit,” I swore as I lowered the binoculars.
Baltsar stood up, wiping the mud from his clothes, and turned back toward Finn and Konstantin. “We’re going to have to take on everyone all at once.”
“We can’t do that,” I protested. As I got up, Ridley reached out and took the binoculars from me. “Innocent people will get hurt.”
“You act like all the Kanin are saints and everybody else is a sinner,” Konstantin said harshly. “Those Omte soldiers down there are just following orders, the same as the Kanin. And you don’t have any qualms about killing them.”
I shook my head. “It’s different.”
“It’s different how? Because they’re not like you? Because you didn’t grow up with them?” Konstantin shot back. “Proximity doesn’t make some people more worthwhile than others, Bryn.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. I don’t want to kill anyone, but the Omte volunteered for this fight,” I argued. “The Kanin were manipulated into it.”
“You don’t think the Omte were manipulated at all?” Konstantin arched an eyebrow. “You said yourself that weird things were going down in Fulatr?sk.”