There was more than one explanation why the city could be on fire. Maybe some hearth fire got out of control, or a feud had gotten out of hand and was now fought with arson. And maybe the screams we heard also originated from the ensuing panic from a burning building.
But after all that had happened I just couldn't believe in the easy and harmless explanation anymore. I was still a little lightheaded from the alcohol but the shock and fear burned most of it out of my system. My mind was racing.
This was no ordinary fire, it couldn't be or else the rain would have extinguished it. The screams had grown louder and as we all clustered around the window, desperate to make out just what was happening outside, it became more and more clear that the city was not only on fire, but under attack. I felt a knot form in my stomach, a knot of fear and terror, a feeling that made me nauseous, like a snake that curled in my stomach and threatened to worm its way through my gullet, my throat and out of my mouth.
Dark shapes moved through the flame illuminated black of the night, some were running, fleeing from the site of the fire, but there were others who walked more organized and with determination. "Those are the barracks." Arthur suddenly exclaimed and I could clearly hear the dread in his voice. "They set the barracks on fire." Slowly the realization of what his words implied seeped into my brain. They hadn't just put any building to the torch, but the barracks and on top of that with a kind of flame that was undeterred by the rain.
The flames danced violently against the black sky, most neighboring buildings were already in flames too and soon the whole Northern part of the city would fall victim to the flames. And maybe not even the river that flowed through the city would be able to stop the flames and then the whole city would burn to the ground.
The barracks were too far away to see what exactly was going on there, but it appeared that more and more people were fleeing to this side of the river, fleeing from not only the spreading fire but also from its cause. There were men behind them, men with the demeanor of trained soldiers, killing everyone that was lagging behind.
"What is going on?" whispered Francis; his voice was shaking "how did they even get in?" He had one arm slung around Arthur whose hands fisted into the fabric of Francis' shirt. Mathias' hand gripped my shoulder painfully; Emil clung to my other arm. Tino had his face buried in Berwalds broad chest.
Don't see.
Someone must have let them in; they were too many to have simply snuck in during the daytime. I remembered what Arthur had told us not so long ago, that the stream of refugees had ceased, for there seemed to be no more bandit movement around the region. So the Lord of the city had turned away his ears from Arthur's concerns.
Don't hear.
And then the sound of bells ringing ripped through the terror filled atmosphere. It was a panicked sound, full of urge and warning, and it confirmed what we had suspected all along.
We were at war.
"So they finally declared war, huh?" asked Arthur dryly into the silence his voice sounded eerily strange against the background sounds of screams and terror. "Not officially." Mathias said darkly and I turned to look at him in surprise. "My father explained in his letter that Orusha was about to make a move, according to his informants, but there was no declaration of war yet. But I guess this is it."
I wanted to ask why he didn't tell us earlier, why we hadn't left while we still could instead of waiting for the caravan to be ready, but I couldn't find my voice.
Don't tell.
I watched with dread as the scenery outside grew more and more chaotic. More and more people poured onto the streets, only to fall victim to the slash of a sword or the swinging of an axe. A few had gathered to fight back, but their efforts hardly bore any fruit. They were overpowered and slaughtered as everyone else around them. Whatever their objective was it was certainly not invade and conquer but invade and kill.
"We have to get out of here." Mathias said, his fingers digging even deeper into my skin. He was right, I knew he was right, but I was frozen in place. The fighting had not yet reached the southern side of the city and I felt the illusion of safety behind these walls, but out there was anarchy. I was afraid.
Don't act.
"But where should we go?" asked Tino, he had finally come out of his hiding place in Berwalds arms and now looked with wide eyes at Mathias, as if he knew all the answers. He might as well do, seeing that the rest of us were completely overwhelmed.
Mathias exchanged one glance with Berwald and then nodded, as if they had agreed on what to do in just that second without a word. "Wherever the breach is, it has to be on the North side." Mathias said, while Berwald moved to get our coats, pulling Tino behind him. "Pack as much things as you can, food, blankets, you know the drill. We can't go back to the inn to get our things; it's too dangerous so we have to do what we find here. There's a gate on the South side too, is there?" He directed his last question at Francis and Arthur who watched as Emil and I set into motion to get as much things as possible. I still didn't like the idea of going out, but Mathias' words had left no room for arguments.
I didn't understand what Mathias, Arthur and Francis were talking about from my position in their bedroom, where I searched through the wardrobe for anything useful. At any other time I wouldn't have dared to intrude in other people's privacy like that, but there was no time for that now. Emil was busy in the kitchen, gathering as much food as possible; Tino looked for bags, while Berwald was distributing the coats to their respective owner.
I could hear people running past the house and I knew that time was running out. Suddenly the place didn't seem as safe as it had only minutes ago, and I doubled my efforts, pulling out clothes and throwing everything that seemed useful on a pile for Tino to put into bags once he found some.
We all moved as fast as possible, still it felt like an eternity until we finally had everyone assembled, ready to head out. We had left most of our stuff back at the inn that included the bedrolls, our newly purchased wardrobe and most of the money. We had packed clothes from Arthur and Francis, but they didn't own anything suitable for camping outside, or anything else that could help us surviving in the wilderness. But there was no choice, we couldn't stay here, and with every minute that passed our already small chance of escape dwindled.
At least we were kind of used to this, our two hosts on the other hand seemed to be more than lost. "What's the plan?" I asked, desperately hoping that there was indeed a plan. Not knowing if we would be able to get out of here alive or what would happen to us if we got caught was driving me crazy. And I still fought against the urge to just stay here and hide under a blanket to sit the whole attack out, and if we didn't get going soon I would surely give in.
"There's supposed to be a small hidden gate in the southern wall, used for sorties back in the time when the borderlands were still a place of constant struggle. But nowadays it was sealed, but according to Arthur the door was old and rusty and should be open with a little effort. The Lord kept most of his city in good shape, but since he was more the kind of person who would roll into a pointy ball like a hedgehog he only strengthened the defense. And no one thought of taking care of something like a sortie exit, even in the case of a siege, the Lord would probably just flee through one of the secret passageways that connected the palace with land outside of the city and wait until it was over, abandoning his people in the process. There was no doubt that right now, he was doing the same, fleeing and taking all of the palace guards with him, instead of trying to help his citizens.
I should learn only later, just how right I had been.
We were all aware of how fragile our plan was and how much could go wrong. The gate could be sealed so tightly that we wouldn't come through; we could run into enemies at every second, we could be captured, we could be killed, they could have anticipated that we were coming and wait on the other side of the gate, they could have the city surrounded and intercept everyone trying to escape.
We had distributed the bags between us by then, and everyone was dressed as warm and best protected against the rain as possible. This all seemed far too familiar, how many times would we be forced to flee under the cover of darkness until we finally were allowed to rest?
Mathias slid the door open, just enough to look through the gap and check if it was safe. The noise from outside became louder with the door now open, we could hear not only screams but also the sounds of feet drumming against the cobbled stone streets, glass shattering, buildings crushing down as the fire had eaten away their foundation and of course the endless patter of rain.
It was dark, the moon was a pale sickle amidst a sea of stars, the fire in the distance casted an orange glow in the night sky but it was too far away to light our path. But that was most likely an advantage. The chaos and fighting had not yet reached the south side of the river, but it wouldn't be long until it did and we'd better be gone by then.
I reluctantly stepped over the door's threshold, leaving the questionable safety of the house in favor of the unknown dangers of the streets. The rain was like a cold shower, my coat kept away most of it, but I had no means to protect my head and so my hair was drenched in seconds, sticking to sides of my head.
It was of course no easy task to sneak through a city with a group of seven people. We wanted to draw as little attention to us as possible, after all, the best kept secret was the secret no one knew about, but with the streets full of panicked humans it was hard to dodge all of them. And we couldn't afford to waste any time on making long detours. In the end we just tried to be as inconspicuous as possible while following Arthur who knew the way to the sortie gate, and hiding as best as possible from anyone's eyes . Since most people were busy with panicking, they didn't really pay attention to us anyway.
We ducked into an alley, Arthur was securing the next part of our route, but we had to hide temporarily due to a group of people clustering on the road ahead, seemingly afraid and unwilling to move on. We could of course just ignore them and run past them, but then they might decide to follow us for lack of a better option and that would only lower our chances of escape.
"What are we going to do when we are outside of the city?" whispered Francis, who stood pressed against the wall next to me. "We'll head east and try to reach the capital." Mathias answered, while keeping his eyes on Arthur for the signal that we could move on. "What if they have the city surrounded in case anyone gets out?" Tino said, and I could feel my stomach churn with newly fueled fear. There was just so much that could go wrong.
The stone wall was cold against my back; I had difficulties with seeing anything because of all the water in my eyes. We shouldn't be out here, it was too cold and too wet, Tino had just recently recovered from a serious pneumonia and I had just fought of a light cold on my own.
How could things have gone so wrong? Why did we have to keep fighting for our lives, while all we wanted was to live in peace? I wanted nothing more than to go home in that moment. Only, there was no more home left for me.
The others looked as miserable as I felt. Tino clung to Berwald, his usual cheerful attitude dampened, his violet eyes widened as he gazed over Arthur's shoulder, flinching at every sound. But there was something in his stance that gave off just the slightest hint that he was ready to jump at any second. Berwald had one hand on Tino's shoulder, his fierce blue eyes hid behind the countless drops of water accumulated on his glasses. Tino had told me at one point that Berwald was almost blind without them so it was no wonder that he hadn't taken them off.
Francis had tied his long hair into a pony tail, else it would obscure his vision; he was clearly frightened but made an effort not to show it. Emil had stuffed his puffin into his coat, now forming a bulk at the height of his chest. The bird wasn't amused at all at this arrangement but had begrudgingly accepted that this was the safest solution. Emil was pale but the look on his face was determined, I had seen him take a kitchen knife out of Francis' kitchen and I just hoped that we didn't get into a situation again where we would need it. I could only see Arthur's back from my position, but from the look of it, he was tense and concentrated on the task at hand.
And Mathias, Mathias who always seemed so confident, while the rest of us were scared out of their shoes, Mathias smiled at me as he noticed my look, a smile that said more as thousand words that we would be okay, that I didn't need to worry, because he would be there for me.
Maybe we really stood a chance.
Arthur raised a hand and waved, before he sprinted out of the alley and across the street. It was difficult to move fast with six people cramped into a narrow alley, but we managed to follow his example as quiet as possible. The street was deserted, the people from earlier had disappeared, only the sound of the rain and our footsteps echoed through the otherwise silent night.
It had been suspiciously silent throughout the last minutes. This couldn't be a good sign. We cowered into the doorway of a large house, if possible that was even more cramped than the alley had been, but since no one was there to see us, we didn't try too hard to get everyone in.
I could see the wall from here, it was not far anymore. "Some of the houses are directly built into the wall." Arthur informed us, his eyes darting between both ends of the street and the opening of the alleyway we had previously hid in. "The gate is between two houses, we should be able to reach it from here without problems. And we should probably hurry."
I could hear voices in the distance, and this time they didn't sound like screams. I exchanged glances with the others, and I read on everyone's expression the exact same realization. We had no more time left.
As if an invisible signal had been given we all started to sprint at the same time, trying to be as subtle as possible, it was a miracle that we didn't stumble over each other. Arthur dashed between houses and over streets, seeking cover every now and then to make sure everyone was following.
Berwald, Francis and I were the last ones to cross the last street before we reached the line of houses directly adjacent to the wall, when we heard noises. I ducked instinctively back into the alley, Berwald and Francis doing the same, Emil who had been before us just vanished into the shadow between two houses that leaned on the wall. A woman came running down the street, the pale moonlight reflected from the tears that were streaming down her face. She was heavily panting and threw glances backwards every few seconds.
Maybe we would have made it, hadn't she stumbled in that exact moment, directly before our hiding space, but her foot tripped on some loose cobble stone as she was once again looking back and she fell with a loud cry, her hands barely able to brake her fall as she crashed into the ground. We hesitated, only a second, but it was enough. Had we just run then, using the opportunity while she laid face down, we could have made it, but we waited, and she got up on her feet again and the chance was lost.
And then her pursuers came into view, her fall had cost her too, precious seconds she would have needed to lose them, and they caught her right in front of our eyes, five men, in dark uniform and armed, bearing the Orushian sigil on their chests.
One of them had thrown a hatchet, the weapon hit her leg and she screamed in pain and terror as she fell down once again. The men were on her then, ripping off her clothes, laughing and talking in their barking language as if they were enjoying a nice convivial get together.
I knew what was happening, something similar had happened to me, and I felt the sickness from back then rise in my throat. Yet, I couldn't avert my eyes from the horrible scene before me. Her eyes were glazed over in pure agony, but her cries were swallowed by the thick shaft that one of the men had forced into her mouth. I could see blood that was rinsed away by the steadily falling rain.
A heavy hand on my shoulder pulled me out of my stupor. I tore my gaze away from the scene to Berwald, who looked at me with an expression that I had never once seen on him. His hand was gripping painfully in my shoulder, his other hand was flexed into a fist, I could see the skin whiten around his knuckles and I realized just how much effort it took him not to charge out and try to save the woman. He wouldn't have stood a chance.
Francis was pale as a sheet of paper, he had his eyes closed shut, his fingers were digging into the stone wall and every time the woman let out a muffled sound of pain he flinched. I wished we could have done anything to help her.
I looked back, avoiding the gruesome scene and directed my gaze at the spot where the others had vanished. And with sudden dread I realized that two of the soldiers who hadn't participated in their comrade's activities yet were nearing the opening, eying it with curious interest, effectively blocking our only way of escaping.
I closed my eyes in silent terror, the others had no other choice now than to leave and hide, and even if we, by any small chance would manage to escape the city, would never be able to find them again. And god help us if got caught by those soldiers, they wouldn't refrain from raping us just because we were male.
...