Alverton
Matthias wakes with a shout, bolting upright and flailing wildly to get free of the tangle of blankets wrapping around his body like phantom limbs that try to restrain him. His heart is beating wildly, and he catches himself reaching out for Lukas, who of course is not there, but left behind in the dreamscape alone and facing the descending shadow of the king. The monstrous shriek still echoes around his skull and his teeth rattle from a full body shudder that tear through him.
People around him startle awake from his shouting, grasping for weapons and preparing for a fight, barely awake. They look confused and scared, scanning their surroundings for enemies, and Matthias immediately feels guilty for interrupting their long-needed rest once again.
"I'm sorry," he gasps, choking on his own breath. There are tears trailing down his cheeks and he wipes at them furiously, feeling stupid under the watchful eyes of his friends as they realize he is the reason behind their abrupt awakening. His chest feels as if there is a heavy weight pressing down, making it harder to breathe and his stomach is churning painfully. His head aches as he struggles to force back the storm of emotions that wants to tear through him. "I'm so sorry," he repeats. I didn't mean to wake you all."
Trym looks at him with pity from the doorway of the barn where he must have kept watch. "It's not your fault," he says gently then clears his throat, taking some of the attention away from Matthias as he struggles to regains some composure. "Sunrise is close, and we might just consider leaving soon. I was just considering waking you all up actually." He pauses for a moment and glances out of the barn again. "It is strangely calm out there, I don't like it. I have a bad feeling in my gut that something is about to happen. They were too friendly in town yesterday even though they claim to be careful of strangers, I don't trust it."
Gorm gets up from his spot to join Trym by the doorway and there is a deep furrow of concern on his brow as he too surveys their surroundings. "We better listen to your gut then," he grumbles. "We can't afford to take any chances, especially this close to the Capitol. We might not have seen any wanted posters hanging around, but the locals can have realized we are not just refugees. Vilje!" he snaps. "Can you make a quick run to the square just check and see if everything is quiet?"
She grumbles tiredly and glares at Gorm from her bundle of furs and blankets. "Why can't one of you go? You are already up."
"Because you as a girl look the least suspicious walking about," Gorm says firmly, "now go."
Vilje complains loudly about differential treatment but gets up anyways, throwing on her heavy winter clothes and a cloak and walks to the door and keeping a narrow stare on Gorm the entire time.
Trym smiles gently at her and claps her on the shoulder as she walks past. "Be careful out there. Stay out of sight as much as you can. We'll pack up here and have some food when you come back."
"You better," she snaps and disappears.
Gorm then shows Trym back inside the barn and orders him to begin packing while he preparer their collection of pots and pans and begins cooking something over the small fire they apparently decided to keep burning through the night.
Tino and Berwald starts their packing in silence. Trym stays well away, alternating between sorting gear and discussing their plans with Gorm on the outside. Nobody talks to Matthias or insists he begin packing up and he appreciates that they are all giving him some space. He is still on the verge of tears and his eyes burn painfully as he attempts to blink them back. He tries to calm his breathing, but it is interrupted by the occasional silent sob. He hunches over, pressing his face into his knees to hide a bit and maybe feel a little bit less exposed even when he is fully in view of everybody.
The event of the dreamscape is still flashing rapidly before his eyes; most prominent is the fear in Lukas' eyes just before he banished Matthias from the dreamscape. He feels guilty for putting Lukas in danger by forcing him into the dreamscape to begin with and conflicted about seeing the person Lukas is hiding underneath his cold façade. He wanted to know more about Lukas, but not like that. He is obviously terrified of the king and quickly loosing what little hope he has left. Every bit of Matthias being is screaming at him to do something, fix Lukas somehow, tear into the capitol and tear down the king with his own hands.
"Matthias?" He is pulled out of his line of increasingly dark thought by a gentle voice and the strong smell of herbal tea wafting past his nose. He looks up, scrubbing furiously at the last traces of tears, puts on a facade of his own, and sees Tino smiling gently at him, holding a steaming mug in front of his face in offering. Everyone else is suspiciously busy with their own things. "This might make you feel a little bit better. I hope at least, it usually helps me."
Matthias takes the cup, grateful to have something to do with his hands when his entire body is itching with the need to do something. He sips at the tea, enjoying how the sharp herbal taste steals some of his attention.
Tino sits silently besides him for a few minutes, watching him carefully until half the cup is empty. "You know, you are not weak," he says very softly.
Matthias look at him over the top of the mug and lifts an eyebrow in question, trying not to reveal just how accurate that is to how he is feeling.
"I didn't mean it like that," Tino stutters and immediately looks flustered and gestures wildly with his hands. "I don't think you are weak; I just mean that nightmares are completely normal, and you should not feel like they make you weak. I know people like to pretend like they are not affected by anything that you have to be like strong and silent all the time." Tino keeps ranting, his sentences rapidly devolving and losing all comprehensibility and Matthias eventually feels enough pity for him and grasps one of his flailing hands to stop him mid-word.
Tino breathes rapidly in relief and smiles gratefully once he has calmed down a bit. "I have nightmares too," he admits weakly. "I have ever since we saw Aeston burn."
"Difference is that you don't wake up the entire camp by screaming," Matthias mutters darkly in return and drains the rest of his cup. The last few dregs of tea tastes just as bitter as his words and leaves a foul aftertaste on his tongue.
"I think it's natural for your dreams to get worse," Tino continues carefully. "We are so close to our target now; you are under a lot of pressure. I know you feel responsible for our safety and success since this was your idea to split from the rest of the group. But, you should know we are all responsible for ourselves. Nobody forced us to come with you, we all chose to go on our own, remember that."
Matthias still feels like he is the one responsible for all that they have suffered since they left the others but arguing is not going to change anything, because neither of them is going to change their mind about the subject. He still appreciates the gesture and nods gratefully at Tino who pats him on the back and returns to his things.
Most of their things are packed and there is a pot of soup bubbling over the fire when they hear hasty footsteps approaching from outside and Vilje comes rushing into the barn. "Get up, now! Grab whatever you can, we need to leave."
"How much time do we have?" Gorm snaps, immediately ready at attention, fingers twitching by the handle of his sword.
"Not much" Vilje gasps for breath after running. "There is a large gathering in the square. It's mainly men, some of the hunters, I think. But there is a lot of guards, maybe local, but I didn't see any of them last night so they might be a patrol from the capitol stationed nearby, I don't know. I didn't dare to ask anyone or get in closer to listen." She breathes for a few more seconds, wiping some sweat off her brow. "They were dividing out weapons so I think they are ready to head out and I am pretty sure it must be us they are coming for."
"I am not going to wait around and find out," Gorm growls. "You were right in coming back; we should head out now before they have a chance to surround us."
They immediately shake out of the last remnants of sleep and grab whatever remaining items they have, quickly stuffing them into their packs. Tino and Berwald haphazardly throw the larger bags on the horses and tie them down roughly.
When Matthias steps out of the barn, he is almost blinded by the sharp, low winter sunrise. It is empty and quiet outside; the lights are off in the farmhouse belonging to the owners of their barn, but from the direction of the town there is loud shouting and the volume increasing. His heart begins beating like crazy, as his body catches up with the threat of captivity.
"Someone must have realized we know they are coming," Vilje yells hysterically. "We have to go!"
"Run!" Trym commands. "Aim for the forest.
There is no hesitation, they all run and do not dare to look back. Pots and pans clang loudly as they move and the horses whinny loudly in protest to the rough treatment as they pull them along. Their retreat is noisy, but they can still hear the furious shouting as the villagers move towards their nightly shelter, realize they are gone and begin their pursuit.
They reach the forest, but the trees with their now sparce autumn leaves provide little shelter and relief so they do not even slow down once they enter. Matthias only chances a quick look behind to gauge the distance and sees a large group of people moving across the fields that separate the forest from the town, a lot closer than he hoped they would be. The sun reflects sharply on metal showing that most of them are armed and Matthias has no doubt in his mind that they will not hesitate to kill them if they manage to catch up.
He runs faster, fueled by fear and weaving through the trees and bushes ducking branches as they appear. He cannot even feel the sting of twigs as they snap across his cheek and snag on his clothing.
Eventually the shouts fade and disappear behind them, but they do not stop to check if anybody is still following.
They keep running until Trym stumbles over a root and almost crashes into the ground curling up protectively around his injured arm. They are all breathing heavily, wheezing for breath. Vilje just throws herself on the ground and breathes. Tino is visibly shaking and hands the reigns of his horse over to Berwald before he just sinks to the ground, staring vacantly into the air. Berwald looks stoic at first glance, as he rests a comforting hand on Tino's shoulder, but Matthias has learned to recognize the tension around his jaw from suppressed pain and wonders just how bad he is feeling.
Matthias heaves for breath himself and his legs are shaking from the strain of running for so long. He feels sweat pour down his back and forehead and grimaces. The cold is going to be brutal later with their sweat soaked clothes. His feet ache from the running and he suspect some of the healing frost blistering might have opened and begun bleeding. He sinks down on the ground to relieve some of the pressure on his feet but does not dare take the shoes off in case they need to get up and run again.
"How long do you think they will chase us?" Tino gasps after a minute or two. He dumps his backpack on the ground with a heavy thump and rifles through it for a waterskin. He gulps down several large sips before offering the skin to Berwald.
"I don't think they will chase us all the way to the capitol even if they are able to keep up with our tracks," Trym sighs in reply. "We still have five or six more days left and they should not want to leave the town potentially unprotected. But they will certainly send at least one person to warn the capitol of our presence."
"We are in so much trouble," Vilje groans loudly, throwing an arm dramatically over her head.
"Well, we can certainly forget pretending to be refugees or fresh recruits for the army" Gorm snaps angrily. "That place was probably crawling with guards before, now it will be even worse."
Suddenly Matthias finds himself incapable of holding back his anger any longer, he is sick of Gorm's constant negativity and constant complaints, and it is like a dam suddenly break and all his walled-up emotions come pouring out. "Then we will find some other way!" he shouts in return, and furiously hauls himself up from the ground. "I told you before, I am not giving up." His hands clench tightly into fists, and he can feel his own nails bite into the skin of his palms. There is a dark urge simmering in his gut to just punch Gorm in the face to shut him up, but he forces it back down.
"We have no plan; we are beat to shit and exhausted!" Gorm snarls back and he is poised to lunge, practically vibrating with the urge to fight something. "There's not a whole lot we can do at this point, I don't see how we are going to even get into the capitol and what we will be able to do if we get in. There are only 4 gates leading into the city itself, all heavily guarded. The outer wall is 30 feet high and that one only protects the commoners living section and nothing of import to the king. There are several more wall we have to break through to get to the castle."
"I'll figure something out when I get there," Matthias retorts stubbornly, glaring angrily at the older man. "One way or another, I will get in."
Gorm spits angrily and curses. "Did you leave half you brain behind on that mountain boy? We are going to get ourselves killed! We left all our good gear behind with the others, just to pretend we were poor refugees, and now that failed. You can be damn sure I won't fight my way through the capital with rusty scrap." He hurls his blade to the ground, and it clangs pathetically against a few scattered rocks. "This is a suicide mission."
Tino startles visible at the noise, and flinches and Vilje carefully picks herself up from the ground and eyes the two of them warily, waiting to see what they do. Matthias is just about to forcefully remind Gorm that he is the one that chose to join the mission when he is interrupted.
"Calm down Gorm," Trym says firmly and stands up in front of them, ready to intervene. He is still cradling his injured arm and is lacking some authority. "This mission is not about fighting, and we were never going to battle our way through the streets. It is intelligence gathering and sabotage if possible. Fine steel is not what will grant us victory; we need to keep our wits about us."
Gorm sneers at them and marches off towards the trees.
"Let's not argue" Tino pleads. "We don't know if the hunters are still following us, we need to keep together and we can't stay here."
Gorm stops in in his tracks and breathes angrily through his nose, not turning back to the group, his stance makes it obvious that he is fighting an enormous battle to not just ignore them and disappear between the trees in his fit of rage.
"We have to keep moving," Tino continues, his voice shaking slightly. "I think we should walk as long as we can before we make camp for the night, the further we get from that town the better."
The air is tense as they prepare to keep moving. Tino is verily watching as Gorm finally turns back to them and stalks back to his bags, picks them up, and marches ahead of them leading the way. Matthias sighs as he lifts his own bags and forces himself to take a few calming breaths of his own as they have to rush to keep up with Gorm.
The next few days pass slowly. They are all on edge after their encounter in the small town and hyper-vigilant, reacting to the slightest of sounds around them. Gorm's mood is constantly sour and infectious making them all even more miserable. They avoid the second town on the way to the capitol and walk in a large circle around it, just to be on the safe side and keep a guard up during the nights just in case.
None of them are free from nightmares, but there are varying degrees of severity. Matthias wakes up a few times in the middle of the night to realize there are dried tear tracks down his cheeks and a pit in his stomach. There is one morning he wakes up with a sore throat and the group staring at him again and he wonders what he might have shouted for the group to hear or if it was all just mindless screaming. He does not want to ask anyone, afraid of what the answer might be, and he appreciates the group's silent agreement to pretend that nightmares in the group are happening at all.
Six days later they reach the end of the forest. It ends suddenly, one moment the trees stand dense and the other they are completely gone. The area before them is open and vast with large field and small farmhouses, but in the very middle of the open landscape there one steep hilltop and atop it a mighty castle, tall and imposing built in dark stone with three round towers reaching towards the sky, one of them a lot taller that the others. There is a massive green banner flying from the very top, large enough to be visible at such a distance. A massive wall, obscuring the lower part of the castle, surrounds it. The hill itself is bare of large buildings, but there are a few roads leading up the hill to the castle.
Surrounding the hill, lies the city itself. There are several rings of walls around the hill, sectioning off different parts of the capitol. Matthias' group is standing on atop a small slope and can barely see what is hiding behind all the massive walls. The further away from the castle hill, the shorter and narrower they are, and the condition and quality of the buildings seems to decrease. The wall closest to the hill is made of smooth, grey rock and there are guard towers and large ballistae stationed atop it, the sunlight reflects in several metal armors moving across the battlements, showing numerous guards patrolling. The buildings behind it are strangely uniform and all in gray rock with black slate roofs.
"That is the guard ring" Gorm explains gruffly and point out the different sections of the city. "The next one is the nobility ring, followed by the merchant ring where the high marked is and then then lastly commoner ring. That one is separated into several sections so that if there is a revolt in one section, they can shut down the gates between the sections and easier fight down resistance. Also, practical against an outside assault now that I think on it." He nods his head thoughtfully for a moment before he points again. "Then you can see the houses outside of the wall, those are not technically part of the city and people only live there because they have nowhere else to go, for the most part filled with thieves and beggars. Some people liked to say they are the city's first line of defense; they will have to fight for themselves if they wish to survive."
Matthias' gaze move from one section to the other, carefully listening to Gorms, explanation. The houses in the nobility ring are quite tall; also build in stone like those in the guard ring, but their design and coloration vary greatly from house to house. Some of them have large gardens surrounding their properties and Matthias imagines they must be quite beautiful in summer, painting the entire circle in various colors that symbolizes the noble houses.
The merchant district is also a riot of colors, but those houses are smaller and build in wood and brick rather than stone. Most of the streets seem to be cobbled and fairly wide and they lead towards a large square with smaller tents and stalls and Matthias figures it must be the high market Gorm mentioned. It seems strangely empty for a place that should be teeming with life at this time of day and especially at this time of year.
The next ring seems plain in comparison even though its size is far larger than the other rings. The houses consist of wood and are a lot smaller and cramped next to each other to fit as many houses together as possible. The roads are narrower and not all of them cobbled, leaving a few roads dark and muddy with deep wagon tracks. There is not a lot of colors, and the entire commoner section of the city seems dull and dreary. However, it is nothing compared to the buildings outside of the last city wall. They stand a few meters away from the wall as there are large ditches filled with sharp wooden spikes to dissuade anyone from building too close to the wall and make it possible to climb over. Those houses are ramshackle and dark and in some cases lacking both windows and doors. There are no roads, and the entire area is a muddy dark mess.
Outside of the final wall and a bit away from the slums, there is only farmland and a few houses where the landowners assumingly live. A great, winding river passes through the landscape. It also passes through the three outer rings of the city on the southern side, following manmade trenches from stone. Where it passes through the city walls, there are giant portcullis to keep intruders out and guard towers on either side to let in smaller boats to the city.
Matthias' mouth falls open. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined the sight before him. The castle and the city way bigger than he thought. The number of people is immense, and he has no idea how they ever imagined they could beat the king and his army. He is almost certain that if he had known back then just how massive the capitol is and how many people live there, he would never suggest and uprising in the first place. He might have just left the kingdom to start a new life or live out his days as an outlaw in the forest, because now the whole idea just seems ridiculous.
"Better close your mouth boy," Gorm comments and pats him heavily on the shoulder, he seems finally accept that their disagreement was foolish and pretends that it never happened in the first place, the closest thing that man will probably ever get to apologizing. "You're going to catch flies gaping like that." He continues.
Matthias's teeth clack together, and he looks at the others. They are not much better, all staring completely awestruck at the giant city. None of them is a traveler or trader and have barely seen town numbering more that maybe a few hundred people before and now they stand before a city housing thousands and seeing a castle that alone almost competes with the size of their hometowns.
"I used to think it was beautiful once upon a time" Gorm continues strangely mellow, sounding almost remorseful, when Matthias looks at him curiously, there is a sad little smile on his lips as he stares towards the city. "I still remember the first time I saw it. Alverton in all her beauty. Thought it was the most magical place in the entire world back then, there was so much to see and experience; now it is just a dark stain in my thoughts and impossible obstacle."
It might be beautiful under different circumstances, Matthias muses. The buildings in the inner circles stand magnificently built and the castle and walls show no signs of wear. With the city located in such an open landscape, the wind is strong enough to carry away the smog that tends to linger over most towns from the burning of fires to keep the houses livable in the colder months and so the sun glitters in windows and the water of the river and it looks like a sparkling gem. Then there is a strange aura of danger and darkness looming in the air, as if all the happiness is gone and it drowns out most of the beauty of the finer buildings. Then there is the odd silence for a city with so many people that makes it appear almost dead and then the slum outside the walls crushes all lingering admiration.
"We should keep the city under observation," Matthias eventually manages to stutter out, still reeling a bit. "Get an overview of the security, guards and see where there is the least security. I am sure we will not be able to get in during the day; the open field make us too visible. The guards will see us the moment we leave the forest."
The others agree in quiet hums and mutters, and they draw a bit back into the forest and begin setting up a camp, covering them from view as best they can with branches and scattered leaves. They prepare a simple meal, sit on the edge of the forest, and watch as people move about their day. There is a lot of activity to keep track of, especially from the outermost rings where the commoners live. There are numerous people working the fields and several carts move from the field and into the city on regular intervals. When evening comes, most of those people move towards the city. A queue builds up outside the four gates leading into the city, but eventually people get in.
Eventually, darkness settles in and lights begin to shine from within the city. Matthias expect there to be song and music as people get home from a day of hard work to relax a little, but it is eerily quiet. The gates shut with a finality as the thud from heavy doors are loud enough to hear all the way to the forest. It becomes obvious just how many guards stand stationed on the walls, judging by the number of flickering lights moving back and forth across the wall and atop the gates, barely leaving a few meters of the wall in darkness and only for a few seconds at the time. They even ignite larger fires atop the walls that light up the areas several meters in front of the gates.
The group decide to take turns watching through the night to observe the guard's movements and maybe figure out their guard rotation to help them maybe find a window when it is possible to climb across. Matthias's turn is early in the morning, the night is turning grey of twilight, and he can almost see the outline of the castle atop the hill through the darkness. He watches the small specks of lights move back and forth across the wall in no discernable pattern, making him frustrated at the lack of progress in a plan. For some reason he kept thinking everything would be easy if they could only reach the capitol.
He watches the outline of the giant castle; there are a few windows with lights flickering despite the hour. He wonders who might be awake this early or this late as it might be, if they are servants, cooks preparing breakfast for the staff, guards or maybe even Lukas. His stomach twists guiltily at the thought of Lukas. He longs to see him again, hoping he is all right, and he wonders what happened after the dreamscape. Did the king punish him, or did he manage to talk himself out trouble He fears it might be the first option, since he has not heard anything from Lukas or seen any signs in the week since that night.
His thoughts are in a downwards spiral from then on. He sits there on the frozen ground, wrapped up in his blankets, picking absentmindedly at the blackened skin on his fingertips that is beginning to peel off to reveal pink, sensitive skin. His arms wrapped around his knees as he stares towards the capitol. His mind drifts again. He pretends that Lukas might be in one of the rooms with a light on, reading a book and unable to sleep to banish the darker possibilities his mind makes up. Alternatively, maybe he is patrolling the streets. That is something a soldier and commander would do. Keeping the streets safe, and he finds that though is a lot more comforting.
He maps out imaginary paths in his head through the city where one illusive soldier makes his way through the streets and then notices a section of the city where there is significantly less lighting than the rest of the town. The river that looks like a dark winding snake though the three outer rings. The walls above the river are bright with torches but there are no houses directly by the river leaving those parts of town darker than the rest, and Matthias' mind begins whirring.
If they try climbing the walls at night, any number of guards might be able to catch a glimpse of them in the torchlight or see them sneaking through the streets if they do manage to climb over unseen. However, if they somehow manage to follow the river, there is a lot less torchlight to catch their movement. Then there are the gently flickering lighting coming from the slums outside the city wall. He remembers Gorm mention the numerous thieves and criminals making it their home and it sends his mind buzzing further with the beginnings of a plan.
Jaw set determinedly; he makes his plans and stares out over Alverton with a grin. Waiting almost excitedly for the rest of the group to wake up. If they are lucky, they might be within the city walls come next morning.