Yet another temporary AN! (Bad me!): I have just started working on editing my earlier chapters to match my current writing style and fix grammar and such. (How any of you made it past the mess that is chapter 1-21 is beyond me, but thank you!) I'm posting the edited chapters on AO3 for now, if any of you are interested, but the first 21 chapters will take some time to fix. I'll replace the chapters here on FF once I am done with the first 21.
Behind enemy lines
There is still a whirlwind of thoughts buzzing around Matthias' skull, but he moves with determined steps down the streets towards the first wall, a route that is beginning to feel familiar by now. He puts on a mask of confidence and keeps his head held high; it is still broad daylight, and he cannot let anyone to see how scared he really feels and have them question his cover. He would feel much better if it was dark outside with his face hidden, but he cannot afford to waste any time with his friends at the lacking mercy of the Rat King.
For once, he is grateful for the seed of fear the guards have sowed within the entire population that makes people on the streets avoid him as if he has the plague. The guard is uniform enough to make citizens bow their heads to avoid even looking at him and leave him plenty of room to walk ahead undisturbed. Nobody notices how sloppily Matthias fastened the armor before he left the safe house, and neither do they notice how he is lacking a weapon, when no other guard will walk around the streets without one. As he walks, he keeps trying to come up with an excuse to have at the ready if anyone should ask why he is wandering around alone, when all the other guards in the streets tend to move around in groups of four or more. He does not want to act the blubbering mess when people eventually ask questions.
He reaches the wall at a time well between the normal guard changes, finds the corridor blessedly empty, and moves on quickly through the second door and to a noble district that seems far quieter than it should be at this time of day. Then he notices a noblewoman walking past looking positively grey, fanning her face and wonders if the day's event might have been too much to handle for the finer folk that are not used to people having to fight for their lives and that they are hiding in their homes to recover after the shock.
There are no guards moving about either, but it does make sense. The nobles were the only group in the square during the announcement that did not protest the king's orders and retreated rather than attack when the crowd rebelled, none of them showing any desire to fight against the soldiers.
It is probably for the best Matthias thinks as he moves through the same streets as the night before, still without a problem. This time he does not bother listening at the door of the district wall before he uses the key to open it. He will have to trust his guard uniform eventually and listening by doors before entering them in broad daylight looks far too suspicious.
He still cannot stop himself from sighing in relief when he finds this corridor is empty as well, and it gives him a little more time to prepare his next move. He grabs one of the spears placed neatly by the wall, glad to have a weapon in his hand at least, and feeling a little less exposed.
Glancing in either direction, he realizes he has no idea where to go from here and what will be the best way to the castle if that is where he must go to find Lukas. He only knows that the door right ahead will lead to the training yard, which is full of debris, and he remembers which way the guards ran the other night to get to the storage room and figures it might be wisest to stay clear of those paths for the time being. He is not very eager to see the destruction he caused up close just yet.
He hears footsteps above him from guards marching back and forth atop the wall and looks up. That could be the best place to go first. The wall should give him a good overview of the guard district and help him plan a path through the district, so he follows the corridor until he reaches a long, narrow staircase leading up. He hesitates in climbing it, knowing that if he does, he will have to put his trust in the uniform and a weak lie he made up on the walk here and he does not know will work and his mind keeps screaming at him that it is all a terrible idea.
He is about two seconds from changing his mind and just sneak his way through the entire district instead, hoping he will chance upon the right direction when several sets of footsteps somewhere further down the corridor makes the choice for him and sends him stumbling up the stairs.
Nobody gives him a second glance when he reaches the top and he takes a moment to gather his bearings. Guards move past him, most of them looking bored out of their minds, but casting the occasional glance over the wall to survey the quiet noble district. He takes in the sight of the ballistae lined up; so much larger up close and piles of ammunition lies at the ready besides them, along with tar and unlit torches.
He struggles to keep the shock off his face when he turns around and sees the damage in the guard district and realizes just how extensive it is, far worse than he imagined. There are a few buildings completely leveled to the ground and a massive, blackened crater in the middle. A pile of rubble near the middle still smolders and sends small tendrils of smoke towards the sky. Several other buildings surrounding the crater show severe damage with crumbled walls, blown out windows and scattered stonework leaving the houses with their insides exposed.
The explosion must have been larger than he realized to crumble building made almost completely out of stone. It sends a shiver down his spine thinking about how all that powder could have ended up used against the rebels and it almost makes him sick knowing that there might be more of it hiding somewhere in the district for the king to use as he pleases.
Matthias wonders for a short moment if the crater and broken buildings are visible from outside the walls and turns around to look for the small hill they all sat atop a few days ago while surveying the capitol. The ruined buildings might not be very noticeable from this distance and hidden behind the tallest wall, but Trym and Gorm surely must have seen the flames and heard the explosion in the night and the smoke rose steadily for several hours after first light of day.
It must be awful for them, Matthias thinks. Trapped outside the walls, knowing know something big happened, but not what and which side it favors. Matthias realizes they should work harder to find a way of bringing news outside, that is if they are all still alive come morning. The rebels are at a severe disadvantage without information.
He turns back around and looks at the castle and the surrounding district. Now that he is past the innermost walls, it seems almost ridiculously simple to reach it. That is if he avoids the one large and winding road leading up to the main gates of the castle, which must be an absolute nightmare for the servants and those delivering goods up that path. Most of the guards seems focused on checking people heading up that hill. Other than that, there are only a few smaller guard posts spread out around the bottom of the hill. There is no way he can get past those in the daylight without a proper excuse, but with cover of darkness, it should be possible to sneak past them with the relative ease.
He must spend too much time looking, because he is interrupted by someone clearing their throat right behind his back and he whirls around, heart beating like mad, horrified that he did not notice anyone approach.
The guard responsible of surprising him just snorts and shakes his head, clearly unimpressed. "It is quite the sight, I know," he says, but not angry at least, maybe tired if anything. "You have no idea of how many guys I've had to tell off today for lack of attention and all of them were staring slack-jawed at that," he tilts his head in direction of the crater and sighs.
"I'm sorry," Matthias stutters, but quietly thanks all the gods that he is not the only one to freeze at the sight of last night's destruction. "It's been a long day."
"That I can see," the guard says firmly, he leans against his own spear, eying Matthias up and down with a quirk of his eyebrow. "You look like shit, what the hell happened to you?"
Matthias almost chokes on his own tongue, trying to bring forth the lie he has prepared and at the same time gauge the loyalty the guard has to the king's cause and whatever rules the soldiers abide by, wondering if he is likely to be lenient towards another guard or wanting to report him for apparently slacking off. He is also praying the guard will not notice the outskirt accent in Matthias' words. "I ran into some trouble after the incident in the square. Some of the locals tried to let anger out on me after I got separated from the rest of my group."
The guard makes a quiet hiss and curses. "This is one ungrateful job that is for sure. Those fuckers do not know what is best for them. Glad to see you made it back behind walls then, we have lost too many men as of late. Everything seems like it is going to shit." He spits angrily over one side of the wall.
"How many did we lose last night? Do we know?" Matthias gestures at the leveled houses, curiosity getting the better of him even though there is a small part of his mind dreading the answer and the guilt that will surely follow the reply.
The guard sighs deeply. "They are still collecting corpses down there along with the rubble." He points out a small group of people moving about in the ruins. "It could have been worse though. Good thing those storages are nowhere near the barracks, or we could have lost an entire platoon just like that," he snaps his fingers for effect. "We lost a few men on duty, a few more in the collapsed buildings; some were hit by debris from what I know. I am just glad not to clean up that mess."
Matthias just nods slowly in understanding, both disappointed that they could have done more damage, but also immensely relieved he does not have the slaughter an entire platoon of unaware soldiers on his conscience.
"But enough talk," the guard snaps and stands up straighter. "I have two more hours on the wall, and I assume you have your own duties you should return to."
This is the point when Matthias knows he will have to speak carefully.
He shuffles his feet and clears his throat with a weak laughter as he scratches the back of his, hoping to give the guard the impression that he is uncomfortable. "Thing is, I am not all that eager to return the duties ahead of me. I am supposed to meet with the commander." He pauses, waiting for the guard to figure out who he is hinting at and sees a shadow of pity wash over the man as he falls for the lie. "Yeah, my captain was not all that impressed with how I disappeared from the group."
The guard hisses in sympathy and look genuinely sorry for him. "I can see why you are not eager to return to your duties then, but I can promise you will regret it if you wait too long, he is not exactly known to be patient."
Matthias lets out a halfhearted curse through his teeth. "Yeah, I sort of figured that as the case. Do you know where I can find him maybe?"
The guard drags a hand through his hair in thought as he stares out over the guard district, genuine in his attempt to come up with an answer. "He is not exactly on a set rotation, and most of the guys prefer to avoid him for obvious reasons and are usually better at figuring out where he is not." He grimaces. "If I were to make a guess though, I would say he is at one of the offices closest to the blast that are still standing. The king will want to sort out that mess and find out what happened and make sure it cannot happen again, that task might we worth the commander's time."
"I'll better go then," Matthias fakes a sigh. "Thanks for your help, enjoy the rest of your shift."
He receives a snort in return and the guard continues his walk along the wall.
Matthias quickly looks over the district one more time, attempting to memorize as many pathways as he can before he descends the stairs again and find a door that leads out in the district proper and he looks at the castle looming high atop its hill, dark and intimidating almost mocking him with its presence.
Judging by the pieces of rubble lying on the street along with a heavy layer of dust, he must have found a road relatively close to the explosion and the further he walks, the more damage he sees. There are a few people working on clearing the mess, some of them soldiers, some servants all of them grim-faced as they work.
He grows more confident in his disguise when these people ignore him as well, seeing just another guard walk past, nobody expecting a rebel right amongst them hiding in plain sight. He finally sees a group of guards not on clean-up duty and makes the decision to follow; hoping they might lead the way to the nearest office the guard on the wall suggested he seek out.
After a few minutes, they draw near the bottom of the hill and the group disappears into a building, built in stone just like everything else, nothing to set it apart. How the guards know where to go is well beyond Matthias, so he follows them closer. He is about to gather the courage to follow them inside when the sound of loud arguing from an open window around the corner draws his attention and he follows that instead and hunkers down below the window after making a quick glance around to make sure there is nobody watching.
He hears no trace of Lukas' even tone among the voices from the window and he feels a stab of disappointment even though he knew that he was putting his hope in a longshot, but then he catches a few sentences that makes him lean closer against the wall, straining to hear the conversation.
"Is the square cleared up?" he suddenly hear one strong voice say loudly and the other people present in the room quiet down naturally making Matthias think it is their leader speaking.
"We have gathered the fallen ones and done a count," a quieter voice says, his accent prim and proper like he has lived his entire life behind the capitol walls. "We lost three guards to the crowd and there are twenty-two dead commoners, most of them trampled by the masses, but a few killed by our men. What should we do with the bodies, sir?" he asks hesitantly. "Usually we would burn them even though they are just commoners, but that would take a lot of firewood and winter is almost upon us. Should we arrange for a burial outside the gates instead maybe?"
The first voice snorts loudly, seeming to find the question ridiculous and Matthias can all too clear imagine the soldier must be wearing a cruel expression showing just how little he cares about the commoners. "It is not worth the resources or the effort. Just throw them over the edge of the outer wall and leave them for the rats." He chuckles for himself even though none of the others present seems to join in. "They can hang on those stakes to rot for all I care and it should make a fair warning for those approaching rebels as well if they reach the city wall. Let them see what happen if they cross us."
"And what of the prisoners then?" a third voice says. "Are we just going to leave them where they are, in the dungeons to rot, or maybe put them in the stockade? Or, we could just execute now and save us some trouble later?"
The first guard and apparently the one making all the decisions groans loudly. "Our orders are to keep them in the dungeons for now; the king wants them as leverage. He expects trouble already tomorrow when we start the recruitment process." He sighs. "The villagers has already proven their distaste for that particular order of defending the city and so, for each offence committed against the throne he wants one of the prisoners publicly executed as an example."
Somebody spits audibly. "We should have taken more prisoners then," he says angrily. "Gods I cannot wait for this stupid rebellion to be over. I never thought I would ever long for the time when catching a pickpocket was the most exciting part of my day."
"It will be over soon enough," the first voice says with sure confidence. "We don't even have to worry about the battle; we just have to round up enough people to 'defend the city against the outside threat'." He says the last sentence in mocking voice intended to make fun of the king's last speech. "When the rebels show up, we send out the citizens first and they will all be too busy killing each other, none of them have the proper training, it will be a slaughter."
Matthias can hear footsteps as the guard paces around the room. "Then, all we have to do is clean up the mess left behind, whoever is left on the battlefield after that will not be able to put up much of a fight at that point anyways, especially not against properly equipped soldiers."
Hidden underneath the window, Matthias shudders at the cold tone of the soldier and how little care he has of human lives.
"Then, once we get rid of the damned rebels, we can turn our focus back where it is supposed to be." He speaks as if he already knows the exact outcome of the possible fight to come. "We can clean out the slums, finally be rid of the rats that are everywhere and rebuild the city as it should be. People will have respect for our king and to us the guard and we can turn our attention outwards, we can expand our borders like the King told us we would do, become the greatest kingdom ever known."
The more hesitant of the guards clears his throat. "There is still one problem left with your plan there, with the greatest kingdom ever known, sir. As long as the king keeps you know who by his side that is all people will ever know us for, they will not look at us in respect, but in fear and hatred, that in turn will make people fight back stronger." He turns quiet once more and Matthias wishes he could see what was going in the room, to see their faces. He only know one man that causes that much fear in people they will not even mention his name.
"Once this rebellion is defeated we don't need him anymore," The first guard snarls and Matthias plasters himself even closer against the wall, both eager and terrified to hear what the soldier has to say against Lukas. "From what I have heard his days are numbered already, the king is growing tired of him. We might not even have to do anything to get rid of him." He sounds pleased at the end and Matthias clenches his hands into fists by his sides until his knuckles turn white as he fights to keep his anger at bay.
Then a sharp laughter from a woman interrupts his tirade. "That is not likely," she snaps. "Trollbunden is too valuable for the king to get rid of anytime soon. If you want him dead or gone, you are going to have to deal with him yourself."
"Then why does the rumors say he is not allowed to leave the castle after what happened in the square?" The leader challenges angrily in return. "I saw for myself that he hesitated in killing the guards that failed in their duty, and he argued with the king afterwards. He never argued before, it is not as if he cares about any of us, the king is losing control over him and he is not going to let it stand. Good thing that, or one of us would have to take him out before he can turn against us."
Matthias has heard enough and leaves before his stomach has the chance to revolt for the second time today and moves away from the office building as fast as he can. He does not want to be caught here spying and the longer he stays, the more likely it is to happen. It is painfully obvious that Lukas is nowhere nearby, or the soldiers would never dare speak up about him like that with the windows open for all to hear. With the turn of conversation inside, Matthias does not want to listen in any longer. He does not think he can sit still while the soldiers discuss how to get rid of someone that he cares too much about.
It is also obvious that Matthias will not likely find Lukas wandering about the guard district just by luck. He has wasted too much time already walking around trying to figure out where to go. If the lead soldier in the office is correct, then Lukas will be in the castle, the one place that might be even more dangerous than the guard district.
The sun is setting quickly, and the lighting turns grey, firmly reminding him that his friends are running out of time. Unless he can find Lukas within the next few hours, he might have to give up, head back into one of the other districts and just assault the first and best group of guards he stumbles across to get a damned key. If he succeeds with that, he might buy them all some time, but the Rat king will only push them further and demand more, he needs leverage of his own.
He marches further away from the office building, towards the castle, new determination boiling in his gut. The main road leading up is not far away, but the guards seem to check every single person walking past, making it obvious he need to follow one of the other pathways up. He has no idea which path to choose and if he makes it inside, he will have no idea where to go.
Tucking against a wall, barely hidden in the shadows, he curses quietly for himself. He does not know how to do this on his own without some serious help. He stares at the castle and wonders. Then he closes his eyes, breathes, and just searches for any trace of the pull, having no idea what he is doing or if it will work, but knows he must look like an absolute idiot if anyone sees him. He lets his mind wander up to the castle, imagines the hallways he might find when he makes it inside the castle.
He is about to give up and looks up at the castle and the highest towers, cursing quietly once more and that is when he feels the barest trace of the almost familiar pull and breathes a sigh of relief, clinging on the tiny shred of hope that awakens along with the connection.
He clenches his eyes shut again and turns all his attention inwards focusing the pull, but it does not draw him towards a particular direction as it did before. It seems to resist him, almost as if it is begging him to stay away, but he ignores it and turn al his thoughts inwards even harder. Lukas is on the other side of the pull, wanting him to stay away, but Matthias cannot afford to be careful and he is not willing to give up this mental battle of resolve, still not knowing if his desperation can reach through, but he is beyond caring shutting off all of his other senses. A guard could walk up to him and he would not notice.
The pull seems to soften under his effort, Lukas apparently giving up on warning him away. A sense of direction washes over Matthias, he feels Lukas' presence is somewhere in the castle much as he suspected already, but there is still a hesitance he interprets as an encouragement to be careful.
Around him the district turns dark as the sun sets somewhere behind the walls. Matthias sees the first flickers of torches atop the wall and there is a guard moving through the streets, lighting up the streetlamps along the way. There is also light from a few windows up in the castle, but to Matthias relief, only the main road leading up to the castle has lights while the rest of the hill lies in darkness.
The pull urges him away from the main road and gate but still towards the castle and Matthias follows easily, growing more confident that he will find the right way now, even if he must put his trust in a magical effect that he practically knows nothing about. If Lukas is aware enough of the bond to guide Matthias in the right direction, he might be more in control than Matthias dared hope. If his experience during the announcement is any indication, then the connection between them died whenever the king actively influenced Lukas' behavior.
Matthias hides behind a corner until the sun is fully set and the district is as dark as it can become. Then he walks along the road below the hill, trying to look like he belongs there. Walking past a guard post, he gives the soldier on duty a polite nod, receiving one in return as well. The guard posts are just far enough apart that one can see the glow of torches from one to the next. When Matthias thinks he might be just between two of them, he turns sharply and bolts out from the dim streetlight, into darkness and towards the hill.
There are no yells of warning from any guards making Matthias believe he made a clean escape. He cannot see much, but he feels the terrain turn steep and rough under his feet and he keeps moving, as quick as his legs will carry him. He ends up on his hands and knees almost immediately, fingers slipping on the mud, which is partially on the way to freezing in the temperatures of nights that are turning colder with each passing day, but he ignores the pain of his frozen fingers, only digging them in further for better grip. Then, just because fate must be a bitch, it also starts snowing as winter finally decides it is time for winter to reach the capitol as well.
When he finally makes it to the top of the hill and to the outer wall of the castle, he leans against it, breathing from exertion from his climb. The stonework feels smooth underneath his fingers, but he barely has time to wonder how he will get in before the pull guides him along the wall to one specific spot. It does not seem different to Matthias in any way, but when he runs his fingers along the stone by reflex, he feels a very familiar groove and, in the middle, he finds a keyhole.
The bronze key turns smoothly in the lock and Matthias takes a deep breath, steeling himself and adjusting his grip on the spear before he opens the door.
There is completely dark inside when he cracks it open. The pull draws him further and Matthias enters the darkness, closing the door behind himself. He can hear his own breathing and footsteps echo from the walls, indicating that the room is both wide and tall around him. He moves slowly, with his free hand in front of him should he meet a wall, terrified of each sound he makes. If somebody catches him in here, it is very likely his guard uniform will not help him in the slightest.
He blindly follows the pull in his chest, feeling how it grows stronger the further he gets and seems to guide him further, making him adjust his direction a few times, and somehow he never walks into anything. He takes comfort in the lack of light that should mean there are also no people present nearby. Eventually, he notices a flicker of light somewhere in the distance, on the other side of a doorway, Matthias cannot tell after stumbling around in the darkness. He stops and hold his breath, listening for any sounds, but not hearing anything and then he creeps closer.
The light turns out to come from one of several torches hanging on the wall of what turns out to be a long narrow hallway. Matthias follows his gut and walks, but not for long until he pull guides him towards a new, dark room and Matthias snatches a torch of the wall before he enters.
He holds up the torch to take in the room before him, not entirely sure of what he is seeing and almost drops it to the floor from chock at what he sees. There are different chains hanging from the roof and along one wall, there is a bench with different tools and some very suspicious dark brown stains covering most of the surface, continuing all the way to the floor. He sees different devices made from wood and metal, but it is nothing he has ever seen before and judging from the pools of brown staining beneath most of them, he does not want to find out what they are used for either.
He can feel his heartbeat in his throat, glad that his stomach is empty already and has been for most of the day or he would puke his guts out when the smell reaches his nose and seems to force its way into his skull. His legs shake as he walks through the door to the next room, desperate to leave, but still opens the door carefully while holding his breath, dreading there is worse to come.
Luckily, there are no more strange devices clearly designed for inflicting pain, but this must be where unfortunate prisoners wait for their fate, for empty holding cells seem to take up most of the room, leaving only a narrow pathway between the rows of bars on either side. He almost expects to see the people arrested in the square earlier in the day, but all of the cells are empty, except for one, at the furthest end of the room where there is a figure huddled up in a cloak at the furthest corner.
"There is no need to hide," a deep, tired and very familiar voice calls out and Matthias automatically steps closer, his legs moving on their own without his say so and the stolen spear clatters against the ground. The figure in the cell hoists himself up from the floor and throws back the hood that hid his face. Lukas's dark eyes seem to glow in the dim light provided by Matthias' torch. "Nobody can hear us down here, but I cannot stress enough that coming here is one of the most foolish things you have done."
Matthias's breath catches in his throat, relieved at finding Lukas at last, but slowly realizing that the presence of metal bars means that the person he was putting all his faith into, might not even be able to help him and he can no longer hold back tears as his hope shatters into pieces. "I know you don't want me here, but I have nowhere else to go," he sobs. "I need help."