An Aimless War - Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Faint moonlight lit the city in front of us just enough that I could see the telltale rings of walls. East Draulin was a proper Zian city, even more proper than Zianna was. Three rings of huge walls, the tallest guarding the castle and grounds in the middle, the second surrounding the richer upper city, and the outer wall which protected the lower city.
Being pressed up against the Cliffs of Loth had changed Zianna's shape, but East Draulin looked quite circular. It had once been the perfect Zian city, but the Telts had changed it. Even in the dark, I could see that part of the main wall, and the dividing wall beyond it, had been torn down. The area looked like an expansive marketplace that mingled with the port, lower and upper cities. Buildings had also spread beyond the main city walls, whereas in Zianna everything was neatly contained. The large port was flanked by two huge guard towers, and ran along the coast in a confusing maze of piers and docks.
Tannix leaned against the railing beside me as we slowly sailed closer. His soot-darkened hair and shabby, dull clothing looked odd. He stared at the city in front of us, his expression a mix of determination and anxious excitement. The knights all shared that look as they eyed East Draulin.
Wrecks of huge burned ships creaked as they were rocked by the waves. At the base of one of the guard towers, an entire lighthouse had tumbled into the water. Closer to the ruined docks, smaller merchant and fishing ships had sunken while still tied in place. Some floated on their sides, their masts and sails torn and tangled together. For some, only the end tied to the dock was still poking into the air, like a drowning man trying desperately to pull himself out of the water.
Roland expertly guided the little sailboat we'd all packed onto past the carnage. A pair of other ships followed closely behind us. The plan was to move into the city and send as many people as possible to the boats as we made our way to the castle to look for Lady Mayah and her parents.
No one made a sound as the ship pulled up against the dock. A few of the sailors leapt out of the ship and tied the mooring lines to thick metal rings. Roland and Tannix exchanged a quick whispered conversation, then Tannix jumped onto the dock without warning. The rest of us scrambled after him.
The port was empty. We made our way easily along the docks until we reached a wide cobbled street. Like Zianna, large warehouses and dry docks loomed between the harbour and the city's main wall. We slipped past it all, and things seemed to be going very well when suddenly Tannix ducked behind a wooden stall ahead of us. We followed suit just in time.
A group of four Deoran soldiers crossed the street up ahead. They were heavily armoured as if they expected an attack, but looked very bored. They probably didn't actually think anyone would cause them any trouble. Of course they wouldn't expect trouble, as most of East Draulin's soldiers had reportedly either been killed or already fled.
As soon as the soldiers rounded a corner, Tannix started to move forward, but I stopped him by placing a hand on his chest. Motioning for him to stay still, I crept around the stall and silently ran up to the street. I pressed myself again the wall and peeked around the corner. The soldiers had stopped pacing. One of them was taking a drink and two were muttering under their breath to each other in Deoran. The fourth stood in a corner with his back turned to the group. I waited, watching quietly, until they continued walking and disappeared further down the street. When the coast was clear, I waved to Tannix and the knights.
"Thank the Goddess you're here," Tannix whispered as they joined me.
"You're terrible at this."
Tannix's laugh was more of a huff. "All right, I know. Lead the way."
So we continued. It was easy to sneak through the huge gap in the main wall and enter the lower city. The marketplace was just as crowded as Zianna's always was, but East Draulin's was damaged. Stalls were emptied out, burned or overturned, spilling goods the Deorans hadn't wanted. A few times I caught sight of shapes in the mess that were decidedly human, but I tried not to look at them for too long.
At the edges of the marketplace, buildings showed evidence of the fires that had raged through East Draulin on the first night—blackened stones, crumbling walls, and snapped wooden beams. Smoke still drifted lazily from some of the ruins. I thought of Zianna's lower city catching fire, and the absolute chaos that would cause. There was one gate out of Zianna's lower city. At least here the people had the opening in the main wall to escape into the port. But the port had been ruined. It was hard to imagine anyone getting out.
Sailors and anyone who lived close to the port could have escaped. Anyone rich enough to own a horse could have made out it of the city and galloped down the coast on the long ride that would get them to the Tol River and Triben. But the poor people of East Draulin wouldn't have had a chance.
Siour would have been very busy collecting their souls.
But maybe some people had hidden, and that thought pushed me forward. I watched and listened to everything as I led the knights through the city. I looked for any sign of survivors while also trying to keep alert for patrolling guards.
We saw another group and hid in a skinny alley while they passed by. If it wasn't for the destruction around me and the team of highly trained knights following me around, I would have felt like I was back in Zianna. When the Deorans were out of sight, I stepped out onto the street.
Tannix grabbed my arm. "Wait, I think there are people in that building."
I followed his gaze. The building was a small house connected to a forge, and it was relatively intact. As soon as my eyes landed on the little window, a curtain was dropped.
"I'll go try to talk to them," I said. "Stay here."
When Tannix nodded, I slipped out onto the street. The window had no glass, just a curtain. I ran across the street to crouch beside it. I was about to call out when I heard marching footsteps from down the street. There wasn't time to look for another hiding place, I just climbed into the window.
And  almost lost my life to a large pan. I ducked just in time.
"Wait, wait..." I backed against the wall and held up my hands to show that I didn't have any weapons. "There are soldiers. Please."
In front of me, a large man with very dark skin was holding up the pan with two hands. Pressed into the corner of the room behind him was a plump woman holding a child, and another little girl clinging to her dress.
The man and I watched each other, perfectly silent, as the footsteps outside came and went. Even when I thought the soldiers had left, I didn't move. I didn't want to give the man any reason to attack me.
"Joen," the woman finally broke the silence. She handed her baby to the slightly older girl, and walked across the room to lay a hand on the man's forearm. "He's so young."
"He was with those Telts," the man growled. His knuckles tightened on the pan handle. "The ones who abandoned us to these Zianesa-cursed Deorans." There was a bit of a rumble in his voice, an accent I didn't recognize.
"No," I protested. "Yes, they're Telts, but they're—we're from West Draulin. We're here to evacuate people."
"There aren't many Telts left in the city," the woman said. "Most of them left the first night."
"We're not only looking for Telts," I explained. "We're here to evacuate all Ziannan citizens. There are three ships down in the pier that can take you to West Draulin. The captain's a Crelan named Roland. He'll help you."
The couple glanced at each other with equal looks of hope and doubt. The baby began to cry and the woman quickly moved back over to pick her up. She returned to stand next to her husband, the older child following cautiously. "Joen, if he's telling the truth, we should go. There's nothing to keep us here."
"Here." I crouched and pulled the dagger from my boot, quickly holding it out to Joen before he could think I was trying to threaten him with it. "Take this in case you come across any Deorans. I know it isn't much, but it'll be more helpful than that pot."
Joen put aside the pan and took the knife from me. He twisted it, letting the dim candlelight catch on the blade. "Standard Teltish soldier's knife," he said. "It's not bad. I have better ones in the forge. But thank you." He glanced at his family. I knew he was worried about taking them to the docks, worried about not being able to protect them. The young children were probably the main reason the family hadn't already left.
"We only saw one group of guards in the port. They should be easy to avoid," I said.
"Thank—" Joen cut himself off, his attention suddenly on the door across the room from us. For such a large man, he moved with surprising silence across the room, and yanked the door open. I barely had time to throw myself between Joen and Tannix.
"Wait, he's with me," I said quickly. Once my thoughts had enough time to catch up with my actions, I realized just how close I had gotten to being stabbed. Both men held knives.
Tannix put his away first. "You were gone for a long time, I got worried," he said quietly. "Did Finn explain everything?"
Joen nodded warily. His trust clearly did not extend to Tannix.
"They're just about to leave, we should try to find more people," I said.
"Kor and Jalor are scouting ahead," Tannix said.
Joen was glancing back and forth between the two of us. His wife also looked confused, but she was staring at Tannix in particular. "You look familiar," she said finally.
"You might have seen my father or brother before. They visited East Draulin fairly often," Tannix said. He held his hand towards Joen for a handshake, which after a moment the man accepted. "Lord Tandrix—" he paused very briefly, "—West Draulin."
The woman gasped. "Lord West Draulin? In our house?"
"It's nothing, really," Tannix replied uncomfortably. "In any case, the Deorans patrolling here just passed by, you should move now."
Joen nodded. "Thank you."
As we slipped out the front door, I sent a quick prayer to Zianesa, asking her to watch over Joen and his family while they moved through the city. Kor and Jalor were already back with the others, and they briefly explained how they had found another small group of families hiding in a house further up the street.
We kept moving, occasionally stopping when we found people and urging them to head for the sailboats. Some didn't trust us and refused, but most of the people we spoke to eagerly gathered up their belongings and got ready to leave. It was hard to map out a particular route without knowing the city, so I just led the knights through areas that seemed safe as we slowly made our way closer to the castle.
I'd lost track of how many people we had helped when we finally found ourselves on what I thought was the city's original main pass. Like Zianna's, it was a wide road that led from the port to the castle, with gates leading into the upper and lower cities. The torn down walls made the main pass sort of pointless, except that it was still the only way into the castle grounds.
I inspected the road carefully from the shadows before stepping out. The knights followed me as quietly as they could manage. They actually had gotten better as the night progressed.
Then I froze. Tannix nearly walked into me.
"Tannix, wait," I muttered, grabbing his arm to stop him from walking around me. There was a faint hiss as Kor and Ender pulled arrows from their quivers.
A man emerged from the shadows in front of us. He was wearing bright red underneath metal and leather armour. His skin was darker than mine, his hair almost black. He had a very neatly trimmed beard. Dramatically, he held his hands open, gesturing to the walls around us.
"Welcome to Talidor, my lord," he said, in a voice thick with a Deoran accent. He bowed mockingly towards Tannix. "My men weren't sure who our visitor was, until your Native guide said your name. Tannix. Short for Tandrix, I assume, Lord of West Draulin. I'm very sorry to hear about your father."
Tannix glared but didn't rise to the taunt. Instead, he kept his voice steady. "A gentleman would introduce himself."
"And a gentleman I am," the man agreed, grinning. "I am Prince Kalvahi, heir to the throne of Deorun. And these are my men."
Men appeared around us, all dressed similarly to the prince. A few archers came into view on the walls, aiming down at us.
"I'm delighted to meet you," Tannix replied, with a forced politeness they both knew was false. "You've clearly been following me for some time. What of the people we spoke to in the city?"
Prince Kalvahi shrugged. "I hardly care about some Zians fleeing the city. Don't worry, young Lord West Draulin, my men let them all go without incident. You're a much greater prize. I was going to have you killed before I knew who you were. Now I'm going to take you back to the king. Maybe we'll ransom you back. Maybe we'll keep you."
"And my men?"
"They can surrender."
One of the twins spoke up. I still couldn't tell them apart by their voices alone. "We would never su—"
"Korander," Tannix interrupted sharply. "There's no need to be rude."
Prince Kalvahi laughed loudly. "I like you, young Lord West Draulin. You're smart."
Behind him, Kor kept talking, but he'd lowered his voice and was whispering to his brother. "Mark centre."
"Aye, mark right," Ender replied. "Evrik?"
"Mark left," Evrik whispered.
Before I could puzzle out what they were saying to each other, Tannix made just the slightest movement with his left hand. In the same instant he, Acen, Jalor and Mandell pulled out swords, while three archers suddenly plummeted to the ground beside us. Two of them had long arrow shafts protruding from their chests, the third had a small axe imbedded in his face.
Somehow, all of that occurred to me before I realized that fighting had broken out all around me. Tannix wasn't at my side. I looked around frantically. Evrik was fighting with his sword, the twins were shooting at the other archers.
Tannix reappeared at my side, holding his sword in one hand. It was already wet. I stared at it, slightly dazed, until he shook my shoulder.
"Finn, listen to me. Get to Roland."
I shook myself from my stupor. "What? No, I—"
"You can't fight. Go tell Roland what's happened."
I wanted to argue, but the look in his eyes was enough to convince me to listen. A Deoran lunged at us and Tannix shoved me out of the way to block the man's sword with his own. I took my chance, weaving through a few more people until I reached the edge of the street. The twins were using their swords now, so I assumed the archers were all dead.
I pulled myself up the wall, until I was safely out of reach. Part of me wanted to stop, to turn around and watch, but I knew I had to keep going. I tried to ignore the noises beneath me as I carefully climbed higher up the wall, steadily moving farther from the fight.  Farther from the knights who were fighting for their lives. Farther from Tannix.
There was nothing I could do to help.