Damian Black - The Order of the Night (English Version)

Born out of Hate - Chapter 7

It was already dark when they reached the next town. Here too, many people cavorted within the walls.
But most of them were already on their way home.
Damian could see a cat on the side of the path, which cleaned itself with relish while people walked past her. He yawned tiredly, but sleep was out of the question.
"The quarter is not far away." Sasha yelled at them from the front.
Damian stretched out, his back and knees ached from long riding. He let his feet slip out of the stirrups and at least tried to calm his aching knees a little. After another five minutes they reached a large area that was cordoned off from the rest of the city.
A huge iron gate blocked their way. In front of it stood two guards, in the robes of the order.
"Welcome," said the group of guards to  Sasha. "In the center of the country and our base."
They bowed before opening the gate with the other guard. Damian looked over at Selim, confused, they couldn't possibly have crossed half of the country by now.
His village wasn't in the very south, but also with the distance that Liz and he had covered alone and the few hours they had ridden today.
They could only be in the upper third of the country, so why was that called the center.
"Our country is divided into three. There has been a war for years. Has no one never told you that?" Selim answered the question before he could ask it.
"No, I thought our country was one country."
"It used to be, but the king and his two brothers began a war and so our country became three countries. The order to which we belong has withdrawn to the southern part. But we count as a neutral order. We are allowed to use the country cross without problems. Because we fight for humanity and not just for the king of our country. "
Selim waved in the air as he explained. "Bring the horses to the stables and look after them there."
Sasha gave the order and they immediately obeyed.
In the stable, their horses were taken from them by volunteers from the post, which Damian was totally okay with. His head was already steaming.
The longer he was a member of the order, the more he realized that he knew nothing and how much Liz had kept from him until today.
Could he really trust her, the Order, his comrades?
He slapped his hand against his head. He couldn't think about it, it didn't matter.
After all, she had rescued him for no reason, trained him and made him part of this order.
Even Aidan had said that she was expecting a punishment for it. So there was surely a reason why she had kept it from him until today.
"Idiot," Aidan grabbed his shoulder and pulled him out of the barn.
"Could you stop that?", he tore himself away and tried to glare at Aidan angrily.
"With what?", he confused frowned deeply.
"Call me an idiot."
"No, not as long as you act like an idiot. Come on, let's go talk. Selim stole half of the story from me, but I can still tell you a few things."
With a mischievous grin on his lips he ran in the direction of the main building and he hurried after him. Damian yawned again and rubbed his eyes with his cold fingers.
Which made him a little more awake again. They ran through the main gate into a brightly lit corridor.
An expensive hand-woven rug lay on the floor while individual portraits hung on the walls.
"These are the generals of the order who have led it to this day."
Aidan explained and stopped at the picture of a man about forty years old. The one who stared at them with his cold brown eyes.
His hair was cut back to a few inches and his angular face was scarred.
"This is General Taylor."
"He and Liz don't look alike." Confused, he looked over at Aidan.
"Yes, Liz supposedly looks a lot like her dead mother."
Damian nodded and walked on, Aidan had caught up with him quickly and of course also overtook him.
"When did the mother die?"
"When she was seven or eight years old, it was a training accident."
How tragic, thought Damian as he silently walked into a room behind Aidan.
Inside were two beds and a desk. In the back of the room there was also a window which was open and let the cold night air into the room.
Aidan sat on the bed to the left of the entrance and so Damian sat on the one that was still free.
"Well, then I'll tell you all the important things." Began Aidan without further ado.
And so Damian heard the history of the country in which he grew up for the first time.