Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 11: Gooseberries and obese sheep (pt. 2)

The crowd in front of the town gates was massive, understandably. More and more were gathering to get out, but if Luna had to guess there were few of them who could actually afford to leave. She would have thought the guards would let them through since they shouldn't be thrilled about the blight in the sky either, but since no one seemed to be leaving she figured that was not the case.

"I think we might have to leave the carriage," she said to Lucius, who released a sigh as he had to acknowledge the suggestion.

"It'd be a shame to, but if nothing else we could pay the guards with it and be let through."

"Do you think it would be enough to pay for several people?" Noah's gaze followed a lady with her young son who'd both been rejected by the guards, and Lucius shrugged.

"Can't hurt to ask."

Their attention was caught by a man causing a ruckus closer to the gates by protesting loudly about the toll, but Luna turned away in case things would get execution-gruesome, as had become reality, and instead looked at the lady Noah had mentioned earlier.

She and her son were just about to pass by an alleyway when the lady was suddenly grabbed by the arm and pulled inside. The boy opened his mouth to scream but another pair of arms quickly extended from the same alleyway and his mouth was covered with one hand and another one grabbed him around the waist.

Luna stared in shock for a second before taking a deep breath.

"Hey!" she yelled after them. Not many in the crowd paid any attention to her aside from her family. Luna reasoned there was no time to explain however, and instead set off at an impressive speed.

She heard her father yell after her. Good. She was hoping they'd follow her for backup. The alley wasn't far away but more people had gathered behind them and she had to dodge two old ladies and a disorganized family wandering about before finally rounding the corner. Vincent would've scolded her, she noted in retrospect. You don't round corners carelessly in a situation like this.

Sure enough, a tall, hooded figure next to the lady turned to look at Luna and quickly dashed up to her. Luna didn't have time to back away before her mouth was covered by a hand.

She struggled to get loose and attempted a scream.

"Quiet! I'm not an enemy," the hooded figure hissed as Luna struggled to be free, and it took a moment for Luna to realize she did indeed recognize the person in front of her, and she squinted to see better. The face underneath the hood looked familiar. A blue-eyed, light skinned girl somewhere in her twenties with her hair pulled back almost entirely, only a few blond locks poking out from under the hood.

"Lady Claussdottír." Luna's eyes widened at Frey's younger sister, Annarósa, who looked equally shocked by the familiar face in front of her. "Your father said you were with your wife's family."

"You've spoken to—?" Annarósa interrupted herself to turn a brief eye in the woman and boy's direction. "Get to the location and tell them what I said. They'll be ready to help you."

The lady nodded, lifted her son up, and set off in a slow jog. At this moment Lucius caught up to them, closely followed by Vincent, and as Noah finally joined them Luna had to criticize their decision to leave the carriage behind. Someone was bound to steal it.

"What are you doing?" Lucius scolded her. "You can't just run off, and we had to leave the carriage! What if someone steals it?"

"Noah could've stayed."

"We can't split up at a time like this, which is why you shouldn't have ran in the first place!"

"And Mr. Cromwell, and young Lord Hargreaves." Annarósa eyed the group. "Why are you in West Kerilia? And now of all times?"