Spirit Fire - Amos

Chapter 22 - Betrayal

Soaring above the sky, we seen plenty of animals and beautiful scenes along the landscape. One time, Eldon and I scattered a flock of geese as we flew by, breaking their formation. When Eldon got tired, we rested on the ground for a while and then restarted when he was better.

     "Just a bit farther, maybe we'll see him on the road before he gets there." I shouted over the wind.

     How do you suppose he got this far with horses or not in one day? Eldon inquired.

     I don't know, I replied solemnly. My question is, why did he continue without telling us?

     I'm not sure.

     Just watch the road, maybe we'll find him, okay?

     I guess.

By nightfall, we started to see a circle of lights appear as we neared our destination. Bobbing lanterns and torches fluttered with life and made the city glow like a ring of fire.

     As we got closer, we saw that the city was made up of three ring-shaped walls and the houses got taller the closer to the center.

     "There it is," I cheered. "We should camp here for the night and I'll go in at dawn when the sun rises. I'll be out by lunch and then we can talk about what happened."

     That is fine.

     At first light, I packed a few things for my trip into Gladden. I thought I should leave my dagger and bow with Eldon but keep my knife and sword hidden within my cloak, and I did.

     "Go, I'll be fine. Find yourself some food, all you've eaten is a few scraps from your bag. I can hunt for dear." He nudged me to go and I reluctantly obeyed.

     As I neared the giant double gates, I noticed there were many, agitated-looking, guards posted along the forty-foot-high, reinforced wood and steel walls. I avoided eye contact and hurried into the city, hoping not to get stopped. There were other people walking through as well, so it made it easier to blend in.

     I hope Eldon doesn't get found, I thought.

     "Eh! You d'ere!" I heard behind me.

     Uh-oh! I turned around shortly after and seen my pursuer, a stationary with a short sword and a bow. I picked up my pace and turned a corner and went around a house across the road back onto the road ahead. I hope I lost him! "Whew!" I wiped my forehead when I noticed the guard looking around in confusion.

     I walked through another set of gates but this one was not as heavily guarded because it was an inner ring. The second tier. Here, there was the middle class I noticed. People were a little better dressed than the people on the outer tier of the city.

     I think he probably came to this section. I don't think he'd be in the low or high class.

     There were many people walking around and through the streets. It was quite congested if you asked me. I visited a few places: shops, taverns, inns, but none of them knew anything about a man named Cedric, nor did I recognize anyone there myself.

     I almost gave up hope until I saw a man with a dark red cloak cross the road to the left. He was carrying two large leather packs and was heading towards to the gate exiting the middle tier into the outer tier so I followed him. He ended up bumping into an older farmer and nearly fell back and I got a short glimpse of his face.