The Nightingale

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Natasha had no idea how much time had passed by the time they exited the dark forest and came to a clearing of expansive farmland littered with the occasional cottage on either side of their path, only noting that the sun seemed to have risen higher in the sky than its position before they entered the forest. Part of Natasha's tension eased now that they were out of the thickness of the woods, where sounds of animals and shadows from the lack of penetrating sunlight had made her fingers cramp as they tightly gripped her sword, but her alertness didn't waver, even in the middle of the open plain.

"How long until we reach Acalia?" Natasha asked, looking curiously over at the man who still hadn't said a word to her over the course of their journey. He didn't return the glance, but instead urged his horse forward again as they began to ascend a small hill.

"Not long," he replied curtly, nodding his head towards their right. Natasha turned to where he motioned, the annoyance she had felt at his vagueness disappearing immediately as magnificent stone towers became visible over the hill they were climbing and as they began to pass by a serious of forested mountains to their right. She hadn't noticed it at first, as only the peaks of two towers were visible at first, tucked into the cliff of a mountain of the same color, but now they were all she could focus on.

Natasha sat further on her seat, holding on to the edge of the wagon in front of her as the two light gray stone towers rose higher into the sky against the mountainous backdrop, three smaller but no less magnificent towers quickly joined the skyline, gradually giving way to the entire breathtaking castle, built into the drop of the mountain in a manner that made the two blend together. The moss and vine climbing the towers, as well as what seemed to be a lookout at the edge of the mountain where it dropped into the side of the cliff that the castle was built into, higher than all of the towers, made the manmade and natural structures combine even more.

As they peaked the small hill they were climbing and the cart turned down into the direction of the castle and the village around it, Natasha sat breathless on the edge of her seat, unable to deny the beauty of the scene before her, no matter how much danger it posed to her.

The white stone of the castle, wrapped in deep green vegetation, stood out in stark contrast against the muted tones of the village at its base, which reminded her very much of the appearance of her own village. The size of the castle was even more outstanding. Even from a distance, Natasha could tell that the castle itself was as larger than her entire village, one single tower could have easily house everyone she had ever known in her life. At some places, the regular structure of the castle rose to six stories, spotted with both small panes of glass and large windows that reminded her of the ones in John's quarters, all framed in the same blue-gray material that covered the roof and points of the towers. The three smaller towers were wound in two places, one at the top and one where they met the main structure, with balconies that allowed one to walk outside, and as Natasha studied them, she saw small movements that suggested people were outside even now. She could see even more people walking through where some of the main structure was cut away to allow for outside passage, and with the back and forth movements that the figures were making, Natasha assumed they were soldiers patrolling the grounds. The thought made her tense, and she wondered if any of the people she saw moving between the stone pathway to the massive castle gates and the village below, encompassed in a second, smaller wall of stone, were soldiers as well, and how many of them knew her face.

As they drew neared to the small gates that lead into the village, flanked on either side by two soldiers in dark uniforms with swords dangling at their hips, Natasha realized she would never make it into the kingdom this way. There were too many soldiers, she had even seen men in the same uniforms walking through the streets of the village below them, and she would be naïve to think that they wouldn't have been instructed to kill or capture her on sight. With a quick scan of the village and the wall accompanying it, with the mountain protected the far side, there was no way in besides the gate or scaling the wall, which she would not be able to do unnoticed, not with a broken wrist slowing her down. She would have to work out some other way inside.