Bridging the Ancient ✓

Chapter 31

The weather changes drastically from Flitsea. On our way to the Blood Desert, the summer heat begins to show itself and I strip down into nothing but my undershirt and pants to protect myself from the sun. I tie a spare jacket around my head to use as a scarf, Renit's advice against burns on my scalp and face.

Renit does the same and we trudge along through the empty grasslands that lead to Ashtomb Prison and then, the Blood Desert. An empty expanse of land that holds nothing as far as the eye can see. Legend says that once you're lost in the beauty of the red sand, you're lost to the world.

We cut around the beaches outside of Flitsea, opting for riding our horses instead of stowing away on a ship to cut through the ocean towards the Blood Desert. Renit said it would be safer this way but the farther we head towards the heat, the more I wish I was in the middle of the ocean with nothing but the salted air and the breeze around me.

Ashtomb will be close to the trail but not dangerous enough to pose a threat. It's heavily guarded and fenced all the way around.

Traffic is few out here, no one travels from Flitsea to the Blood Desert except for the brave merchant delivering supplies to that awful prison. I've never seen it.

Curiosity gets the best of me. "Have you ever been to Ashtomb?" I ask the prince. I force myself to stop swaying after copying the grasses in the meadows.

Renit nods, swallowing down the dryness in his throat. We're trying to save what little water we have. "Many times. Mostly to interrogate prisoners that won't cooperate with the guards. Sometimes, I hand deliver the more dangerous criminals myself, if my father commands I visit. Once the prisoners see me, they get right back in line and behave. As they should," Renit explains.

There has to be a reason for that. The prisoners wouldn't give up their fight for one witch coming to visit the prison. Renit has to have done something before, something that would have sent their knees slamming to the cold, stone floors in a bow. "You are respected throughout your kingdom," I compliment.

"Respected or...feared?" Renit's eyes dart to me.

He's waiting for an answer as to what I might say. Some respect him, some fear him, but very few have grown to know him. They understand him to be the prince of Esaria with a cold heart and a reputation for death. No one understands what he's lost and what his father has forced him to do.

Instead of giving him the answer he's been waiting for, I ask, "How much longer until we pass the prison?"

"We should be spotting it at any moment. The grasslands will begin to fade to sand and the prison is right along that border."

I sigh. My tongue is already coated with sand and I have to resist the urge to grind my teeth against the tiny particles. "The box is said to be at an abandoned temple in the Inferno Dunes," I venture.

Renit nods—I catch the subtle movement out of the corner of my eye. "Lucky for us, the dunes come before the rest of the miles of empty desert. We won't have to travel long."

"That's a first." I laugh under my breath.

My enjoyment quickly fades as through the heat waves covering the land, I spot a structure miles away. We've seen nothing on this trail for days except for the scattering of trees and abandoned buildings left behind because their residents didn't want to live this close to a deadly prison. But this is different.

"There it is," Renit whispers.

I hold my breath and squint into the distance. The stone building is large, nestled into the side of a hill and fenced all around. There have to be at least three floors with the only windows being in the stairwells going up on either side of the prison. Otherwise, there's only cells.

As we get closer, I spot the gibbet and guillotine caked with splattered blood. Fresh, as if the kill happened this morning. A shiver snakes up my spine at the many torture and killing devices out in what appears to be the courtyard of the prison. The discarded chains, the mass graves, the guards posted in embrasures. Hardly any of them pay us attention, like this place is open for visitation and tours.

I can't imagine the life of the prisoners on the inside. While they're living terrible lives inside their cells, the guards and executioners live in small cottages lined against that stone wall keeping everything else out...and the prisoners in.

Smoke plumes from a few of those wooden cottages as their residents are either cooking dinner or reveling in the fact that they can have a fire, even in the middle of summer. I scowl and try to remember those prisoners deserve to be there, they committed crimes terrible enough to land them in the most dangerous prison in Esaria.

And this place is as far away form the king as possible. To think the dungeons underneath the castle are safer than this...Ashtomb shows that we're in much slicker company.

Renit keeps his stare straight, as to not intimidate those guards inspecting us with wary glances. If we pass by without any discord, we won't face having to walk amongst those stone walls. I straighten my spine and stare ahead, towards the isolated desert beyond. It won't be long now, another day or so, that we find ourselves in the dunes.

But for now, the grasslands fade away and turn to sand around us, as does the trail our horses walk on. Once we're far enough away with the prison at our spines, I finally allow myself to breathe. "I wouldn't want to end up there," I mumble.

"No one does. That's why many of the people sentenced there kill themselves before stepping foot inside," Renit discloses. He takes one last glance back, eyes wary. I wouldn't blame him for being petrified to come here, everyone should be vigilant around this fragment of the kingdom.

We're one step away from being out of civilization for the next few days. Any predicament we find ourselves in has to be handled between the two of us.

"They will kill guards, soldiers—anyone that is taking them to this prison just so they're granted a death sentence," Renit goes on. "I've had to deliver some of those beheadings myself, when my father told me there was no use in keeping them alive. They're just taking up space in a prison that needs to be filled by those that have committed severe crimes."

I swallow. "What is your father's definition of serious crimes?" I dare to ask.

"Not what you would think." Renit sounds all but pleased. "Serious crimes to him are threats against the throne. Not murders or anything of the like. No, it's the witches that can ruin his reign." The prince sighs, casting his eyes down in discontent.

The king wouldn't stand against those that wish to commit wrongdoings on their own. As long as those crimes don't involve his throne or the crown he carries on a net of dark hair. That's why he helped those in Lona that live the bloodthirsty lives of the insane. Those are his people, not the witches in the capital or those surrounding.

The lords, the nobles, the guards, the knights and anyone with a hint of sanity in their brains does not belong in his company. These witches trapped in the prison have all done terrible things, no doubt, but I have a sense that a few too many are being held for the wrong reasons.

I have no choice but to keep going. Ashtomb is too perilous to even passby; I don't want to find myself anywhere near those halls, attempting to freethe prisoners. They'll kill me before I've released one of them. Again, I haveto remind myself that there arekillers in there—not just those wanting to see the sun rise without the threatof blood stains illuminating on cobble streets.