Song of the White Nightingale

Chapter VII | The Deer's Harbor

"Where the hell are we?" Kara asked quietly, looking out from under the hay at the vast city around them. The streets were made of stone, and they were crowded with both commoners and carriages. They passed through a sort of marketplace, with various kinds of foods, tools and jewelry that were for sale. The two noticed the intense bartering occurring between merchants and their customers. There was even a stand for wild and exotic birds and monkeys.

The buildings appeared to be constructed from a combination of clay and brick, and each building had a similar color pattern, with straw roofs. There were some buildings that were completely different in color from the rest, and they had signs above the entryway indicating it's business name. Unfortunately it was in a language neither Kara or Sam understood, but one place appeared to be a pub, one a clothing shop, and one was probably a weapon's shop.

Upon closer examination of the people walking around them, Sam noticed the people appeared to be from different types of backgrounds, and possibly countries. Their skin color, clothing, and accents sounded different from the accent he could hear the most predominantly. Sam could see one particular group of commoners with dirtier clothes cornered by another group of nicer and cleaner robes, as they pestered them with what appeared to insults and spat in their faces.

"It looks like there are people from all over the world here," Sam whispered to Kara. "Their clothing and accents are different, and they all look very poor. They must be refugees."

"Refugees? Maybe there was some big crisis or war or something?" Kara asked.

"Could be. Look at those posters set up on that building," Sam said pointing.

Kara looked, and saw a poster with a knight in gleaming silver armor, pointing his spear down at what looks like a group of barbarians. The knight's body was significantly bigger than the crowd of barbarians that stood below him, who were armed with curved swords and pitchforks. Written across the top on bottom looked like a sort of motivational text as if to support a war effort.

She then began to notice the high concentration of armed guards throughout the city, dressed similarly to the guards outside the city gate. They appeared to walk in groups with those in the same weapons class or rank. Soldiers with spears traveled together, those with the same colored emblem on their chestplate traveled together, and those who were hooded and carried bows and quivers traveled in packs as well.

The carriage continued to move through the city. While it was quite mucky and itchy being inside the hay, Kara noticed the air around them began to get cooler, and the wind began to pick up. "We must be getting close to the sea," she said.

"I can smell the salt," Sam replied. "Hopefully we don't get put onto a ship and--"

The carriage stopped suddenly before Sam could finish his sentence. The two of them saw several men come towards the carriage as if to unload the hay. In an instant Kara and Sam were completely visible, and all the men stepped back from the carriage, wide-eyed. Some of them mumbled a few words, but most just stared. After a moment of looking around at everyone, Sam yelled "run!"

They quickly jumped off the carriage and began sprinting. A net was thrown onto the carriage, barely missing Kara. As they ran through the streets, they could see a large port with ships of various sizes, both small and grand. They ran past a stable full of horses, probably where their carriage was headed. A group of about six or seven men were chasing them, and when the other commoners saw Kara and Sam being chased, they began to cheer on their pursuers.

"We need to get out of here!" Kara said to Sam.

"And we need to get some new clothes. We stand out way too much," he replied.

Kara nodded in agreement. She tried to think of a plan as they continued to run through the crowds, dodging all forms of capture. They ran through another marketplace, jumping over stands and spilling fruit all of the ground. Kara even accidentally knocked over a cage that held a large bird. The lock broke, and the bird freed itself. She could hear lots of yelling behind her and felt a tomato hit the back of her head splatter all over her hair.

Eventually, they found an alleyway. "There! Through the alley!" Kara yelled as she tried to run the tomatoes pieces out of her hair. Sam followed right behind.

There was a door with a sign above it, and without thinking Kara burst right in. "Kara, wait! We don't know where that leads to!" Sam said trying to get his sister's attention, but it was too late.

Right when she came through the door, she stood right in front of two armed guards. One of them looked down at her, and smiled. Kara stepped back in disgust as she noticed the creeping caterpillar of a mustache the man had above his lip. Sam came had come in right behind her, and another guard shut the door and stood in front of it, blocking their escape.

"Aww, man," Kara said, as she let the guard tie her hands, and then they picked her up to carry her away.

Soon they found themselves back inside a carriage, only this time they were seated on a bench instead of laying in hay. Kara looked around, and saw Sam sitting right across from her, and they each had a guard sitting on both sides of them.

"Where are you taking us?" Kara asked them. They all just stared blankly back at her. "I said, where are you taking us?" Kara raised her voice as she began to get angry. After again no response, she said, "I said, where are you--" she was shouting, and standing up. But they each drew a sword and stared back more intently. "Taking us..." she finished in a much softer tone as she sat back down. They proceed to sheath their swords.

"Kara, they can't understand us," Sam said. "We obviously speak a very different language."

"I know," Kara replied, sighing. "We're just so lost."

Sam looked down at his tied hands and feet, his face drooping. "I know, but we'll find a way out of this. I promise," he said back to her. "They're probably just going to take us to some sort of jail, and make us work back the toll amount for entering the city, since we snuck in." Kara nodded.

After a while, the carriage pulled to the side of the street, and stopped. The men stood up, and carried Kara and Sam out of the covered carriage. The sun was brighter as it stood in the middle of the sky. After Kara's eyes adjusted, she saw the massive stone building before her. They were at a citadel, and it sat atop a hill overlooking the rest of the city. It was lit with torches all around the walls, and several armed guards and hooded figures wondered about. But the most intriguing thing about the site was the emblem on the flags, the castle walls, and on the giant, wooden doors at the front of the citadel.

* * * * * *

Stay tuned for Chapter VIII: In the Cell

Please leave a vote and follow if you enjoyed it! :)

Image source: Instagram, by marc.simonetti