The Tragedy of Renya

3.2 Wanting to Ask

???, Renya

It didn’t make sense. Alice frowned and shook her head as she went through the millions of possibilities. There was no way nobody had come in for weeks. The market was still full, people were still shouting as they were selling their wares, and everything was as it’d been for as long as Alice could remember.

And that didn’t make sense. Nobody was allowed to leave the city yet it never seemed to get more crowded. The west gate hadn’t had any people entering for weeks, or for however long she could remember. She hadn’t seen anyone enter since the day her brother left, she thought.

Then again, she hadn’t been to the gates recently either and it was perfectly plausible that people would enter when she wasn’t at the gate. The entire situation was starting to frustrate Alice. There was one thing she could do, she thought. She headed towards the centre of town and greeted the goddess again.
“Please let me be wrong,” She whispered, though she already knew her suspicions couldn’t be right. It was too… too out there.

She headed for the market stands and started asking people when they’d entered the city and when they were planning on leaving, under the pretence of it being for a study. She got a lot of confused stares, some answers, and ended completely confused by the answers she got. The answers were all the same; they wouldn’t return home until their wares were sold. They’d come here… a long time ago. And when she asked the fruits merchants how it came their fruits were still good she got shrugs and the question if she was with the food police. Each time the answer was the same. And with each answer she got more and more uncomfortable.

Something was going on. Alice didn’t know what, but she knew it wasn’t good. She ran towards the north gate. She asked the people there if anyone had entered recently, but they said nobody had. Then she continued. The north east gate’s guard said the same thing. Nobody had entered in ages and nobody was allowed to leave. The east gate’s guard the same. South gate. And then she was standing in front of the west gate of Renya again. The same man as always was on duty, and she ran towards him. She noticed a homeless man sitting next to the gate. There was something off. The homeless man coughed, and when she saw his hand after that it looked red. For a few more minutes this sight repeated. Then the man stopped moving altogether. She shivered and then looked at the guard again.

 “Alice, you again?” he smiled, “You’re slowly becoming a regular here.”

Alice nodded.
“You won’t believe this!” she said, “I need someone to share this with. Promise you won’t tell!”
“Sure,” the man said.
“There’s something going on in Renya!” Alice exclaimed, “I spoke to many merchants today and—“ She stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“And?” She heard the voice of Lord Hendri Pentel.
She turned around and looked at her employer.
“I know you,” he stated, although he seemed surprised by it.
Alice nodded.
“Come with me.” Hendri then smiled at the guard; “my apologies but I don’t think chaos will have merit for anyone.” He pulled her along and headed into the streets that went towards his house.

“What’s your name again?” Hendri asked.
“Alice.”
“Alice, I’m not sure what you’re planning. I heard rumours that someone was trying to cause an uproar at the gates. You should understand that panicking won’t help anyone.”

Alice nodded. Hendri smiled as he tried to calm her down.
“I know you’re worried that people can’t leave but I’m going to look into it. Why can’t you have a little patience until everything’s solved?”
“What’s going on?” Alice pulled loose, “many of the merchants said they arrived a long time ago, nobody’s entered in… weeks, at the very least, and yet there’s no food shortage. What’s going on?”

Hendri frowned.
“How am I supposed to know?” he asked, “I’ll look into it at the next meeting of the city council; that’s all I can promise you right now. But I can’t answer questions I don’t have answers to.”

Alice remained quiet and looked at her employer.
“Alice,” Hendri said, “please try not to cause an uproar. It would be a problem for everyone.”
“Fine,” Alice said after a long silence. Then she headed home again on her own.

She didn’t have to open the door to know it’d be empty.

Her brother hadn’t come home today either.