The Return pt.16
In the wastelands that was Arlorne, Syrndharas the capital city of the once mighty kingdom, sat occupied by more people than it had in several centuries. Servants to the king, Carol and August, had spent over a week riding across the darkened lands to the many surviving villages still scattered about despite the ever-present suffocating cloud cover. Seven of nine villages agreed to evacuate to the capital under the king’s orders, gathering what they would need to survive before following the old roads of Arlorne back to Syrndharas. The remaining two villages refused. One was located on the edge of the wastelands in the west and worked as foresters, continuing to trade with other humans by using the local forest just outside the cloud cover. The second was located towards the east and lived off the Caralas River at the edge of the cloud cover. In total some two hundred and fifty Dharans returned with the two servants and awaited their king’s return.
Now back in the city, August was doing his best to make sure that everyone and the horses could stay fed with a solid enough roof over their heads. With the villagers having brought food along and now helping to repair what they were using, his burden was eased but it was still proving difficult. None knew how long this would last and August did not have the ability to grow enough food for all of them without some significant help from the others. The help needed to repair and turn some of the buildings into greenhouses was there, just it was moving too slow with so much more needing to be done.
Meanwhile Carol was busy training a few of the villagers in how to be better warriors, while taking the time to be a grandpa for many of the little ones that came with their families. Nikolas almost never had time to leave the castle with so many people now here. Food preparation for so many was time consuming and required great effort. But leading so many women and adolescents in his kitchen was more taxing on his mind, with him coming close to throwing them all out and doing everything on his own numerous times.
In the throne room sat Queen Regent Talia, alone and holding onto the two crowns. Her favorite place to sit was on the steps leading up to the throne. There she spent most of every day there lost in her own thoughts or guiding the others as regent. Unworthy was how she felt now that she was forcefully distracted from her guilt over her treatment of their great king. But she still did her best during the day, while every night sought Panno’s wisdom and guidance through her prayers in the temple.
All was going as well as they could make it. Their king was on the move once more, now rescuing one of their own and they were coming together as Dharans should. Everything was right until Draekia’s howl was heard. Carol reacted immediately, jumping from his bed and readying his armor before gathering everyone he could and leading them to the outer walls. Every gate on these outer walls was closed and Carol led all capable of fighting to stand guard facing the west. August, while dressed for war, gathered all the horses into the safest place he could and shut them there. Nikolas gathered all the children and took them deep into the castle for their protection.
Talia was the only one to react slowly. She had just returned to the throne room from her prayers and was sitting in her now favorite spot when she heard the howl. Her eyes went up from the floor before her to the open throne room doors. Slowly she stood as she continued to stare out into the darkness. For several moments all she could do was stare out those doors, but she eventually gathered herself and rushed through the castle to her room. There she found her mail and two of her swords and hurriedly readied herself before rushing out of the castle towards the western gatehouse to join the others on the walls.
For two days they all stood watch, waiting for their long-time enemy to arrive but they never truly came. At one point during the second night all felt they saw the goddess rushing past the city amongst a pack of her wolves, but none could say definitively. For all they knew their collective fears and imaginations were made manifest for one moment. Once they were sure nothing would come from their most feared and hated goddess, they returned to their new normal routines, though with an added guard rotation at the four closed gatehouses on the outer walls.
