The Camelia was certainly impressive. Perched on the jagged cliffs and looming over raging waters that could swallow an army whole. It was a feat of engineering. Something it had in common with the capital, a great city that spread across three islands in the midst of the Still Water. Stone cities connected into one by bridges that seemed to defy the rock itself to remain standing.
Mela Vermeer was impressed despite herself. The towering spires of the castle walls stood out against the horizon for miles. It was smaller than Aontacht, but not by much. It was the largest military fortification on the rock.
Or at least, they all thought it was. There was another, one that far eclipsed it, but that one was hidden deep within the spine of the world, and the people of the lower lands had never seen it.
But to Mela Vermeer and her sister, Tayla, and even earlier, for their baby brother, Finn, it was an indomitable fortress that belonged in the fairytales.
Miles and miles of black stone and tufts of vibrant green set among the white and blue of the rapids below. And beyond it, the endless expanse of burnt fields that had once been a sea of glittering gold under the noonday sun.
Mela and Tayla had heard stories about the estate, but this was the first time either of them had seen it in person.
"How dramatic," Tayla muttered, wrapping her cloak tighter around her. The autumn wind carried a chill they didn't often experience in the capital.
"I'm sure it's fitting," Mela returned, a scowl etched into her face. It had been there since the letter arrived informing them of Finn's death. It had thrown the whole family into disarray, but Mela and Tayla, who'd always been closest with Finn, had taken it the hardest. They'd been riding out the gate, headed for the estate, within the hour, and managed to make the journey in ten days. The rest of the family had remained behind in the capital, awaiting more details about whatever the hell had happened to cause gentle Finn's death.
Finn had struggled to fit in with their family, Mela knew that. He was far too gentle and far too trusting to be a Vermeer, but he was still one of them.
And no one harmed a Vermeer and lived to tell about it.
Not even a Princess.
Mela hadn't had many dealings with the Soliel princess, though Tayla had moved in her circles for a while. Mela had been focused on her career with the Imperial Guard, but Tayla had gone through a period of husband searching that she'd eventually given up on.
Apparently, two seasons on the party circuit of high society were enough to convince her to spend the rest of her life alone, which just reinforced Mela's own decision to focus on other things.
No one in the family had been happy about Finn's decision to join the Crimson Army instead of the Imperial Army or the Imperial Guards, but their parents had decided he was allowed to try his own path. They'd been expecting him to come back and change his mind, and he probably would have if he hadn't died.
There were too many questions about the circumstances of it all for Mela's sanity. Finn hadn't even been part of the major fighting of whatever little war they'd just fought. It had been over so quickly that most of the capital hadn't even realized there was a war. Even Mela wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been privy to the fatality count. Nearly forty thousand soldiers were a lot to lose in such a short time frame.
What the hell was Lord Ye doing?
Things like this were why Mela didn't agree with leaving estates so far from the capital without oversight from the throne.
"We should head down before we lose the light," Tayla said, eyeing the steep path that would take them down to the gate and bridge. Somehow, she was the less sentimental of the two of them.
Mela urged her horse into a trot to follow her sister, and they returned to the trail leading to the estate. They weren't more than an hour from the gate and not even that far by distance, but the last mile of the route was steep and narrow, and no horse liked going down it after dark.
"Lord Ye had better be there to meet us," Mela growled. "We are owed answers."
Tayla snorted in that delicate way she had that made people think that wasn't what she was doing. "We are two days early. Unless he sent out spies to watch us, he has no idea we're arriving today."
"If he were a competent lord, he would have," Mela muttered, unwilling to extend any courtesy to the man who was responsible for her little brother's death.
Tayla merely hummed. Annoyingly confident when it came to keeping her opinion to herself.
She pulled up her horse suddenly, and Mela's mare balked when she walked into the other horse.
Mela was instantly on guard, reaching for her sword. "What? What is it?"
"Good day," Tayla said pleasantly. Not to Mela.
It took the Imperial Guard captain a moment to look around and see who her sister was talking to.
When she finally did, she had to swuint in the fading afternoon light to make out the figure hidden among the rocks on the other side of the path. "What the fuck are you doing overthere? Waiting to ambush us?" She drew her sword over Tayla's sigh.
"Mela, really? He's a child."
"I'm not a child!" The voice was high and sharp on the wind, but when he urged his horse forward, Mela realized Tayla was right. He was a teenager at most. With red hair made wild by the wind and bright gold eyes, she knew some nobles in the capital would kill for.
Where the hell was he from with coloring like that?
"What the hell, kid. Are you on this road alone?" Mela put her sword away.
He scowled at them, cheeks red from the wind, but otherwise wrapped warmly in thick furs and leather. "I'm fine. I made it here by myself."
And he'd just told two armed strangers he was alone. Mela shared a look with Tayla, both of them struggling to hide smiles.
Teenagers.
"We could use the company the rest of the way." Tayla offered, smiling warmly. "Ride down with us. We'd like to be inside before dark sets in, and it gets even colder." She even shivered for effect.
The boy scowled, but he had enough manly pride that he nodded and urged his horse onto the path.
"I'm Tayla, this is my sister, Mela."
The boy glanced between them, finally hesitating to share information, but he ended up doing it anyway. "Ran Orlo."
Mela blinked. "Interesting name. Where are you from?"
The boy pointed, beyond the Camelia, to the burnt land on the horizon.
The sisters shared a startled look. Neither of them had ever met someone from the tribes in the borderlands, but the stories about them prevailed even in the capital. Sorrow had been at war with them so long that there was no one in the kingdom who hadn't heard of them.
And this boy was one of them?
What the hell was he doing here?
~ tbc