Dusk Over Arcath

Chapter 4

"Aye, Aye, wake up!"

Ton's barking voice coupled with the smacking of his meaty fist against Aster's door was enough to jostle the boy from his sleep.

A single beam of sunlight trickling through a series of cracks in the walls was the only other indicator that morning had in fact come. Shaking off the thin flax cloth blanket that served as his sheet, Aster rolled from his straw pallet.

Rubbing his eyes, he reluctantly opened pulled the door open, grinding its uneven corner across the warped wooden floor.

"Hmph, it's about time you got up," the innkeeper grunted through his gaping mouth. He dropped a misshapen metal bucket on the ground, sending murky water sloshing from its lip, and thrust a rag in the boy's face. "Here, make the tables and mugs clean. And, and be sure to set up the chairs for the morning folks."

"Whatever you say," Aster nodded. His nose quickly recoiled, as he bent down to retrieve the bucket.

"This water - when did you get it? It smells like yesterday's wastewater."

Ton scrunched his bulbous nose. "My knee - it's been bothering me. Didn't get new water today, what of it?"

"Um, I think for washing the cups, you might let me get a knew bucket? The well isn't far, and this...." he stared blankly at the murky slosh, "is not ideal."

"Hmph, yes, alright then. But be quick about it, eh? Word is we've got visitors in town today."

"Visitors?"

Their conversation was interrupted by feet darting up the stairs. Canth's narrow face appeared down the hall, wide with excitement.

"Have you seen? He held his word!"

"What are you talking about?" Aster called back, retrieving the bucket and rag and squeezing past Ton.

"The elf - he's come back! And he's brought his army."

A reserved energy captivated the streets as Aster followed Canth down the road from the inn back to the square. People passed them, most walking or running in the direction of the square, while few walked the other direction. These cast wary glances over their shoulders accompanied by the occasional shake of the head.

The clear sky of the previous night was lost under a curtain of dark clouds that had rolled in during the morning, bringing a furthered sense of hazy anticipation.

Aster felt a drop or two of rain as he struggled to keep up. "He's back? When?"

"Sometime around dawn," Canth said. "Word has it that Endel is up in arms about the whole thing," the boy continued as he ran backwards into the vast square, "but clearly he isn't the only one."

It was just so. Gathered in the edges of the square and of the main street were crowds larger even than at the council the previous night. Women clutched their knee-high children to their legs and stared with mixtures of horror and awe at the spectacle. Men, scowls hidden under the threshing of their braided beards or armored pelts, stood clutching their axes and swords in hand. All eyes, men, women, and children alike, were fixed on the procession that paced through the wide space left by their brewing assembly in the city square.

Two ranks of figures drifted through the crowds in eerie, stoic silence that exuded the palpable tension flowing amid the shuffling, muttering assemblage. Silver and black hair adorned the brow of each, both male and female, in long, straight veils that fell past their ghostly faces. Piercing eyes of emerald blue, moss green, and richest brown scanned the people shielding every emotion save perhaps the smallest sparkle of disdain.