Burning Night: A Tale of the Everburning City

Chapter 12, Part 3: Natalina

Their trip only required one stop on the train. Which was a surprise to Natalina, since she expected a Colonel to live deep in High Central. The status of the third highest rank in the military certainly warranted it.

"The main comms post for the North Wall is a fifteen-minute walk from the apartment Colonel Darrower lived in. Since her command included a section of the Last Wall, she wanted to be close at hand in case they found something."

"Noble of her."

"She thought it was a golem-sized pain in the ass," Jerome said. Natalina shot him a quizzical look, inviting the corporal to explain himself.

"Sentry duty on the last wall makes soldiers nervous and jumpy. Being that close to the Gloam for months on end, it....." Corporal Vargas trailed-off and shook his head. "It scars the mind, somewhat. So there's usually five or six false sighting a week. All of which need to be verified by an officer no lower than a Captain. Colonel Darrower made it a point of conducting the first call each week herself."

"That's an odd policy. Do we have the former Lord Captain to thank for that?" Natalina asked.

"Somewhat. I asked Colonel Darrower about that, last year. She said that when he was first elected, the Lord Captain moved to have that policy overturned. Colonel Redgrave put a sword to his throat and threatened to disembowel him. Publicly."

"He could make that threat?" Natalina asked.

"The Lord Captain had seven attendants with him and was meeting with two other Colonels at the time. Darrower said that Redgrave could have carved through everyone else in that room and would still need to go for a run to call it exercise."

"He's that good?"

"He's that good. Ranking close combat specialist since the Fifth. He's never been willing to teach anyone else those skills, and every time someone else tries to challenge his ranking, he puts them in the hospice." Jerome said, wistfully.

They left the platform into Mossmound, a district on the edge of some of the most important farmland in the City. Despite the tall buildings and large military presence, Mossmound was primarily a farming community.

The air smelt faintly of fertilizer and animals, exacerbated by the light drizzle that seemed to be a fixture of any community beyond High Central.

Natalina wrinkled her nose and grinned. The least she could do for a community that grew nearly half of the City's grain is not complain about the smell.

Vargas lead her into the remains of what must have been a busy market during the day; makeshift stalls and heavy outdoor ovens dotted the sides of the street, and the ground was covered in muddy, blurred footprints.

Markets were technically illegal in the City. An illicit activity where the distribution of excess foods was set up for self-profit, rather than letting the Bureau of Resource distribution work to make sure every section of the City was fed.

The truth was that markets cut into Resource's monopoly on luxury distribution. Which is why the only Orderlies that came to these markets were off duty.

To make the absurdity of the law more pronounced, the precinct Vargas was leading her to was only around another corner.

"If a law is completely ignored by the people enforcing it, is it still a law?" Natalina asked.

"The market, ma'am? The only people who care live in High Central." Vargas said, with more venom than Natalina had ever heard in his voice.

Natalina didn't know how to answer that and followed Corporal Vargas silently as he lead her to the half dozen steps that lead to the precinct's raised door.