Sieged

Chapter Ten

The city still cries in despair as I clamber down the remnants of a cobbled street. I see a group of twenty vigils filling a crater with rubble, to even the thoroughfare as best they can. They look exhausted, on the verge of keeling over like everyone else. 

Another wick has been lit. And lit not by some tinder box, but the breath of a dragon. 

It will take the vigils forever to fill every cavity in the city, I say to myself. Maybe we should just keep everything as is. If the enemy ever decides to rush the city, to end the siege, it could be to our advantage to have mounds of debris to hide behind and lie in wait. It's a good strategy I've seen before and which enemies have used against me. 

Everywhere seems like all is lost but I still need to do my duties as sheriff. Laws need to be upheld. And the attack on me last night will not deter me either. Nothing has ever deterred me. I never let anything stand in my way. 

I grab the hilt of my sword, making sure the blade is still there. I retrieved it from the ruins of my keep and I will never be parting with it again. 

I stop and glance over my shoulders. Nobody is following me. I continue on. 

Scrambling over a pile of bricks, the question of who attacked me fills my head like the gloom all around. 

Seamil was my first thought, considering what Leech said before he had his head smashed in and my suspicions about the theft of the granary being a part of a bigger plot. But Seamil would never want to kill me. 

Doubt, however, burrows itself in my mind and I think of all the times the two of us argued or jesting insults cut too deep. 

A short time later, I turn down another street and remember the woman who was attacked. She lives down here, her home escaping destruction.  

I walk over to her front door and give it a knock. And once again she answers without asking who it is first. It annoys me. It makes me angry. 

As the door opens, and as I see her nervous face, I quickly say, feigning tenderness, 'I just came to see how you're doing.' 

'So it's nothing to do with my husband?' she replies, putting her hands to her heart. 

'No, it is not.' 

'So he's fine? I've had no word from him since the explosions. No letter. Nothing.' 

'He probably has no time to send a message. Every soldier is probably on the highest of alerts. But I'll go call about him, if you like.' 

'Would you?' The woman softens. 'But please don't if it puts you out of your way. I know your time is precious.' 

Everyone's time is precious. And more so in the last five years. 

'It won't interrupt my duties.' I say. 'I'm headed to the wall right now. Right after here. And I'll come back to tell you his situation. You have my word.' 

'Thank you so much, Sheriff Harg.' 

'I also want to tell you that there has been no progress in finding your attacker. I'm sorry. We don't really have much to work with.' 

'I'm sure you'll eventually get him.' 

'Let's hope that's the case. And speaking of which, have you seen anyone following you, seen anyone lingering in your street that you don't know or have never seen before?' 

'Do you think the attacker knows where I live?' 

I can hear her heart racing. 

'That is a possibility,' I reply.