Whoever was supposed to be manning the geortarian gates had disappeared. They opened themselves, abandoned mid-swing, hanging crooked on its hinges, wide enough for fifteen people to pass through side by side.
Hyde walked through the gap with A'cci's body in his arms, her head resting against his chest.
The city beyond the castle gates was loud. People moved fast, talking in cluster, pointing up at the castle on its hill.
A merchant had abandoned his cart in the middle of the road. Two guards sprinted past Hyde without a second glance, their eyes fixed on the smoking east tower.
Who would care for a blue-eyed freak like him.
The public had never seen his face, his shape, his name only existed for the peasants in the written form.
Hyde kept walking, moving through the main road at an even pace, A'cci's weight settled in his arms. She had always been the one carrying things around, now it was time for Hyde to carry her around.
A woman grabbed his arm.
"What happened up there? Them smoke, the screaming-"
Hyde looked at her. He kept walking.
The city thinned at its edges, the packed stone roads giving way to flattered dirt tracks, the houses spreading further apart. The noise fell behind him in layers.
The shouting, the crows hum, the barks of the dogs. It all faded away. By the time he reached the outer wall's second gate, the only sound was wind pulling at his cloak.
Hyde stopped just past the threshold. Before him, unobstructed for the first time in his life was the desert.
Not through glass, not framed by a window. Just the enormous desert, its dunes rolling outward in long slow waves until they blurred into the horizon.
The afternoon light hit the sand at a low angle, and every grain of it caught and threw the light back differently, the whole expanse shifting between gold and amber and a pale, bleached white depending on where he looked.
The air tasted like heat and mineral dust.
Hyde looked down at A'cci.
Her expression had settled into something neutral, the way sleeping faces look slightly uncanny. The flowers she'd been carrying were tucked in the crook of her arm, a little crushed now.
Their stems bent at an ugly angle.
The leather gloves creaked as his grip adjusted.
"We're outside."
The wind moved across the dunes.
Hyde took one step then another. The desert gave slightly under each footfall, an uneven give that the castle's stone floors never had.
He kept going until the road behind him had shrunk to a pale line, until the city wall was a gray smudge, until there was nothing around him at all. He sat down on the sand, A'cci still in his arms. The dunes rose around him in every direction.
Hyde had read about the desert's temperature drop at night. About the stars visible from open unlit terrain, away from the city light. He'd read about the particular silence of large open spaces.
He sat and listened. Staying until the sky went dark and the first stars appeared, more than he thought possible, packed edge to edge across the black.
The temperature had already begun its drop, the cold coming up through the sand and settling against his legs.
"It's better than the books."
He pulled A'cci a little closer and watched the stars move.
Kortaria is just a couple kilometers up north.
- - -
"You're saying the gray mark has gone bleak?"
"Yes."
A girl, looking like barely an adult was sat down on her throne, her chin resting on her thumbs as the rest of her fingers covered her mouth, lost in thought.
She looked both ways and gave a deep sigh before throwing her head back.
"Are you completely sure? The Geortarian king was in perfect health yesterday, he was even asking us for quartz imports for the prince's initiation."
"Yes, this afternoon, the guards noticed the mark went dim in a second."
The girl twirled a strand of hair in her index finger, it was a bright crimson red with white streaks, a rather fierce and adventurous look for such a royal figure.
"How are the king and queen taking it?"
"Your parents are currently in the process of grievance."
"They were quite close to the king after all..."
"How are you taking the news, your highness?"
"I must say, I didn't get to know the Geortarian personally, although, the prince, he's my current biggest concern. How is he taking it?"
The knight giving the news stood still for a moment, setting the tip of his sword on the floor, resting both hands on the handle.
"I haven't been completely honest to you..." he cleared up his voice before continuing. "It was a massacre."
The princess' eyes went wide at the news. "A massacre...?"
"We suspect there wasn't a single survivor."
"Why didn't you say so earlier? Now I'm even more worried about the prince!" The princess stood from her throne, raising her voice at the knight.
"I'm sorry your highness, I was actually not meant to tell you this, a request from the king and queen."
She let out a low sigh as she looked down. "They always think I'm their innocent little girl, right?"
"I suggest you don't confront them, they have a lot to deal with at the moment. The emergency council will be hosting a meeting in about half an hour, don't expect them to be wide awake the next morning."
She sat back down. "Its alright... I'm still worried about the prince, such a young soul, are we completely sure there were no survivors left?"
The knight fidgeted with his thumbs for a moment before speaking out. "We'll be doing a scavenging mission tomorrow. Heading out before the sun rises, we'll be there all day."
"I want to go."
He took a step back. "I don't think we'll be able to take you along, it'll be exhausting, possibly dangerous... A girl like you won't be-"
"A girl like me? Say it again. Finish your sentence."
"I'm sorry, your highness."
"Wake me up for the scavenging mission. I'll be tagging along, my parents are the least of my concerns."
"I'll try to convince them."
The knight turned back and walked out of the throne room, leaving the princess alone.
"Are you actually gonna go? You struggle to wake up every day."
"Shut up, Karelos."