Chereads / KingsStreet: Ante Bellum / Chapter 34 - Empty city

Chapter 34 - Empty city

"Is this… a city?" Igor looked at the ruin in front of him, he could not imagine what happened here. "It wasn't the core part of the city, this was just the ruin of the old Silvester," Vaterian answered Igor.

Vaterian rode the horse through the middle of the ruin, where a narrow road was covered by bricks and mud. The wall of the fallen building was covered in black, it was carbonized dust.

Igor took a closer look at the buildings, he realized there were no timber buildings within this ruin, "Where did all those woods go? I believe those villagers were smart enough to utilize the vast forest in the mountain range."

"All of them was burnt down to ashes, during the invasion of Carpathian." Vaterian stopped in front of one of the biggest stone structures, from the shape of it, it was a gate. "Silverster used to be the most prosperous city in the Kingdom, countless merchants went through this gate to reach Talismania, it was all gone."

"Why did the Carpathian want to burn down such an important city? They could use it as a forward base." Igor asked Vaterian about it, but the only thing he receive was Vaterian shaking his head, Igor had a bad feeling in his mind.

"The Grand duke was the one who scorched it, Silverster was never a city easy to defend, It was beside the Silver Lake, placed within a plain and around it was countless timber for attackers to build their siege engine." Vaterian pointed at the forest nearby the village, the greens around here brought a great contrast to the rocky Faust walkway and the fallen city.

All those trees were tall and old, but depending on their trunk, all of them were not older than 100 years. Igor was sure that the city wasn't the only thing that get burned.

"What happened to the citizen? Were they safe?" Igor questioned Vaterian over this issue, it was important for him.

"The Grand Duke at that time was generous enough to let the refugees run into his town, I believe most of them survived from this scorch but not the siege followed after it," Vaterian spoke slowly while they slowly approached a large wooden wall.

"Nowadays Silvester was a military march, serving as a sentinel of the nation." Vaterian looked at the flag flying up high on top of the tower, a double-headed eagle was drawn on it.

"No wonder I barely saw any person around here, strict rules and regulations from the military." Igor stopped his horse in front of the gate and made his comment, but soon he realized this village was way too quiet even for a military camp.

Vaterian also realized it after hearing what Igor said, he jumped down the horse and attempted to open the gate. He failed to do it something was stopping the gate from opening.

"Look like I will need your help." Vaterian gazed through Igor, he had an idea, the wall was not that high, only about 3 meters.

"Just like the time we ran out from the military academy, was it?" Igor kneeled down, holding his hands together and placing them on the ground, reminding Vaterian that they used to do something similar.

"But this time we didn't need to run away from those guards." Vaterian placed one of his legs on Igor's hands. After Igor make sure Vaterian was prepared, he threw Vaterian up to the sky.

"Next time control your strength!" Listening to the cry from Vaterian at the other side of the wall, Igor almost die from laughter.

"You always said that!" "I promised I would control it next time!" The two teenagers were chatting through the wall, but Vaterian didn't forget to do his task.

The gate was locked by a huge log, not something that can lift by a normal person, but not big trouble for Vaterian.

Igor walked into the village, what he saw was a city built from lumber, all the buildings were lined up perfectly as expected, but what was not expected was the lack of living here.

"Was all the military frontier was this empty?" Igor asked Vaterian about the weird scene they have just seen. However, Vaterian wouldn't take this question seriously because he saw the grin on Igor's face.

"I hope all those marches from Talismania was so empty, but no. There must be something happened." Veteran walked along the street, heading to the corner of the village, there where usually the administration building was located.

Igor opened the door of the building, despite it being where the mayor lived and worked, it was more a small house rather than a huge complex. Fortunately for them, the door was not blockaded from the other side, they didn't need to slip in like a thief.

Vaterian walked straight to the office of the city mayor, who was the highest administrative officer in this march. The feudal lord wouldn't stay here because of the tough condition, they will rather stay in their manor and let their underlings do the work. Vaterian was not an exception either, at least from Igor's perspective.

As they opened the door, a feeling of warmth caught them. The room was warmed and lighten up by the orange hue from the hearth, allowing the teenagers to leave their cloak aside.

The desk was tidy and stainless, however, the dust on top of it shows it hasn't been used in a while. Vaterian opened the drawers tried to find some valuable clues that could help him solve the puzzle, but he failed to achieve his goal by only finding some coins that they could spend later.

"Why were there no documents around here?" A question from Vaterian remind Igor about something, Igor rushed to the hearth and put out the still-burning fire. Exactly as he thought, there was countless paper hidden under the logs, waiting to be burned.

"Outstanding performance, Igor. What was all those documents about?" Vaterian requested Igor to present the thing he just get, Vaterian had a feeling that it would be very important.

"Judgment for the serial killer, a death sentence." Igor flipped over the pages, reading it thoroughly. "But there was an amendment, the mayor had decided to exiled the murderer to the forest instead of executing him."

"What was the family name of the murderer?" Asked Vaterian.

"What a coincidence, the serial killer had the same family name as the mayor, I believe they no connection at all," Igor replied Vaterian's question with a joke, it also revealing the truth.

Vaterian notice something unusual, there was a drop of blood at the edge of the window. It was dried out and had the same colour as the wooden frame, hard to notice it wasn't because of the scratches and strings from a medallion left beside it.

"The mayor used to grab the frame tightly, try to avoid being dragged away." Vaterian looked outside the window, there was a trail to the city wall.

The teenagers walked beside the wall, there was a tunnel digged underneath through the wall, within it was some rotten food and pantry, but most importantly was countless hair.

"But...How did they go out from here?" The other side of the wall was the forest, the trail on the grass shown they escaped through here. But looking at the tunnel only roughly 1 foot in diameter, Vaterian doubts his prediction.

"Nothing better to do than looked it yourself." Igor kneeled down and prepared.

Vaterian stared at him and looked at the gate nearby them, block from inside but not an issue for a person within the village to open it. He shook his head and stepped on Igor's hands.

"I told you to control!" Igor laughed while hearing Vaterian's scream. He unlocked the gate and walked out.