14. Zai
Zai
The capital clung to the mountain’s base behind us, nothing more than a smudge of stone and smoke from this distance. We’d traveled for a few candlemarks, and the sun beat down mercilessly overhead.
The crew had given me bread and dried meat, and I’d forced myself to eat slowly, easing my stomach back into it after three unconscious days.
Bitterness lingered at the back of my mind, but I pushed all emotions aside, focusing on solutions and my next steps.
As we neared Gravendale, I leaned over the airship’s railing, gazing down.
Beyond the town’s clustered rooftops, a massive structure loomed, surrounded by forest. Gravendale Keep—the largest prison in the Kingdom.
Nearly the size of the royal palace, but crouching behind towering stone walls instead of a gilded fence—built to keep things in, not out.
I’d heard whispers about it my whole life but never laid eyes on it until now.
Ahead, another settlement came into view—a cluster of weathered structures ringed by a fence. Tiny figures in black and red uniforms milled about. Gravendale Border Camp, one of the Sun Kingdom’s four main bases for overseeing border patrols.
Beyond the camp, the land shifted from lush forest to darker woodlands and untamed terrain. The traitorous Blightlands.
We touched down on the camp’s airship platform, and a crew member hauled out the boarding plank. The warm air settled over me, a stark contrast to the biting mountain winds of Sunrise City.
A group of border guards in black-and-red uniforms waited for me as I stepped onto the platform. In front of them stood a tall man with a commander’s badge on his chest. His features were narrow and sculpted, with hollow cheeks beneath high cheekbones.
His gaze raked over me, unimpressed. “Welcome to Gravendale Border Camp. I’m Commander Solvar.”
“Thank you, Commander. I’m—”
“The golden prince who’s been so famously exiled.” He smirked. “Your reputation precedes you.”
Heat prickled up my throat, but I kept my expression neutral.
The commander’s chest puffed out. “You put up quite a spectacle, from what I’ve heard. Have you always had such a flair for the dramatic?”
My jaw clenched. The bastard thought my exile was entertainment, something to joke about with his soldiers. Fine. He could savor his little performance for now, but I’d remember Commander Solvar’s name once I’d returned victorious to the palace with Father’s prize.
An old scar bisected the commander’s left eyebrow, stretching all the way down to his chin. A perfect identifier. I stared at it, searing it into my brain.
“Now, shall I point you toward Blightlands, Your Highness?” His voice dripped with mockery. “Or would you prefer the Moon Queendom? Though I doubt they’ll arrange a welcoming party for Sun royalty.”
Ignoring his taunting tone, I kept my spine straight, chin high. “Blightlands.”
I’d spent the journey here weighing my options.
Father had advised me to find allies, and no one in the Moon Queendom would join me in hunting down their precious savior.
But all sorts of low-lives skulked in Blightlands.
Maybe not my top pick of allies, but the best chance I had of recruiting help.
The commander’s scarred eyebrow lifted, but before he could offer more snide remarks, a guard jogged up, chest heaving.
“Commander Solvar, reports from the keep. They’ve recaptured most of the escaped prisoners from last night’s riot. Only one is missing.”
My fingers twitched at my sides. Were prison riots a regular occurrence? Not that it mattered, I had other things to worry about.
The commander barked orders for the guards to escort me into Blightlands, then yanked the reporting guard aside, demanding the full report.
The guards led me down the platform and across camp, where they hauled open a massive gate, its hinges screaming in protest. Midday sun beat down on my shoulders as they ushered me down a gravel road.
For the next candlemark, the trees thickened around us, their canopies twisting tighter overhead. Birdsong died away. The air grew heavier, damper. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
At a bend in the road, the guards pointed me down a narrow path. I forced myself forward, back straight, chin high. Only a few paces in, the twisted trees swallowed the guards from view.
My exile had officially begun.
Foreboding shadows coiled through the thick underbrush. Wet moss squished beneath my boots, the only sound between the trees. My ears strained against the silence.
Growing up, I’d seen dead monsters hauled into the palace courtyard, trophy kills draped across carts by people seeking Father’s favor. I had absolutely no desire to meet a live one up close.
Within a candlemark or two, sweat soaked through my fighting gear, the leather clinging to my spine.
A sound sliced through the oppressive quiet. I froze mid-stride, muscles coiling tight.
The soft murmur of a man’s voice threaded between the trees, crooning what sounded like a lullaby. Was that someone singing… in Blightlands?
I crept closer, pulse hammering. The voice grew clearer, surprisingly beautiful amid the desolation of Blightlands.
“Stay from the shadows, stay from the trees. Where monsters with teeth far sharper than these. Will gobble you up from your toes to your head. So listen, dear children, and stay in your bed.”
The familiar lullaby drifted through the air, slow and mournful.
I edged around a massive trunk and spotted him.
His back rested against a crooked tree, face turned skyward, arms draped over his knees. Golden-brown hair clung to his temples, his clothes torn and stained with mud and possibly dried blood. His frame looked painfully thin beneath the ruined fabric, as if hunger had slowly carved him away.
The forest stretched empty in all directions. What was he doing here alone? This blaze-wretched fool would get himself killed before nightfall.
Not my problem.
I turned to leave, but a twig snapped beneath my boot.
The man’s head whipped toward me, eyes widening. Both hands shot into the air. “Please, don’t kill me!”
“Kill you? Why would I—” The words died on my tongue as I followed his gaze to my black leather armor over a red tunic—the colors of the border guard.
The man scrambled to his feet, words tumbling out. “Flames alive, you’re no guard, are you? The colors threw me off, but you don’t carry the sun guard sigil, and you’re alone, and—” He paused mid-ramble, brushing dirt from his ragged tunic. “Who are you? And what are you doing out here?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I could ask you the same.”
He grinned, revealing a chipped front tooth. “Well, I’d rather take my chances with the monsters than spend another day rotting in Gravendale Keep.”
“The keep?” I took him in with new understanding. “You’re the man who escaped during the riots.”
“Not sure about being the man, but I’m one of them, yes.” He waved his hands in an exaggerated gesture. “Plenty of us escaped in all the chaos. At least a dozen. Maybe more. Hard to keep count when everyone’s running in different directions.”
My teeth ground together. How had this chattering fool been the only one to evade recapture? I watched him closely as I spoke. “According to a guard in Gravendale Border Camp, all prisoners have been caught except one.”
“Really?” His eyebrows shot up. “Well, I tried telling those sun-deprived brutes to head for Blightlands, but they insisted on staying in sun domain. Guess they thought they could find their way back to their homes and families.” He flashed that broken-tooth grin.
“Luckily, I have no family left to return to. Free to roam wherever my feet will take me.”
Narrowing my eyes, I studied him intently. Who in their right mind spoke of their family like that? But something raw and broken lurked behind that cheerful mask.
I opened my mouth to tell him he risked being attacked by monsters instead, but I snapped it shut again. I couldn’t fall back into old patterns. He wasn’t my problem, just like Therovan wasn’t. If I wanted to survive, I had to be ruthless.
“I’ll get out of your way, then.” I turned and marched away.
“Wait!” Footsteps pattered behind me. “We should team up! Don’t you think we’ll have a better chance of surviving if we stay together?”
I growled under my breath. “No.”
This char-touched halfwit clearly wasn’t what Father had meant when he told me to find allies.
The man trailed after, words tumbling from him like rockfall down a mountainside. “Well, I’d rather stay with you. I’m Kestrel, by the way. I’m from Brillcrest. Have you been there? I was the innkeeper at the local inn.”
Annoyance raked through me. I didn’t have time for this.
“How about you?” The man chirped. “Where are you from? And how did you end up out here?”
When I didn’t answer, he kept rambling. “If you’ve ever visited Brillcrest, you probably stopped by my place. Maybe even met some of my family. We ran the inn together.”
I frowned. Hadn’t he just said he had no family? More importantly, why did I care? I wanted nothing to do with this moron.
“Well, not lately, obviously,” he continued. “Been stuck in prison for over a year. No idea what happened to the inn after they arrested us.”
Groaning, I picked up my pace, hoping he’d go away if I ignored him.
“Everything’s gotten worse, hasn’t it? Everyone’s struggling to survive.
” His voice bounced behind me, cheerful despite the gloomy words.
“Can’t even afford a decent meal without working yourself half to death.
The sun guard used to at least pretend to care about people.
Now they just throw you in prison without a trial and forget you exist.”
A pang of pity twisted in my chest, but I curled my fingers into fists and shoved it down. He wasn’t my responsibility. Why wouldn’t he just leave me alone?
“The worst part is how everyone’s so caught up in their own misery, they’ve forgotten how to help each other. I mean, back when we ran the inn, people used to—”