I’d been to many villages like this on the border to battle dregs. And me, Reyla, and Brodine used to sneak out during festival times to slip into the role of a villager. We’d dance to bright music, drink too much wine, and tumble together, laughing.
This scene didn’t show a festival. No flags fluttered in the air, and the people wore simple clothing, not their best carefully donned for a celebration. Vendors had set up tables along the outside of the village square, and they shouted about their wares, desperate to lure shoppers close for a sale.
People strolled around, stopping to buy food or whatever item caught their eye.
Men. Women. Children.
Families.
They smiled and laughed.
A few guards walked among them, appearing as distracted by the goods for sale as the villagers.
Why didn’t any of them look to the sky?
We’d given numerous lessons to the villagers, showing them simple ways to hide. We’d run classes to teach them how to battle attacking dregs. A few joined our fortresses, and we turned them into riders. Others mastered sword battle and remained to protect their friends, family, and neighbors. Down to each tiny baby, everyone knew that you always kept part of your attention on the sky. Otherwise, you’d miss a dreg attack, and then it would be too late.
Not one guard stood outside the village, facing the wasteland from where the next attack would come.
I was tugged closer to the village until I hovered so near, I could be one of the villagers walking past with coins jingling in my pocket.
A child’s laughter trilled out, and I turned, smiling as the little girl raced among the villagers while her doting mother gave chase.
The little girl raced toward me.
She passed through me.
Ghosts of a past long forgotten.
I’d already seen why I’d come here to this time that no longer existed, this place that had long been abandoned.
Reeling around, I studied each person’s neck to confirm my suspicion.
Every single powerless wore a simple necklace with pendants I’d seen before. We collected them as trophies. Pinned them to tunics to give us good luck.
And the king collected them like every other treasure hidden away inside his bedroom.
“Bone coins,” I hissed.
The mirror dimmed before it melted, disappearing into the top of the cabinet. It had fulfilled its task, and it was no longer needed.
Finally, I knew what I had to do.
I flitted to Brodine’s room. Had anyone bothered to enter his suite since I killed him? Striding to his closet, I thrust the door open and stepped inside. I was swamped by his scent I knew well from sitting with him in classes, lying beside him in tallgrass to gaze at the stars, and from all the traitorous hugs he’d given me since he appeared like a hero at the fortress to save me.
My moan of sadness slipped out. I missed the person I’d believed in, my friend I’d loved, even if it had all been a lie.
I pawed through his clothing, focusing on the jangle, and ripped the bone coins from his leather tunic when I found them.
No more trophies, Bro. I’ve come to claim them.
I rushed to my own room, but despite going through every leather outfit I owned, I couldn’t find my small bag of bone coins. Where was it? I searched the entire room but didn’t see it anywhere.
Vexxion slept through it all.
That’s when I remembered something. Jessia took me to see the flying dreg, and it lumbered to its feet. Shocked, I fumbled with my leathers, scrambling past my pockets to pull my blades.
Something shifted by my feet, but I ignored it. This wasn’t the time to check out a rock or whatever it might be.
