“Finally… we made it…”
It was actually still far away, but Therset, the city they headed to, was already visible on their sight. Amidst the darkness, Hertica could see the bright lights of the buildings and light poles from the city, although she had to climb up to the trees. She imagined that it would at least take an hour for all of them to get to the gate. As far as she could see, and obviously expected, the city looked calm, mostly unaware yet of the possible incoming danger behind them.
“Do you think that they’ll accept us…? That they’ll believe us…?” Suska, the person next to her, also climbing on the tree next to hers, spoke.
“Let’s be positive, okay… I can’t imagine they’d be really denying us shelter…” said Hertica convincingly, even though there was a part of her mind that actually felt sceptical. She did her best to hide it from being heard.
Hertica. Yosel called, after leaving her in cold feet. Come here.
What? What is it?
I need you here. I’m already at Therset’s front gate.
“Wait, what?!” Out of shock, she also spoke out loud.
“What? What is it?” asked Suska.
“I’m not sure — gotta go now, anyway,” said Hertica short, before she jumped down from the tree. Wait, what do you mean, at Therset’s front gate?!
Exactly that. I’m already far ahead. They’re calling the major as we speak now.
Oh… oh! It took a while for her to process what she just heard, till when she landed back on the ground. Okay… and, you need me because…?
There’s no way I’m doing the talking all by myself! I need you to come here with me! You’ll be doing it better than I do, anyway!
What the… I… She froze for a moment, somehow feeling shocked to hear what he just said, even though she could somewhat understand what he actually felt.
Come on, now, don’t say no —
Alright, alright. But you’re not leaving me alone. We’ll do it together.
Do I have to? It’ll end up only you talking and me looking back-and-forth…
Don’t be silly. I’m on my way. She then called the person who happened to be nearby, riding a horse, “Orsa, can I borrow your horse?”
“Oh, sure…” Orsa got down from his horse right away, the same time Suska landed on the ground. “But, what is it for?”
“The mayor of Therset wants to talk. They ask me to do the talking.” said Hertica.
The others nearby happened to hear what she said. Even though it wasn’t any kind of confirmation, they were already delighted by the news. Faces of exhaustion turned right away into those of hopeful delight and relief. Soon, the surroundings turned quite loud because of the excitement, as the people spread the words around, letting each other know what happened from mouth to mouth. Orsa and Suska themselves shouted in joy and hugged each other in exhilaration. Hertica, unable to hold the smile, got on the horse, and said, “Wish me the best, okay? Hopefully everything will turn out to be fine.”
“Well, of course!”
“What took you so long?”
The entrance of the city, on the other hand, gave a completely different atmosphere.
The walls, made of concrete, stood as tall as about ten metres, while the trees themselves reached only at most three metres from the ground. The closer she went, the higher she had to lift her head, it became somehow menacing by appearance. Between the walls and the trees, was a barren area as wide as fifteen metres, allowing no sneak attacks against the walls. As far as she could see, there didn’t seem to be anyone standing watch on the walls, but she thought that they were simply hiding themselves from strangers’ sight. The surroundings themselves were dark, the only source of light was balls of light they cast themselves, and even then, it wasn’t really illuminating.
Including Yosel, there were only a few people in front of the entrance — the people were quite far behind, resting and waiting for the decision of the city — and none of them were cheerful like the people who were relieved that they were finally getting close to the refuging city. If anything, the mayor, who was actually wearing pyjamas with a coat, looked annoyed, even though he was still sleepy. Next to him was another person in armour; he didn’t seem to be a knight, but for some reason, she couldn’t imagine actually winning against the soldier, if worse came to worst. The soldier himself looked as if he was waiting for an order from the mayor to slaughter both her and Yosel, and at the same time, looking indifferent.
Is there something going on…? Asked Hertica, a bit nervous.
The mayor is annoyed, that’s what’s going on. Said Yosel. Which is understandable. This is already two in the midnight.
And… they were waiting… you all were waiting for me…?
I told them that we are both responsible for the evacuation. Which is true, anyway. I told them that we wouldn’t talk until we’re all present.
And they said yes…?
Well… I think you can tell that yourself. Look at their faces. Do they look like they’re delighted?
You could have talked to them by yourself… this is not complicated stuff we’re asking from them…
We’re not just asking for shelter here. We’re also explaining to them what has happened. Hertica, this is not as simple as — oh, for fuck’s sake, just get here!
Calm the fuck down, will you? “Greetings, gentlemen… apologies for being late. I was watching over the people…” said Hertica, holding and hiding her annoyance over Yosel’s reaction.
“For fuck’s sake, this is two in the morning… what happened, anyway…?” said the mayor.
No introduction, I suppose?
He’s Mayor Putica. He knew your name already. I don’t know about the soldier, but I don’t think that matters anyway.
“I believe Yosel has explained what happened to you?” said Hertica, trying to be polite, as the mayor put his hand into his pants and scratched what was possibly his butt, since his hand was inserted into his back. She decided to ignore that, while Yosel himself said nothing.
“Actually, he said that you’d be able to explain it better than he did. So, no, he hasn’t.”
“I see.” Hertica openly rolled her eyes to Yosel, in front of the mayor and the soldier; he could only sigh in silence. She took a deep breath, and started speaking.
Perhaps I should skip Fortu’s presence… she thought to herself, as she spoke, “We don’t exactly know what happened, but it was evening, and suddenly purple smoke spread out, covering our entire town. Some people said that it spread from the laboratorium, and went wide in any direction…”
“You don’t know? Not even the perpetrator?” asked the soldier instead, while the mayor yawned. She started to think that the soldier could be the mayor of the city all along.
“It was evening, and I personally was already asleep, when I woke up and heard loud commotion from outside my house.” explained Hertica. “People suddenly turned crazy, the moment the smoke as much as touched your skin. They all were running toward you, trying to… well…”
Help me out here! Hertica shouted to Yosel through their network. Thinking of it made her feel sick already, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like if she actually said it out loud.
“When you breathe the smoke in, or even get in physical contact with it, or the affected person, you get sexually aroused. And at an immense level of it.” continued Yosel.
“What the fuck?” cussed the mayor, amidst his sleepiness. “Did you bring me out here just to tell a stupid joke?”
“No, Mayor Putica. As much as I understand that you don’t believe it, and as much as I also find it hard to believe, that’s exactly what happened in Strail. We don’t know who or how, but we…”
The mayor turned back and walked to the gate, completely ignoring him. Seeing it, Yosel paused in shock, while the soldier simply looked back at the mayor. Hertica, on the other hand, started speaking, “Sir. you can’t just walk back…”
“Watch me,” said the mayor.
“Under an emergency situation, a city is to accept refugees from another nearby city.” started Yosel, recovering from his shock.
“Ha. Emergency situation. Earthquakes I can get, but people getting sexual by smoke? What are you even afraid of?” said the mayor, dismissive. He waved the gate, and shouted, “Open the gate!”
The gate was open with a loud creaking sound, but not loud enough to be heard for the survivors waiting for the refuge.
“You’re going to risk getting a penalty by King Brice’s decree? All over not believing us? You don’t have any risk of accepting us!” Yosel now shouted, clearly frustrated. “Sir!?”
But the mayor simply ignored him. At the beginning, Hertica didn’t expect this kind of development. She didn’t really know much about the mayor of Therset, as well as the city itself, but she didn’t imagine that they would have such a baseless reason to reject the refugees from the neighbouring city. She had been looking at the mayor: he seemed to be really sleepy, but it didn’t seem logical for her to see his behaviour out of mere sleepiness. She couldn’t help but think that he had more going on in his mind. However, seeing the mayor actually walking back, her mind went into panic; she couldn’t bring herself to imagine how the people would even begin to react if they knew that they were rejected for refuge in Therset.
Her body, on the other hand, moved on its own, pulling her sword.
She was surprised herself, but because she already pulled her sword, she instinctively said, “You’re not going in and ignoring us.”
The soldier, saying nothing, pulled his sword as well, stepping in between her and the mayor. Yosel seemed to be daydreaming at the moment, because as the soldier stepped in, he seemed to just woke up, and said, “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, we don’t mean — I mean, we — what the fuck are you doing?!”
“Miss Hertica, please…” said the soldier.
“We have been walking for hours to get here, everyone is exhausted already, we had to fight all kinds of beasts in the forest, all while keeping everyone alive, hoping to get shelter, because our city is having a terrible sort of epidemic we have never heard about and imagined. Can you imagine almost everyone in the city suddenly turning crazy and chasing to touch you?! And in the worst way possible?! And now you’re telling me that you won’t even listen to us?! Are you fucking kidding me?!”
The mayor didn’t listen at all. Looking at his hand movement, he seemed to be yawning, as he walked back into the city. The panic disappeared, replaced by anger, she stepped in to swing her sword at the mayor; now her mind and her body were in proper sync. She thought about holding him hostage, even though it seemed to be too much, both in laws’ perspective and for her ability. Nevertheless, she didn’t intend to back down. Seeing the mayor actually turning his back drove her even further, to a point where she actually thought of killing him. Yosel, on the other hand, simply stepped aside, most likely out of shock, but he didn’t appear to stop her at all.
The door was about to close. She was about to dash forward, straight to the mayor and past the soldier, when he spoke quickly.
“Please calm down, Miss Hertica. We will let you in.” said the soldier, in whispers. It was low enough to be audible only for Hertica; considering that Yosel was still shocked, he didn’t hear the soldier’s whispers at all. “But we’ll have to do it from the back door of this city. We can’t officially offer you shelter… so please don’t do anything rash.”
She already took a step, a flashing dash past the soldier, but nowhere close to the mayor yet, because she managed to stop. Hertica was still furious, but the confusion managed to make her stop. She turned her head toward the soldier; under the light balls, he seemed to be sympathetic and willing to help, but it still didn’t answer the reason the mayor refused refuge for them.
Confused, she looked back-and-forth between the soldier and the mayor, as the door was closed shut already. The soldier was still there, somehow being left alone outside the city walls. She still didn’t believe that she could take the soldier down, even if Yosel, who just recovered from his shock, would be willing to aid along. “Are you… what-what do you mean?”
“It’s a bit of a long story, to be honest, but… for now, obviously, we will let you in the city.”
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