Chapter 2

Early the next morning, I saddle up Fio and pack some supplies that’ll last me until I get back. I lie to Dad, telling him I’m going out to hunt again, and Fio and I begin the long haul to Morgenzan.

We walk all day, the snow reflecting the sunshine until it’s nearly blinding. Around late afternoon, I spy the high stone walls that surround the city, almost indistinguishable from the mountain.

When we’ve made our way down the slope to the front gates, I hop off Fio and lead him by the reins. Behind the impenetrable wall, people traverse winding pathways carved into the mountainside, heading home at the end of a long day. I don’t have any goods with me to be taxed, so the guards let me through without much fuss.

Morgenzan never ceases to amaze me. The whole mountain has been shaped to fit the city. Homes are built into the side, their low doorways dotting the road that crawls up from the base of the mountain to the top, where the city council resides. That’s where I’ll have to go to get the help I need.

Fio has no problem with heights, thankfully, so he plods along behind me without objection as we make our way up the many switchbacks leading to the top of the mountain. The pathways are surprisingly wide, allowing carts through with ease.

I like to think I’m fit and well-traveled, but even I’m gasping for air by the time we reach our destination. I’m already exhausted from my day of riding, and when I look around, there’s nowhere to tie him. Damn it.

The only one nearby is a member of the city guard: a rather ugly blue trollkin with grooves at the corners of his eyes and mouth, and one broken-off tusk. What remains is cracked, the blunt end splintered. This guy’s clearly seen some things in his life. He has dark blue hair that’s short on top and thick at his sideburns, with a bit of his hairline pulling back.

I don’t see trollkin often, not unless I’m visiting the city, and their big tusks and orange-red eyes always take me by surprise.

“Can you hold him for me?” I ask. At least as a soldier in a neutral city, he’ll know how to speak Freysian. It’s the bare minimum requirement.

He scowls, which deepens his wrinkles further. “I’m not a damn stablehand,” he gripes, shoving Fio toward me. He grumbles something in Trollkin I can’t understand, probably an insult.

I don’t blame him. Maybe our peoples have settled on a reluctant truce, but that doesn’t mean we have anything in common. It certainly doesn’t mean we have to get along. At least, as persnickety as Fio is, he’d never let himself be stolen.

I shove the reins back into the troll’s hands. “Come on, I just need a few minutes.” His glare grows even more deadly. “It’s urgent.”

Without waiting for him to protest, I turn and duck into city council in the hope that somebody will help me.

* * *

“We’ve got our own wild orc problem,” the guy behind the desk says in his most bored tone. “Your sister’s gone, kid. She’s dead.”

I’m not a kid. Everyone thinks I am, because I’m short and my face is rounder than it should be for a woman my age, and I like to keep my hair cropped close so I don’t have to manage it. I huff at him and ask to speak to his boss, but he simply eats an apple and ignores me. He’s human, and still doesn’t care a lick about what becomes of the rest of us.

“Asshole,” I snarl, and he leans back. “She’s not dead. You don’t know that.” I slam my fist on the desk. “You’re all the fucking same!”

He’s too stunned to say anything else as I stalk back out the huge front doors. Why does nobody care?

I should have known how this would turn out before I left home. The city guard would never lift a hand to help some small, nothing villages in the boonies.

Somebody loudly clears their throat. I turn to find the one-tusked troll standing there, arms crossed, dangling Fio’s reins. If looks could kill, I’d be buried already.

I return his glare with just as much force, and for a moment, I take him by surprise. I snatch the reins out of his hands. “Thanks,” I snap, and turn around to leave the way I came. He says nothing to me as I head off down the mountain.

If these assholes won’t stop jerking off the Grand Chieftain long enough to help me, all while they allow the trollkin to destroy our mountain… then I’ll make them pay.

* * *