Chapter 5 — The Border

WHEN DRAGON BLEED

Volume I — The Price of Bread

Chapter 5 — The Border

The first refugees arrived at Lyria's western border before sunrise.

There were three hundred of them.

By noon, there were nearly two thousand.

By evening, there were more than five thousand.

They came on foot.

Some carried bundles.

Some carried children.

Some carried nothing.

Their clothes were torn and covered with frozen mud. Many had not eaten properly in days.

Lyria's soldiers watched them from behind the wooden palisade.

Nobody opened the gate.

Not yet.

Princess Elayne stood on the wall beside Lord Cassian Veyr.

She had ridden through the night to reach the border.

Below them, a woman held a child wrapped in a blanket.

The child wasn't moving.

Elayne's eyes narrowed.

"How long have they been waiting?"

"Since dawn," Cassian said.

"Why haven't we opened the gate?"

"The order hasn't arrived."

"You received my father's order yesterday."

"The king's order was to prepare the crossing."

"Prepared doesn't mean closed."

Cassian looked at her.

"There are soldiers among them."

"How many?"

"We don't know."

"Then find out."

The general nodded to a nearby officer.

"Send scouts."

Three riders left the fortress.

Elayne watched them disappear into the mist.

Behind the refugees, smoke rose from the horizon.

Vareon.

Something was burning.

"What's that?" she asked.

Cassian looked.

"Could be a farm."

"Could be?"

"We don't know."

Elayne's jaw tightened.

She hated those words.

We don't know.

A commander could survive ignorance for a few minutes.

A kingdom could not.

A young man approached the gate.

He carried no weapon.

His hands were raised.

"Please!"

A Lyran soldier shouted down.

"Stay where you are!"

"My mother is sick!"

"Stay back!"

"Please!"

The young man turned toward the crowd.

"She can't walk!"

Several people shouted at once.

The noise grew.

Fear spread through the refugees.

Elayne looked at Cassian.

"Open the gate."

The general didn't move.

"Your Highness—"

"Open it."

"There may be armed men inside."

"Then separate them."

"And if they resist?"

Elayne looked down at the thousands gathered outside.

"Then we deal with them."

Cassian studied her.

"You understand that if we open the gate, they cannot all be sent back."

"Yes."

"And if Vareon follows them?"

"Then we'll defend the border."

Cassian nodded slowly.

"You're certain?"

Elayne looked at him.

"No."

The general raised an eyebrow.

"Then why?"

"Because I'm certain of something else."

"What?"

"They'll die if we leave them outside."

Cassian looked toward the refugees.

Then he gave the order.

"Open the gate."

The gates moved slowly.

The refugees stared.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then one woman stepped forward.

Then another.

Then a child.

Suddenly the entire crowd began moving.

Lyran soldiers shouted for order.

"Slowly!"

"Stay in groups!"

"No running!"

Elayne descended from the wall.

Cassian followed.

She walked among the refugees.

The smell hit her first.

Sweat.

Smoke.

Blood.

Fear.

A little girl sat in the snow holding a wooden doll.

Elayne crouched beside her.

"What's your name?"

The girl didn't answer.

Her mother pulled her closer.

"Forgive her, Your Highness."

"You know who I am?"

"Everyone knows."

Elayne looked at the woman's hands.

They were cracked and bleeding.

"When did you leave Vareon?"

"Five days ago."

"Why?"

The woman looked toward the north.

"There was no food."

Elayne nodded.

"How many days since you ate?"

The woman hesitated.

"Yesterday."

"What did you eat?"

"Grass."

Elayne felt her stomach tighten.

She stood.

"Get the healers."

A soldier saluted.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"And food."

"How much?"

Elayne looked at the crowd.

"Everything we can spare."

The soldier hesitated.

"Your Highness, that will reduce our winter reserves."

"I know."

"What if more come?"

Elayne looked toward Vareon.

"Then we find more."

Later that evening, Elayne entered the temporary refugee camp.

Thousands of fires burned beneath the dark sky.

Lyran soldiers distributed bread.

Some refugees ate slowly.

Others swallowed so quickly they became sick.

Elayne watched silently.

Cassian stood beside her.

"You were right," he said.

She glanced at him.

"About what?"

"They weren't soldiers."

"Some were."

"Three hundred."

"How many?"

"Two hundred and eighty-seven confirmed."

Elayne looked at him.

"And the others?"

"Scattered."

"Where?"

"Some are dead."

Elayne nodded.

"How did you identify them?"

Cassian looked toward a group of men being questioned by soldiers.

"Boots."

"Boots?"

"Soldiers wear different boots."

Elayne looked down at the refugees.

Most wore whatever they had found.

Cassian continued.

"Some carry themselves differently."

"Meaning?"

"They look at walls."

Elayne turned toward him.

"Like soldiers."

"Exactly."

She looked at the refugee camp again.

"How many?"

"Perhaps fifty."

"Then don't imprison them."

Cassian frowned.

"Why?"

"Because they're frightened."

"They're trained."

"So?"

"If they're soldiers—"

"They're Vareon's soldiers."

"Yes."

"Then they're not our enemies."

Cassian stared at her.

"Not yet."

Elayne nodded.

"Exactly."

That night, a messenger arrived from the capital.

He carried a letter sealed with the royal crest.

Elayne opened it.

She read silently.

Then again.

Cassian watched her.

"What?"

She handed him the letter.

The message was short.

Vareon has closed three northern provinces.

The king has ordered grain stores seized.

Several villages have rebelled.

Cassian's expression hardened.

"This is becoming a civil war."

Elayne looked toward the refugee camp.

"No."

She folded the letter.

"It's already one."

Far to the north, in the Vareon slave camp, Kael knew nothing about Lyria.

He knew nothing about its princess.

He knew nothing about refugees crossing its borders.

He knew nothing about the kingdom that would eventually become the greatest obstacle in his path.

All he knew was that tomorrow night, he would escape.

And if he failed—

he would probably die.

Kael lay awake beneath the thin blanket.

Beside him, Joren whispered:

"Are you awake?"

"Yes."

"Tomorrow."

"Yes."

"What if we get caught?"

Kael stared into the darkness.

"Then we run faster."

Joren gave a nervous laugh.

"That's your plan?"

"No."

Kael reached beneath his blanket.

Five stolen nails rested in his palm.

He closed his fingers around them.

"I have another one."

"What?"

Kael smiled faintly.

"You'll see."

Outside, snow began falling again.

And beyond the western wall, the mountains waited.

END OF CHAPTER 5

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***