Beside each darkhand guard was a large black horse. Each stood, stony and still as if they were in some sort of long stupor. They weren’t asleep though. Will could see their glowing purple eyes—a stark contrast to the midnight muscled body of the impressive animal.

The men beside them paid the horses little mind, and instead leaned against the walls carelessly rocking their heads back and forth and chatting to one another.

Soon, Will, Bet, and Ezra began to get closer, and during the final twenty yards or so, Ezra subtly nudged Will up to the front. Will knew it was on purpose, and he needed to go with Ezra’s advice. He sucked in a bit of air and stood tall in his best show of confidence.

He should have kept looking straight past the guards. But those horses, they were more than intimidating, and as Will approached, they broke their still pose and began to stamp the ground and kick bits of dirt in the air. As Will looked sideways, he caught the eye of one of the guards.

“Hey, a Cakrit,” the man said. “Where’d you get that?”

Will gave a casual glance to Ezra and Bet. Both faked looks of total disinterest.

“The woods,” Will said.

“Yeah?” The man sort of smiled. “Cedervale, Briarthorn?”

Will couldn’t rightly say, no, from the woods outside my house in Alabama, but at the same time he didn’t know anything about either Cedarvale or Briarthorn. What if they asked any other questions? He turned to Ezra, and Will could see a slight bit of worry behind his eyes. Then he said the only thing that came to mind.

“Can’t really talk about it,” Will nodded toward Bet and Ezra. “Not with these two around.”

“I get it,” the man said. “Not everyone appreciates the art.”

Now the second man spoke up. He’d shuffled up between Bet and Ezra and Will found himself sandwiched between the two guards.

“You here for that arm?” he said.

“Yeah, I need a Mender.”

One of the men began to chuckle wickedly while the other made a disapproving clicking sound between his teeth. “Well, seeing as how most Mender’s are a bit on the other side of us Darkhands, you might not get the best of care.”

Will scowled.

“Not fair, I know. But that’s the lot we’re given.” The man held up his hand and showed it to Will as if it meant something. Will noticed now that each of the men wore long black leather gloves.

“Let me tell you what I’d do in your situation,” the man on his left said. “There’s really two options for ya. You could always visit Shervin. Shervin will heal anyone with the money… doesn’t care a copper about light or dark or what not, course she’d likely sell her own grandmother if she had the chance.” He stopped and spit into the ground the stamped it away with his leather boot before he continued. “Your other option is to hide your Cakrit before you go in. Can you stow it yet?”

“Not yet.” Will tried to sound confident.

“Don’t worry,” the man on his right said as he gave his horse a couple brisk pats. “It’ll happen soon.”

“Well,” the other man began again. “Hiding it will be a bit more risky. Tough decision you got.” He started to back away to find his place against the wall. “Wish you the best of luck though.”

After that the two men seemed satisfied. Will, Ezra, and Bet made their way into the dusty streets, and as they turned to their first bustling aisle, Will muttered to the others.

“Is what they’re saying true?” he said.

Ezra continued to walk forward, but he answered casually, “Yes, they’re right. Looks like we got two choices, and both sound bad if you ask me.”

What should they attempt to do?

Go to Shervin for help

Try and hide Swoop

This Poll is Closed