Chapter Four: Upon the Wall

 

“Removed from the legion? Removed from the legion?!”

Reddit’s disbelief hissed through the hot afternoon air. Kyosti didn’t even bother to shush her as a few other guards along the wall looked over curiously.

“Today’s my last day of guard duty,” he replied dully, flicking a rock off the wall and watching it sail into the city below. “I’m to report to the queen tomorrow morning.”

Reddit turned away with a tch!, her ropey hair swinging under her helmet. Even Rodriguez, usually stoic, stood there with his mouth hanging slightly open.

“What could possibly be important enough that she would remove you from the legion?” Rodriguez asked, his voice colored with disbelief. Rodriguez’s whole family had been in the legion at one point or another, going back for generations. Not being in the Queen’s Army was unthinkable for him. “I’ve never heard of anyone being removed from the legion.”

“And meeting with the queen tomorrow too. Do you know how many people petition to see the queen every day???” Reddit said, turning back to face him. “Romalidan, what did you do?”

Kyosti laid his hands carefully on the hot stone of the wall. “I don’t know,” he said firmly. “Raleigh wouldn’t tell me, but it sounds like the queen herself ordered it---I don’t know what it could be.”

Reddit continued to talk behind him, but Kyosti tuned her out. Reddit’s questions had been running through his own mind since he had come out of Raleigh’s office in a daze. What could the queen possibly want with him? Surely it didn’t have anything to do with him being Innis? His kind were certainly the minority in Kaborkinspike, but they were drafted often enough. Did she think he was a spy? Or did she suspect---

His hands shook where they lay on the stone wall, and he took several deep breaths, in and out, to calm himself. If there was an attack on the city, it would not do if he was unable to shoot straight.

Rodriguez put a tentative hand on Kyosti’s shoulder, but the archer pulled away. Reddit stopped talking immediately, her eyebrows raised. “We’ve been standing here too long,” he pointed out quickly, avoiding his friends’ eyes. “We should patrol again.”

Kyosti turned away without waiting for them to say anything. If it was his last day of guard duty, might as well make it a good one.

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Photo by Alexander Tsang on Unsplash