Walking between crumbling buildings, followed by the stares of many eyes stripped of life and feeling the heat of the setting sun on the back of his neck, Bleist had the impression that he was inside a nightmare. A nightmare that had taken on an all too real form. Every few steps, he felt the urge to stop and look around, to make sure that a dark spectre, which human words could not describe, was not lurking right behind him. He shuddered at the very thought and instinctively glanced over his shoulder. In the middle of the deserted road, literally a few metres behind the armed men heading into the slums, stood a barefoot child with glassy, sightless eyes, flaxen hair and an unpleasantly grey complexion, dressed in a simple, torn tunic covering a gaunt body.
Bleist stopped and turned, but the figure was already gone. He had no idea whether he had imagined it or had actually seen a neglected child. The Guards accompanying him also halted. None of them asked any questions; it seemed that the colonel was not the only one feeling out of place here.
Trying to maintain at least a semblance of composure, Darius clenched his teeth and set off in the direction he had been heading. In an attempt to distract his thoughts from his surroundings, he once again recalled what Rex had managed to tell him. The Guard’s body had been discovered in one of the last hideouts they had left to check, as it was situated in the south-western part of the city and was the outpost furthest from the centre. It had been placed in one of the few decent buildings in that part of town: a courier office. It was a sound idea, given that activity in such a place rarely attracts prying eyes. The deceased was found in a hidden part of the building, though no one had moved the body before the colonel’s arrival. Not wanting to overlook anything, Bleist sent for a surgeon, as he had no other medic at hand.
When they arrived, the earl felt
