Chapter 22

They travelled towards Colliss until the mountains were no longer only a smudge in the horizon but looming, grey and unforgiving, right in front of them. Colliss itself had walls that matched the mountains (color wise, at least), but inside the dark walls lay the spiraling towers of the fortress, glimmering in the afternoon light, painted bright against the mountains and ice.

Hwayoung hadn’t talked to anyone properly for a couple of days. The exhaustion must’ve got on from how much they travelled, because everyone seemed to conserve their energy and focused it on putting one foot in front of the other, passing out immediately at night and finding trouble waking up when the shift came to them. When the city had come into view, Baekhyun immediately suggested finding a good inn to stay at so they could get a proper night’s rest. Despite the uncertainty that loomed with the city’s walls, Hwayoung echoed his sentiment of wanting someplace nice to rest.

She hadn’t spoken to Chanyeol either, not after their initial conversation. It wasn’t as if much had changed, and he was still as sharp and sarcastic as she remembered when she spoke to him. Kyungsoo’s company was often prickly, but Chanyeol was something else entirely.

They all flanked Kyungsoo as they stood on a hill, overlooking Colliss. There was one set of giant, fortified gates, the city built under a time when the war hadn’t just been waged by the crown prince on his own people. The city could stand a siege, she knew—although for how long was another question of itself.

Chanyeol pointed a finger at something else in the distance. “The crown prince wants to establish his own fortress there.”

Perhaps a kilometer or two off from the city lay another stone building. A stone castle, hidden under the same walls, grey towers reaching high as well. Not a building, exactly—a prison and a place to store the troops the general had brought to Colliss. A place for them to store the Marked they would undoubtedly track down in the fortress-city when he came with his war dogs. A place that could most likely imprison every member of the resistance that had just begun to brew, crushing them before they had a chance to do any real damage. General Park wouldn’t need to kill them—he could torture all of them slowly, break out every piece of information—

“We need to warn them,” Hwayoung said.

Chanyeol gave her a look. “I’m glad you’re finally on board.”

She gave him a dirty look. “How do we find them?”

He shrugged. “We’re days ahead of my father for now,” he replied. “So for now, the only thing we can do is go to Colliss and try to lure them out. Rumour has it that the Lord of Colliss’ son is also Marked, and because of that, he has been aiding the rebels. No doubt that’s another one of the reasons the crown prince sent his general here.”

“Lord of Colliss,” Kyungsoo echoed. “Kim Minhyuk?”

Chanyeol nodded. “And his son, Minseok. He’s kept his son hidden for years. Word didn’t reach the palace until a little while ago, because while Colliss is a major city, it’s so close to the mountain border that the crown prince didn’t care much about it.”

“I’ve met Kim Minseok… before,” Kyungsoo said slowly, as if recalling an old memory he hadn’t touched in a while. “The general will slaughter them both. Lord Kim for aiding the rebels and his son for simply being Marked.”

Hwayoung pressed her lips together. “What after we warn the rebels? If they’re a small group, we can get them out of here unseen, but where to? If they’re a large group, a week won’t even be enough to move them across without the general knowing our whereabouts. If one of the those war dogs can track us, then we don’t have a chance, do we?”

Chanyeol’s eyes darkened. “We need to see what we can do,” he said, and that was that.

They gates were open, but every person that passed through (which wasn’t a lot, but merchants approached on the cobbled path once in a while) were checked by guards. The five of them, veiled by Baekhyun, slipped through without being noticed.

Colliss itself wasn’t much different from the second sector. Winding, stone streets that turned into gravel at smaller alleys, houses lining the sides. Most were made of brick, a couple stories tall, but unlike the second sector, they didn’t look… as abandoned. A woman hung clothes from the second story, another girl tending flowers on her windowsill. Hwayoung eyed her surroundings, slightly miffed that the city looked like it was thriving when the rest of the places she’d been to had seen sure signs of the crown prince’s destruction. She could see Kyungsoo, eyes wide as he surveyed.

“This place was called refuge for the Marked,” Chanyeol said in a hushed voice. “Of course, that was just a rumor. Some people say that the Marked who come here never return because Lord Kim has them all killed, but others say that it’s just a ruse. There have been enough rumors of the latter that the crown prince has left them alone for a while, but given the fact that he’d been aiding the rebels… it was a sure sign that Lord Kim couldn’t be trusted.”

“The Kims have ruled Colliss for generations.”

“And no doubt my father has brought along with him a more suitable ruler who is ready to bend to his every command and enforce what the crown prince wants,” Chanyeol replied. “He doesn’t care about tradition. If he has to, he’ll kill the whole Kim family to stop this. And at this rate, he just might.”

They were talking quietly enough for no one to hear, but Kyungsoo gave Chanyeol a warning look before heading forward again. They didn’t speak again.

***

They found an inn, but none of them had anything to pay. Until Soyi dug out a handful of gold and silver coins, laid a little too much on the shocked innkeeper’s desk (who had been eying her dragon-scale cloak for quite a while already) before giving them the best rooms. Despite that, Chanyeol asked for two rooms only, claiming they needed to watch the other’s back. Having a room to themselves was a luxury they could afford financially, but not physically. Colliss might’ve been safer than most places, but it was still dangerous for them.

Hwayoung was put into a room with Kyungsoo. As usual, Baekhyun stayed with Soyi, and Chanyeol claimed that he would join them. For what reason, he didn’t say, but Hwayoung didn’t miss the glance he threw Kyungsoo—something a little like fright on his face.

If Chanyeol had been unruffled by something, she wondered what exactly it was that was so bad.

Kyungsoo didn’t spare her as much as a glance as he sat down on his narrow cot. Then, calmly, he began unbuckling his assortment of weapons from his clothing.

“Am I that terrible company?” she asked.

He looked towards her. “I prefer my own company.”

It took Hwayoung a solid moment to realize he was joking. She tossed her own bag on the bed. “Didn’t know you had it in you, Prince.”

He threw her one of his rare smiles. He was in a good mood, then. “Don’t underestimate me, Windwalker.”

She began unpacking the little she could. It was getting too late to do much, and they all agreed that a break was well needed, even if they were rushed on time. They would get nothing proper done without rest—proper rest—so it was decided that they’d stay in the inn for the night.

Kyungsoo slipped his boots off and sat on the bed, crossing his legs. The inn was surprisingly neat, and cleaner than many Hwayoung had been too. There was a small basin for washing, which she went to first, washing the sweat and dirt from her face that had came with days and days of walking. She could almost feel Kyungsoo tracking her movements.

“What?” she asked as she turned around.

He blinked. “The water,” he replied. “It’s not clean anymore.”

Indeed, the basin wasn’t. She made a point of washing her hands in it too before shaking the water off and giving him a smile. “There’s more in the pitcher.”

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