~Chapter 2- Mortel~

The carriage's handler was paid well to take them all the way to the city. But Lumb was fidgeting in his seat the entire way. After days of travel and stopping at towns along the way, he was fed up with it. Ceptance was anxious about going to the city too. So noisy!

Meanwhile, Deporah was limply staring off at the horizon. She wouldn't speak except when spoken to and said little each time. Poor girl.

Lumb asked, "Where did you stay before Schwartz brought you to us?"

Deporah turned to him, "I stayed with the King's family for a few weeks. They were nice. Once they found out about you and grandma, Schwartz offered to take me there."

Lumb smiled lightly, "That's nice of them."

Deporah didn't smile back. Perhaps she couldn't.

Then they saw it - the city of Mortel. It was many times larger than the modest town Lumb had known his whole life. A perimeter wall surrounded the city, with gates placed in each of the cardinal directions. A castle sitting at the center of the city could be seen from outside the walls.

They had heard that parts of Mortel were... rough. So Lumb had an axe hitched to his belt, and Ceptance had her hand axe open and easy to draw. Just in case.

They approached the southern entrance of the city and saw many soldiers in familiar armor stationed there. The gate was on a vertical track hoisted high into the air, allowing free passage through it. The guards simply nodded as the carriage passed inside.

The outermost circle within the city was farmlands with residential houses systematically placed equidistant from each other, divided up by dirt roads. The carriage driver took them through this portion of the city, searching for the address from one of Urba's letters.

"Have the driver stop when you see your house, dear," Ceptance said softly to Deporah. The little girl nodded.

Most of the homes were built from stone, some with chimneys, others with a decent amount of land surrounding them. As the carriage traveled the dirt roads of the region, Lumb spotted soldiers infrequently patrolling the area. There didn't seem to be many in this portion of the city.

Deporah's tiny voice said, "There."

The carriage rider turned a corner and stopped at a two-story home with boards over the windows and doors. Deporah stared intensely at her home.

"Are you okay, honey?" Ceptance put an arm around her. Deporah simply nodded.

Lumb tapped the carriage handler and said, "This is our stop."

"THIS is your stop?" The handler raised an eyebrow. With a nod from Lumb, he continued, "Alright. You know where to get a ride back?"

"Of course."

"Alright, enjoy your time in the city."

The three left the carriage and it pulled away, leaving them on their own. "Why do you think it's boarded up?"

Deporah spoke up, "The Kingsguard put that up when they started looking through the house."

Lumb jogged up the front of the house, looked around to make sure no one was looking, and began to tug on the boards blocking the front door. But they wouldn't budge.

Ceptance grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him aside, "Come on, you're embarrassing yourself."

Ceptance pulled her hand axe out of her belt and wedged it between the board and the doorway. With a few twists of her wrist, the board parted from the door, and she was able to pull it the rest of the way. "It's called leverage, son."

"Smarts, not muscle, got it." Lumb recited before Ceptance had a chance to.

They opened the door to a dark and unoccupied home before sleuthing in. It seemed that most of the house was left untouched. A table for meals sat at the center of the room with tabletops and cupboards for supplies. A cutting board was left out on the counter. There was a room beyond that with a tiny bed and a staircase leading to another bedroom. The floors were stone-tiled. But when Lumb looked closely at the ground, he noticed something between the tiles... Dried blood.

On the wall was a portrait of King Denile in his youth. The grey-eyed royal had black hair that fell to his shoulders, and he stood in a very distinguished manner. Besides the portrait was a diploma with an inscription at the top. Lumb looked closer at it.

Mortel Academy for young men

"Deporah," Lumb began, "Why is there a photo of the King on your wall?"

Deporah looked over at it, "Dad put it up. He was homeless as a kid, but the King found him and put him into an academy. He really appreciated him for that."

Lumb nodded. It was strange to start learning about Urba's husband now that he was gone.

"Which room was yours?" Ceptance asked the little girl.

Deporah pointed at the room on the first floor. She carefully and quietly walked through the house with familiarity but also discomfort. Lumb wanted to ask what she saw, but he figured she'd want to forget those memories. She went into her former room and picked two wooden objects off the ground. Toy swords.

Ceptance asked, "Are these yours?"

Deporah nodded, "I forgot to grab them when they took me to the castle."

The three looked through the house for anything significant. There was a desk for work that Urba's husband must've used. She mentioned that Gregor was a banker in her letter.

Their clothes and belongings were all still here. Deporah's room had a few short stories lying around. Perhaps, her mother used to read to her?

Ceptance rummaged through the desk for anything significant before pulling out a letter. It was the one she sent years ago. It was crumpled, but Urba must've kept it all that time.

Urba,

I'm glad to hear you're doing well in the big city. I'd love to meet my granddaughter sometime. I'm not sure when I'd find time to come out there though. And you know I don't like crowds. You should come here! Everyone in town would love to see you again. You could stay as long as you like too.

Hope to see you soon.

-Mom

Ceptance held the letter to her chest and breathed deeply for a moment.

"You okay?" Lumb asked.

Ceptance folded the letter and tucked it into her overall pockets, "I'm fine..."

Lumb stepped out of the house and saw neighbors across the road watching them from their front deck. It looked like a husband and wife. Maybe they knew something. Lumb waved at the two and jogged across the dirt road to them.

"Hey there!"

"Hello..." The man looked curiously at him, "Are you folks allowed to be in there?"

"Of course. We got permission from the Kingsguard," he lied, "Did you know the people who lived there?"

The wife nodded, "Why yes, Urba and Gregor seemed like such nice people. I couldn't imagine that young woman snapping like that. The city has been trying to sell the house, but after the murders, no one wants it."

"What happened to her?" Lumb asked.

"She was hung a few weeks ago."

A pit formed in Lumb's stomach. The image of her sister at the noose... was a thought he drove from his mind as quickly as he could.

"Why are you so interested?" The woman asked.

The husband muttered, "Some people are fascinated by morbid things like that."

"Harold!" The wife snapped at him.

Lumb raised his hand, "It's fine. I was just curious."

Lumb left the couple and returned to Urba outside the home.

"Did they know anything useful?"

"Nothing we didn't already know."

"We should head to the Kingsugard. They would've been the ones who investigated this."