The shadow stretched a league in the morning’s sun. The wall was taller than any Gabriel had ever seen and it was made entirely of packed earth, which fooled him into thinking it was a mountain at first. Every other capital city’s wall he had seen was constructed of those ageless black bricks and sat perfectly level. This wall was taller, but it rose and fell with the landscape and it gave the impression of being oddly vulnerable. Climbable by a mountain goat, or any thief with a rope. The defenses of Capernaum did not put Gabriel at ease, knowing that this city would be his home from today forward.

  As Gabriel, Elizabeth and Marshal approached the wall, he spotted several guards manning crude battlements along the wall, the glint off their helmets and spears reflecting the morning sun. There seemed to be a commotion on the wall as the group advanced, little shiny hats could be seen scurrying to and fro between the posts. When Gabriel reached earshot of the wall he could hear the guard’s frantic yelling and see how they pointed towards his group. They seemed taken by surprise. Then the gate was drawn upward.

  The gate was a cross section of thick black bars, nestled within the wall of earth that showed nothing but shadows behind. Its heavy spikes were uprooted from the earth, heavy groans echoed from hidden gears. Out from underneath emerged a party of five. The entire party rode on horseback and each wore a full plate of steel armor. Gabriel felt his own armor weighing heavy on his skin. Gabriel was often mocked for his fondness of armor back in the Honor Village, but here it seemed to be the norm. The five were drawing near now and the lead of the pack removed her helmet, letting her long brown hair trail behind in the breeze. The four knights behind her all held rectangular shields in their left hands and a spear in the right. Her expression was tense, with a firm set mouth resting on her thick neck. The other’s expressions were hidden by their helmets, but all of their eyes continuously scanned the three visitors.

  Gabriel felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Looking to his side, Elizabeth had already drawn her sword and she had taken that cat-like expression she always did when she was about to fight. Gabriel copied her, but Marshal waved them back, ‘Put your blades away fools, we are guests here.’

  ‘Not yet you're not,’ The woman leading the party said. ‘I can’t even remember the last time a rat tried to sneak in through the west gate. On whose authority are you entering Capernaum?’

  Marshal retrieved a scroll with a red seal from a fold in his bear pelt and tossed it. The woman snatched it from the air with the speed of a whip. She unsealed and read the scroll with an ever growing exasperation before tossing it to a guard behind her who fumbled the scroll twice before securing it. She then swung off her horse and took two practiced steps forward. The air sat still and Gabriel thought there would be a fight after all, but then to his surprise the woman raised her straightened fingers in a salute, ‘Welcome to the city… sir. My name is Cleo, the captain of the guard. We will escort you inside.’

  Marshal mirrored the salute then they dropped their hands simultaneously. ‘Thank you, for the welcome. My name is Marshal, and with me is my squire Beth,’ The Red Bear said gesturing to the snarling stray by his side, ‘and this is my gift to the city, Gabriel a knight of honor,’

  Gabriel stepped forwards, he felt a slight tremor in his hands that he stilled, not wanting to appear weak in front of those who would be fighting beside him. He didn’t know whether he should kneel. He felt that it was courteous and he knew that the woman in front of him was far stronger than himself, but at the same time he was a knight of honor and inferior to no one until proven in combat. He decided to mimic the gesture he saw earlier, raising a flat palm to his temple.

  ‘Drop the salute,’ The Cleo said, ‘You aren’t worthy of an ash-knight custom.’

  Gabriel dropped his hand, feeling stupid. ‘Marshal is no ash-knight.’

  ‘He is a holy-knight, which outranks us all regardless of school,’ Cleo said, her voice slow and gruff as if she was contemplating each word, ‘and to be clear, the salute was paying respect to his rank, not him as a person. If I had to choose, you would be driven out of the country of Matthew entirely.’

  Marshal laughed and slapped his stomach. ‘That's good to hear, I don’t like people who cozy up to me. Shall we get a move on captain?’

  ‘Whenever you are ready, sir,’ Cleo said, spitting that last word.

  ‘We are ready, but shouldn't the guard be twice as large?’ The Red Bear said looking at the four armored men on horseback. ‘We could still be a threat after all.’

  Cleo replied, ‘don’t worry, I will be enough to restrain you, sir, should you go on one of those rampages I have heard of.’

  Marshal chuckled, but this time his eyes did not look so friendly, as if Cleo had crossed a line. The look in her eyes said she knew it too.

  In silence, the party set off towards the city wall, which still had startled tin helmets scurrying like ants on their hill. Cleo led the party, whilst the four others surrounded Gabriel, Elizabeth and Marshal. Gabriel found it strange that they always held their shields pointed towards the Red Bear when they had spears attached to their mounts. Wouldn’t a spear be more effective than a shield?

  Passing under those heavy iron spikes, Gabriel felt that he truly was travelling into a mountain’s passage instead of through a city wall. Darkness fell over them. Gabriel heard the patter of feet, hooves and water dripping from the moist rock. The air smelled stale and it took a full minute to re-emerge into the sunlight. Gabriel wondered what ever gave him the impression this wall was vulnerable, yet all the same, if he were defending a city he thought that he would prefer to have the black brick walled around him.

  Squinting through the sun’s rays, Gabriel saw a city sprawling before him. Instead of the vertical skyscrapers he was so used to, each house was a single story, squat and plump. Most were flat with many rooms and even a grassy backyard. The gravel roads that were winding through the streets were large enough to fit four carriages abreast. Gabriel had come to accept a rule of Purgatory that the populous must squeeze into the most compact area possible. It was the only way to keep everyone inside the walls. The only way to survive an Odium. However, this was the opposite. It felt so strange, yet it reminisced of Earth. The city - if it could even be called one - was more like one huge town. Instead of designated areas for farming, and markets, it seemed they were splotched everywhere in between residences and communal buildings. Most backyards kept a few chickens in a pen or a row of vegetables in a bed. The only thing that marked this city as truly inside Purgatory was that, even here, there were no children.

  The people were the strangest part. The clothing they wore, or more like their clothing they didn’t, being the most standout feature. All the men Gabriel passed were shirtless, sweating in the midday sun. They were tanned, muscular and either had an axe over their shoulders or slung from their fur-pelt pants. Even the merchants behind their counters wore this style. The women also brandished an axe and were scarcely clothed themselves. Everyone moved with purpose, everyone moved like a warrior. Capernaum was still a northern city and grew deathly cold at night, but for now they danced shirtless under the open sun. Gabriel was starting to envy them. His armor was heating up and a thick sweat was running down his back. He looked to the five guards that surrounded them on horse, each of them with their rectangle shields, long spears, and thick steel armor. They held themselves as if in the fairest weather and under the lightest weight. They held themselves like knights.

  As they marched deeper into the city, Marshal seemed to be in a particularly stormy mood, his thumping footfalls were thunder, his shooting breath the gale and his pale eyes the lightning. He hustled to the center of the city without a glance to his peripherals as if he were rushing, trying to escape this city.

  Down the plodding hill, amongst the sprawling city was a circular roundabout, a hundred feet across, with a grand water fountain. Streams shot from the top of its spout and bounced off its marble features, which Gabriel imagined once depicted warriors or gods, but had eroded long ago into indiscernible lumps. As he walked a queerness shot through Gabriel’s body. He couldn’t understand what it was, but it tugged at his mind and toyed with his thoughts, whispering that something was wrong. The party was now pulling close and the voices of those in the city center were loud and joyful. Men walked around with platters of fish, cooked and raw, trying to sell. Couples walked by hand in hand, a man washed his face in the crystal water of the fountain, directly under the city center. It dawned on him. The people walked under the eye of the city, either they were demons or everything Gabriel knew was wrong. He looked into the sky, searching for it. Looking for the angel encased in stone that flew above every city. Every city no matter how odd this city was, surely it was still protected by an angel, but no matter how hard he looked, he found empty air.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Elizabeth asked, scanning around for threats.

  ‘There,’ Gabriel said, pointing to the sky.

  ‘Nothings there,’ she responded.

  ‘Exactly, there is no angel.’

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Elizabeth looked to the sky. ‘Weird,’ she said, but that was it. She just shrugged and moved on as if this was natural.

  No walls, no cathedral and no angel. This isn’t a city, it’s a cesspit of Heathens. And I have to live amongst them.

  An armored gauntlet clasped his shoulder. ‘I felt the same way when I first came to Capernaum,’ Cleo said. ‘When you come close to an angel you feel scared and can wish it was gone, but when you deep in the wilderness, or Capernaum for that matter, and it’s gone, you wished it was there to protect you. However, we are out here and we never will have that luxury again. You will never have it again. As the knight you need to step and fulfil that role, protect these people. So straighten your back and act like the knight you are.’

  I am a knight. It was something he was still finding hard to believe.

  Gabriel stood up straight. ‘Your right, thank you.’

  ‘That's the only chance you get,’ Cleo said, ‘If you show me weakness again, I will personally remove your title.’

  Gabriel understood what that meant, ‘Yes captain.’

  ‘You better get ready fast; I can hear your challenge on his way now.’

  ‘What?’

  Cleo patted Gabriel’s shoulder with a sympathetic look. ‘Don’t worry the medics are already on their way.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ he said, but Cleo distanced herself without an answer.

  Gabriel could hear his heart pounding. No, it wasn’t his heart, the ground was shaking. Like boulders crashing with rhythmic falls. The horses under the guards began to nicker and stomp their hooves, demanding to move. And as if feeling the same, the guards steered their mounts away.

  Marshal groaned. ‘He’s here.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘It’s too late now. Brace up kid, this is going to hurt.’

  The crashing quickened, accelerating until Gabriel could hear an avalanche. Elizabeth drew her sword, her eyes narrowed and Gabriel saw the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. A man as wide as he was tall charged down the street. The population cleared for him in a hurry then rushed behind him twice as fast to watch. His armor was tinted and thick, the way it wrapped around his belly gave him the look of a bouncing cauldron. His beard was long and grey and his smile - although missing two front teeth - was ecstatic. He looked like a child rushing towards his new toys on Christmas morning.

  Gabriel felt it. It was like a sixth sense, it told him no matter how mirthful his body language, this man was on his way to crush them, grind them into dust. I need to draw my sword- No I need to run. Elizabeth let out a curdling battle cry. she reacted like a wild animal backed into a corner, pointing her blade towards the man and charging, her black hair trailing in the wind.

  As she ran, the man clapped twice, ‘Good. Good! This is how it should be!’ He laughed. ‘Come at me little missy! Prove your worth.’

  The tip of her blade collided with the center of the man’s metal belly. It bounced off without a dent. The man took a swipe at her with a hand larger than her head. Elizabeth ducked under the swing and swung her sword up into his armpit, aiming for the chink in the armor. The slash was a snake's strike, cutting through his defense and landing right between the steel plates.

  She did it.

  The man bellowed. Sounding like he was hurt, but it morphed into a joyful laugh. ‘Good. Great! This will be fun.’

  Elizabeth tried to pull her blade back, but it wouldn’t budge. The man had closed his armpit over the blade, trapping it. Even so, Gabriel didn’t understand. That strike had enough power to log a tree, Elizabeth’s attacks were strong enough to shatter steel; that man’s arm should be on the ground and his armpit spurting blood.

  Just how strong is his coating? To be able to take a strike to his bare skin and come out without a scratch was inconceivable.

  Gabriel, recovered from his shock, went to rush into help, but found a strong hand on his shoulder. ‘Fighting together is correct,’ Marshal said, ‘but this time it’s a one on one, wait your turn.’

  Now with Elizabeth in his range, the man punched. She narrowly dodged, still trying to free the blade, but he swung again and again. It was futile, she will be caught. She needs to drop the blade and jump back.

  Elizabeth dropped the blade. Good, now retreat. She swung at the man, her fist connecting with his chin. It didn’t move an inch. The man laughed and landed a punch square in Elizabeth's stomach.

  She went flying, crashing through a home’s brick wall.

  The man walked over. He stared at her for a second, squinting. She lay seemingly unconscious in a pile of rubble, covered in blood and bruises.

  Her finger twitched.

  The man delivered a merciless final blow to her skull.

  ‘Medics!’ Cleo yelled and a team of men and women dressed in the shirtless attire of Capernaum rushed to Elizabeth.

  The pot-bellied man walked towards Gabriel and Marshal with a jolly grin, ‘I like her,’ he said. ‘Nothing wrong with a feisty kid. I was hesitant when I first got your letter Marshal, but I am happy to take her on after all.’

  Marshal let out a nervous laugh, Gabriel had never seen Marshal intimidated by anyone. Just who is this guy?

  ‘Well actually Sanya,’ Marshal said. ‘Beth is my squire and I am taking her with me. Gabriel here is the one who I have arranged to work in Capernaum.’

  ‘Huh?’ Sanya turned to examine Gabriel from head to toe. He turned back to Marshal. He took a double-take of Gabriel and turned back to Marshal. ‘That kid is an ash-squire isn’t he?’ Sanya asked, pointing a huge finger at Gabriel.

  ‘No. He’s an honor-knight as I promised.’

  Sanya looked at Gabriel. ‘But he's covered in armor.’

  Marshal shrugged.

  Sanya narrowed his eyes watching Gabriel and scratched his grey beard whilst tilting his head as if trying to force a thought out.

  Death.

  Gabriel knew he was about to die, before he saw so much as a twitch. He raised his guard as fast as he could and Sanya’s gauntleted punch collided instantly. Gabriel was flung backwards, his arms aching and his ears ringing, but he recovered. He was alive.

  Gabriel drew his sword. The shattered remnants of the greatsword that he performed his first tempest with. The only friend he could rely on.

  The cauldron stomped forwards. Gabriel went to swing his blade, but found he couldn't move. It was as if his body was frozen, isolated from the passage of time. He tried to force it, to struggle and squirm, but he was being suppressed. Is this the technique of the ash-knights? Reverence. Then Gabriel didn’t feel like struggling. He felt like running, like crawling into a ball and hiding. His heartbeat quickened and he perspired cold sweat. His soul shrunk into the deepest corner of his body. He was in Sanya’s range.

  ‘I know this isn't fair, but I don’t feel like playing anymore.’

  Gabriel couldn’t open his lips to respond. He didn’t even feel the punch land; he just went from standing to lying on the floor with bones that were certainly broken.

  ‘Medics! We got another,’ Cleo yelled.

  Gabriel listened to Marshal and Sanya’s voice as his consciousness faded.

  ‘I don’t want him, I said I want her.’

  ‘She isn’t an option,’ Marshal said, ‘and he is the more talented one. He has beaten her in every competition they’ve had.’

  ‘I don’t care,’ Sanya whined. ‘You are my guest; I should get first pick.’

  They were bartering them like cattle and Gabriel was the undesirable runt. Just kill me now.

  Marshal sighed, ‘I didn’t want to do this, but if you take him, I’ll throw something else into the deal.’

  ‘It better be good.’

  ‘Two bags of snow drake scales…’