The Shamer's Daughter - A Fanfiction

Chapter 18 - Arsenal Square

It wasn't long before she passed a castle guard, but he barely looked at her, even when she mumbled a polite "Goodmorning, sir." like Magnus had told her to. So she easily made her way through the morning crowd to the Arsenal Square. It was perhaps the biggest square she had ever seen. Even the market place in the city that she had visited with her mother couldn't match its size. Life was everywhere, people around every corner and animal sounds from every direction. Geese walking around with no owners, a lonely goat tied to a cart looking for its mama, and a dog barking at a horse getting inspected. A big and bald man was shouting about his fish and started scolding a young boy when he bumped into him. She stood for a second to listen for the sound of hammering metal, because Mr Magnus had told her to go towards the blacksmith. But she didn't want to stand still for too long, because she knew she was supposed to look like a busy orphan who came to the square every day and didn't just see it for the first time. But as she was just about to follow the sound that had found her ear, she had to jump aside, so three sweaty men could pass by with no regard for her. She pressed herself against the wall of a house as the men were arguing and pushing each other around. Some of them were shirtless, but most were wearing the dark grey uniforms of the castle guards.

"Men who can fight!" One of the men in uniform shouted. "Not any beggar from the street who never held a sword in his life!"

"Well, you can only learn, can't you?" A dark haired slightly skinnier man answered. "regardless of prior rank and standing. That's what it says! Don't promise people what you clearly can't give them!" He had trouble pronouncing the first word, but he stood his ground.

"Are you calling the Dragonlord a liar?!" One of the other guards yelled and pushed the dark haired man up against the wall opposite Dina. She held her breath and prayed that none of them would look at her.

"Calm down, Dren!" The first guard said in a more calm voice than before and pulled Dren off the other man. "Lord Drakan will keep his word. There will be a place for all of you in The Order of the Dragon, but you must understand that you don't go from beggar to knight in a single day.

"I'm a barrel maker, not a beggar." The man said as he brushed dirt off his shoulder.

"Beggar or barrel maker, you're not a soldier. Yet. But if you want to become one, you must learn to obey orders, can you do that?" The skinny man reluctantly moved his eyes from Dren to the guard who was addressing him.

"I guess." He said and for a moment Dina was scared he had looked right at her, but he only stared into the crowd as though she didn't exist.

"Report at the Garrison Gate, then. Tell them that the Weapons Master sent you. You got it?" The skinny man nodded in without another word, and looked slightly more satisfied, but he still gave Dren a grim look before he left for the Garrison Gate. "And you follow with the same message." The Weapons Master added to the two other shirtless men beside the first. And they all turned around to report themselves, trying to look very manly and important as they crossed the square - but one of them had to jump aside as a goose tried to peck him and it ruined the effect. Only one man was left without a uniform.

"Why did you want to join The Order?" The Weapons Master said to the last one. He was older than the others and didn't have the same conceited air about him.

"I had a farm and a small saddlery business just outside Eidin. Fredin's men burned it down and stole what little I had left. One of those idiots is my son." He answered as he gestured to the two young men who had just followed their friend. "He's all the family I got left."

"Then go with him." The Weapons Master told him. "We can always use a good saddler." The older man scratched his beard before nodding and slowly pacing through the square after his son and the others. The man that had been blocking Dina from her way to the smith finally moved and she snuck by the soldiers still glued to the wall. But Magnus had been right, no one paid any attention to a random orphan boy carrying firewood. The Weapons Master padded Dren's back, so it echoed through the short alley.

"Come on. Let us try out the next lot. It's gonna be a long day!" He hitched up his belt and they went back inside through a small wooden door to the left. Dina hurried through the square and when she came to the black smith, she could see the courtyard that Drakan had brought her to, her first night in Dunark. It had been empty at that time of night, but in the morning it was almost as busy as the Arsenal Square. This courtyard, however, was filled with horses - because, as Magnus had told her, the long building to her right was the royal stables. She just had to get behind it, and she would find the castle gate. But when she reached a line of people before even being able to see the gate, her heart dropped to her stomach. She pushed through the crowd with many angry exclamations following her, but she had to get forwards. By the gate were guards on both sides, inspecting every one who passed through. A neatly dressed young man got his hat ripped off and an old woman was screaming and complaining while a guard was emptying every sack of flour and corn on her cart. They were clearly looking for someone. Nico. And maybe even her. Dina stood still for a little while, contemplating whether she should attempt the gate or not. Maybe she could get through the Pay Gate, but then she remembered that it was guarded as well and it would just take her out of Dunark, which meant she definitely wouldn't be able to find the house of the widow. Instead, she stayed at the spot in the line she had stolen when she pushed forward, but didn't dare draw any more attention to herself.

"Where are you going, kid?" The guard asked when it was her turn. Dina's stomach had turned to stone and she was close to just turning around and running away. But she had to get through, she had to get to the Widow's house.

"Home, sir." She mumbled in a voice that didn't sound like her own. In fact it had sounded exactly like little Matty from Birches. He was the most pathetic boy Dina had ever known, but very harmless and perhaps that was why he crossed her mind.

"And where is home exactly?" The guard didn't seem touched by her trembling voice or her eyes directed at the ground - he saw too many orphans every day to let it trouble him anymore.

"With my 'ma." Dina spoke in an even lower voice and the guard almost couldn't hear her. He slapped her annoyingly with the end of his spear.

"Are you trying to be smart, boy? Or just plane stupid? Where's your mother?"

"By the church..." The guard cut her off, but she didn't know what else to say, so he might as well.

"Which church? Saint Adela or Mauda? Answer me, boy!" Dina's mind was racing. She couldn't figure out what would come of either answer. Maybe she should just say she was going to Adela's - and so he could maybe even help her with directions. Or maybe it would be wiser to lie - then it would buy her time even if they did realise she had been the boy in disguise and were coming for her. The guard was about to actually hit her with his spear when she heard a sound leave her mouth that might as well have come from little Matty.

"Please sir! Please don't hit me..." It wasn't hard to pretend she was crying, because she was very close to actually breaking down. If this man figured out who she was, it would ruin everything. Nico would be captured and her mother would never be saved. "S-saint M-m-mauda's church, sir" She finally stuttered.

"Leave the kid alone. Anyone can see he isn't in his right mind." A big lady behind her in the line said. She was carrying a laundry basket bigger than Dina's. "Some of us have work to do!"

"Let him go, Matis." the other guard agreed. "He's just one of those wretched bastards from Swill Town. Or do you think that is the Prince?" Both the lady behind her and a few people in the line joined him in his laughter and the guard before Dina rolled his eyes.

"Run along, kid," He finally said and gave her a slight push on the shoulder - luckily it was the good arm. "And be quick about it."

"Yes, sir." Dina mumbled and hurried along. "Thank you, sir."

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