Word Count: 66,008
Summary of Events:
Aline pretended she was going to exchange vegetables with a neighbour in order to visit with Adrien, whom she hadn't seen since the last fire had occurred, but she'd wanted to tell she'd recovered from the exhaustion she'd felt afterwards. Étienne was granted leave to visit Gisèle again, as six weeks had passed, and was slightly troubled to learn — considering the proximity of the Mardeaux to Beaudroit — from her that she was certain she had conceived a child. Another smith and his family were killed in a fire that also claimed the life of the saddler who'd lived next door, troubling Aline; Adrien took her for a walk in an effort to comfort her, heading straight north from her house . . .
Excerpt of the Day:
They lapsed into silence and kept walking down the street until they’d reached the north side of Trempré, where Aline had never been before, and thus she was surprised to see a wall blocking her view of the countryside.
“Interesting, isn’t it?” Adrien replied.
“Why is it only here?” Aline asked.
“To give the appearance of being completely fortified, I guess,” Adrien replied.
“It seems foolish not to fortify the whole city,” Aline said.
“Indeed,” Adrien agreed.
They turned east and walked along the wall, which had towers at the corners and even ran to the south a short distance before it ended; although Aline noticed that it didn’t end as neatly as she would have expected, instead the wall looked like it was partially finished, with bricks stepping down all the way from the top of the wall looming high above her to the ground.
“It looks unfinished,” Aline said.
“It does,” Adrien agreed. “I wonder when it was started and when it stopped.”
Aline nodded.
“It didn’t look like anyone was posted on it, what do you say we climb it?” Adrien asked.
“Climb it?” Aline asked.
“Oui,” Adrien replied. “Come.”
She followed Adrien to the foot of the brick stairs, where he reached his leg up in a bit of an exaggerated step to get onto the first brick, he held out his hand.
Aline took it and was grateful for the help, as it was a bit higher of a reach fo her, considering she was a good head shorter than him.
Gasping, she managed not to scream as Adrien put his hands about her sides and lifted her up onto the next brick; it didn’t take them too long to reach the top of the wall, where the vista was more breathtaking than Aline had expected as they stood on the completed portion of the rampart.
Golden hills rolled away as far as the eye could see, dotted with clusters of grey deciduous trees and dark green conifers mostly in somewhat straight lines dividing fields, although where natural ravines and creeks flowed they cut more undulatory trails, and in the low spots they were more round clusters.
L’Abris were too far to the south to be seen, but to the north Aline could see something quite in the distance.
“What is that?” she asked, pointing.
“The front,” Adrien replied.
“It’s that close?” Aline asked.
“That’s not really close,” Adrien said.
“It has to be less than a day’s ride,” Aline said.
“It’s very possible,” Adrien replied.
“That’s closer than I thought it was,” Aline said.
“Well, there has been an offensive,” Adrien said.
“Obviously against us, not for us,” Aline said.
“Obviously,” Adrien agreed.
“Then it’s very important that we restore the arsenal,” Aline said quietly. “And the fact that we’ve lost two smiths is even worse.”
Adrien said nothing, not that Aline blamed him; what was there to say? It was clear that the Mardeaux were nearer than she’d thought, and that made the fires in Trempré all the more troubling, all the more devastating; they were in very significant danger.
Pronunciation:
L’Abris: lahbreeze
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