Page 30 of Kingdom of Chains

The gate opened as they approached, a guard standing on each side of it. Their attention was focused inside, ensuring no one escaped in the few minutes it sat open. The defenders shifted in their saddles when the gate closed behind them. Blackmane looked around, taking note of every detail, from the condition of the roads to the number of guards watching them. When he glanced at Isabel, she looked appalled. It seemed Hodge had kept some of the finer camp details from her up until this point.

They dismounted, handing their exhausted horses over to the young men who came to take them. The surviving guards took the injured to be treated, leaving the defenders alone with Hodge and Isabel.

‘Shall we get straight into the tour?’ Hodge asked the group.

The defenders looked at the injured being carried off, then at each other.

Tatum answered on their behalf. ‘Why not?’

Hodge clapped his hands together. ‘Very good. Let us start with the kitchen area. The heart of the camp.’

Blackmane detected no pulse in the vicinity.

‘This way,’ Hodge said, striding off.

Isabel glanced solemnly at Blackmane before following him.

‘On the right, you will find the kitchen area, where all the food is prepared,’ Hodge said, beginning the tour. ‘Every worker receives a parcel of items each week and one hot meal per day.’

Isabel looked at him. ‘Did you sayone?’

‘Every day. No one goes hungry around here.’

Women moved back and forth between large pots that hung over open flames. The air smelled of salt and boiled bones. Thosecooking stopped to watch them pass, their faces drawn and bleak. Either the pots were missing some vital ingredients or the women were working too hard for what they were receiving. The hate and resentment coming from these people was stifling.

Blackmane paused when he noticed Isabel stopped a few paces back, her clasped fingers turning white as she stared at something. He followed her line of sight to an older woman with weathered skin, staring back at her with the same intensity.

‘Isabel,’ Hodge said, turning to look at her. ‘Are you all right?’

She whipped her head in his direction on a sharp inhale. ‘Yes. I… I was simply enjoying the smell.’ She hurried to catch up to him. ‘Please continue.’

Hodge reached for her hand before walking on. ‘We need to get you some food when we are done. You have not eaten all day.’

The sight of the man’s hand wrapped around Isabel’s evoked the same feelings in Blackmane as the shackles enclosing the workers’ ankles. It made his blood boil and his hands itch.

‘Now, on the left you will find the sleeping quarters,’ Hodge continued, pulling Isabel along with him.

Her face fell the second his focus was elsewhere.

Blackmane looked over his shoulder at the woman now staring after Isabel, despite everyone else returning to their work. She immediately looked away when she realised he was watching her. He committed her face to memory before moving on.

‘The sleeping quarters were designed to be space efficient,’ Hodge said, gesturing to the poorly built houses casting long shadows over the road. ‘Each house is designed to sleep five hundred people. We currently have three of them with space to add another.’

Blackmane frowned. ‘Did you say fivehundredpeople in each house?’

‘Correct,’ Hodge replied proudly. ‘As I said, they were purpose built.’

Tatum shifted his weight. ‘You have fifteen hundred people living in a camp this size?’

Hodge kept a firm hold on Isabel. ‘Actually, it is a little over sixteen hundred at present, but only until the western camp is built.’

‘You meanrebuilt?’ Isabel pointed out.

Hodge’s mouth flattened into a thin line. ‘Correct.’

‘What happened to the western camp?’ Hadewaye asked.

Alveye muttered, ‘I could hazard a guess.’

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