Free The Willbreaker (Book 1) by Mike Simmons Page B

Darrow’s Hold. As morning past, the weather grew more beautiful, except for a few dark clouds coming at them from the north. The warmth of the air blew gently across their faces. It seemed a perfect day for horseback travel.
                  As they rode, the trees grew thicker together. The woods became more dense and harder to see into. The massive peaks of the Tusk Mountain range stood towering off in the distance over the tops of the trees, off to the left. The farther they rode, the thicker the black clouds grew in front of them. Brandon paid close attention to them, and the look on Edward’s face told him that he also noticed the strangeness of the clouds. Brandon stopped Edward with his commanding voice.
                  “Edward, those aren’t clouds up ahead, that is smoke, from fire.”
                  Edward stared up ahead with squinted eyes, when all of a sudden they went wide with realization. The amount of smoke rising from up ahead did not indicate the smoke of a campfire or even a farmer cleansing his crops for summer’s next growth. The fire putting off that smoke had to be huge. The fire came from Darrow’s Hold.
                  “Ride!” Brandon yelled out in a driving and urgent voice. Baby bolted forward as Brandon spurred her and whipped her hindquarters with his hand. Firecracker shot forward when Edward jolted his side with his feet. His little arms had trouble holding on to the reigns as the massive horse leaped forward with sickening power. A trail of dust exploded behind the horses as they raced with eruptive energy towards Darrow’s Hold.
                  As the road twisted to the left, the view of the city became clearer through the barricading trees on both sides of the riders. The city gates were crumbling and on fire. One of the two guard towers on each side of the gate lay in shambles, the other one riddled with large holes. Past the gates, the destroyed city smoked and burned. Rage built up within Brandon as his eyes told him what his mind had thought. Smoke billowed up in monstrous stacks of turmoil from blackened buildings as they rode closer. The thick smell of smoke filled their nostrils with choking strength.
                  “Edward, stop here, we’ll tie the horses up and walk in. I don’t want the horse’s lungs filled with that amount of smoke; they need to be strong for our ride out of here." Brandon hopped off Baby as she walked off the side of the road where he had guided her. He tied her reigns to a tree, alongside Firecracker, about a hundred paces outside of the city entrance. Smoke grew in thickness here, but it did not affect their breathing. Brandon reached into his pack and pulled out the thick white cloth that had covered the sausage he had brought from home. With a quick pull, he tore the cloth in half. He handed one half to Edward, as he pulled his piece around his face and tied it on the back of his neck. He looked like a bandit; his eyes were the only part of his face visible now, held tight between the bottom of his leather skullcap and the top of his new smoke mask. Edward followed his lead, and his white mask now hung as Brandon’s did, just below his eyes.
                  As they walked up on the road, Brandon drew his swords.
                  “In the name of the Gods,” Edward mumbled under his breath. The sight, terrifying and incredible, made Edward’s stomach clench. Darrow’s Hold had been a soldier’s town; basic, with purpose, and lacking in luxuries. Brick and rock made up the buildings of the city. The roads were uncobbled and uneven, treacherous in heavy rain. They had a general store, a trader’s market, a blacksmith, and a few other necessary businesses, but no schools or craft stores. This town had a reputation for being ‘rough’, full of people who had no time for children or the luxuries of the common folk. Many of Reinhold’s best