The clay tiles cracked under her boots.
Lilith landed on the roof of a ramshackle hut on the outskirts of the wall. Without bothering to cushion the fall, she dropped the leather suitcase. The bundle hit the cobblestones of the alley below with a dry snap.
From inside the leather, a sharp squeal burst out. A weak whimper of crushed flesh.
Lilith jumped down lightly. Her eyes traced the silhouette of the capital through the dry branches. Among the pointed rooftops and white stone domes, a thick column of black smoke rose straight toward the clouds. Below, on the avenues, shapeless patches of color moved in waves. The screams reached her muffled by the distance.
"What a nuisance," she muttered.
She snapped open the suitcase buckles. She thrust her hands among the folded fabrics that served as a nest. She pushed aside the two small goblins, whose wrinkled bodies trembled with cold, and yanked out the clean clothes that padded them. She stripped off the bloodied rags she was wearing and dressed in the last decent change: a dark skirt and a whole linen blouse.
She wrapped the creatures in the remnants of her tattered blue dress. She slammed the suitcase shut.
She advanced toward the city entrance.
As she crossed the stone arch, the heat of the paved ground hit her face. It smelled of ash, manure, and sour sweat accumulated in the alleys. The streets were a disorderly river of bodies. Men dragging carts with overflowing trunks. Women with children in their arms. The haste was frantic, but the passersby's gazes were empty, fixed on the ground or lost in the air.
Lilith dodged an old man stumbling over his own sacks of grain.
Near the guardhouse, a city guard remained leaning against the wall. His helmet covered half his forehead. His lance rested tilted against the stone. He watched the chaos with his arms crossed and his eyelids drooping.
Lilith planted herself in front of him.
"What's happening?"
The guard didn't startle. He kept his gaze fixed on a blind spot in the street.
"There was a leak," his voice sounded dry, breathless. "A rumor. They say the demon has come to judge us."
Lilith tilted her head.
"What does that mean?"
"It doesn't matter," the man raised a dirty hand and rubbed his forehead until the skin reddened. "The truth is, I don't really understand the phrase either. We were ordered to search for witches at dawn, but..."
The guard let out a heavy exhale. He gestured with his chin toward the interior of the city.
"The barracks are a desert. No one is left in command. I honestly don't care. When my shift ends, I'm going home."
He fixed his gaze on nothing again.
Lilith took a step back. She felt a tight pressure in her throat. If the city's structure collapsed completely, there would be no records, no librarians, no access whatsoever to the Book of Life.
She changed course. She ignored the column of smoke and headed straight for the royal palace.
She needed to see what the heads of the kingdom were doing. It was hard for her to process that a simple rumor could be enough to dismantle a walled capital.
She advanced through the chaos. She saw noble carriages trampling bundles to get out of the courtyards. On a corner, a man offered a ring with a sapphire in exchange for a loaf of hard bread and a piece of moldy cheese. No one stopped to bargain with him.
As she approached the market she had walked through days before, the shouts became more muffled. Groups of deserting guards looted the stalls, overturning tables and striking with their sword scabbards at merchants trying to hold onto their goods.
Lilith turned into a narrow alley to avoid the brawl.
The main avenue appeared before her.
The contrast was brutal. The noise of the commoners disappeared. The wide street, covered in polished cobblestones, was deserted. Only the flapping of pigeons on the eaves and the rhythmic creak of military boots on stone could be heard.
In front of the golden gate of the palace stood a human wall.
They were soldiers Lilith had never seen before. Their cloaks were a dark purple tone. The iron breastplates bore an emblem foreign to the crown: a tower split by a wheat stalk. They formed two perfect rows, shields aligned, blocking access to the esplanade.
Lilith advanced in a straight line toward them.
The dozens of sentinels turned their heads in unison. The gazes beneath the visors reflected disbelief at the solitary woman walking with a leather suitcase toward their formation.
She stopped a hand's breadth from the first row.
"Is there anything I should know?" asked Lilith.
The soldier in front of her extended an armored arm. He pushed her on the shoulder with enough force to make her step back two paces.
"Insolent," the man spat through the slit in his helmet. "We are guarding the council meeting."
Lilith regained her balance. The muscle in her jaw tensed until it marked under her skin.
"What will they be discussing?"
The sentinel rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. The metal scraped a centimeter out of the scabbard.
"That is none of your concern. Get lost before I drag you to the dungeons."
Lilith held the soldier's gaze for two seconds. She didn't blink.
She slowly turned around. The creak of her own steps on the clean cobblestone filled the emptiness of the avenue. She tightened her grip on the suitcase handle until her knuckles turned white.
The King had vanished, but the nobility had just locked themselves in the palace.