Okay. Here it is:
This kept them on the move and proved good for several reasons: the Wylds couldn't find their camp, they could cook food, albeit with only certain types of wood that made small flames but also little smoke so they would lower the risk of being seen, and it kept Faug's mouth occupied doing something other than complaining about the pace, distance, time of day, or other thing that might cause him to start bugging Shyasha out of her mind. When these times came, Valin often came to Shyasha's aid by saying something to get him to shut up. Shyasha was grateful for this-the two boys got to sleep all night while she was keeping a watch from dusk till dawn, making sure that the Wylds, who usually traveled at night, didn't come on them. She didn't need to sleep, technically, but she forced herself to keep Faug and Valin moving in order to get them to Norasona quickly. Since they had seen Dalar on the road, he would probably expect them to be at the city before him, for some reason unknown to her. Maybe it was just the fact that they hadn't seen each other at the Lazy Dog.
The three arrived in Norasona at dusk on the fourth day of travel. Faug, for some reason, still didn't entirely believe that Shyasha wasn't blind, because he was so impressed with her blind instinct when they first met officially.
"But what if she DID go blind, though, at one point?" Faug wondered to Valin when he was rather sure that Shyasha couldn't hear. They were on the very outskirts of the city, just beyond the crumbling stone wall.
"I did, at one point, a long time ago, before you were born," Shyasha hollered over her shoulder. Faug had forgotten about the fact that she still had amazing hearing. "HURRY UP!!!"
"How did you know how old I am?" Faug asked, running up to her.
"Dalar told me, remember? You're nine."
"Well, how old are you?" Faug demanded.
"You really want to know?"
"Yes."
"Fine. I am four thousand seven hundred and thirteen years old. So there."
"How do you tell time, anyway, without being able to see anything?" Faug wondered.
"I can see," Shyasha said exasperatedly. "I TOLD you. But when I was blind, I told time by the temperature of the air, mostly. And just by intuition, like my body knew around what time I went to sleep and what time I woke up and when it got dark and stuff."
"When did you tell us?"
"The night before we left."
"Huh?"
"At the Lazy Dog. Don't you remember ANYTHING?"
"Well, when were you blind?"
"A long time ago. It was really annoying because, for that type of blindness, I could only see when I was around my true love. Dalar told me."
Faug and Valin snorted.
"Look, I didn't make it up, okay? I don't do a lot of magic, and I don't do prophecies. That's Dalar, and he's not here right now, so you can't ask him why love is supposed to cure all curses."
"So it was a curse?" Faug asked.
"I didn't say that."
"Yes you did."
"When?"
"Just now."
"I SAID that Dalar isn't around to be asked about curses, I didn't say-"
"But you said that you could only see when-"
"Yes, but that-"
"AND you said 'for that type of blindness-'"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean that it-"
"And normal blindness doesn't work like that!"
"I KNOW that, but that-"
"SO," Faug yelled over her. "You must have had a curse."
"Whatever. Either way I couldn't see for three years." She said that as they walked through the decaying wood door of the city.
Shyasha stopped suddenly. Faug nearly walked into her, causing Valin to nearly walk into Faug.
"Something is wrong here," Shyasha said slowly, moving forward slowly, staring around. Almost subconsciously she took her bow from around her shoulders and put an arrow on the string. This wasn't just a display of the Amazing Senses of Shyasha Rinkari and The Quickness at Which They React to Things. Faug and Valin could sense it, too. As they walked through the streets in a small clump, they saw nobody else on the streets and there were no lights in the windows, even though the sky was steadily darkening. Most of the stone buildings were still firmly intact, but there wasn't any life in the city, no sort of buzz that meant that even though you couldn't see the inhabitants, they were there. A breeze made a wooden sign creak on its hinges and blew around the edges of Shyasha's hood. Then silence. There was no other sound except for the soft footfalls and slight breathing of the three travelers.
"This isn't right," Shyasha said, and for the first time, there was something that wasn't sarcasm or certainty in her voice.
"Where is everyone?" Valin asked. "It's like they just all left or something."
"Or maybe they died," Faug whispered.
"I don't think they died," Shyasha said. Then she muttered to herself, "I'm gonna kill him."
"Gonna kill who?" Faug asked. Shyasha had to admit, although he never seemed to get his head around some stuff, he definitely picked up on a lot.
"Nobody," Shyasha said shortly.
"Come on," Faug pestered. "Who's gonna die?"
"The stupid dude who calls himself leader of the Three Cities."
"What are the Three Cities?"
"Norasona, Lira, and Nojura. Biggest concentrated populations of people. Whoever is king or queen has domain over the Three Cities and the general area in between."
"Why are you going to kill him?" Valin asked.
"I might not have to, but if he doesn't give me a straight answer he won't have much more time."
"Do you know him?" Faug asked.
"Yes."
"How?" he wondered.
"Not now, Faug," Shyasha said.
She led them quietly through the streets, taking the alleyways and back roads whenever possible.
"Shyasha," Valin asked tentatively. "Where exactly are we going?"
"To my old house," Shyasha said.
"You used to live here?"
"Once upon a time."
"I thought we were going to see the ruler guy," Faug said. "Why are we going to your old house?"
Then they rounded a corner and the two guys stared.
"Is that your old house?" Faug asked.
"Yeah," Shyasha said.
"House" didn't exactly cover it. "Mansion" might have been a better term, but still not exact. The best term would either be "palace" or "castle".
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