Rob was a short, skinny man with red hair down below his ears and a patchwork of facial hair. He wore a plain brown shirt, a black pair of pants tied on his waist with a rope, and leather shoes. His black gloves were designed with a carved wooden finger in the ring finger on the left hand, masking his lost digit. A dagger hung from his rope belt, a rusted iron blade on a wooden hilt wrapped in leather; a bow was slung from his back, and a quiver with three remaining arrows, one bloodied.
Cedric stood a head above Rob, his short black hair a stark contrast to Robs, His clean shaven face was marred by a splatter of mud from his time digging for roots, a splatter which spread down to his white shirt. His pants and shoes matched Robs, he had made them for both of them. His dagger and bow matched Robs as well, his quiver holding only one arrow.
Their peaceful silence marked the years of friendship between them, and the satisfaction of having earned another meal. Their rumbling stomachs reminded them of their victory, as well as caused them to quicken their step to get home.
A light breeze picked up behind them, cooling the sweat off their brow, accumulated from their hike. As they crossed another hill, the fence surrounding their farms came into view. As they passed the guard at the entrance of the farm, they tossed him a rabbit and some berries, and he nodded them through. They passed by the crops and farm hands, still toiling away, waiting for the sun to set.
As they reached the road in between the middle of the farms, a familiar face ran to greet them. "What'd you bring back for dinner?" Victoria, Cedrics sister and one of the local butchers, matched Cedric in her hair color, her height, and her outfit.
"A few rabbits, some berries and roots to help pad our tongues and our bellies." Cedric said, smiling at her excitement.
"Great, I love rabbit. Well, we'd better hurry. I don't want to miss our new recruits."
Victoria and Cedric rushed off, Victoria laughing as she told him about a dog that tried to steal a piece of salted pork they were saving that she had to chase off, but she ended up giving it to him anyways. Meanwhile, Rob trailed behind, mood darkened by the thought of the 'recruitment.'
It was something he went to, because he wanted to meet his new neighbors, but he always hated it. Such a barbaric practice, and it seemed that people forgot what it represented. He looked up, seeing the Black Gate which always loomed above them, a perpetual reminder of where they came from.
He wasn't thrown from the gate, he was a third generation resident of Thieves Alley. The generation before that had lived in Blood Gorge with the Butchers, but had managed to defect after half a year of living with those sick bastards. Cedric and Victoria's parents were both thrown from the gate, but their father died shortly after escaping to Thieves Alley.
While Robb remained in contemplation, the rest of the residents seemed excited. It was always treated as a holiday, a celebration over new hands to man the barricades, till the fields, and venture to the forest if they were particularly brave or unlucky. That was to the people who already lived there. To those thrown from the gate, it was the end of their lives. Sometimes literally, sometimes only in every sense that mattered.
Robbs thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his parents and Cedric's mother greeting him as he walked through the door. They shared a large wooden hut with two curtained off sections for the men and the women to have privacy, and a third for toileting. A door in the back led to a fire pit for cooking, along with a small pen. Inside the pen was a chicken coop, which held two chickens currently sleeping, and another three outside were pecking the ground for their afternoon snack.
"How was the hunt?" His mother greeted him with a question and a kiss on his cheek, his father with a handshake, Cedric's mother with a warm smile. His mother and father were aged, their hair turning grey and their stature getting shorter, a crook in his fathers back and a shuffle in his mothers step. They remained active and energetic, however, and were always busying their hands and minds. Cedric's mother was only slightly behind them in age, her wrinkles not as fully formed and her pace not as slowed, and she always was checking in on those who lived in the pods, the section of housing for those not members of the Knights of the Valley which were all these one room huts.
"Good, we got enough for tonight. The game is getting light, with fall setting in more animals are going to the forest. I wish you would let me go, I met a member of the Woodsmen who said he could get me in a hunting party if I can prove my shooting, and I can." The eye rolls he received were as rehearsed as his arguments, each given dozens of times before.
"You know that we don't want you risking that. We can't stop you, but if you're asking for us to be okay with it, that won't happen. We'll make it by, it's too dangerous to go to the woods."
"They have treaties with the tribes and kingdoms out there, they're allowed to pass through. We wouldn't even be going to the unoccupied territories."
His parents both shook their heads and started to help Victoria prepare the rabbits, Cedric and his mother preparing the roots. Robb gave up and started working to light the fire, hitting metal on flint until the sparks caught, then tending the flame until it grew to a healthy size.
As he stood up and stared at the fire, Cedric came up behind him, slamming his dirt covered hands on Robs shoulder. "Don't let it get you down too much. We'll make our way out there eventually."
"I know. I'm just worried about having enough to get through the winter, especially with the increased tax. And we can't afford to take a loan from Marcus." The light from the flame flicked back and forth, casting dancing shadows across the surrounding dirt. After the rabbits were prepared, they were put over the flame, and the three younger people said their goodbyes to their parents, and headed out the door towards the upper barricades.
As they approached, a small crowd had already gathered, surrounding a platform with a small group of people headed by Georg, the leader of the Knights. Georg was an imposing figure, with a bald scarred head and a grim expression which never seemed to change. Behind him stood Heid, one of his top lieutenants, and behind her stood five soldiers with their hands on their swords. All were dressed in the Knights of the Valley's uniform, leather armor with plates of metal, and a crudely branded insignia on the chest and back. There were slight variations based on rank, a red cape draping over Georg's shoulders and silver pins adorning Heid's shoulders.
Rob, Cedric, and Victoria found a spot at the edge of the crowd with a good view of the barricades. Stretching between two cliffs in the pass which allowed entrance into Thieves Alley from the north, they were made of sections of wooden spikes, stone walls, and small towers, different sections built with vastly different levels of quality and in varying states of disrepair. Half the towers were manned with archers, and a group of ten soldiers stood at the gate in the middle of the barricades.
Beyond the barricades stretched a large field, any trees which had been there previously had long since been cleared away. At the far end of the field sat another set of barricades, these ones manned by The Butchers. Robb shuddered at the thought, The Butchers controlled the territory beneath the Black Gate, a gang of cannibals which was as likely to eat the residents of their territory as they were to enslave them.
"Right! You all know what day it is, so let me remind you all of the rules." All conversation in the crowd came to a halt, eyes turning to Georg, his rough voice cutting through the noise like a knife. "First off, do not talk to our new recruits until we process them. We don't know why they were thrown from the gate, and we don't know who they are. Second, don't fuck with the new recruits while they're getting adjusted, there'll be plenty of time for you animals to rip them apart. Lastly, don't cross the barricade, the Butchers will take their shot at you and have rights to anything in Runners Pass after the crossing is over.
"Now then, the barricades are light today. We need some volunteers to man the remaining towers, we have six which need archers. We can't risk the Butchers breaking our treaty and trying to break through the barricades. If we don't get enough, we will select you."
Three men stepped forward, prepared with bows and arrows already. Seconds which felt like hours passed, and no more volunteered themselves. Georg stepped forward, and immediately locked eyes with Rob. He comes over and clasps his shoulder, whispering "I've seen you shoot at those rabbits, boy. Let's see how you aim at something a bit bigger."
As soon as he did, Cedric shot to his feet, Victoria shortly behind him. Robs mind went blank, mechanically rising to his feet, unblinking and unable to speak. Cedric tried to get Victoria to sit back down in a hushed tone, but she refused with steel in her eyes, and he soon gave up. The three of them marched forward, grabbing the bows and arrows they were handed.
Without ceremony, Georg turned and walked towards the barricade, his squad following close behind him. A man with a smile that seemed too wide and too permanent walked through the crowd behind them, Rob heard him taking bets on how many would make it through the recruitment, and briefly considered forcing him and his lackeys to take their place.
As the minutes passed, the crowd resumed its previous low roar, people growing bored as they waited. The sun began to drop lower, casting deeper shadows throughout the Valley, causing the world to seem longer. Rob glanced back over his shoulder as he approached the barricade, the road behind him tracing through the market, the barracks, town hall, and back towards the pods and the farms. The reddening light and longer shadows made the scenery begin to blend together, each piece of the landscape merging as a single darkened tapestry of dimmed color and shadow.
Robs neck snapped back around to face forward, a sharp screeching noise piercing the ears of everyone in the valley. All eyes were fixed to the cliff, the screeching switching to a deep grinding as the dark maw at the top of the cliff stretched wider open, threatening to consume the sky itself. The Black Gate was opening.
