Maren had never seen the market so packed, even before the siege. Men and women, even children, huddled together, waiting. Tense whispers floated in the air. Scared glances rolled through the crowd.
It was calmer than it had been earlier, but that was only due to the presence of Daric’s soldiers, something that hadn’t made the underlying tension better – especially since those same soldiers spent most their time stopping internal disputes, and no matter how hard Daric had tried, too often that led to intimidation and sometimes worse.
Daric climbed onto the makeshift podium and raised his hands for silence. “To say the past two years have been hard is the greatest understatement I could make,” he began. “We’ve suffered death and sickness. More buildings have been destroyed than remain standing. Nothing is as it was.”
“Then end it!”
Maren couldn’t tell who said it, but the crowd seemed more in agreement than dissent.
“Surrender!” Someone else yelled.
Maren saw a quick flash of pain cross Daric’s face, and then he was back to the composed king.
“I understand your fear,” he said, sounding more defeated than Maren had ever heard him. “But I can’t surrender to the man who murdered my parents and my son.”
Angry murmurs spread through the crowd like a wave, threatening to crush anything in their way.
Daric raised his hands again. “However…” He looked over his people and Maren felt tears prick her eyes at the love she saw on his face. Others saw it too, and little by little, the crowd quieted. “However,” he said again, “I can’t force you to make the same decision I’ve made. Anyone who wants to surrender to Kern may do so in three hours time. You need to decide now because opening the gates at all is a huge risk. I will do it one time and one time only. Decide carefully. Understand what surrendering to a man like Kern could mean.”
Suddenly, the crowd was less certain, perhaps more willing to take the hell they knew than to walk into one they didn’t.
Daric looked over the crowd one last time. “I want you to know how sorry I am. I don’t take responsibility for Kern’s actions. Those were his to choose alone. But perhaps there was more I could have done. I don’t know. And I hope you can forgive me. For everything.”