Book 4: Chapter 81 (1/2)

“Madam Mary, we’ve arrived at the Kingdom of Hungary.”

Mary opened her eyes. She was greeted by the sight of the wooden carriage’s ceiling. With a yawn, she sat up and wiped the drool off the corner of her mouth using the back of her gauntlet. “We’re here?” she asked and poked her head outside the carriage’s window. Her red hair fluttered in the wind, getting caught against her face. She swept it back with her hand before shielding her eyes from the sun. Ahead of the horse, there was an outline of a wall in the distance. It seemed pretty small. “That’s it?”

The man, who was accompanying her, cleared his throat. “What do you mean by that’s it? As in, you’ve had enough? Or do you mean the Kingdom of Hungary isn’t what you expected it to be?”

“It’s small,” Mary said and leaned back into her seat, closing the window while she was at it. “I expected a kingdom to be much larger.”

“That’s not the whole kingdom,” the man said and blinked hard. “The Kingdom of Hungary is made up of many cities. This is just one of them. Why did you think it was the whole thing?”

Mary furrowed her brow. “There’s no giant wall that encompasses the whole kingdom?”

The man’s brow furrowed as well. “Why would there be a giant wall? The amount of men and materials required to make a wall that surrounds the whole kingdom would simply be too enormous. It’s easier to put walls around the important cities.”

“But I’ve seen one,” Mary said. “I walked along it, an extremely long wall. It took a few hours to traverse the whole thing.” She frowned. It seemed like the disparity between countries was too great. The first place she had landed was much better than this one: the walls were bigger, the food was tastier, and the people were nicer to look at too. She glanced at the man beside her and crinkled her nose.

“It must’ve been a small wall if you traversed it in a few hours,” the man said and shook his head. “There—”

“No.” Mary narrowed her eyes. “It was a long wall. The people there called it the great wall.”

The man shut his mouth. “Alright,” he said after a moment. “The Kingdom of Hungary doesn’t have a great wall. However, they don’t need a great wall to keep defenders out. If it weren’t for the witch that could punch down defensive structures, they wouldn’t have requested us for help.”

“I can’t believe Louis surrendered,” a voice said from outside the carriage. “Doesn’t he have any pride as a Hungarian? The Ottomans retreated after taking one city, but Louis surrendered anyway! We could’ve fought.”

“Don’t call him Louis, dear,” a different voice said. “He’s our king and should be addressed as such.”

“He’s not our king anymore after surrendering!”