The Standard Bearer, Part 2

The Standard Bearer pointed at the castle and said to her Companion, "There. This is the home of the lord and lady I serve."

Stones littered the ground in front of the castle, and as they watched, the roof of a parapet crumbled and sprinkled to the ground. The Companion said nothing, but followed the Standard Bearer into the courtyard. They picked their way around the rocks and ducked under the stuck portcullus. No one greeted them. The Standard Bearer led the Companion past a rotting smoke house and into a hall. Above, the tapestries, shredded and moldy, glittered as they crumbled around them in the wind that entered from the collapsed roof. One large door hung askew and behind the door sat a king and queen.

The King, gaunt and shadowed, would not meet the eyes of the Companion. The bloated Queen spoke. "You've returned. Where have you been?"

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