Read Volle for Free Online Page B

out and shuffled through them again.
    “Kay.” Reese stretched out on the seat.
    They pulled up to the south gate just as the sun was reaching its zenith. Three other vehicles were ahead of them, all farmers’ carts. Volle took the opportunity to get out of the carriage and stretch. Reese had just stepped out onto the running board when Ben called, “Hey, there’s a Lord here! Move aside!”
    Everyone on the three carts ahead of them turned to look: a family of raccoons, a family of goats, and a solitary antelope. They stared at Ben, then looked down to Volle. None of them moved otherwise.
    Volle scrambled quickly up onto the riding board. He held his paws up. “Don’t worry. No need to move. We’ll wait until you’re done.” Their eyes searched him, and then they turned back around and started to murmur amongst themselves.
    Ben looked confused, and a little bit hurt. Volle patted his shoulder. “I appreciate it, Ben, but a lord must remember that he owes his people his service, as well as exacting from them their loyalty. We aren’t in a hurry. No need to put out these people just because we could.”
    “Okay.” The smile returned to the young marmot’s muzzle. “I’m sorry.” He urged the horses forward as the antelope’s cart went through the gate and the line moved up.
    “That’s all right. I know you had good intentions.” Volle looked down and saw Reese smirking at him, so he elected to stay on the cart until they reached the gate, with Reese walking alongside. The day was sunny and pleasantly cool, so he leaned back and let the breeze off the wall ruffle his fur.
    “Have you been to the city before, Ben?”
    “No, my lord. This is my first time.” Ben looked up at the walls. “It’s huge.”
    Volle remembered that he was supposed to be from a small village, and nodded. “It is indeed. And the walls look impressive.” In truth, he wasn’t impressed with the walls, which were pockmarked and cracked near the gate. Along the top, it was crumbling in several places, and the guard posts at the top were not only unmanned, they looked unsafe. Volle filed the information away, with a glance at Reese to see that he was doing the same.
    Only two guards stood at the gate. Volle watched one inspect the papers of the raccoon family while the second inspected the cart half-heartedly. As they were waved through, the guards were already eying Volle and his carriage.
    Both guards were wolves. The one checking papers had more brown on his muzzle and ears, while the one that opened the carriage door and looked inside was a uniform grey with white on the lower muzzle and throat. He sniffed at the inside of the carriage while the brown one examined the papers Reese handed him.
    “Lord Vinton, eh? Welcome to Divalia, sir. And who are these?”
    Volle patted Ben on the shoulder. “Ben Woodson, my driver, and Reese Pawfast, my personal assistant.”
    Ben only had a certificate of birth from the church in the village, but the guards didn’t seem to care. “Just follow Market Street to the river, and turn right. Cross at the next bridge, not the Market bridge. Shorter and less crowded. Once you’re across, you’ll see the palace on your right.”
    “Thank you,” Volle said. The other wolf had taken a cursory sniff inside the carriage and now gave the brown wolf a hand signal that Volle assumed meant ‘all clear,’ because they were waved into the gate.
    He watched the city with eyes as eager as Ben’s as they drove slowly down the street. Every city has its own feel, and though the closeness of the houses was similar to the crowded neighborhoods of Caril, the scents and colors were different. Caril seemed brighter to Volle, full of light-colored houses and gaily-dressed people, but maybe he was just in a poor part of Divalia. The paint on the houses was peeling, and many of the people in the street walked with drooping tails. The smells were not worse, just different. He smelled cooking, and washing, and