chimneys formed a dark haze floating above the city. The harsh smoke made him want to sneeze. The city was built on two hills that were separated by the Kayloose running between them. Farms surrounded the city, which was encircled by a towering stone wall. From the hilltop vantage Legon could see that the wall even spanned the river, which passed though grates built in along the bottom. Towers were spaced evenly along the massive wall. Behind them was slate roof after slate roof.
Further up, he could see other walls with towers indicating where the city had once ended. He counted five of these inner walls, but only the largest outer wall connected both hills. The city rose from the horizon like two mountains, each topped with a fortress. The fortress on the north hill was large but nothing compared to the fortress topping the south. The building had tiers, giving each new level the ability to shoot over the first. He could see nine towers along the first wall just from where he was sitting. It looked like the city walls and fortresses were made of whitewashed granite, making the city bright, but also giving it a striped appearance because of the slate roofs. Legon saw splashes of red, blue, green, and orange everywhere, but from a distance the granite and slate dominated.
“Arkin, how many people do you think live there?” Legon asked.
“Oh I don’t know, around two hundred and fifty thousand. But keep in mind, Salez is not the largest city.”
“You mean there’s ones bigger than this?” Sasha asked amazed.
“Much larger, yes. Now when we get into town, I will go talk to my contact here and find out if he knows anything. You lot will go to the Claw Foot Inn and wait for me. If it looks like we’ve been compromised we need to leave fast, got it?”
Legon wasn’t happy about this part of the plan. After all, he was the one in need of answers, but at the same time the order to arrest him came from the Queen in the capital. Salez seemed like a good place to find those answers. Still, he needed to take Arkin’s lead on this. After all, the man had been living in the middle of the empire as a spy for years.
“Ok, we’ll take your lead,” replied Legon. As he spoke, they saw a large orange creature fly from the north fortress. Far-reaching bat-like wings pushed its long body through the air effortlessly. It flew northeast away from them. A chill ran down Legon’s spine as he noticed that the dragon seemed to leach light from the sky, although not nearly as much as the one in his dreams.
“That was an Iumenta Dragon, wasn’t it?” Keither asked. There was fear in his voice but also interest.
“Yes, it was. Now let’s go.” Arkin started forward to Salez, seemingly unfazed by the monster.
Keither marveled at the dragon that was now just a small dot in the sky. There wasn’t a lot of information available on Dragons, mostly because the Iumenta controlled what information was available to the public. Keither did know that they were a key part in the Queen’s takeover and subsequent reign.
Salez was beautiful, with its whitewashed walls and the way the main city was contained within the barrier. That was real security. As they drew closer, Keither could see that they were easily forty feet high. As they joined the large group of people entering the main gate, he saw that it was roughly as thick as it was tall. That seemed odd.
“Arkin, why is the wall so thick? Isn’t that way too much stone?”
“It’s not solid stone. Most of it is earth and timber. It makes the wall extremely strong. Men can patrol the top and keep ballista and catapults up there with their supplies.”
There was something else that was odd about Salez as well. As they entered they were not greeted by beggars. There should have been lots of them in a city this big, but there was no one out asking for offerings. Sasha noticed this as well. “Where are the people begging for food and money?” she asked.
“They’re in the Queen’s care. There are no beggars in the empire, or at least not in any city big enough to be called a city,” said a man that was next to them leading a donkey laden with parcels. “There hasn’t been in about five years now. If you lose your home you are taken into the Queen’s care”.
“How could the Iumenta be bad if they got rid of homelessness?” Keither thought. Arkin was off base; he needed to figure out what was wrong with the man.
“For how long does one stay in the care of the Queen?” Kovos asked.
“For the rest of your life, of course. If they left her care they would be back to clogging the streets in a week,” the man said with derision.
Well maybe it wasn’t so good. If the Iumenta took care of the poor until they could function on their own, that would be one thing, but for the rest of their lives?
“Ok, you go find the Inn. It should be up that road a bit,” Arkin said, pointing up a street to the right. “I will meet you there in a few hours. Don’t worry about getting us rooms, we may not be staying.”
Legon wasn’t all that thrilled about going off in a big city without Arkin, but he would have to get over it. Thankfully, it turned out the inn wasn’t that hard to find. When they entered, they were greeted by a wave of musty smoke and sound. The inn had a tavern on the lower level and people were coming in from all around for lunch. The group moved toward the last table and sat around it. Legon sat with his back to the window, watching the people and waiting impatiently for Arkin. A tall woman with long red hair and a green dress came by and asked if they wanted anything to drink.
“What’s good here?” Kovos asked.
She smiled warmly. “Everything.”
“Ok, what do you like the most?” Kovos was flirting with the waitress. He loved Emma, but Legon knew that he just couldn’t help himself. That was just how Kovos was. The woman placed her hand on his shoulder and turned herself just a little, subtly indicating that she was talking only to him. Her low-cut blouse and the way she tilted herself just a bit to Kovos wasn’t lost on any of them. This woman was a pro, and Kovos her sucker for today. This was going to cost them.
“Well, I like the ginger tea.” She was playing with his shirt. This always happened. This lady was going to get Kovos to buy the most expensive thing on the menu and then he was going to leave her a huge tip. Sasha was rolling her eyes, looking disgusted.
“Yeah, we’ll all have a cup.” Kovos handed her way more money than any tea was worth and the woman walked off. It was a good thing they had stiffed Bear on the horses. The waitress wasn’t even that good looking.
Kovos turned back to them with a stupid look on his face. “What are you all looking at me like that for?”
“Give me the money,” Sasha said, holding out her hand.
“What? Why?”
“Because you are a moron, that’s why. Ginger tea? Are you for real?”
“She said she liked it.”
“She liked your money,” spat Sasha. Then added harshly, “Our money.”
“Like you would know. I bet it’s great.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Fine, you can have the bag, but if the tea is good, I get it back,” Kovos said as he held out his hand with the money bag. Sasha promptly took it.
The tea came out and was terrible. Legon liked ginger but not like this. Sasha was forcing down a sip when she stood up and clapped her hands to her mouth.
“Oh, it’s not that bad. I kind of like it…” Kovos started, but she was out the door.
Legon turned to see her running out in the street and letting a blonde woman inside. As she entered he took a look at the newcomer. Her hair was long, blonde and she was thin with green eyes and a…
“Sara!” he said, getting up and crossing the room. He wrapped his arms around her. “I can’t believe you’re here. Come sit down with us, how are you?”
“Um, well, I…,” she began, looking totally dazed and shocked.
“Sit down, sit down. Oh, I am so happy to see you,” Sasha said, planting Sara next to Legon. Sara took a moment to rearrange the red dress, hiking up its low-cut neckline, and then checked to make sure she hadn’t lost any jewelry. He was surprised by all of the makeup and jewelry. When he had known her she wasn’t a flashy person at all and was a little on the chubby side. Now she was thin and looked good, but there was something off about her.
