Chapter Twenty-Five
“This is your last chance. Walk in the light and be saved, not for this world, but the next.”
— From the Rite of Execution
The humans didn't have any magic. Not a drop in all their ancient lineage, or so the prince claimed.
And yet, looking out at the majestic, sprawling city before me, I found it very difficult to believe all of this had been created by human hands alone.
We were in Ucharia, the capital city of Estrele, one of three human kingdoms on this side of the wall and, according to Ksenia who'd apparently become my unofficial tour guide, they were the only human kingdoms left.
Ucharia alone stretched out in both directions directly behind the wall for miles.
The palace grounds boasted some open courtyards and sprawling gardens but, outside of its gates, the people of Ucharia lived in tightly arranged blocks made up of towering buildings and narrow cobblestone streets.
Their markets were stalls made thin enough to line the narrow streets without impeding traffic to impassibility and their water was said to flow from somewhere they called the coast, pulled in through underground piping and a whole network of engineering that I had absolutely no chance of understanding.
Ksenia claimed their population numbered in the hundreds of thousands and that was just Ucharia.
I could hardly fathom that many lives all shoved together in one place.
The last count anyone had ever had of Sanctuary had been around twenty thousand.
The wall itself was a sun-worn behemoth of rough beige stone, much like my manacles had been, and there were men working upon sections of it at all times, calling out orders to one another and hauling fallen bits of rock here and there for repair.
It stretched twenty feet high in all directions and ran both north and south farther than I could see.
I noticed, upon closer examination, it also had little ribbons of green running through it as well.
A vibrant jade set against the beige to give a faint marbled pattern that wasn't easy to see from a distance.
Ksenia claimed Estrele was the closest human country to the wall and Ucharia the closest city.
Prince Leo’s family had overseen the defense and maintenance of the wall for generations, receiving some sort of compensation from the other countries on an annual basis for assuring their safety from the Geist for yet another year.
I wondered how many humans lived in the other cities, or the other countries for that matter.
Ksenia hadn’t told me. I’d questioned her about the warriors Ucharia held, what size army Estrele was capable of amassing in a moment of need.
Ksenia hadn’t answered that either. It was clear she and Roman, my assigned guardians, were keeping secrets from me, clear that they still didn’t trust me.
I didn’t blame them. I didn’t trust them either and, if truth be told, I wasn’t sure why I was so interested in the militaristic and population numbers of the human territory, just that I was.
Maybe it was all those years my grandfather had spent trying to teach me to be more inquisitive.
Maybe now that I had something new to ask questions about, I found I couldn’t stop.
Either way, I didn’t blame them for not answering.
I wouldn’t have told them about Sanctuary either if they’d asked.
There was a knock on my door and I turned away from my examination of the city through my open window. I crossed my lavish accommodations to the breakfast one of the palace servants had left for me hours ago.
“Come in,” I called, plucking a strange, bitter fruit from the tray and taking a bite.
I wasn't surprised to see Ksenia when she strode into my room without hesitation. I was even less surprised to see Phantom padding along at her heels. The beast settled itself by the fireplace, already licking its paws, as Ksenia approached me and helped herself to one of the pastries I’d left untouched.
“Yours is the only beast that comes anywhere near the palace,” I announced, earning a moment of Ksenia’s attention as she glanced up at me, brow raised. “There are no other riders here. Why?”
“They’re busy,” she replied, as noncommittal as ever.
“Where? With what?”
“That information is above your pay grade, Viper. All you need to know, all I came to tell you, is that we’re leaving. Today.”
I blinked in surprise as she turned away.
“We'll wait for you in the courtyard,” she informed me, already heading back for the door, her creature loping gracefully after her. “Don’t take too long. Roman gets grouchy if he has to burn in the sun for longer than necessary.”
I frowned and wondered what, if anything, did not make Roman grouchy.
With no personal belongings to pack and no weapons allowed to me by the prince’s orders, I had little to gather before striding after Ksenia for the courtyard below my window.
They'd given me luxurious accommodations, much of it reminded me of my room back in Sanctuary, but the intent was clear.
I was given such fine rooms with attentive servants and a trifling view of the city because I wasn't supposed to leave it.
The prince had never ordered me to remain in my room or even on the palace grounds, but I saw the beast following me in the shadows every time I set foot in the hall.
I didn't fail to notice the way Roman always seemed to reach the palace gates at the same moment I did or Ksenia could be seen lounging in a high window, polishing her gleaming daggers, whenever I chanced a stroll through the courtyard.
So it became easier to remain in my room, preferring my solitude to the attention of my watchful guards. Until now.
Now, it was time to leave, to begin the sole mission the human prince had given me.
Find Adrian, preferably before the Geist or any of their squadrons, and stay alive in her presence long enough for Ksenia and Roman to introduce themselves and their cause.
I’d thought of little else since the prince decided to involve me in his plans.
This corruption that Adrian could wield, this darkness I wouldn’t believe the girl from the Third Ring capable of if I hadn’t witnessed it myself in the ninth Trial, was not something I truly understood.
The prince had called it a weapon, Kleio seemed to think it was an abomination, but I found it difficult to refer to anything that had saved my life as either of the two.
And it wasn’t the magic that worried me.
The last time I'd seen Adrian, I'd sent her to her death.
No matter what had occurred afterward, no matter that she'd survived, we both knew what I'd done. We both knew I’d thought what I was doing might kill her.
And I'd done it anyway. How did you face someone who used to be bonded with you closer than anyone you’d ever known?
Someone you'd loved? Someone you'd then betrayed and, far worse, attempted to end? She wouldn’t be pleased to see me. That was an understatement. And with what I now understood her to be capable of, she could kill me where I stood before I even got within ten feet of her. I wouldn’t blame her if she did.
I wasn’t eager to face my own execution. So when I emerged into the blinding sunlight of the stone courtyard to an enthusiastic Ksenia and an impatient Roman, my mood darkened considerably. If my companions noticed, however, they made no mention of it.
Roman spent a few minutes explaining to me how to ride a horse in an irritated tone.
Ksenia chuckled at my hesitation to climb onto the back of the snorting beast and outright laughed when I failed to do so the first few times.
Eventually, Roman had to help me into the saddle.
I grumbled with embarrassment as the gates rolled open and we rode through them onto the street outside the palace.
Rather, Roman and I rode through them. Ksenia climbed aboard Phantom and the two of them took off soaring out of eyesight a moment later.
“We'll meet her beyond the wall,” Roman grunted as I watched them disappear on the horizon.
I'd assumed as much but didn’t say so. Roman was not the sort for conversation, idle or otherwise, so I settled into my saddle and focused on every movement of the horse beneath me instead.
It took nearly every ounce of my concentration to remain seated upon the animal.
Docile as my mount seemed to be, I noted the powerful, sleek muscle of its legs, the enormous size of it beneath me, the way it tossed its head back and forth, wary when citizens of this sprawling city passed too close.
I hadn’t had too much experience with any animals at all.
We didn’t have many animals in Sanctuary other than the occasional bird or cat or dog, sometimes mice and insects, but here, in this human city, they seemed to abound even in the cramped quarters with the humans.
Horses filled the palace stables, merchants dragged their wares through the streets with assistance from smaller mounts that Ksenia had called donkeys, and small, furry creatures flitted down streets and through alleys in search of any discarded food or waste to make use of.
I doubted I would ever be comfortable with their existence, no matter how interwoven it seemed to be with human life here, but I couldn't help but be fascinated by the sheer amount of creatures living and breathing around me that I'd never even known existed.