Birthright: Lord of Arda (10 page)

Chapter XVIII

Ashe

The sky was still dark when she heard voices. Ashe kept her eyes closed trying to concentrate, she couldn’t tell how many of them there was or even if they were close. Turning her head she slowly opened her eyes in the direction of the voices. There was nothing but darkness, the fire had gone out whilst she was asleep. She looked over to Alex, who was supposed to be on watch and keeping the fire going, but he was curled up under a blanket fast asleep. As she looked around to see where the voices came from the world went silent, even the crickets had gone quiet. It was eerily quiet, she tensed ready and waiting for something to appear from out of the darkness, but nothing came. Ashe moved to Braden's side to wake him, but as she knelt down a light appeared from the forest in front of her. Slowly, the noise began to return from behind. The light behind the trees was bright and inviting, she stepped over Braden and then Troy, advancing closer to the light. At first she thought it was a fire, but as Ashe got closer the colour changed from the oranges and reds of flame to a white pure light like the sun. With every step the tension in her body grew, the silence made her step sound like a crack of lighting in the darkness. She finally reached the tree line, the light was coming from a clearing only five trees in front of her. Creeping around each tree she kept her palm open and in front of her ready to strike at the sign of any attackers. Stepping past the final tree and into the light she was stunned and not by the light, which was gentle like a morning sunrise. It was by the sound of the forest coming alive as she had stepped into the clearing. The crickets were back, two owls were hooting between each other in the branches overhead, the wind whipped through the trees and the footsteps of a doe, on the other side of the clearing, echoed around her ears.

She looked up to the light. It was warm, soaking through her body like a gentle fire. She took a step closer, her hands outstretched, the built up tension seemed to flow out of her body like a river. Ashe looked closer at the light trying to see what caused it. Finally, the light shifted, causing her to almost fall back in shock. From the light people began to form, at first a single body but from it eight others emerged. Each of the eight was a woman, more beautiful than anyone Ashe had ever seen, their features perfect, their bodies the perfect balance of muscle and grace. Finally, the first body turned to face Ashe, the man was older than the rest an elegant beard outlined his chiselled features, his body was perfect Ashe was falling in love at just the sight of the man. Ashe took another step forward towards the man, she wanted to be closer to him. As her foot touched the grass his eyes flung open. His eyes were dark and powerful and bore straight into her. Then the woman next to him spoke, Ashe couldn’t comprehend what she had said, she wasn’t sure it was even a word. It just felt like bliss, and everything she ever wanted seemed to come true in that moment. The woman’s hands were open showing Ashe the stone. Then it went dark.

"Ahhh." She screamed.

Ashe sat bolt upright, the light of the fire forcing her to cover her eyes. She looked left and right and saw Alex sat looking out into the darkness. He turned around to face her, his eyebrows raised.

"You ok, Ashe?"

She looked around, eyes stopping at the tree line, she tried to see through the trees towards the clearing she had been in, but saw nothing. She couldn’t say what had happened, but whatever it was she wouldn’t forget it at any time soon, the dream was so vivid, so real. She looked over at Braden, has he seen the light before.

"Ashe?"

"I'm fine, It was a nightmare."

She rolled back over, waiting for Alex to turn back around into the darkness before she rolled back to face Braden. She must have been staring for nearly an hour before she finally drifted back to sleep. Still thinking about the light and the voices.

Chapter XIX

Braden

As they came over the hilltop, three of the four stopped in awe. Only Ashe was smart enough to move out of the way, as the procession of merchants, farmers, wannabe adventures, servants, monks and the odd group of soldiers barged past. Braden was almost pushed face first into the stone road Alex grabbing him at the last moment and pulling him to one side. He had already pulled Troy free and the boy sat with Magnus to one side. The lion cub looked almost comical, he had Ashe’s cloak draped over him with only the front of his face showing. If you looked closely you could still see the cat like features, but at a glance Magnus looked all dog. Ashe had used her magic to alter the perception people had of Magnus, it was a basic trick she had used on countless cards, in taverns around the capital. It worked for the best part and hopefully with the large amount of traffic and being sandwiched between all four of them the guards wouldn't pay much attention. Braden turned back to the road, as the steady procession of people continued on down the slope towards the capital. Down the hill, fed by two great rivers, sat Alton. It was the largest city on the continent, over half a million people lived in the city and its surrounding slums. Its famous giant red walls towered over six storeys above the grey, black and dirty buildings that surrounded it. From Ashe’s stories over a fifth of the population lived in the four hundred foot deep slums. Here the poor, who begged for scraps from the city, lived. Sat in the middle of Alton was the great Citadel, a rocky fortress rising above the city ringed by low red walls, allowing the full grandeur of the royal palace to be on show to anyone who entered the basin. Its white stone shone in the early morning sun, the ceiling glinting as the suns rays bounced off the golden roof tops. It was a true sight to behold and Braden stood in awe for several minutes. More people stepped off the road and joined them to staring out at the city.

“Come on, we need to get in before the big crowds. Otherwise, we will be queuing for hours to get anywhere.”

Ashe moved back on to the road, the rest of them caught up quickly. They had arrived near the outskirts the evening before but had decided to stay one more night out in the woods before entering the next morning. As they entered into the trail of people the smell hit Braden at full force again, it was a concoction of body sweat, wet dog, horse droppings and a number of other things he could only guess at. He made a conscious effort to move to the edge allowing the cool breeze to blow away at least some of the smell. As they entered the outskirts of the city horns blew, Braden turned to see what was causing the commotion. A murmuring broke out in the crowd growing louder as the sound of hoofs got closer. Another blow of the horns echoed against the walls, as a group of seven mounted men began to trot down the centre of the road. Six were armed and armoured, their steel breastplates were gleaming as their bright blue capes billowing behind them in the wind. The seventh man was clearly a nobleman, he didn’t glance down as he rode past, an orange boar emblazoned across his chest stood out against his blue cloak. Braden moved quickly, falling in behind the last horseman, pulling Troy with him, the group used the nobleman and his troops as a battering ram and were able to move quickly through the crowd towards the entrance to the city. Soon the buildings began to get larger, taverns and stables were popping up more and more often, each with its own slogan about how much cheaper it was than any tavern inside the city.

Braden kept a mental note of how expensive the taverns were, in case the signs were right and he couldn’t find his father before nightfall. They didn’t have much coin left and with an extra mouth with Ashe, they needed to make the money they had, last as long as possible. Finally, the buildings gave way to reveal an extensive external courtyard surrounding the gate to the city. The gates themselves stood almost three storeys high, solid wood beams as thick as two men were crisscrossed with bronze and iron stripes and on top was the royal crest in gold. It was more a sign of power than any form of protection. The gold would crumple at the first hit, from any attack but Braden could only stop and stare. The four roads led into the courtyard outside the city gates, every side was lined with stalls, buying and selling goods to anyone who was entering the capitol. Guards dressed in red, patrolled the rooftops, bows half drawn. He looked from one rooftop to the next, realising it was a killing field for anyone trying anything. A queue of men and women snaked around one side of the courtyard, each one waiting to get into the city. On the other side, carts lined up in single file, their owners sitting patiently, for the next one to be called forward and checked before passing through the huge gates. Alex was already making for the back of the line as Braden watched the nobleman ride straight down the middle of the courtyard and up to the gate. The guards tensed for only a moment, before one pointed to the boar and they let him pass through. Braden shook his head, as he looked over the queue in front of him, wondering how long it was going to take for them to get through the gates and into Alton.

It took a little over half an hour to get through the gates, Ashe had been a massive help. Not only had she helped to disguise Magnus, her combination of magic and slight of hand, had got Braden’s sword and Alexander’s blade and hammer through, without a second glance from the guards who searched them. She had explained to them that swords, axes, bows and any other large weapons were forbidden in the capitol, only the noblemen, their recognised retainers and the city guard  were allowed to carry them. Smuggling in a sword would get you thrown into jail as quickly as trying to smuggle in a lion cub. He could see how physically taxing the magic had been to Ashe and he chose a small food stall a little way into the city to sit and rest, it specialised in steamed meat’s. He ordered a small portion for each of them before sitting down on the bench in between Troy and Ashe. “So we’re in. Now where to?” Alex said. Braden looked down the bench to Alex and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m sorry to say, I think getting in was the easy part. We now have to find him?” “Don’t you have any information about him? At least if we know what he does, we can narrow it down?” He turned and looked at Ashe, he had forgotten that she had spent a lot of time recently in and around the capitol. He still wasn’t sure how knowing what his father did for a living, would help find him among half a million people.

“Alton is divided up into four areas, the first one we are in, is the Greater Alton. It’s mainly residential but also has a lot of taverns and stable houses. Then you have the West Alton.” She pointed off to North West where smoke was filling the sky.

“That’s where most of the smith’s, smelters, tanners, butchers, you name it are, if it makes a profit you can find it there. You then have the smaller Rupert's Square which is mainly used by the City Guard and Royal Army and then the High Alton, which surrounds the Citadel, where the houses of the noblemen are. Braden, do you know what your father does for a living?”

“Whenever my mother spoke of him, she said that he worked with the nobility.” Ashe rolled her eyes, before Troy jumped in.

“So we get to go to the Citadel?”

Braden turned and looked up the road towards the inner walls creeping over the building tops, protecting the High Alton.

“Are those walls guarded as well?” He asked.

“Normally they are closed to anyone who doesn’t have business in there, but once a week the King opens the gates to the district and the Citadel itself, to allow his subjects to bring matters to him for his judgment, which luckily for us is today, that’s why there is a bigger crowd at the gate.”

“There is almost half a million people in the city, let alone the rest of the Kingdom. How does he get through them all? He would need the doors open every day of the year and that wouldn’t even touch the surface.” Alex jumped in.

“Luck and coin, they’re your two choices. If you get there early enough or your story pulls on one of the King's attendant’s heart strings, you may get it in. Otherwise, you’ll need to dip into your pocket to get yourself seen.”

“That’s bribery, how can the King let that happen?” Braden’s voice raised drawing another patron’s attention.

“Quiet down Braden, we don’t want to attract the King himself. Yes, it is corruption and the King knows about it, but he has to let at least some of it take place, otherwise the corrupt will get their money elsewhere. At least here he has some control over it. Plus all those who don’t see the King normally get to see one of his underlings. In the country the people normally head to their local Baron or Duke, and here it’s the same. You have either the King, Lord Berric, the mayor of Alton or Sir Lorran, Captain of the City Guard to complain to.”

He shrugged his shoulders at her explanation and dropped his gaze from hers and wondered why he had shouted. He raised his hand and touched the ring around his neck, he had seen injustice before when tax men had come to the town and exploited the weak and poor. He had wanted to help but was never that rash but he felt now that if he saw the same thing happen, he would jump in without a second thought.

“So we can get into High Alton today without too much trouble, however we only have until nightfall to find him. Anyone they find after sundown is thrown into jail automatically on suspicion of theft or treason. Depends on where you get caught.” She continued.

“So that leaves us maybe seven hours?” Asked Alexander.

“I would say five so there is no chance of us being late.”

“Ok, let’s get going then.”

Braden stood up not wanting to waste any time, his hand was still wrapped around the hidden ring.