From Silver and Chaos

Naredan

Chapter Twenty One :  Naredan. 

'Seeker Birchwood to visit Naredan' 

'The sitting Emperor has made history as the first to formally invite a Half-Blood to the palace as a guest of honor.' 

I discarded the gossip columns, which seemed to sprout like a stubborn mold and seemed to surround me as we prepared for our trip to Naredan. The capitol city seemed obsessed with the idea of a Half-Blood being invited to the city as the Emperor's guest and I knew that any chance of the Insurgent and Vanya not knowing that I was in Naredan was now impossible. 

That morning, the  messengers shadowed me as I prepared myself for Naredan. The workers in the tavern had prepared a bath for me that morning and I scrubbed myself raw after the journey on the road. My things – the dresses that Fyr had ordered for my time had been sent ahead and waited for me in a tavern in the town that was only a two hour ride from the capitol city. There had been plans to stay at the Ainthoch estate, but given recent events, it wasn't wise. Letters had passed between Fyr and I in the weeks of travelling and she had left the Ainthoch estate briefly to visit small Magin schools.

Her letters made me laugh; we were friends, but she wrote her letters as if they were reports, detailing everything so thoroughly that Mahon would have sweated. She travelled to the Magin college in Naredan, a surprisingly small academy of twenty three Magins who were handpicked throughout the Empire for a chance to study in the shadow of the sea-palace. Matthaeus had returned to the capitol under the guise of an inconspicuous visitor and I felt better knowing that we had eyes inside the walls.

Because we could not stay in the Ainthoch estate, we stayed in Comharsa for two days before making our journey to the capitol. It was a whimsical town that hung on the cliff's edge, providing an oversight to the broiling sea. Our tavern hung right beside a sheer drop and when I opened my curtains in the morning, I saw just endless blue above and below, stretching out to meet each other at a horizon that melded together, broken only by the soft sway of the moving water. I was entranced by it and the cutting teeth of the jagged coastline.

The streets had been winding and narrow; it was awkward to manoeuvre with carts. From the windows, wind-chimes of shells and sea-glass twinkled, like a constant melody to be heard over the sea.It was not like the towns I had come to know. The children who had clustered outside to see the Legion were well-dressed and rosy cheeked. We had seen starved children on our travels. Tiny bodies clutched in trembling arms. It was difficult to see how far removed the heart of the Empire was, but that didn't mean I wished suffering upon these children either.

As I dressed in my best riding leathers, where the symbol of the Legion had been stamped onto the chest of my suit. My boots were freshly shined, broken in over the past few days. The last thing that they needed was for the Seeker to be limping when coming to address the Emperor.

"Report from the South, Seeker," The messenger stood at my doorway. "The Legion have burnt out a mine of Gold-Hands. Two hundred slaves freed."

"Two hundred." I bit down a curse, shutting my eyes so I didn't have to see myself in the mirror. Two hundred people. While I dined and conversed with Naredan's wealthy, there were two hundred slaves experiencing freedom again. There were more, hidden away in pockets under the ground. I didn't want to be here. I needed to have a blade in my hand. "Has Captain Bryant heard the news?"

The messenger nodded. I dismissed them and when the door clicked shut, I realised a long, harsh curse rarely spoken in Elvish. If there had been trees close by, they would have shuddered. When I left that room and Mahon caught my eye, he simply inclined his chin.