The Savior's Throne

Chapter Twenty Three

Arlo rubs his hands together as we walk. Our speed is casual, yet nerves stick to us like moths to a flame. If we get caught, our whole plan with crumble faster than an abandoned building during an earthquake. Arlo, who kept his word, set up a meeting with Jumana-again, he refuses to tell me how. My heart picks up as we round the corner of the palace, entering the gardens.

Unlike the East, our land in the North is not as lush and beautiful. The flowers in our garden are wilted and brown and the grass shares the same fate. Patches of mud and dirt break apart the grass, giving our garden a sad and lonely feel. To make up for the poor state of our land, exquisite statues are placed all around the gardens. Two long lines of statues face each other, creating a majestic walkway. Arlo and I walk through the statues and I scan their faces-some made out of stone, some granite. When I was real young, I would ask Sahil who they were. The memory crashes down on me with so much force, I'm surprised my knees don't buckle.

"They are our ancestors," Sahil says-his voice cooler than the statues around us. "The row to your right are the deceased rulers of the North."

I poke out a tiny arm and point at the statue that shares a strong resemblance to Sahil. "Why do you have a statue if you're still alive?"

Sahil gives his statue a long stare before looking down at my small form. "Because, one day I will die. I had this built so I would never forget that."

"Can I have a statue?" I only ask because Sahil told me yesterday that I would die one day too.

Sadness flickers across Sahil's features, but then he laughs and it's like he gives life to the garden. The dead flowers now seem to bloom and the statues start to smile and dance with a strange glow of happiness surrounding them. Never have I ever heard Sahil's laughter and I don't know why. If I had a laugh like his, well, I'd laugh until I had no more air to breathe.

"You, Salvare," he says as he ruffles my hair, still laughing. "I will build you a statue so large, it'll be the first thing the Gods see when they look down earth."

I look up at him with a toothless smile, "Promise?" 

His laughter slowly dies, but a smile still lights his face, "I promise."

I blink viciously to stop a sudden onslaught tears. Sahil's last words now ring in my head, "We were your family." Maybe he was being honest, perhaps he did care for me. My bottom lip starts shaking so I bite on it and pull myself together. He never did build me that statue, perhaps he, too, forgot.

Thinking about it now, the memory makes me wonder if he would've went through with my execution. He built this statue as a reminder that one day he would die, but why would he believe that if the Gods promised him immortality? Maybe he feared the Gods would punish him for allowing me to live for so long, but...he also said the Gods couldn't kill. I press two hands to the sides of my heads, groaning in frustration.

"You okay?" Arlo asks. I feel the weight of his hand on my shoulder and look up at him, "Yeah."

"These are really creepy," Arlo comments as we walk through the row of statues. "They're like ghosts," I admit. I give Sahil's statue an extra glance as we make our way through the gardens.

"So, where exactly are we meeting her?" I ask Arlo.

"I couldn't sneak her into the palace without raising suspicion and we can't have Desmond finding her here, so I had her meet us at the edge of the gardens. We'll stay on opposite sides of the gate and the statues will keep us hidden if anyone happens to look out here." I nod and follow Arlo as we start getting near out meeting place. Nerves flutter in the pit of my stomach when I spy a figure out the other side of the gate.