Arriving at the Capitol

Aurelia

We waited for a few hours before we made our way towards the capitol. We had planned to load all the weapons on Blackfire, Kairios would walk and lead both horses. I changed into a common girls' dress that was given to me by one of the young girls we met on the road.

The dress was so uncomfortable, every time I moved it would scratch my hips and my back. It was an ugly plain color to, at least there were no stains on it and it didn't smell to bad...

I hoped that I would be unrecognizable, I had grown quiet the name for myself and I was sure they were looking for a woman in men's riding cloths. The travelers on the road would always recognize me on the road, at this point so close, we would be in a lot of danger if the guards recognized me as that woman.

The ride to the gates went by quickly, our side of the road was slow moving compared to the other side that was packed and people looked like they were in a hurry to get as far away as possible. Some of the people had very angry expressions where others were of defeat and sorrow. I was sad to see that many of them also looked completely terrified.

It made the anger that I always carried with me grow stronger with in. The mixture of pressure and the resolve of wanting to do my best for those who were suffering. It would take a long time but I hoped these people would be able to find happy lives.

When we came up to the gate, I could see a wagon was pulled over to the side. The back was full of barrels and the guards were going through them. I overheard the one guard telling the owner, who was an elderly man, that they would be taking two of his loads as a tax.

If this was how the gate guards acted then how was Saira, my Mother and Massell able to get through? What if they were being held in the dungeon and never made it through? My panic started to rise at the thought of Saira being in chains.

"What's your business here?" A ruff voice belonging to a guard said, pulling me out of my morbid thinking.

"I am visiting an Aunt and my companion is my protection. If you didn't know the roads have become extremely dangerous and it is hard to find legal protection."

I hoped he caught the meaning of what I was saying, it was clear to me that I was implying the guard were at fault. It was a careless thing to say in the face of the danger of being caught, but my anger got the better if me and it skipped out.

The guard had a frown on his face and I hoped it meant he knew what I was implying. He didn't acknowledge it though and waved his hand while saying,

"Move along."

We were through the gates without any other concerns. I was starting to feel the panic settle as I looked around and didn't notice any one confined or horses tied up that looked familiar to me. I hoped that meant there were safe.

The sights of the city Infront of me was upsetting. We had seen poor towns on our way here but this was a new level, and totally unreasonable for a capitol city. The roads were filthy, there were piles and piles of mess everywhere.

All the shops were closed, some had looked like they closed a long time ago and had been vandalized. The few merchant stands that remained had barely anything to sell. The most upsetting was amount of people that were sitting around, clearly poor and hungry.

"This is terrible. How can she allow people to live like this?"

"She doesn't care about them, as long as her needs and wants are met than she has no need for these people."

We made our way quickly through the city to the house we would all be staying at. It wasn't difficult for two people who had never been to the capitol before to find it. It was the nicest house, far better maintained than any we had passed on our way.

When I jumped down from Scorch, I heard a door bang open. When I looked up startled, I saw time that Saira was running towards me. Seeing her gave me such relief as I opened my arms to hold her. I hated parting with her and would have to plan to avoid that in the future.

She looked as relieved as I felt. I took in how beautiful she looked and how wonderful she smelled. Her eyes were shining with little tears.

"You have to hurry inside, Lyanna the house owner hates it when her guests smell of travel and horse, apparently. She set up rooms for us to bathe and change in. She hasn't wanted to talk too much until you got here."

We followed her in after some stable boys took our horses to be groomed and fed. The inside was even more beautiful than the outside of the house. The walls were colored brightly and were covered in pictures of past generations of her family I assumed.

We walked up a set of stairs to another floor of the house that was as equally interesting in its design and color. We were shown to different rooms where we would be staying for the rest of our time here.

"This one is where Kairios and Massell will stay, and this room is for us to share. Your Mother gets her own room down the hall that way."

Kairios turned and went into his room and shut the door without word. I wondered if he was upset that we wouldn't be sharing. I smiled to myself and blushed a bit. We had slept together each night of our travels and never worried about being separated.

When I walked into our room, I was glad to see that it was filled with light. There were two large windows one the one wall that was facing outside. The other walls were painted in a soft pink that reflected the natural light. For when it was dark, I could see candles placed throughout the space.

There was a lot of furniture for the one room. One side had a large bed that looked big enough for two people. Beside it there was a desk that was separating the big bed from a smaller one, clearly only big enough for one. On the other side there was a bath tub behind a shade, sort of separating the room in half.

"I'll wait downstairs while you get ready if you like some alone time. Lyanna gave me a new book to read, it's about the different races and is a summarization of each history." She had a cute glow about her as she talked about her new book.

"Ok I won't take too long; I'm interested to meet this Lyanna."

Some maids came with some hot water, clean clothes and something for the bath. I washed quickly barely taking the time to notice the scents that were given as a gift to me. I jumped out and got dressed just as quickly.

The dress was the color of blood, with a gold trim. The material was soft but I didn't like the arms. they were long sleeves that came down to my wrists. They had huge cuffs that went to the floor, they were extremely annoying.

The dress was tied nicely around my waist with a gold rope that attached to the bodice. There was a soft knock at the door and Saira walked into the room.

"These dresses are so fabulous; we are so cleaned up that I don't recognize us anymore."

"Thats probably the reason she wants us to wear them. We should get down stairs I don't want to wait any longer."

"Wait before we do I have to tell you something that your Mother told me about my Mother while we were waiting for you to get here. It was a very interesting story of how they met."

"Okay, what all did she tell you?" I wasn’t that interested right now.

"Well, they met very young and your mother helped my mother when she was in trouble. After a while they learned how to communicate in secret with each other over long distances. They called them fire messages."

"That is interesting. I wonder how my mother was able to send hers, she had no magic especially after losing her connection to her dragon."

"The only thing I can think of that makes senses is that she used a combination of herbs and a simple chant."

"Look into it if you can and when you know more let me know how it's done. We might need to use this one day if we ever are separated."

After that we went downstairs. My Mother, Massell and Kairios were all sitting together in the front sitting room with an older woman I assumed had to be Lyanna.

"Welcome to my home, my Princess."

"It's nice to be in such a nice home, especially compared to some of the places we have stayed."

"I have waited a long time to meet you. It seems you came at the perfect time, before everything is about to fall apart. Will you come sit with me and talk about your plans to save this Kingdom?"

"Well, up to getting here, we don't have another plan. I would say our next goal would be to get into the castle somehow."

"We need to figure out what has changed in the castle since I've been there. We have to find someone we trust that can get in the castle for us. I don't think it would be wise to trust anyone that already works there."

"I can see about getting a young maid employed somewhere within the kitchens. I am also setting up a time for us to go and meet with the remaining merchants. We need to discuss the impact of the high taxes and those who are unable to pay."

"How many can you take with you?"

"I would only risk one."

"Well, it can't be me, to many people may be able to recognize me. Saira can't go either. She would be spotted and outed as a Warlock. She would be in more danger than most of us."

My Mother was right, there was no way either of them could do it. It was clear that it had to be me. It also made sense as I was the leader and the next in line to rule.

"It's going to be me; let's not waste any more time thinking otherwise. No one there will recognize me and I need to see more of this place and the people who are responsible for running it. Plus, it will bring me closer to meeting my Aunt."

"I'll inform you of the time for when it's set up. In the time before that I suggest you leave the house as little as possible. I can understand the curiosity of seeing the city, but we can't have any one recognizes or become too familiar with you. It's an ugly place to walk around, this city, it will be hard to not interfere with public punishment."

"Understood, we will all do our best to go unnoticed until the right time. From what I have seen of this city already I don't feel the need to explore more at this time."

That and I knew I wouldn't be able to stand around and watch as people were humiliated like that. I had to keep my focus on getting to my Aunt and ending her.

We spent the rest of the evening talking about the current news of our Kingdom and the Warlocks one as well. After all the bad news I was becoming very tired and my thoughts kept drifting up to the bed I knew was waiting for me.

I excused myself politely and made my way upstairs alone. I changed into some night cloths and climbed into bed. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was thankful to sleep through the night without any nightmares.

When I woke the next morning, I was pleased with the news to meet with the merchants and the Queen the following day. I had a day and a half to get myself familiarized with current trades, spending and taxes. Lyanna offered to help me so we were fresh with the same topics.

She wanted me to stay quiet during the meeting and observe the other people there. I told her I would but I knew there was no way I would be able to keep my word. I spent the rest of the day going over books and listening to Lyanna talk.

I didn't see anyone else all day and began to wonder where they all went. Night had fallen and I still hadn't seen anyone. Finished with the reading I was given I got up and walked to the front room where we all had been sitting the night before.

Kairios was sitting near the window looking out with a sad look on his face. It was dark outside and you couldn't see anything on the street, when I came into the room, he didn't turn to look at me enter. He was so lost in thought that he wasn't paying attention to what was happening around him.

"What did you do today? " I asked pulling him back to reality.

"I spent the day in town. It was horrible, empty and disgusting. There were empty shops and homes everywhere but people were piled up living in the streets. After seeing all that part of me thinks that this isn't something worth saving. I don't see any way to save this place."

"I don't know too, to be honest. We will just have to take it one step at a time. We should know more by this time tomorrow."

"I'll walk you up to your room so you can get a good rest before the meeting."

We walked upstairs without saying anything else, we both had too much on our minds. We kissed goodnight and I turned to go into my room. Saira was asleep on the smaller bed so I got changed quietly and climbed into bed without waking her.

I fell asleep into troubled dreams.