I glanced at Aoife for a little help, but I could see the struggle on her face. Her dark brows knitted together as she concentrated on not letting her power overtake her again. I was on my own with this worry. I really had no choice but to trust Seanna. I turned to the Ashling. Her delicate eyebrows mimicked Aoife’s, but instead of a look of concentration, I thought her face held a look of worry.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
She jerked her head toward me. For a moment, I saw something in her eyes. There was something deep in them that I couldn’t comprehend. Beyond that, they looked a little red and watery.
“What? No. Why would you ask that?” This came out in a rush of words jumbled together, not in the precise way I was used to hearing her talk.
“You look worried or something,” I said.
“No, no. I’m just anxious to have this whole thing over with.” She tried to smile at me.
I wasn’t exactly practiced at reading facial expressions. I was a fifteen-year-old boy. We weren’t known for our astute observation when it came to girls. Video games and sports? Yes. Girls. Oh, no. Still, I could tell the smile was forced in the way she showed no teeth. The smile consisted of her drawing her tight lips up at the corners. The smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“Yeah,” I said hesitantly. “I’ll be glad to get home. I really need a bath.”
I looked sideways at her expectantly. Normally whenever I made myself the butt of a joke, Seanna was quick to agree with whatever I said. She only nodded absently. That did nothing to calm the worry building inside.
I glanced over my shoulder at the guards again. We just need to get this over with, I told myself. Get help for Mom, stop whoever is trying to invade Earth, and get home. Easy peasy.
***
Delicia transformed as we walked. Out near the walls, the buildings, both shops and homes, nestled up against each other, as close to each other as the crowds that pushed through the streets. The noises and smells never relented, swallowing people whole if they let it. The further into the city we pushed, however, the crowds thinned. The buildings sat on more spacious lots, allowing for ornaments, even some grass and trees here and there.
The shops we passed became more upscale; the wears they sold became finer. I paused outside a clothing store. Even though I knew nothing of the fashion of Alisundi, I could still tell the clothes that hung in the windows were finer, more delicate.
The number of guards patrolling the streets also increased the further into the city we went. They marched by in groups of three, eyes darting. When we’d pass a group, they’d eye us and our escorts. I thought I saw something in the way they’d look at each other, but they’d pass by so quickly, I couldn’t tell if I imagined it or not.
After another half hour or so of walking, the shops and multifamily dwellings disappeared altogether, giving way to what appeared to be single-family homes. At first, they were smaller, modest homes, but they grew bigger with every block we crossed. There were even splashes of color here and there, replacing the dull, dirt brick I’d grown accustomed to closer to the city walls.
Yet another half hour later, my head was on a swivel. I stared around with mouth hung open. The homes were huge, their architecture more intricate with sweeping designs lining the roof eves and tall, thick columns holding up awnings over the front steps.
We passed one large house surrounded by an eight-foot tall wrought iron fence. A man stood in the doorway, his arms folded, watching us pass. He wore the same kind of leathers as our escort guards, minus the swirling symbol. We made eye contact through the fence bars until another man appeared in the doorway behind him. The second younger man held something long and dark in his hand. The older man waved him back into the house. Was that guy holding a gun?
I examined the man walking in front of us a little closer. The metal cylinder hung at his hip, bumping slightly at his thigh as he walked. There was no curved grip or trigger. It looked like a metal pipe with grooved leather wrapped around one end for him to grip like a club. That had to be what it was, some type of club they used in nonlethal situations.
I looked back at the house but the man had disappeared inside and the door was closed. My eyes traveled from window to window, but they all had curtains pulled closed across them. I thought I saw one flick as I looked. I stared at that window, on the third floor at the corner of the house, but it remained still beyond the window.
Judging by the sun shifting across the sky, I figured we walked at a brisk pace for nearly two hours. I began to get an idea of the scope of the city itself from inside the walls. I stepped beside Seanna and decided against “Are we there yet?” I went with the much more mature version: “How much farther is it?”
“Not much farther,” she replied. “Maybe a half hour.”
“Does Daresh live on the opposite side of the city or something?”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head, blond hair swaying in the slight breeze. “His castle is the city center. Delicia was founded by some of the first humans on Alisundi, several generations down the line from the first humans here.”
“The Athenians?” I asked.
She glanced sideways at me. “Minotaur felt like sharing, I see.”
I nodded. “Aoife’s knowledge of Greek mythology brought out the chattiness in him.”
“Yes, the Athenians. Or more specifically, their grandkids, or great-grandkids.” She visibly relaxed as she talked. “By that time, they were losing the traditions of the original humans, their forefathers. The bitterness they felt at being trapped here overtook the appreciation of still being alive instead of dying at the hands of the ‘beast’ on the island of Crete on Earth.”
“So, they came here?”
“To isolate themselves, yes. Out in the middle of nowhere.”
“No kidding,” I said.
“They built the first settlements on that hill up ahead.” She nodded her head in the direction we were heading.
I looked around our lead escort. A hill rose in the distance. A wall lined the bottom of the hill and another one at the top. Over that peeked a massive building. “That’s Daresh’s castle?”
“Yes. It’s the site of the original settlement, but as the population grew, the city spread out and that building was built as a city hall. All business of the city government is done there. There’s a saying about Delician humans: All roads lead from our heart.”
“What does it mean?” I asked.
“Turn around and look,” she said.
I did. “Whoa.” I hadn’t noticed before, but we had been traveling up a slowly sloping hill, which raised us higher than the walls surrounding the city. That wasn’t the incredible part. I knew we hadn’t left the road we started on at the gate, but I hadn’t realized how straight it was. From the higher vantage point, I could see all the way down to the gate and out onto the plains in the distance.
“Really, Gaige?” Aoife asked. “You haven’t noticed that?”
“I’ve been, uh, distracted.”
“So, have I, and I noticed,” she said.
“Delicia is an almost perfect circle,” Seanna explained. “The main roads all come from Daresh’s castle, cutting the city like a pie.” The corner of her mouth twitched, apparently amused by her analogy. “All the side streets run in a widening circle out from there.” She pointed back toward the castle. “Like ripples in water.”
“How very OCD of them,” Aoife commented. Without all the people around, she seemed more in control of herself. The tightness had left her face, but her eyes remained hazel.
“Up here, the richer citizens snatched up the smaller plots the tighter circles created. Down by the walls, the spaces between roads are much larger, meaning they can build larger, multi-dwelling buildings.”
“And everybody lives within the walls?”
“More or less,” Seanna explained, continuing up the hill. “There are other habitations out there, all within a day’s walk of here. Military training outposts. Mining. Farming. Stuf
f like that.”
“You people talk too much,” the lead guard said. It was the first thing to be said since our first encounter.
Seanna spared him a haughty glance before she went on. “All those places, as I said, are within a day’s walk, so if there’s trouble, they can return to the city and its protective wall.”
“What do they mine?” Aoife asked.
“Metals mostly. Useful ore. Not gold or precious metals.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“There’s very little use in it,” she explained. “Sure, the richer citizens like to get their hands on gold jewelry or other ornaments, but the real wealth of the Delicians come in the form of paper.”
“Like money on Earth,” I said.
“Sort of,” she said. “The true backing of that paper is metal. Like, what are they called? Bonds?”
“US bonds?” Aoife asked.
“Yes. The bonds give you a holding in the metal stores.”
“Why metal?” I wondered.
“Metal is the main source of Delicia’s growth. Granted, they keep mostly to themselves and have become quite adept at being self-sustaining. If other people are in need of metal, they come here for it. The metal they pull out of their mines is considered among the best on the planet.”
“What about the bakers and tailors who have nothing to do with metal?”
“They’re paid in holdings of the metal stores and in turn use those holdings to buy the things they need for their crafts from the people who own the lands where the metals are mined or the crops are grown.” She waved a hand around us, indicating the larger houses of the obviously wealthy people.
“Sounds like one big circle of currency,” Aoife said.
“It’s sustained them thus far.” Seanna shrugged a delicate shoulder. “I’m glad my people don’t have to worry about all that.”
Don’t get me wrong. The whole economic discussion made me want to pass out like I was back in Ms. Sander’s economics class, but it was better than walking in silence. I was about to ask her to explain what system the Ashlings use but didn’t get that far as we came to a stop.
“We’re here,” Seanna said. “Daresh’s castle. The Circle of Atlas.”
I craned my neck up at the magnificent structure, the heart of Delicia, sitting high on a hill like a beacon of humanity on Alisundi.
32
A Climb to Doom
Guard presence increased tenfold around the bottom of the hill leading up to Daresh’s compound, The Circle of Atlas. Patrols in groups of four marched along the thick wall that ringed the hill. Three stood outside the iron gate, armed to the teeth with various weapons with pointy tips and sharp edges, as well as those metal cylinders. Their eyes darted around, taking in everything in the immediate vicinity. I wondered what kind of threat could exist that deep in the city. It seemed like overkill. I looked back down at the city wall in the distance. If anybody attacked the city and somehow made it through that wall, they’d be seen long before they made it to the hill.
We walked into a final clearing that circled the hill. No building or structure came within a hundred feet of the wall. It reminded me of the clearing leading up to the city walls. It provided a perfect view of anyone advancing, including us. The guards at the gate stiffened as we approached. Their hands clenched the heavy poleaxes tighter.
We stopped and our three escorts took up position behind us as one of the guards at the gate approached. Seanna stepped out to meet him.
“We’re here to see Daresh,” she said.
“Lord Daresh is not having visitors today.” The guard stressed the title, a clear indication it should not have been left out.
“He will see us,” Seanna stated without a hint of doubt.
“Oh, yeah?” His eyes traveled across the three of us. “I’m sure he will clear his calendar for three children.” He leaned in to address our guard escort behind us. “Take the riffraff back to wherever you dug them up. Lord Daresh has given strict instructions that he is not to be disturbed by any—”
“Lord Daresh,” Seanna interrupted, dripping sarcasm all over the word lord , “is expecting the Gatekeeper.”
That shut him up. Recognition flashed across his pinched face, then doubt. His eyes traveled across us again, going from Seanna to me, and then to Aoife. They settled back on me. Obviously, he came to the conclusion that if any of us were the Gatekeeper, it had to be me. I raised a hand to rub at the tattooed Gatekeeper on my forehead that wasn’t there. His thick moustache twitched in annoyance. He looked less than impressed.
“Right, and I am the Grand Lady of the Maze,” he said.
One of the guards behind us snickered, but quickly covered it up with a cough.
“Who?” Aoife asked.
“So, you’re not going to let us in?” Seanna set her jaw.
“No. Go away,” he replied.
“What is your name?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“I do, for when we see Daresh, so I can let him know who wouldn’t let the Gatekeeper in to see him.” She folded her arms over her chest and glared at him.
The man glanced past us to our escort. The man with a limp just shrugged. It was the gate guard’s call whether to let us in or not. He turned back to me, trying to size me up. He wasn’t very tall, a few inches shorter than me, but he was stocky and powerfully built. One of those metal pipe things hung at his waist, and a sword hung at his other hip. I tried to imagine what he could chop through using that sword with those large arms but dismissed that thought when my body parts started popping into the picture. I pulled my eyes from his sword up to find his locked on mine. His hand strayed to that sword.
“Well?” Seanna asked impatiently.
The guard turned to Seanna. “Didn’t you hear me say, go aw…” His voice trailed off and his eyelids half closed for a brief moment before opening fully again. His eye flickered to me and then back toward the gate he and his colleagues guarded. “All right, you can go see Lord Daresh, but make it quick. He didn’t want visitors today.” He half turned at the waist and motioned for his partners to let us pass.
I felt Aoife’s breath across my neck as she let out the breath she was holding. I hadn’t noticed she had pushed right up behind me.
“Good,” Seanna said with icy disdain and brushed past him.
I was surprised they allowed us through without an escort. We climbed a series of stairs that meandered up the side of the hill, edging slowly toward the castle at the top. Unlike most of the city, the hillside was alive with color and extravagance. We passed through gardens with flowers and plants unlike anything I had seen before.
The first garden we went through was a hanging garden. We passed under a canopy of vegetation with vines climbing everywhere, hanging only inches from the top of my head. One had leaves almost perfectly rectangular in shape with a yellow starburst pattern on them. Another had large leaves with three or four flat shoots that hung and pulsed, opening and closing without stopping. Still another had cup-shaped flowers all shades of purple. What was so weird about that? The cup of the flower turned, tracking our progress through the garden. I stood in front of one and moved from right to left, watching it turn to follow my movements. Seanna didn’t give us much time to check it out, rushing us toward our destination.
I smelled the next garden before we got to it. It was full of flowers of every shape, color and size I could imagine and they all gave off a pleasant scent, but the sheer volume of flowers, all in bloom, brought the floral smells right to the brink of being overwhelming. If the different flower types had their own unique scents, I couldn’t tell. They all mashed together like a flower shop, only a few times worse.
We entered the last garden as we crested the hill. As we took the last step, Aoife stopped us to catch her breath. I turned to look the way we came, surprised at just how high up we were. My legs felt a little wobbly from the effort of the climb due to the lack of proper nutrition, but as an athlete, I was used to pus
hing through being tired, finding my second wind.
The hilltop itself was unnaturally flat. It leveled out so abruptly that it couldn’t have been a natural formation. A sprawling garden filled with bushes, statues, and fountains lay before us and in the distance, Daresh’s castle rose. I found myself less than impressed by it. Seeing it from down below, looking up, it had an air of a massive structure looming over the city. Getting closer to it, I could tell it wasn’t quite all that.
“Who’s that?” I asked Seanna as we entered the garden, pointing at the first statue we came to.
It was large and carved from a light gray stone that had flecks in it, making it sparkle in the sunlight. The man it represented was skinny with big hair and a brooding scowl. He wore a toga and had a short, stubby sword held casually in his hand.
“How am I supposed to know?” Seanna snapped, barely giving the statue a glance.
I blinked, confused for a moment. “I just thought—”
“Thought what?” she interrupted. “That I’m supposed to know everything there is to know about humans?”
Right, because you’re not human, I thought with surprising bitterly.
“Wow,” Aoife mouthed at me, just as shocked by the outburst as I was.
“Well, I don’t,” she went on. “Probably somebody from long ago that fickle human girls swooned over because of that stupid, pouty expression on his face.”
“Pouty?” I looked up at the statue again. It did look kind of silly.
“Can we just get there?” She waved a hand in the direction of the castle. “We’re right there and I don’t want to spend another week wandering this stupid garden explaining the history of humans on Alisundi. Maybe Daresh offers a class or something.” She looked at me, then shook her head. “On second thought, never mind. I’ve seen how well you pay attention in class.”
Ouch.
Aoife clenched her jaw. I could tell she was biting her tongue and I wondered why. In the few years I had known her, I couldn’t remember an occasion when she didn’t say what was on her mind. Her brain-to-mouth filter was either faulty or nonexistent.
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