“We should’ve just taken the road in the first place,” Maiya said, grumbling.
For the first time during their journey, they saw other travelers, and they encountered more and more as they neared Saran. All rode Ash’va’s, without exception. Some were hitched to wagons or carriages towed by the beasts, but there wasn’t a single person on foot. Only a fool would cross a desert without a pack animal.
“They seem pretty friendly, huh?” Maiya said, nodding to another traveler.
“Seems like it. But keep your guard up. Never know what kinds of people you might run into here.”
“Ho there, travelers!” a tall man called out. He had short cropped black hair and was dressed in the flowing white robes of most of the desert travelers they encountered, apart from some gold and silver accents here and there. But the man’s most distinct feature was his enormous black handlebar mustache that looked like it was more wax than hair.
“Unusual to see children on the road alone,” the man said, trotting his Ash’va up next to theirs. “Are you in need of assistance?”
“No—ahem,” Maiya said, remembering to lower her voice. “We’re bound for Saran. Thank you for the offer.”
The stranger chuckled. “If you’re headed this direction, you can only be bound for the port city. But are you alone?”
Maiya glanced at Vir, who responded. “We’re the sons of a merchant based out of Daha. We’ve made this trip several times. Thank you for your concern, but we do not require any aid at this time.”
Vir was surprised by his own confidence. The pirate encounter had left both of them rattled, so he wasn’t sure if he could pull it off.
“We’re on a trade run to buy Ranian textiles from Saran,” Maiya said, riffing off of Vir’s statement. “Better deals at the port, you see.”
“Oho?” the man said, twisting the ends of his absurd mustache. He leaned over and stared for an uncomfortable amount of time.
“Do you have any business with us?” Vir said, growing anxious.
Has he seen through our disguise?
“Not at all, young ones. I apologize for my intrusion. I pray to Adinat that your mission is profitable. Good day.”
He kicked his Ash’va and sped forward.
They both let out a breath. “Thought we’d been made!” Maiya said.
“Same. That was weird,” Vir replied, watching the man disappear into the distance, his beast’s hooves clacking against the cobblestone road.
“And how the heck is his Ash’va so fast!” he said, gaping at the animal’s speed. It moved twice as fast as Bumpy did when he ran all out.
“Some Ash’va are bred for speed,” Maiya replied. “But they can’t travel as far. Of course, top tier animals can do both, but they cost a lot more.”
“Did Riyan teach you that too?”
She shook her head. “Nope, Dad did. So anyway, what do you think that was about?”
“Wish I knew.”
Yet something nagged at his mind as they rode on, like an itch he couldn’t quite scratch. Minutes later, it finally clicked. “Say,” he said. “Wasn’t that man going the other way when he bumped into us? Wasn’t he leaving Saran?”
Maiya tapped her chin. “Now that you mention it… Yeah. Yeah, he was. Wait,” she said, the color draining from her face. “You think…”
“I hope not,” Vir said, but he had a bad feeling about this. “Stay sharp.”
City walls appeared on the horizon just as the sun set, painting the sky with its brilliant hues.
For Vir and Maiya, who’d never once laid eyes on a proper city before, the walls stood imposingly tall. Soldiers walked along its ramparts, and its many crenellations and arrow slits cued up tales of fantasy and myth in their minds.
Had they looked closer, they’d have noticed cracks in its foundation, gaps in the security patrols, and a myriad of other signs that told a different story entirely.
“Time to put our acting skills to the test, I guess,” Vir mumbled, seeing the line of wagons and carriages waiting to enter Saran. The guards stopped everyone before allowing them entry.
“Don’t worry, I got this,” Maiya said. “Let me do the talking. Riyan told me that businesses ordinarily need papers to get through, but Sawai don’t. And apparently, it’s a big deal if a commoner is rude to nobility, so we’ll play that to our advantage. Plus, we’re arriving during the day. He said the security checks get worse at night, since that’s when the shadier types try to get in.”
Vir wondered whether that was true, or whether it was just the less competent brigands who arrived at night. If he wanted to enter illegally, he’d do so during the day, just as they were doing now. He suspected others did the same, but since no one caught them, no one knew.
Vir’s nerves grew tauter and tauter as they crept closer to the gates. “We could’ve traveled another dozen miles in the time it’s taken for us to inch up to that gate. This is so frustrating!”
After what felt like an eternity to Vir, their turn finally arrived. As they’d discussed, he let Maiya do the talking.
“Papers, please,” the guard said. The man wore a full-length gray gambeson with the Hiranyan coat of arms embroidered on his chest. His only weapon was a talwar, which hung from his waist. The other handful of guards that loitered nearby all wielded polearms.
The mere sight of that infernal weapon drummed up terrible memories inside Vir, forcing him to look away.
Maiya feigned a look of shock. “You would ask a child of the Suvir family for their papers? Do you not see who I am, you fool?”
Vir could scarcely believe the words pouring out of Maiya’s mouth. Her swaggering, overconfident tone was unlike anything he’d ever heard before.
The guard jolted back at Maiya’s words. “No, ser, no, of course not. Just doing my job, ser. May I ask your lordship what business brings you to our city?”
Maiya gazed at her fingernails as if she were bored out of her mind and that being here was the worst thing in the world.
“Oh, it’s all very droll, you see. Father wants us to buy some of those new Ranian textiles everyone’s been talking about in the capital. Honestly, can you believe that? He tasked us to come out here to the arse-end of nowhere to do a servant’s bidding!” Maiya let out a very long sigh. “I suppose that we’ll peruse the wares, now that we’re here. You understand, don’t you?”
“Oh yes, ser. Absolutely. Please don’t let us keep you any longer. We hope you enjoy your stay in our city.”
“Oh, I am quite certain I won’t, but I appreciate the gesture,” Maiya said, tossing a small sack of Imperium coppers to the guard.
The man fumbled to catch the sack before hurriedly stuffing it into his gambeson. Vir wondered whether bribery was the norm here, or if it was something that fell under the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ category. From the way the guard hid the coins, he suspected the latter.
Vir guided Bumpy past the checkpoint and took a deep breath. His heart quickened and his palms tightened around Bumpy’s reins.
After all, it wasn’t every day that someone stepped foot into a city for the first time in their life.
31COUNTRY BUMPKINS
“Guess the makeup worked pretty well after all,” Vir admitted, guiding Bumpy through a set of double portcullis gates. The unfathomable number of murder holes above them painted a grim picture for any poor soul that dared to enter unlawfully. “Can’t believe we just fooled the guards in a major city.”
“I know, right?” Maiya said, her voice breaking. “I seriously thought my heart would pop out. It was beating so fast!”
“R-riiight,” Vir said, half-hearing what she’d said. His eyes had grown to the size of orbs the moment they’d entered Saran.