An array of streetlamps placed at regular intervals lit up the street with a warm amber glow. People darted every which way, clogging the road, forcing Vir to carefully thread Bumpy through the traffic. Traffic! Now there was a word he’d only ever heard and never experienced.
This is awful! he thought. Now he understood why everyone complained.
Women shouted. Men cursed. Children went around begging on the streets, while laughter erupted from a nearby building whose glass windows burst with magical light. The smell of liquor wafted out from a nearby tavern. A lady threw open a fourth-story window and yelled down to someone on the street. Permeating it all was a briny scent on the cool ocean’s breeze, all bundled up with a pungency of urine and dung.
“This is too much,” he said. “I can’t keep this up!”
“We just need to find the inn Riyan recommended,” Maiya said.
Vir’s senses overloaded as he tried to soak it all in while navigating Bumpy—who was as flustered as he was—but quickly discovered that unless he tuned everything out, he’d run someone over.
“Badrak’s balls! Watch where yer going, boy!” a man snarled, slapping Bumpy’s snout. The beast sneezed and bucked, almost throwing Vir and Maiya off.
“Woah! Woah there, Bumpy! It’s okay, it’s okay.” He fought to wrestle the beast back under control, barely hanging on as the Ash’va juked and bucked.
“What a grakking chal!” Maiya exclaimed, hanging onto Vir for dear life. “Who does he think he is, treating Bumpy like that?”
“Uh,” Vir said sheepishly, “I did almost run him over.”
“Oh. W-well, it’s okay, Vir. Look at how busy it is! I’m sure everybody here runs over a person or two.”
I seriously doubt that, Maiya… he thought.
Vir’s eyes darted left and right, prowling for impending obstacles.
“Found it!” Maiya said moments later, pointing to a sign with a large rooster clutching a mug of ale.
Vir threaded Bumpy over to the inn. Not a moment after they’d arrived, a valet approached, asking if he’d like to allow the inn to tend to Bumpy.
Vir’s response was an immediate, “Yes, please!”
Maiya burst into laughter.
“They should honestly require you to take a course or something to ride an Ash’va in a place like this,” he grumbled, happily handing over the ten-copper fee to the valet.
“Um, ser?”
Both Vir and the stablehand turned to look at a filthy young girl, barefoot and dressed in rags. She looked like she hadn’t washed in a good while, and her ribs showed through her torn garment. He’d seen several others just like her on the way in.
“Begone, you!” the stablehand said, kicking at the girl. She was too fast—she moved aside before he could hit her.
The valet was about to slap her, but Vir grabbed his wrist. “What are you doing?”
“Ser?” he replied, confused. “These urchins are a blight. Best be rid of them, or more of their ilk will inevitably show up.”
Vir shook his head. He knew all too well the plight of the poor. The harsh winters barely survived. The endless pangs of hunger.
“What’s your name?” he asked in a gentle voice.
“A-Alda. Um, you’re kinda weird, aren’t you?”
“What?” Vir asked. That was hardly the reaction he’d expected.
“Nobody ever talks to us. Even the ones that give us coin just do it so we’ll leave,” she said, looking down.
“I know what it’s like to—” Before he could continue, Maiya kicked his shin. Vir suddenly came to his senses.
I nearly blew our cover! Vir thought, glancing at the valet, who looked awfully uncomfortable with this entire exchange.
“I mean, I’ve heard the stories. Here,” he said, dropping ten coppers in her hands. “I hope this helps pay for your next meal.”
The girl’s eyes went as wide as an orb. She took the money and darted off, as if scared he’d want the coins back.
Vir turned back to the valet. “I trust you will show my steed the utmost respect?”
“Don’t worry, ser, we’ll take extra good care of your injured friend here.”
Vir raised a brow. “You could tell?”
“Oh, of course, ser. I understand that someone of your station would have several mounts, so I imagine you have an emotional attachment to this one.”
It shocked Vir that the stablehand had caught onto Bumpy’s deformity so immediately. It’d taken him hours of grooming the animal to catch onto that.
“City folk are just different,” he muttered as they approached the main entrance of the inn.
Maiya wasn’t supposed to hear that, but the girl had a knack for eavesdropping on anything even remotely related to cities and magic.
“See?” she said, gloating.
“Guess cities aren’t so bad after all,” Vir admitted.
They’d only just entered the inn, and he was already stunned silent. Dozens of Magic Lamps illuminated every nook and cranny. He couldn’t even spot a single one of the cheaper Magic Candle orbs. Never in his life had he seen such a display of wealth.
The building itself was no less impressive than the streets outside. Built of log construction and two stories tall, a great wooden chandelier adorned with Magic Lamps hung from the A-frame ceiling, while a staircase at the back led to the second floor, where the rooms were located.
On the left was the check-in counter, and on the right looked to be a full bar and kitchen. The clatter of plates and flatware filled the space as patrons chatted and laughed, sitting at the half dozen longtables that dominated the central area.
Somehow, it all felt a bit like home. Not Riyan’s place—his home in Brij, even though the only similarity they shared was their log construction. He felt warm here. Cozy. Welcomed. Then reality came crashing down—the wealth this building boasted—and he realized what a mistake they’d made. “I told you we can’t afford an expensive inn like this!”
“Uh, Vir?” Maiya said, scratching her nose.
“Yes?”
“This is the place Riyan recommended. It’s one of the cheapest places in the city that’s actually safe.”
“Oh… Wow. Okay.”
For the first time in his life, Vir understood what it meant to be a villager in a big city.
Maiya kicked his shin. “Try not to gawk so much? We’re supposed to be aristocrats, Vir! You’re ruining our cover story!”
“Oh, right.” Vir did his best to gawk with his mouth closed from that point on.
With Maiya handling things, the hotel check-in process went smoothly. Ten Imperium coppers were steep for an inn, considering he’d already paid ten to berth Bumpy, but he’d heard that cities were expensive. He should probably be thankful it wasn’t a silver.
“Okay, so they’re gonna bring all our stuff up to our room,” Maiya said. “We get one meal included with the stay, but there aren’t any baths in the room. There’s just a communal one we can use for another two coppers. I bought that for us, too.”
“Huh? Right, thanks,” Vir said, ogling a motley group of warriors who sat at the longtable in the center of the vast hall, each of them laughing and slapping their friends’ shoulders, beer flagons in hand. “Who do you think they are?”
“Hmm. I dunno—oh! You see the badges on their armor?”
Vir scrutinized their clothing. Most wore armor, but not one of them matched. One woman wore a fitted brigandine that was red and black, and another man was clothed in a thick gambeson like the guard that admitted them into the city. A third man wore a thin chainmail hauberk. But they all had the same badge. A small triangular metal plaque adorned with a black symbol that reminded Vir of a ghost.
“I think they’re part of the Brotherhood?” Maiya guessed.
“They’re cultists?” Vir asked, immediately thinking of the Children of Ash.