They soon reached the bulwark at the Mid Ring. Lances dotted the battlements, and guards patrolled atop the walls or kept a vigilant eye from the many towers. Here, they encountered workers collecting garbage in two-wheeled drays pulled by dartans along roads in much better condition. Once loaded, the dartans headed toward the Outer Ring. The streets here had also been cleared of regular folk, restricting passage to soldiers.
When they came upon the Inner Ring and its crenellated rampart, the streets became spotless, paved with large flagstones in mosaic designs. Villas dotted the hundred-foot wide avenue, their deep blue and violet walls gleaming. Spires stretched twice the height of the two hundred-foot walls, and sunlight reflected from the buildings’ glass-covered facades. Fountains lined the main road, and small ponds filled with fish decorated some areas. Pillars adorned the entrance to each villa with manicured gardens hedging most properties.
Another thing stood out to Ryne within the Inner Ring-the number of soldiers. They marched through the streets or stood in lined formations numbering in the tens of thousands. Infantry, dartan divisions, archers, and several cohorts who displayed the Waterwall insignia of Astoca’s Matii, the Namazzi, crowded the squares. Ryne smiled at the occasional shift or fidget among the troops when Thumper rode by.
They turned onto a marbled colonnade, wide enough for twenty wagons to travel abreast, which led to the castle’s main gates. Immaculate flagstones, and even more fountains sprouting water at timed intervals, decorated the area. Manicured gardens, much more beautiful than any before, spread to the sides. Guards stood at attention along this path, tasseled lances held high.
Looming ahead was Castere Keep, its towers and spires extending a thousand feet into the air as Astoca’s dedication to Aeoli, its walls glittering in silvery blue. Disguised within the beauty were arrow slits, murder holes, and sally gates. Twin barbicans guarded the raised, heavy gate and portcullis. The Waterwall fluttered from multiple flag posts. Ryne saw the castle for what it was-a fortress.
They rode through the gates into a courtyard and past two matching guard formations standing at strict attention to either side of the walkway that ended at the stairs to the castle itself. Ten servants in white livery ran down the wide stairs. Rosival dismounted and passed his reins to two such. Without being told, Sakari hopped down and Ryne followed suit, handing Thumper’s reins to a wide-eyed young Astocan who stared, openmouthed. The young man’s partner nudged him in the side. Still staring, the youth muttered an apology. After quick bows, the servants led the mounts toward a path on one side.
Rosival turned to Ryne and said, “Master Waldron, as a safety measure it is requested you leave your weapons here with the guards. Due to the nature of recent events, only the Royal Guards are allowed to be armed in the King’s presence.”
Ryne did not bother to look at the Lieutenant. “In that case, I’ll be leaving.” He raised a hand toward the servant leading Thumper away. “Hul-”
“Wait.” Rosival wiped sweat from his forehead. “Allow me to pass word of your arrival.”
“We’ll be sitting on your pretty stairs waiting. If you take too long, I’m leaving.” With that, Ryne strode to the steps and sat.
Rosival spoke to a guard, and then hurried inside.
From where Ryne sat, he could see through the gates and down into the city and land for miles to the northeast. From this vantage point, someone in Castere must have seen the smoking clanholds. That would explain why the soldiers were questioning the Alzari at the gates. The King was already aware of the threat.
“You may enter,” Rosival said when he returned soon after.
They followed the Lieutenant up the stairs and through a wide gateway manned by several guards in bronze armor. Hands on swords, they stared straight ahead as if they saw nothing. Not a single guard reached higher than Ryne’s chest.
The entrance opened into a long hall of marble and paneled wood, polished until it could hold a blurred reflection. Tapestries and murals illustrating great battles hung above the paneling. The most prominent depicted the gods Hyzenki and Aeoli at war, commanding storms and seas in battle against the Eztezians-a race of giants the size of the Svenzar. A few displayed the King on his hunts.
Along the length of the hall, stone columns supported inlaid vaulted ceilings with lamps in sconces adorning each pillar. Ryne’s feet made little to no noise on the lush carpets. Every fifteen feet, guards stood at attention on alternating sides.
Doorways, with the Waterwall standard draped above, intersected the hall at regular intervals. Liveried servants ran back and forth from rooms or bustled up and down the hall. Some carried food, others drink, and yet others held trays of fruit. The sweet aromas wafting from the dishes made Ryne’s stomach grumble. Rosival led them straight ahead into the Audience Chamber.
Dignitaries and nobles in extravagant clothing crowded the hall. Long coats reaching down to their knees, skin like polished copper, heads shaved on one side, marked Felani from the west. Harnan Lords, their skin tanned to ebony, puffed about in embroidered jackets and dresses buttoned to the neck, dabbing at their heads with scented scarves. With one side of their chests exposed, often with nothing more than painted stripes across the skin, Cardian Lords and Ladies prowled in bright colored, sheer satins and linens that did little to hide their bodies. Colorful tattoos on baldheads indicated the Banai nobility among the crowds. Most listened to an Astocan in gold and white silks who stood on a dais at the room’s center.
The Audience Chamber contained more vaulted ceilings, paneled wood, silk and satin drapes, and tiered chandeliers. Huge marbled pillars marked the first two hundred paces into the room like monolithic sentinels. Representations of Hyzenki and Aeoli peeked from the tall, stained-glass windows partially hidden by satin curtains. Smaller windows with barely discernible images of Humelen, Liganen, Ilumni and Rituni were located just below the others. A flowered rug ran all the way to the dais.
“Sacrilege,” said Sakari, his voice still passive, his gaze fixed on the smaller windows. “They are a token gesture to the other nobles here, nothing more.”
Rosival missed a step and glanced back at Sakari.
“I wondered when you would say something. Maybe, you’re getting old after all,” Ryne replied, but Sakari offered no response as they stopped among the pillars.
King Voliny sat sprawled on his throne, a hundred feet from the room’s center. The large marble chair, with a likeness of a Waterwall carved into it, stood on a raised platform several feet higher than the dais where the Astocan spoke. Dressed in pristine cerulean blue, with gold scrollwork running up his coat sleeves, the King made for an imposing figure despite one sleeve ending at the elbow. A beak for a nose and hard angles highlighted his clean-shaven face, and his russet skin shone like oiled leather. Silver highlights set off his black hair, which was pulled back into a tight braid. A foolish person could mistake his lazed sprawl for inattention until they met those piercing blue eyes. His body shifted ever so slightly when his gaze crossed Ryne.
For an instant, the King’s aura appeared to change shades. None of what Ryne saw was malevolent, but something about the aura felt out of place. It tickled some familiarity in the back of Ryne’s mind. Where have I seen such an aura before? Try as he might, he couldn’t dredge up the memory. For the moment, he dismissed the thought.
There were no guards visible, but he could sense and see their auras all the same. They were positioned next to the pillars he and Sakari stood among and at various locations throughout the room. He found King Voliny’s choice for Royal Guards to be ironic. The man held Hyzenki and Aeoli in such high esteem, yet found it prudent to send Namazzi Matii whose strengths all lay in Forging the Flows, to be trained by the Svenzar in the elements of Forms. The same Svenzar who stood behind their Formist beliefs in their worship to Humelen and Liganen, and who the Astocans and their Flowic beliefs disdained.