“How far away do you think it is?” Seth asked his brother.
“It’s hard to tell.” Garret began. “I think I first saw this house about three hours ago.” Garret now pointed to the large gray home only a stone’s throw away from them. “I would assume, that if that is the city, then it is much bigger than the house here, so probably can be seen from farther away. If I had to guess I would say four maybe five more hours give or take.”
Seth nodded his agreement to his brother’s calculation, and turned his gaze to the sun.
“We only have a couple hours of light left, three at most.” Seth stated, knowing as he did three hours was being very generous.
Almost without thought the four began walking once again, a new urgency to their pace. They agreed shortly after resuming their trek that they would not stop until they reached the city, even if it took them until well past dark. The road was level and wide here, accustomed to frequent use, and easily discernable from the fields around it. It would not be hard to keep to the road even in the darkness.
Just over two hours had passed since Garret had spotted the city on the horizon. Now however the sun began to shrink past the horizon to the west. They had traveled a great distance in the last few hours, their pace much faster than it had been throughout the day. Now, in the last minutes of sunlight the city was much more easily discernable in the distance. It was apparent that they would indeed need to continue a few more hours into the night to reach their destination, but at least now they knew they could see the destination they sought. Raven’s hold was not what they had thought it was previously. From a far distance it appeared to be several different sized building jumbled together, creating a broken silhouette. However now that they could see the city more clearly it was apparent that it was actually several rows of buildings, each row taller than the previous, growing ever taller towards the center of the city. The whole thing it appeared was surrounded by a great wall of stone, with enormous towers at each corner. This much the group could see in the last moments of light, however, any more details they might take note of were lost as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon.
The group was in luck it seemed. They did not walk on in endless darkness towards their destination as they all thought they would have to. Instead, both moons had appeared full this night, lighting their way in a yellow-green half light that was plenty enough to see the road clearly. They could also see their destination in the darkness. The city itself was obscured, but above it shone the light of the hundreds of lanterns and torches that must have been lit within the city, creating a dome of light in the sky above it. The four walked on at a brisk pace in the half light, hurrying towards the city that seemed to grow larger with each step.
All four companions stared at the high city walls as they approached. They could see from here the gigantic towers that made the corners of the city, and the enormous stone walls that surrounded it. Directly in front of them was a large gate in the wall, where they could see on the road well ahead of them that people walked, and carts rolled though the massive gate. As they neared the gates, the group could see guards posted to either side, who would occasionally stop a person and speak to them before letting them pass. Raven’s hold was bigger than any of them had imagined, and it occurred to Garret that there very likely would be more than one inn in the city. They needed to find the inn where Sirus had said would have a room and horses awaiting them. Garret figured he would have to ask for directions from someone familiar with the city to see if they knew Sirus.
As the twin’s and their companions neared the gate they fell into line behind the mass of people waiting to gain entry to the city. In front of them was a large cart of turnips and carrots, drawn by a mule, lead by an old man. They waited patiently behind the cart, moving forward as it did ever nearing the gates to the city. Finally as they neared the entrance through the massive stone walls, Garret led them directly towards one of the guards posted at the gate.
“Excuse me sir.” Garret spoke to the guard standing to the left of the large gate. “The Knight Sirus said he would have an inn room and horses awaiting myself and my companions once we arrived, do you know perhaps at which inn he might have made such accommodations? Garret asked trying to sound as if this were a normal conversation for him.
“Yes young sire.” The guard responded immediately as if talking to a superior officer.
“Please visit the Stamping Steed. It is most certainly where Lord Sirus would have arranged your accommodations.” The young guard stated knowingly, and quickly related to Garret directions to reach the inn.
The group was back on the road walking through the city in no time at all, with a bed and a hot meal just around the corner. They walked still with purpose, though not as fast as they had the last few hours, here the buildings were closer together than in Stone Haven, and the streets narrower. As they had noticed from a distance, the further they traveled into the city the taller the buildings became. They realized that the city had basically the same design as Stone Haven however, with rings of buildings starting at the center of the city, working their way outward, and a single street running through it from north to south, and another east to west. Each of the rings of buildings had a small street between them that intersected these two larger roads making the city fairly easy to navigate. They had only passed seven or eight rows of buildings when Garret led them down one of the narrower side streets, and then stopped in front of a tall, wide building with torches burning all along its front. The building was made of some sort of clay brick and stood several stories tall. Windows were spaced regularly throughout the front wall and from each window shone a lantern. Above the wide double door swung a sign carved into the shape of a stallion rearing up on its hind legs. The four of them approached the large door together, each imagining a warm bed and hot food that would be behind the door in front of them. Seth released Sara’s hand for the first time that day, and pulling her closer to him he placed his arm around her waist as they followed Ashton and his twin brother inside.
The inside of the large building was just as well lit as the outside. Coming through the door the small band of travelers walked into a huge room that spanned the entire length of the building. The room was filled from end to end with tables of varying sizes, and many of them were attended by groups of men and women. Between the tables brick pillars jutted from the floor to support the building above it at regular intervals. At each end of the room there stood a large staircase leading up to the higher levels. This inn was unlike the one in Stone Haven in more than appearance however. Here no one looked to see who had come through the door. It was as if no one had even noticed them enter. No one hollered a greeting to them either as they entered. They walked into the room allowing the door to close behind them and stood, unsure, looking the room from end to end. This inn too had a large bar directly across the room from the door, and so Garret again taking the lead, walked towards the bar. The massive bar appeared to be made from a single enormous piece of wood, cut smooth at the top and polished to a shine. The front of the bar was an intricately carved scene of two armies facing one another across a field of battle. In front of the bar were dozens of stools from one end to the other, though none of them were currently in use. The twins and their companions approached the bar and seeing that it was unattended, seated themselves upon the stools and waited. A few moments later a young girl, perhaps in her mid teens came through the door behind the bar. Spotting them, she turned and thrust her head back through the door and shouted.