The biggest difference in Fork was the city walls. They’d passed by a line a mile long to enter the city through a tunnel in the wall. The walls, at least at the base, were thicker than the common room at the Hedgehog was wide. They extended from horizon to horizon.
Once inside the walls, Pantros couldn’t believe how many people were packed into the streets. The carriage moved slower than a person could walk.
“How many people are there here?” Tara asked, voicing a question Pantros too was curious to answer.
“Almost two million,” Estephan said. “It’s the largest city on the continent, but it’s at the center of all the land routes. Northeast to Valencia, Northwest to Glimmer, South by road or barge to Everton and Novarra. Southwest to Grabar, Melnith and Vehlos.”
“I can’t even imagine two million people,” Pantros said.
“Spend an afternoon in The Pit,” Estephan said. “Your imagination will expand in directions you can’t fathom.”
Pantros had heard of The Pit, mostly from Sheillene.
“That’s true,” Sheillene said. “I remember my first visit to The Pit. So much innocence lost in one afternoon.”
“I think you’ve told me the story,” Pantros said.
“Not the whole thing,” Sheillene said. “There are some things even I don’t talk about.”
Watching out the carriage’s window, Pantros slowly began to understand just how many people they were around. People were walking past the window in both directions. At any time he could see a hundred people out the window.
“Are all the streets this crowded?” Pantros asked.
“Just the ones big enough for our carriage to pass,” Estephan said. “Usually we don’t allow such large carriages into the city. I am the prince, so I get to take my carriage wherever I like. The city was built in stages over the last millennium or so. Each time it expands, people start building outside the walls. Eventually we build new walls to keep the new sections of the city safe. There are very few passages through the old walls. The streets that lead through those tend to be the most crowded. This street is the only straight route from Southgate, where we entered, to the palace.”
“How can anyone live here if they have to move through such crowded streets?” Tara asked. “I’d never want to walk on streets this crowded. I could almost walk on the shoulders of the crowd, they are so many.”
Meredith said, “I have cousins that live in the docks quarter. My uncle has never been through any of the city walls. He just stays in the neighborhood he knows. He tells the story of how one day he climbed to the top of a building that could see over the city walls, out over the countryside and the vast landscape disturbed him such that he never wanted to go anywhere.”
CHAPTER 16: CHARLES
Jonah had spent four days telling tales of ancient heroes and great love stories in history. But he’d never told the same story twice and he’d never again asked for theirs. Charles couldn’t remember most of the stories. Mostly they were stories of historical figures or heroic tales with a few fairy tales. A few names Charles recognized as being characters in several stories. Jonah seemed fairly fond of an ancient Abvi General named Vena, and a Mythical Prince named Kehet.
The inns had all been pleasant, usually looking better inside than out. Everything he’d promised at the onset of the wagon ride turned out to be true. It was just before dinner on the second day that they arrived at a place where there were several concentric circles of wagons and carriages, all colorfully painted.
“Welcome to the summer camp of the Gypsies of the Wandering Rose,” Jonah said as he pulled his wagon into the center of the camp. Women and men all dressed in sparse but colorful silks gathered around the wagon and began unloading the contents. Other than glances and smiles, no one seemed to pay particular attention to Charles and Heather.
A woman dressed in sea green silks that were somehow sparser than the clothing of the other gypsies approached Charles and Heather as they stepped down from the driver’s bench. She was the epitome of beautiful. Her long pale blonde hair hung to her waist in gentle curls that seemed to accent more of her body than they hid.
“So, where have you been hiding all these years?” She said. Her voice was a seductive purr.
“Do you know him?” Heather asked.
“No,” Jonah interrupted, “Diten does not know Charles. She’s just particularly friendly.”
Diten then leaned close to Heather and whispered loud enough for Charles to hear, “Maybe I want to know him. Maybe I want to know you.” Her purr seemed a constant in her voice.
“I need to present them to the Queen, Diten.” Jonah said, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Make new friends later.”
Diten walked her fingers over Jonah’s hand on her shoulder. “Oh, I will, unless I decide to renew some old friendships.”
As she walked away her hair swayed in an almost mesmerizing dance around her body. Heather grabbed Charles's jaw and turned him to face her. “I think we were off to see the Queen. I think we’ve seen enough of Diten.”
“She not often here,” Jonah said. “She’s a friend, but not one of us. She’s not a gypsy.” He led them to a carriage with a balcony. A middle aged woman sat on a pile of pillows on the balcony. “Bow,” Johan told them.
They did and Jonah did as well.
The woman looked up at them then, in a panicked flurry, rolled to her feet, scrambled over the railing of her balcony and knelt on the grass, bowing towards them with her hands outstretched.
Jonah straightened and tapped Charles. He and Heather stood as well. The woman, whom Charles had assumed was the Queen, continued to prostrate herself before them.
“I’m not sure this is what I expected,” Heather said. “Isn’t she the Queen?”
“She is.” Jonah grabbed Charles’ arm and nodded to the queen. “Tell her she may rise.”
These folks had strange customs, Charles thought. “You may rise,” Charles said as gently as he could. When Jonah released his arm, Charles stepped up to offer the Queen his hand. The queen took his hand, but kept her head bowed towards him as she climbed to her feet.
“Thank you, Majesty,” the Queen said. “We’ve been expecting you.”
“Now I’m twice confused,” Charles said. Why would a queen be expecting him, and why would she address him with such an honorific as ‘Majesty’?
Jonah stepped to the Queen’s side. “Charles is not yet fully aware of who he is.”
“Then it’s time he was,” The queen said. “My name is Queen Azalea of the Wandering Rose Clan. Your name is Kehet, Prince of the Unicorns.”
“I’m who of what?” Charles asked. The name was familiar from Jonah’s stories. He looked around to see if a crowd had gathered to see how they’d react to the Queen’s joke. Surely, this had to be a joke. A crowd had gathered, but no one was laughing.
Heather was nodding.
“Do you know something I don’t?” Charles whispered.
“It makes sense,” Heather said.
“Unicorns aren’t even real.” Charles said.
“That’s a myth,” Jonah said.
“Right,” Charles agreed. “Unicorns are a myth.”
Jonah shook his head. “No, the part about them not being real is a myth. They’re quite real. They just don’t like to be hunted, so they like to keep the myth that they are a myth going.”
“Woman,” The Queen said, addressing Heather. “You said this made sense; how?”
“He could be anyone,” Heather said. “I found him by the river three years ago. He had no memories at that time and still can’t remember anything before that. And he heals unlike a normal person would. I saw him return to how he looks now from a body covered in nothing but charred flesh. There was an explosion at the Blackstone mines. He wouldn’t be alive if he were human.”