Part 28 (2/2)
He looked at her curiously. ”For what?”
”For the crack on the head,” she replied, raising a hand to rub the spot. She took the bandage off. ”Alric was right. I'd lost control.” Her hair fell across her face-an auburn curtain hiding everything but the tip of her nose. ”It's hard to explain the feeling of it-the power-it's as if I can do anything. Can you imagine knowing you can do anything? It's exciting, alluring-it draws you in and you want it like a hunger. You feel yourself becoming part of something bigger, joining with it, working with it. You sense every drop of water, every blade of gra.s.s, and you become them-everything-the air and the stars. You want to see how far you can go, where the edges are, only some part of you knows-there are no edges.
”I never did anything that big before. I spread out too far. I joined with it too much. I was losing myself, I think. It was just so amazing, feeling the world respond to me like it was a part of me, or I was a part of it. I don't know-I wasn't thinking anymore. I was just feeling and I don't know what might have happened if you hadn't...”
”Whacked you?”
”Yeah.”
”I'm just glad you aren't mad,” he said, and meant it. ”Most people I hit wake up with a slightly different att.i.tude.”
”I suppose they do.” She pulled the curtain of hair back and tilted her head up at him. She had a self-conscious smile on her face. ”I'd also like to thank you for something else.”
He looked at her once more-confused and a little worried.
”I want to thank you for not being afraid of me.”
Her hair was tangled, her face drawn and weary. She had drooping eyes and thin pale pink lips. There was a pinch of sand on the tip of her nose. Creases marked her forehead, thin lines of worry.
Is there anyone quite like her?
He fought an urge to brush the sand from her nose.
”Who says I'm not afraid of you?” he asked her.
He saw her turning that comment over in her mind and felt it was best to end the conversation before he said something stupid. He got up, dusted the sand off himself, and went looking for his pack. He had just reached the s.h.i.+p, where Wyatt was coiling a length of rope, when the two scouts returned.
”There's a pa.s.sage up that way,” Mauvin announced, grinning.
They came to the side of the s.h.i.+p, where they found their packs and, pulling out their water sacks, threw their heads back and guzzled to quench their thirst.
”It's amazing,” Alric said, wiping the water from his beard. ”There are these huge statues of lions-their paws are taller than I am! This really is Percepliquis. I want to go in. We should get going.”
”Wyatt and Elden are planning to stay here,” Hadrian told him.
”Why?” he asked, concerned and perhaps a bit annoyed.
”They plan to fix the s.h.i.+p while we're gone and have it ready for us by the time we get back.”
”Oh, okay, that makes sense-good sense. That's great. Now let's get our stuff and get going. I've waited all my life to see this.” Alric and Mauvin trotted back aboard the Harbinger to find the rest of their gear.
”Kings,” Hadrian said to Wyatt with a shrug.
”Be careful,” Wyatt told him. ”And keep an eye on Gaunt.”
”Gaunt?”
”You're too trusting,” Wyatt said. He nodded to where Gaunt sat near the dwarf on a large stone slab. ”He spends a lot of time with Magnus and he was unusually friendly with me and Elden, like he was buddying up with the drafted members of the party, trying to form a group of dissenters. Remember what I told you on the Emerald Storm? There's always one member of any crew who's looking for a mutiny.”
”And he's our only hope,” Hadrian replied with a lilt of irony in his voice. ”You'd better be careful too. As you know, the Ghazel are no joke. Keep an eye out. Don't sleep on the s.h.i.+p. Don't light any fires.”
”Trust me, I remember the arena at the Palace of the Four Winds. I have no desire to cross swords with them a second time.”
”That's good, because this isn't an arena and there are no rules. Out here they'll swarm over you like an army of ants.”
”Good luck.”
”Same to you and make sure this s.h.i.+p is ready to sail when we get back. I've been on enough jobs with Royce to know that while the going in may be slow, the coming out is usually a race.”
The ruins of the city began at the water's edge, although this was not entirely evident until they left the sand and moved inland, where they had a wider perspective. The large stone blocks were part of the broken foundation of white marble columns that had once stood a hundred feet tall. They knew this by discovering three remaining columns still upright, yet how they had managed to remain this way was bewildering, as the blocks had s.h.i.+fted precariously.
They found the pa.s.sage Alric and Mauvin had discovered, which began at the feet of two huge lions carved from stone. Each was easily two hundred feet tall, although one was missing its head, which had fallen away. The remaining lion showed a fierce face with teeth bared and a full and flowing mane.
”The Imperial Lions,” Myron muttered as they pa.s.sed under their shadow and Royce paused to light his lantern.
”I've seen these before,” Arista whispered, her head back, looking up at the sculptures. ”In my dreams.”
”What do you know of this place, Myron?” Royce asked, lifting his light and peering forward into a vast labyrinth of crumbled stone and silhouetted ruins.
”Which author would you like to hear from? Antun Bulard did a wonderful study of the ancient texts as well as-”
”Summarize, please.”
”Right, okay, well, legend has it that this was once a small agrarian village, the home of a farmer's daughter named Persephone. They lived in fear of the elves, who had reportedly burned nearby villages and slaughtered the inhabitants right down to every man, woman, and child. Persephone's village was next but a man called Novron appeared in the village. He fell in love with Persephone and vowed to save her. He begged her to leave the village but she refused, so he decided to stay and swore to protect her.
”He took charge and rallied the men. When the attack came, he defeated the forces of the elves, saving the village. He revealed himself to be Novron, the son of Maribor, sent to protect his children from the greed of the Children of Ferrol.
”Many battles later, Novron defeated the elves at the Battle of Avempartha and a time of peace with the elves began. Novron wished to build a capital for his great empire and a home for his wife. Although he ruled vast tracks of land, Persephone refused to live anywhere other than her village. So it was here that Novron built his capital, naming it Percepliquis-the city of Persephone.
”Over the years it became the largest and most sophisticated city in the world. It is chronicled as being five miles across and the seat of a famous university and library. Scholars came from across the empire to study. The Grand Imperial Palace was built here and it was a place of temples, gardens, and parks. Records report that the city had clean water fountains open to the public and baths where citizens lounged in heated pools.
”Percepliquis was also the home of the imperial bureaucracy, a vast system of offices that administered the empire, controlling its economy and social and political inst.i.tutions. There were agents responsible for rooting out potential dissidents, suspected criminals, and corrupt officials. And of course, it was home to the Teshlor Guild and the Cenzar Council-the imperial knights and the college of wizards that advised and protected the emperor.
”Through his bureaucracy the emperor controlled everything, from the forests to mines, farms, granaries, s.h.i.+pyards, and cloth mills. Corruption was held in check by appointing more than one head of each department and by rotating them out frequently. They never appointed local men who might have ties to those they administered to. Even prost.i.tution was regulated by the empire.
”Percepliquis was a place of great wealth. The center of the empire's trade that spanned all of Apeladorn and reached even into the exotic Westerlins and north into Estrendor, it bustled with richly dressed merchants and the roads were legendary. They were huge, wide thoroughfares of well-laid stone, perfectly straight, that ran for miles in all directions. Trees were planted on either side of them to provide shade, and they were well maintained and marked with milestones. Wells and shelters were placed at regular intervals for the comfort of travelers.
”There was no famine, no crime, no disease or plague. No droughts were ever recorded, nor floods, nor even harsh frosts. Food was always plentiful, and no one was poor.”
”I can see why the Imperialists want to recapture that ideal,” Alric observed.
”Which just goes to show how foolish people can be,” Gaunt said. ”No famine, no drought, no disease, no poor? There's about as much chance of that happening as-”
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