Wil Ogden - The Nightstone

Pantros knew he didn’t have that, yet. He’d brought most of his gems with him. “I see,” he said. “I guess I have to start with the land, so I’m on the way, at least.”

“Pan!” Tara’s voice sounded stern. “Did you just buy a county that’s not anywhere near the Hedgehog?”

“A Stewardship,” Pantros corrected. “Did you expect me to live there forever?”

“Well, no,” Tara said. “But, I hoped you’d move to somewhere close enough to visit, not somewhere through troll infested mountains.”

“Those trolls were an anomaly,” Estephan said. “They’re a symptom of that Key being outside its normal protections. Speaking of symptoms, we’ve not seen a Hellhound attack since we got in the carriage.”

“I noticed that,” Sheillene said. “I’m not sure why not. Maybe they ran out?”

“You’ve used all my hounds?” Glacia asked Darien. They spoke in an alley near Darien’s tower. That Glacia had one of her secret bungalows nearby, was common knowledge among the demons of the region, its precise location was not. She could be seen in the area without arousing suspicion. Entering Darien’s tower, however, would raise eyebrows.

“The boy who has the key is resourceful. He has friends who have adapted to expecting them.” Darien said. “Is there other assistance you could provide?

“I’ll have to think on it,” Glacia said. “I have some ideas, but I’ll have to be sure you won’t again squander the opportunities I provide you.”

“I have plans in motion that will succeed, but it’s going to be a very ugly solution,” Darien said. “We’re not going to be very popular with the gods of that world. Anything more elegant would be preferred.”

“You won’t be popular,” Glacia said. “I’m not involved, remember.”

Glacia pulled a hood over her head. It was made of thin gold mail, and didn’t hide her identity, but it let people know she didn’t want to be identified, which among demons scurrying for the favor of any lord had the same result. She walked past Darien without any parting pleasantries, though she did allow her tail to flick in front of his nose.

The alleys wouldn’t hide her forever, so she went out to the main thoroughfare and walked. The demons parted in front of her, some looking away, others bowing, but none let her pass without reacting to her status. She smiled. Making lesser demons appease her was one of the small pleasures of Demia. When she entered another alley, she was sure no one would follow her.

Bored of walking she opened a portal back to her palace; it would have been a three day walk from Darien’s Tower and she couldn’t think of enough entertainment on the way. She had no need to stay at her bungalow that night.

Her Hound master was waiting for her in her throne room. She gestured for him to approach as she stopped in the corner of the room from which sound did not carry. She suspected none would dare spy on her, but prudence dictated she not fully trust any demon.

“Report,” Glacia said.

The Hound master said, “I took hound form more than half a dozen times and each time projected to the mortal realm to the locations you dictated. Each time I found the boy and attacked, careful not to injure the boy or his companions, at least not beyond superficial scratches. Also, as ordered, I made sure the Key was still present. Darien believes that I sent a pack of hounds, one at a time, but only I made the projection to Mealth.”

“You performed perfectly,” Glacia said. “As a reward, I grant you the territory that used to belong to Qexeq. It’s a small territory, but you’ll need to establish yourself. I’ll lend you a dozen of my high guard until you can recruit your own.”

“And what stipend should I send to you, and how often?” The Hound master asked.

“I require none,” Glacia said. “Just your loyalty, if I should ever need it.”

“Thank you, Lady Glacia,” The Hound master bowed and walked away.

Glacia walked over and sat on her throne. Her seneschal approached and asked if she would be taking audience that day.

“Yes, send in the petitioners,” she said. She enjoyed every opportunity to manipulate the affairs of others. Demons seeking charity and assistance often seemed to be the most open to manipulation-almost as open as those looking for a leg up in the eternal battle for power. Little did they understand that the most assured way to lose that battle was to be the manipulated, while the surest victory lay in being the eternal manipulator.

Fork was nothing like Ignea. The first thing Pantros noticed was that it didn’t smell of salt and fish. It mostly smelled like shoes, Pantros decided. It smelled like shoes at the end of a long day walking.

Ignea’s buildings were stucco and all the buildings had the same ceramic tile roofs. Fork’s buildings were made of a variety of materials, mostly granite, but some wooden structures were evident. The wood shingles of the roofs made Pantros nervous. He wasn’t sure the wood would support a roof walker.

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.”