Talking to the Moon ✔

- Chapter: Twenty -

From the town that we had resided in for the night to the City took two hours on horseback.

I could not imagine that we were so close to the City. In my family, only one person had gone to the City ever in his life, he was my maternal grandfather and that is because his son was a low ranking soldier and had died to serve the Kingdom. My grandfather had gone to receive the medallion that the martyr family got from the Monarch.

I could feel butterflies in my stomach. I stared at the sleek back of the horse I was riding. Could he feel that I was nervous? If he did, he knew not to show it.

The inn that we had resided in the town was another uncomfortable experience. The inn-keeper had only one big room available for us and that meant I had shared the room with three men that were complete strangers to me. They were nice enough to sleep on the floor and to give me and my brother the bed. But because I had never done this before, I was awake all night, listening to them snore and mumble in their sleep. At some point, I had even heard someone sniffling.

I saw Aqib Suleiman crack his neck for the third time in an hour. It must have been difficult for him to sleep on the floor. It did not help that the inn-keeper had barely provided any extra pillow or sheet.

I was already sick of the journey. When I had imagined travelling, I had imagined travelling in a completely different terrain that what we were seeing. I had visioned mountains and trees and maybe a hint of different species of bird. However, what I saw around me after the town were barren lands stretching till the eyes could see.

I was also sick of the journey because my back and my thigh were sore. I could not tell anyone this because I did not want to slow us down any further. I wanted to reach the City. It was as if there was something pulling me to the City. I was becoming impatient and annoyed with the slow pace.

After one hour of travelling, we saw the tip of a high-rise building of the City. I could not help but sigh in relief. We were almost there. It was strange that between the town and the City there was so much barren land left.

It is for expansion, Aqib had explained, the Monarch had plans for expanding the City, have an industrial estate set up here. The barren lands belonged to the City and therefore, the town were not allowed to expand.

Only half an hour away from the City, we could see the walls that barricaded it and divided it from other towns and villages. They had fortified the walls around the City for the protection of the people. They were walls around our kingdom too but of course, the City needed the extra protection.

"The Monarch had plans with the wall, "Aqib looked to us and explained, "apparently the Monarch did not want it anymore but his advisors had stood against that decision." A flicker of hope had emerged in my heart at those words, maybe the Monarch was not as bad as I was expecting him to be."

"Are you supposed to know all this?" Asad asked curiously.

Aqib looked at him and winked, "I am not supposed to. But I was close to the Monarch. He told me things."