The caravan proceeded slowly under a clear blue sky. The Plains of Regret stretched beyond the western border of the province of Lud, and the only viable route was the Valley of Oath: a breach that split the rock formation and overlooked the territories of Clodia.
In the last downhill stretch before leaving the valley, the road became so steep that the caravan had to proceed at a walking pace. Fez convinced Marmorel to take a long walk to admire the landscape of forests and streams; the girl took short breaks to fill her sketchbook, and the young man pointed out the next subject for her to draw.
Just before evening, they had to stop because one of the wagon axles broke at a too-deep hole, and the knights decided to camp in a clearing not far from the path. Some merchants arranged their vehicles for the night and others took care of organizing the fire for the meal. Aran stayed near his belongings the whole time and when he was called by Cora to join the improvised feast, he brought the sack full of gold with him.
The knights were positioned at the corners of the caravan with smoky torches in their hands and weapons ready to be drawn.
"You took a bad fall," Marmorel said, by the fire, addressing Cora. "How are feeling?"
He didn't know how to answer. Aran and Fez looked at him, visibly curious.
"Nothing broken," he said, scratching his leg. "I don't understand, though, how I managed to slide between the roots." He spoke truthfully: it was the first time he had thought about it since they had left, the frenzy of the journey had eclipded everything else.
"Well, there was a small earthquake. The earth opened up under your feet," Aran said, looking at the other members of the caravan.
Fez swallowed a small piece of charred meat. "Those roots would destroy the foundations of a castle for how big they are, I think it's normal."
Elidana sighed and drummed on the box she was sitting on.
Marmorel furrowed her brow. "Hmm, let's hear it, what's your idea?" she asked.
"This trip started off badly," she sighed. "I'm not going to remind you of all the lies you made me tell to get you out of here peacefully."
Aran and Cora shook their heads. "Again with that, enough already: it's done! By the time we get back, be sure that we'll fix everything," the latter said. "Think about it, you'll be going to Clodia and Edel. When will you get another chance?" added Aran with a smirk. He looked at the other travelers, each in their own corner around the fire. And he held his arm tighter around his sack when one of them was observing them.
"Okay, but you owe me a favor each," Elidana concluded, pointing at the four friends with her finger.
"I could paint your portrait, maybe with Cora, maybe when we get to Edel," Marmorel said.
Cora swallowed. "What do I have to do with it?" he asked.
But Elidana pushed her hair back over her shoulder and said, "Why not?"
Cora went back and forth between the two of them, while Fez chuckled.
"Hey, lower your voice," Aran cut in, indicating the other members of the caravan not far away.
A merchant with extremely long, rolled-up mustaches approached them carrying a full pitcher. His shirt was well-kept and his collar hid a string of pimples that extended over his ears. He approached Fez. "Are you thirsty?" he asked politely. The boy nodded and held out his glass.
Aran furrowed his brow and looked back at Cora, making an unnoticeable no with his head.
"What are five teenagers doing traveling to Clodia?" the man added. "Five very young teenegers so far from home." As he poured the water, he bent over so much that his back seemed to break.
"We're going to Edel," Marmorel said as she swatted away an overly persistent mosquito.
Aran tightened his mouth and widened his eyes.
"Oh, Edel," the merchant said with a cunning expression, "it's not something for everyone." He filled her glass and looked at the young Allet.
"I'm not thirsty," he said.
"I feel like I've seen you somewhere before," the merchant muttered, pausing for a moment, with his eyes squinted, focused on the boy.
Aran raised an eyebrow and made another denial gesture. "I don't think so."
The merchant nodded slowly and stepped back. He stared at Aran for such a long time that Cora thought he had gotten sick and would collapse soon with the whole jug. But he moved again and said, "It takes a lot of gold coins to undertake such a journey."
Aran tightened his grip on the bag with more force. The merchant turned away with half a smirk on his face and without saying anything else, he left as he had come.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Aran stood up from his seat and positioned himself between Cora and Fez. "That's Dorian 'Cold Fish'!" he exclaimed.
Cora laughed. "Cold Fish?"
"Keeo it down or he'll hear you!" The young Allet looked around. "He used to trade in minor stolen goods, but one day he got a shipment of Cec systems stolen from Clodia. He wanted to sell them to my father. He almost ended up in jail. He's not a trustworthy guy."
Elidana held back a laugh. "Do we have to worry about Cold Fish?"
"I don't know, he doesn't know half measures and if he's spotted the gold coins, you can be sure he'll be after us." Aran looked back at Marmorel. "Let's avoid saying we're going to Edel, people ask questions and that's the last thing we want."
Marmorel flushed red in the face. "Yes, sorry ... I didn't think."
They finished their meal in a hurry and throughout the time, Aran kept an eye on Dorian who was talking to the other passengers in his carriage. From time to time, he would turn in their direction and whisper something to the companion next to him. Each time Aran sighed and held the bag tighter. Until, after the man's repeated look, the boy jumped to his feet. "I'm going to sleep. At least in the carriage, I'll feel safer. Are you coming?"
"I'm not going to sleep because of him, there are knights and I think you're overreacting," Elidana snapped.
"Do as you please, but be careful," Aran whispered before setting off with Marmorel and Fez.
Cora took his time and tied his shoe laces, while Elidana took advantage of the silence to start reading The Infinite Moons of Zaal: another of the romantic books she had brought with her.
He glanced at her briefly and felt a sense of unease that he couldn't explain. He had known Elidana for five years now, since she arrived at the orphanage.
She was born in Harall, a city by the lake of Farent in the far north of the Republic. Orphaned, she spent her childhood bouncing from foster home to foster home until finding a place in Lud. When she opened the door of the orphanage, accompanied by a city counselor, Cora knew his life was going to change drastically.
The ashes of the bonfire rose slowly in puffs that disappeared into the night and, gradually, the diners left their seats to return to the carriages. Cora trew brief glances at Elidana's delicate profile, lit by the warm glow of the flames. His heart, as it had been happening for months, rose in his throat faster. As usual, he tried to ignore that feeling, to deny it. But the blood flowed faster when he was alone with her: between long silences and fleeting gestures without an apparent meaning. He didn't understand how the relationship of mutual disinterest could turn into a dazed expression every time he stopped to admire her. But one thing he was sure of... he didn't want to take his eyes off her.
Elidana caught his gaze and frowned. "Haven't you finished with tying those shoes yet?"
"Yes, yes... I'm going for a walk," Cora blushed and stumbled as he moved. He ran past a carriage full of rolls of fabric and ran off without caring if anyone was in his way. He slowed down next to the knight guarding the clearing.
"Boy, you can't wander off," the man ordered, bringing the torch closer. His armor creaked. The face, partially hidden in the shadows, was as square as an anvil. "Between the beasts of the night or the smugglers that swarm in this area, I don't know which is worse."
Cora nodded briskly. "I just need to take care of something and I'll be right back." He ran and left behind a half dozen trees, jumped over a fallen trunk and sat down with his back against it. He couldn't let the others see him in that state, they would immediately realize that something was wrong.
He took a few deep breaths for a moment and lost himself in observing the foliage.
Hoping for a bit of silence with the chirping of insects seemed impossible, but he found himself staring at the starry sky, so vivid and full without any light around. Something caught his attention. A sudden movement and a shift of shadows a few bushes away. Cora stretched his neck to see better. He was tempted to stand up and go check, but a second rustling of leaves made him jump from his spot. He was sure, something really big was moving in the middle of the vegetation. He quickly returned to the camp and diverted from the fire to head quietly to the wagon.
"Cora!" exclaimed Elidana with her eyes just above the novel's cover.
"Even here?" grumbled Cora as he breathed out. "You know that if Fez and Aran saw me doing that, they would make fun of me for the entire trip?"
She gestured for him to come closer. "I don't care, a deal is a deal."
Cora knelt down, with his gaze low. Once again she kissed him on the forehead. "Goodnight, Cora."
He stretched out his arm on the side, "Goodnight to you, Elidana." And he stared at her for a brief period of time. This time, a grip on his throat prevented him from speaking. A simple game that he had repeated countless times in the past had become difficult to carry out without showing all the embarrassment of the moment. She made a small expression of incomprehension and frowned doubtfully. "May joyful dreams accompany you until dawn," he said. He stood up, leaving her happy to resume reading.
"Never again..." he mumbled, leaning down to grab a handful of stones from the ground as he reached their wagon.
It took a day and a night for the caravan to reach the Golden Fields in the province of Clodia. During the journey, the knights had taken a rough shortcut: a path that cut through the woodland and that had been recently finished. Once they had crossed through the thick vegetation, they emerged onto a promontory from which they could admire the capital of Lamia and the Sado river flowing close to the border.
The city was an immense brick stain in the middle of the green forest. Nestled in the valley and at that moment of the day overshadowed by the Twin Mountains. From it, dozens of roads radiated outwards, crowded with carriages and travelers ready to pass under the fortified gates.
Cora, Elidana, and Marmorel walked in front of the caravan. "That's the old gate and it was the first to be built when the city was founded," the knight at their side explained. He pointed to a wide archway where people were crowded with their means of transportation. "Have you ever stepped on the cobblestones of Clodia?" The sun's reflections made the armor sparkle.
"Yes, I came with my mother," Marmorel replied. "This time, however, I will finally be able to visit it all and it will be magnificent."
Fez arrived at their backs. "Aran needs to explain some things to us." They followed him.
They got on the vehicle and Aran invited them to sit in a circle, with the coins in the center. "Excluding the train tickets and the tickets for the race, there are fifteen thousand coins left," he whispered.
"This sack is really heavy." He gave a blow to the fabric.
"Do we divide them now?" Cora suggested.
Fez reached out his hand, but Aran moved the sack before he could sink his claws. "Uh, no! Let's be calm. Before we go to Edel, we have to exchange the coins for Kharzanian shields, we can't walk around with all this gold."
"Uh, shields?" Cora asked, raising an eyebrow.
"At the Clodia station, there's a currency exchange. For purchases in Edel, instead of gold, they will give us a metal box. My father secretly brought one back from one of his trips a while ago. But you'll see soon, now let's go." Aran shouldered the luggage, the others took the rest of their things and got off the cart. They said goodbye to the caravan and walked in line towards the crowd.
After crossing the Old Gate, they took the main street, the first approach to the city for merchants coming from the most remote places of the Republic. The road was wide enough to accommodate a military parade.
Buildings three or four stories tall towered over the road, so close together that they left only a narrow passage between them. The buildings repeated themselves identically on both sides of the main road and only the shade of the fixtures, the color of the curtains, or a vase of flowers allowed them to be distinguished. Under the cornices, rows of pigeons remained perched, waiting for someone to throw breadcrumbs on the road. Cora looked up in wonder: the residents of that neighborhood must have been very rich. Every now and then a bas-relief adorned with effigies stood out above the entrance door and each wrought iron balcony held the flag with the Republic's emblem.
Towards the walls, more modest constructions followed one another in orderly rows, with gray, curved roofs: a mosaic with only a few shades of the same color.
"Oh, Elidana, look this way," whispered Marmorel, pointing to noblewomen walking the streets. Cora also turned at the sight of the charming ladies with long skirts and trimed dressed with lace and embroidery.
"Don't they feel hot? The sun is scorching the skin, I don't understand how they don't suffocate," remarked Elidana, spreading the collar of her shirt and looking at her clothes. On the contrary,
Marmorel couldn't take her eyes off them. "You can be sure that elegance is traded for some sacrifice."
"It will be as you say, but let's reach Aran and Fez before they leave us behind."
Halfway to the station, Cora saw two men of the same complexion as Fez in front of a building, wearing clothes and holding banners that didn't belong to any of the cities of the Republic. The boy, intrigued, approached his friend and whispered, "Are those Zalesians?"
The guards carried long sabers tied to a fabric belt and a white turban. They stood still like statues guarding the palace. Above their heads, a green flag with a crescent moon in the center was waving from the balcony on the first floor.
"It's the embassy of the Sultanate of Zaal," Fez muttered indifferently and continued walking. Even when the guards intercepted him with their piercing gaze, the boy continued on his way. "I remember we went in there once, but it was deep at night and it was a long time ago."
"Yes, but you're holding that bolt tight," Cora said, pointing to the bolt that Fez was holding between his fingers.
He shook his head and quickly put his hand in his pocket. "That's not true."
Cora shrugged, and he pretended nothing was wrong.
Marmorel stopped to massage her legs. Her hair was sticking to her neck. "I'm tired," she burst out.
"Just a little more and we will get to the station. I don't want to take a break. We'll rest on the train," concluded Aran, red-faced and sweaty.
They heard a bang from a side street and passersby turned around. In a short time, a large group of people crowded around a smoking machine.
It was a carriage with four wheels and no horses. Cora and Fez smiled, it was the first time they had seen that type of vehicle up close. The driver was wearing very thick glasses and a leather cap. He got down from the driving seat and went to adjust the large copper pot in the center.
"It's a Seorite engine. An old Cec system. They've been running around Clodia for months now," Aran explained. "But my father says that in Edel they were already out of production long before he started trading with them."
Fez tightened his grip on Cora's shoulder. "It's beautiful," he mumbled. Another roar made the onlookers step back and the vehicle resumed its shaky journey. It emitted a loud screech, so annoying that Cora had to cover his ears with his hands to avoid losing his hearing, at least until he was far enough away to tolerate the noise.
"I want one, Aran. Let's buy it, please!" Fez exclaimed.
"Do you have any idea how much it costs? Well, more than we have! It's not up for discussion." Aran settled the coin bag on his back and said, "We're late, really late! We have to hurry."