“Who are you so worried about attacking everywhere we go?” Lissie hoped she didn’t sound as irritable as she felt. Peach’s hooves echoed along with the others on the stone walkway.
Riley looked at her with an open mouth, “I am not worried about anything. This fortress was built for the War, I just think it’s a wonder. It’s textbook!” She pointed at a grey span of wall. Lissie followed her pointing, but she could never figure out anything interesting when Riley did that. It was, undeniably, a wall.
“It certainly makes it difficult to get into the city, the way it winds back and forth. And it’s ugly. So much grey.” Cora trailed behind, and Lissie shot her a glance. Cora looked at her and shrugged.
“It’s supposed to be ominous! Imposing. The only path in is through the kill box. Why aren’t there any archers?” Riley sounded very excited. Lissie kept looking from torch to torch. It seemed her vision was just a chain of fires.
“We are not at war with the Nomads. The military has been reassigned, in majority, to the northern fortresses. The Giants did not prove as willing to treaty.” Alexander clapped and Ruskin jumped from the cobbles to Alexander’s reaching arms. “Not that anyone would go to war with the Giants.”
“The Giants don’t have a government. From what I have read.” Cora petted Anvil as she spoke. ”I would love to meet one, while we are here.”
Iron shoes rang in rhythm, punctuating their speech.
Riley said, “Be careful what you wish for. My father said they are almost impossible to kill. They are also not that big. Maybe twice as tall as a man.”
Lissie stretched her arms over her head, and then fell forward to bury her face in Peach’s mane. She took a deep breath of horse. She was getting used to it. Her grandmother always told her ‘You can get used to anything if you care enough to try.’
“I think my Company is to blame for most of the tales of Giants in the kingdom. They are fantastic villains, you see. The actuality is, regrettably, less interesting. The old Company master said the tallest Giants were really only about twice the height of Lisandra.”
Lissie looked up. She was shorter than almost every adult she had ever met. She was shorter than a lot of children she had met. “That still seems tall.”
“You think everyone’s tall. Anyway, Father said that they were magic,” Riley said.
They rounded another bend. There was a huge grate blocking the walled path. Two men were stationed on the roof above the grate. Lissie could smell their stale cigars, and the path was littered with butts. She could feel the embers smoldering. She wondered what it would be like to smoke. She imagined a cigar exploding in her mouth. She shook her head and focused on the words.
“What business do ya have in Farvue?” The man that spoke raised his crossbow to them. His cigar was hanging out of his mouth, and he was blinking against the smoke. Lissie hoped Alexander had a lie prepared. He could be counted on for that, at least.
“The last time I was here, this gate was not stationed.” Alexander did not lie, at least not yet.
“You ain’t been this week, then. The Blood Roses shut everything down. No travel. Nothing that direction except the Plains. And you folk don’t look like Nomads. State your business.” The other man spat at their feet. It was brown on the grey stone.
“We are meeting John, I was just taking these girls to see Lissie’s mother,” Alexander lied. Lissie realized her hood was up. She put it down to show her white hair.
“Bad week to choose to travel. Lot’s changed.” The crossbow did not waver as the man spoke.
The spitter put his hand on the crossbow and pushed it down. “If you send ‘em back, we gotta fill out that damn form. Three pages. I’ve seen the way you hold a pen and I can’t parse it. There’s no Roses on the Plains. It’s way down in Kisten—this is just that kid throwin’ his weight around. You heard the captain.” Lissie hung on every word.
The crossbow wavered, and lowered. The man took a drag from the cigar and spat. “Yeah, yeah. They look fine. It’s on your head, though. You’re in charge.”
There was a long, rattling sound as the gate crept up. Peach shifted his feet, and Lissie stared at his golden mane. Alexander thanked the men. The gate closed with a whir and a crash behind them.
“That’s new.” Alexander laughed as they made their way into Farvue.
The walls towered around them, Lissie could barely see the tops. Only a sliver of deep black sky showed above. They crept through the winding streets, and Lissie lost her sense of direction, looking from torch to torch.
“This is the capital, right? There has to be an inn. There should be industry. All I see are blank doorways.” Cora whispered to Alexander. Lissie could hear little over the clomping horses echoing off the walls.
“We came in from the South. No one enters from the South. You heard those guards. It’s no metropolis, but there is more,” Alexander replied.
Lissie turned Peach around a pile of gray rags and crates in the street. Riley hissed, “We are being followed.”
Lissie’s eyebrows shot up. She did not turn her head.
“You folks lost? Never seen ya about.” The boy that spoke was tiny.
Not everyone’s taller than me.
He was dressed in a long blue coat, with a matching hat with a jaunty feather. He was smoking a cigar. This one smelled much sweeter than the one from the crossbowman.
Alexander sang, “Not lost, on our way to Gateman’s Wharf.”
“That’s way on the other side o’ town! And they don’t have a drop of decency.” The boy put on a theatrical grin. “If you catch my drift, good sir. Madams.”
“Call me a kite, my boy.” Alexander was smooth as silk, and Lissie was always grateful to maintain silence in the face of strangers.
“Sixth n’ Fifth Inn is only two blocks away.” The boy winked and pointed at an alley. “We on seventh now.”
“You said that they would let us stay at the Wharf for free, Alex,” Cora whispered, but not very quietly.
“The Sixth n’ Fifth honors any and all deals that the Wharf will honor. You have my word, gents!” The boy was already walking down the alley.
“Considering the circumstances we faced at the gate, avoiding such a public establishment as the Wharf may be prudent.” Alexander turned his fancy horse down the alley. Lissie could recognize his thirst. The alley was blessedly dark, the torches had started blazing toward her.