Crossing the border from Switforst to Terndowns was like traveling through time into civilization. With one step, the bank of the river was no longer sand. It became a road. Paved in neat white stones, inlaid with different carvings of fawns. There were lampposts on the side. There were no houses to be seen and Riley wondered who lit the lamps at night.
From Peach’s back, Lissie said, “The bricks in the road are nicer than the ones in the walls at home.”
Riley replied, “Terndowns is beautiful! We visited three years ago, when we took in Cora. The castle itself is a wonder.”
Alexander said, “Terndowns is the most wealthy duchy. And with good reason. Artisans, engineers, and craftsmen of all sorts are educated here. This is, of course, where the Ellium Company began seventy years ago.”
The road was widening and small homes were beginning to appear. They were not the wooden hovels of Switforst or the stone cottages of Ariland, back home. They were magnificent, each one a castle unto itself. Each housed a workshop. Some open to the air, with men and women at lathes and anvils. The longer they rode, the more industry they saw. The sounds of trip hammers rang through the air, powered by the Bandinette running waterwheels that towered over them.
“Cora, aren’t you excited?” Lissie asked, “You don’t look excited.”
Riley spared Cora a glance. Her hair was disheveled and her face ashen. Cora looked around and said, “Of course I’m happy to be home. I would have been here for the festival in a month anyway.” Riley thought of what a plague could do to all these people.
After another half hour, the towers of the castle rose above the town. The stone was shimmering pale pink, and the towers had very few arrow slits. Instead there were open pavilions with streaming flags and garlands of flowers. She gawked. As they got closer, Riley realized what she took to be arrow slits were thin stained glass windows. There were no gates. There was no moat. The castle rose out of the town like a rosebush blooming in a garden.
Every face they passed on the way was distracted. No one gave them a second glance. Riley had trouble picking them apart, they were like ants on a hill. Even the children they passed seemed busy, either in apprentices’ uniforms or school clothes.
Cora suggested, “Why don’t we stop for food before we go to the castle?”
Alexander chuckled. “Well, they don’t sell much food on this side of town. Eager for a sausage roll from a news cart?”
They were walking the horses now, and Riley looked back over her shoulder at Cora. Her hair was flipped over with a deep side-part she had raked in with her fingers. Riley said, “Cora, I know you’re worried about the plague. That’s why we’re here. We have to tell your mother right away.” Cora sighed and ran her fingers through her hair again.
It was hard to tell the inside of the castle grounds from the city, but when grooms arrived and offered to take their horses, she assumed they must have arrived. The courtyard was gleaming and wide, full of statues shooting water in the air. It glittered in the sun and through the translucent green stone.
A woman bounced toward them, with a corset that must have been tightened with steel. She beamed at Cora and grabbed her hands, pulling her in and kissing her on both cheeks. Roses of lipstick bloomed where she kissed. “Coretta, my dear, your mother will be so pleased to see you. Why under heaven above did you not send word you would be early? We will have to scramble to set up the banquet!”
Cora pulled away, her nose wrinkling. “Madame Prime Minister, I must introduce you to my friends. Riley Llanarth you may remember, and this is Lisandra Nauhecatl. And this—” She was cut off by the buxom woman.
“I remember Alexander Zarnovsky Endrindel MacKintosh the third, Bard and Tinkerer of the Ellium Company.” The Prime Minister said in a breathy voice, “Please, call me Dottie!”
Riley watched Cora’s cheeks flush a deep fuchsia that clashed terribly with her hair, and said, “Dottie, it’s very important that we see Lady Maribelle right away. We have news.”
Dottie’s mouth closed into a knowing frown, “I see. She’s decorating for dinner. Would you like an opportunity to sneak into a dress first?” Riley looked down at her dusty, road-worn shirt and trousers.
Riley scowled. “This is too important. We will get cleaned up after we have delivered our news.”