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"I make no promises," Ryze told him. The lines around his eyes crinkled with amusement.
"That's what I'm afraid of. I'm starting to think your life consists of thinking up new and interesting ways I might die." Vayne gave him a dark look.
"It didn't until this moment." Ryze grinned. "I was looking for a new hobby. This one is perfect."
"We should shove you in the river and go home," Vayne told him.
"I don't think you'd enjoy the sentence for killing your High Lord." Ryze pushed his pack higher up his back. "If you're really thinking about doing that, you might want to jump in after me. It would be quicker and less painful."
"Not if we tell everyone it was an accident." Vayne glanced around at the rest of us.
"Sorry, but I'm not lying for you," I told him. "Besides, I think it's fairly obvious we need him to get back across the river. And back to the Winter Court."
"Exactly." Ryze nodded. "Without me, you're all screwed. I guess you better be nice to me then."
Vayne snorted. "Not a chance."
Ryze grimaced at him, but that seemed to be the end of their conversation for now.
We followed the river in silence for a while, before moving away as we neared the bridge. As Ryze suggested, patrols seemed to be heading back upriver to look for the source of the surge.
We managed to avoid them by keeping low and silent until we skirted around a thicket of trees and over a rise. The ground dropped away in front of us.
Ryze gestured for us to halt and let out a low breath.
I gasped.
"Behold the spires of Garial."
31
Khala
"Walk like you're not out of place," Ryze had said before we entered Garial. "Like you belong here."
The three Fae men strode through the streets, backs straight, bristling with confidence and arrogance.
I did the best I could to do the same, chin raised, eyes forward. Every so often, I glanced at Zared. He wore a cloak Ryze stashed in his pack, the hood pulled up around his face. The hem was so long it brushed the ground with every step.
If no one looked too closely, they'd see an arrogant priest in the company of four other Fae.
If they did look too closely, we’d be screwed. There was no hiding what he was with the hood pushed back of his face. We’d have to make sure that didn’t happen.
Garial itself was enormous, at least as big as Lysarial. Built around a hill, a white marble palace perched on the crest. Spires jutted out of the roof like needles trying to make holes in the sky. Most of the buildings sported them, even the ones with a single story. Some were obviously decorative, others had windows, suggesting rooms inside.
The city sloped down to a harbour narrower than the one in Lysarial, but longer. One side was dotted with docks and bobbing sea craft, the other with shops and places to eat.
The breeze that blew fresh off the harbour was the only relief from the sticky warmth of the late afternoon. It brought with it the smell of salt, fish and cooking spices.
Everything was so overpowering here I thought my senses might overload.
"Charming place," Zared muttered. Like me, he was used to towns like Ebonfalls, not cities like Lysarial and Garial.
I hadn't had a chance to wander through the streets of Lysarial. For me, this was entirely new. Exciting if overwhelming.
"It's not as nice as Lysarial," Tavian agreed. "It's worse on the back of the hill. That's where all the poorer Fae live."
That was the first I’d heard of the existence of poorer Fae. It shouldn't surprise me to learn they existed. There always seemed to be people who were better off than others, whether they were human or Fae.
