The road to the capital was a well-traveled one. They didn't encounter any more trouble, though they did hear a lot of rumors about the beasts. The populace was full of unrest, watching anyone coming from Mairya with suspicious looks.
Luckily, all of them had Bretian names, so they were let off easy. Most townsfolk thought they were their own people returning from the despicable country in the south.
Travelers who weren't so lucky to look and act Bretian faced extreme scrutiny. No one bought anything from them nor provided them a place to stay. Most of the taverns didn't even allow them inside.
And this wasn't happening only in small towns. The larger cities also looked down on Mairyans and pushed them away, telling them scram. There was even whispered talk about catching a few of them and burning them on a stake to make an example.
"This is madness," Rain whispered while they sat in a random inn, eating breakfast. "We've been neighbors for centuries, always helping each other face the outside threat. We're more connected than some families."
"With you being the big brother, of course," Arawn murmured under his breath.
He had heard about how 'genial' the relationship between the two countries was. When one person holds a poised hammer over another's head, of course they were going to act nice and smile. Ayersbert had never had the chance to show its fangs.
Betty leveled a disbelieving look at him. "You want to say it's a common sentiment to dislike Mairyans?"
"I've only heard about it, but yeah. Did you think the beasts alone could have raised everyone up so fast?"
"But why… We think of you as our younger brother, our family, and you… Why would you hate us?"
The two women seemed genuinely puzzled by this idea. In their minds, there was absolutely no reason for Bretians to have any bad feelings toward Mairya and its people.
"That time you sold us weapons for thrice the price during wartime? Or that time you demanded half the seats in our court? Or when you decided that your prince should marry our princess and become the king?" Arawn listed out only a few of the many reasons Corwal had told him.
"It was only greedy merchants who did that, and they were punished by law later on," Rain stated with indignation. She even stopped eating to defend her country.
Her raised voice attracted some attention, however, so she swiftly lowered it. "The reason we wanted to enter your court is because it was full of weak and indecisive old men. We brought new blood and some life into your dying political system!
"As to the king matter, wasn't he the greatest leader in centuries? He revived the trade and passed many new laws to help the merchants and nobles. If he hadn't been assassinated so young, I'm sure you'd have chosen a day to celebrate his reign."
Arawn opened his mouth to argue again, but then closed it. What would be the point? He could already see that they had had a very different education. From Corwal's story, that king had made the trade easier for Mairyans so more of them would enter the country and join him.
All his new laws and sanctions weakened the position of Bretians in Ayersbert while strengthening that of his own countrymen. If he hadn't been assassinated, there was a good chance that Ayersbert would have ceased to exist and would have extended Mairya's northern border.
The next day, they left the city. While passing through the main square, they saw claw marks deep in the ground. Stones had been dug out and even sliced through. The houses on the sides didn't look too good either.
One of them was missing a wall and was covered by a black cloth that flapped in the wind. Others were missing chunks of rock where they had been grazed, sporting claw marks from the obvious battle that had taken place in the main square.
They left the city and traveled in the direction of the capital. When they stopped in the wilderness, Arawn continued to train, but more often than not, he no longer got the chance. There were more villages and towns in the middle of the country, making it so they could always reach a new one in a day's time.
In no time, they found themselves nearing the capital. The city had arisen around the castle on the hill, which could be seen from a great distance. They stopped upon a hill a few kilometers away from the city's walls and looked at the sprawling monster that was the capital of Ayersbert.
It spanned as far as the eye could see. A wide river ran through the middle of it, cutting the city in two halves. The southern side that had the hill and the castle was filled with hundreds of tall white buildings. They shone in the sunlight, blinding the eyes.
The other side of the river wasn't as majestic. It was populated by storage houses and earthen made two-story living buildings. They were much smaller and squatter than the houses on the southern side, making it look like they were all kneeling before the castle on the hill.
"What's that?" Betty asked, pointing at the wall with the tilt of her head.
A tent city had sprung up by the main gates. There were at least three dozen tents of all sizes over there. As Arawn watched, a couple wagons drove up to the guards. It was impossible to know what they discussed, but soon, the wagons went back a bit and found some empty land in the impromptu tent city.
Arawn wondered about it, but his gaze was soon attracted by the castle. It looked like something from a fairytale when basked in the morning light. It was a mirage, a figment of his imagination that he had dreamed up from his memories.
Never in his life had he thought that he would see it again. When he left, it was for good. The archmage had told him to say goodbye, for he would never be brought back.
And now he was back.
It could have been a tearful reunion if he wasn't an unwanted changeling. No one would remember him in the castle, and those who did would not do so with fond remembrance. If he went back, it would only be to make himself realize how much he didn't belong in his home.
A soft laugh escaped his lips. It was beyond stupid to call the castle his home. It was certainly the place where he'd spent his childhood, but it was just another prison. His true home was somewhere in the mountains, but he left it so young he had no recollection of it. For all he knew, that place might be nothing more than a lie the archmage had told him.
"Something funny?" Val asked in a cold voice. He was rarely in a good mood after what had happened with the beast.
"No," Arawn said, letting the smile drop from his lips. "Let's go down and check out what's happening there."
They seemed to be close, but it still took them almost half an hour to go down the hill and return to the main road that led to the city gates. Once there, Rain dismounted and approached a woman weaving baskets on the fringes of the tent city.
"Ma'm, could I ask what is happening here?"
The woman looked up, surprised to be acknowledged. Upon seeing Rain, she smiled widely and put away her half-woven basket to the side. "Of course! Let me tell you…"
As if having just waited for the question, the woman began describing every single thing she'd seen since the day she arrived, which was a week ago. Apparently, there were a couple beast attacks in the capital as well, and this unnerved the nobles and the king. With the conference so close, they closed the gates and let in only a few people each day.
Those who were given entrance were mostly distinguished people. No nobodies like the woman and her husband were allowed inside. Surprisingly though, the citizens of the capital were also not allowed to leave the city. It was something about them sharing the secrets of soldier movement, but the woman wasn't too certain about it. This was more gossip than the truth.
It took Rain a whole hour to extricate herself from the talkative woman's clutches. When she came back, she looked like she'd just escaped a torture room. Her expression was one of relief mixed with exhaustion.
"We won't be allowed inside," she said with a frown while glancing in the direction of the gates.
There were too many wagons and tents between them and the guards to see the other, but it was obvious their fake identities wouldn't hold here. At this moment, Arawn realized that he didn't even have one. After all, he hadn't needed one while traveling around Ayersbert. Away from the border, no one checked identities unless something gave them a reason.
"I'll tell them who I really am," Val said suddenly. "They'll have to let me inside."
Rain nodded, but Arawn shook his head. "They executed your father. Do you really think they're gonna just let you enter the city like nobody's business?"
Both Betty and Rain turned to him before shifting their incredulous expressions at Val. "Your father..?"
"Doesn't matter. Katalan name is still to be respected. They'll have to let me enter."
"And then will send guards to apprehend you," Arawn said with absolute certainty. If the king was good at anything, it was being thorough when wiping out his enemies. No one had ever escaped his clutches. "You will be executed just like you father."
"This won't work then," Rain said. "We can wait and see if any merchant I know comes. For a price, they would let us join their retinue for a day."
Val looked up and stared at the wall with an unreadable gaze, then shook his head. "I won't wait. If we can find my sister faster like this, I will do it. You can either come with me or stay here."
With a wry smile, Arawn jumped out of his cart. "Do you remember what happened when I said exactly that a couple weeks ago?" He went to stand right before Val, blocking his way. Val's horse shied away, almost throwing its rider down. "Don't repeat my mistakes. We need to think our actions through or we'll end up in the same pit."
"He's right," Rain joined in. "We can't rush into this blindly. It's the capital of Ayersbert, not some backwater village. We've got no idea what powers are moving about beyond our sight."
It didn't look like Val was convinced, but after some thought, he nodded. "Three days. If nothing changes in three days, we're going through with my plan."
Finally having agreed, they went to look for a tent. It was fine to sleep on the ground while in forests, but they would attract attention if they did the same in a tent city. Besides, there were dark clouds in the distance, promising rain.
With the help of the chatty woman, they found a merchant who had started a business selling tents. They got two small ones, since they were cheaper. Betty and Rain built one for themselves while Arawn built the other one. Val wanted to help, but Arawn refused him, saying he wanted to be of some use. He had no money, but he could work for his upkeep.
For the next three days, they discussed various plans while waiting for anyone Val or Rain might now, but they hadn't considered one problem. Not a single Mairyan merchant or noble was allowed into the capital. The prominent figures the chatty woman had mentioned were all Bretian people coming from farther regions for the conference.
If that wasn't enough to destroy their mood, a storm hit the capital on the third night. Thunder roared in the sky, and lightning flashed while rain poured down in bucketfuls. The thin, cheap tents they had bought leaked everywhere and threatened to fall on their heads at any moment.
Drenched, Arawn could only stare into the dark with gritted teeth. He wasn't freezing, no, it was someone else. He was sitting in the cart, basking in the sunlight.
A sneeze from Val shattered his painstakingly created illusion, and he was forced to face the reality that he was sitting in a puddle of water while rain seeped through the thin hide tent, dripping on his shoulders.
And there was nothing he could do about it. If he went outside, he'd be even colder and get even more soaked.