XVII.
Gaius, with some effort managed to squeeze into the tiny carriage. Inside, his head grazed against the low ceiling, and his wide shoulders bumped against the curtained window and Saladin, seated beside him.
"I won't keep you long," Saladin said, with a chuckle.
"I can see you're uncomfortable."
Gaius grunted. 'Uncomfortable' didn't even begin to scratch the surface.
Saladin gave the order to his chauffeur, and the carriage took off, rumbling along the sun-bleached cobblestone streets.
Once the Romans' center of power in the region, Augustina was a city long past its prime. Despite once being a center of power in the region, nowadays it was a crime-ridden cesspit with broken roads that teamed with garbage, and all manner of human filth. Things may have improved somewhat after the Ishtari reclaimed the city from the Ankh, yet Gaius and Saladin both could still see many of the same old cracks were still there from since they were boys.
