It had taken another two days of slightly slower travel, but finally the grand city of Selevar lay in front of Jason. He walked behind Derek and the other apprentice whose name he had learned was Lukas as they walked along past increasingly extravagant farms and buildings.
Not far from the city was the intersection of three gigantic rivers, which all joined up into the most incredible body of water Jason had ever seen. It was barely visible in the distance, and if he didn't know any better he would have assumed it was the ocean.
Seeing the great buildings and elaborate aqueduct system was one thing, but the city itself left Jason speechless. Not because of its grandeur, but because he still couldn't see it.
Derek and Lukas had never been out this far before, but they knew what to expect, and their descriptions sounded ridiculous to Jason. So much so that he had taken their words as country gossip until now.
The entire city was underground in a massive cave system. The only entrance lay in front of them, a long gently descending tunnel. There was no gate or any other means of defending the city that he could see, but it was the first city they had passed that was still business as usual as far as trade was concerned.
Well, he didn't know that for certain, but there was a long line of wagons in line to enter the large tunnel. There were plenty of refugees as well, so they must have some way of housing them all here. Jason had no idea what to expect inside.
Jason had untied the two apprentices for obvious reasons and didn't expect them to attempt to escape, even into a large crowd like the one here, but he still stuck close behind them just in case.
There wouldn't really be much he could do. If they tried to run, he would probably have to let them escape and hope that they didn't spread the word that he was here. Even Vanya wouldn't be able to do anything.
Vanya looked uncomfortable for the first time Jason had ever seen. She normally walked confidently, uncaring of her surroundings as if everything and everyone was beneath her. Here, though, she understood how little she would be able to get away with. Getting caught would be worse than a death sentence for her.
As they entered the tunnel, packed in with other refugees on either side, he felt like he understood her a little better. The rest of them wouldn't be in any real trouble if they were captured.
Jason would if his disguise failed, but even then he probably wouldn't be killed right away. He would stand trial and then be executed later. Vanya would be killed without another spot the second she was discovered. As much as she insisted that she didn't trust Jason, she was literally putting her life in his hands.
The only one of the group who was unaffected by what was happening was Nora. She did exactly as she always did, following right behind Vanya and doing her best to avoid eye contact with anyone else.
Even if there had been nobody else in the tunnel, it still would have been a long walk to the end. The descent was tiny, so the wagons had no troubles and the walk seemed manageable for even the worst looking of the refugees, but it was probably over a mile long.
When the other end of the tunnel became visible, Jason was first struck by how bright it was. He had expected things to be incredibly dark, but it looked to be as bright as it was outside. What were they using to light the place? Giant torches? Magic?
He had to wait a short time before he got his answer, but the line of pedestrian traffic moved significantly faster than the wagons. He stepped out into the largest open space that he had ever seen.
It was an open cavern big enough to hold a sprawling city, complete with a massive palace taking up the center. The palace spires rose up nearly to the ceiling which opened up in the center to let in the bright daylight outside.
It was incredible, but it wasn't enough to provide enough light to bathe the entire cavern. Instead, eight massive spheres of light were spaced around the room at even intervals, providing light for the rest of the cavern. Light, he might add, that made it difficult to produce shadows in most places.
There was something peculiar about those balls of light. They were bright enough that he couldn't look directly at them. It was as if there were eight different suns all shining onto the city.
"Those are True Gates," the sparrow said.
"You mean like the thing that Vanya made?"
"They are similar to the gate that Vanya made, but they require significantly more mana. Normal gates allow someone to pass from one place to another, but it is strictly one way. True Gates are essentially massive doorways, open gates through space. Either side can look through or walk through to the other side. You could even shake hands with someone standing on the opposite end if you wanted to."
As amazing as it was, it felt uncomfortable walking through the city. There was light coming from every direction so you could only get shadows from a few very select angles that depended on the shapes of buildings.
The rest of the group, including the apprentices, looked impressed by what they were seeing. Even Nora had her head on a swivel for a change.
Jason couldn't let himself get distracted though. He was in more danger than ever here, and things were about to get way more difficult, and that was assuming that their prisoners did as they were told.
"You have any better idea of where the world item is?" Jason asked the sparrow.
"I just feel like you need to go to the palace. I do not know exactly where it is, but it feels very close."
"You've been saying that for days now," Jason said, but complaining wouldn't get him anywhere.
As frustrating as it was, he thought he might be getting used to things never going his way. When life was easy it was equally easy to grow complacent, but when life absolutely refused to throw him a single bone…Well, let's just say he never hoped for the best anymore.
"You two lead the way," he ordered Derek and Lukas. "Straight to the palace."
Vanya fell behind, just as they had planned, and the two apprentices led the way through the winding city streets.
The cities weren't set in any organized manner that he could determine, but it also didn't feel cramped. Nearly all of the refugees had been herded into massive barracks type structures built into the walls, so the crowd was much thinner as well.
It became instantly clear that the two men didn't know where they were going any better than he, but he didn't say anything when they doubled back on themselves several times. If anything it made him more confident that they weren't being led into a trap.
Slowly, but surely, the massive palace in the center grew larger and closer. The streets likewise grew more and more empty, until they were very nearly the only people in the street. The few others scurried passed without so much as a glance up. That felt significant considering how eye catching Vanya was.
A short time later they approached a massive gate, guarded by an exorbitant number of men. There looked to be more than thirty of them at a glance. Why would a city like this need that many gate guards?
Apparently Selevar wasn't quite as free from turmoil as whoever was in charge would like them to believe. What would the people even do if riots broke out? There was only one exit that he knew of, and even if there were more it wouldn't be enough.
The buildings were made entirely of stone, but surely there were other things that could burn and if it grew bad enough, this whole city could become as big a deathtrap as the underground road back in the first city they had seen.
Jason was so caught up in musing about what a terrible location this was for a city that he nearly bumped into Derek as they stopped in front of the guards.
"State your purpose," one of the guards said, stepping forward. He didn't look like he was higher ranked than the others, and he sounded the slightest bit uncomfortable.
Derek looked back at Jason, but fortunately, Lukas spoke up. "We have urgent news from the outpost at Tel," he said, voice only shaking a little bit. "We…"
"Nothing important ever comes out of the shit hole," another guard spoke up from behind and he was met with laughter from the others.
"The hero just sent an entire battalion out there less than a week ago, and they would have reported back if something was anything worth telling," the first guard said. He eyed the group in front of him, gaze lingering on Vanya and Nora. "I'm afraid you'll have to leave."
He turned around, but Lukas called out again. "Please sir, Dodek Dadrian came to the outpost. He…"
One of the guards drew his sword, shutting Lukas up instantly, but the others were muttering to themselves. The sparrow spoke in his head.
"That's impossible, I watched them cut that bastard's head off."
"Yeah, but that isn't something that you could just get confused about…"
"Of course they could, you can't trust anyone from that forsaken land. Nothing but a bunch of criminals and traitors and you know it."
"But what if he is back?"
"Shouldn't we let them through just in case? This could be…"
"You know, I always figured you were a traitor, Tor."
Several more men drew their swords, Jason and the rest of them completely forgotten now. Was this really happening? What was going on?
"Put your fucking swords away!" called a loud voice behind the soldiers.
Everyone froze, hastily putting their swords away. The man that had spoken slowly came into view, as the others tried to pull themselves back into formation without drawing attention to themselves.
The man was tall, and had a clear voice that seemed to be talking down to the entire world all at once. His armor was the same as the other men, except he had a thick plume of green feathers in his helm.
"You say you saw Dodek Dadrian do you?" He addressed them.
Even Lukas glanced back at Jason this time, and he was forced to respond. "Yes sir."
He kept it simple and it seemed to pay off. "Come with me," he ordered. "You lot so much as step out of formation again and I'll be sure to kill you myself before the hero even sees you." He walked through the mass of guards. "This should be fun," he said to nobody in particular.
Just what were they getting themselves into?