The carriage left the gates of Doctor Hearts' place.
The two horses- Beck and Cask- wheeled the new coach as the trio sat inside in their prior positions.
Both Xavier and Eulene felt the same watchful gaze on them as before, but they ignored it.
"Psychology- seems like this subject was made for me. Where can I learn it?" Eulene asked.
"There are a few colleges in Aramon," Xavier answered. "But nothing beats University of Aramon."
Eulene's eyes glowed. "How is Aramon? Is it really the city of dreams the books claim it to be?"
Xavier sighed. "Who knows? That city is not for everybody."
"What do you mean?" Eulene asked.
"You will understand when you get there," Xavier replied. "If I had to choose between Aramon and Derbury, I would choose the latter seven out of ten times."
Eulene stayed silent.
Xavier suddenly snapped his fingers, an invisible barrier manifested that separated Xavier from Eulene and Sarah.
Before Xavier could transmit anything to Eulene, she opened the curtains and began to ask Sarah random questions about the outside scenery, keeping her attention.
Xavier took the chance to open the small window at the front. Will came into his view, driving the coach with the same old smile on his face.
"Who's the tallest man in town?" Xavier asked.
"Fred the Giant," Will answered in a jiffy, almost subconsciously- his eyes still on the road.
"Tell me about him?"
"He's the 'biggest' gangster in town." A chuckle left the coachman's mouth, seemingly proud of his own pun. "He resides in the slums near Derbury Harbour."
"It's fine as long as you know the address." Xavier closed the window.
Wilbur lost his smile and turned back in shock. Was his next destination the most dangerous are of the town? But remembering the four gold coins he had earned till now, the smile returned to his face. After all, there was no rewards without danger.
The journey back home took longer than the prior trip as the ending work hours increased traffic. Not to mention, they made a short stop at Zeitmann's tower where the trio took a photograph.
Sarah had a bright smile on her face, even brighter than her smile in the photo as she stared at it. She was genuinely happy as she was able to get rid of the shackles that locked her mind. Though she was still a bit afraid of the nightmares that were to come, she was confident she would be able to get through the phase.
Xavier and Eulene, after dropping Sarah home, returned to the main road beside the golden cornfields- where Wilbur awaited with the carriage and his two four-legged companions.
It was already evening, with the Sun testing the depths of the Western horizon.
"Let's go." Xavier boarded the coach, followed by Eulene.
Wilbur closed the door, and started the carriage, setting course to the slums south of Derbury.
The Tower clanged seven times on their way. Eulene opened the curtains.
The moon was up in the sky with the sun nowhere to be seen. But it was not completely dark. The lamp posts that appeared beside the road after regular intervals had fires blazing inside the glassed jars, lighting up the roads. Even the carriages that passed by had a lamp- either personally handled by the coachman of open carriages, or hanging from the roofs of the enclosed ones.
Even the buildings began to give out light through their windows as time passed.
Eulene watched everything with utmost intrigue. Though she had roamed around the city with Xavier for the last few days, none of the trips were made in the night- barring that fateful night, when she walked home with Xavier of course. Nevertheless, that night was dead- with the meteor ruining everything. But this night was lively.
The books she read said the same- the cities of Avarynth at the night were different from the cities of the day. Her desire to visit Aramon burned even brighter- the city with two different faces. Just what type of city was it? She asked herself, for the authors to call it the City of cities, the City of kings, the City of everything imaginable by mankind…
After crossing a certain invisible mark, the number of light sources began to dwindle- as if the city was dying. They had left the core of the city and was entering its outskirts- where lay the harbour, and the slum that kept it running.
Eulene, losing interest, closed the curtains. Xavier was sitting with his eyes closed, in what was now a carriage lit by a lantern. Eulene could sense the Qi circulating through his body. She raised her eyes at how smoothly he was going through the process, but sighed in relief after sensing his failure in storing it.
Xavier suddenly peeled his eyes open and looked ahead of the carriage. Sensing something, Eulene did the same.
"Stop!" A hoarse voice came from the outside- a voice that had no resemblance to the jolly coachman's one.
The carriage jerked to a halt.
Discerning the hostility in the voice, Eulene wasted no time and rushed outside. Ensuring the safety of the defenceless Will was the priority. On the other hand, Xavier walked out nonchalantly.
A fat- round- man stood in their way- wearing a grey shirt whose buttons were struggling with their lives to hold the two sides together. His flat cap was able to cover his head, but not his grumpy face with eyes blatantly ogling Eulene's beauty. But what remained the most 'unhidden' was the butt of the the revolver that peeked out from the side of his pants, the one that he was caressing constantly- trying to take everyone's attention there.
"Greetings," Xavier said with indifference- neither taking off his hat, nor bowing. "I am here on a business from 'Aramon'. I heard that this Fred is the biggest fish in this filthy pond. Bring him out."
The actor had already casted himself as a narcissist businessman on a trip to a backwater 'village'.
Xavier's actions confused the man- yes, confused. Was the silver haired man foolish to talk like this against someone with a gun, or was he just confident?
But as Xavier said the magic word- 'Business', he had no reason to refuse.
"Follow me." The gangster turned around, his hand gripping the handgun's handle, and walked further into the slum.
Xavier flicked a gold coin to Wilbur and whispered, "Get as far as you can from here. We'll find a way to return by ourselves."
Sensing Xavier's seriousness, Wilbur did not retort and left with the carriage.
Xavier and Eulene followed the round man in.
The slums were nothing like the cities. Instead of brick houses, there lay shacks barely held together by straws, wood or tin. Instead of concrete road, there was only mud- with hundreds of footprints- most of which were that of bare feet.
Even in this dark night, barely one out of every ten houses they passed through had a source of light in it. Going by the analogy of the books that Eulene had read, this part of the town was barely alive- hanging onto its last breath.
Soon, they reached the core of the rookery. Contrary to expectations, this part was high-class, devoid of the destitution that they witnessed a minute ago. With lamps illuminating the brick buildings- a couple of which were two-storeyed, and smooth concrete roads- one would find it hard to believe that this place belonged to the slums.
There were quite a few men wearing the same coloured shirt as that of the fat man and wearing flat caps patrolling the area. But everyone ignored the newcomers.
The grumpy gangster took the duo to the gates of the largest building in the premise- a warehouse that looked as tall as two-storeyed apartments and covered the space of four large houses.
The man had Xavier and Eulene wait outside as he went in. After a few minutes, he returned and brought them in.
The building looked even bigger from the inside- lit with tens of torches on the walls and dozens of lanterns scattered across the building.
Sacks of who-knows-whats were piled here and there. They walked through the tracks among the piles- tall and short- before walking to the centre where existed a large open space.
There- stood more than a dozen men, all wearing grey shirts and flat caps. Everyone's eyes fixed on the duo- the most menacing which belonged to the one who stood out the most, the one who stood out the tallest.
Both Xavier and Eulene's eyes twitched. Even in their two-century worth of life, they had seen very few people as the one standing in front of them.
The man had a few scars on his face. But he did not need no identifying mark; his height which fell a few inches short of eight feet was more than enough.
The fat man led the duo to that man. Xavier and Eulene was not even the man's height away from him, while the remaining gangsters encircled them.
"I am Fred," the giant of a man said, his voice as menacing as his body and aura. "What business do you propose?"
Xavier got to the point. "Where were you on the night of the meteor impact?"
Dozens of clicks sounded in progression as all the encircling gangsters brought out their guns and cocked them, aiming them at the duo's heads.
Xavier shook his head.
"Well, well, well…"