The Towers of Adrala

Chapter 1 - The Stirrings (Part Four)

***

They waited by the door for Sye to find his cloak while Magist fussed over Eris.

“Really, I wish you would wear something more...” Magist's gestures dwindled off for a moment, “It would not hurt you to be ladylike on occasion, there will be dancing tonight.”

Eris merely shrugged, not looking up from her book.

“And Zook, if you are to have any girl ask you to dance you must not dress so dourly. It would be nice if one did ask and you did not end up terrifying her.”

Zook sighed and offered an arm, “Eris, darling?”

“Yes dear,” Eris replied, standing and taking Zook’s arm. Magist sighed, giving up. Eris tucked her book away in Zook’s medicine bag.

Pird was jealous. If his hands were anywhere near Zook’s bag they’d soon need its contents.

Sye came down the stairs, finishing buttoning down his dark blue suit. Pird was about to make what he thought to be a very clever comment on Sye’s apparel when he caught a strange expression on his friend’s face.

What, do Eris and Zook’s clothes clash or something? Pird thought, bemused.

They went outside and Pird was once again struck by the absence of nightlife in the streets. The masking noise gone, there was only the oddly loud rumble of Saranoda. The five descended a short staircase nearby and piled into Magist's private gondola. Pird and Eris found the driving poles in the long, thin vessel and used them to push it out to the waterway's currents. It was unusual to see a lone barrel slowly drifting down the canal instead of there being boats of all sizes crammed together. In a city renown for its canals, it was rare to actually see the water under the colorful ships and the patient shouts of their tenders.

The sun had fallen behind the horizon and the twin moons, pale Serenade and amethyst Nocturne, shone down with all their brilliance, throwing the city into a pearly light. The stars floated and bobbed on the water, disappearing as they brought the gondola under a low stone bridge. Sye's quiet conversation with Zook died away, it was a tradition not to speak under bridges. An old superstition that they indulged in for fun, dealing with demons and elementals of lore, but even Pird succumbed because of the harmony of warped, reverberating sounds of water twirling under their poles.

As soon as they escaped the quiet twisting reflections a loud screech made them all jump, followed by a bang. A blossom of red light appeared in the night sky, quickly fading away to black smoke. Another waterway intersected them on their left, allowing them a clean view to one of the main canals. An Eretian tradeship parted the artificial river's waters, a mammoth masterpiece of shipwright and engineering. Its deck lit up with another firework, a purple flare this time, illuminating the dancing crew aboard. A large, slanted building toward its back served as the cabins and bridge. Sails were strung across its many masts, sometimes skimming over the side in their odd organization. Pird knew that under the cargo holds were great spring-powered engines, if the wind was going the wrong way-

“Pird!” Zook called from up front, “We're drifting!”

Pird shook his head vigorously and pushed forward with his pole, righting their course. I have been hanging around Eris for too long, Pird thought, First Saranoda, now this. His mind seemed determined to stop and take in all of Eretia's splendor, the same splendor he had seen each and every minute of his life and, as far as he could tell, would continue seeing until they drew up a tomb boat for him.

As the five floated north the quiet was slowly replaced by jubilant music and laughter. Someone had replaced the glass of the lamps with tinted colors, spilling reds and purples across the canvas of the city’s white. The number of people Pird saw in the streets and in the canals grew rapidly, as most of Eretia's nine million were out celebrating across the city's many squares. The waterways rapidly filling up, the five found a place to tie Magist's boat on the outskirts and made their way through the crowd. Pird felt slightly out of place in his every day attire amongst the extravagant robes and suits of the men and elegant flowing dresses of the women. The white city was exploding in color. People hung Eretian star and cloud banners from their windows and the same symbol was painted across their white stone walls.