Belford's Heart

Chapter 31: Eternal City

Philip saw to Grimbo and Thunderfoot's secure tying to the line of the caravan's horses. There was a space prepared for them by the city, one that must have been in place for the many years of the coming ritual. The sun was setting behind the Eternal Peak that loomed over the city, and even if he could not read the moons within the gates he knew that this would be the final night. Theo and Lora would emerge full together as they did once per year. The sun's farewell would last for a few hours more, and the moons would take their time flying directly above the Divine City. Evelyn had been taken somewhere with Kressida and the duke, and she was certainly fully gone to the influence of the violet woman. He counted the hours, judging by the current angle of the sun just how long he had to piece together a way to draw Evelyn away from her and into any other than her tragic fate that approached. Three hours until nightfall, and four hours for the moons to soar. He had taken part in some serious studies that lasted seven hours in his life. Unfortunately, the failure of the exam to come upon him may spell doom for the world far beyond the place they currently stood.

As he patted the horses to calm them, placing enough feed for the night and, hopefully, the morning to come after, he looked behind him at Colonel Grant and the Thelonians that accompanied their caravan. Grifford sat with his head held high, accepting Mu'las and Kharlan's affections. It seemed that their long fingers had a special way of reaching different places with his feathers. He was loudly purring as Philip joined their group.

"Minister," Grant said. "Are your horses good to be left?"

"Safe as can be," Philip said, turning to look at the bustling city around them. The ocean of charcoal-black bodies traveled between perhaps the most beautiful place he had ever seen. He thought back to the Eastern borough of Dania, and all the achievements of architecture that were held within it, and found that nothing in his memory could compare to what he saw. The city was built in layers moving up the fingers of the Eternal Peak. The stone of the buildings was pure obsidian, and nearly every surface glittered in the orange light of the setting sun. There were streets to separate each line of buildings as the layers climbed, and the main road boasted in the glory of it all as its center had been prepared for the coming feast. Trees similar to those spoken about in the jungle were scattered all throughout the sides of each street. "This is perhaps the exact opposite of what I expected this place to look like."

"That is because it is the exact opposite of itself," Grant said, turning to Mu'las. "Unless I am forgetting something from the last expedition."

"No, you are not mistaken," Mu'las said, turning away from Grifford who was reluctant to let her turn away. "Something has happened in the last year. This is an image of a world that was taken away long ago."

Philip scowled. "What do you mean? This isn't the same place you were taken last year? Is this not the same mountain?"

"Your confusion is a shared one, minister," Kharlan said, inspecting the city along with them. "We have not seen this place since we were young. Well, younger than we are now." She allowed a laugh. "Mu'las, how long have we been living under the duke?"

"Eighteen years just months from today," Mu'las said. "When our lady rose to her current place, this, as far as it looks before you, was torn down. This is the city that our beautiful father built, and she rid our people of it as her first course of action."

"Keep your voice down!" Kharlan said, hushing them as she returned to her nostalgic gaze of her former home. "This may truly be the final of these expeditions. We knew it to be true already, but she truly is the child of creation."

"Why would she allow an image of your fallen father?" Philip questioned. "Is that not the entire point of her denial?"

"Beauty is owed to those who are beautiful," Mu'las said in a mimicked voice. Philip knew she must have been quoting the violet woman. "We who have been scorned by the world, we who have now torn down our father's mistake, shall know ourselves as the truth. We shall return this truth to the world."