Chapter Twenty
We had left the “forest” and were now walking towards the Imperial City, following along a road that cut through the clearing and led to a grand, golden archway.
“The entrance,” Marcellus said.
“The portico at my hometown is only made of wood,” I said as we passed under the arch.
Marcellus seemed like he wanted to say something, but something was keeping him back.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“Do you mind if I ask, do you miss your hometown?”
I shook my head.
“Does that mean that you don’t mind or you don’t miss it?”
“Both,” I said simply. “Too many bad things, horrible things, happened there.”
“I’m sorry that I asked,” Marcellus mumbled.
“Don’t be.”
We were now entering a grand, circular plaza paved with grey, stone bricks. Giant torches that stuck up from the ground like flagpoles dotted the area but were unlit, probably extinguished by the guards that roamed about the area as well. Their armor was different than that of a soldier’s: theirs were silver, rather than brass, and upon their chest plates was the insignia of the Kingdom of Malark. The old one, that is.
“Do you think that King Plarsky will change the kingdom’s insignia?” I found myself asking.
“Who knows,” Marcellus said.
The square was still barren, probably because it was still early morning. The only citizens that roamed about the area were the guards who seemed to pay no attention to our presence. Many of them stood still like statues, but some walked around like ants trapped in a bowl. Four of these guards stood around the giant fountain at the center, which was a giant statue of a horse pulling a carriage, caught in the middle of a fast sprint. The horse looked scared but fierce all the same, and I felt somewhat mesmerized by the animal’s persona, or it could’ve been the fact that it was made out of pure marble. Either way, the fountain was a beauty.
Shops, bakeries and restaurants surrounded the square, plotted directly next to one another and equipped with three to four housing complexes stacked on top of each. The plaza branched out into three roads, including the one that led to the giant clearing. The other three roads led to more shops with apartments stacked on top, more torches, and a few or so carriages. And that was only what I could see at that moment.
Flags with the kingdom’s insignia were also suspended upon string and stretched across the plaza, tied onto the roofs of the buildings and providing an area for birds to practice their remarkable balance on.
From where I was standing I could see the palace, towering above all of the other buildings and shining in the sunlight like it was a giant pearl.
“What’s the palace made out of?” I asked in reverence.
“Marble,” he said. “A different kind than that fountain over there. Not only that, it has been polished so that it gives off that reflection.”
I looked at Marcellus in disbelief. “Who would have the time to build a building that large and polish all of it?”
YOU ARE READING
Salamander
FantasyTaking place in the midst of the War of Cybernetics, the young and feeble Alan finds himself in a grim situation. A situation that causes him to leave his hometown with a group of the King's army known as The Collectors - people whose soul purpose i...
