Echoes

Chapter 27

 "By Audral, look at this place!"

We crossed under the arch and approached the rope bridge once more. Shae stared at the ceiling, thousands of feet above, twirling around in bewilderment.

"Oh my goddess, is that magma?" She exclaimed as we stepped onto the bridge.

"Shae please," Farok said. "It's bad enough we're letting an outsider into the city, the last thing you need to be doing is bringing more attention to yourself. Yes, it's magma, why are you people so surprised by that?"

"Sorry," Shae replied, regaining her composure as were cross the bridge. By the time we reached the other side of the gap, Shae was back to staring at everything like a little kid. She leaned over and put her hand on my shoulder.

"And these are all pure bloods?" She whispered, eyeing the people in the streets.

"Yes, stop staring though," I hissed.

"I'm sorry I can't help it," she apologized. "I must be the first leader in hundreds of years to actually meet pure bloods.

"And the last if you don't follow my lead. Which means not calling them pure bloods. They have this weird thing for some traditional language thing-"

"The Traditional Language?" She asked.

"Yes, that," I answered.

"No one has spoken the Traditional Language in centuries," Shae said wistfully. "This place has been untouched by time."

"Which means so are their views on the world. Like I said, they use the Traditional Language, which means I need to update you on how they speak and refer to things," I explained.

Shae nodded. "Proceed."

We weaved our way through the city while I filled Shae in, eventually coming to the center square.

"Wait here," Farok said, climbing the steps and disappearing into the building.

"You said he was the king?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

I sighed. "Sadly, yes. Be happy that he hasn't tried to kill you, though. If it were my grandmother, Torika, she probably would have pushed you off the bridge before you could even see the city."

"She sounds lovely," Shae grumbled. "Nisa, you found your family. You should be excited."

I shrugged. "Shae, these people aren't what I expected. They hate people who aren't pure bloods. My grandmother's the worst of the bunch, she think you guys just want pure bloods dead. Her opinions are all wrong and she refuses to even hear me out. And worse, she whispers all of this in Farok's ear, he can't even think for himself. He's basically her puppet."

Shae pondered my words, but didn't have a chance to reply when Farok came back out.

"Torika is ready for you," he said. "Good luck."

The three of us filed inside, the doors swinging shut behind us. We continued down the ornate foyer, coming to the next set of doors which promptly swung open. Torika sat in the chair on the platform, much to Farok's confusion.

"Uh, Torika, that's my throne," he said.

"You're throne is this mountain, my king. The chair is simply a manifestation of it," Torika explained.

"Oh, alright," he said.

"Farok! That's your throne!" I hissed.

"Nisa, come forward with you Gilit friend," Torika called.

I shot Farok a dirty look then approached the podium. Shae knelt before Torika, careful to avoid even looking at her.

"The Gilit has manners," Torika grumbled.