The Mad Queen

Chapter Fifty-Five

A woman shall not work. For though their minds are corrupt, their bodies are precious and must be kept pure and untouched by the hard labours of work. They must devote their time to keeping healthy and pure so that they can bring into the world healthy sons. The only work acceptable for a woman is to keep their homes clean and food prepared. Ready for the arrival of their children and the care of their husbands after they've been working all day.

~The Sons of the Pure Holy Script

For the next three weeks, we travel west toward the City of Tolro. I have only ever seen pictures of it and they do not do it justice. It is very different from the Capital city. Sat on the coast, it is longer than it is round. It travels along the coastline. Buildings made out of dull grey stone squeeze together in a variety of shapes. In the centre of the city, is a huge building. Almost as grand as the castle I grew up in.

"Is that the Library of Vivelle?" I ask as we enter the large open gates which lead inside the city.

"Yep," Wyatt answers.

"Woah," I mutter. The building is spectacular. It is round and towering in height. Great towers and with large domed rooves sit along the edges of it. Carved around the windows, doors and balconies are smooth white stone statues of the gods. The main roof is a great dark grey dome with a huge statue of the King of the gods on top. He stands tall, robes flowing around him and a great staff lifted toward the sky. He is beautiful. 

"I wonder what it is like inside," I say.

"It is pretty amazing," Merissa tells me.

"Unfortunately, we don't have time," I sigh.

"We aren't meeting the Knights until midday, we have enough time to walk and see it from the outside," Merissa says. She had made contact with them earlier that morning when we arrived outside the city.

"Okay," I grin.

Before entering the city, we had made sure to keep all official Red Guard uniform completely hidden. Dressed in casual, travelling attire we are completely blended in with the rest of the people in the bustling city. Both myself and Zoran wear our disguises from Nianzu. Even so, I still have my hood surrounding my face.

I have missed being in such a large amount of people. For so long, we have been in the wilderness. Alone with only each other for company. Seeing and being around the busy, carefree people of the City is a great change.  We spend a few hours exploring the city. We go to the piers and docks which make up one side of the city. The blue waters are full of a variety of large ships and boats which bring in a huge amount of fish. It is from a stall close by that we buy a nice fish meal to share between us. It is delicious. It is an absolutely huge plate with a large fish taking up most of the room. It is garnished with various herbs and lemon. On the side, are potatoes and green vegetables. We all sit around a table and tuck into it together.

"We get this every time we come to the city," Wyatt tells me. I nod my head.

"I can see why," I chuckle. Nianzu nods his head in agreement and tucks in hungrily. It doesn't take long for our large group to finish off the dish and soon we are on our way again.

After navigating our way through the many streets some large and some fairly narrow, we find ourselves at a huge open square in front of the library. My eyes widen as I see the building from close up. It is so tall that the whole square is in shadow beneath it. From here, I can see it is even more beautiful. The high doors are white and thick stone. The stone is covered in swirling patterns and statues.