The Prince, The Gangster, The Teacher, And The Poet (Sander Sides Fanfic)

Chapter Thirty Two-The City

TW: Ok, so kind of Moxiety fluff at the end, almost getting tricked, mentions of Darius when it's not Virgil's chapter ;D And also people judging people based on how they look. Quick pronoun correction for people who are unaware. Pretty tame chapter!

"Whoa." Patton was the first to say something the next day as they crossed over a hill to look at the walled city.

"Whoa." Virgil echoed, more of a whisper than Patton's. 

"Whoa." Logan agreed, eyes wide as he tried to take it all in.

"Whoa." Roman laughed out, shaking his head. "I forgot how big cities are." The others just nodded. 

They hadn't really stopped at any city since they had started their trek. Every town they had made their way to was no more than a few shops and an inn or tavern. This place, though... this place was massive. It was bigger than Patton could ever remember the Kingdom of Sides being. To be fair, he hadn't really gotten to see much of his hometown, but the other three seemed to agree with him.

"We will need to move at some point." Logan pointed out, clearing his throat, but despite his words, he made no move to continue on their way.

"A few more minutes?" Virgil couldn't tear his eyes away, and Patton had to admit, the whole thing was kind of majestic. The wall wasn't high enough to block the tops of all the buildings, and the way the light hit the whole thing gave it almost a halo. From where they were standing, they could see people entering through the gates, people with particularly large wagons or cargo showing letters to guards who stood in wait at the entrance. There was a humanity to the whole thing as if the city itself were breathing.

"Patton, you still have the letter that Miriam and Gerald gave us, right?" Roman asked, and Patton nodded quickly.

"Yeah."

"Then we mustn't dawdle!" Roman announced, taking the first step down the hill. He almost instantly lost his footing, and slid a few inches, before Logan caught his arm. 

"Be careful." Virgil laughed, as the group carefully took a few more steps toward the city.

Something that tasted like dread curled in Patton's stomach. He had known they were close to finding the witch, but he really didn't want this to end. He loved his friends. He just wanted to make sure that everyone was alright. And the closer they got to the city, the more he wasn't sure it was going to end up that way.

As they approached the gates, the guards standing at attention both surveyed the group, before holding out a hand to stop them.

"Our sincerest apologies, but we will need to see some identification if you don't mind?" Patton blinked a few times.

"Why? It's not like this place is a club or something?" He tilted his head, peeking inside, trying to see if it was, in fact, a very big club.

"Of course, but we aren't supposed to let children inside by themselves."

"Are you kidding me?" Virgil mumbled under his breath.

"We're trying to get to an inn inside, his grandparents sent us!" Patton tried helpfully, but the guard shook his head.

"Sorry, that might fly where you're from, but there's been a rise in gang activity around here, we want to make sure that all children are accompanied by an adult." The first guard spoke again, his voice one of mock sympathy.

"There you kids are!" A man said loudly as he walked over to the group of four, and placed a hand on Virgil's shoulder. Virgil tensed instantly until the man squeezed softly, and he relaxed a little. "Thank you for stopping them, I was just escorting these young gentlemen to my parent's friend's inn." He smiled sympathetically.