Legon Awakening: Book One in the Legon Series (25 page)

Then it happened. She heard everything around her
just like Arkin had taught them. She was aware of what everything
was, and she could feel her mind and body filling with energy.
Strange dreams suddenly filled her mind’s eye. Dreams she wasn’t in
control of but could still see, hear, and feel. Time seemed not to
exist either, but somehow she knew how long she was out. She
brought herself out of the waking sleep and looked at Arkin, who
was smiling in the light of the sunrise. She slumped down.

“Why was I out for so long? I thought I should sense
time, right?”

“You should. I was ready to tell you to go to bed and
get some sleep the old fashioned way, but just then you achieved
the Waking Sleep, but only for about five minutes. Then you fell
asleep for five hours.” There was a placating look on his face.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You were fine where you were, and I figured if you
woke up on your own you could have another try.”

Arkin stood and walked off without another comment.
She was a little put out. She had been sitting there all night long
sleeping and he had just watched her? Or did he go to bed himself?
If she had been doing what she was supposed to she would have known
that, but still, what if she had taken a header into the fire? She
stood, feeling stiff, and started on breakfast.

“Morning, Sash,” Legon said, coming out of the
tent.

“Good morning. How did you sleep?”

“Meh. Had another one. I don’t know why they affect
me more when you’re not there.”

“I have a soothing personality.” She turned and gave
him a warm but fake smile.

He laughed. “Yeah that’s it.”

As the day wore on they drew closer to Salez. Soon
they could see a dark haze over the next hill, indicating that the
city would be just on the other side. Arkin’s training had filled
the last few weeks, but some of the most important training was how
to protect their minds. Magic users and Dragons could read
thoughts, but if you knew what you were doing you could block them
out.

“Remember, there are going to be many people at the
gate, so if they do have someone checking thoughts they’ll only be
looking for obvious things like aggression. In light of that, keep
your thoughts focused on the mundane, understand?” Arkin
warned.

“But what if one tries to go deeper?” Kovos asked
with a little nervousness in his voice.

“You won’t know if they do, but if it looks like
someone is paying a little too much attention to you, clear your
head. If that doesn’t work then try to hurt yourself.”

“Do what?” Kovos asked.

“Fall off your horse or something like that. Anything
that will agitate the people around you and more important, your
mind”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll fall off my horse anyway,
so I wouldn’t be too worried about it,” Keither said with a
chuckle.

They headed east and came over the top of the hill.
When they crested the top, Legon felt his stomach drop. In front of
them was the largest city he had ever seen. Salez was beyond huge.
The smoke from thousands of chimneys formed a dark haze floating
above the city. The harsh smoke made him want to sneeze. The city
was built on two hills that were separated by the Kayloose running
between them. Farms surrounded the city, which was encircled by a
towering stone wall. From the hilltop vantage Legon could see that
the wall even spanned the river, which passed though grates built
in along the bottom. Towers were spaced evenly along the massive
wall. Behind them was slate roof after slate roof.

Further up, he could see other walls with towers
indicating where the city had once ended. He counted five of these
inner walls, but only the largest outer wall connected both hills.
The city rose from the horizon like two mountains, each topped with
a fortress. The fortress on the north hill was large but nothing
compared to the fortress topping the south. The building had tiers,
giving each new level the ability to shoot over the first. He could
see nine towers along the first wall just from where he was
sitting. It looked like the city walls and fortresses were made of
whitewashed granite, making the city bright, but also giving it a
striped appearance because of the slate roofs. Legon saw splashes
of red, blue, green, and orange everywhere, but from a distance the
granite and slate dominated.

“Arkin, how many people do you think live there?”
Legon asked.

“Oh I don’t know, around two hundred and fifty
thousand. But keep in mind, Salez is not the largest city.”

“You mean there’s ones bigger than this?” Sasha asked
amazed.

“Much larger, yes. Now when we get into town, I will
go talk to my contact here and find out if he knows anything. You
lot will go to the Claw Foot Inn and wait for me. If it looks like
we’ve been compromised we need to leave fast, got it?”

Legon wasn’t happy about this part of the plan. After
all, he was the one in need of answers, but at the same time the
order to arrest him came from the Queen in the capital. Salez
seemed like a good place to find those answers. Still, he needed to
take Arkin’s lead on this. After all, the man had been living in
the middle of the empire as a spy for years.

“Ok, we’ll take your lead,” replied Legon. As he
spoke, they saw a large orange creature fly from the north
fortress. Far-reaching bat-like wings pushed its long body through
the air effortlessly. It flew northeast away from them. A chill ran
down Legon’s spine as he noticed that the dragon seemed to leach
light from the sky, although not nearly as much as the one in his
dreams.

“That was an Iumenta Dragon, wasn’t it?” Keither
asked. There was fear in his voice but also interest.

“Yes, it was. Now let’s go.” Arkin started forward to
Salez, seemingly unfazed by the monster.

* * * * *

Keither marveled at the dragon that was now just a
small dot in the sky. There wasn’t a lot of information available
on Dragons, mostly because the Iumenta controlled what information
was available to the public. Keither did know that they were a key
part in the Queen’s takeover and subsequent reign.

Salez was beautiful, with its whitewashed walls and
the way the main city was contained within the barrier. That was
real security. As they drew closer, Keither could see that they
were easily forty feet high. As they joined the large group of
people entering the main gate, he saw that it was roughly as thick
as it was tall. That seemed odd.

“Arkin, why is the wall so thick? Isn’t that way too
much stone?”

“It’s not solid stone. Most of it is earth and
timber. It makes the wall extremely strong. Men can patrol the top
and keep ballista and catapults up there with their supplies.”

There was something else that was odd about Salez as
well. As they entered they were not greeted by beggars. There
should have been lots of them in a city this big, but there was no
one out asking for offerings. Sasha noticed this as well. “Where
are the people begging for food and money?” she asked.

“They’re in the Queen’s care. There are no beggars in
the empire, or at least not in any city big enough to be called a
city,” said a man that was next to them leading a donkey laden with
parcels. “There hasn’t been in about five years now. If you lose
your home you are taken into the Queen’s care”.

“
How could the Iumenta be bad if they got rid of
homelessness?”
Keither thought. Arkin was off base; he needed
to figure out what was wrong with the man.

“For how long does one stay in the care of the
Queen?” Kovos asked.

“For the rest of your life, of course. If they left
her care they would be back to clogging the streets in a week,” the
man said with derision.

Well maybe it wasn’t so good. If the Iumenta took
care of the poor until they could function on their own, that would
be one thing, but for the rest of their lives?

“Ok, you go find the Inn. It should be up that road a
bit,” Arkin said, pointing up a street to the right. “I will meet
you there in a few hours. Don’t worry about getting us rooms, we
may not be staying.”

* * * * *

Legon wasn’t all that thrilled about going off in a
big city without Arkin, but he would have to get over it.
Thankfully, it turned out the inn wasn’t that hard to find. When
they entered, they were greeted by a wave of musty smoke and sound.
The inn had a tavern on the lower level and people were coming in
from all around for lunch. The group moved toward the last table
and sat around it. Legon sat with his back to the window, watching
the people and waiting impatiently for Arkin. A tall woman with
long red hair and a green dress came by and asked if they wanted
anything to drink.

“What’s good here?” Kovos asked.

She smiled warmly. “Everything.”

“Ok, what do you like the most?” Kovos was flirting
with the waitress. He loved Emma, but Legon knew that he just
couldn’t help himself. That was just how Kovos was. The woman
placed her hand on his shoulder and turned herself just a little,
subtly indicating that she was talking only to him. Her low-cut
blouse and the way she tilted herself just a bit to Kovos wasn’t
lost on any of them. This woman was a pro, and Kovos her sucker for
today. This was going to cost them.

“Well, I like the ginger tea.” She was playing with
his shirt. This always happened. This lady was going to get Kovos
to buy the most expensive thing on the menu and then he was going
to leave her a huge tip. Sasha was rolling her eyes, looking
disgusted.

“Yeah, we’ll all have a cup.” Kovos handed her way
more money than any tea was worth and the woman walked off. It was
a good thing they had stiffed Bear on the horses. The waitress
wasn’t even that good looking.

Kovos turned back to them with a stupid look on his
face. “What are you all looking at me like that for?”

“Give me the money,” Sasha said, holding out her
hand.

“What? Why?”

“Because you are a moron, that’s why. Ginger tea? Are
you for real?”

“She said she liked it.”

“She liked your money,” spat Sasha. Then added
harshly, “Our money.”

“Like you would know. I bet it’s great.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Fine, you can have the bag, but if the tea is good,
I get it back,” Kovos said as he held out his hand with the money
bag. Sasha promptly took it.

The tea came out and was terrible. Legon liked ginger
but not like this. Sasha was forcing down a sip when she stood up
and clapped her hands to her mouth.

“Oh, it’s not that bad. I kind of like it…” Kovos
started, but she was out the door.

Legon turned to see her running out in the street and
letting a blonde woman inside. As she entered he took a look at the
newcomer. Her hair was long, blonde and she was thin with green
eyes and a . . .

“Sara!” he said, getting up and crossing the
room. He wrapped his arms around her. “I can’t believe you’re here.
Come sit down with us, how are you?”

“Um, well, I…,” she began, looking totally dazed and
shocked.

“Sit down, sit down. Oh, I am so happy to see you,”
Sasha said, planting Sara next to Legon. Sara took a moment to
rearrange the red dress, hiking up its low-cut neckline, and then
checked to make sure she hadn’t lost any jewelry. He was surprised
by all of the makeup and jewelry. When he had known her she wasn’t
a flashy person at all and was a little on the chubby side. Now she
was thin and looked good, but there was something off about
her.

“I thought you were in the Queen’s care?” Keither
asked. Sara’s face darkened and she looked down.

“Yes, I am.”

“Well you look like you’re doing great. Looks like
the Queen’s care isn’t so bad after all.” Keither looked at them
all smugly.

“No, it’s…” Legon could see tears in her eyes now.
The low-cut dress. The makeup. The jewelry. It all suddenly
clicked. She was a slave and slaves didn’t have that stuff.

She looked like she couldn’t talk, as if she was
ashamed. Like she wanted to go and hide under a rock. With her eyes
diverted away from them she said, “Keither, I’m a slave and was
sold to an Iumenta that owns a brothel.”

Her voice was etched with the same shame and sadness
that adorned her face. Legon was surprised that pain and sadness,
not anger, boiled up in him. There was a warm sensation in the back
of his head. He tried to ignore it and shifted away from the
window, closer to Sara and out of the warm sun. Keither looked
dumbstruck and embarrassed. Sasha and Kovos were looking down as an
uncomfortable silence grew.

“Can you get away?” Legon asked.

“No, they mark us with magic. Here, look,” she said,
turning to them and lifting her hair. It felt like ice water was
being poured down his whole body. On the back of her neck was a
black tattoo with two circles inside each other. At the center was
a six-pointed star. The symbol itself was not the part that
unnerved him, but more how it was put there.

“If I leave town and anyone see this tattoo, I will
be taken back to my owner, and then…”

* * * * *

Arkin turned the corner into an alley in between two
large buildings, looking for the man he was supposed to meet. This
part of town wasn’t where you would expect to find an informant.
Most of the time you had to go to the bad part of town—the part
where the snitches were. Not Monson, though. He wasn’t what you
would expect, either.

A figure walked out from behind a carton and waved to
Arkin. As he approached, Arkin saw the young man, really a boy
around fourteen. His father had been the original informant, but
not anymore. Monson’s family was from one of the old human houses,
one that had been in charge before the Iumenta swine took over, the
House of Grey to be precise. The family was an example of how the
queen was able to destroy human nobility. The taxes and penalties
that were imposed made it impossible for a family like theirs to
exist. Subsequently, all of the noble lines had dissolved, and
humanity lost more and more sway in the government. The person in
front of him was the last of a line—a line that the Iumenta were
keen to destroy.