Chapter 24: Chapter 24 – Return

When the walls of Silmia appeared on the horizon, Grayson was once again reminded of their grandeur. Even after having seen them once before, the sheer size of the things was awe-inspiring. With the sight came a sense of foreboding. The last time he had visited Silmia ended with him being stuck in prison, and eventually sent to the Proving Grounds.

He certainly wasn’t excited to enter the city once again, but he had made a promise to Trest, and he was going to fulfill it. He entered the city the same way he had entered Southport. He hadn’t thought of a better way yet, and the platform method seemed to work quite well. After waiting until night, Grayson started far outside the walls, jumping from platform to platform until he was far above the city.

Eventually, he dropped down in a dark section of the city, dismissed his powers, and started moving away from the spot immediately. None too soon because out of the darkness, three halos of light appeared, zeroing in on where he had been standing.

Grayson cursed quietly at the sight. He was hoping that there wouldn’t be any wavelords in the city, or if there were, they wouldn’t notice him entering, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Fortunately, whoever the wavelord was didn’t seem to know where he had gone, and Grayson was able to disappear into the darkness.

He spent the night exploring the city, looking at the sights he hadn’t been able to see the previous time he had entered. Silmia was truly a marvel, and it was proven by the incredible water features found in nearly every intersection, and the beautiful statues adorning nearly every street corner, even in the poorer looking sections of the city. They were beautiful and well crafted, noticeable even in the darkness of the night.

Eventually, the sun began to rise, and Grayson began searching for someone who might be able to provide him information. He settled on an old woman sitting on a rocking chair at the corner of an intersection, with a tin set in front of her. The tin had one single small copper coin inside, waiting for more to join it. As Grayson approached, he noticed the whiteness covering the woman’s eyes, and he decided she would be the perfect source of information.

He stepped up to her, and withdrew a copper coin from one of his money pouches, and dropped it in the tin.

“Thank you.” The woman said in a feeble voice.

“You’re welcome,” Grayson replied. “Could I ask you a few questions, perhaps?”

“Of course.”

“How many wavelords are in the city?”

“There aren’t any in the city as far as I’m aware, and it’s usually the talk of the city when a wavelord arrives.”

Grayson’s brow furrowed, but he just shrugged to himself a moment later. Hopefully, the wavelord he had seen that night was the only one in Silmia, although one was more than he would like to deal with in the first place. He moved onto his next question instead of thinking on it too much longer.

“Do you know where General Trest’s wife lives?”

Those traitors live near the keep with all the minor nobility,” the woman said, spitting to the side, “and what a disgrace that is.”

Grayson frowned at that. He had never learned what Trest had done to get himself sent to the Proving Grounds. Before he had died, Grayson never worked up the courage to ask, and after his death, Grayson didn’t want to bring up the man at all because the emotions were still raw.

“Thanks, and where is the keep located?”

“You must be new to the city,” the woman said with a laugh, “The keep is in the northern quarter. It should be easy to find once you’re nearby. It’s the only building in the city larger than the Velosian temple.

Grayson dropped another copper coin in the tin, and turned to start moving northward. But he stopped a moment later, and ducked behind the corner once again. A man wearing loose robes, and a woman with a sun hat were in the street he had just walked on to, and the only brief glimpse Grayson got of them had his hair standing on end. While their clothes didn’t look much different from everyone else in Silmia, they looked new, and completely clean. What really stood out was the way they stood. Their backs were straight, and their posture was immaculate. That wouldn’t have been too much of an issue, except they seemed to be scanning the faces of everyone passing by, as if they were looking for someone. Everything about the situation had his instincts screaming at him to avoid the pair.

He was fortunate enough to duck behind the corner before either of the pair and seen him, and Grayson quickly did a wide circle around where they were, and started heading north, making appoint to avoid the larger roads when possible. For that reason, it took some time to make it to the northern quarter of the city, but the blind woman had been correct when she had said that the keep would be easy to find.

It rose high into the sky, lording over the other buildings nearby. After finding the keep, Grayson took the opportunity to ask for directions from several people nearby to narrow down where Trest’s wife was living. As he grew closer, the homes began to grow both larger and more impressive, until he would describe most of what he found as mansions.

The information seemed to be common knowledge, and soon Grayson found himself outside the place. It was fenced off from the rest of the city, like all the other houses in the area.  It was a large residence, and two spear wielding guards stood at the gate of the house.

The guards weren’t wearing the same kind of uniform he had come to associate with the city watch. Instead, they wore pristine white uniforms, with a golden eagle emblazoned across the chest.

At this point, Grayson wasn’t sure what to do. He could try to sneak into the place, but that seemed like it could go very poorly for him, especially since there was no way he was going to use his powers after the wavelord had appeared when Grayson had entered the city. It didn’t seem likely the guards would allow him to enter, but that seemed like the better option of the two.

As Grayson approached the gate, the two guards tensed up, hands tensing on their spears.

“Move along!” One of them called out. “We’ve had enough of you troublemakers.”

Doing his best to project confidence in his posture, Grayson walked up to the gate.

“I have some news regarding the general that I was asked to convey to the lady of the house.” He said, in the most dignified voice he could muster.

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The guards continued to eye him suspiciously, until one of them spoke up.

“Very well, tell us the message, and we will pass it on to her later.”

“I’m afraid that this is a message of a personal nature.”

“Then I’m afraid,” the man said, as he stepped forward brandishing his spear, “that you are unwelcome here. Leave immediately, or we will use force.”

 Grayson grimaced at that, but raised his hands, placating. It seemed like it would be best to change tactics.

“I’ll leave, no need to get violent. I’ll return later today with a letter, would that be acceptable.”

The guard stopped advancing on Grayson and frowned, but nodded the affirmative.

“Thank you,” Grayson said, bobbing his head before leaving the area. He would have preferred to give his message face to face, but a letter would work well enough.

It took him longer than he would have liked to find a place where he would be able to write, but he eventually found it in Silmia’s version of a post office. He bought some paper, and payed to use a quill and ink well before sitting down at a little desk to write.

***

Grayson eyed his finished letter critically. It looked shoddy, but he was just going to have to accept that. This was the fourth iteration of the letter, the others had been thrown out for two reasons. The first was that he struggled to write with the quill. He had accidentally left massive ink blots over his first two pages.

The second reason was because he agonized over the correct way to tell his story, and explain Trest’s death. There just didn’t seem to be a good way to put into words how the general had died, especially when he was largely his fault. Knowing that his wife was going to read had him balling up several pages before this final iteration.

He still wasn’t fully satisfied with how it had turned out, but he acknowledged he could probably write and rewrite the thing over a hundred times and still not be satisfied.

Grayson was about to stand up and leave the post office when he heard voices speaking from outside the place. After glancing up, Grayson ducked down behind the writing desk, trying to hide himself. It was the man and woman from earlier, the same pair he had seen looking around all the way back when he had been in the southernmost part of Silmia.

He started paying attention to their conversation now that he realized who the pair were.

“-and I’m getting tired of this same conversation. I see your point, but this is important.” The woman said.

“I know this is important,” the man replied, “but our relationship with Silmia and the Altera family is critical. We’ve searched half the city, and we still haven’t found this mysterious person. It’s likely they aren’t even related to our purpose here.”

“If you’re so concerned about it, go back to the keep, and I’ll continue searching on my own. Whoever they are, they’re close by.”

The man laughed, “You know I wouldn’t do that, and I will support your decisions, but I am concerned about the backlash. Everyone has been playing nice-”

The pair walked past, out of Grayson’s hearing range, and he let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.

Based on their conversation, they were searching for someone, probably him, and they had some way of tracking him, though it didn’t seem to be a very exact method. They were able to find an approximate location, but that was all. It was concerning, just another reason to drop off the letter and get out of Silmia immediately.

Grayson left the post office and made his way back to the general’s home, and stepped up to the guards. One of them gave him a raised eyebrow.

“I didn’t think you would be back,” He said, eyeing the letter in Grayson’s hand. “and it even looks like you wrote the letter like you said.”

“Yeah,” Grayson said, “proffering the letter to the guard. Please give this to the lady of the house.”

The guard shook his head, and sighed. “Madame Maila saw you speaking to us earlier, and asked us about our conversation. She asked to speak with you when you returned.”

Grayson would have groaned at that. While he had agonized over writing the letter, he had actually been fairly pleased with the solution. He wasn’t sure he would be able to look in this woman’s eye and tell her about what had happened. Not to mention, he had gone through the trouble and expense of writing a letter for nothing.

But when the guard opened the gate and gestured for him to enter, he sighed and walked in. All he could do was tell the truth and hope this woman didn’t hate him for what he had done.

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