Valley and Capital

Chapter 15
Part 1 - Valley

The atmosphere is tranquil with all of us in the carriage. At the higher altitude, the breeze cools us down from the warm sun. We chat and tell stories. Heins tells us about his failed experiments, like the time when he tried to fly with wings made of hide. Dima tells us how Elda once came home to their mother with hundreds of stings on her body, after getting too close to a Sirall nest. Their stories make me think of myself, about what I have to share. Without the memories from my past life, it should feel like I had lived only a short life—but it doesn’t. It’s odd, I can’t remember, yet I know.
Peeking out from under the canopy, I view the mountain valleys. Only in this sight alone, there is so much to explore, so much time to be spent. It eases the feeling of what I miss, I only wish the people from my past could see it.

We take breaks to stretch our legs, cook, and rest. This time we stop at a small stream flowing down the mountain. Heins has been teaching Dima how to control the Vorix to lighten the burden. We have been teaching him some fighting techniques, passing on what we had learned from Rayon. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have the talent for it.

“Come on, be faster!” Elda harshly tells the struggling Heins.

“Aaahh!” He yells as he charges up his punch.

Elda easily catches his fist. Heins chuckles and smiles before being shoulder-thrown to the ground.

I look at the gloating Elda, disappointed.

“Elda, you’re being too rough,” I scold her.

“Hm,” she shrugs back at me, letting Heins go.

Dima goes and helps him up, groaning as he stands.

“How come you can’t manipulate stone?" Dima suddenly asks him.

It catches me off guard; I thought we had avoided the subject on purpose.

Heins casually shrugs as he answers:
“I don’t know, I’ve tried over and over. But I can do a little bit at least.”

“Really? Can you… show us?” I ask him, feeling like I’m intruding too much.

“Sure!” Heins says, like it’s no problem.

He walks up to a small patch of stone on the ground, lifting his foot and smashing it down. A small rock breaks off and flies a meter high. I get excited; I’ve never had the chance to watch their powers so closely. Sadly, it immediately drops back down.

Heins looks smug, crossing his arms.

We look at the confident man in silence.

“That’s it?” Elda asks insensitively.

“Elda!” Dima scolds her.

Heins looks down, depressed. It seems like her comment hit him hard.

“Don’t worry about it, leave that stuff to us,” I tell him, as I tap him on his back.

With the sun going down and our camp set up, we sat down around the fire. Heins brings up the map, and we all gather around.

“We should be reaching around this mountain by tomorrow. Then we will be here, that should mean that Haoul might be visible at that point,” Heins explains and points at the map.

“Then I guess we should start talking about our plan,” I suggest, glancing at Dima.

He sighs and speaks:
“I think you’re not going to like it.”

He looks a bit conflicted.

“Spit it out nerd,” Elda tells him.

“Fine. So, my idea is that we pose as Heins… slaves,” Dima says.

“What? No way!” Heins complains.

I’m a bit startled too, it rubs me the wrong way.

“Just hear me out. If we Avi ride in there, with a carriage filled with valuables, there is no way it won’t cause problems. Think about how the village reacted to us…” Dima defends and explains himself.

We all listen, not able to argue against his logic.

“Furthermore, if Heins poses as a merchant with this carriage and the stuff inside as merchandise, with us as his slaves, it will give him status. I am sure it will benefit us in the long run,” Dima continues.

Everyone looks puzzled. I can’t think of a better plan, since this will give us a lot more freedom to move around.

“I guess Heins could get in contact with the slavers that way too…” I say while looking at Heins.

He looks uncomfortable.

“I don’t know,” Heins says.

Elda goes and almost tumbles him with a slap on his back.

“We're counting on you, master!” She teases him.

The carriage rocks from the bumpy road, it is a drop straight down. Coming around the mountain, the sun is still in its early rise, lighting up the sky. We all look out at the astounding view. A big open plain with sandy deserts and rocky mountains. Standing out from the rest is a huge mountain with massive walls all around. Even from here you can see lights and structures, a city—a capital in the mountain.

“Wow! Is that it?” Elda says in awe.

“It’s gotta be,” I answer.

Even from a distance such as this, I can hear the noise of tens of thousands of people. It’s so faint—but it’s there.

In a zigzag, the road starts to bring us down into the plains. None of us can sit still from the excitement.

“What kind of food do they have?” Elda asks Heins, who is concentrating on steering us down this steep road.

“I don’t know. It’s probably similar to our village's food. Grilled meat, fried wheat balls and stuff like that,” Heins answers.

“It’s strange you know,” Dima says as he looks towards the city.

We all look at him. He has a bittersweet smile on his face.

“We’ve already been there, but… always hidden away. Passed between carriage to carriage, cage to cage. Only now when I see it like this, I know where we were,” Dima tells us.

Elda and I look at him with a smile. I tell him:

“Let’s see it for the first time, all of us.”

Part 2 - Capital

A drop of sweat runs down Heins' face, holding the reins tightly as we approach the huge gate. It seems like there is a line. I am fighting every urge to look around and see what kinds of people are waiting. I want to see the massive gates leading into the city. But we all agreed to avoid drawing attention, at least until we get in. Dima is checking on Elda, making sure she doesn't do anything stupid. I glance at Heins, he really does seem nervous.

“It’s okay, you’re going to do great,” I whisper to him.

He just nods without looking back.

“Next!” A gate guard yells and we come to the front.

“Your name?” the guard asks.

“Heins Villet,” Heins answers, to my surprise sounding confident.
The guard continues:

“What is your business in the city?”

“I’m here to sell medicine, ore and other produce from my village,” Heins answers.

“You look young for a merchant,” the guard says.

My palms start to sweat.

“Haha! I hear it all the time, I have inherited my father’s business you see,” Heins laughs and explains. I glance up, Dima and Elda look impressed.

“Mind if I take a look?” the guard asks.

“Of course! My personal slaves are in there, so you are aware,”

“Slaves, huh?” the guard sounds skeptical, as he takes a peek under the canopy.

“Wait,” the guard says, looking right at us.

I can’t help but look back. He's staring right at me, skeptical, maybe mad. Trying to keep my composure, I slowly breathe out and avert my eyes, as natural as possible.

“You don’t have them chained? I can’t have Avi running off into the city,” the guard tells Heins with a strict voice.

Dammit… I think to myself.

Suddenly, Heins yells:
“Chained!? How dare you? These Avi have been trained as my bodyguards since birth, I trust them with my very life! Didn’t I tell you my name?”

“Sir, calm down…” the guard tries to tell him, but he doesn't stop:

“I am the son of the owner of the biggest Satrill mine in the land, you know the value of this medicine, don’t you?! How can I walk around if my slaves can’t protect me?! I will take my business elsewhere!”

“Sir, please. Calm down, my mistake sir. Please, go ahead…” the guard whispers, while chatter grows in the line behind us.

“Thank you very much!” Heins stoically says, and whips our Vorix and gets us moving.

Rolling in, smells of herbs and leather fills my nose. People are speaking all around, the stimulation is overwhelming. The siblings and I can’t keep down our excitement any longer, especially after Heins amazing act.

“How did you do that?” Dima asks him.

Heins breathes out, as if he had been holding his breath.

“Please, don’t talk to me for a while. I feel like my heart is going to explode,” Heins answers, looking back at us in turmoil.

“Sorry,” Dima says, holding back his grin as he looks back at us.

We look out from the canopy onto the wide street built with layered stone slabs. Carriages pass by in the middle with the people walking on the sidewalks. I see Baiin in fine clothing, and Mirs in armor. I also see kinds of people I’ve never seen before. Some have red hair and red eyes, some blonde with blue eyes. The passing lights fill my eyes in the darkening evening. A blond man meets my gaze, and he looks a bit surprised. In realization, I force down my smile and slightly hide away. This time I just peek out.

Shops, inns and fancy homes along the entire street. Merchants have stands all over, where people stand gathered around.
One Baiin woman stands in front of the rest, with Mir guards around her. She has extraordinary clothes, and a jewelry headpiece. On her side, there is also an Avi boy. He has chains around his neck and limbs, carrying merchandise.
Dima grabs my shoulder, and says:

“Let’s calm down, we will have time.”

We need money to be able to stay at an inn. So we decided to go to a general shop to sell some of our medicine. Heins parks the carriage at the sidewalk, grabs some bottles in a crate and walks in.
In a few minutes, he comes back out.

“How did it go, master?” Elda asks him, with a grin.

“I got a hundred Rin for five bottles, it is actually more than I thought,” he answered, throwing the bag of coins to us.

“Apperently, the inns are cheaper within the mountain. He recommended me one, which is 5 Rin per day for both room and a place for the carriage,” Heins continues.

“Wait—what do you mean by ‘within the mountain’?” I ask him, confused.

He looks back at me, and answers:
“This is only the outer city; the true city is within the mountain itself, or so a traveling merchant once told me.”

I’m dumbstruck, I had no idea something like that existed.

“We should be there in a couple minutes, hang tight a bit more,” Heins says, as he whips the reins.

A wide tunnel leads us in, lit from torches, people are walking in and out. Every sound echoes and the heat blows past from within. I sense the grand number of people, all in the same direction. At the end, the tunnel opens up to a huge cave, hundreds of meters tall and wide. It is as bright as day. Structures built by sandy stone, layers upon layers. Some built tall and some shorter, the city dips and peaks. There are even more people here than there were outside. I hear screams, laughs, arguments, the whole cave is alive. I struggle to take it all in.

“Is this real?” Dima says.

He is looking out at the unreal sight, so is Elda. Seeing them both by my side, it finally feels real.
Heins looks back at us and smiles as he sees ours.