"Is he still looking at me?" 

He only nodded his head in response. She rolled her eyes. "Do not worry about him. He will not do anything improper." The burden seemed to lift off her shoulders and she turned around to watch the scene again.

"I would keep your reactions slightly limited for the time being." Roselyn turned her head to the left to look at him over her left shoulder. 

"Why?"

"What is the most important thing in this city?"

She frowned for a moment before earnestly replying, "The Emperor in his palace?"

He shook his head. "The Thieves' Guild is here." Her eyes went wide. "The soldiers have been ordered to give the Guild half of the things they find during these inspections." 

"Why would they do that? They work for the Emperor." He just stared at her and saw for the first time the innocence in her eyes. 

I had thought she was more worldly. The way she was undressed in Xinior's chambers . . . This does explain . . . 

"They have probably been threatened to do as the Guild wishes. If not, death might come to a family member." She gasped then slammed her lips together to be silent. She turned her head to look forwards again. He smirked when he realized she was checking to make sure no one had heard her. She turned her back to the caravan and came to his side. 

"Doesn't the Emperor know? Can't he do anything about it?"

"Yes, the Emperor knows. Rarely do the two cross each other. The Emperor takes a fourth of their profits each year. It is an interesting relationship to say the least. As long as one doesn't irritate the other, things run well in Gil'alla." She only shook her head. 

"So the only reason why the soldiers are inspecting our belongings and cargo is to take our things?"

"No, they are also checking for any rotten food or ill people. Plagues can run rampant in the city because it is so confined and compact. They check the wagons and food sources for signs of vermin. Just two rats can multiply into two hundred in less than a few years. The soldiers also search for exiles or outlaws. It has become a game to some exiles to see how many times he or she can sneak back into the city after being exiled. Outlaws- that should speak for itself. The Emperor tries to keep some sense of dignity in his city." He took a deep breath and the hot-dry air flowed into his lungs. He silently longed to be on the ocean shore again, with plenty of moisture to soak the earth underneath his feet. 

"You! Your bags need to be checked." 

Christian turned his head, his slight daydream gone, and saw a soldier come towards them. Roselyn went stiff, her right hand tightly clutching the strap to her satchel. The soldier took a good grip of her bag and yanked it from her. She held her tongue as he turned it upside down and let its contents spill to the ground. 

"You're getting sand in my things!" She dropped to her knees and began scooping her things into her satchel. Christian only raised an eyebrow as he saw her clandestinely push a tiny rosewood box and a silver-backed brush past her satchel and into the slight opening between her bent knees. The soldier didn't notice the two items disappearance. He pushed aside some clothes with the dull end of his staff, making their folds disappear and arranging them in colored heaps on the sand. Christian saw a gold necklace with five emeralds stand out against the sand. Roselyn's slightly tanned fingers deftly reached out to try and hide it with the brush and box but the soldier spotted it first. 

"Aha! This should do nicely." He bent down, his armor squeaking, and reached out to take it. The necklace seemed especially delicate in his gray gauntlet. 

"No!" She stood up and Christian was surprised to see the two items she had already hid were buried in the sand. She placed her hands on the soldier's arm and looked into his face. 

"The Emperor demands this for entrance."

"He can have anything else but that," she pleaded.

The soldier only coldly laughed. "What would the Emperor want with woman's clothes?" 

"Do you know what I can do?" 

Christian quickly looked up to her eyes. He saw the same flash of anger in the depths of her emerald eyes as he had that day in Qu'Eleth's library. He couldn't call upon his own will in fear that Xinrit would hear him. Then his entire trip would be for naught and his life and Roselyn's in danger. The soldier began to laugh but she cut him off.

"I am a sorceress. I can do imaginable things that would send your knees shaking." 

"Aye? And I'm the Emperor." Roselyn's fists clenched and Christian winced as he heard the sound of her magic being called within her. 

"You little toad," she hissed through clenched teeth. The soldier lowered his spear. Christian took a step off the wall.

"Now, good sir, I'm sure the lady can keep her trifling belongings." The soldier turned his head and his eyes behind his helm's nose-guard seemed widened. He shook his head as if seeing Christian for the first time. Christian silently watched as the soldier's eyes traveled first to his face, then to his shoulders and the mantle and finally resting on the broach. With a snarl on his lips, the soldier looked back to Roselyn.

"Fine. The wench can keep her things." 

"She is my lady, good sir, so I ask you not to defame her good name." 

"You are practically pushing too much," the soldier warned. Christian turned his head. 

"Then I will leave your presence. Give me your word so we can enter the city." The soldier nodded as Roselyn grabbed her necklace and stuffed it into her satchel along with her other things, including the two buried under the sand. Christian started through the gateway. Her footsteps were swallowed up by the sand, but by the time Roselyn had caught up with him he could hear her heavy footsteps on the stone road. His own footsteps were silent- he had learned the trick from a spy he used to know. 

"How did you do that?" she eagerly asked.

"Do what?" he lazily replied, his thoughts on names and passwords. 

"Get him to change his mind?" He heard her give a small "Oh," and it forced him to take a quick side glance at her. "Did you use your magic to change his mind for him?" she eagerly asked.

"I did not," he tersely replied. 

She gave a slight pout as she asked, "Then how?"

"That's for another time." He did not miss her frown as they walked under a huge stone bridge spanning from one large building to the next. 

"There is so much stone here. How did the builders of Gil'alla find all of it?" she asked. He paused as he noticed a quick flash of movement from the nearby alley. He narrowed his gaze and spotted the little pick-pocket who had just lifted a small purse from a merchant. Christian shook his head and continued to walk. 

"The stone was a present from a sorcerer," he calmly replied, all of his senses open to the teeming city. 

"A sorcerer?! I never knew that," she said. "Too bring all of this stone here- it would be an amazing feat." She paused. "Why didn't they teach me that at Qu'Eleth?"

"Because the Dean Masters dislike the sorcerer who made this city. I believe their exact words about him are something like 'evil and wicked'." 

"Who made this city?"

"I cannot say at this time. A whisper in Gil'alla is heard by at least twenty people. Things move faster here than anywhere else in the Land." 

He kept his pace quick to match that of the inhabitants here. It was getting late and he did not want to be out on the streets the first night of his arrival. Xinor knew a magician-level wielder had entered the city. Christian just hoped that Xinor ignored it and did not delve deeper into the matter. He only defiantly stared back at the merchants and other shop owners who he side stepped. People were individuals in Gil'alla; no one liked his or her personal space invaded. Christian didn't care; he had to get to his destination before the sun had completely set. 

As dusk began to settle in, a slight buzzing sound came to the streets. It was hundreds and hundreds of people whispering. He stopped at an intersection of two streets, the other one running east-west. Christian stared in contentment as the red golden sun set under the famed Arch of the Gods. He stared at the sun and soon closed his eyes and felt the sun's warmth on his face. 

"It's gorgeous. I don't think I've ever seen such a sunset," Roselyn muttered. She was instantly hissed at by a local merchant. Christian rolled his eyes and cracked them open to see a portly woman shaking a finger at Roselyn. Roselyn, her emerald eyes wide and her eyebrows raised opened her mouth to speak but he stopped her by saying,

"It is a time for silence," he began in a whisper. "From the time the sun is under the arch to when it is below the horizon everyone must speak in whispers." She frowned as she looked at him. The portly merchant went back inside her shop after sending another scolding look Roselyn's way.

"I don't understand," the young woman whispered as she took two steps closer to him.

"The Arch had been the first thing built in Gil'alla to honor the gods and as a offering for prosperity. The Emperor from his window has the official view. When the sun is all the way under the Arch, is a time of silence so that the Shei monks can pray. The entire city, too busy with life, could not afford to stop speaking for this time. So the Emperor declared that his people could speak, but could not raise their voices above a whisper in order to let the devoted pray. The city has to wait until the sun is under the horizon, as seen by the Emperor. In the earlier days, a herald had cried out the time of silence- five times for silence and three times when the city could speak. But Gil'alla soon became overflowing with people- before the walls had been put up- and not everyone could hear the herald. So the highest tower was built. When it is time for silence, a white flag is drawn. And just before darkness takes the city captive, the white flag is lowered, indicating it is time to speak." He waited a second more, letting the fiery orb's image emblazon itself into his memory, then he continued on. 

Christian turned into a side alley. The space between the two buildings was barely wide enough to allow two people to walk side by side. The dim light coming from the setting sun and budding lanterns cast long shadows in front of them. 

"Why are we here, sir?" she warily asked. "It is a dead end. I don't like this." 

He narrowed his eyes as he searched for the entrance. He continued walking to the end, his gaze fixed on a small black box panel. 

"Roselyn, there are many things we need to fear. There are things that I cannot even summon the courage to say. But it is a mortal fear to be afraid in a dark street. Remember who you are." His right hand reached out touched the black panel. He let his palm touch the warm wood and a silent creaking could be heard. He heard a small gasp come from Roselyn as four lines of light appeared surrounding a door. It pulled back to reveal a small man, a dwarf, sitting on a high stool, his tiny legs swinging back and forth. A curved cane was in his right hand and it was hooked on to the door's handle. He had a snarl on his lips that were barely seen under the tangled bush that was his beard. 

"What's yer business here?" he gruffly asked. 

"I wear the broach of the Guild. That allows me to enter without questions," Christian replied as he crossed his arms in front of him- making sure the dwarf saw his golden armbands. The dwarf's overgrown left white eyebrow raised as he squinted. 

"'Tis kinda dark. Aye, I see it. Alright, come on in." Christian started to move and he saw the leer on the dwarf's face. "But she canna."

Christian looked to the dwarf and realized he wouldn't get the small man's attention again. "She is my lady. She will be allowed in without your harassment." The dwarf didn't seem to be paying attention and Christian though he saw a small trickle come form at the corner of his lips. He reached out and abruptly grabbed the dwarf by his collar. It did not take much human strength to hoist him up so that his feet were kicking empty air. The dwarf's huge black eyes, they were the size of teacups yet did not seem out of place on his mismatched face. His nose was bumpy and his ears too small on his big head but all of the oddly shaped pieces of his visage came together in a strange harmony. "I believe your hearing is going with your sight. I do not think you understood me the first time. My lady will accompany me- without protest- or else you will not remain a whole dwarf."

"Ye better not be a threatenin' me. I gotta few hundred close friends who would make sure my vengeance would be painful." 

Christian only smiled. "Yaeleroux, I know ways of torture that would keep your body whole but your spirit gone. Do you understand me? I can leave you as a cold empty nut shell, without feelings, touch, or a single thought in that oversized head of yours. Do I make myself clear or do I need to show you?" The dwarf scowled and shook his head.

"Nay, just put me down and continue." Christian set the dwarf back on his stool, looked back to Roselyn then nodded his head. He ducked his head under the low doorway and stepped over the high door frame. Once inside, he was easily able to comfortably stand up. He waited for Roselyn then began to walk again.

"I wouldn't dare to go against your word, sir, but that seemed a little harsh." 

I'm going to have to break her of that habit. She's treating me with too much reverence. I suppose that is what I get for allowing those fools at Qu'Eleth to teach about me as if I were a god or something.

"Roselyn, sometimes you must do things you regret and sometimes you must use force. This was one of those times. Yaeleroux was just being a little boorish for his own good. We need to hurry or else Navej will be out drinking and whoring. I do not want to spend tonight searching every tavern in Gil'alla for him." 

That's all for now.  Keep a lookout for this tale in your bookstores or perhaps more chapters on this website.