A Dangerous Destiny: The Pure One Book I

Chapter Fourteen

Author's Note: This chapter may be on the rougher side and will be subject to further revision. It is a fairly major turning point in the story and I am trying to get it just right. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Fiona and Henry meet...

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Fiona

They were waiting for her at the gates when she arrived, as she knew they would be, three soldiers of the People's army standing in attendance, their bright red coats accented with gold, the colors of the Empire, the Kanjin crest upon their right breast. As agreed in their final correspondence, Fiona's visit with the Prince was to be short, a mere showing of support as she traveled through the Capitol on her way to Fenwick, a Senmin trading colony located twenty miles south of Auresir. She had been guaranteed escorts to and from the main gates of the city to the palace and back again. 

The men saluted her on approach, one offering his hand as she dismounted, while another handed her horse's reigns to a page that had appeared beside him.

"This way, my lady," one of her escorts said, gesturing to a coach waiting just over the wall, drawn by two magnificent black geldings. The coach itself was flanked by a pair of mounted soldiers to provide protection for the small retinue on their way to Salam Place. Fiona was stuck by the overly extravagant showing of power. Surely such elaborate efforts were not necessary. Still, she could not help but be pleased that Henry Bastario had gone to such lengths, though whether to impress or intimidate, she could not be sure. Fiona took the guard's hand and allowed herself to be helped inside.

The carriage was lovely, made of polished chestnut, the interior lined with red velvet. Fiona found the level of opulence somewhat repulsive. She thought of the most recent droughts that had plagued the farms in the north, the general poverty that had continued to rise in over the past ten years. The people's troubles clearly had no effect on the royal family. 
As they made their way through the streets she could see that indeed, throughout Auresir, the city lived up to its name. It truly was a "Golden City," at least in the middle and upper districts through which they rode.

Here the streets were just as bustling as she remembered from her childhood. The market they passed had no lack of peddlers standing in front of overflowing stalls filled with vegetables, and fruits, furs, and cloth. The people they passed had a pleasant plumpness about them, something rare in the lands outside of the Capital. Even the market vendors here were of the upper merchant class, well fed, clean, selling the wares of the poor made in the lower districts or the various farms and craftsman's workshops from lands beyond the city's gates, buying them cheap and reaping the benefit of others' toil.

As for the colored peacocks that strutted about, purchasing their useless trinkets, Fiona imagined most were entirely ignorant of the struggles others faced throughout the Empire. Here there was no famine, no rebellion, no danger, an easy enough feat when the worthy citizens of the upper and middle districts were so strictly regulated by class and bloodline. 

Fiona tried to imagine the early days of the walls that separated the districts, one of Fredrick's more insidious additions to the city. When she was a child they must have seemed less threatening. In Manna's youth they had not even existed. She wondered how long it had taken the citizens of the upper districts of the Capitol to accept the armed men that surrounded their lives, keeping the rest of the Empire at bay. How long before they had turned from potential threat to protectors. She wondered how long had it taken for the citizens of the lower districts to realize that their troubles under their new King's rule were only just beginning.

The Palace complex lay to the north of Auresir in the Royal City, surrounded by a wall of thin wrought iron that twisted and curled in an intricate design of flowers and vines. Upon arriving at the perimeter, the ornate gates opened, and their caravan entered the grand courtyard.