Chapter 6- The Capital City

A Chapter by Miles W.

Chapter 6 of Vector of the Heavens

The three day journey passed by the duo faster than expected. They made their way through the mountain pass with very few encounters with monsters and little trouble during the night hours when they would stop and make camp. The third day of the journey dawned and Link woke up to see the capital city on the horizon. Link woke Riku up, got the morning meal prepared, and they then saddled up on their horses to keep moving forward. Link felt like they didn’t need to worry about timing since once in the city, Riku would be able to find Eraqus and they would go their separate ways, but Riku insisted that timing was of importance. So they rode down the mountain slope towards the city while eating their meal. It was about midday when they reached the great gates to the city. Link was absolutely astounded. He had grown up living in a town his whole life and this was the first time he had really seen a large city like this one. Riku looked back and saw Link gaping at the buildings, and yelled,
“Enough young one. We must make haste to the palace where Eraqus lives. I trust you know where that is?” Link, still slightly dazed, looked back at him and said,
“Sorry Riku, but I’ve never been anywhere outside of my town. I wouldn’t know the palace from the slums. It all looks amazing to me.” Riku groaned as Link continued to stare in awe of the simple buildings just inside the gates. As they rode through the entrance to the city, they were hailed by a guard requesting that they need to keep their horses in a stable if they wished to go further into the city. They agreed, and the guard directed them to a nearby stable where they tied up the horses and put their saddles and bags in a magic locker. Some lockers were made of metal and had locks on them, but the problem with those were that it was easy for Halfling thieves to pick the locks and steal whatever was in them. Magic lockers are pocket dimensions that are kept orderly by small little pixies who live in the dimension and who live off helping others. As soon as their stuff was taken care of, Riku asked for directions to the palace. The guard told him where to go, Riku thanked him, paid him the stable master the money for keeping the horses in the stable, then made his way to the palace. Link didn’t go with him, but rather went to the marketplace to try and see if anybody would be interested in his families food. Riku got to the palace gates, and it was colossal. It was a giant wall surrounding the exterior gardens that were open to the public. Then there was another wall shielding the interior gardens for the family of Eraqus and the current High Elves. Then there was the palace itself. All Riku could see of it was the spiked tops that closely resembled a cross between Xeladorian and Hylian architecture. Riku understood the Xeladorian style, but didn’t understand why Eraqus would have the palace have styles hinting at his old enemies. After pondering this, Riku went to the great gates and asked the guards if they could let him in. They guffawed at this. Riku had a puzzled look on his face.
“The palace is off limits to commoners, and even if it wasn’t, a half-elf like you could never get in in the first place.” The other guard hit him on the shoulder then they both laughed.
“Can I deliver a message to Eraqus in that case?”
“Sure, you can put your letter in the children’s pile of letter for Eraqus. However,” he leaned over a whispered, “we just let the secretaries read them and send out the generic letter of thanks.” The guards laughed again and Riku was beginning to get slightly peeved.
“When can a commoner like me ever get a chance to talk to Eraqus?”
“That’s simple sir! In the short time of never.” The guards continued to laugh and Riku was trying with all his might to not start punching the daylights out of the two guards. The guards finished laughing and sensed Riku’s seriousness about the matter.
“Look sir, Eraqus rarely makes public appearances due to the fact he has several matters of state to deal with.”
“Yeesh.” thought Riku. “Eraqus working on matters of state? Time does change things.” Riku was about to leave when Link came up behind him with a big grin on his face. He had sold just about all of his families products for very good prices. He decided to take a stroll around the public gardens and see how Riku was doing. As Link walked up to the two of them the guards seemed to go pale for whatever reason. Link noticed this and asked them,
“Are you gentlemen okay? You look like you might have a slight disease.” The guards looked at one another, then looked at Riku, then one of the guards leaned over to Riku and asked,
“Do you know who this is?”
“Yes of course. He was my guide to this fine city. What of it?” The guards looked at each other, then one of them knocked on the palace gates. As they opened, one of them ran in while the other waited outside. They waited for five minutes, Link constantly asking Riku what was going on. After another five minutes, the gates re-opened, and a young lady greeted them.
“Greetings travelers. Our lord Eraqus wishes to have an audience with you immediately.” Riku was shocked. They didn’t let him in even after they knew he was serious, but they let Link in at the drop of a hat? He couldn’t think of any possible reason why they would do this. He realized quickly however that this was a golden opportunity to talk to Eraqus without breaking the law like he was beginning to think of doing. He simply followed the lady into the interior of the castle waiting to see how his old master had changed while he was dead.