Lyra

The city walls were made of roots and vines, thickly woven and covered in thorns, a fortress grown by the blood and fire of many battles won for the city's longstanding existence. Wise architects built this grand city as a last resort if the island fell. I’ve only heard of Everglade in stories whispered to us as children around the fires of the storytellers. To see it with my own eyes almost made me cry, almost. Tomorrow, we would be inside of the city, making our way to the safe-house, a hostel in the middle ring run by some Celestial sympathizers. Elysia said they make some wonderful food, so it wasn’t hard to convince Kaelen or Thalas to go along.

“Will it be hard to get into the city?” Asked Kaelen.

“Not any harder than any other, the hard part would be getting in from the other side of the behemoth barrier when on the bridge.” Elara replied, her hands still sharpening her staff with ease.

“Why?” Kaelen was the best at asking questions. I appreciated it so I didn’t have to bother Elara. The warrior had been very cold to me ever since my soul ripped apart and was put back together again by a deity. I really didn’t care, and was thankful my cousin felt enough blood loyalty not to leave me with two men, even if one is Kaelen, he would never harm me. Thalas on the other hand, was immortal. What did he care about me for? I am still not exactly sure why he pleaded my case to his father. Maybe just to not have three angry travelers on his ass for letting their party member explode.

Whatever the case I was thankful for his Druidic glyphs and tips on how to ground myself into my new magik connection. I could feel myself growing more used to my new body as well, the pain had subsided to a dull ache most days anyways, and with the help of Kaelen’s herbal regiment, I can barely feel that after a dosage. What I was really aching for was to get more practice in, but Thalas claimed that so close to the city it was unwise due to the presence of the secret police. I reluctantly agreed with him and silently told myself I would get us through this city as fast as I could just to get a chance.

I rolled out my bed roll right next to Zephyra, happy to be sleeping where I longed to be, with my loyal beast. She had caught a rabbit earlier on, dried blood still slightly caked on her chest feathers. I watched as she preened and purred, shifting slightly to let me lay my back upon her warm belly.

Kaelen was sitting opposite of me and was chopping up some fresh veggies from Thalas’s food forest. Happily he julienned them and threw them into a simmering pan of oil on the fire. He was getting quite good at stir-fry. My mouth watered just smelling the herbs and oil starting to mingle.

“That’s smelling phenomenal there shortie!” Thalas bent down to join the chef by the fire, “Do you need me to keep bringing you wood?”

“Yeah!” Kaelen cheerfully replied, “That would actually help a lot, we need to cook this rabbit Ember caught me. Could you possibly find a steak we could use as a spit roast for it?”

Thalas agreed and went off to find the tools, Elara was expertly skinning the rabbit in one swift downward pull, and Elysia seemed to be praying facing away from the violence, her vow of meatlessness willing her to do so. It almost felt like a family meal should have been, no servants or niceties, just everyone trying their best to help out.

“Can I help you at all Kaelen?” I asked.

My friend smiled and handed me a cutting board and some tubers. The meal was shared by laughter, and we all slept heavily until first dawn.

******

We made it to the city barrier early the next morning. Up close I could see that the walls were exactly as told in the stories. Writhing and moving it seemed thick enough to swallow a thousand swords before giving up the city within its core. A symbiotic relationship between the plant weaving its branches to create this wall, and the city providing its soil and freshwater through many canals and falls. Dwarfed by the size of them, we willingly let ourselves be swallowed into the city by the walls' mighty gates.

The outer ring felt like the full-moon bazaar we held back home, but with twice as much going on around us. Stalls of food, spices, ales, wine, fine jewelry, exotic mounts, anything you could imagine was right here in Everglade. You could barely move an inch without bumping someone haggling for the best price, or a street performer doing a show for their rent. I felt alive for the first time in my life, and couldn’t help but smile at the wonders of the city.

“Don’t get caught up in the shops. We are here on business, not pleasure.” Elara reminded me as she pushed past Zephyra and I, Elysia resting lazily on the back of her mount. My smile faded and I kept close. I could explore later on, Thalas said the city gates to the bridge only open once a day and we are far too far to make it today. Once we get to the hostel I will slip out and find what the city has to offer.

We walked through the labyrinth of streets, as tightly wound as the walls protecting them, and eventually found our way to the middle ring. The air smelled of roasting meats, and burning incense as the sound of laughter and life came from the large taverns in the side alleys. The patrons merrily clinging to one another and drinking golden ales form large mugs. I envied the fun they seemed to be having as we continued trudging around the corner away from the action. After a few more twists and turns we finally reached our destination.

Nestled behind the tavern, and adjacent to a peaceful herbalist pharmacy, beneath a layer of ivy, hung a sign on an old brick building that read: The Whistling Hippogriff Hostel, with a crudely drawn beast holding a horn of mead on its aged wood. We put the mounts in the stables around the back and went back to the front. Elara opened the yellow door for us and the party spilled into the front hall, grabbing the attention of the keeper at the front desk.

“Welcome to The Whistling Hippogriff!” She said in a sing-song-like voice as a smile as big as the split moons broke across her face, a sea of short golden curls bouncing as she did so, her sapphire gaza behind a pair of full-moon glasses with gold rims, “My name is Mara! I will be helping you today. Do you have a reservation?” She lifted a large, dusty book and dropped it heavily on the table, the loud slam making the paintings on the wall tremble.

“Elara of Lyranside,” she leaned in close to the keeper, her lips practically kissing her ear and whispered a few words, the keeper's eyes getting wide then subduing her reaction as quickly as it came on.

“Oh, of course. With me.” Mara left from behind her desk and led us to a room in the back with a small table with a wilted flower in a hand crafted vase, some comfy and very worn chairs, and a wall of books of many different shapes and sizes. Mara looked both ways, checking for watchful eyes or listening ears. She lifted a delicate hand and quickly turned around a small bust of a unassuming centaur sitting on a corner table, causing one of the bookcases to slide open.

“Quickly, through here.” She gestured for us to go into the dimly lit hallway leading down into who knows where. Elara and Elysia led the way, followed by Thalas, Kaelen, and then myself. The innkeeper slid in behind me, lifted a wall torch up and down, and the door slammed behind her.

“Now, follow me.” She pushed past me, making her way up to the Elara at the front. We all made our way through the small hall way until it opened into a large open room with a bar in the middle, a few rooms to the right and left of it, and a large table in the middle.

“Welcome to the safe house.” Mara beamed and slid behind the counter again, dodging a small crumbling of roofing falling from the sounds of the tavern above, “Don’t mind the noise, it helps keep the city's eyes busy with the tavern's problems rather than snooping on our goings-on here at the hostel.”

“Where exactly are we?” I asked gazing around at the dimly lit hall, spying a few spider webs in the corners, “What kind of ‘safe house’ are we in? It doesn’t seem safe at all…” I got cut off by Mara, who was giving me a soured expression.

“This is the safest place for celestial conspierers in the city walls. As you well know, if you get caught even farting a celestial name the secret police will scoop you up in no time and take you to get reeducated. So when they started to gather up us believers my grandmother opened this safe house, helping many great priests and priestesses get through Everglade without being rounded up.” She opened a drawer and pulled out a few beat up iron keys, each with a number on its ring, “Please, make yourselves at home. We won’t be able to get you out to the bridge until three sunsets from now,” she turned to Elysia, “Your papers are being made as we speak, we just had a bit of an issue with our print space, but they should have it to me by tomorrow evening's supper.”

Papers? Were we illegally leaving the island? What exactly did leaving the island mean for us?

“What exactly do we have to do to get ourselves on the bridge to Sky Haven?” Elara asked, grabbing a key from the countertop.

“Leaving is much easier than entering the city. The papers we are making are for your entry into Sky Haven. Once you arrive there you will be searched for celestial paraphernalia. If you are found to have any they will take you away, and we will not be able to save you. The papers we are creating should work as a cloaking spell, and hide each and everyone of your identities, causing them to see only what’s on the paper, not what is in front of them.”

“Sounds risky.” Chimed up Thalas, “Have you tried this method before?”

“No, your party is our maiden voyage on these particular glyphs.” She smiled, “But it’s better than not even trying.”

I scratched at my arms, the glyphs scars creating texture that I was still getting used to.

“Will my scars cause me trouble?” I asked, lifting my right hand up in the air and exposing my skin to Mara. Perplexed for a moment she stared, unsure of what she was exactly looking at.

“Not if we do our glyph weaving correctly.” Mara pulled my sleeve up and grasped my hand giving me a wink then letting go, “Now, I have an inn above to care for. If you need anything please feel welcome to go out to the first ring through the backstairs over there,” she pointed behind the desk, “If you need me just pull on the string behind this desk and I will be with you as soon as it is safe.” With that she left us sitting in the safe house, digesting the information we had just been given.

******

“Lyra, let’s go see the market! We can’t just sit in here all three days, c’mon. I bet there are so many different types of herbs and spices they have! I could really make our meals more exciting than bland rice.” Kaelen had a good point, his rice was bland, also sitting underground was starting to wear on me. I had never spent this much time indoors, and since last night the party had hid inside the safehouse doing almost nothing.

“Fine, let me get my cloak and gloves.” I wasn’t about to go walk around, scars out, hoping to be chosen by the secret police as the next reeducation victim. Damn celestials pulling me into their griffinshit agenda. I pulled my gloves over my hands and my mossy cloak over my face and met Kaelen by the back stairs. Surprisingly, Elara and Elysia had rallied themselves and joined us as well.

“Well there’s no point in not seeing the markets.” Elysia was dressed down, wearing a very basic olive blouse and some muddy skirts. She looked almost normal. Elara, still menacing, was wearing a matching outfit but in a softer blue tone, her hooves sticking out just slightly, a small silver bracelet around the ankle of her left hoof jingled just a little as she slid to hide them back under the skirts.

“No Thalas?” I asked looking around for the elven Demi-god.

“He said he has seen all the markets on all the islands and has no interest, but to bring him back a cupcake.” Elara reported.

“His loss.” Kaelen said, swinging around and heading up the stairs to the alleyways above.