“My bet is that you don't even see any visitors,” Bern says.“The merchant carts have been and gone, but it's still too early for anyone else.”
He says that like it's some grand piece of wisdom he's dispensing.I always get the feeling with Bern that he sees me like some faithful student he needs to teach the real ways of the guards, the old ways that he remembers.
I lean on my spear and watch him go.Some days it seems like the whole city is a conflict between the old and the new.The Republic promised us that everything would be different, but in a lot of ways it seems things have stayed the same.The same gangs still run the slums.The same nobles still do what they want in the wealthy areas.Maybe a few of the faces have changed, but the way things run is the same.
Or it was, until Senator Domitian tried to overthrow the senate.These past three weeks, I've gotten the feeling that people want things to change.The games in the colosseum are back to being the safer version the senate mandated.He and several senators have been put on trial and languish in the prison tower, awaiting punishment, maybe even execution.There's been a shift in the mood of the city, a recognition of just how close things came to falling apart.
I'm grateful the violence has stopped.I was lucky during the uprising because I was on duty at the palace.It meant I was on the right side of the fighting and that I didn't actually see much fighting.Bern says not having to fight is always the best thing for a guard, and he laughs when I practice with my sword, claiming I'm trying to be some sort of hero, or maybe preparing for the games.
There's nothing heroic about my job at the moment.All I need to do is stand here and check the intentions of anyone trying to come through the gate.As Bern predicted, things are quiet in any case.There's no one coming through, which means I just have to stand, wait and watch.
A few more hours of this and I'll be able to head back to the watchtower, grab some food and some sleep.Maybe I'll go out to one of the taverns in the entertainment district, although it's cheaper to go to the ones in the slums.The only problem is, out there, if anyone recognizes that I'm a guard, it could cause trouble.It's easier to pay more at a place where no one is going to try to put a dagger in my back because some member of their gang has been arrested recently.
I'm still leaning on my spear when I see that Bern’s wrong after all, because there's someone approaching the city.They’re leaning on a staff and wearing clothes that look like they're made from animal hides and fragments of plants.She's coming from the east, the direction of Arboria, and I know enough to know that the people there wear such things.The stories say that they're all strange, living out in the wild, forcing the plants to do their bidding.There was a rumor that they were going to invade, although nothing has come from it so far.
I assume this isn't an invasion, if only because an invasion generally consists of more than one person.This isn't even a delegation like the one that came before.I saw some of them then, looking fierce and so convinced that they were better than us.Will this woman be the same?
She certainly marches forward with a haughty gait, which suggests the ground beneath her feet is barely good enough for her to step on.She has long, dark hair and youthful, quite beautiful features.It occurs to me that I should have seen her coming a long time ago, spotted her approaching from further away.Instead, I’ve only spotted her now she’s close, when I can’t call for help.It’s as if she suddenly appeared, or as if she let go of some magic that was disguising her.
That's one of the more difficult things about being a guard in Aetheria: there are so many people with magic.As a null, one of those without even a hint of magic, I can't help being a little jealous sometimes.And a little afraid.Some scrawny thief might look like nothing until it turns out they can conjure flames between their hands.I wonder what magic this woman will possess.
I watch as she gets closer and I stop leaning on my spear, holding it up in front of me instead as if I can bar the gate single handed.I find myself wishing Bern were here, cursing the fact that he isn't.Of all the times to go collect a gambling debt, it has to be when some woman from Arboria is approaching, her intentions unknown.
As she gets closer still, I can see waves of magic rippling around her.It's enough to make the people of the slums come out their houses and stare at her, as if she's some show the city has put on for their entertainment.She walks up to me, and it's all I can do to keep my spear leveled at her heart.
“Halt!”I call out.“Who goes there!”
Bern says it’s something guards don't really say, that we're usually better off approaching people quietly, with one hand out for the bribe that they'll offer, but this doesn't seem like the moment to ask for a bribe, and in any case, he's not here.
She stops in front of me, staring at me with violet eyes and features that seem both young and ageless all at once.In that moment I know who this is and I'm so terrified that my hands start to shake as I grip the spear.It’s all I can do not to drop it.
“My name is Selene Ravenscroft.”
Selene Ravenscroft, the former arch magistrate.One of the closest confidants of the former emperor.Probably the most powerful magic user in all Aetheria.This is a woman who could disintegrate me with a simple effort of will.I should throw down my spear.I should turn and run back into the city.
But somehow, I don't.
“I heard you were exiled,” I say, the words babbling from me without any thought.“I heard the senate ordered that you should be arrested and executed if you ever returned.”
“Then of course you must arrest me,” she says with a faint smile.
I don't move to do so.I don't dare.
“Come on,” she says in an imperious tone.“You have a duty to perform, and I won't let it be said that I ever let myself stand above the law.”She sets down her staff.“I'm not armed, and I have no intention of resisting.I want to be taken before the senate.”
That's different, if shewantsme to arrest her, because maybe I can get through this without being blasted into oblivion by her magic.I hurry forward, starting to tie her hands behind her back.People are watching, and they won't see how much my hands are shaking, just that I'm the one to arrest the former arch-magistrate.
Selene Ravenscroft looks around at that watching crowd.“People of Aetheria, I have returned, and I have done so with a warning.There are dangers that threaten to overwhelm the whole of your Republic.If your senate does not take me seriously, everyone here could die.Only I can save you.”
“That's enough,” I say, starting to move her into the city.I'll take her to one of the prison towers.Other people can sort it out from there.
Crowds are gathering in the street to watch.Some are cheering her return.Others are jeering and booing.I just hope I'll be able to get her to somewhere safe before they decide to take her from me.I wish Bern were here.
“You need to take me seriously,” she says.
“I assure you I am,” I reply, unable to keep the fear at my voice.
“I'm not threatening you, foolish boy.I mean that you need to take me seriously when I say the city is in danger.I need to speak to the senate at once.”
