Chapter 185: Heading to the Waterway

"I can’t do it, Annabell." Tristan’s body shook just before the door leading outside. Beyond the doors, he could see his horse and the numerous soldiers who would escort him, but it still didn’t ease his fears. Rather, it compounded them. It proved his fears of the outside true, telling him of where he was going and the random danger he could face.

"You got this, Tristan. Just like last time, close your eyes and count." Nodding, Tristan did as told, feeling Annabell’s feather on the side of his neck. Counting up from one, he took slow steps, squeezing his eyes tighter with each one, until the sunlight broke through his eyelids and the cool breeze that carried the smell of the storm that had passed hit him. Opening his eyes, his heart began to race and clutching his chest, he shook his head.

"Merge. Right now, Annabell, I’m being serious. I can’t do it." Even if he feared what the merge would do, the unknown of the outside was worse. Before Annabell could protest, his mind flooded with every terrible scenario he could face. Caught up in a random battle, facing the same assassins Vincent did, his horse slipping and crushing him, being robbed by hungry smallfolk.

His breathing got quicker, and just as he was about to collapse, Annabell’s warmth spread over him. "Tristan. You must overcome it. Do not worry, I’ll be by your side the entire time, protecting you, watching you. Do not be afraid. It’s you and me."

Her warmth helped, and taking a few deep breaths, he pushed out the worst of his thoughts and marched foward, trying to keep himself stable. Going before the horse, he placed a hand on it and smiled, hearing it make a noise. Digging his hand deeper into it, he scratched and stroked, making the stallion exclaim in delight, the feeling calming the final of his nerves.

’I went outside before. Annabell is right; I must overcome it. I can’t keep fearing the outside. How else will I survive the Waterway?’

With a deep breath, the horse keeper bent down and grabbed his foot. Pushing him, Tristan climbed atop the beast and instinctively leaned it again. "Let go." Ordering as quickly as possible, before he could change his mind, the small party of seven rode out. Tristan was in the centre.

Passing the Hill Gate, the only entrance into the Everlight Palace, he finally saw the city for the first time in its glory, outside of any walls. When he had left for the tournament, he had been both inside the carriage with Edmund and trapped in his own thoughts, having never paid attention to the sights around him, but now he saw it.

Sure, they would only ride past the areas deemed both safe and worthy enough for him to go past, but even then, it couldn’t hide the true reality of the city. In the alleyways, he saw dirty men and women huddled down on the ground, starving, some maybe dead. Those wearing fine outfits had lost skin, the war slowly showing its toll, whereas the mansions close to the Palace had numerous guards, watching everyone, including him, with sharp gazes, suspicious of anyone who would dare approach.

The sound and smell of the city were an assault on the senses. The noise deafened into an incoherent rabble that toyed with one’s sense of direction, making it so you couldn’t hear the person closest to you. And the smell, a rotten mixture of manure, sweat, animal, people, and death.

"Seal my sense of smell, Annabell." Lowering his head and quietly whispering, Tristan covered his nose, trying to throw up. Annabell looked at him for a moment before sighing. In an instant, Tristan couldn’t breathe through his nose; any air he tried to suck in wouldn’t come.

"I can’t block your senses, Tristan, without merging, only the thing that you use for it." Nodding, he took a breath through his mouth. Although he could taste the pungent air, it was bearable, no worse than a bad meal he had eaten before. Lifting his head, he looked around again as they got further from the Palace. The affluent streets that were kept as clean as they could be were slowly vanishing, getting more cramped and filled.

Men and women did laugh throughout the street, the majority of them drunk or in the process of getting so. When Tristan passed, they would stop and stare, quickly bowing when they realised what he represented. Some cheered for the Cosmatons at the sight of his hair, whilst others, those further away and hidden from the guards, cried curses towards him. Some playful, some mournful and a few truly hateful.

’The war hasn’t completely turned the city on us.’ It was a shock. From the way Elias and the council spoke and planned to use the Commonfolk, he would have assumed they were ready to rebel at any moment and storm the Palace, but for the majority, they were simply disinterested or focused on keeping themselves happy, drinking and toiling away to earn whatever little they could for the next day.

Further from the palace and closer to the walls surrounding Everlight, the city changed once more. The streets and buildings were far less well maintained, with a few shacks haphazardly put together without any real thought or planning. It wasn’t as full as the inner city, yet there were enough people to make the already tight streets feel packed. The gazes people looked at him with were far more hateful, and his guards made sure to stay closer, their hands on their weapons.

City guards patrolled the streets, but Trisian could tell instantly that they didn’t really care about maintaining order, only there because he was coming. And woven throughout the people, he saw them. It was a very small number of people, but unmistakable to Tristan. Men and women, wearing black robes, on their backs silver scales, the Inquisition.

’The Lord Invigilator has already begun spreading throughout the city.’ It made him wonder then if they were her, who claimed to be members of the Lady Death cult. Anyone of the commonfolk could have been one, and yet there was no way to tell. The Inquisition wormed their way through the crowds, uncaring for Tristan or where they looked, their focus solely on the mission they were rushing to complete. Attached to their hips, all had thin swords.

’How do they know who to find... do they even know? They must know, surely.’ His heart raced, and with it the worst thought surfaced, ’The Douglas Decree is being pushed foward. Surely they will investigate properly. If not...’ Around him the sight changed, his mind overlapping an image of the smallfolk around dead, butchered by the Church. Looking back at the palace, his fear rose. Above it he could see Servants’ flames, watching it all, allowing it to happen, just so the Church could destroy itself and Elias’ godking plans could happen.

’Dear God. He’s going to let hundreds maybe thousands die.’ The scale of the city had never been clear within the palace, always looking small from the walls, but within it he saw clearly. An issue large enough that the council discussed it. An issue grave enough that they sent the Lord Invigilator. he had seen hundreds on his short travel to the city wall, and it likely wasn’t even one per cent of the city. Soemthing this serious must have included at least a quarter of all people within Everlight. Staring at the Palace, he realised the horrid truth.

’Elias would let a quarter die for his plans, and the Invigilator will definitely kill them for the Lord Creator. Oh Lord. Please stop this madness.’