章 10: The Southern Gate
After two days of their grueling forced march, they rounded a dune and Kaleb saw his first town in this world. It was positioned in a rare area of the desert that lacked dunes, making a sort of barren plain that fell in slightly toward the middle, making it a slight bowl. The town was in the middle of this plain. It was made up of two to three story, pale adobe, rectangular buildings that were packed so closely together the town appeared as if it was one building. This collection of structures were centered around a large open space that was packed with brightly colored tents and pavilions, giving it a sharp contrast to the plain tan adobe surrounding it.
"The bazaar!" Ameri announced with a flourish. His smile and enthusiasm returning as their tiring journey came to a close.
There was no wall around the town but, the tightly packed buildings made a impenetrable barrier. There were only two openings to this defense, the north and south gates. From what Kaleb could see from his elevated position on the edge of the bowl like plain, the southern gate led straight into the bazaar with a wide road. The road coming in the northern gate, on the other hand, split shortly after the entrance. It parted around a single huge building, like a river parts around a boulder.
This building was different from the adobe that the rest of the town was made out of, it was an odd bluish-black stone that looked like marble and it was as grand as a palace. Its only entrance was two large doors with a wide, sweeping staircase that opened out into the bazaar, the same spot that the two roads of the northern gate reconverged.
The structure itself covered an entire section of the city and was 5 stories tall, with a tower that rose twice that size, looming above the bazaar as if it was watching all that went on in that brightly colored chaos. The odd thing was that Kaleb couldn't see any windows in either the building itself or its tower.
"What is that building?" Kaleb asked, with a slight head nod toward the dark monolith. Ameri responded almost instantly as, even without the gesture, the outlandish building was the only one Kaleb could have meant.
"That's the Omnipotent Church, or at least the one for this town." Ameri replied proudly. "They say that it's the largest temple in any of the towns because of the bazaar. That's because the bazaar has the biggest marketplace of any town, and it's the only resupply spot for the trade routes going through the desert. That means that it has almost as many Worthy as it does serfs! Because of all the powerful people, and valuable objects being sold, the church is really big here." His speech speeding up as he explained.
Kaleb nodded his understanding and the pair began their decent toward the southern gate, since it would give them a straight shot to the bazaar. They moved at a faster pace, both of them eager to offload their 30 meter baggage they were dragging.
'You should avoid that cult of lunatics as much as possible.' Rackshar chimed in.
'Its been awhile since you've talked.' Kaleb replied, as Rackshar had not spoken to him once since he met Ameri. 'What have you been up to?'
'My soul was actually quite damaged by my death.' He said quite crossly. 'Also you don't need my help right now with your human friend guiding you.' Rackshar emphasized 'human friend' with contempt and disgust in his voice. Kaleb was sure that poorly veiled insult was meant for both Ameri and himself. 'So, I'll be recuperating for awhile. Don't bother me unless its a matter of life and death... and by that I mean only your life or death. I don't help humans.'
Kaleb sighed internally, the dragon was far more trouble then it was worth. While it was useful to have such a knowledgeable guide, he was unreliable due to his arrogance and his hate for humans, which Kaleb believed that he was considered to be a part of. The only comfort for Kaleb was that their lives were connected, so the dragon would take every means necessary to ensure his survival.
As they approached the southern gate Kaleb saw a line of carts, carriages and people in a line in front of the gate. While the majority of the carts and carriages were pulled by the standard horses, oxen and camels, some were pulled by a variety of creatures Kaleb hadn't seen before. Though he was fairly certain that the creature pulling one particularly large cart was a triceratops.
"Come on! I want to get this sold off before sun set!" Ameri said, nudging Kaleb who had stopped to stare at the crowd. They started moving again, but Kaleb continued to observe the crowd.
What was more interesting to him than the diversified livestock was the diversified races in the crowd. There were thick bodied dwarves, lanky elves with their sharp ears, large orcs with green skin and a variety of others that Kaleb couldn't even start to guess their identities. Although, he assumed that the man sitting on the cart pulled by the triceratops was some sort of sub-giant, since he had to be around 3 meters tall, though it was hard to tell since he was sitting down.
What should also have come as no surprise, but for some reason Kaleb still didn't expect, was that the majority of people were all wearing a similar style of clothes, despite any racial boundaries. The elves were not clothed in tight fitting, elegant silks nor were the orcs half naked with only furs covering their nether regions.
Most of the them were clothed in a similar manner to Ameri and Kaleb, with a head covering and a robe, to protect them from the sun. Though the styles and qualities of the clothes were extremely varied, it was not by race but rather by the individual, probably based on their wealth or status.
'I played too many video games.' Kaleb thought shaking his head. If he had given it a moment of thought this situation would have been obvious. It was one of those little things he hadn't really considered so it came as a slight surprise. 'Obviously clothes are decided by region, not race.'
They moved to the back of the line and as they arrived a fancy covered carriage showed up right after them. It had a smooth emerald colored exterior, with gold rimming the windows and capping the corners. It was pulled by four white horses and had two people, shaded by a covering coming off the top of the carriage, sitting on the drivers bench.
"Out of the way, we arrived before you!" The driver said arrogantly. He was a male elf with light green skin, dressed in smooth silks that were similar colors to the carriage, emerald trimmed in gold.
The other rider, a female human, was dressed much more conservatively. Wearing a dark grey sleeveless, studded leather tunic and pants made of the same material. She also had two metal bands on each defined bicep and another two on her forearms. With a large sword leaning next to her on the seat, she made for an intimidating presence.
"What are you talking abo..." Kaleb began calmly, before Ameri grabbed his arm to interrupt him.
"Right, sorry about that. We'll move right away." He said with a placating smile, as he pulled Kaleb to the side to allow them to pass.
"Why did we move?" Kaleb asked as the carriage rolled past them.
"If we had argued, that woman would have just beaten us and thrown us to the side afterward. And it's not like its that big of a deal to be one spot back." Ameri said with a sad smile. Kaleb remained silent reevaluating what he knew of this world.
'That human is trash.' Rackshar said with disgust.
'What he said makes sense. It's not like we lost anything, and we're not strong enough to do anything about it. You may not like it, but he made the right call. Also weren't you going to sleep?' Kaleb retorted.
'I was, and then I saw the need to inform you of that important information. And I wasn't talking about the kid. I was talking about that driver. Getting all high and mighty despite being so weak. But, now that you mention it, the kid is trash too. All humans are.' Rackshar said darkly, with obvious hatred in his voice.
'... That driver wasn't a human, he was an elf.' Kaleb said confused.
'A what?! That was obviously a human!'
'He was green, and had pointy ears.' Kaleb tired to explain.
'So, the kid is shorter than you and has brown skin but he's still a human right? Short humans, tall humans, blue humans, red humans, I don't care, they are all the same. Horrid creatures, that will destroy you if they have the chance. You should be carful not to trust any of them.' Rackshar warned in a serious tone, without any of the arrogance or ridicule that he normally addressed Kaleb with.
'I'll keep that in mind.' Kaleb said to end that odd conversation.
They moved quickly through the line till they reached two guards standing in front of the gate. The guards were wearing black robes with deep cowls, so Kaleb couldn't make out their faces nor if they were wearing armor underneath, but both of them carried swords on their belts. They wore an insignia embroidered in silver over their left breast, that seemed to be an eye. The odd part was one of the guards eye insignia had a double border surrounding it and the other had a triple border.
"Ameri." The guard with a triple border said in a familiar way, nodding to him in greeting. "It seems your haul is quite large this time. How did you manage to kill a Dune Trap? And who is your friend?"
"Hello Mikade! This is Kaleb," Ameri said with a smile, handing the guard a silver pendant the size of a dollar coin. "I met him out in the desert and we hunted the Dune Trap together. As for how we did it, that is a trade secret!"
"Fair enough. Just be careful, those things are tough." The guard replied in a relaxed manner, obviously quite comfortable with Ameri and his enthusiasm. "I'm going to need to see your Worthy pendant as well." He said to Kaleb, as he handed the pendant back to Ameri.
"Oh!" Ameri said, as if he just remembered something important. "Kaleb lost his equipment in the desert. His pendant is gone."
"That's fine, I just need to confirm that he is a Worthy." Then Mikade turned to Kaleb again. "Do you have a core? If you can show me you have a core formed that's usually enough proof."
"I don't. I woke up in the desert in a critical condition with no memory. That's when I met Ameri." Kaleb said his mind racing in overtime. He would never have come to a town if he had known he needed identification, he had no way of proving he wasn't a serf. Though they let serfs out of the town, they didn't let new serfs in. Best case, they would turn him away. Worst case, they would arrest him as a run away serf. As if thinking of the worst possible outcome magically made it manifest, Mikade calmly gestured to the guard behind him.
"I'm sorry, but this will need to be sorted out at the temple."
クリエイターの想い 
ShadowOfEmbers
ShadowOfEmbers Long chapter for the 10th one. Didn't feel like splitting it up made sense, and I wanted to get inside the gate before I ended the chapter. Thanks for reading!
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