This Golden Flame by Emily Victoria

Author:Emily Victoria
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Published: 2020-11-14T17:22:26+00:00

20

* * *

KARIS

A dot appears on the horizon midway through the second week and we slip through the waves toward it. Valitia. I knew from the maps the Scriptmasters made us study how much larger it is than any other island in Eratia, but I hadn’t understood until now what that really meant.

The island rising out of the ocean must be at least ten times the size of Tallis, and it touches the horizon on both sides as if it wants to swallow the waves. A sheltered bay nestles at its base, dotted with the colorful sails of fishing ships. Even from here I can see the fisherfolk rushing about on the decks, pulling in nets full of flopping, shining fish. There are larger vessels, too, military from the cannons on their decks, flying sails emblazoned with the Scriptorium seal. Alongside them are other ships, with Eural seals, Anderran seals. Maybe they’re here for diplomatic purposes, but soldiers stand on their decks even now, their spears glinting in the sun.

Near the docks are houses not so different from that fishing village. And then rising above the refuse of the tiny buildings is the famed City of Scholars.

It’s built in tiers, reaching toward the summit, each one blocked off by a wall. The lowest tier holds smaller but orderly homes, with white walls and red pottery tiles covering their roofs. Then come the villas. As the city continues upward the homes grow larger, nestled among the hills and surrounded by vast swathes of green. Up above there’s a tier of what looks like government buildings, schools and libraries, all with soaring architecture, surrounding the bustling central agora.

There are automatons, too, dozens of them. Standing among the buildings, in the hills and fields. An army, no less terrifying for being frozen. Here, time was never allowed to bury them in dirt and rocks, and the sight of so many, all of them caught in the moment they stilled, chills me.

At the summit of it all stands the Acropolis. It’s massive, a half dozen stories high and large enough to encompass the entire complex on Tallis. The marble is so polished and white it shines like a beacon beneath the sun.

The seat of the magistrate and the heart of the Scriptorium. It’s mighty, imposing, and yet it’s nothing compared to what towers before it.

The Colossus.

It’s an automaton out of legend. According to the stories, the Scriptmasters of a magistrate long dead toiled for a hundred years and a day to make it: the largest automaton to ever walk. It’s always stood sentinel before the Acropolis, guarding the line of the magistrates. Except for once, during a great sea battle between Eural and Eratia. Our navy was losing badly. Their ships had almost reached our shores. The magistrate at the time took the Colossus’s tome and sent the beast out into the waters. The legend says that even in the deeps it stood high over the Eural ships. By the time it was through, all that was left was driftwood.

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