on a cobblestone surface on the other side of the iron grate Aleest had been complaining about. Bracing his feet on the rungs and his back against the tunnel, he began applying pressure. There was some popping sounds before the grate broke free and clattered across the cobblestone into the side of the building that the hole faced. Fearing that the noise had drawn attention, Cero let go of the rungs and dropped to the bottom where Aleest was waiting.
“How did you do that?”
“I just put my back into it and pushed as hard as I could.” Cero realized that wasn’t what Aleest had been referring to by his expression.
“That was a good twenty foot drop, but you landed like it was nothing.” Cero looked back up the tunnel and had to agree that it had been a long drop.
“I don’t know. It was kind of like when I jumped over the wall. I just did it without thinking.”
“Why didn’t you get out while you were up there?” Aleest began pulling himself up the rungs.
“It made a lot of noise when the grate broke free and I was worried someone might have heard.” Cero followed cautiously.
“Relax. This is an old storage sector. There aren’t many people around here anyways.” After first checking to make sure that his assertion was correct, Aleest crawled out into the light of the day. “See? No one else up here.”
“What are we doing here?”
“This is the upper city. You can see the castle around the other side of that building.”
“I get where we are, but why are we here?”
“Because no one in the lower city knows a thing about what is going on in the rest of the empire. We can snoop around and learn a whole lot more up here, on top of that, it smells better.” Cero followed Aleest through the cobblestone streets until they came to a large square where a series of merchants were setting up stalls. Arken was glowering behind one of them causing the two to side step behind a stack of crates and right into Inadar.
“How did you get up here? The guards at the gate barely let us through. He would have charged his own grandmother a handsome bribe as well as the shawl off her back before he opened those gates.”
“There are ways around the gate. How are you guys doing?” Cero smirked at Aleest causing Inadar to roll her eyes.
“I might be wanting to take advantage of these methods when we get done up here. The gate fees are exorbitant; probably more so because of what is happening today. I have to go back and help Torroth, but you two be careful.” Inadar smiled briefly before heading back out into the market.
“So, where is a good place to start looking for information?” Aleest thought for a moment before heading off down another side street. They meandered around for a while until they discovered a gaggle of boys playing some sort of game in an uncharacteristically quiet corner of the upper city. Aleest joined in and was soon chatting with a couple of the kids. They appeared to have been old friends so Cero just watched from the side. When he had learned what he wanted and after playing a couple rounds, Aleest came back and joined Cero.
“The princess has been parading all around the upper city nearly every day the last few weeks. Yesterday she even came to the market and bought some jewelry and a couple fish. Her guards carried the fish and Rack says that they threw the fish in the gutter when they thought no one was looking. They also said that the guards took the jewelry away from her and put the pieces in their pockets. Rack also thinks that they were just trying to make the people like her so they won’t make problems for tonight’s ceremony.”
“What is tonight’s ceremony?” Cero inquired as he watched the intricate series of hops and somersaults that the kids were performing.
“The crowning ceremony. Yacub mentioned it yesterday. It involves the princess in full procession going through Shienhin and out the west gate to a tree grove where there is an old rock they think they have to be crowned on. It is all a little stupid I think. A crown is a crown and it doesn’t matter where you are when they put it on you.”
“It does a little if you aren’t actually the princess.”
“I suppose. The procession starts early today so she can