Golden Age (The Shifting Tides, #1)(54)

The triangular mountain continued to grow bigger in Chloe’s vision as they approached the harbor. Where the stones were clad, the mountain shone bright yellow in the sun.

‘In the name of Aeris, what is that?’

‘It is the pyramid,’ Kargan said.

Chloe couldn’t take her eyes off it. ‘Who built it?’

‘Slaves.’ Kargan laughed. ‘It was built with the pitiful lives of wretches.’ He looked at it for a while before sobering. ‘Solon built it.’

‘What is it?’

Kargan’s expression was now grave. ‘It is the sun king’s tomb,’ he said softly.

‘And is that . . . Is it covered with . . . ?’

‘Gold,’ said Kargan. ‘Pure gold.’ He hesitated. ‘It might help you to know: the sun king is dying.’

Chloe looked at Kargan’s face. He was deadly serious.

‘The magi say there is a cancer inside him, robbing him of breath, causing him to cough blood. He visited the Oracle at Athos to seek the Seer’s wisdom. The Seer did not tell him what he wanted to hear. She said he doesn’t have long for this world, and that he would be dead by the end of the thirty-first year of his reign. When he pressed the Seer, asking what he could do, she said there was only one thing: prepare his soul for the afterlife.’

Kargan was pensive for a time.

‘When he returned to Lamara he consulted the priests of all the gods. But only the prayers of the priests of Helios the sun god were answered; only they gave Solon the solution he sought. The sun god says that building this pyramid will assure the great king’s passage through the gates of Ar-Rayan to the next world. It must be the tallest structure in the world, and it must be clad in gold. Solon has scoured the continent for gold. You will not see golden jewelry on the women here. Yet his tomb is not complete.’

‘What year is it?’ Chloe asked.

‘It is the thirty-first year in the reign of Solon the sun king.’

He and Chloe both gazed at the distant golden pyramid.

‘This year is his last,’ Kargan said.




Chloe looked back at the Nexotardis one final time as Kargan’s marines formed an escort for the pair, leading them up from the harbor to the dusty streets of Lamara. Her journey had been an ordeal, fraught with peril, and she still had the prophecy of the Seer burned into her consciousness.

Her greatest trial was still to come.

Led by Kargan, her escort led her away from the harbor along a broad avenue with tall buildings on both sides. These people knew their city, yet the route veered and twisted; there was no clear plan to the streets. She plunged through the bazaar, overwhelmed by the scent of strange spices, stench of refuse, odors of cooking, and sweaty, swarthy masses of hawkers and thronging city folk. The escort kept her moving, clearing the crowd ahead, but it nonetheless took an eternity to exit the bustling marketplace.

Beggars leaned against walls on every street corner. A skinny one-armed Ilean tugged on Chloe’s sleeve, but was swiftly repelled by a blow from a soldier’s triangular shield. Children with faces pockmarked by disease hid fearfully from the group, tucking themselves into doorways and raising their arms to ward off blows that never came. The soldiers knocked to the ground an old man leading a donkey who didn’t hear them coming. Glancing over her shoulder, Chloe saw him wearily struggle back to his feet.

Their path twisted and climbed as they now entered a wealthy residential area, the quarter closest to the palace. The doors here were made of solid wood, barred against intrusion. Chloe was constantly in shade; the sun’s rays couldn’t penetrate the streets below.

She lost track of how many steps she climbed, and then suddenly she was in a wide, curving street, squinting and feeling bright warmth on her face. They followed the well-paved road, which skirted a high red wall, smooth and tall. The wall curved and their path curved with it.

Thinking constantly of escape, Chloe realized they were following the exterior wall of the sun king’s palace. She took note of the height – as tall as three men – and the wooden spikes on top placed every few inches. It was designed to keep intruders out and prisoners in.

She saw an elaborate pillar ahead and then a matching post on the other side, a wide gap between them. A dozen soldiers stood just inside the palace gate, with leather skirts covering yellow trousers and matching breastplates over tunics.

A tall officer recognized Kargan and bowed. ‘Overlord. You have been missed. We thanked the sun god when we saw the Nexotardis approach. The king of kings wishes to see you.’

‘I have a prisoner,’ Kargan said gruffly, indicating Chloe. ‘She’ll need to be readied before I present her to the sun king.’

‘Should she be quartered with the women?’

‘Until we know what Solon wants with her, that would be best.’

Without another word, Kargan strode imperiously into the courtyard within, his steps bold as he followed a wide path framed by gardens.

Chloe was now alone.

‘Come, girl,’ the officer said. ‘Follow me.’





24


Chloe had neither weapon nor the skill to use one if she had. She was confused and in a strange place. She was determined to find a path to freedom, but for the time being, there was nothing she could do.

The officer handed her to another palace guard, who delivered her to yet another. He took her through an archway draped with a length of silk to obscure the interior. She passed through the gardens just inside the palace wall and then entered a long passage skirting a central courtyard filled with flowering shrubs. She crossed a high-ceilinged atrium that allowed light and air to flood the interior, before following a passage that veered twice at sharp angles.