C9

She stopped to study one such building, which was taller than the others and built far more solidly. The stone seemed darker than the rest, though perhaps that was just an effect of the light from the lanterns set in front of it. "What secrets are hidden within your walls?" she murmured as she stood watching the door for a long while. If she had only the time to take a closer look, perhaps she would know. "Do you think they might hold something... anything at all... that would tell me how to go about finding my way to the end of these strange streets?"

She had reached the building without having seen anyone approaching from behind her, though she had heard people moving inside the building as they went about their business. There were doors of solid iron set in front of her, and a thick bar set across the entrance as well. "It is a strange sort of building," she told herself. "What purpose can it possibly serve?" It seemed likely to her that the people of this part of the city did not want anyone entering who might bring harm to them... or else that the people who lived here were so few in number that there was no point in letting anyone else inside. Perhaps both explanations were true, and there was nothing at all to fear from this building. "Perhaps I should take a closer look..." She reached out with her hand to touch the metal door, but then hesitated. It felt as if there was something wrong with it... and she did not want to risk touching it until she knew more about what it was. She glanced back over her shoulder once again, looking for any sign that she might have been followed... or that any of the others might still be standing nearby. Nothing came to her except more people going about their business... some of them going through the streets, and others coming out of buildings. All of them moved slowly and deliberately, yet there were so many of them that she could hardly believe they were simply trying to stay hidden. "It would not do me any good to look inside if I am already discovered," she mused. "I will not look inside until I find someone who is willing to show me where I may go."

Her thoughts lingered upon that possibility, but she had other matters to attend to. She stepped away from the door as casually as she could manage and began to move around the corner of the next street. "I suppose that I shall never know what lies behind those walls unless I try," she murmured. "They are far too strong for me to break down with my hands or even my magic... and they seem to block me from the outside as well." She turned the corner at the end of the next street, glancing quickly back one last time as she moved along. It seemed to her that there was something moving toward her... and yet she could see no one at all. If only she could be sure of that! Her doubts returned with greater force than ever when she had rounded the corner, though it still seemed to her as if there were something behind that corner. But nothing happened, and she continued moving down the next street, taking care to keep a tight grip on the hilt of her sword. There was something strange about this place... she could feel it in every part of her. And whatever it was that had driven the people of this city from their homes, it remained behind them even now, hidden within the buildings and unseen by the eyes of everyone else. But perhaps there were others like herself... or like the black prince... who saw more clearly. Who could be sure until they learned everything that lay within the walls of these strange streets?

She paused to glance around at the next building as she passed by, trying to imagine what it might contain. It seemed too big to be a home, yet too small to be used for business. What would people use such a large, empty room for, unless it were something that they wanted to keep out of sight and not have anyone discover? She could not imagine that there were any secrets inside a place like that... yet there were certainly some that she wished to keep out of sight. She could not be entirely certain that she was completely safe from discovery, for she had walked into the part of the city where few outsiders ever ventured, but perhaps she was right. Perhaps all that lay within this city was nothing more than the ordinary workings of everyday life, with nothing hidden within its many buildings and walls. "But why would so many people come here to work?" she murmured softly. "Perhaps there is some reason that I have never discovered."

She glanced around quickly to see if anyone was watching her from the other side of the street, then took another quick look to make sure that no one had followed her into this part of the city. There was a building set at the end of the next street, and it seemed likely that the next building after that would lead her into a large square where people were working together. They had made their living in that fashion, and it still seemed as if the buildings were full of life... even if most of the people were strangers to her. She had heard enough tales to know that there were many people living beyond the walls of the city who had lost loved ones and wanted no further part in their lives. "It would not do me any good to look inside until I find someone who is willing to show me where I may go," she repeated as she glanced down at the next building. It looked to be larger than most of the others, but it also seemed too plain to hide anything of importance... though there was certainly no sign of anyone moving within. Perhaps it was just the time of day, for the sun had set while she was walking along these strange streets and the shadows were longer than usual. "It would not do me any good at all to look inside until I have learned what I might learn."

The next few turns brought her past more of the same: more empty buildings and fewer occupied ones... and even fewer people moving about. This area was not nearly so full as the rest of the city had been before the disaster struck, but it was full enough. Yet this place has been deserted long enough for me to feel it, she thought as she paused at the entrance to yet another building and gazed in wonderment at the rows of shelves and racks lining every side wall. "How could such a thing come to pass? What caused all of these people to leave without so much as a single word?" She had walked farther than she ever had before, though she was no closer to finding what she sought. How will I ever know what they are hiding here?

She moved quickly into the building, pausing briefly to make certain that the door behind her was shut tightly. She had not wanted to leave it open, even for a moment, in case anyone were to wander into the building. But the room itself seemed to be far stranger than anything that she had seen so far. The shelves were full of goods of all sorts, but there were still far too many empty spaces along their length. And some of them had not been touched for so long that it was hard to believe they ever had. Perhaps whoever had made those shelves had not been able to get everything on them at once, but it did seem likely that he or she had meant to fill them as quickly as possible. It would take far less effort for her to look for what had not been put on the shelves than it would have taken to move each item one at a time. "And how will I find out if something has been moved at all?" she wondered as she began to look through the stacks and racks of goods. "I should be able to tell..." She reached out with her hand and pushed aside an item of clothing, feeling it as she did so. She was far more familiar with that kind of sensation than she was with the touch of wood, metal, or stone... and it seemed strange that any of those three materials could feel anything like cloth at all. But there was nothing else within reach to push aside, and the clothing felt as hard as wood would have done. "If there is any sign, I will find it," she murmured softly as she pulled her hand back and turned away from the clothes. There was certainly something very strange about these rooms... but that was no proof at all that there might not be another, better way to find what she needed to know. "But perhaps it does not matter in the least."

She went quickly down the aisle and began pushing aside other things, looking for any that seemed different from all the rest. She did not find anything at all, though it seemed as if some of the items would have slid off of the shelves even if they had been empty. As she continued moving farther into the room, she came across an old basket that had obviously been placed there by its owner rather than left behind for someone to discover. She looked closely at it, and then at the floor, thinking that perhaps the basket might hold something more interesting than anything that lay beneath it. Perhaps it held food, or a book that was written by someone who knew what he had said... but she could not see any of the usual signs of either food or writing, and the basket felt as hard as any other object in this strange room. She moved on down the aisle and found several other items of interest as she pushed them aside: pots that she thought might contain something more interesting than water... a box of tools that were likely made from metal instead of wood... and a stack of books that seemed as uninteresting to her as any she had yet seen.

"Why did I bother?" she asked herself as she stepped away from the first row of shelves. "I will never know anything if I continue to do this." She moved on down the aisle to the next row, then turned again as she came to the end of it. She hesitated for a moment before beginning to push aside all of the objects in its middle, knowing that it might not take her very long to find out what was here. But when she reached the far side of the shelf, she had already done so many turns that she did not want to turn around and do them all over again. "There must be some better way," she murmured softly. And if I cannot think of one, it will certainly be time to leave soon.

She moved quickly through the aisle between the shelves, pushing aside everything else in its middle as well as all of the ones at either side... but no one item stood out from those that she had passed before. She was almost at the end of the aisle now, but she did not want to return to the far end before trying again. If there is anything of interest here at all, it may have been moved by now, and she wanted to see for herself if it had not been. She pushed aside everything at the end of the aisle, and then returned to the shelves on the other side. There was nothing more in the middle of that one than there had been in the other two, and nothing that seemed to be of particular interest to her. "What was it that I had said?" she wondered, as she glanced down at the last row of the second aisle. It would have been very easy for her to move the objects that stood at the end of that row one by one until she found what she had wanted... and she knew that it would take far less time than doing so all at once. But what if there is something of interest in those objects? Would I miss it entirely if I were to start moving things without finding them first?" She paused for a moment, and then continued down the aisle once again. "If there is anything worth seeing, it should be here."

The next shelf held only a single wooden box that looked very old, with many of its pieces broken or missing. She stared at it for a long while, but could find no hint of what might lie inside. The next shelf held even fewer items, but they all looked equally dull and ordinary. She moved down to the fourth shelf and pushed aside a number of objects, including an odd pair of shoes that seemed too small for her feet... though perhaps she might wear them anyway. She pushed aside an item made from wood and then turned quickly to look up the aisle that ran along its side wall. There was nothing there at all, just another wooden box as dull as the ones she had seen before. She stepped over to the next aisle and repeated the process there. The next three shelves were just as empty and boring as the rest had been, but she did not push anything aside to find out just how boring they were. "There must be some reason," she muttered softly as she began moving down the aisle toward the next one, "for having so few interesting things on these shelves. Perhaps whoever placed this place together was not very imaginative." And I do not want to waste time searching for one or two unusual things when I could spend it searching for all of them... if I ever find my way back here at all. She glanced back toward where she had begun to search, then continued farther down the aisle as she considered how she might find her way home in the dark. "And perhaps there are better places to look. This may be a very strange building, but there has to be a reason that people built it in the first place."

She stepped to the next aisle and began pushing aside all of the things that stood there as well... and was not surprised at all to discover that they were far more common than the objects that stood at either end. She pushed aside a number of wooden boxes and crates, and even another pair of shoes... but still none seemed to hold anything of interest. She stepped over to the next aisle and pushed aside all of the items there as well... and then began looking up and down each of its sides. As she moved slowly across the aisle, she began to notice that it felt as if something beneath her feet had been lifted a little bit higher... as if she were standing on air. It was only a slight change, but it was enough to make her stop moving as she stared down into the space. "How is that possible? The ground should feel as firm as stone." She glanced down at her feet and realized that her toes were pressing lightly against something soft, though it was not so different from the floor as to be noticeable at once. What did I step upon without knowing it?"

There was nothing else to step on in that aisle, but she could see no sign of any object beneath her foot. As she stood there for a moment, wondering what it might have been, she suddenly looked back down into the space in front of her and saw that it held a very old and worn-looking book with a leather cover that had come completely apart at some point long ago. She leaned down and ran her hands along the edges of the two pieces that were left. One piece was still joined together at the spine and the corners of the first few pages, while the other had split down nearly halfway through the middle. As she pulled at the two pieces, she realized that she could pull them both away from each other quite easily. If I pull them apart completely, perhaps I will find something of much more interest than this book... or something at all, whatever it is that they have kept hidden here. And it could be worth finding it out even if I cannot read the words written within."

She bent down again and pulled as hard as she could, until both pieces tore free from one another entirely. When she had done so, she looked up quickly and saw that a large portion of the next shelf had come apart as well. A great number of wooden crates seemed to have fallen out of place, some of which had already broken open and spilled their contents. They looked as dull and ordinary as anything she had seen in the building so far... but perhaps that was because they had been in such an old crate when it fell. It might be better to find out what they had looked like before they had fallen. There was still a great deal of light from above, and the sun was beginning to set... though not by much yet. Perhaps there are some more places I should look first? I would have a hard time doing so in the dark, and I know that I do not have enough light to see by for very long anyway." She stood slowly back up again, and moved toward the center of the aisle as she began looking through the objects that lay among the scattered wood. The first few crates were full of old tools of no particular use to her... but then she came upon a great many small items that looked as if they had fallen from inside a box. Most of the objects that she saw were either small or broken, though a great many of them appeared to have been made of metal instead of wood. "This is far more interesting," she said softly, as she bent down and picked up one of the objects. It was about three inches across, with a flat top that was nearly smooth enough to feel as if it had once been covered in glass, and a wide rim that curved around its entire surface. "If this was a piece of glass at one time, it has been broken so often that it looks far more like steel than anything else now." She held the object gently between her fingers for a moment, thinking that perhaps she could use it as a mirror... but then she realized that the surface of the piece was not flat enough for her to be able to see her own face, even if it were covered with metal like this one. "And there would certainly be no point in that." She put the object down again and bent to pick up another one, and then turned to glance toward the front of the building. The sky beyond the walls was already growing dark, but there was still a great deal of light streaming in from behind the buildings. "I am certain that they do not intend for anyone to leave this place before sunset," she muttered aloud, "and I should very much like to know what it is that they keep hidden away in here." But it may take me until tomorrow night just to find my way out of here, if I must." She stood up again and walked slowly along the aisle to look at each crate and container that it contained, though most of them did not appear to hold anything that she found especially interesting.

As she reached the center of the aisle again, she looked up and saw that a great number of wooden crates had come down from their places above as well... and that they too had spilled many of the items that had been within them onto the floor. And as she stepped over them, she saw something lying beneath her foot... something smooth and small as if it had once been covered in glass, yet far heavier than she would have expected if it had been. Her eyes went wide when she recognized it for what it was... and the sudden weight seemed to make the floor beneath her feet seem far more solid and stable than ever. "It is a sword," she whispered. "How did I miss it? It is much too large for a child to use as a toy, and too sharp even for a warrior to handle with any great skill... but it would certainly be worth finding out how to use it." She bent down and picked up the object, but it was heavy enough that she could hardly manage it, even if she had not been carrying the rest of the things that lay on the ground. "Perhaps this was once the sword of a king... or the blade of one of his guardsmen. It looks far too heavy to have ever belonged to any other kind of man." And now that I see it clearly, the metal that forms the hilt of this sword appears much darker than it did before... as if it has been covered with rust. I wonder how such a thing came to be here." She set the sword back down again so that she could move carefully around it and continue to look for the objects of which it appeared to be made, but before she had gone far, she saw another item lying nearby. The shape of the thing reminded her very strongly of something that she had seen on many battlefields: the helmet that warriors used to cover their heads so that they were not vulnerable to arrows or crossbows. "This could almost be the same thing," she muttered as she bent over and picked it up, "though I cannot imagine that there is much chance that two different helmets of the same design would be left lying side by side." Yet there were no other helmets among these that had been left behind as well... just this single one that had fallen to the floor, and another one that had spilled its contents across the floor. "This is very curious indeed."

She stood up once more and walked slowly along the center aisle for a time, looking into each wooden box and container that it contained until she finally found two that seemed most interesting to her. Both of them were full of strange items that looked as if they had come from the inside of a human skull, though she could see nothing to tell her whether this was true. There was no sign of anything at all on their surfaces that had been broken in two... only the sharp edges that made it impossible for anyone who tried to use the objects to keep their hands out of their eyes. "If these skulls were not used to protect people's brains," she muttered as she turned to glance toward the front of the building again, "they must have been some other kind of decoration... perhaps even a weapon of some sort." She turned back to look into one of the boxes, but stopped moving when she heard the sound of an approaching footfall. A moment later, someone came quickly around the corner of the wall behind which she stood. She had not noticed his approach while she had been staring into the second skull, yet now he appeared out of the darkness before her. And although she would have guessed that it was one of the soldiers whom she had seen with him earlier, this man seemed to be dressed more like a merchant or a wealthy traveler than any warrior would ever seem to be."

"Hello there," said the man, as he approached the box where she stood. He was dressed as if he were going to a great ball rather than on a military expedition, and his boots were much less sturdy than those she had seen among the rest of the soldiers. Yet as he drew nearer, she realized that his clothes did not cover quite so much of him as they had... and she saw that his feet were covered in the same kind of leather boots as she was wearing. "May I help you?"

She glanced at his feet, and then back up into his face. His skin seemed very dark indeed... darker still than that of most of the soldiers who had been with him. Yet his hair was the palest red-gold she had ever seen on anyone's head. "I am looking for something to use as a sword," she explained. "Do you have one that I might purchase from you?"

"You are certainly welcome to try," he replied, with a crooked smile. He reached down to pick up the helmet that lay near his feet and put it over his head as if he meant to walk right past her and continue on his way. "But I doubt that you will be able to lift your sword with your hands still tied together by rope... or if you manage to do so, that you will be able to cut off the heads of all the guardsmen that come running after you when they see you wielding it."

She laughed and held her hands out away from her body, showing him that they were not bound together with rope. She was glad that he seemed to believe what she said, for it made sense that someone who would come to purchase a weapon such as this must first believe that it was possible that he could lift one himself. "And I will not be carrying it," she told him. "I am here with some other people, and they should also have the chance to buy swords from you as well."

He paused for a moment and looked at the other two men standing beside her, then smiled again. "If there is another group who would like to buy weapons from me, we can certainly accommodate them." He stepped back slightly and lifted his arms over his head, then bent down so that he could reach the box below him. He stood straight again once more, holding up the box for her to look inside. Inside was a number of different swords... and though many of them were quite long and sharp, none of them were as long or as thick as the one that she had seen before. And each of these was made out of metal instead of wood, and all of them were as sharp and thin as razors.