Chapter 47: The City of a Million Dreams
They did not ride through the entire night.
Edwin had refused to allow it, and for once Kael had agreed without much argument. Reaching Aurelia exhausted, stiff from the saddle, and unable to think clearly would accomplish nothing except give the Imperial Court an advantage before he even entered the chamber. They rested several hours at the final Crown station, changed horses before dawn, and returned to the eastern road while the sky was still dark.
By sunrise, everyone was awake in the saddle.
Iris Hollow traveled several hundred paces ahead, disappearing whenever the road dipped between hills and reappearing whenever the terrain opened. Leon Ashford watched the rear, while Damien Ravenmoor remained close to Kael. Victor Ravenshade rotated positions without complaint, which Kael considered a greater sign of progress than anything Victor had accomplished during the trials.
Edwin and Lily rode between them with the waterproof cases containing Blackwood’s records secured carefully to their baggage horses. Those records worried Kael more than the weapons.
A sword could protect him from an assassin.
A tax ledger might protect Blackwood from the Imperial Court.
The road climbed gradually throughout the morning. Traffic had become so dense that there was rarely a moment when another carriage, military patrol, merchant train, or mounted official was not visible somewhere ahead or behind them.
Then Iris stopped.
Kael noticed immediately.
She had reached the crest of the next hill and simply sat there.
Victor frowned.
That’s unusual
Leon looked toward the ridge.
For Iris?
Very
Kael urged his horse forward.
By the time he reached her, Damien and the others were close behind.
Iris did not look at him.
She only raised one hand toward the horizon.
Kael followed it.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Aurelia stretched beneath them.
He had remembered the city.
At least, he had believed he remembered it.
He had been seven when he disappeared from the Imperial household, young enough that the capital survived in his mind as fragments rather than geography. Palace corridors. Training courtyards. Crowded streets seen from carriage windows. Towers he thought touched the clouds because everything seemed enormous when he was a child.
Seeing Aurelia now was different.
The Imperial Capital occupied a broad basin crossed by waterways and surrounded by fortified districts that had expanded outward over centuries. The oldest walls encircled the central city, while later defensive lines enclosed newer districts, military compounds, noble estates, markets, workshops, administrative quarters, and residential neighborhoods that had grown beyond what the original capital had been designed to hold.
From the ridge, there seemed to be no clean end to it.
White and gray rooftops stretched for miles.
Temple spires rose between government towers.
Smoke drifted from forge districts.
Bridges crossed canals and river branches wide enough to carry barges loaded with grain. Crown roads entered from several directions, each crowded with traffic converging on the same enormous center.
Victor slowly exhaled.
All right
Kael glanced toward him.
What?
I take back what I said about Ashfall
Leon smiled.
Finally
I didn’t say Ashfall wasn’t impressive
You said it felt like a real Imperial city
It does
Victor pointed toward Aurelia.
That looks like someone built five cities and forgot to separate them
Edwin rode forward.
That’s not entirely inaccurate
Kael looked toward him.
How many people?
The steward thought.
The census changes constantly depending on whether surrounding districts and temporary residents are counted. Enough that nobody responsible for provisioning the city finds the number comforting
Lily smiled.
That’s an Edwin answer
It’s an accurate answer
Kael continued looking across the capital.
Blackwood had two thousand eight hundred ninety-three permanent residents.
The difference was almost impossible to hold in his head.
Every distant roof represented people who needed food.
Water.
Work.
Roads.
Waste removal.
Security.
Trade.
Administration.
He had struggled to understand eleven villages.
His father governed this.
And an Empire beyond it.
Kael’s excitement dimmed into something more serious.
Victor noticed.
You’re thinking too hard again
Kael looked toward the city.
I’m trying to imagine feeding it
Victor stared.
That’s what you see?
What do you see?
Taverns
Leon laughed.
Damien shook his head.
Iris finally moved her horse.
We should continue
Kael nodded.
Aurelia could impress him later.
The Emperor was waiting.
The scale became more intimidating as they descended from the hills.
What had looked orderly from a distance became a succession of districts, roads, walls, checkpoints, farms, villages, freight yards, military stations, and outer settlements that existed to support the capital before travelers ever reached its primary gates.
The Crown road divided traffic long before the walls.
Freight wagons moved toward commercial inspection lanes. Noble carriages followed another approach. Government couriers used marked routes allowing them to bypass the longest lines, while ordinary travelers gathered before inspection yards large enough to process hundreds of people at a time.
Kael’s party approached beneath the small House Kael pennant.
There was no enormous Black Dragon Banner.
No ceremonial procession.
Four newly selected soldiers traveled with him, and all four still wore equipment assembled from their previous lives rather than matching black armor that Blackwood could not yet afford.
Their armbands attracted attention anyway.
Victor noticed several travelers staring.
People know it already
Edwin answered.
People know a black cloth with a silver dragon appeared in Blackwood
That’s close enough
Aurelia had apparently received the rumors before the people responsible for them.
At the first Crown checkpoint, an Imperial officer recognized Kael almost immediately.
The summons helped.
So did Kael’s face.
Prince Kael Asterion
The officer bowed.
Your Highness, palace notification reached us this morning. You are expected
Kael raised an eyebrow.
That sounds ominous when you say it like that
The officer almost smiled.
I meant only that we were instructed not to delay you
Better
The man inspected Edwin’s copy of the summons and waved for another soldier.
Open the Crown lane
No giant gate moved.
No crowd gasped.
A smaller controlled passage beside the commercial entrance was opened, allowing Kael’s party to bypass the freight inspection waiting along the main approach.
Several merchants complained.
Kael heard them.
Lily did too.
You feel important?
No
Good
Kael looked at the line of wagons.
Mostly I feel guilty
Edwin answered from behind him.
Then remember you’re traveling under Imperial summons rather than using privilege because you’re impatient
That helped.
Slightly.
Crossing into Aurelia felt less like entering another world than entering ten worlds forced into the same city.
The outer market district smelled of bread, livestock, smoke, spices, river water, and far too many people living close together. Inns crowded the main road. Stable yards occupied entire blocks. Money changers worked beneath painted signs while merchant companies advertised warehouses large enough to hold Blackwood’s yearly surplus several times over.
The architecture changed street by street.
Old stone houses stood beside newer timber-framed buildings.
Covered arcades sheltered merchants from weather.
Public fountains occupied busy intersections, fed through an extensive water system Kael immediately wanted to understand.
Lily saw where he was looking.
No
Kael turned.
What?
You’re not inspecting Aurelia’s water system before Court
I wasn’t
You were about to
I was observing
That’s how it begins
Victor leaned toward Damien.
Does she always know?
Apparently
Kael decided ignoring everyone was safer.
They passed an academy courtyard where students practiced controlled spellwork beneath instructors’ supervision. Farther along, craftsmen worked openly beneath guild signs advertising enchantment, metalwork, alchemy, fine carpentry, glass, and magical instruments.
Nothing floated through the sky carrying thousands of people.
No impossible towers moved between clouds.
Aurelia did not need such things to overwhelm Kael.
The organization required to keep a city this size alive was impressive enough.
Blackwood had spent days organizing temporary kitchens for eighteen hundred applicants.
Aurelia fed districts larger than Blackwood every morning.
That was the comparison Kael could not stop making.
At one intersection, a procession of grain wagons stretched far enough that Leon whistled.
Where does all that go?
Edwin pointed north.
Public granaries, private warehouses, military stores, bakeries, noble estates
All from nearby?
Hardly
Edwin looked toward the wagons.
Aurelia eats the work of half the Empire
Kael remembered those words.
Cities did not create food because they were powerful.
Their power depended on roads reaching places where food was grown.
The road mattered.
The bridge mattered.
The mill mattered.
Blackwood mattered.
Even if Aurelia had forgotten it.
The neighborhoods changed as they traveled inward.
Market noise diminished.
Administrative buildings became more common.
Uniformed clerks moved between ministry compounds carrying document cases beneath their arms. Imperial soldiers appeared at intersections. Carriages displayed increasingly important House crests.
Victor recognized several.
House banners lined one broad avenue leading toward the noble districts.
Leon looked toward a white hawk.
Ashford
Kael smiled.
Missing home already?
Ask me after we’ve been gone longer than one day
Another banner displayed a black tower over a crimson field.
Damien’s attention lingered on it.
Kael noticed.
Ravenmoor?
Damien shook his head.
No
Then what?
Nothing
Kael waited.
Damien eventually pointed farther down the avenue.
Ravenmoor used to maintain a residence near this district
Used to?
Sold before I was born
Damien’s expression remained calm.
Family debt
Kael remembered their conversation during the trials.
A noble family on paper.
A name people recognized without influence behind it.
Do you miss something you never had?
Damien considered.
Sometimes people teach you to miss it for them
Kael looked toward him.
Meaning?
My grandfather talked about that house until the day he died
Damien glanced toward the noble avenue.
He remembered rooms I’d never entered like they belonged to me
Victor had gone quiet.
Kael did not turn the moment into a lesson.
He simply remembered it.
The Imperial Palace appeared long before they reached its outer gates.
It occupied elevated ground within Aurelia’s oldest central district, surrounded by walls, administrative compounds, military grounds, gardens, residences, archives, ceremonial halls, temples, and government buildings accumulated across centuries of Imperial rule.
Kael remembered parts of it.
The main towers.
The broad approach.
The dark roofs of the older wings.
But the palace he remembered belonged to a child.
This version belonged to the Empire.
He slowed without realizing.
Leon followed his gaze.
You grew up there
For seven years
What’s it like?
Kael thought.
Big
Victor laughed.
Excellent description
Kael continued.
You learn quickly which hallways you’re allowed to use
That silenced them.
He remembered servants bowing.
Tutors.
His siblings.
His father appearing unpredictably between campaigns and state business.
His mother.
Then leaving.
Then nothing.
For ten years.
Now he was returning not as a lost child but as Lord of Blackwood.
That felt stranger than seeing the city itself.
A mounted unit waited near the first palace checkpoint.
Their armor was blackened steel trimmed with restrained gold, the Imperial Dragon displayed at the breast. They were not ordinary city guards. Kael recognized the formation before he recognized the commander.
The man at their front dismounted.
Commander Severus Kane.
Kael had seen him in the palace before his disappearance, though ten years had changed the commander’s face. More gray marked his hair now, and the lines around his eyes had deepened.
His posture remained exactly as Kael remembered.
Kane bowed.
Prince Kael Asterion
Kael dismounted.
Commander
The man’s gaze rested on him for half a second longer than ceremony required.
Welcome home
The words caught Kael more than he expected.
He covered it with a small smile.
I’m beginning to hear that a lot
You were gone a long time
Apparently
Kane looked toward Edwin.
Master Ashcombe
Commander Kane
Then toward the Black Dragons.
His eyes moved over the armbands.
No contempt.
No praise.
Assessment.
These are the four?
Leon, Damien, Iris, and Victor straightened.
Kael nodded.
My escort
Kane looked toward Kael.
His Majesty’s private instructions remain unchanged
Kael already knew what came next.
Edwin comes with me
Yes
The others?
Will be received in the outer palace residence assigned to House Kael
Lily stepped forward.
And me?
With the escort until His Majesty sends otherwise
She did not like that answer.
Kael could tell.
But she nodded.
Kane continued.
Your weapons will remain secured during the private audience. Prince Kael retains his sword as a member of the Imperial family until the inner residence checkpoint. Master Edwin carries no weapon inside
Edwin smiled faintly.
I usually survive administration without one
Victor looked toward the palace gates.
We’re seriously staying outside?
Kane turned toward him.
You are?
Sir Victor Ravenshade
Then yes, Sir Victor
Victor clearly wanted to say more.
Leon touched his arm.
Victor remembered Darius.
Miracles continued.
Kael looked toward the four.
Stay with Lily
Iris asked,
Until?
Until I return or palace officials tell you otherwise
She nodded.
Damien did too.
Leon looked toward Kael.
Your Highness
Kael raised an eyebrow.
We’re not going to rescue you if the Emperor keeps you for dinner
Victor stared at him.
That’s what you say?
Kael laughed.
Thank you, Leon
Leon smiled.
Sir Darius said you make jokes when you’re nervous
Kael’s smile vanished.
Sir Darius talks too much
Apparently
Lily approached while Commander Kane spoke quietly with the palace officers.
She adjusted Kael’s collar.
Again.
Kael sighed.
I’m already dressed
You were already dressed in Ashfall and somehow ruined it on the road
I rode a horse
Exactly
She straightened the edge of his coat.
Then her voice lowered.
You have everything?
Kael touched the document case Edwin carried.
Everything we need
Not what I meant
Kael looked at her.
Lily glanced toward the palace.
Don’t let them make you answer something before you understand the question
Kael smiled faintly.
You’ve been listening to Darius
Unfortunately
She stepped back.
And eat
I ate
When?
Kael hesitated.
Lily narrowed her eyes.
Victor laughed from behind her.
This is incredible
Kael pointed toward him.
You say another word and I’m giving Darius permission to invent exercises specifically for you
Victor stopped laughing.
Lily looked satisfied.
Commander Kane returned.
Your Highness
Kael turned.
We’re ready
Kane gestured toward Edwin.
Master Ashcombe
Edwin handed the reins of his horse to a palace groom and secured the most important document case beneath one arm.
Kael looked toward his four Black Dragons.
They had only existed as Black Dragons for a few days.
They were not legendary.
They were not yet a family.
He was still learning which of them snored.
Yet seeing the black armbands at the palace gates steadied him.
Leon inclined his head.
We’ll be here
Damien nodded.
Iris said nothing.
She was already studying every visible entrance.
Victor folded his arms.
Try not to start a civil war before dinner
Kael stared.
That’s your farewell?
I thought Leon already took the serious one
Kael smiled despite himself.
Fair
He looked toward Lily.
Keep them out of trouble
She glanced at Victor.
That’s a large assignment
Then Kael turned toward Commander Kane.
Let’s go
The first palace gates opened.
Kael walked through beside Edwin with Kane several paces ahead.
He expected memory to come rushing back.
It did not.
Instead, pieces arrived unpredictably.
A fountain where he once dropped a wooden sword.
A covered passage his mother used when avoiding rain.
A garden wall he had tried climbing because one of his older brothers told him he couldn’t.
A training field where Augustus had once stood watching Cassian practice.
Most of the palace felt unfamiliar.
A few corners felt painfully close.
Edwin noticed Kael slowing near one courtyard.
Something wrong?
Kael shook his head.
Memory
Edwin looked around.
Good or bad?
Kael considered.
Old
That was enough.
They continued.
Palace officials bowed as they passed.
Some recognized him instantly.
Others looked twice.
News of the Tenth Prince’s arrival traveled faster than their footsteps.
Kael could almost feel it moving through the palace.
Kael has returned.
Blackwood’s prince is here.
Darius’s prince.
The prince with the goblin soldier.
The prince with fifty Black Dragons.
Rumors reached doors before people did.
Kael kept walking.
He was not here to defeat rumors in hallways.
At the inner residence checkpoint, Kael surrendered Garrick’s sword.
He disliked doing it.
Commander Kane noticed.
You’ll receive it when you leave
I know
You look like you’re considering stealing it back
I was considering whether Garrick would kill me if the palace damaged it
Kane almost smiled.
The palace has guarded Imperial weapons for longer than your blacksmith has been alive
That’s what people say before damaging something
Edwin coughed.
Your Highness
Right
Kael released the sword.
A palace guard placed it carefully inside a secured rack marked with Kael’s name.
Then Kane led them deeper into the private wing.
Fewer people appeared here.
No petitioners.
No courtiers.
No noble entourages.
Just guards, trusted attendants, and the occasional senior official moving quickly between closed doors.
Kael’s heartbeat increased.
Not because he feared Augustus would imprison him.
If his father wanted that, no escort Kael brought could stop him.
This was something else.
Ten years.
He had spoken to Augustus since returning.
Faced him in the throne room.
Accepted Blackwood from him.
Argued before his Council.
But those interactions always occurred beneath titles.
Emperor.
Prince.
Ruler.
Heir.
This meeting had been requested privately.
Come to my study.
Bring Edwin.
Kael still did not know why.
Commander Kane stopped before a pair of dark wooden doors carved with the Imperial Dragon.
Two guards stood on either side.
Kane turned.
Master Edwin enters with you
Edwin adjusted the document case.
Kael nodded.
And you?
I remain outside
Kael looked toward the doors.
He’s in there?
Kane’s expression became almost amused.
He has been waiting for twenty minutes
Kael stared.
You could’ve kept that part to yourself
I could have
Edwin looked toward Kael.
Ready?
No
Edwin nodded.
Good
Kael turned.
Why is everyone saying that now?
Because Sir Darius has infected the Empire
That broke enough tension for Kael to breathe properly.
Commander Kane signaled.
The doors opened.
Beyond them was not the Dragon Throne.
No assembled nobles waited.
No Seraphine.
No Cassian.
No Empress.
Only a private chamber lined with maps, shelves, old military records, and windows overlooking Aurelia.
At the far end stood Emperor Augustus Aurelius Asterion.
Not seated upon a throne.
Standing over a table.
Several documents lay open before him.
Kael recognized the first.
Blackwood’s old military records.
The second bore Baron Cedric Halwen’s name.
Augustus raised his crimson eyes.
They settled on Kael first.
Then Edwin.
For several seconds, the Emperor said nothing.
Kael entered.
Edwin followed.
The doors closed behind them.
Augustus rested one hand beside Halwen’s record.
Then he looked at his son.
Kael
No title.
No ceremony.
Just his name.
Augustus tapped the document beneath his hand.
Before you defend your goblin to the Court, I want you to answer a different question
Kael’s eyes dropped to the papers.
His father continued.
Tell me what happened to Blackwood while you were gone.