Jeb woke by a fire several days later. Raul had convinced the rabble that he’d seen Jeb run off after he saw the strange man pulling the blade from his own torso. Considering they’d just accused him of vile magic, they readily accepted the lie.

  Raul had waited until night and carried Jeb several miles away to a tiny brook between two hills, further north, away from the dunes. Raul cleaned the wound, front and back, as best he could. But that was all he could do.

  Two days later, Jeb found himself standing on the last dune looking down at a white city, rubbing his pink scar with a thumb. The tall walls guarded several larger buildings in the center. The buildings were white as well, domed with spires in various locations, all trimmed in gold. Surrounding the center buildings were thousands of smaller buildings, all different shapes and sizes.

  It was heart-stopping. It was hard to breathe.

  This was not what Jeb expected of a city. He expected a few shacks thrown together. It was the architecture that caught his full attention. Of the many worlds he had been to over the last nine thousand years, he had never seen anything like it before. There was nothing perfect about it, but somehow the beauty of it was shocking.

  Jeb was only familiar with block buildings. They were all the same size, and the streets were always numbered based on the direction towards or away from the North and South Pole, corresponding with the longitude and latitude. Everything was always the same: only a small handful of clothing designs based on profession, and limited options for ships, vehicles, and equipment.

  This was nothing like home. This was chaos! And it was exhilarating!

  Something resonated deep within him, in his soul. Something he’d not felt. A place from outside time. He could feel it. His ability to empathize was strong here. He could not feel the people here, for they were too weak of mind to emanate emotion strongly, though the emanation from this one city was almost too much. His body began to tremble from the amount of emotion it was experiencing.

  Jeb, your body’s adrenals need to calm down. It’s like you are about to enter combat.

  Then calm them, Jeb replied.

  Soon, his body was calmer, but he still felt the joy that a body, Sac or Doll, could experience.

  Turning to Raul, he attempted to remove the scene from his mind; it was futile. "I thought you said this was a small city?"

  Raul laughed. "You really are from a small village. This is a small city, my friend. And a horrible one at that. Four days' travel to the north, and you'll see a city that will dwarf this one. That, I promise you."

  Jeb had the sudden urge to go and see for himself. He had to check himself from moving. Looking back at the small town, he began to think of why he was here again.

  Jeebz caught the loose thought. A map, to locate any hidden bases here.

  Right.

  This city is amazing.

  It looks broken to me. Jeebz was obviously analyzing the structure's integrity, and predicting if it would collapse or not, but no estimates were given forth yet.

  Jeb refocused his mind and continued down the dune. The wound in his side had healed. He’d been lightheaded, and they’d had to take it slow. Raul was mesmerized by the quick healing. “I didn’t think you’d survive, Mr. Jeb,” Raul had said.

  But Raul had stayed.

  Stepping off the last grade of the dune onto flat sandstone, he began to analyze the structures as he walked closer and closer. He was about a thousand feet from the walls. Men were on the corners holding bows. Grooves above some kind of lip were below large metal bowls with some kind of steam coming from the top. As he got closer, he walked past long spikes coming out of the ground, pointing away from the city.

  Fortifications of some sort. Seems to be boiling oil from the level of distortion from the heat on top of the pots. Under the lips of the groove is a form of splitter that separates the oil into a spray of sorts.

  The spikes hold back charges of amassed armies while the bowmen go at range. The walls are weak, but for the level of technology and what is available here, it would hold against a siege for some time... Jeebz rattled on and on about the tactics and numbers.

  It was still the design and ingenuity that awed Jeb. He couldn't wrap his head around it. Where was this type of design in Core Prime?

  These are disapproved designs. They are not structurally perfect and therefore are banned. Jeebz was catching yet another one of Jeb's thoughts.

  As they rounded around and headed for a pathway to one of the main gates, Raul stepped closer to Jeb. "They will want to identify you and tax you for gate use."

  "Tax me? For what? I have no money," Jeb replied.

  "If you have no money, they will not allow you to enter. They do not want poor people to enter. Or, if you state you have been robbed, they will require something of value to enter instead of a tax." He looked at Jeb's sword. "No doubt, they will want your blade."

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  "They can have it... Once they take it from me." It was more of an automatic response than a calculated statement. It still rang true. Raul began a hearty laugh.

  "I thought you might say that. Here, have some coin. This should cover the tax." Raul handed him Kevo's coin purse. A slight perception of pleasure came across to Jeb from Raul. Odd, these prisoners.

  Jeb nodded his thanks. "How do I get a meeting with the king or get my hands on a map?"

  Raul got his tax amount ready, one silver coin, in his palm, ready to hand the gate watch. "You would go to the Hall and request a clerk. You may get notified in a week if it has been approved or not."

  Jeb frowned, a week? That's too long. "Are there guides, or anyone good at map-making around?"

  "Possibly, from what I’ve heard, he hires all the guides and map makers. Or disposes of them. In my opinion, you will not receive permission for the maps." Raul seemed to be certain of himself. Jeb didn't continue the query.

  “Why would he kill map makers and guides?” Jeb asked.

  “Beats me. He’s touchy.” Raul looked at Jeb. “Something about gold.”

  Possibly to limit those who can find this nebulous gold mine he has, Jeebz offered.

  That makes sense, in a pretty dark way, Jeb acknowledged.

  They made it to the gate, and the tax man stood up from his rickety wooden chair. He had teeth missing, and his sword breaker sat at his hip. It was rusted and seemed to be chipped and broken, just like his teeth.

  "One silver penny or valuable," he yelled out.

  Everyone entering the city paid the man. When Jeb stepped forward to pay him, the guard peered at him up and down as though looking at a very difficult math problem. "And who might you be? Full name and origin!"

  Jeb sighed, thinking fast, and with the help of Jeebz, he came up with an answer of a hundred miles to the west in a small village of maybe twenty people. When the guard spoke out a town name to verify, Jeb readily agreed that that was the village.

  "I thought that village was long gone!" The guard bellowed.

  "It is, as far as I'm concerned." Jeb stated as though he were bored with it.

  "Right, right. Either way, the gate is one silver penny." Jeb finished handing him the penny. The guard gave the order, and the smaller inner door was opened, and they were allowed through.

  Upon stepping through the door, an odor hit Jeb as though a blaster had gone off in his face. A putrid decaying smell. Raul must have seen his face upon passing through the gate. "That's manure. From pigs!" He laughed. Either way, it was a horrible and powerful smell.

  Jeb walked in further, and the smell, though still there, began to die down. Your body is adjusting to the perception, Jeebz informed him.

  Good!

  They worked their way through a small throng of people, past beggars and hawkers of all kinds, small shops, swords and armor, arrows and whatnot. Most of the shops were based on weapons of some sort. Many eyes seemed to linger on Jeb’s sword.

  "It seems that sword of yours is going to attract quite a bit of attention," Raul mentioned in a loud whisper so as to get over the din of the hammers and yelling.

  "I need to get some leather for it. How much is that in silver here?"

  "Oh, maybe five copper for a cheap wrap."

  Jeb looked at his sword and its scabbard. It was probably the most shiny and sparkly item in the whole city by the look of the city. Yes, he needed something to cover it up before there was an incident.

  Nearby was a small armorer. Considering this was the capital of mercenaries in these parts, Jeb had his pick of stores on this block. He picked the cleanest one he could find.

  “How may I help you?” the old man said from behind the counter.

  “I need something to hide my scabbard and hilt. But I need it to be functional too.” Jeb looked around, but the store was mostly empty. A few men stood on the other side of the room, looking at weapons mounted on the wall. He placed his sword and scabbard on the countertop.

  The man gasped at it. The engravings on the scabbard were in a different language, mostly composed of triangles, with etchings of swordsmen holding the blade in competition with other masters. The scabbard was of polished metal, a metal that would not be found on Azibo, but polished like silver.

  The hilt was similar, but a synthetic wrap covered up the panels underneath that exposed the workings to a microprocessor. The processor would detect the type of molecular bond through the impact of the first strike. Then it would emit a vibration through the blade to counter that bond, allowing it to cut through much easier. It had no power source at the moment. He hadn’t had one ever. He couldn’t find one, and oddly there was no port or place to be charged or carry a battery.

  He'd taken it to many engineers back in Systems, but no one could figure out how it was powered. But the function they recognized.

  The clerk whistled. “This is beautiful. I’ve never seen the like. Where did you get this?” Jeb told him the lie about his uncle being a smith.

  “Well, your uncle is a very talented man.” The clerk put the scabbard down and examined the hilt. “That’s not leather. Feels more like a wax. But it doesn’t melt when you hold it?” he asked.

  “My thoughts too, but it doesn’t melt.” The material helped him hold the blade, keeping his hands from slipping—nano materials.

  “Well, we have some leather we can fashion up for you.” The clerk pulled out a string and measured the circumference and length of both the hilt and scabbard. “I can have it ready in about an hour.”

  “Do you mind if we wait in here? I keep getting people eying the sword. I’d hate to run into trouble in the city,” Jeb said.

  The man nodded and instructed them to sit by the front. There was only one chair, and Raul let Jeb have it.

  “I’ll go get some food. I’ll be back soon,” Raul said.

  Soon, Raul was back with food for the two of them. Soon after that, Jeb paid the man for the leather wrap for the scabbard. The man used leather strips and deftly wrapped the hilt in a criss-crossed pattern. It felt nice in his hand. Not as good as the nano material, but it was good nonetheless.

  Thanking the clerk, they left the weaponsmith.

  “Did you see any good inns while out?” Jeb asked Raul.

  Raul nodded while taking the last bite of his food. He pointed up the road. “I saw a nice place up there. Seemed less busy than others.” He looked at Jeb. “Less people means less attention.”

  Jeb nodded his agreement, and they began to walk.

  The inn was nice enough, a room with two beds and a window view. He paid for a week, which depleted a few silver from Kevo’s coin purse. He gave the man a silent thanks as he put it back in his pocket.

  “You should get some kind of cloak. Maybe new clothes, too,” Raul said as they prepared for bed. “And I’m going to take a bath. I stink, and so do you.”

  It dawned on Jeb that he had not bathed since before landing. A Doll didn’t bathe. “I should too then, I suppose.”

  “I was quite thankful for the smell of manure when we came in.” Raul laughed at his own joke. Jeb smiled.

  The bath was delightful. A few extra coppers got him a few servants to help with the cleaning in the small wooden tub he had to crouch in.

  Once clean, he felt like a new man. The bed was inviting, and soon he found himself lost in sleep.