Dala Yar Arak. The largest city in the world, and a place that Phandebrass and a few others had said wasn't a very nice place. This was the destination that started them off so many months ago. This was where the Goddess told him to go, and just getting here was not in any way, shape, or form the end of it. It was the largest city in the world, and he was there to find a single book. A book that other people were also trying to find.

Seeing it brought mixed emotions within him. He was relieved to finally be here, but he was anxious about the momentous task that awaited them. Seeing the city made him a little afraid, but it also filled him with a terrible resolve, a nearly holy fervor to find the Book of Ages. He had changed so much since they left Suld. He wasn't the same person anymore. He had hardened, turned feral, become something that he used to fear. But not anymore. He had left with Faalken, and now the Knight was buried on foreign ground, buried in Saranam, killed on his behalf. The loss of Faalken had taught him a few hard lessons. That he was not there to be nice. That he would not let another friend die. That this was not a game.

He would find that book. And if had to kill half the people in Dala Yar Arak to get his paws on it, then so be it. Killing half the population would be a far lesser evil than letting someone else discover the location of the Firestaff, because if that happened, the people he did care about would be in danger.

Tarrin didn't give a damn about the world. All he cared about was the few people in the world he loved. He would find the Book of Ages, and then find the Firestaff, if for any other reason than to protect his mother and father and sister, to protect Keritanima and Allia, to protect Dolanna, Dar, Miranda, Zak, and the Vendari. To protect Camara Tal, Sarraya, and Phandebrass. To protect Triana and Jesmind, to protect Mist and his unborn son. He would find it to honor the loss of Faalken, to give closure to the mission for which the Knight paid with his life.

He would find it for Janette, the sweet little girl to whom he owed so much. He wouldn't allow her future to be cut short. He didn't care what it took, or who he had to kill, he would find that book. Even if he had to pry it out of the dead hands of the Emperor of Arak himself.

Allia's scent touched him over the wind, and he looked back in time to see her come up to him. He put his arm around her, feeling a pang that Keritanima wasn't nestled up under his other arm, sharing a silent moment at the bow, staring at the city ahead.

"That's it," she finally said in Selani.

"That's it," he agreed. "Are you ready?"

"I am ready, deshida. It has been a very long time coming. Are you ready?"

"I am now," he said grimly, looking out over the alien skyline of the capital of the Empire of Yar Arak. He looked out over the city, and he could see was the lovely little face of Janette in the blur of the buildings, looking out at him with that serious little smile that made her look so cute.

Whatever it took.

"I am now," he said again, clenching a paw into a fist.

The peaceful city of Dala Yar Arak was just waking to start another day, as merchants rose to open shops, servants went about the morning chores in the service of their masters, and the predators of the night began to give up the streets to the people who lived under the sun. It was the start of a standard day, nothing of great consequence that would make that day more memorable than any other. But they were oblivious to the fact that their city was now under siege. The first day of a siege, in a war that would threaten to tear the Empire apart.

GoTo: Title EoF

Chapter 22

"Come on, come on, come on, this is not what we do here, yes!" Renoit boomed from the steering deck.

It was just past dawn. Dancer had docked only twenty minutes before, and the forty-two performers, workers, and guards were assembling on deck, preparing for the parading march to where they would pitch their large circus tent and perform during the Festival of the Sun. Tarrin sat sedately in Allia's hooded cowl the entire time, staying in cat form so as not to give away who he was to any of the dock workers or spectators looking on. He didn't blend in with her sand-colored clothing, but he was deep enough into her hood to keep from being seen. Allia looked much different in her desert clothing than she did in the trousers and vests she had favored on the ship. The clothing was baggy and loose, hiding her form, and within the folds of that clothing the Selani hid her weapons. She looked every bit as intimidating now as he remembered the very first day he saw her, which was in the Tower. She had been wearing her desert clothes then as well, and he remembered how impressive she had looked.

Tarrin found that by putting his back paws against the bottom of the hood, he could lean over her shoulder and see what was going on without spilling out of his pouch. He had to contend with her mane of silver-white hair, because she had unbound it as she commonly did when at home, letting it come out of her hood and protect her face from the sting of blowing sand. He found out that the Selani favored hoods over the turbans the Saranites and Arakites favored because they kept loose sand from getting under the shirts. Allia's hood had a string sewn into it that she could pull taut, to keep the hood over her head in strong wind. She also had a long, wide scarf wrapped around her neck, which was pulled up to protect the face and reinforce the hood when a Selani had to put her face into the wind. Over that, she would wear a crysathi, a borrowed word from the Arakite crystach, which meant glass. It was a curious crystal visor made by the Selani, something akin to the spectacles that Phandebrass and Sevren wore, but Allia's crysathi was a large single piece of shaped quartz crystal that fit over the eyes and protected them from the blowing sand. He had never seen them before, because Allia's crysathi had been broken during her journey to the Tower, and she didn't have a spare. Allia had made the crysathi she had on the night before using Sorcery, and a large chunk of quartz crystal Phandebrass gave to her.

"I feel very out of place," Allia muttered.

"Remember, you're just a showpiece, sister," Tarrin told her in the unspoken manner of the Cat. "I seriously doubt Renoit is going to make you perform. We have more important things to do."

"Which I can only do at night," she grunted. "That is not what concerns me, brother. It is being surrounded by Arakites that will bother me. We do not get along with them."

"I've heard," he replied.

Tarrin watched with Allia as they got organized. The dancers would be first, followed by the roving acrobats. The three jugglers lined up behind them, and strongmen came up behind them. Those performers that couldn't perform while on the move were behind the strongmen, just in front of the men carrying the tent, ropes, and poles. Renoit himself would be a the very front. They were all wearing bright, colorful costumes, attire that would draw every eye to them, even over the colorful robes that Arakites favored. Most had empty hands, but one juggler carried balls, the second carried pins, and Deward had his favorite juggling knives in hand. They chattered at one another excitedly, preening themselves to make sure they looked the best they could, adjusting necklines or feathers in hair for maximum effect. All of the dancers, he noticed, were wearing makeup, and they had on costumes more suited for a whorehouse than a dancing troupe. Eye candy, Renoit had called it. Lure in the customers with scanty costumes during the parade, a tease to bring their money into the circus' coffers.

From what he understood, the parade was a very important thing for the circus. It did more than let the performers warm up a little and get rid of their sea legs. Dolanna had said that it also allowed the people to get a look at the circus, to see them parade through town and whet their appetites with what they performed while on the move. Eye candy. Get their attention with dancing and tumbling, get them to come to the circus and pay to see the same thing, and a little bit more besides. All of them certainly seemed to be looking forward to the ritual, from the excitement in their voices and the impatience on their faces.