“Like I said, this is all beginning to look like a sham. A city built for sailors to see from a distance, but never up close. The Captain said the crews were prevented from going into the city when ships were allowed here. Of course, that was twenty years ago.”
“I don’t understand. Why would they do that? I mean, why would they build an empty city?”
“For the sailors to see and talk about. Ships arrived here and unloaded cargo Breslau wanted. Breslau shipped what they wished, but all of it was conducted at the port of Breslau City. No seamen ever saw the inside of the city, and if they did, they didn’t return to their ships to talk about it.”
Tanner fought to catch up with Carrion’s thinking. “Then the people here simply loaded the cargo already on the docks onto other ships and sent it down to the river where the ‘real’ cities are located.”
“I’ll bet that castle on the hill is almost empty of people, too. I did see a few lights up there last night, but not nearly enough.”
“That castle on the bluff reminds me of a watchtower for the Dragon Clan at home. People could sit up there and watch the sea. They could warn the army of any ships arriving. A whole fleet of ships could be hiding near here, or an army could attack any ship not supposed to be there. The whole city is a trap.”
“Also a decoy,” Carrion said. “If King Ember intends to attack Breslau, where will he send his ships and army? Here, of course.”
Tanner said, “Want to bet me that the people living here are almost all Crabs? All but the soldiers, of course.”
“No bet. They don’t even have a way to leave. Ocean on one side, mountains the other, and deserts without water north and south. They’re prisoners.”
“This whole city was not built to keep a few Crabs prisoners. It’s to protect the five cities on that river. At the first sign of trouble here they probably have a way to get the information down there quickly,” Tanner said, thinking as he spoke. “Like a bonded dragon carrying a message strapped to a leg.”
Carrion said, “Which makes me ask. Do we even need to go into the city?”
“Yes, we do. So far we’re just guessing. Besides, there is additional information we need, especially about the Royals being Dragon Masters.”
“I suppose that since you’re the appointed leader of this expedition, I’ll have to obey you, but there’s one thing you and I do need to see before we leave. We need to get our hands on a Royal long enough to look at his or her back.”
Tanner nodded, “We need to see the mark of the dragon. See what’s different about theirs. Why can’t we sense their dragons, and can they sense ours? If possible, we should take a Royal back to Princeton and take him to our family for questioning.”
Carrion seemed to come to a conclusion. He nodded, “Then it’s decided. We’ll go into the city and explore, as well as to the castle on the bluff. If we get the opportunity, we’ll abduct a Royal, but even if we have to peek into every window of every Royal home until we see a bare back, we will.”
“I think it will be better if we just find a Royal and drag him or her into an alley long enough to see their backs,” Tanner laughed, “but whatever it takes is fine with me.”
Carrion said, “I know the road is there, and it’s easier travel, but I suggest we sneak into the city from another way. If I were going to guard the port, I’d also watch the only road.”
Tanner agreed. “We could circle around and come in from the mountain side of the city, but I want to see the port. Everything seems structured around it.”
“Moving along the sea might be a good idea. If they’re watching the road and the sea, who would expect us to slip in right between them?”
They moved closer to the road, using the limited cover to shield them from prying eyes. When they agreed the time was right, both darted across the road and down into a tangle of dried vines and low sand hills. Reaching the edge of the water only provided a glimpse of the port, which lay around a point of land.
They felt reasonably safe from being spotted. The small hills of sand shielded them from the city, all but their chests and heads. The soft sand was difficult to walk in, but they stayed away from the easy road and the hard-packed wet sand at the edge of the water.
Rounding the point gave them their first look at the port area. There were, at least, five large piers extending out into the deeper water where larger cargo ships could safely tie up. Running down the center of the piers were stacks of cargo. The wood on some had aged to a pale gray color, indicating they had been sitting there for a long time, perhaps years.
One pier held a small amount of cargo waiting to be loaded, and a ship was tied up beside it. Men unloaded cargo from the ship, using a boom attached to the mast. It lifted each crate, barrel, and box into the air and swung it to the pier. There seemed to be no more than five or six men working on the pier, and twice that many on the ship.
“The Lady Marion,” Carrion muttered.
“What?”
“The name of that ship. Lady Marion. When we return home, that is a ship to watch because we know it does business here.”
“It might only go down to the river and back here.”
Carrion turned to Tanner and said, “The ocean has worms that will eat right through the hull in a couple of ten-days. Besides, when a ship is in the sea all sorts of seaweed and shellfish attach to the hull and slow it down.”
“I see the green on the waterline and below,” Tanner said, listening to the explanation that came in the same tone as his teacher in school had used. He had explained much the same to Devlin only a dozen days ago, but allowed Carrion to continue as if it was new information to him. It wouldn’t hurt to allow Carrion to feel better as he shared his knowledge. Besides, he might share something Tanner didn’t know.
“When the Lady Marion leaves here she will sail directly to the river and then up it to fresh water. The fresh water will kill the worms and marine growth in a few days. Then she’ll be ready to sail across the Endless Sea again.”
Tanner started to speak but held his tongue. Carrion was right. Shrewsbury had been at the mouth of a river the only time he had been there. It looked like it was a long skinny inlet, but was actually a river. Racine sat at the mouth of one too, with a stone wall blocking the seawater from entering the bay, or, at least, most of it. He didn’t know if the water was drinkable, but suspected it was.
“I thought no ships sailed from ports in Princeton to this place.”
“We were wrong, which brings up our next question. Why is that one ship allowed to sail across the sea and dock here?”
“Because it belongs to the Royals of Breslau,” Tanner filled in.
They moved closer to the city while keeping an eye on the men on the pier and the city. When they reached the first buildings, they slowed. Doorways and windows were boarded up. The streets held an accumulation of leaves, sticks, and sand. The bottom edges of most buildings had sand deeper than a finger is long.
It was quiet. No barking dogs, clucking chickens, laughing children, or screaming mothers. Their footsteps echoed off the hard surfaces. Each of the buildings was coated with a layer of mud and painted one of a hundred shades of brown. Everything from off-white to brown so dark it looked black colored the walls. None had been painted in years.
Carrion held out an arm to bar Tanner from crossing another street. They stood at an intersection where the street that crossed theirs had a wide strip of brick without sand. “Back,” he whispered.
They backed into the first doorway where Carrion put his knife to the boards across the doorway. The iron nails had rusted in the original holes, and the boards dried. The board came off easily, and so did the next three. They unlatched the door and entered.