by J A Armitage
I could tell by the clothes displayed that this was neither the slums of Urbis on the outskirts, nor was it the exclusive boutiques that could be found nearer the center. The fashions of Urbis were so different from those of Kisbu and presented an eclectic range from the twelve kingdoms.
Ignoring the clothing stores, I hurried down the street, keeping my head down, only looking up long enough to find what I was looking for. Soon enough, I came upon a currency exchange where I swapped my Rubees for Urbis Dollars. After finding a place that sold maps, I headed to a cafe to grab myself breakfast and that coffee I’d been thinking about.
As I waited for my breakfast sandwich, I sipped on my coffee and spread the map out in front of me. It filled the table and hung over all four sides. I picked up the coffee cup and held it in my hand to allow the map to lie flat. I’d known, in a vague way, that Urbis was huge, but I’d not counted on just how massive it was. Nor had I counted on the sheer number of steeples that were marked on the map. I was on a fool’s errand.
Downing the coffee, I rubbed my temples, wondering if I’d made a mistake. Small details were coming back to me about the night of my birth. The style of houses out of the window was not like the ones in this part of the city. I also remembered the run-down street and a partial street sign. The word I’d seen on the sign hit me when the waitress brought my sandwich and another coffee, which she put right on the map.
“Maple!” I said out loud as I remembered the word on the sign I’d seen.
“You want maple syrup?” the waitress asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, no, thank you. I was talking to myself. Do you know any streets in Urbis that begin with Maple? Maple Street? Maple Lane?”
The waitress shrugged. “I don’t know of any personally, but I reckon there will be quite a few what with all the maple trees we have.”
She gestured to the cafe window and to the line of trees outside. They were maple trees. I’d not recognized them, but now that I looked closely, it was unmistakable what they were.
“Do maple trees only grow in this part of town?”
The waitress shook her head. “No, they are all over Urbis.”
My heart dropped.
“Thanks,” I said with a sigh, rubbing my finger on the handle of the coffee cup she’d brought out. The coldness I’d felt earlier had not left me despite the blazing June sun.
The waitress shrugged again and left me to get the order of a couple at the next table.
I looked back at the map, noting all the tiny streets, each with their name in minute writing. Finding the right Maple Street or Maple Lane or whatever it was would take me ages. I chewed on my sandwich as I perused the map, hoping the right name would jump out at me. With my eyes closed, I tried to picture the sign I’d seen in the memory. It hadn’t been the full sign. Only the word Maple could be seen within the foggy confines of Genie’s magic. The dilapidated houses opposite the house I’d been born were tatty, with peeling paint and broken windows, some of which had been boarded up. The white steeple in the background didn’t make sense. It wasn’t in keeping with the grey stone buildings in the foreground. I massaged my temples and sipped at my coffee, trying to rid myself of the cloying coldness that seemed to be following me.
Something flashed, causing me to look up and away from the map. My heart sank as a man with a camera took another photo. I pulled my hood back up, but it was too late. I’d been in Urbis only a couple of hours, and already, I’d been spotted. There was no doubt in my mind that the man was a member of the Urbis paparazzi. He had the look of one. I’d certainly seen enough in my time. He wore jeans and a wrinkled jacket over a t-shirt with some graphic I didn’t recognize on the front, and his stubble told me he hadn’t shaved for a couple of days. On his head, he wore a blue cap. Thousand dollar camera, five-dollar outfit. Yep, he was definitely planning to sell my photo to the press.
The waitress and the lady at the currency exchange hadn’t recognized me, but once word got out that there was a princess in town, I’d be mobbed. I folded the map, drank the coffee back quickly, and grabbed my half-eaten sandwich. My hope was that I could reason with the man with the camera, but when I got outside, he’d already disappeared into the throng of shoppers.
Pulling my hood further up, I hurried down the street. My priority now was finding somewhere to stay. Looking for a steeple near a street called Maple would have to wait.
I ran down the street, feeling lost in the scores of people, not knowing which way to go. I looked desperately for a hotel, but it was apparent that this was a street for fashion, not lodging.
I stopped to catch my breath. On the other side of the street, I saw someone pointing at me. It was the man with the camera from earlier, but now, he was with another man. When they saw me, they ran across the road in my direction. I turned and fled, taking one of the small pedestrian side streets. The buildings were much closer together here, with narrow cobbled pavements. Because the buildings were so high, they blocked the sun, leaving the street much colder and darker than the main street I’d just left. There were still shops here, but fewer and far between. I ran aimlessly, turning left and right, losing myself in the maze of back alleys.
Behind me, I could hear the footsteps of the men following. I’d fled because I didn’t want my photo in the paper, not out of fear for my safety, but now that I was away from the hustle and bustle of the main street, I felt real fear. The weird coldness that I’d felt since landing in Urbis was still with me, but now, without the sun on my skin, I realized it was different from a normal cold. I could feel both. The normal temperature of the day on my skin and the creeping cold inside me, a force like nothing I’d encountered before. My street smarts, acquired on the streets of Badalah, had left me. I didn’t know this place. I was quite literally lost. I turned a corner, only to find myself trapped. Fear gripped me until I pulled myself together. Only a couple of weeks ago, I’d stopped a thief in Badalah. I could handle a couple of reporters. I took a deep breath and felt for my knife.
My throat constricted as I realized that in my hurry to get packed, I’d forgotten to bring it.
I had nothing except... the heat of magic swirled within me, fueled by my fear, burning through the bitter cold. I wasn’t completely unarmed. I was my own weapon. I twirled around on the spot and pulled myself up to my full height as they rounded the corner.
“Yes, gentlemen,” I said, pulling my hood down. “Can I help you? You seem to be following me.”
The one without a camera, a short, pudgy man with ruddy cheeks and a balding head with tufts of straw-colored hair elbowed the taller one.
“You’re right. It’s ‘er.” He had a thick Urbis accent, drawling and skipping letters. “You’re ‘er, right?”
I sighed. These idiots weren’t going to hurt me. At least, not now. Putting my picture in the paper would hurt my plans, though.
“Who do you think I am?” I asked, hoping they’d mistaken me for someone else.
“You’re that princess, Gala something.”
They couldn’t even get my name right.
“What is it you want?”
The shorter of the two whipped out a notebook and pen. “Are you here on official duty?”
“I’m here for some peace and quiet. I’d like it if it could remain that way.”
Behind them, I noticed a sign saying Hotel. I walked past them pointedly, trying not to freak out. They followed me into the hotel reception, taking photographs.
“Hi,” I said to the young clerk behind the reception desk. “I’m Princess Gaia of Badalah. I’d like a room for the night, but before you give me a key, could you kindly show these gentlemen out. They are following me and taking photos. I’d like to not be disturbed.”
Once the clerk had gotten over his shock at having a princess come into his establishment, he did exactly as I asked him.
“Gentlemen, you heard Her Highness,” he said, stepping out from behind the desk and shooing them as if they were unpleasant vermin. “
Unless you have a room here, you are not welcome.”
“We’d like a room!” the shorter one said quickly, elbowing the taller one who nodded in agreement.
“Not today, gentlemen. We’re fully booked. I’d advise you to reserve your room ahead of time in the future.”
“But you’re letting her have one,” the shorter man grumbled as the clerk shut and locked the doors with the two men on the outside.
“Thank you for that,” I said, giving him an appreciative look. “And sorry to have caused you so much trouble.”
“No trouble at all, Your Highness. It’s my pleasure to serve. I’m afraid our penthouse suites are taken, but I do have a nice room on the fifth floor. It is likely not up to your standards, but it has a nice view.”
“It sounds perfect. Thank you, er...”
“Alex, Your Highness.”
His voice was fast and slightly high pitched, but he bubbled over in enthusiasm. I liked him immediately. I followed him up the stairs, grateful I only had a small bag to carry and gave him a tip as he opened the door to room 509 and handed me the keys.
Despite being located on a back street, the room was pleasant enough and, as the clerk had said, had a great view of the city over the roofs of the nearby buildings.
After throwing my bag down on the bed, I headed to the window to get a better view. I stepped out onto a small balcony. In the far distance, I could just about make out the tower of Urbis. It was one of the major landmarks of Urbis, situated in the central business district, right in the middle of the bullseye I’d seen earlier from up above. It looked so tiny from this distance even though I knew it to be the tallest building in the whole of Urbis, perhaps of all the kingdoms. I’d climbed it once with my father on a royal visit. Thousands of buildings stood between me and the tower. I counted the steeples. Almost a dozen, and those were just the ones between here and Inner Urbis.
Urbis was laid out in three distinctive districts. Inner Urbis was the place I knew best, having visited it a number of times on royal visits. This was where the elite lived and where all the laws were passed. The center of the bull’s-eye was the most affluent district anywhere in the twelve kingdoms, and the people that ran it were, in a way, more important than the royals of each kingdom. The kings, queens, presidents, and prime ministers of each kingdom could make up any laws they wanted, but all of them had to be passed through the Urbis government. Inner Urbis was sophistication at its finest with the buildings there made of brilliant white stone and marble. The next circle outward and the largest of the Urbis areas was Middle Urbis. This is where I was now. Hundreds of thousands of people lived here, all going about their daily business. I heard a staggering statistic once. Most of the people living in Urbis never left the giant walls that surrounded it. Seeing the mass of humanity sprawled out in front of me, the dirty streets, the shops, the apartment buildings, it made me feel sad that the people that lived here missed out on so much. The magnificent mountains of Draconis, the beautiful flowered fields of Floris, the magical sky islands of Skyla. And of course, the sands of Badalah. I couldn’t imagine spending my whole life within the confines of a walled city, even one as big as Urbis.
In the opposite direction to Inner Urbis was outer Urbis. I couldn’t see it from where I was standing on the small balcony, but it was there, behind me somewhere. The derelict houses, the slums, my birthplace. As I looked out over miles of urban landscape, it hit home just how much of a job I had ahead of me.
28th June
Alex sent a complimentary breakfast to my room, along with a note saying he was available for anything I might need. I’d asked him the day before for solitude, and he’d been great about leaving me alone. Now, I needed answers. The map I’d bought was way too huge to sift through the thousands of street names. I needed help.
Down at the front desk, Alex bowed when he saw me.
“Your Highness, I trust you had a restful night?” His face was lit up with a thousand-watt smile, and he stood to attention, ready for whatever I was about to ask him.
“Perfectly. Thank you for the breakfast. I was wondering if you’d be able to help me?”
His eyes shifted to the door of the hotel. I followed his line of sight to find a crowd of people, most of whom had cameras.
“I’m sorry to say that we haven’t been successful in keeping the reporters away. I could send a messenger to grab you a carriage, and you could leave through the back door if you want to.”
I sighed. Finding my birthplace was going to be hard enough as it was without a mass of reporters on my heels.
“It wasn’t quite what I wanted, but I wonder, would you be able to come up to my room to aid me with something?”
I’d planned to show him the map right there on the counter, but I didn’t want a posse of reporters gawking at my every move.
Alex raised his eyebrows but nodded. After telling some unseen person in the back office that he was running an errand and asking them to watch the reception desk, he followed me back to the room.
“I’m sorry to ask you to come up here,” I said, rolling the giant map out on the low coffee table in the middle of the suite. “I need help with this. I wonder. Are you from Urbis? Do you know the streets well?”
“Born and raised, Your Highness,” he said, sitting next to me on one of the low couches. “I know some of the areas pretty well. This is where we are now.” He pointed to an area about halfway between the giant outer wall of Urbis and the bullseye of Inner Urbis.
“Where is it that you are looking for?”
“A street with the word maple in it. I don’t know if it’s Maple Street, Maple Avenue, Maple Crescent, or what.”
He looked at me strangely, but let me continue talking. “The houses on the street are made of brick. They aren’t kept very well. The wooden frames on the windows have peeling paint. There’s a steeple in the distance.”
“Ok. It sounds like you are thinking of one of the streets around the outer edge, before the wall. The older districts have rows of houses made out of brick. The problem you have is that we are talking miles and miles of houses. Urbis is much bigger than any other city. It’s almost a kingdom in its own right.”
“I can see that,” I said with a sigh. The map not only covered the table but hung down off the sides of the coffee table and draped onto the floor. “Do you know any Maple Streets?”
He shrugged but then offered me a good-natured grin. “No, but I can help you look. My break is in fifteen minutes, and the assistant manager can watch the reception until then.”
We each took a side of the map and scoured the tiny street names, looking for anything that mentioned the word Maple.
The minutes passed, turning into hours. Alex left when his break was over, coming back on his lunch hour with a coffee and a sandwich for each of us.
“Any luck?”
“Not really,” I said as he passed me the sandwich. “The street names are so small I can barely read them, and there are thousands of them.”
I took a bite of the sandwich, keeping my eyes on the map. “What about you? Is it madness down there? I’ve not dared look out of the window.”
“It’s not good,” Alex admitted. “I think every reporter in town has wind of you being here. I can’t get them to leave as they aren’t on the property, but they are stopping the guests from coming and going. I’ve dealt with four complaints this morning already.”
I glanced up at him, ready with a sorry on my lips, but he gave me a smile, which I returned.
“Can you think of anything else at all that might help us?” he said, dripping some sauce from his sandwich onto the outer edge of the map and hurriedly wiping it off with his thumb.
“Nothing I can think of. Just the white steeple and the brick...”
“White steeple? It was white? You sure?”
I thought back to the magical memory Genie had conjured.
“Yes, I think so.”
The clerk stood. “If you’ll permit me, please foll
ow me.” He held his hand out for me.”
He led me out of the room and down to the end of the corridor. A vase of flowers sat on a windowsill at the end. Alex pulled the gauzy curtain back a crack.
“Did it look like that?” he said, pointing to the far right.
In the distance, I saw a number of steeples, but only one was white. The others were grey or brown.
“It could be, but surely there are a great many steeples in Urbis that are white.”
“That’s true,” the clerk said, closing the curtains again before any reporters noticed us. “Many of the places of worship of the gods in the central district have white steeples to match the other white buildings, but that steeple you saw wasn’t in the inner district, it was in Outer Urbis. That is the only white steeple I know of in that area. It’s also the only steeple I know of that isn’t for a place of worship.”
“It’s not?”
“No,” he said as we walked back to my room. “It’s a nightclub. It used to be a church, but about twenty years or so ago, it was sold. The developer who bought it turned it into a nightclub. It’s actually quite well known. People from all over Urbis go to it.”
I ran back to my room and the map. “Can you point it out for me?”
He sat down and ran his finger over the map. I watched with bated breath as his finger finally stopped.
“There!”
I circled around the table to where he was sitting on the floor and looked at the small symbol that depicted a steeple. A circle with a cross on the top.
“It’s still showing as an actual church on this map.”
I barely looked at where he was pointing. Instead, my eyes scoured the map of the area nearby.
Finally, I saw it a short distance away. “Look!” I said, my voice brimming with excitement. “Maplechase Park!”
