Why Are There So Many Steps?

Lyra was up to something.

After the initial moment of shock, instead of losing her temper, she'd smiled sweetly and stepped back to follow along in silence, just a pace behind. Having her there was not a comfortable feeling. Sera's shoulders were tense with the expectation that at any moment a knife would be plunged between them.

But the procession arrived without without any murder attempts in yet another courtyard. Sera missed a step when she saw that this courtyard was ringed with men in modern military fatigues, carrying what looked to her admitted untrained eyes just like assault rifles. They stood at attention around what Sera concluded was the palanquin she'd been told was waiting.

The palanquin was not what she expected. She'd anticipated a chair or maybe a chaise suspended between poles, likely with curtains for privacy, and half-naked men to carry it, since it seemed to fit with the aesthetic of this place. This vehicle looked more like a sleigh, but without horses to pull it. Footmen in turquoise livery bowed beside an open door and the carpet was laid out all the way up to the door. Sera moved forward, eyeing the contraption uncertainly as she realized the floor was easily as high as her waist. How was she supposed to get up there?

Even as she had the thought, a second footman knelt down on his hands and knees in front of the opening, while the one holding the door and a third footman on the other side of the opening held up their hands.

Ah.

'Luck for him this body barely weighs anything,' Sera thought as she picked up her skirts, took the hand of the man on the right, and stepped on the kneeling man's back. From there it was just a long step up into the palanquin. 'Have they never heard of carriage steps?'

She sat down in the center of what she assumed was the forward facing seat, based on the fact that it was cushioned and boasted a high back, with a cushioned footrest infront of it. The opposite seat was a polished wooden bench up against the curving front and had no foot rest.

Lyra followed Sera in and took the seat on Sera's right while the remaining five maids held a whispered argument over who would get in next. After a moment, it became apparent that they were trying to determine who had the misfortune of having to sit on Sera's left.

Lyra made an impatient noise and snapped, "Get in you stupid cows."

While the order earned her resentful looks from the maids, it did not stir anyone to get into the palanquin. While the maids had argued, the guardswomen had arrayed themselves around the palanquin standing on the wide runners, spear in the outside hand while the inner one held onto the edge of the palanquin.

The voice of the guardswomen who'd been giving orders rang out from behind Sera's head, saying, "Settle this, or I will settle it. Her Highness does not wish to be late."

Sera glanced over her shoulder, and saw the guardswoman standing on a platform behind the seat where she was head and shoulders above everyone else. Although her words were directed at the maids, her eyes were scanning the courtyard suspiciously, mouth thin with annoyance.

The guardswoman's words had even less effect than Lyra's had. Rolling her eyes, Sera ordered, "Keeryn, sit beside me."

The women fell abruptly silent as the freckled woman climbed into the palanquin and sat down at Sera's left. The remaining four maids squashed together on the rear-facing bench, hands folded in their lap and eyes fixed on the floor while the footmen closed the door and ran round to the back of the palanquin.

By some miracle, Sera managed to keep her face expressionless as the palanquin rose into the air. It sailed slowly forward towards a pair of ornate gates that were apparently heavy, given that it took two dozen liveried men to shove each one open. They barely managed to get the gates open before the palanquin reached the gates and sailed through. In fact, the guardswomen on the right had to pull in their spears as they passed. One of them didn't draw hers far enough inward, and the tip scored a long smoking line along the gate.

What kind of spear could do that?!

The palanquin flew through a series of courtyards, the gates becoming steadily less ornate and requiring fewer and fewer men to open. The last pair were plain steel, and slid open automatically to allow the palanquin to emerge into what Sera decided must be a park since it was not as landscaped as the gardens and was far, far larger. Cobblestone roads wound past ponds and clumps of trees, occasionally climbing an incline to a vista that looked over the park. From one of these, Sera caught a glimpse of the enormous complex she'd left behind, from others she saw a city sprawling out on the other side of the park.

She studied the city carefully, looking for clues that would tell her where she was. The palace reminded her of a Hollywood interpretation of a far-eastern palace, but the 'palanquin' was more Victorian in style. Except that it flew. The city boasted skyscrapers of glass and steel interspersed with much shorter white plaster buildings with turquoise roofs and what looked like towers taken from Crusade-era castles.

'Where am I?' Sera wondered. And then reluctantly asked herself the obvious question, 'What world is this?'

Because it was clearly not Earth. Or at least, not her Earth. Earth did not have vehicles that floated and drove themselves. Cities like this existed only in the imagination of a film crew, or maybe a graphic novelist. Panic started to crawl its way up Sera's chest as she understood just how far out of her element she was. Lyra and her mean-girl tantrums and threats were the least of Sera's problems when Sera had no idea where she was, no money, and no friends, family, or even allies she could trust.

Keeryn shifted in her seat, her shoulder bumping slightly against Sera's. Sera stiffened to stop herself from knocking sideways into Lyra, and glanced over at the freckled woman.

'Breathe,' the woman mouthed, and then took a deep breath and let it out slowly, holding Sera's gaze as she did so. Sera drew in a deep breath of her own and let it out slowly. Keeryn gave the tiniest of encouraging smiles before turning her gaze away. She bumped her shoulder 'accidently' against Sera's once more though,

Alright, perhaps she had one ally. Or at least one non-enemy who wasn't terrified of her.

'Stay calm, Sera. You can do this. You're smart and resourceful, and . . . at least you speak the language,' she told herself.

Wait, why did everyone here speak English?

There was no time to puzzle that question out though, because the palanquin had arrived in a huge field. The palanquin sailed over the heads of a crowd wearing everything from elaborate gowns like Sera's, to what looked suspiciously like jeans and tee shirts. The crowd erupted it cheers as the palanquin looped in a slow circle around a high, flat-topped hill with two flights of wide steps curving around the sides. A canopy had been erected at the top of the hill. As the palanquin circled, Sera saw that there was low, narrow table, more like a bench beneath the canopy. Two robed figures, a woman in turquoise and a man in purple, stood at either end of table, and there were cushions to either side of the table.

And then the palanquin was setting down at the base of one of the flights of stairs. The crowd pressed close, but was held back by several ranks of soldiers in dress uniforms. For a moment it looked the crowd might overrun the soldiers, but the guardswomen leapt down from the palanquin and lined up behind the soldiers, lowering their spears menacingly. The crowd drew back hastily.

The footmen reappeared to help Sera and the maids out of the palanquin. Without waiting, the maids started up the steps. Sera started to follow, but Lyra grabbed her elbow and held her back, hissing, "What is wrong with you?! Wait for the honor guard!"

And then she, too, started up the steps.

Sera waited, and moments later the guardswomen formed up around her. Surrounded by the bristle of spears and shaven-head women, Sera climbed up the stairs.

"Why are there so many steps?" Sera grumbled some time later. The hill hadn't looked so high when she was flying around it. Every so often, the path of stairs passed through a tunnel or over over one as it crossed the path of the other flight. She'd lost count at seventy-something, and that had been less than a quarter of the way up. Her feet hurt from all the walking, with first the long trek through the palace and now the apparently endless climb up the steps.

Too late, she realized she'd voiced the complaint out loud, because one of the guardswomen snickered. The commander gave a tiny growl, causing the other guardswoman to flinch. In a flat voice the commander said, "The stairs are symbolic. A reminder that the bride and groom's souls will be bound for eternity, and the journey together will not be easy."

"What if I don't want my soul bound to a stranger's for eternity?" Sera asked sourly.

"If you refuse the marriage, then we will kill you to absolve the kingdom of the shame of your choice, and satisfy the offended honor of the groom," answered the guardswoman, with just the tiniest hint of satisfaction in her tone.

"What?!" Sera gasped, coming to a halt. The guardswoman frowned slightly, seized Sera's elbow, and propelled her onward.

"You know this," she said flatly. "This is your duty as the Princess Royal of Tirys Ordan."

No, Sera didn't know this, but she didn't risk annoying the guardswoman any further, and continued up the steps. A short while later she cursed as she stepped on a sharp stone, and the guardswoman allowed herself a pleased smile.

"You're hoping I balk, aren't you?" Sera muttered.

With a serene smile, the guardswoman said mockingly, "Your Highness is wise and insightful, truly."

Sera muttered another curse, that only made the other woman smile more broadly.