No birds sang here. No trees rustled in the breeze. Stern, tan walls rose alongside a boulevard, topped with battlements. Archers stood within turrets, staring through arrowslits; Issari wondered if they were watching for invaders or policing their own people. Towering, triangular buildings rose everywhere, shaped like spearheads, their sandstone bricks craggy. Cobblestones covered the streets, set close enough to allow no weed or flower to grow between them. Issari saw wells, silos, and fortresses topped with merlons. Ahead, perhaps a mark away, rose a massive building shaped like the erect, coiling shell of a mollusk; it soared even taller than the Palace of Eteer, maybe even taller than King's Column in Requiem. Even from this distance, Issari felt very small to see it.

She glanced at Tanin, who walked beside her. He looked back, eyes dark. They dared not speak. This city was too silent. The only sound Issari heard was the footfalls and creaks of armor of the soldiers who walked ahead, leading her deeper into the city.

The boulevard reached a round expanse, and in its center rose a bronze statue, fifty feet tall, of a nude woman with the head of a snake. Here was Mahazar, a goddess of fertility and war. Gosharians crowded the square, praying to the statue, and Issari gazed upon them with interest; despite this city's proximity to Eteer, she had rarely seen Gosharians. Both men and women wore white tunics with a single shoulder strap; the garment left half their chests bare, and Issari felt her cheeks redden to see the women's breasts. Most of the men were bearded, and those beards were long, thick, and curled into many tight rings. Their hair too was long, oiled, and curled. Some men were shorter and smooth-cheeked, and they wore metal collars—eunuch slaves. The smell of spicy perfumes wafted toward Issari, mixed with the tinge of oiled metal; everyone ahead carried the same small, curved dagger on their belts.

Past the square and statue, Issari and Tanin followed the soldiers along narrow streets lined with homes, a market where men hawked grains and dried fruit, and a towering limestone temple lined with columns. Ever they moved closer to the Palace of Goshar, that spiral that coiled up into the clouds. A path wrapped around the tower, lined with turrets, like a trail around a mountain. Archways rose along the walkway, leading into the structure. The soldiers led Issari and Tanin onto that coiling path, and as they climbed, she smiled wryly. Tanin and she could have easily flown to the tower's crest, but she thought that one display of her dragon magic had unnerved these men enough for one day.