Glancing at the other bank, opposing the city, she decided that this was where the poorer people lived, for the huts were crude and crammed close together. Dusty streets marked out one block of huts from another, while on a hill behind she could see regularly spaced trees and fields of grain. There were no bridges; passage between the two sides of the river would be granted by ferryboat only. Every vessel on the right-hand shore was a fishing boat.

As they passed the wall, her attention turned once more to the left-hand bank and the main city.

‘Lamara,’ Kargan said. ‘Capital of the Ilean Empire.’

Structures appeared as they passed the city wall. So many buildings that Chloe struggled to comprehend them all. Lamara dwarfed Phalesia, more yellow than white, perhaps less beautiful, but . . . huge.

The city followed the bank of the river for at least a mile. A series of tiers in the very center marked out a ziggurat, and on the highest level Chloe saw a walled palace, undoubtedly the home of the sun king. The sprawling edifice crowned the city, spearing the sky with tall spires, so thin that Chloe wondered how they didn’t topple over. Like most of the buildings around, it was made of red brick, but she could see marble columns and the rust color was further broken by a multitude of yellow flags with orange suns in their centers, snapping in the breeze.

Below the palace was a confusion of two-storied residential blocks delineated by winding alleys and broad avenues. Chloe saw temples of basalt and marble statues, sprawling slums and grand villas. Palm trees clustered here and there, made ethereal by the dust.

‘Look,’ Kargan said, pointing. ‘The bazaar.’

‘Bazaar?’ Chloe frowned.

‘Market.’

She realized he was pointing at a rectangular square located somewhere in the lower city between the palace and the riverbank. Canopied stalls with tent-like coverings of every color imaginable crowded one next to another. Aisle after aisle filled the square, leaving no empty space uncovered. The bazaar of Lamara could have swallowed the Phalesian agora several times over.

As they drew inline with the palace the bank dropped away, curving in an arc of sandy shoreline. Chloe realized it was the city’s harbor. She couldn’t believe the number of vessels drawn up on the shore, a number that must be approaching a hundred.

Seeing the sun king’s fleet, she felt fear stab her stomach. Over half of the vessels on the shore were biremes, all of them as large and powerful as the Nexotardis. The powerful warship that had so concerned her father and the other consuls was just one of many.

Kargan stayed with Chloe at the rail, appearing to enjoy her awe and consternation at the sheer size of the city. His men knew what to do. In moments he would be home.