The group advanced under a gray sky. As they drew closer to the central district, the sound of their own footsteps on the pavement seemed to herald a change the city had been awaiting for eons.
Kai walked at the vanguard, his face partially hidden, but his gaze fixed on the objective looming before them.
"The King has ordered the total closure of the port. No one enters, no one leaves," Thorne whispered as he walked.
Lyla, walking at Kai's flank, nodded with an expression of bitterness that hardened her usually soft features.
"The problem of salt and world trade hasn't been solved with the death of those beasts. It's no use for the waters to be safe if the city gates are sealed by a royal decree born of panic. If we don't open that port today, our victory at sea will have only been an interlude before a greater tragedy. The trade routes remain cut off."
