Pushing through the crowds at the Glayth Mainland Train Station felt like fighting your way upstream in a flood.

  The guard at the luggage office had told Soleil that there was a private waiting room for Glayth University Students, but finding her way there was proving much harder than she had thought. Travellers of all kinds were shoving their way through the corridors with little mind for manners. Seeing light up ahead, Soleil made it through to the main concourse. But her sigh of relief had barely passed her lips before she realised that there was not going to be any improvement. The concourse was crammed full of hundreds of travellers, and every time the currents seemed to flow in a way that might allow her to escape, a new wave would push everyone shoulder to shoulder once more.

  There were merchants carrying bags of rolled up magical hydes, families attempting to marshall small children, and adventurers there were always adventurers. It was lucky she had turned down the seamstress when she had tried to upsell her a larger and fluffier overskirt, because the ruffles would have never survived the crush.

  Reaching up, she loosened her hat ribbon, then looped the dark green fabric around her fingers, tying a double knot under her chin. She squared her shoulders and jumped back into the crush, hoping that she would find some route through. Her pocketbook, with her tickets and money, was in a deep inner pocket of her coat. You would have to get entirely too close and friendly to have a chance to steal it. But she kept a piercing eye out all the same; her mother had been the Goddess of Thieves before the Pantheon fell, after all. It would be horrendously embarrassing to fall victim to a pickpocket.

  The river of travellers moved all of a sudden. The pressure on all sides was choking, and Soleil felt her feet gently skid one or two times, before she realised she was going towards the completely wrong direction and was in danger of being swept off to the completely wrong platform.

  she thought. Needing a chance to reclaim her breath, she struggled through the crush to the nearest wall. Sagging against it she looked for any kind of landmark she could orientate herself around. Unfortunately, she continued to be at sea. The high ceiling of the concourse was panelled with dark stained wood, that matched the walls, giving a strange feeling of being on the inside of a scaled shell. A multi-faced clock hung from the centre of the ceiling like a chandelier. she bit her lip. The seconds seemed to tick faster now she was watching, so she looked away and tried to figure out if there was anyone around her she could ask for help.

  A large shadow loomed for a second, and she lurched out of the way. It was only when she had her fingers around the hilt of her dagger and she was preparing to slice through the neck of an enemy, that she saw that it was covered up in brown fabric and tied up with a string. She stared at it for a moment, if that was all the owner was doing to prevent accidents then Soleil would count herself lucky still having a head on her shoulders.

  Carrying such a large axe in a train station felt more than a little anti-social, this was clearly not wielded by an adventurer over burdened with wisdom. Of course, Soleil was armed with her own sword, (plus the little runed dagger hidden up her sleeve) but she certainly wasn't holding it at head height practically unsheathed!

  She looked at the adventurers beside her, wondering if it was worth her while telling them off for careless weapon management. The axe wielder was a large man with a very well-kept red beard and a flashy hat. He was talking in a low voice to a woman covered head to toe in scale armour. There was a softly glowing rune on every diamond-shaped piece of shining steel. It looked very impressive, unless you could read runes and you realised most of them were only for the most basic rust prevention. A decent oiling would have done the job as well.

  She rolled her eyes. Everyone wanted to be a hero, to have the chance to gain power and perhaps even become a thaumaturge and join the High Council that ruled over the scraps of the Old Empire. But being stupid about it wasn't going to get you very far. The rest of the group seemed to be far more sensibly dressed. Or at least, they wore armour that hadn't been criminally overpriced. On a larger piece, of course, it could make sense to enscribe a protection against rust. But when you were working with such little usable area? Even just making the armour lighter would have been a better use of the crafter's time.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  No, she wouldn't bother telling them to look after their weapons better; they were clearly fools, and her words would flow from one ear to the next without a moment of friction.

  Wondering who else she had become surrounded by, Soleil looked at her other neighbours. First, she noticed that she was standing at the back of a little grey-clad figure. At least a head shorter than Soleil, the smaller woman was clad head to foot in grey wool. Her hair was confined under a wimple, with a thinner off-white band holding it in place around her forehead. She was a priestess, Soleil realised, one of the Grey Queen’s ladies.

  The little priestess was one of a larger party. Perhaps a half dozen women of various ages. She was probably the youngest, her habit was certainly the plainest and least decorated with amulets. She even lacked the cuff and collar decorations that the others wore, there was just a thin band of the same off-white fabric waiting there almost pointedly blank.

  If Soleil remembered correctly, each amulet was supposed to show a trial overcome by the priestess, so this girl must be out on her first mission. She was also the one most covered in soot, though the strongest smell of burned sulphur wafted from the oldest, so she must have been in charge of the exorcism. Soleil tried not to stare, but it really was fascinating to see priestesses of the Grey Queen out and about.

  Her aunt Leonora had sometimes posed as a priestess to hide her holy magic, taking the view that the place to hide a tree was in a forest. But she had never clad herself in grey.

  The Grey Queen gifted her faithful with Sight and Wisdom, something that turned a nuisance into a danger when you added in their extremely determined crusade to rid the world of Evil. Especially since they also beleived that their Lady had a hand on the fates threads, so if you caught their eye or fell to their weapons or spells then it must be for a reason.

  The older priestess stopped swiping at a stain on her bejewelled cuff and turned to say something (or, snap, most likely) at Soleil's neighbour. Instead, she caught sight of Soleil. Rather than seeing nothing more than another body in the crowd, the priestess's eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. The dagger up Soleil's sleeve felt warmer, while the sword on her hip felt heavier.

  Soleil tensed. This could be Bad.

  The old woman's eyes flashed grey for a moment. The sensation was like feeling the shadow of a bird's wing flutter overhead. The tiniest chill, gone almost before it was truly recognised. It was not thought polite to use the Sight on people in public, but Priestesses of her age were used to getting away with anything. Even, on occasion, a little light murder. But whatever she Saw, it wasn't enough to scare her, just enough to make her look at Soleil with scorn.

  she beckoned the girl over, looking at Soleil narrowly, It was clear that the way she said stranger, she meant heathen.

  Soleil relaxed, the bonds keeping her holy magic tamped down to a human level were still working then. The old woman didn't know what she was, she was just being a bigot about holy magic she didn't recognise. She lightly twisted her wrist, feeling the metal bracelet there. It was tight enough that she could feel it, but not enough to be uncomfortable. She had worn them in public places since she was a child and the full strength of her powers had come in. This term at Glayth would be the longest she had worn them without a rest.

  Her aunt had been sceptical that she would last that long, telling her that she should go to Sabine, the Librarian at Glayth, if she wanted to release her magic for a while and relax. Apparently, she had some kind of lair in the depths of the Library that was magically warded. But Soleil was determined to prove that she could do it. So determined, in fact, that she had packed the keys to the bracelets away with her luggage.

  Straightening her spine, Soleil smiled as prettily as she could at the Priestess and bobbed her a quick curtsey. As tempting as it was to cause a little trouble, she didn't have the time to become entangled today, so it would be best to get away before the situation devolved any further.

  Deciding to put some distance between them, she Then realised that this might be the best way for her to get around the room. She knew the exit had to be on one of the walls after all. If the room was a clock she had come in at about half past four, so if she worked around the room clockwise she was bound to find the right exit eventually.

  Cheered by this, she wiggled her way through the crowd, moving in a leap one moment and a slow shuffle the next, as she kept the wall to her right and slowly crept her way around the room. She had worked her way nearly to 12 o'clock when she saw it. A small sign painted with the words, hung above a door and with a sigh of relief, Soleil set her shoulders and pushed through the crowd.

  Now that she had a clear destination in sight it was easier going. She did get elbowed rather forcefully at one point, but from the yelp, they were hurt more than she. Which served them right, she thought, as she finally reached the large wooden door. At last, Glayth Skerry and the university, carved into its craggy surface, was just around the corner!

  link to the book here.