>>6302944
As she passed through the city gates, both you, and she were at first overwhelmed, for spending so much time alone in the desert and the dryland, you had been used to being alone with at most a handful of people. Narams' caravan counted about two dozen men and slightly more camels; you had counted them to pass the time. Here, there were hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of people of all kinds of nations. Men, dwarves, elves – you even smelt the stench of the orcs, these with sandlike skin, who were pushing around a noria, while their master stood by with a whip.
Good soldiers, but worthless at nearly anything else, save manual labour. Orcs, or goblins as they were sometimes called, were known for their brute strength and lack of intelligence, making them perfect for tasks that required little skill. You had favoured them in the beginning, though you phased them out for men, dwarves and the elves who joined you.

''Go to the temple district; I wish to start our search there.'' You directed Samarda.

The temple district was in the north of the city past the bazaar, which stood in the middle, and east of the palace, where the sultan and his court resided. Samarda nodded and quickly made her way towards the temple district, weaving through the bustling crowds of the bazaar. As she approached the temples, she passed by vendors selling colourful fabrics and spices, the air filled with the scent of incense and the sound of prayers.

Were you capable of breathing, you would have caught it. The central plaza of the temple boasted a central mosque with intricate domes and minarets reaching towards the sky, surrounded by smaller shrines dedicated to various deities. You peered around; symbols of all kinds of gods were around and about in the flags flying, and the mosaics laid into the ground. There were plenty of symbols, vultures, moons, stars, and the visages of various deities, but your snake cult was not among them.

That was perhaps not unexpected; they would obviously be proscribed from way back in the day if the sultans were the descendants of your foes in the region. But that doesn't mean they aren't here; behind the shadowed nooks and hidden alcoves of a city, there were always dark places, hidden from plain sight; in the houses and underground, you would need to look.

Evil has a way of sensing evil, and you could smell like a scent hound when it came to finding your devotees. There were black spots all around this city, from corrupt officials and priests to the swindling merchant, the pickpocket and the thief. In the distance, you sensed it likewise from the palace, though you knew you couldn't have Samarda stroll in there.