Waking Olympus (The Singers of the Dark Book 1) by Peter Yard

with the sun low in the sky with the mellowing light. There were six armed guards standing watch at a large gate made of iron bars and wrought iron mesh that looked like a black rose garden. Great workmanship mixed with memory flashes, momentary feelings. He took a deep breath and took a step backwards. The building was clearly a government structure but it was very ornate. He had been raised in a deeply egalitarian society and had no familiarity with the concepts of aristocracy or opulence, so he did not immediately associate the building with an individual with great power and wealth and therefore did not know that it was not public or open or safe.
    He walked around the arc of the cul-de-sac, the rut marks indicated it was for carriages and such. He just wanted to get a better look at the building and the workmanship.
    "You. If you don't have any business here, leave." Said the closest guard.
    "Certainly, my apologies. I'm just a visitor from — a village to the north. Pardon."
    He turned to walk away up the road when he saw a carriage approaching rapidly. He turned and jumped to the right out of the way, back onto the footpath. The carriage pulled up. The front horse was a huge, black, beautiful creature, uncomfortably close and snorting in his direction while the bridle and other horse tack jostled and clinked from the sudden stop. A woman stepped out of the carriage dressed in some kind of simple but well made gray military uniform. Brown hair plaited and braided forming a crown around her head. She looked at him.
    "You there! Who are you?"
    "Just a visitor to Bethor, name's Mikel. I was admiring the workmanship of the building. We don't have anything like it in my village."
    Her deep blue eyes narrowed. Judging. She had a light skin, no makeup or jewelry. There was something cold and familiar about her look, a disdain and matter of fact attitude to stepping on others, he recognized it from the slavers. But this woman had more than that. She was very familiar indeed, and that voice.
    "You don't belong here citizen. If you feel pride in the work of Bethor then enlist. Be a patriot and join the national will to greatness."
    He didn't understand what these words meant, they were gibberish, but he did know he had better act like one of the faithful.
    "Yes, yes majesty." He bit his lip, he knew nothing of protocols for royal or imperial courts.
    The woman's eyes narrowed and she smiled in a crooked way as if acknowledging an in-joke only she understood.  
    He started walking away briskly, behind him he heard one of the guards. "Welcome back, Ms Markham."
    He picked up the pace, eager to get as far away from her as possible. His jaws tensing in fear. A strange thought occurred to him, perhaps it wasn't that we remember the past but rather the past remembers us and was all the more dangerous for that.

    Finally, the bartering was concluded for the major goods. Letters of credit and arrangements with the Trader bank finalized but the biggest hurdle was yet to come. Traders really don't like socializing with aristocracy. They can do it but it is almost an affront to their beliefs, which they conveniently keep secret, spreading the lie that they are unsophisticated, which is starkly at odds with the fact that they trade information and technology, and run the banking network.
    Now she had a party to go to, she had to meet the evil family at the magic castle, like one of the stories her Nan used to tell her.
    It was typical Trader formal wear for a woman. Yellow and pink silk pantaloons, a formal deep blue jacket, yellow silk sleeves; the colours of morning. And a ceremonial dagger. The dagger had no edge otherwise the guards would never let it in. It did not have jewels or gold but was made from materials sacred to the Traders. Ancient wood from the pines of northern Xan, trees that no longer existed; steel reforged from weapons of the Ancients.   There was no reason for overly strict or corrupt guards to keep it.
    She hired an