The Messenger's Route was marked with polished brass plates set among the 
paving-stones. Princess Nell followed it down the grand boulevard, into a park 
that encircled the city, and then onto a rising street that spiraled around the 
central promontory. As the horse took her toward the clouds, her ears popped 
again and again, and from each curve in the road she enjoyed a sweeping view 
over the lower city and into the constellation of floating stockades where the 
raven sentinels soared, coming and going in flights and squadrons, bringing 
news from every corner of the empire.