Disclaimer: This is not the final version as it will be available from the usual e-book sellers and eventually, bookstores. Rather, it should be seen as an (almost) final draft. If you are interested in becoming a beta reader, or you have any comments, suggestions or thoughts that you feel I should consider before publishing please drop me a line using the contact form.
Duilhac
They arrived at Peyrepertuse a few days later with the smell of spring in the air and the sun shining. To Ala, the city was a spectacular sight. Thetwick had only just grown from a village to something that might, with some imagination, be described as a town. In comparison, the massive and ancient granite walls of Peyrepertuse castle with each tower many times the height of the highest building in Thetwick, which was the squat meeting hall tower, was overwhelming. The castle stood on a steep hill beyond the walled town of Duilhac, which was surrounded by a high and thick city wall sprawling out from the foot of Peyrepertuse, making the image even more impressive. It was construction at a scale and density that Ala couldn’t ever remember seeing before. Even her vague memories of what must have been elven cities felt less densely packed than Peyrepertuse and Duilhac.
As they rode down the opposite bank of the river towards the town, they could clearly see the way Peyrepertuse’s fortifications dominated the city, looming over Duilhac and all approaching travellers. No one riding into Duilhac could ever doubt where the power was concentrated, your eyes were magnetically drawn to mighty Peyrepertuse. Somewhere in her mind, a memory of soaring white towers tugged at Ala, a sight that felt like it had been even greater than the walls filling her view. As usual, she couldn’t remember when or where it had been or even or who she had been with. Peyrepertuse, the Duke’s huge castle perched on the flat topped steep hill that overlooked the town of Duilhac. The slopes were terraced into small fields and the the town below was built in a meander in the river. It had two bridges leading to it, each with a complex barbican guarding entry and a gatehouse on the far bank. The landward approach was guarded by Peyrepertuse and the hill it sat on top of. It was a well defended town with multiple good water supplies, a river port and some room to grow crops and keep livestock within the walls on the slopes under Peyrepertuse.
For safety’s sake, Ala and Myrthe had rented a spare horse from the rather unpleasant Caravan Master and left the wagons behind that morning, riding hard for the city. They had agreed that they didn’t want to come in simultaneously with the caravan because if someone had set a crossbowman the task of shooting Ala, it would be the caravans they would be on the lookout for. They had ridden round to the far bridge on the eastern side of the town, making sure they were approaching from the wrong direction for travellers from the direction of the Westmarch. They approached the barbican, where two guards stood. Each wore a chain hauberk which was covered by a surcoat with colours that reminded her of the Duke’s but weren’t quite the same. Each man wielded a long pike, had a shield slung across his back and a short-sword at his waist.
“Those aren’t the Duke’s colours,” Ala said, wondering aloud why that might be.
“Huh? Oh… the city has its own charter.”
“How does that work?”
“The Duke granted the burghers a number of rights, in exchange for a taxation agreement. The city has its own charter, so also its own colours and coat of arms. Those men are City Watchmen, employed by the city council, not the Duke’s men-at-arms.”
“Oh I see, I think one of the sisters at the temple in Thetwick tried to describe this once, it didn’t make much sense at the time. Your explanation is easier to understand.”
“I’ll grant that who exactly is what isn’t the most intuitive thing on Vatan. Particularly when you start throwing in things like the Ducal Regiment and a few religious orders.”
“I think I understand the difference between the regiment, men-at-arms and knights. Don’t think I’ve ever seen members of a religious order.”
“Mainly Mars, in Taladaria, their priests are all effectively Knights too. Though not necessarily noble and so on. The permutations are endless. I once tried to remember all of it but gave up.”
They guards were observing the stream of people entering and leaving the city, not showing any particular interest in their duties. Most people passed with just a nod to the guards. As Myrthe and Ala approached, one of them stepped into their path.
“Hold there you two. I need to see your right to bear arms, gir… elf?”
She was on the caravan’s charter still, but the caravan master was still half a day up the road. So, Ala produced the parchment Myrthe had written and signed. Ala showed it to the guard, who screwed up his face in the way that people who couldn’t read or read well enough always seemed to.
“Right, sorry, milady. It’s the rules, the two of you must dismount and go and show that to the clerk in the gatehouse.”
There were several children milling about, looking for ways to make money off passers by. Ala selected two, and offered them each an eighth to look after Fulgor and the rental horse, to be paid when they returned. She wasn’t taking any chances with Fulgor. An agreement was reached and Ala and Myrthe went into the gate house.
“Somehow, I doubt that my father would be asked to go talk to a clerk,” Myrthe whispered as they went inside.
The passed through a short entrance hall and two thick wooden doors into a stuffy room with a table, a chair and a cabinet overflowing with scrolls and ledgers. There was a man in a black robe seated at the table, seemingly engrossed in a large ledger that was open in front of him. He was dressed as a commoner, but he wore a pin which Ala guessed must be a badge of office for a clerk in the city’s employ. He was gaunt and mostly bald, with a comb-over. When he spoke, Ala could see that his two front teeth were missing.
“What do you want?”
Ala wondered if the man’s manner had anything to do with his missing teeth before she spoke.
“This is Myrthe Lambertye, Priestess of Guanshiyin and Lady of Easthall. I am her guard. My name is Alagariel. Here is the document affirming it.”
The thin man looked them over then at the document.
“That seems to be in order…”
He turned the large book to a different section and painstakingly entered Myrthe’s name on a line. It was easy to see what he wrote. Ala couldn’t help but admire the man’s handwriting.
Myrthe Lambertye, Lady of Easthall and one elf-at-arms
He wrote before looking up at them again with a scowl. Ala had to suppress a giggle, she’d never imagined she might one day be someone’s elf-at-arms.
“It’s a silver per man-at-arms, err milady. And you,” he said, gesturing at Ala, “will have to peace-tie your blade, here”.
He slid a small bundle of thick red string over the table.
Ala paid the man the silver coin. Being a noble was expensive, she thought. She knew about peace-ties. Cities like this generally required them to make it slightly harder to draw weapons on one another. There were whole treatises on how to tie the associated knots in such a way that they didn’t hinder drawing your weapon at all. There was even a section on the subject in her Fechtbuch. Unfortunately, it was not one of the skills Alagariel had deemed worthy of teaching herself. The result was that the clerk securely tied her weapon into her scabbard, to her chagrin. She was very careful to make sure he didn’t touch the pommel, she didn’t want to have a repeat of what had transpired in the council hall in Thetwick. Whatever had happened there, It would be very hard to explain a suddenly dead clerk. She decided she needed to learn some of those special peace tie knots quickly though. The clerk’s job was thorough, she was going to need her knife to get to her sword.
They mounted again and rode into the bustle of the city. It was busy in a way Alagariel had never imagined possible. People stopped to make room for them as they approached.
“People certainly take the trouble to give us space, people in Thetwick were rarely so accommodating,” Ala said.
“Yeah… they’re not doing it because they have good manners, unfortunately. Riders, particularly armed riders are generally noble or at least in a noble’s employ. They have right of way at least insofar that there’s few consequences for them riding down people who get in the way. Quite a few nobles ascribe to the notion that their right of way is sacred. Some nobles think it’s a sport to try and ride people down. Safer to make room.”
“Oh.”
People stepped aside, making space for them. Myrthe seemed exultant at all of the city’s bustle and wasn’t at all concerned by the people scurrying to get out of their way. Since Myrthe’s explanation, Ala looked at people’s efforts to get clear of them very differently.
“So this is really the first city you’ve ever visited?”
“Yes… or well. I can’t be sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere that was quite so… busy anyway. I have some memories. Some place with very tall, very white towers. More places with white stone. Or maybe it’s the same place. No idea where any of that was. Maybe it was just a dream.”
“Duilhac is around the same size as Doncastle. More trade here, so it’s more lively and more importantly, there’s better shops, more prosperity. I like Duilhac, it’s a good size. I went to Erythrae once, you know, where the King rules from, way off in eastern Iurrak.”
“You’ve been all the way to Erythrae?” Asked Ala, fascinated.
“Yes. It’s much too big. Different too, not so many of these brooding castle walls. My father says they think they’re so civilised they don’t need such old fashioned defences.”
“Are they right?”
“I’m not sure. It’s been a long time though, since anyone laid siege to Erythrae. No one has since Iurrak was founded, I think.”
Thankfully no one fired a crossbow at Ala as they rode through the narrow streets, it would have been hard to dodge even if she saw the attack coming. The main thoroughfares were were all paved, a luxury that Ala did not remember having seen anywhere before. In Thetwick, only the richest families had paved courtyards and only a portion of the market square was cobbled. As she was contemplating how much work it would be to pave such large streets, she saw her first other real elves, walking along the street ahead of them. The street was lined with shops with colourful signs on either side. The two elves turned into a smaller side street that led off from the main thoroughfare. She only caught a glimpse, but one looked a lot like the humans around her, if a bit more statuesque. The other must have been a Water elf, Ala guessed, because the woman’s colouring really had been quite exotic. Ala suppressed the urge to run over to them, mostly because she was still concerned about drawing attention to herself and getting assassinated.
Myrthe loudly asked the way to the Green Duck guest house several times. It was by the foot of the road leading up to the castle. Myrthe knew that, but she wanted to make it seem that that was where they were headed to anyone who might remember them. The Green Duck was famous and catered to many nobles while they were in town. It was one of Myrthe’s many ploys that Ala was slowly beginning to understand. They rode straight to the temple of Guanshiyin, where Myrthe was respectfully greeted by a young acolyte on duty by the door. A priest, a man in his mid thirties had been summoned to meet them, obviously alerted to Myrthe’s arrival. Myrthe spoke quietly with the priest and the acolyte for a few minutes. The acolyte then showed them to a side building with a corridor with cells on either side. Behind each sturdy oak door was a small room, with a simple but solid bed, a chair, a table and basic amenities. It was basic in its lack of decoration, but everything was of a high quality. Myrthe warned her that it was not allowed to speak in the cells. The room also had a small barred window that was far too small for assassination attempts. That seemed like a bonus to Ala.
The Duke’s Court was scheduled to be held again on First day. They had arrived a few hours after it had finished for the day. That seemed just as well to Ala seeing as she hadn’t decided on exactly what she wanted to say. They were in Duilhac town and no one had tried to kill Ala since the inn at Larkhill. It felt like an achievement. Myrthe came into her room and gestured for Ala to follow her. They went back to the central hall of the temple, and found themselves a quiet spot on some benches opposite a statue of Guanshiyin.
“Come on. Let’s sit for a bit. It’s alright to talk quietly here. So, what next?”
“We’re in the city and no assassination attempts just yet. I’m happy so far. I’m not sure what the etiquette is. Should I just go up to the Duke and announce that I am here?”
“In this case, I’d suggest the announcement should be made in the Duke’s court, it’s the only way you’ll get an audience with him on your own merits. If you just arrived asking for an audience, you’d probably be directed to the court. It is, after all, a place for subjects to air grievances.”
“I think that’s what Bernard wanted me to do. He said I should take my case to the Duke’s court.”
Myrthe appeared to ponder for a moment.
“I’m just thinking about other options. I don’t know the Duke personally. I have seen him few times at events when I was younger, but I doubt he remembers me other than by my family name. I suppose my father’s status would eventually get us in to see him. There’s no reason why that should be faster than just going to the court though. It’s not necessarily a quick way of doing it at all in fact, I’m not the Baron of Easthall himself after all.”
“I’ll try the court. There are other things I should do while I’m here anyway. I should find this man Gladiuth. He’s a half elf. Bernard wanted me to bring him his blade. He was in the Duke’s regiment with Bernard. I suppose I should look for him wherever the barracks are.”
“I think that’s in the outer wards of the castle. We have time, we could go there now. It’s Fifth today, it’s customary for there to be friendly competitions among units that are in quarters before Sixth and Seventh liberty. It should be busy up there.”
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