Chapter 2 - Part 1

In this chapter, we meet a few new characters and get a glimpse of what Patharis is like.

Dusk was descending over the cities of Patharis. Wearied men and women returned home after a long day’s work, content that they had earned their keep once again. But for men of the city guard, such as Saul was, their work was just about to begin. It was Saul’s turn on night duty in Pecunis �" the Merchants City �" one of the more challenging routes due to the attraction it posed to thieves and vagabonds turn nightfall. From his barracks, it would take an hour to travel to where he would relieve the guard on day patrol, so he had made preparations for the evening well in advance. He had done pretty much everything he needed to �" equipping his heavy guard’s plate armour and sword, and packing a cold meal for later should he require it.

  Saul adored life as a guardsman; protecting civilians and ensuring order was in place brought him great satisfaction. Being son of Britan Terrogard, the Lord of Bellagon the Military City, he had been offered a higher rank befitting one of his position the moment he had applied , but he had turned it down. In the streets was where he could do the most good, not sitting behind a desk dishing out orders to the men doing all the real work then filling out forms about it afterwards.

  As he was about to set out, it occurred to him that he had not yet filled his waterskin. Before he could do anything about it however, there came a knock at the door. Saul frowned; there was no way that he was late, he had double-checked the start time of his shift earlier to be sure, yet he could think of no other reason for someone to be calling at this time. Family emergency then perhaps? His thoughts turned to his younger sister Kelsei, the person he cherished most in the world, and prayed to the Gods nothing had happened to her.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Saul called. Walking over to the small kitchen, he filled his waterskin quickly, before corking it and placing it in his small satchel he would take with him on duty. When that was done, he went to open the door to his visitor.

“Casren!” Saul cried, surprised at the sight of his old friend.

“Hello Saul. I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” Casren greeted, raising an eyebrow in question.

“I was about to go on duty actually, but I can wait a while longer, I was going to be early anyway. Come on in,” permitted Saul, stepping aside to allow Casren entry.

  The quarters Saul had been assigned in the barracks were small, yet they were still larger than some of the other sets he had seen. He had been given the luxury of his own bathroom and kitchen, whilst in normal cases a group of six guards would share those between them. Saul hadn’t minded the idea of sharing, but his commanding officer had insisted on giving him some special treatment due to Saul’s lineage. It was unfair, but he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed the extra space and privacy he had been given. In the main living area that doubled up as a bedroom there was naught but the modest of furnitures �" a plain set consisting of a desk, a chair, a bed and a wardrobe. He kept very little in the way of personal possessions, but had allowed himself a picture of his mother, father and sister, that he kept by his bed.

  In politeness, Saul offered Casren the only chair, whilst Saul perched on the end of the bed. When they were both seated, Saul asked, “Can I get you anything? There isn’t much but I could get you a cup of water or something.”

“No, thank you, I’m fine,” said Casren. He seemed distant, as if his mind was focussed on something else altogether.

“Well then, what can I do for you old friend? Assuming this isn’t just a social call.”

“I, um, don’t really know where to start. It’s been a very long, very trying day,” Casren sighed, running his hand through his curly hair.

“Well take your time; I’m sure the commander won’t mind my lateness if I tell him the Prince needed me. If anything it will make him jealous,” Saul chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yes, I suppose he will…” Casren paused then, looking at Saul assessingly, as if deciding whether he was indeed going to fill Saul in on what was going on. Casren had never been the most carefree of spirits, but neither was he the sullen, worry-wracked man that stood before him, and the change in his friend worried Saul greatly.

“You can tell me what’s troubling you Casren. You know you can,” Saul soothed, leaning forward slightly to shorten the distance between them a touch.

  There were a few more moments of silence before Casren finally broke it, resolving to tell Saul the events that had undergone that day and all he had learned. He told Saul everything in great detail; about Abareth, the Collisphere with all its wonders, and the task the Gods had now thrust upon Casren and Baelir because of some atrocity his ancestors had once committed. Saul listened in deliberated silence, absorbing all the information Casren unloaded thoughtfully. He didn’t interrupt, he just waited until Casren had finished.

“…So then Father said that Abareth and him could help us because they’ve been through the process before. I’m not going to lie it was something of a relief to me, as I had no idea where to get started. They told us that the first thing we need to do is choose a small group of people with varied skills so that we are prepared for whatever we might face outside Patharis. And, well, I immediately thought of you. We are old friends, so travelling together will be pleasant, and you have extensive military experience because of your family and your job. You also know people, how they think and act in all sorts of situations. You’re exactly what Baelir and I need, Saul,” finished Casren, now studying Saul in an attempt to gauge his opinion.

  But Saul didn’t know what to think. His entire belief system, taught to him from childhood, had just been twisted into an unfamiliar monster, distorted and threatening. The Gods that he prayed to everyday had kept their biggest secret from him, lulling him into believing and trusting them in their greater judgement. How could he tell them his worries and fears now, when they were capable of such ruthless persecution for a scandal committed aeons ago, only to hide it from them instead of teaching them how to be better? And now Casren was asking him to meet them face to face, to help complete some insane tasks that even Casren didn’t know the details of. It was just too much.

“I need a drink. A stiff one at that,” stated Saul, longing for the numbness alcohol provided.

“Very well. Do you have anything?” asked Casren.

“No, but there’s a tavern not far from here for off-duty guards. I’m sure they’ll overlook the ‘guardsmen only’ rule for Prince Casren Enndosius,”said Saul, pushing himself from the bed and over to the door.

“Are we really about to go drinking after I just told you the world is effectively ending?” queried Casren, casting him a mixed look of amusement and disbelief.

“Yes. And what’s more, you’re buying.”

And with that, Saul walked out of the room, leaving Casren sitting still in his chair, caught briefly in a paralytic state of bewilderment. Then he smiled to himself, mumbling, “I almost wish I’d stayed in the castle,” before following his friend.

 

  Baelir trudged through the empty streets in Bellagon , arms tightly crossed against his chest to hold his uproar of annoyance within. He was on his way to the city gates connecting Bellagon to Pecunis, having just left Casren to talk to a friend of his  about joining up on the insane quest that had been dumped upon them. The impossibility of it all wasn’t what bothered him however, in fact he found it rather exciting. No, it was him that he had the issue with.

“Boy, if you intend on sulking at least do it within a reasonable distance; I am nowhere near as familiar with these streets as you and would be lost within minutes if we were separated,” shouted Abareth somewhere behind him.

“You need to get out more. Less time reading up on the past, more learning about what’s actually in the world around you,” called Baelir without turning to face Abareth, slowing his pace marginally, but not so much as to make Abareth believed he was completely compliant to his every demand.

  He couldn’t believe his father had sent the mage with him; it was as if he was punishing Baelir for being nonchalant about the Collisphere earlier. He hadn’t meant to be insulting, how was he to know the dirty great eyesore was actually important? Father had told Baelir that he didn’t trust him not to get distracted on his way to see Nok, the travelling Dwarven merchant who would hopefully be able to provide them with some advice on how to travel through the Glass Forest, as he did so on a regular basis to make trades between the Dwarves and the humans. It was not unheard of for people to travel outside Patharis, but it was still an extremely rare occurrence. The fact that Nok had done so several times made him even more of a special case and therefore invaluable for their mission.

  As Baelir often traded with him for specialised weapons, armour and more recently lockpicks, he was the ideal person to speak with him �" a familiar face rather than Casren whom he had never met before. But why had Abareth have to come? Baelir enjoyed speaking with the Dwarf, with his pleasant mixture of gruffness and humour, he wouldn’t have been distracted. Instead, he had to suffer the mage’s constant moaning about seemingly anything that sprung to mind, from tye condition of the streets to what the few passers-by were wearing. Earlier, he had even complained that because the roads were made of cobblestone, his shoes were getting scuffed, so he would have to buy a new pair. He doubted whether the man had ever left the confines of the castle his entire life.

“Are we nearly there? We’ve been walking for half an hour since we left Prince Casren and I see no sign of the gate,” asked Abareth, who had managed to shorten the distance between them considerably.

“Why, you getting tired?”

“No, but my shoes are-“

“Forget I asked. It’s just another block away, then it’ll be another ten minutes until we reach Nok’s shop,” informed Baelir.

“What even makes you sure that he will be there, isn’t it a little late to still be serving customers? And why does a travelling merchant even own a store when he’ll rarely be in it?” demanded Abareth.

“His shop won’t be open at this time, but he lives above it, so we should be able to see him. I don’t know about how he got the shop though, think his father owned it or something like that, I wasn’t really paying attention,” said Baelir, leading them down onto a wider street, Pecunis’ gate now in sight.

“How considerate of you,” said Abareth, his words dripping with sarcasm.

“I know, it’s just the sort of person I am. Still, at least we are nearly there and you can stop going on about your blasted shoes.”

“Indeed.”

  The city gate was undramatic in appearance �" its sole purpose was to allow passage between the connecting city. The only gates in Patharis that had been built with aesthetics in mind were the ones leading to the castle and out into the Glass Forest. Each city had at least three gates in total: one leading to the castle, then two connecting to whichever cities were adjacent. As the cities were arranged in a circle around the castle, it meant that the quickest way to travel between them was through the castle district, but in order to do so one required special permission given by someone in high authority. In most cases, people just hired a carriage, which reduced the travel time significantly.

  Baelir had always thought that ‘large town’ was a more accurate description of each city, as they weren’t all that big. Each one housed around fifty thousand people, the population dedicated to whichever profession the city was in charge of running. Pecunis was home to the merchants, Bellgon was the military’s, Ingluvant the farmers, Medeirn the scholars and mages, Fidorn the religious, Ecfror the crafters and finally Furiast, which belonged to the thieves and assassins, although they were not officially recognised as such.

  It was an odd but surprisingly efficient system �" each city was independently governed by their own noble family who were ruled over by the King. Were there ever any disputes between cities, the King was in charge  of investigating the situation, settling the problem, and introducing new regulations when necessary as negotiated  with the noble families to prevent the situation from arising again. Furthermore, to ensure no one city was wealthier or more powerful than the others, all the resources and profit produced over Patharis was divided equally and redistributed by the nobles. Naturally, certain exceptions were made, for example the crafters had more use of wood harvested by farmers than the scholars, so they received more of it at the cost of something they needed less.

  It was also inevitable that some children would grow up to be more efficient at something that their home city didn’t do �" someone who grew up with merchants might develop an aptitude for military tactics, and would therefore be more at home in Bellagon rather than Pecunis. In this case, when the child came of age at seventeen, they could choose to appeal to the nobles of the desired faction to provide them with an apprenticeship so that they could  change their profession by providing examples of their work. More often than not the appeal would be granted, and after three more years of training they would officially be accepted fully into the city should they have proven themselves able. In some special cases, the nobles would approach someone particularly skilled and request that they join their city, bypassing the apprenticeship to instantly become full citizens instantly. This was an extremely rare occurrence however, only two or three examples every decade were recorded. Baelir himself at an early age had always dreamed of being approached by Galmir Leodric, master of thieves, who would have stolen him away in the dead of night to teach him the ways of stealth and shadows. When he had told his father about it, he had frowned sadly, telling him that no member of the Enndosius family had ever been selected to join another faction. Now Baelir wondered if that didn’t have something to do with their mission. Or maybe they simply weren’t skilled enough.

  Sighing at the though, Baelir turned down another street, where Nok’s shop could be seen at the far end. It was a modest building, simple brickwork design with the living area built above it. A sign hung from the shuttered entrance to the shop with the carved image of a largely bearded smiling Dwarf holding his hands outward with gold piled high in them. Emblazoned in fancy gold letters above the picture was ‘Nok’s Dwarven Trades’. Baelir smiled up at the sign, relieved to finally have arrived. Maybe he would get a reprieve from listening to Abareth’s bellyaching at long last.

“We’re here,” Baelir stated, stopping outside the door to await Abareth’s arrival.

“This is the Dwarf’s store? I was expecting something a bit more…impressive,” grumbled Abareth.

So much for the reprieve, Baelir thought. “Look if you don’t like it, bugger off back to the castle, you can tell Father I made it without being sucked into a brothel or whatever he thought I was going to do.”

“No, I wish to meet this Dwarf if there’s any chance we are to be travelling companions.”

“Wait…you’re coming with us?! I thought you had to watch the Core or something?”

“After many years of training, I am content in my colleagues’ ability to protect the Collisphere in my absence. Had I been confident in their ability sooner, I would have accompanied His Majesty on his own journey. Besides, I feel a particular need to attend with you and your brother to ensure everything goes according to plan.”

“And that’s not insulting in the slightest. Fine, you can come meet Nok, but I swear to the Gods if you complain about the sturdiness of the walls or some other nonsense I’ll clobber you to death with whatever’s closest to hand.”

“Noted,” acknowledged Abareth, gesturing for Baelir to proceed

  Shaking his head, Baelir walked over to the door leading to Nok’s living area and rapped on its surface, standing back to wait for a response.

Reviews

[LiteraryLout]

I enjoy Abareth's character. Too few fantasy protagonists go against the grain of the genre, so I'm looking forward to more of his shenanigans.

Will this dwarf have a broad Scottish accent? I hope so!

[carynolivia]

I'M SO EXCITED TO MEET NOK. DWAAAARVES.

That aside, goddamnit get them out in the Glass Forest (however it is possible). I WANT ACTION. FIGHTING. DRAGON. And more character exposition and all the good stuff.

It's definitely forming very nicely in terms of plot. Definitely see myself as more of a Baelir fan than a Casren fan at this moment in time - but that may change; who knows? Abareth still grinds my gears. And Saul seems a little too clean cut for me so far but we'll see how that progresses.

Absolutely loving it though, in case you can't tell!

There's a few minor hiccups along the way: you misspelled 'focused' near the beginning (focussed, if you want to find it); you did your duplicate word again (instantly); you missed a T at the end of thought; and you missed a full stop at the end of the third-last line. Those aside, it's grammatically tight and sounding brilliant.

Second half please, NOW.

[Gaelan_Hamilton]

Useful feedback as always bro!!

Glass forest comes next chapter I'm afraid and I'm not posting anymore after chapter 2 is done!! I will send you stuff seeing as your are officiakky my biggest fan now :L

Pretty much everyone is a Baelir person so far! But this is good for...my purposes later :P (feeling like a megalomaniac). WAIT til you get more info on Saul and Abareth omg it's all mental as hell!

God damn it past me for your lack of editing!!! If only you were as OCD as current me!

Will be posting part 2 tomorrow, utterly shattered after a crazy muck up with the train home earlier so I'll do it first thing :)