by N. Saraven
Rita did not, could not, argue. She accepted it with no further ado.
She had no more trouble following the path that she had to.
Later that evening, when Rita finally got to bed, she opened the Rim again. She went through, then closed it behind her.
This time, nothing held her back. She left behind her old world and never wanted to return.
The next morning, Balint started for the overslept Rita’s room again, sighing about his newest ‘responsibility’. But then he heard the painful crying of Starlight, coming from Rita’s room, which made him suspicious and uneasy. He immediately recognised the odd tone of her miaowing, so he increased speed.
He walked on to the same scenery as before; however, Starlight had never behaved like that. She paced around the room, miaowing loudly, as if she were really crying. Seeing this, Balint walked to Rita with a throbbing heart. He tried to wake her up, but nothing worked—neither the caress, nor the almost painful shaking. Then he put his shaking two fingers on her throat.
Balint’s eyes widened as he turned deathly pale, slowly backing away from Rita’s dead body.
12. More complications
Nar was considered to be a nice place, with fertile lands all around.
Also, a fairly high wall surrounded it, which was constructed by the demons during the first Dragonwar. Albeit the city itself was almost completely destroyed, enough remained intact to rebuild it rather than leave it. The settlers kept the wall too, with the reason of ‘one can never know’. At first, the original territory proved to be big enough for the new houses. However, as the newcomers arrived in mind of a better future, the walls needed to be widened. For some reason, the inhabitants wanted to be inside it rather than build homes outside, so they tore down the stones when needed and then reerected. As a result, the wall slowly became an oddly shaped fence.
The city had only one main road so far, from which many smaller ones diverged. On the same side, they ran mostly parallel to each other. They adjusted to the surroundings nonetheless, making the city’s blueprint diverse.
As for the inhabitants, interestingly every major species represented themselves, bringing their uniqueness with them. They created their own little worlds inside the city, parting themselves from the others. Everything was according to what the species were used to—the roads, houses, markets, or inns.
The kobolds had built everything from stones. They belonged to the paragon race, so they had a natural talent for bending all kinds of minerals to their will. They could mix the ores with extreme imagination, showing that even the plainest basalt could be used for something more pleasing to the eye. As a result, they had created a sparkling little quarter for themselves.
The elvens rather worked with nature itself. They liked dirt roads, forming them to be just as smooth as the stoned ones. They were also sided with bushes, flowers, or trees to please the eye. The elvens technically railed off a part of the forest itself, which started at the edge of the city. This resulted in a very diverse quarter because the houses had to adjust to the natural alignment of the trees. Some carved their homes inside the magically enhanced woods; others erected them on top of them, using the branches as baulks. A few elvens used the trees to create a trunk house.
Overall, they had constructed the most diverse, friendly quarter of all; everything became one of a kind.
The biggest part of the city was occupied by the humans, who built everything from whatever they could afford or get a hand on. The most important roads had a fine pavement cover; the smaller ones either remained dirt or covered with pebbles.
The different quarters usually tried to avoid mixing with each other; if they did mix, it was with only one neighbour.
The humans were not likely to visit the kobolds or make business with them. The paragons too liked things this way; they did not think too much of the humans anyway. They would not say that they wanted the humans destroyed; however, they would not miss them either. Even though the kobolds were less in numbers, they slowly created businesses that had more and more say in the bigger matters. They did not make a secret of their plans—they wanted their numbers and their businesses to grow so that they could show what ‘proper order’ could bring to the city. They worked very hard and relentlessly to do so.
The atmosphere between them proved to be less than comfortable. Nobody knew why so many paragons moved to Nar then, when they loathed humans so much. Especially since a word of war came from Caracen. According to this news, the kobolds on the other planet did not share this ‘peaceful’ way of thinking and wanted to rule the humans with an iron fist. They made no hostile moves yet; however, it hovered in the air.
The elvens, who liked to visit and make business with either side, got the part of being the peacekeepers between them. Some even lived among the other species, blurring the border of their quarter.
Only one thing made the inhabitants forget about their differences—Indrek and his associates. The werewolves and black mages appeared everywhere, just as the peacekeeper forces and tax collectors.
After Indrek and his Order of the Shadows took over Nar, they used every force necessary to maintain obedience in the city. Indrek had created several organisations for this sole purpose, so he collected very high taxes. If somebody refused to pay in time or rebelled against it, they were visited by Indrek’s people. Then these persons were taken away to be convinced of their faulty ideas, or ‘lightning’ struck their workshop, home, or market. Some, who had a too-severe sense of justice, were never seen again.
In the everyday gushing crowd strolled Indrek’s loyal, disguised agents, whose only job was to watch the peoples around them. When they heard something suspicious, they started to follow the suspects. If the inhabitant, or inhabitants, only let out some steam, they could carry on unharmed. But if more-than-serious ideas got stuck in their head against Indrek, they became watched. Even if they did not know it, they had the chance to redeem themselves. Depending on whether their behaviour changed or not, they could live a peaceful or very painful life.
Perhaps the most fearful sight in the crowd was the werewolves’ presence all around. From the outside they looked very much like humans, but with a taller, bigger, more robust body. They carefully maintained their terrific shape, and they always liked to show it off. Nobody could refrain from looking at them—they made sure of that either with their behaviour or their clothing. Their gaze was stern; their features had rough edges. They also had a furry tail and claws instead of nails, but in every remaining sense they looked like a human.
The inhabitants rather made a clear path for them. If somebody accidentally bumped into one, they only got a big slap in return. If the werewolves’ hostile nature was not intimidating enough, usually they were accompanied by their huge, real wolves. These animals were created by their masters, and they listened only to their specific guardian. In that case they were truly obedient; regardless, it did little good to another being.
Furthermore, everybody knew that wherever a wolf might stroll, there also must be a Scarlet Guardsman, or scÿta, nearby too. These three represented the major organisations and worked together in harmony.
Overall, the incredible tension created by the peacekeeper forces was enough to make even the kobolds forget about their harshness towards others. The inhabitants learned to live together in fair peace, even the paragons and humans. Everybody knew how far they could go with their complaining or hatred. The peacekeepers made sure that almost no ‘ordinary people’ could do anything harmful to another citizen.
This created a forced unity amidst the peoples, which turned into a real one as time passed. After a certain point, every spare energy was put into craftsmanship, which made Nar’s economy flourish. This gave the inhabitants a very comfortable living, in spite of the high taxes.
Everything seemed to be in perfect harmony inside the walls.
In the centre of this manufactured perfection was Indrek’s residence, right next to the city’s central field. It wa
s a huge mansion, built by the best kobold masters from the highest-quality marble they could get. The mansion itself had smooth edges, with arched windows and doors. It also had a flat top, planted with grass. On a sunny day, the Ruler Indrek could go up and take a sunbath. He slept there during the clear summer nights. Yet almost nobody knew this of Indrek, who usually seemed very calm and composed, cold even. His dark clothing and appearance created a sharp contrast with his shining white house. On a clear day, it gleamed like a star.
A star which represented strict ruling. For some reason, Indrek made many new laws regarding every aspect of life, from the smallest thing to the biggest.
Of every merchandise there could be only a few different types at once. The market could be held only on the named days in the law, and so on. Indrek created a new calendar too, which made the inhabitants’ lives easier and annoyed them at the same time.
In truth, most people complained because they had no word whatever in the ruling itself. Before the Dragonwars, the late queen always kept a vote in every big decision. If the townsmen said that they did not need that specific new rule or thing, the queen obeyed their wish. Indrek, on the other hand, did nothing alike. He just gave out the orders, laws, or new methods, then made sure everything was obeyed.
The Scarlet Guards patrolled on the streets, keeping everything in order. They had to make everybody follow the rules, but they could not abuse anybody without a serious reason. These misbehaviours were treated with the utmost severity possible. Their job also included to help everybody in need, starting from giving a hand with a heavy basket to seizing a performer’s berserk animal.
Furthermore, Indrek had a formidable army near the city, which never had seen better days. Many hot-headed youngsters thought that ‘this is my chance to show what I can do’, thus they signed up quickly. They did not really have anything to worry about in their lives, and if they tried to channel their energies by vandalising, they earned only a couple of nights in a holding cell—a cold, empty, dark place, without food. So they were kindly guided towards either the army or the Guards.
The city Ruler also made sure to ‘leak’ some of his important plans into the population, such as how he wanted hot-watered bathhouses in the centre, with the diversion of the river Fire, which provided water for the city and its fields. Or his idea of a big empire by invading and joining together all available lands on Nimron.
And last but not least, Indrek always kept the streets neat and clean.
Thanks to these improvements, the fear and terror slowly but surely started to fade in the city. It took a few seasons for the changes to settle in and show true progress.
Truth be told, Indrek hid little from his subjects regarding his plans of the improvements. Everybody could know a lot of things about the leadership and its goals in Nar, if one would want to know. Not many dived into the system, however; most people grew bored with it. But the possibility existed, if one had nothing better to do.
On the other hand, Neila in Varomor wanted to know but still could only get fractures of the truth. Somehow the spies could not get enough information, thus the Masters of the Tower knew far too little of the progress in Nar. Even though they had tried to get as much knowledge out of the servants as they could, for some reason after a while, they came home empty-handed. As if every source of theirs had just disappeared in the last two seasons.
However, what little they had managed to gather was more than enough to make them worry. Especially Neila, who had a hunch that Indrek was somehow playing with them. She knew just enough of the Ruler to muse upon the possibility that maybe he could plant false information for the spies to find. Maybe this way he tried to lure out whoever lived in what he called the Tower of Mysteries.
And it worked.
Neila became uneasy enough about this confusing situation to do something about it. She had planned to visit the city for some time now, but something always prevented it—an accident in the practice room, an unexpected flood, and so on. Whenever Neila wanted to pull things together, to make plans and put them in order, another sudden happening made it impossible.
Visiting Nar was under this category, and now Neila could not let anything postpone it any further. Last time she had heard strange news of Indrek, something about ‘putting our annoying neighbour in its place’. So the Master decided to look into the matter herself.
It was a risky mission, nonetheless. The mage knew some of the organisations in the city, of which she must be cautious. If the soldiers of the army, the Scarlet Guards, or the disguised black mages got their hands on her, probably everything she had worked for in her life would be lost. Although she hardly knew anything about Indrek himself, the fact that he was a powerful mage was one of them. With his companions in the Order, Neila did not think that she could resist giving up information for long …
Not that she could not handle herself if needed, especially with Cameron at her side. But she did not want to underestimate the situation, nor what Indrek and his organisations could do.
Most probably nobody would even notice her. Even though she became a well-known leader during the Dragonwars, it happened a long time ago, especially to Nar. Which meant that nobody there would actually remember her face, especially since she was supposed to be dead.
Yet she could not be too careful. A lot was at stake; she did not want to risk everything just because logic dictated otherwise. She had had a fair share of unimaginable happenings in her life; she knew how unpredictable things could become, when one used only logic to plan. Thus, Neila tried to prepare herself as much as she could.
Hopefully their disguise would prove to be enough to avoid discovery.
Neila walked in completely black clothing, wearing her hood, so her face would not show entirely. Beside her, Cameron took human form, then put on a scarlet armour, grabbed a long lance, and with enough confidence, he looked like a perfect Guardsman. He also closed his helmet visor, so his red eyes with vertical pupils would not be caught immediately.
The companions took the wide, clear, neat dirt road to get into the city to avoid suspicion. They knew that the Guardsmen sometimes left Nar, so hopefully nothing would be out of the ordinary if they headed in on that.
The friends got into Nar with no complications. As they could see amongst the inhabitants, a Guardsman accompanied by a black mage proved to be a perfectly normal sight. So they were safe, given the circumstances. Yet the friends looked around warily, especially when they passed real Guardsmen and mages. Cameron clenched his lance uneasily; Neila never let her sword hilt go.
They both soon became gobbled up by the Fear ruling the city.
As it turned out, reading about a tense air and actually submerging in it were two very different things. Everything around them radiated concern and anxiety. The elvens’ rigid movements, faint smiles, the humans’ scared eyes zigzagging. Even the kobolds held their tongue and somehow seemed less condescending. Everybody evened out, whether they wanted to or not.
“Are we there yet?” Cameron said, breaking Neila’s thoughts. His voice sounded tense, which made her shudder. If something could make a dragon uneasy, that meant nothing good. Especially if they could not even fight it, because it was invisible.
“Not far,” she muttered while she regarded the houses around them.
They had just passed the human quarter, arriving to the elvens’. Suddenly Neila gained speed. She was so lost in her thoughts that she did not watch for Cameron, who could not keep up. The dragon had many problems, which were completely missed by his friend.
The bright fundamentally hated the human form when he was not protected by his white scales, strong teeth, talons, and ice-breath. Now, however, his biggest concern was the armour, which he just could not get used to. It made him rigid and slow, not to mention gave him bruises. It was very uncomfortable, after a while painful.
And if this were not enough, there was the lance. Cameron had never held a weapon like that before in his life, so he knew nothing about
its characteristics. It felt too heavy for him to grasp it with only one hand, but he struggled even with two. Its point often dived into the crowd as he walked, when he desperately tried to jerk it back up. It seemed a miracle that he had not impaled anybody so far. Furthermore, Cameron could hardly see anything through his visor, and his sweat stung his eyes. Altogether the dragon could not imagine how anybody could exist in this agony, not to mention fight.
As he struggled to pretend to be a true Guardsman, Cameron became lost in the billowing mass. He did not know where they were headed; Neila thought that it would not be wise. If one of them were caught at the beginning, the other still could return without giving up valuable information. It seemed a logical decision in her study …
But now I am completely lost, and it is NOT a logical thought! Cameron snapped in his head while he was still moving forwards, although in a much slower pace now. As he strolled, he tried to look for Neila as well as he did not want to draw any attention. He started to get skittish as his worry rose. His heart pounded, his red eyes darted in the crowd around him.
Cameron had almost reached the kobolds’ quarter when he decided to stop. He changed direction to a small mound nearby, which had a big tree on its top. This seemed to be a good lookout. The dragon walked to the tree, then stood still as confidently as he could manage. He looked around searchingly, supporting his lance on the ground. His plan was to ‘stand guard’ for a while, then head back to the gate and Varomor.
If I am lucky, everybody will think that I watch the peace from here, he thought, but he could not even convince himself. He felt too worried, not just for himself but for Neila as well. He could hardly restrain his emotions. He saw no familiar faces, just spotted more and more sights of enemy Guardsmen.
Cameron swallowed hard, his sweat running in little streams under his helmet. He stood in the middle of enemy territory, and he was very aware of that. Anyhow, he could not stay there forever, so after a short time, he started for the gate, hoping that he would be lucky enough to get out of the city intact.
