The Arkanist

Caeron

Caeron

Caeron was a simple town. It was built by the Old Ones, in the times of the Runic Kingdom, along the kingsway, yet it is still under government of the Crown in Antur. When the Anturans conquered, they took control over it, and when the Empire fell, the new Antur retained its possession. High King Arose did not wish to abandon the town, for it stood on the border of Vhaer and Ardinell. He did not want to lose a portion of his land, which he already had, with the Ilmar invading the north of his empire.

The city itself was constructed almost completely of wood and thatch, with iron gates and large mahogany doors, riveted with iron spikes. The town was seated on either side of the road, with arching bridges that connected the second level of the shops and houses. The thatch roofs were heavy and woven strong enough to withstand a thousands pounds of snow. Inns and taverns and tinker’s shops and markets and pawn shops and apothecaries stood on either side of the old cobble road, their signs rusted and groaning in the cold winter wind.

         A tall granite wall was built around the town in recent years, following the demise of the Anturan Empire and the invading of the Ilmar. Caeron was dangerously close to the border between Ardinell and Vhaer, and times in the past there had been conflicts between the two. Most are of the Ilmar raiding the town, but never holding the town for long. Small as it is, the town was militarily strong, with a firm garrison gathered atop the walls and armed guards in steel and leather within the streets.

         Jakn got straight to business when they passed under the arching gateway, banners of Antur whipping in the winds. Having secured his coin purse from the forest-fire, he took to spending it. He purchased food and a new travelsack, and wine and ale, and water too. He bought new robes for the pair of them, and fur-lined boots and gloves of leather instead of hide. He paid a blacksmith to sharpen his dulled blade and bought a dagger for Vena to carry on her just in case she was attacked. In the pawn shop he found a good tent of hide and canvas like the one they had. It was larger though, and had a floor of snowlion fur. He did not however buy another lute.

         With all the necessities paid for, coming to a total fee of seventy tallos and fifty wights, they sadly couldn’t afford a fifteen tallo lute. Jakn had tried to bargain with the merchant to lower his price, but he didn’t budge, nor did he falter in his claim when Vena asked, her eyes large and her voice smooth as silk. After the disappointment they underwent at the pawnshop, they tried a tinker’s caravan on the side of the road. He didn’t even have a lute, save for the strings and pegs from others. Although, he did have an intricately carven flute for a sale price of three tallos and thirty wights on hand. Jakn handed over the gold and silver coins and handed Vena the flute. At least it was some form of entertainment. It would save them from the quiet of the road.

         They left the caravan with a much lighter purse then they’d had when they walked through the mahogany gates of the town. Having nothing to trade, a small purse, and dying daylight, they decided it a god time to head into an inn for the night. They walked down the curving cobble street, following a loud carriage and entered the Nightingale, a tall inn with a steep thatched roof and two large windows veiled with roughspun curtains.

         Inside, the warm wood hall was alive with chatter and song. Jakn and Vena took their seats as the song ended, followed by a thunderous applauding, then a dead silence. Jakn did not know what is was, until he looked over at the door, where there was a monster of a man, cloaked all in black cloth with a low black hood that shrouded his face. He hung up his moleskin traveler’s cloak and started walking toward the bar, the wood floor moaning beneath his feet. He sat at the end of the rich oak table and started drinking a mug of ale, presumably. Then the door clapped shut and the inn returned to its lively jubilance.