The Sceptre of Samnos

Ilandia Part 3

     It was still early afternoon, so they spent a few hours seeing the sights of the city. After agreeing to meet back at a nice inn they found, they split up. Thomas went to the city's library on the off chance that it had a book worth reading, Diana went to a temple to pray and meditate, and Jerry and Lirenna went to the museum, which was reputed to have a fine collection of Agglemonian artifacts. Shaun and Matthew just wandered the streets, trying to get the feel of the city. This was the largest city they had ever been in, having a population of well over a hundred thousand, and they found it all fascinating.

     At one point they were stopped by a patrol of city guardsmen, who checked them to make sure their peace knots were secure. They asked what their business was in the city and Shaun answered that they were tourists from the Overgreen Forest, which earned him a hard, suspicious look. Tourists were discouraged from the fortress city, every visitor was regarded as a potential spy, but eventually they had to let them go after warning them to keep out of trouble. "Seems like good advice," muttered Matthew as they left. Like Shaun, he had noticed the battered and worn condition of the guard’s sword hilt and scabbard. It was hardly ceremonial and had seen regular use.

     They had originally intended to confine their explorations to the central, more prosperous parts of the city, but after only a couple of hours they had circled the tower and returned to their starting point and were running out of new places to explore, so they gradually drifted into the surrounding somewhat dingier areas. The streets there were narrow and filled with rubbish and filth, with drainage channels along the middle down which trickles of dark water ran, disappearing at intervals down drainage holes from which a foul smell arose. "I don't like it here," said Matthew, wrinkling his nose with distaste. "Let's go back to the library and see if we can help Thomas find anything on the Oracle."

     "In a minute," said Shaun. "You go back if you like. I want to see what's down here."

     "There's nothing down here except filth and bad smells," said Matthew. "Come on, let's go."

     Shaun ignored him and carried on, past where a group of small dirty children were kicking a mouldy cabbage against a wall. They stopped while the two young fighters passed, staring at them in fascination until they rounded a corner, whereupon they resumed their game.

     "Hey, look!" said Shaun, pointing to a large brick building from which a sign hung. The sign declared that the building was a tavern called the happy goblin, but the grinning goblin's face painted above it, flaking with age and weathering, had clearly been painted by someone who had never seen a real one. "A tavern! Come on, let's try it."

     Matthew reluctantly followed Shaun into the seedy looking establishment, and they found themselves in a dimly lit public bar in which an assortment of disreputable looking characters were chatting amongst themselves and puffing on clay pipes. Half a dozen conversations stopped abruptly as they entered, and at least twenty pairs of eyes stared at them suspiciously as they made their way across the room to the bar, where a huge bosomed woman in her mid thirties wearing far too much face paint was serving a couple of bored looking conscript soldiers whose swords, they were pleased to see, were peace knotted.

     Shaun was intensely curious about city life, but knew that it was better not to admit to open curiosity. "Please forgive the intrusion,” he said therefore, “but I'm afraid we're lost. I wonder if you could direct us back to the east road."

     "The east road, my lovelies?" said the barmaid, smiling a smile that didn't quite make it all the way to her eyes while she looked them over appraisingly, trying to get a feel for how much copper and silver they were carrying. "Well, deary, you're closer to the north road here. You just go north until you get to the temple of Nimbus, turn west, and that takes you to the north road. Follow it south, and you'll find yourself on tower road. Just follow it round to the east road. You got all that, my lovely?"