of the eyes outside scrutinizing him as he left the makeshift gate of Natha’s dockyard.
He found the city streets like the streets of any other bustling community, full of commerce and conversations. Walnut slowly navigated the gaps between wagons, people, and curbside vendors, eventually coming to the bare rocky wall at the base of the great cliff that created the waterfall. Colored bands of stone showed stark contrasts with one another as they mounted upward behind the row of buildings that abutted them to a height of forty feet or so.
At that point in his journey Alec reversed course and went down to the water’s edge, where he found a ferry that carried a busy commerce across the river to the north side. Alec joined the line waiting for the boat to return, and stared at the high hill with the white buildings that rose across the horizon in front of him. Natha’s home was large and luxurious, he remembered, but it didn’t convey the same single-minded fortress mentality that the Locksfort compound displayed. This spoke of a family that ostentatiously protected its privilege. And it was the place he had traveled so far to visit, driven by a compulsion to act.
Alec paid his change and led his horse onto the flatboat that was winched along a long, taunt rope. He walked Walnut off the boat, then mounted and rode again. The road climbed the hill beside the river, switching back and forth at a steep angle, and Walnut climbed slowly, until Alec dismounted at one switchback and walked up the road with his horse, constantly dodging downward bound traffic.
After almost an hour’s climb, Alec crested the top, and stepped to the side to catch his breath and observe the Locksfort hill. Two rings of large walls were visible, separating the hill into concentric sections. Buildings were scattered about the hill connected by a network of paths. Those structures in the uppermost portion of the hill were busiest, judging by the number of people Alec could see moving among the buildings, walking briskly or toting crates from site to site, apparently carrying out the business functions of the Locksfort clan. Below that ring were the buildings that Alec guessed might be the residential portion of the compound, which left the lowest area of the hill for workers quarters, storage, stables, and other functional needs.
Turning away from the Locksfort compound, Alec saw the great waterfall beside him, and for the first time he saw the upper river, the Carmen that flowed from the far away Great Inland Sea, the enormous lake upon which Sturgeon and other cities sat.
Alec realized as he watched the flow of traffic that the road on the north side of the river mostly accommodated traffic flowing downriver. He had climbed up the road that mostly carried freight going down to be trans-shipped to eastbound boats on the lower river; across the river he suspected the traffic on the road was likely to be reversed for goods heading further inland.
Alec wondered about the strange sense of unease he had twice felt. It had come over him like a premonition of disaster, but passed without reason. As he stood here so close to the Locksfort enclave, he felt no such feelings, where he would have expected them to be strongest. He knew that Noranda lay somewhere in a tomb inside the hill, but had no clue about how to enter the compound and find her. The apparent hostility of the city residents towards Natha’s trade in their city made him suspect he’d have a hard time getting information from local gossip.
As he stood there beside his horse, lost in thought, a jostling by a passing group of stevedores made him realize that he still needed to purchase goods and return to the compound. “Do you have your papers?” a voice asked.
Alec realized a man in a black and yellow striped tunic was speaking to him. “Son, I’d like to see your papers,” the heavyset man repeated.
“ What papers do you mean?” Alec asked.
“ Where are you from?” the
He found the city streets like the streets of any other bustling community, full of commerce and conversations. Walnut slowly navigated the gaps between wagons, people, and curbside vendors, eventually coming to the bare rocky wall at the base of the great cliff that created the waterfall. Colored bands of stone showed stark contrasts with one another as they mounted upward behind the row of buildings that abutted them to a height of forty feet or so.
At that point in his journey Alec reversed course and went down to the water’s edge, where he found a ferry that carried a busy commerce across the river to the north side. Alec joined the line waiting for the boat to return, and stared at the high hill with the white buildings that rose across the horizon in front of him. Natha’s home was large and luxurious, he remembered, but it didn’t convey the same single-minded fortress mentality that the Locksfort compound displayed. This spoke of a family that ostentatiously protected its privilege. And it was the place he had traveled so far to visit, driven by a compulsion to act.
Alec paid his change and led his horse onto the flatboat that was winched along a long, taunt rope. He walked Walnut off the boat, then mounted and rode again. The road climbed the hill beside the river, switching back and forth at a steep angle, and Walnut climbed slowly, until Alec dismounted at one switchback and walked up the road with his horse, constantly dodging downward bound traffic.
After almost an hour’s climb, Alec crested the top, and stepped to the side to catch his breath and observe the Locksfort hill. Two rings of large walls were visible, separating the hill into concentric sections. Buildings were scattered about the hill connected by a network of paths. Those structures in the uppermost portion of the hill were busiest, judging by the number of people Alec could see moving among the buildings, walking briskly or toting crates from site to site, apparently carrying out the business functions of the Locksfort clan. Below that ring were the buildings that Alec guessed might be the residential portion of the compound, which left the lowest area of the hill for workers quarters, storage, stables, and other functional needs.
Turning away from the Locksfort compound, Alec saw the great waterfall beside him, and for the first time he saw the upper river, the Carmen that flowed from the far away Great Inland Sea, the enormous lake upon which Sturgeon and other cities sat.
Alec realized as he watched the flow of traffic that the road on the north side of the river mostly accommodated traffic flowing downriver. He had climbed up the road that mostly carried freight going down to be trans-shipped to eastbound boats on the lower river; across the river he suspected the traffic on the road was likely to be reversed for goods heading further inland.
Alec wondered about the strange sense of unease he had twice felt. It had come over him like a premonition of disaster, but passed without reason. As he stood here so close to the Locksfort enclave, he felt no such feelings, where he would have expected them to be strongest. He knew that Noranda lay somewhere in a tomb inside the hill, but had no clue about how to enter the compound and find her. The apparent hostility of the city residents towards Natha’s trade in their city made him suspect he’d have a hard time getting information from local gossip.
As he stood there beside his horse, lost in thought, a jostling by a passing group of stevedores made him realize that he still needed to purchase goods and return to the compound. “Do you have your papers?” a voice asked.
Alec realized a man in a black and yellow striped tunic was speaking to him. “Son, I’d like to see your papers,” the heavyset man repeated.
“ What papers do you mean?” Alec asked.
“ Where are you from?” the
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