Elfborn: The Quest

Schisms

It didn't take long for the efficient Raphaelites to form their remaining members into a heavily armed and well ordered escort, riding six behind and six before the carriage, with Havlocke leading the way and one knight acting as rearguard. Once the paladin were formed up, Havlocke had the carriage reloaded with its passengers, one of his paladin now serving as the driver. The driver's horse was handled by the rearguard, holding the horse's reins alongside his own.

As soon as everybody was in place, Havlocke was kicking his horse into motion with the toes of his heavy boots, pulling the rather sober looking escort away from the steps of St. Mark's and back onto the avenue. And even though Kira now had her opportunity to see the fabled buildings of Romis, she found herself brooding over the strange twist of circumstance that now had them in the hands of paladin knights.

Gillian and Brice, of course, had no such restrictions, having yielded almost immediately to the Jebusin. Whatever happened now, they had already tossed their hats in with the priests and now accepted circumstances as they happened.

As their fellow Elfborn sat silent and gloomy, wondering about their future, the blond haired woman and wiry young man stared at the magnificence that was Romis as it passed them by. And being that they now rode the Halifrin's Way, one of the greatest highways in the ancient city, they would be seeing quite a bit of it before they came to the gates of the golden heart of Romis, the Vestican. For it wove through the very center of the old quarter of the city, which contained the highest concentration of romisian buildings and structures to survive the Ristusian conquest of the city.

Even as they pulled away from St. Mark's porch, the two found themselves gazing at the massive Coliseum, where the emperors of the Romis Empire enjoyed blood sports and athletic events from their padded seats high above the arena floor. The oval structure sat just behind St. Mark's cathedral and, while in some disrepair, its massive stone construction was still marvelous to behold. And beyond it, surrounded by the thick trees of the Circus Flavius was the Hippodrome, a smaller oval where horse and chariot races were held.

If that weren't enough to marvel and astound, the site-seeing Elfborn found themselves looking at the great Hall of Government, where the senators of ancient Romis sat in governance over the empire, before Emperor Habius dissolved the body in an act of power-hunger. The senate was reformed after Habius' death, but only lasted another fifteen years before the first rebellions in the outer provinces forced Habius' successor, Emperor Adrian to declare martial law throughout the empire.

It had been the beginning of the end, the rebellions slowly tearing the great Meridian empire into pieces, which then went to war against each other for the fading glory and riches of Romis. That war even touched Romis itself, it's gates forced to withstand not only the siege of enemy armies, but of those by her own rebellious generals as well, each seeking to place him or herself on the velvet throne of emperor.

Into this chaos came the Ristusians, having existed underground for literally hundreds of years before the fading might of the emperor left the streets of the city unguarded. As lawlessness and anarchy reigned, the Ristusians began to conquer the city, building by building, block by block, imposing their own law and enforcing it with their bodies. By the time the last emperor, a weak and ineffectual man by the name of Jenius Maxis, finally relinquished the seat of government, the Ristusians held nearly three quarters of the city.

Moving at a good clip now that Havlocke had maneuvered the escort through the heavy traffic that occupied most of the great central throughway, the carriage was swiftly carried past both the view of the two arenas and the marble monstrosity that was the Hall of Government. From there they moved into the region of parks that separated the government houses from the emperor's palace. Which, by all accounts, was a city unto itself.