Tales of Onoris (Book 1)

Chapter 12: Mud and Blood Money (Part 1)

The carriage approached the gate; the entrance to the city of Aquentia. High walls with the flags of Selediano–a red and black flag with a shield that had the wings of a dragon spreading from the sides. A long line of carriages and people were headed to and from the city gates.

The mud squelched as the civilians walked by–some with huge bags on their backs. Shael and I put perfumed cloths to our noses as a powerful breeze sent the most putrid scent of manure toward us.

 We entered the gates, but the path up ahead was too narrow; the coachman turned to his left approaching a station where transport carriages were lined up close to each other. "This is your stop lad, and lady!" The old coachman said, a huge smile spreading across his face revealing missing teeth. In the city, houses were clustered. On the long stretch of cobbled roads, Houses on opposite sides of the road were huddled together.

I unlocked the chest and took a pouch from it ready to pay him, but he raised his hand stopping me. "Don't worry about payment, I already received quite a hefty sum from your grandfather!"

I raised a brow. Grandfather? he probably mistook Reinhold for a family member; that was good, no one caught onto us. I took the scroll Reinhold gave us from my pocket, my eyes darted from word to word as I tried to retain the information. It said that every two weeks, a convoy of two carriages always arrived at a tavern called: The Snoring Fox.

"Excuse me, can you please give us the directions for a tavern called: The Snoring Fox?" I asked, slightly nervous.

"You young ones have good taste don't ya?! He chuckled. "Cross the bridge you see in front of ya there, take a left to Swan street, and continue walking, you'll see the big ole sign! And the pretty building, can't miss it."

I smiled, "Thank you!" I turned around, my smile quickly fading.  "Ok, Shael," I whispered. "When we find the tavern take a look around for some routes."

Shael nodded, "I can do that!" We took up our chests filled with armor and clothes.

As we walked closer to the bridge, a window from the top floor of one of the houses opened. A woman with a bucket threw sludge that stank horribly. Shael and I stopped dead in our tracks as the sludge splattered. Shael turned her face and held my arm tightly. We walked around the feces quickly towards the bridge. People walked from and towards it.

The scent that came from the river below almost made me reel. How could anyone live in a place like this?

 We reached the other side of the bridge, and at the end was a junction. A road went straight down through the middle of a cluster of houses. In the distance was the castle belonging to the castellan of this city. The roof of the castle was red. Nine spires rose from the front end of the castle; the entire looked menacing.

They were two other routes but the street sign told me my destination. We took a left on Swan street and made our way through the thick crowd. Roofs were lit by the light of the sun but the ground was dim and gloomy. Vending stalls were set up on opposite sides of the street; some vendors sold untine, and others sold fire carambola. We walked down the busy street filled with the sweet smell of bread baking mixed with manure. The sound of coins rang as people bought and haggled.

We finally approached the Snoring Fox tavern and the old carriage driver was right, it looked better than all the other pubs and houses huddled on the thin streets. It had marbled walls; the sign on the front was made of gold; it looked like a palace. I felt a sense of accomplishment finding this place, but it was soon snuffed out. Seledianon soldiers, in their silver armor with red cloth wrapped around their waists, were coming in our direction. The man who looked to be the leader wore similar armor but he had more intricate designs on his armor compared to the plain silver look of his subordinates. They wore simple bascinets helms that covered their entire face and were able to see with the slits in the helmets. Their leader wore a beautiful silver morion helmet with red feathers.