Search for the swords

Chapter 10

Extending down from various platforms, were a series of basket like carriages hang down, reaching the ground. Looking around, you could see them going up and down, raising and lowering people to and from the higher platforms. The two men and Zedrick got in on lift. The people of the Fourth kingdom had not adopted the use of electricity as those of the plains had. Which meant there was no automatic winch to raise them up. There was a crank in the lift and the passengers had to turn it themselves. There were weights attached through cables that made it smooth to turn. Slowly, they rose to the platform above. Reaching the lowest of the platform, their lift took them as high as it could and they got out. The city above the ground was nothing like the ground. The tree tops were alive with people. Homes and shops were brightly decorated. The wood frames they had the ability to use were masterfully carved and shaped in ways you could not manage with stone. Lanterns, ribbons, flags, just about anything you could image hung from ropes across the streets. Flowers were everywhere, bringing back the buzzing of bees. If you could make it out over the sound of people doing their shopping, conversing with each others and just the sound of their feet pouding on the wood flanks. The People there were well dressed. Far more modest than the plains, but not as baggy as loose as the desert. Women wore long dresses, with their hair left to grow long and typically done up, in many ways. Some kept it simple, a braid, or a bun, others were extravagant. It may have even been a sign of status. The men, wore leggings with loose shirts under vests. Cloaks and capes were most abundant, particularly with the woman. The colours they wore were typically bold or dark greens, highlighted by anything. Golds and whites were common, but there were blues and reds and whites. The only colour that seemed completely vacant in all forms of attire was, black.

Zedrick took them through the markets. People looked their way. Taking notice of them more than the zeeb. Those who did notice Zedrick, typically those he would yell at to get out of his way, didn't seem any more surprised by his being there than them. Zedrick and his kind, if there were there more of them, were parently a normal sight for them there. The people came across as far more polite and friendly than the previous lands Rickard had ventured. While no one stopped them for a conversation, there were plenty of, good days, welcome to Woodrose and sorry. The people were incredibly forgiving when a gentle collision of bodies occurred, an inevitability in a crowded street. The bridges connecting the platforms were broad and well crafted, while others were narrow and simple, depending if you were in a high traffic area. The place to where Zedrick was taking them was located on an outlying platform, housing a small community of homes, arranged around it's rim, giving each an equal amount of space and a view.

At one home half way along the edge Zedrick came to a halt. "Here we are my chaps. Just wait here and I'll go see if she's home." He went ahead and knocked on the door.

"Oh, knocking, what a novel idea. I would never have thought to try that," said Hnary sarcastically.

"Did he say, she?" asked Rickard.

"What of it?" asked Hnary.

"Nothing much I guess. Just, assumed his friend would be an elderly man or something."

"Could still be an elderly woman," replied Hnary.

From within the home, the men heard the muffled reply of a womans voice.

"Just a moment."

True to her word, a moment later, the entrance opened up. There was a young youthful woman with long thick hair done up tightly into a braid that rested over her chest. She could have been Rickards age, but looked younger. She wore a green dress with a brown vest overtop, with slightly puffed shoulders. It accentuated her figure, benign tight waste up, but letting the dress flow over her hips down to her toes. While it was typical of anyone there.