Arden (Mages of the Flame #1) FIRST DRAFT

Part 12: Lorin

Bronwyn rode out of the camp in a dark mood. Morrigan had no right to keep questioning her like that, and no right to infer the Mages we somehow at fault for what had happened. They rebelled because they needed to remove the king from power. The war which followed was a tragedy, of course, but if the monarchists had simply listened the could have been far less bloodshed. Did these people think the Mages wanted a war? That they wanted to risk tearing the land apart?

She shook her head free of the dark cloud Morrigan had left upon her and urged Shanks into a run to clear her mind.

The ruined folly was closer to the western boundary of the forest than she remembered, and the trees soon thinned until she was once more riding under the open sky. The rain had continued all morning, and out here in the open she was no longer protected from the worst of it by the trees. It was a grey, effortless rain that had no intention of rushing its admittedly not unwelcome task. Bronwyn pulled her cloak tighter around her neck and shoulders, pulled gloves from her saddlebag and put them on, and checked the hidden scroll was still secure.

The road turned upward toward the western cliffs, and granite boulders lined the side of the road where the earth had eroded around them. To the north Bronwyn knew lay the city state of Tay, a few miles inland from the coast and today hidden from sight behind rain and low, rolling clouds.

But ahead of her, visible despite the weather, was the capital; Lorin.

Built on the unyielding cliffs of the western shore, Lorin was one of the major ports of Arden. The docks themselves, a thriving community of traders, merchants, fishermen and foreigners were south of the city where the cliffs fell away sharply. These docks connected the city with the great trade routes of the western shore, down and around the southern top of the peninsular, north to the Dale and beyond, and far over the horizon to the Five Islands.

As Bronwyn approached the city she noticed for the first time the skyline of her youth had changed. The city wall was higher, crowned by a ring of new stone and crenelations, and the high spire of the Palestra where she had trained and studied in her youth was now dwarfed by the top of the Mage tower. The towers of the former palace were no longer the tallest buildings in Lorin.

The closer she got to the city the better the road became, and soon Shanks's footsteps tapped out their arrival on a well-maintained road edged with shallow ditches kept free of weeds either side of a gentle camber.  

Closer now, Bronwyn looked again at the city wall. Not only was it higher, but there were more towers, and the great arch of the eastern gate, once welcoming to all, had been fitted with two huge doors of oak. They were wide open, and the daily traffic flowed unimpeded, but the fact this relic of the past had returned to Arden at all still gave Bronwyn cause to wonder what else had changed, and why.

It was a welcome relief to pass unchallenged into the city but she counted six armed guards at various stations near the gate. They seemed relaxed enough, and stopped no-one, but it was only three years ago that she had left the city, and at that time one sleepy guard was enough.

But there were some changes that were clearly an improvement over the city of her youth. Main streets had been paved. Major side streets had been upgraded to cobblestones, and both showed signs of improved drainage. Lamp posts dotted each major intersection. They were no more than simple poles with hooks on which lamps could be placed each night, but it was better than the dark streets she remembered.

Civic improvements abounded. Bronwyn recognised most of the streets and she remembered shops and inns and stables. Now they had been replaced by statues and fountains and gardens. The city was a far more beautiful place than the one she had left, of that there was no doubt.