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LAND OF SPIRITS

The House of Ariyon

Chapter 7

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Ninte had hoped to approach Velniya unseen, so as not to draw attention to her disheveled and filthy appearance. However, as she arrived closer to the town, she soon realized that would be impossible.

First, along the edge of the woods on the other side of the river, she saw a group of lumberjacks with heavy axes resting upon their shoulders. They were accompanied by a pair of enormous horses who dragged great wooden sledges piled high with the wood gathered from that morning’s felling. As they noticed her, a flash of alertness briefly crossed their faces. One of them nodded to her from afar with a gruff look on his face when she finally passed them.

A bit closer to the town, she came across three fishermen placing willow basket traps at strategic points in the river where the current led the fish to small openings between the rocks. They ignored her when she reached them, but she noticed they all were armed with long battle knives hanging from their hips.

As she crossed the wooden bridge that led her safely over the river, she held her breath. Before her, stretching out and curving away on either side in the distance, rose the enormous wall encircling the town. It was made of slabs of dark gray rock, roughly hewn and in places ill-fitting, likely because the wall had been constructed hurriedly in fear of the Mano.

Directly ahead of Ninte was a huge gate made of thick, dark wood, carefully carved and slotted perfectly into place in stark contrast to the scruffy wall that surrounded it. The gate was sitting wide open, and upon it, swirling patterns could be seen carved and painted on its face. Ninte also saw that the gate had a huge crack in the wood that had been poorly mended. On either side of the gate stood two guards clad in leather cuirasses, holding tall spears with sharp tips that glinted in the afternoon sun. Glancing upwards to the top of the wall, Ninte could see that there were also guards patrolling the wall above, carrying bows in their hands and quivers brimming with arrows dangling from their belts.

Residents of the town could be seen nervously going about their business within the borders of the wall, and occasionally a small group of folk would emerge from the gate and head out along one of the many dirt paths that forked out and led away from the wall. After a moment, Ninte realized that Veynar had been standing motionless before the wall for some time, and not wanting to draw any further undue attention to herself, she spurred him on with a click of her tongue and a gentle kick of her heels.

As she passed through the stone archway, she could feel the guards’ eyes following her every move, though to her surprise and relief they made no move to stop her. The guards and the apprehension she felt around them were quickly forgotten as Veynar moved deeper into the town. While the wall was huge and made of solid stone, the buildings within were narrow and mostly built from wood. The further she traveled into the town, the nicer and larger the houses became, but they all shared one thing. The walls and door of each house, like the great wooden doors she had passed at the gate, were covered in carvings, However, many had been left half-finished or poorly maintained. Staring at the facades of the buildings, Ninte did not notice Veynar turning a corner. The crowd around her, that had steadily been growing denser, became a thick throng that forced her to dismount and lead Veynar on foot.

Looking around, Ninte realized that she had arrived at the entrance to the town square, where she felt an uneasy atmosphere in the air. She ignored the flashes of the dream she had the night before, entering her mind once more. In the distance, she could see the manor of Lord Ariyon, and the watchtower rising above. In between, wherever there was space, there were many small stalls pressed up against the walls of the buildings surrounding the square. Each stall was brimming with shelves full of statues, trinkets, pots, paintings, and even instruments on occasion. As she took in the sights and sounds around her, the smell of roasting meat wafted past her nose and caused her stomach to grumble loudly.

As Ninte had no way of trading for the source of the delicious smell, she reluctantly forced her eyes away from its vicinity and focused on the enormous statue in the center of the square. Picking her way through the throng of unfamiliar faces, Ninte moved closer. The statue was a depiction of Eviyra, Goddess of Beauty, which must have been carved from many pieces of bright wood that fitted perfectly together, for although she could see no seams, the statue was surely far too large to have come from a single trunk.

At the base of the statue lay a wide, round pool of clear water that trickled from a spout protruding from the ground between the Goddess’ legs. Townsfolk were sitting along the side of the stone walls that kept the water confined to the pool, so when Veynar ambled over and began to drink deeply from the pristine water, Ninte simply stood by, holding his harness and stroking a hand up and down his mud-speckled neck.

A tap on her shoulder caused her to spin around with a start so fast that she almost lost her balance and was left staggering. She was confronted by a plump man with a bald head, a gray mustache, and bright red cheeks. He glared at Ninte, his eyes darting between her and Veynar as he stood with his arms folded and resting on the crest of his belly.

“Horses, nor anyone for that matter, are permitted to drink from the fountain of Eviyra,” said the man, practically spitting the words at her.

Ninte said nothing, though her free hand went instinctively up to her shawl, checking it was still firmly in place. She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but only managed to stammer a hoarse “S-sorry, I didn’t know” before her eyes shot to the floor and she yanked at Veynar’s harness, pulling his head from the pool as he looked around, confused.

The man’s face softened at her apology, and he reached out one hand and gently squeezed her arm.

“Hey now, I didn’t mean to startle you. Too many people around here have no respect for the Goddess, but I get the feeling you really didn’t know, did you?”

Ninte shook her head, her eyes darting up to look at him.

“That’s a fine steed you’ve got there, and it seems clear you haven’t made arrangements for him yet. I can recommend a good stable owned by a friend of mine here in town. He’d be able to get this fellow cleaned up and fed for you. Then you could do the same. It looks as though the pair of you have had a hard road.”

Ninte shook her head. “Yes, we have,” she said, looking at the man and relaxing slightly as his face transformed from stern to kind in an instant. “I would love to clean up, but I’m afraid I have nothing to trade.”

The man thought for a moment, and Ninte looked down in shame, waiting for the inevitable call to leave. But the call never came.

“If you have nothing to trade, I’m afraid your time in this town will be hard.”

Ninte’s heart dropped. The journey over had been so hard that she hadn’t had time to think of what to do once she arrived. She suddenly felt very self-conscious. The dirt on her body and clothes made her itch and she reached up, drawing her shawl as far over her face as it would go without slipping from her head.

“I do have a thought that might ease your troubles if you’re interested,” he said, having noticed the look of despair on her face, and Ninte nodded cautiously. “Like I said he’s a fine steed. I’d be willing to purchase him from you if you’re open to it. That would take his care off your hands, and I own an inn nearby, I could give you a room in return for him.”

Ninte blinked and swallowed past the familiar lump forming in her throat. Sell Veynar? If she did then she truly would be alone. But what other choice did she have? With nothing to trade for food and board, the pair of them would be back out into the forest where they would not last long.

“So, do we have a deal?” he asked.

“I would need meals as well as a room. Will you give me both for him?”

“You drive a hard bargain,” The innkeeper said. “Two weeks food and board.”

“Three,” she said, her confidence growing.

“Agreed. But I can’t have you looking like that if you’re to be staying at my inn. I’ll ask one of my serving girls for some new clothes for you.” He looked at her as if he wasn’t sure whether he should regret the deal they had just made or not. “Follow me,” he said eventually.

Ninte followed him through the crowd, leading Veynar with her. As they reached the entrance to the inn, the innkeeper had one of his servants take Veynar’s reins and lead him to the stables. Ninte was fighting back her tears, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. Then, he opened the door to the inn, and she followed him inside.

The inn was certainly nothing special, but as Ninte made her way up to her room and closed the door behind her, she felt most relieved. She waited until one of the serving girls brought her a set of new clothes and filled a shallow tub with cold water, at which point she got undressed. In the end, it took the better part of an hour of sitting in the tub, scrubbing aggressively with the rough brush she’d been given, before the last remnants of mud were finally washed away. When at last she was clean and dry, she pulled her new clothes over her pink, raw skin and stretched, enjoying the feeling of fresh cloth on her tender arms and back. She threw away her old clothes, except for her gray shawl, which she tied snugly in place over her head, after having cleaned and dried it as best as she could.

With no mirror available to her, she adjusted the headpiece as best she could and took a look around her cramped room. The bed was small, old, and hard, but compared to sleeping in the wilderness with no respite from the roots and rocks digging into her back and sides, it may as well have been made from the clouds themselves. A dirty window at the far end of the room looked out into the street, or at least it would have if it hadn’t rusted shut and wasn’t so grimy that any light passing through took on a brownish-green tint. A handful of candles had been provided to her, but since the innkeeper had told her she would have to pay for more, they lay unlit on the floor next to her bed.

The room was very little to look at and had she seen it a week prior she may have been disgusted at the thought of spending even a single night there, let alone having it as her home for the foreseeable future. However, now, she looked at her new residence lovingly, and felt happier than she had been for a long time.