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Post by Elanorîn on Sept 3, 2005 17:50:31 GMT -5
Kynak growled a little, glaring at Jared who didn't seem to care and whistled along even though Kynak had stopped. After a bit he hummed it instead.
A "Shut up."
Artanis snapped at Jared who didn't react at all and hummed on.
A "I said-"
J "I heard what you said." He continued to hum.
A "Then Shut. Up!"
Jared put his feet up and began to hum a bit louder with a smug grin.
Grig grabbed his axe and threw almost hopeful looks at the back of Artanis' head.
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Post by taur on Sept 4, 2005 3:10:28 GMT -5
Taur contemplates it himself, when he sees Grig raising his own weapon. Of course, they were a little close to the city to be thinking of escape. If they caught them, though, it would merely be a minor punishment. Few would miss Artanis.
Yet, he decided to stay his hand, all the same. He would consider it later, depending. He gestures for Grig to lower his weapon, shaking his head and nodding towards the city.
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Post by Elanorîn on Sept 4, 2005 4:43:37 GMT -5
Grig looks at Taur with a dark look for a few moments and then mutters to himself and lowers the axe. He keeps it in his hand however and very close. Throwing dark looks at Artanis every so often.
Artanis gives off an exasperated sigh and falls quiet while Jared keeps humming loudly. He has completely lost the melody and seems to be humming notes at random. It sounds really quite awful.
A couple of young boys playing, or rather fighting, on the back of a wagon further up ahead suddenly stops and starts looking with wide eyes at Artanis and Jared. Their little wooden swords being completely forgotten in an instant and their jaws drop.
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Post by taur on Sept 4, 2005 13:20:19 GMT -5
Taur contemplates stuffing hay into his ears to block Jared's humming, but he eventually decided that he didn't really care all that much. Besides, he found it pretty amusing.
He eyed the kids and their swords, smiling slightly. Afterwords, he returned to his thoughts. Who would he end up fighting, what kinds of opponents, and would it be straight fights or would obstacles be involved? He was ready to test his Notbora, by now.
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Post by Elanorîn on Sept 4, 2005 15:25:23 GMT -5
The two children seem to be getting quite excited and whispers wildly between them before one scurries off in to the wagon and the other remains, shamelessly staring at them without barely even blinking.
Two men on mules pass them heading in the opposite direction. They are laughing. One of them looks up at the wagon and looks at them curiously and then continues on.
The closer they get to Fardinn the busier the road becomes and they get more and more curious looks. As they come up to the Gate the sky is darker and the sun has just lowered out of sight. The gate is high, wide and made completely of stone. Six very large flags hang off of poles at the front, each with the colours of the six provinces. There are also a number of coat of arms set in the stonework along both sides and across the top of the gate. At the roof there are four men pacing back and forth. One with a halbred and three with longbows. The gate is only a little higher than the wall that extends in both directions. The opening is quite narrow and very high with a portculis that can be seen at the top. The gate is deep and there are three sections to it before getting through. In front stands four guards. Three humans and one Elf. The Elf to the right and the other three to the left. They eye everyone coming out since by now no one but them seem to be heading in.
As they come closer one of the men and the Elf eyes them suspiciously but after a moment the Elf returns to watch the leaving people. The human however raises his hand in a very official way and takes a few steps towards them.
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Post by taur on Sept 4, 2005 15:35:30 GMT -5
So this is what a city was like. The gates seemed like the kind of thing he would imagine Gods or powerful spirits building for themselves, not men. He wondered if it was to mimic the powerful, and show the world a powerful face, while the inside was less so. Then again, that would be an incorrect assumption. If this was the capital, they would hold many warriors under their war leader. They were strong too, just in a different way, one that he was not sure he was entirely comfortable with.
To him, you meet your enemy head on. Just as he was direct in speaking, so too was he direct in battle. He chose a target, and removed it. If there was a battle, it would be conducted on a field, man against man, blade against blade... not hiding behind walls.
He watched the Human, waiting for Artanis to deal with him.
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Post by Elanorîn on Sept 5, 2005 5:35:53 GMT -5
Artanis brings the wagon to a halt and turns to face the guard as he approaches.
The guard comes up to him and speak in a very formal tone.
G "Name, goods and errand, sir." He eyed the wagon over professionally.
A "Artanis Brenhow, my fighters and equipment, the Games." He said with a grin.
The guard nodded and gave another look inside the wagon and then nodded again.
G "The Alectis is in the Tryne District. Southwest of the Wintermark't." He turned away before he had quite finished and returned to his post. Waving them to carry on.
Artanis gave the horses a smack with the reins and they proceeded through the big gate. On the other side houses crowded together. Most of them so close you could only walk between them sideways, many even shared a wall. Most were only one or two storeys high and whitewashed, though some painted afterwards. Making the colours around them a warm mishmash of dark yellows, white, pale beiges, light browns and dark reds. There were people, mostly on foot, crossing back and forth, some heading out through the gate and most of them carrying goods of some kind or leading a donkey that did. Through the window of one house a woman with a white headcover leaned out to weather some cloths. She gave them a stern look. The noise was markedly louder than what could usually be heard in Tregamber. Lots of talking, shouting and animals clappering on the cobbled stone and bleating, barking, whinnying etc.
Jared turned around and aimed a big grin at Taur.
J "Large city." He chuckled.
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Post by taur on Sept 5, 2005 10:04:59 GMT -5
Taur puts his hands over his ears, frowning at the amount of noise this place produced. Overall, though, it was an interesting place. He could tell that he would not like living here, or anyplace remotely like it, but it had its charms. Just none that were particularly charming to someone who preferred wide open spaces.
"Yes..."
Very large city. It was like entering a forest of stone. Why people would want to live so packed together was beyond him, but again, it had some charms. He supposed, most of all, that its greatest advantage was that one could protect the children of the tribe quite easily in a place like this.
He looked around, wondering if he would be able to see the arena from here.
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Post by Elanorîn on Sept 5, 2005 10:23:02 GMT -5
They continue down that same street for some time. Judging by the ones branching off it both to the right and left at irregular intervals, it is probably one of the main streets of the city as it is considerably wider, a good two and a half wagon widths wide. Some of the alleys branching off are half that and others only wide enough for the average thin person. Lots of lines hang criss-crossed overhead between the houses, some without anything on them, some with sheets and drying clothes and one or two with shrieking and laughing children climbing like little monkeys. One window bursts open and a rather fat woman bellows out at them.
W "CIRIATH! COME DOWN THIS INSTANT OR I WILL BREAK YOUR FINGERS OFF, I SWEAR!"
The children laugh a bit quieter and one scruffy looking boy makes his way over her way, making faces at his friends.
On the side of the street there are plenty of people selling goods, most of them are involved in complicated haggling conversations with either customers or each other. There are lots of taverns, bars, restaurants and eateries. Each with a good crowd of merry patrons making the din even louder.
They eventually reach a square. The houses along it are higher and straighter. Some even have stone pillars in front of themmaking them look very official. Some are decorated by friezes, depicting scenes of battle, lounging Gods, trade and so on.
Jared gives Artanis an unimpressed look.
J "You really don't know where you're going, do you?"
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Post by taur on Sept 5, 2005 10:46:53 GMT -5
Well, at least the children had a lot to do here.
Taur took his hands away from his ears just in time to hear Jared's comment and barely stiffled a laugh. He wouldn't be surprised. In fact, that would be about right.
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Post by Elanorîn on Sept 9, 2005 16:22:52 GMT -5
Artanis gave Jared a deathglare and returned to steer the horses that continued on through the large city. The streets became bendier as they went on and over one of the big bridges.
A good while later (and through his sense of direction Taur would be able to tell they had gone anything but the straight route even though the place was new to him) a large unmiostakeable structure came in to view. Suddenly close by as they cleared a corner and it'd be almost a bit surprising how one hd not caught sight of it sooner. The facade was smooth and light grey of perfectly laid limestone ashlar. Cut in to it were hundreds of openings in rows on top of eachother, like glassless windows. Four rows in total on top of the base arcades of pillars and arches. A good 8-9 metres of the groud there were huge banners and flags gently swaying in the evening breeze. They made the grey structure come almost alive with brilliant colours. They were regional flags, provincial flags, city flags, city region flags, coats of arms, Stable colours, Emblems of some of the more famous Gladiators; Taur can make out and recognise those of both Treyken, Karm and Tianna from up North, easily enough.
The din in the wagon quietened down and all the men seemed to be watching the big arena with respect and anticipation.
Artanis gave the horses another whip with the reins and they hurrtied along the wide street that ran around the Arena. They followed it along for a little bit, giving them a good idea of just how big it was. The big streetlevel arches began to widen suddenly and they had reached the stables. As Artanis negotiated the wagon inside and in undernieth the foundation of he big structure via a wide sloping cobled ramp, jared leaned back from the front seat with a wide grin.
J "This is it. What do you think of the old girl Alectis, Tah? Within these walls I wager enough blood has been spilt to fill The Waters should they ever dry out." He glanced up a bit before he looked back at Taur. "A bit different from the old pits, eh?"
As they came down the ramp extensive stables stretched out on the left side. It is cool down here and there is quite a loud din of horses bustling about and people running around. To the right is a large arched area filled with empty wagons parked neatly to save space.
Three men approach the wagon as they stop.
M1 "Name?"
A "Artanis Brenhow."
The second man runs his grubby finger down a very long list, flicks it over, runs it down again and then taps it on the paper and nods. The first man glances on the list and nods.
M1 "Disembark here. Greydon will show you to your chambers. Your wagon will be over there-" he points a little way away "for four hours for you to unload it and then it will be parked until the tournament is over or your team is out, whichever is the sooner." He gave a nod, turned to leave with the man with the list.
The third man remained and eyed them over with a grin and arms crossed over his chest.
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Post by taur on Sept 10, 2005 19:04:35 GMT -5
Taur nods at Jared's remark, keeping his eyes on the vast structure. The thing was amazing, in the way that a mountain was.
He didn't listen much to what the others said. He climbed off of the cart as ordered while replying to Jared.
"Much. This is war. That was skirmish."
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Post by Elanorîn on Sept 14, 2005 15:03:25 GMT -5
The others followed Taur as he got off the wagon. The man, still grinning, yed them over, especially Taur.
"Northerners, eh?" He nodded and then took a step to lead on. "Your rooms aren't far, they're on this level... just a bit further on." He grinned and began to show the way.
Jared who had began to follow stopped as he heard the words and then gave Artanis a severely disapproving look. Artanis threw him one in return.
A "You're coming." He commanded Jared.
The man stopped a little way ahead since not everyone seemed to be keeping up and looked back curiously.
Grig looked back and forth and watched the exchange while Kynak was just walking ahead, ignoring it all.
Jared's frown deepened as he heard Artanis command. He immediately turned to Taur.
J "Come on Tah, I know just the place, on me." He gave him a tap on the shoulder and began to walk in the other direction.
Artanis suddenly looked like he was about to explode. He opened his mouth to shoud something but stopped himself as he looked around. They were beginning to catch a bit of attention.
Kynak suddenly stopped and turned to see what was going on. The man that had greeted them seemed to almst be a bit amused as he scratched his head and pretended not to look.
A "Tah you- stay- got that?" He spat between his teeth.
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Post by taur on Sept 15, 2005 1:12:49 GMT -5
Taur glances between the two of them for awhile, and at the arena itself. Without any real hesitation, he turned and followed Jared.
Any chance to severly piss off Artanis was a chance that could not be wasted.
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Post by Elanorîn on Sept 15, 2005 2:11:40 GMT -5
Jared grins as Taur seems to decide to join him and gives Artanis a triumphant look.
Artanis takes a few hurried steps towards them until he is close enough to Taur to speak without too many people hearing.
"Know your place, slave." he gave Taur an angry glare, gritting his teeth.
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