Chapter One
From
the sea Shelzar is a jewel nestled between stone cliffs rising
from the waters like the walls of a broken jade bowl.
From the desert plains looking down the lush green patch work
quilt of vineyards and villages, out to the indigo background
of a luminescent sea Shelzar is a wonder difficult to believe.
After weeks of dust, heat, and desolation in Mounds of Men the
suddenness of Shelzar is stunning to every sense of the body
and mind.
No other place in the Scarred Lands effects the psyche as Shelzar
does. Shelzar is the gem of imagination, the heavy red promise
of fulfillment, a silk veil sheer enough to convince you that
under her surface is more than even the wildest of desires could
reach for. For a price Shelzar is all of this, and much more.
Harlot? Yes, of course there is a price. Shelzar is the City
of Sin, but also the city of wealth and trade. There is power
in the glitter, lust in the gold, fever in the songs and colors
that stream through the streets like playful storms.
It is because of this sudden emersion when arriving at Shelzar
that the Urkadan tribesmen make it a habit to stop on the edge
of the desert, just at the point where her walls can be seen.
They stop here, on the edge and contemplate the city of sin.
Shelzar is phenomena, which if not approached wisely brings
death, for even in a city of plenty, one can feel desperation.
"It doesn't look that far away." Mac Anu says to
Naill, looking down across the green miles to the city spires
below. "Looks like the road is clear too. We could make
it there in a few hours." Bending down, he chooses a flat
stone, and skips it down the hard pack of the trail.
Naill looks around. The Urkadan are setting up for the night.
Cooking fires were being made, and beds dug. The tribe is preparing
for night fall. "Maybe it's further than it looks, some
trick with the ocean air." Naill ventures.
Mac Anu looks at her, but is trying to find something in his
memory which poked its head out when she says that, but is now
ducking back down behind boxes full of things he had forgotten.
"I remember something about that, where did I hear that?"
"Sailors." Naill says, looking down at the city,
and then to the meditating Urkadan warriors. "They are
just sitting there, staring at the city. Do you think they might
be worshiping it?"
"Sailors?" Mac Anu asks.
"Who else?" Naill says, "The Urkadan worship
Enkili right, and Shelzar is Enkili's city. Maybe this is a
ritual of Enkili or something."
"Why would I listen to sailors?" Mac Anu asks.
"Because they have great stories." Naill answers,
still watching the Urkadan warriors for any changes or hand
movements that might tell her something about the ritual. The
Urkadan remain stoic for the most part, the simple still of
doing nothing else but observing. Naill realizes that in the
last eight weeks of travel with the half-orc tribesman known
as the Urkadan, she had never seen them so fully attentive to
a single subject. On the trails, they see every where, pay attention
to everything, like wolves. Pack predators.
"Sailor's have stories about fish Naill." Mac Anu
says, and sits down on a rock, "And women they have loved,
or raped. It’s hard to tell the difference the way the
stories are told."
One of the Urkadan breaks his stillness to turn and smile.
He is one of the younger ones, and had spoken with Naill and
Mac Anu often on their journey through the deserts from Darakeene.
His name is Ashmon, he is twenty-four, a single season older
than Mac Anu, and six feet eight inches tall, two inches taller
than Mac Anu.
"I can see you've heard the same tales Ashmon." Mac
Anu says, answering Ashmon’s smile with one of his own.
"I think it is a little different, I remember something
about raping fish, or fish becoming women." Ashmon says,
and stands up. “Sailors are not the best source of information.
I’m surprised you listen to them.”
“Why have we stopped?” Naill pipes in. Being only
five feet tall in a group whose average height is seven can
be a problem, but it is never a problem for Naill. If she is
not being noticed, she simply yanks out a few arm hairs. People
start looking for her. “Is there some type of worship
or ceremony to this?”
"We are not worshipping, we are preparing.” Ashmon
replies, “We live in the desert, where things are hard,
and hot and dangerous. There are not many colors in the desert.
You have to look hard to find them. Below, the city is rich
and amazement is easy. Below, it is simple to get swept away
like a bird in a sand storm, and most of the time just as dangerous.
Here it is safe. We sit, and remember and grow accustom to the
wonders of Shelzar."
"Does it help?" Naill asks.
"Not really, but my father says fewer of us wind up in
jail when we do it this way." Ashmon laughs.
"Well I don't want to be here all night when there are
warm beds and fine wines only a few miles away. I think I'll
get my horse and head in." Mac Anu says, turning to leave.
"Mac Anu, you have trusted us to bring you this far, trust
us one more night. Next time you come to the City of Sin from
the desert, you can rush in, and then you will know if we were
right." Ashmon suggests.
Mac Anu continues to saddle his horse, and seeing that he isn’t
going to be talked out of going, Naill quickly saddles her own.
“What you don’t realize” Mac Anu says with
a good natured smile as walks his horse pass Ashmon, “Is
I never really trusted you all that much.” and gives the
half-orc warrior a lazy salute.
Ashmon returns the salute and laughs. “At least stay
out of the temples, you are too good with the dice.” Ashmon
says and leaned back on the rocks to watch them go down the
trail to the city of Shelzar.
It is not yet twilight as they start down the road, and yet
lights are already burning, sending sheets of color across the
darker sides of the dome spires and cupolas of the larger buildings.
On another trail coming in from the east of the city they can
see merchant trains, with teams of oxen ponderously pulling
wagons stacked high with goods. Some are coming from the Dwarf
settlement Naill heard about, Fort Erie. Others are coming in
from Calastia or perhaps as far away as Vesh.
Shelzar is a city of trade, and does not care about wars and
boundaries, or about who hates who outside its own walls. Commerce
is a language of equality. Human, elf, dwarf and even some of
the races of Titan spawn can trade within the walls. If you
can not trade then perhaps you can entertain, and if you can
not entertain, perhaps you are handy in some way. The true minority
in the walls of Shelzar are those of no value. In fact they
are an endangered species.
Mac Anu watches the large merchant train as it makes its way
to a gate in the wall. He is close enough now to see the black
enameled armor of Calastian heavy horsemen. He knows little
about Calastia as a land, or as a government, but what he knows
he doesn’t like. The Black Dragon and this thrown are
better off without him.
On each side of the road are rows of grapevines, growing across
wooden tresses. The vines are thick with wide leaves and purple
fruits, swollen like bruises. Mac Anu leans down with the grace
of a dancer, flicks the blade of a small dagger from the sleeve
of his jacket, slices a bunch cleanly from the vine and gracefully
returns to his saddle. The dagger blade disappears as he pops
one of the fruits into his mouth. The taste of the grape is
much richer than he expects, and juice coats his lips. He breaks
off a branch from the bunch and tosses them to Naill. “You
have to try these, they are amazing.”
Naill catches them without looking away from the Calastian
merchant train, picks a grape from the small bunch. Her eyes
widen at their flavor. “You’re right…”
she says, and looks around, calculations running through her
head. “I’m surprised there are any on the vines.
What keeps people from just taking them?”
"Not everyone is a thief.” Mac Anu says.
“Sure they are, just most are amateurs.” Naill
responds, popping another of the fruits in her mouth. “Besides,
this close to a desert full of nothing, you would think that
there would be an animal problem.”
Mac Anu raises an eyebrow, and looks around. “True. Not
that I know much about animals.”
