(eng) Niall Teasdale - Twilight Empress 01 by The Iron Princess

Author:The Iron Princess [Princess, The Iron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Part Five: Thunder

Taking action. Prosperous and smooth. Thunder comes – alarm! alarm! Laughing and talking – ha, ha! Thunder shocks a hundred li. The sacrificial spoon and chalice do not fall.

– The I Ching.

Approaching Istollam City, 17th Day, First Marita, 207.

It was late afternoon when Ayah heard someone call out that they could see Istollam ahead of them. She got up and hopped down from the wagon: she could easily keep pace on foot and she wanted to get a look at her first city.

In the afternoon sunlight, the city of Istollam looked rather grey, but the fact that she could see the walls from a few myls away suggested that it was big. Somehow, she had expected something with gleaming spires and white walls. Istollam was not that. Returning to the rear of the wagon, she swung up into it easily and returned to her seat.

‘That’s a little anticlimactic,’ she said.

‘What did you expect?’ Suyin responded.

‘I don’t know. Something… brighter.’

‘Stone is stone,’ Jun said. ‘It’s usually grey.’

‘Very artistic.’

‘Astollar’s an attractive city,’ Suyin said.

‘True,’ Jun agreed.

‘And the Iron City has its good points, so long as you stay away from the industrial quarter which is ugly and smells.’

‘The City of the North is… unusual,’ Nareel put in. ‘It started as a winter trading camp for some of the tribes. It has a very high wall, but a lot of what is within is only semi-permanent.’

‘Then why the high wall?’ Jun asked. ‘The Great North Wall keeps it safe from anything to the south and there’s nothing much to the north.’

‘For the same reason the Great North Wall is there. The tribes still fear the coming of the qiangjianfan, even if most people in the wider world consider them myth. The wall was not built without reason. It has been several centuries since a horde attacked the southern lands, but the wall is there to remind us that they have. So, the City of the North has a strong, high wall around it.’

Jun gave a shrug. ‘I still think they’re a myth.’

Nareel almost smiled. ‘When they are ripping you limb from limb and eating your heart, I will be sure to remind you of that.’

‘That’s a nice thought,’ Ayah said. ‘Let’s hope we’re all long dead before that happens.’

Nareel nodded. ‘I agree. Being eaten alive is not something I wish to experience.’

Suyin let out a giggle and Nareel looked at her, frowning. ‘Oh, Nareel, you just have to have the right person doing the eating.’

Istollam.

Closer up, the walls were more impressive. Tall and thick, they were made from large blocks of grey stone mortared in place and with long embossments dotting them to reinforce the structure. The top was crenulated to give cover for archers and there was a massive gatehouse straddling the road ahead of the convoy of circus wagons. It would take a sizeable army to breach the defences of Istollam.

Within the walls, the stonework continued. The buildings on either side of the street were stone on at least the ground floor.

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