The Rise of the Red Shadow by Joseph R. Lallo

Author:Joseph R. Lallo [Lallo, Joseph R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

One particularly chilly night, Teyn was perched in the trees a night's journey away from a rather notable town. He'd never bothered to learn the name of the place because it was far too grand and too crowded for him to consider remaining there, but the sheer spectacle was impressive, even to his untrained eye. It was sprawling, every bit as densely built as the coastal city of Sarrin, but far from the coast and much larger. The bulk of the city was hidden behind a wall. It was not the meager wooden fence that might surround a farm, or the rough stone wall that might surround a wealthy lord's land. This wall was a work of art, many stories tall, its surface smoothed with some sort of tan plaster or mortar such that it appeared to be carved from one massive stone. There was even the faded blue evidence of fine patterns painted along its top edge, where curved and sculpted battlements now and again revealed archers patrolling its catwalk.

Three large gates stood nearly twice the height of the rest of the wall, heavy wood and metal gates hoisted high within their towering arches. At the center of the city within was a single building easily the match in size for some of the villages he'd visited. It was a castle, two small towers standing on either side of one massive one, each square in shape and reaching high into the air. The tops of the tower walls tapered together in a smooth curve, meeting in a pointed spire that bore a waving flag.

Teyn was watching a trio of thieves divide up their night's haul, after having followed them as they worked their way away from the cities walls. It was instantly clear upon first spotting them that these three were trouble. Some of the pickpockets and scofflaws he'd watched were careful not to alert their victims, let alone hurt them. Not so for the ones chuckling and counting out shares below him. Two of them were men, the sort of burly masses of hair and muscle that tended to be found hauling heavy loads from one end of a town to another for a living.

The other one was a woman dressed in clothes revealing enough to provide all of the distraction the group ever needed. Night after night, the woman would lure an unsuspecting man out into the wilderness, where her two accomplices would beat him to within an inch of his life and take all that he had, threatening to finish the job if he ever told how he got his injuries. It was a detestable thing to watch, and Teyn knew that these were tactics he would never put to use. The looks in their eyes as they descended upon the hapless victim, the unmasked glee and shameless reveling, brought back visions of Bartner and his ilk. It boiled his blood. The sooner he could take their ill-gotten gains and be done with them, the better.

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