Read Online The Jongurian Mission by Greg Strandberg - Free Book Online
Authors: Greg Strandberg
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in person, to actually walking those streets.
As Halam had said, houses began to crowd into the road as the sun moved from burning their necks to stinging their eyes. The road began to widen, and where once there were nothing but rolling fields, there were now hills. The road climbed and dipped amongst them, and soon there were crowds of people thronging the road, many more people than Bryn had seen anywhere at one time before, even during harvest days in Eston.
Finally as the sky began to grow darker with passing minute, they headed over one final hill. Before them, set into a large valley, lay what could only be the city of Plowdon.
She was set like an immensity upon the land, fields surrounding her and roads leading from all directions. Bryn gaped open-mouthed at the sheer size of the city. It took up acres and acres of land. Fields were all around the walls, farmers busily working them. Countless wagons and people on horseback moved to and from the city gates, three of which Bryn could see set into the immense city walls, which towered over the flat fields around them.
Built hundreds of years earlier from stone cut and chiseled from the Montino Mountains and transported downriver on immense barges, the walls were the tallest structures that Bryn had ever seen; that is, until he looked beyond them into the city itself. Well inside of the walls, moving toward the center of the city, roofs began to push upward into the sky, reaching, and then surpassing, the heights of the walls built to protect them. Up and up they rose as they approached the city’s center, where what could only be the royal pala jutting up into the sky above them. Built over several generations reaching back hundreds of years into the past, well before the walls were a shadow of their current glory, the Tillatian kings built there palace on some low hills surrounded by the choicest farm land for leagues. Begun as a defensive castle in a time when danger could come from anywhere at anytime, the palace had grown over the years to include several more buildings erected around the original castle keep. Great spires were built to reach ever higher, providing views of the surrounding countryside, as well as any possible threat of danger. Now, however, the palace held only a commanding view over the city that grew around it, keeping a protective eye over the lives of thousands, any threats from outside being things of the past.
“Well, lad, welcome to the capital of Tillatia,” Halam said over his shoulder. “What do you think?”
Bryn had a hard time putting what he saw into words. Every description of the city he’d heard or read didn’t do justice to the sight before him. Finally he was able to utter just one word.
“Amazing !”
“Aye, ” Halam laughed, “that she is lad, that she is.”
Halam urged Juniper forward on the road, and they continued down the rise of hills to the valley floor below, heading toward the main gate of the city.
Wagons laden with goods moved in and out of the city gates as they approached. Two large guard towers rose on each side of the massive wooden gate, and a thick portcullis made of steel hung above their heads as they passed through the massive doors and into the city.
Once inside the hard-packed dirt road under their feet gave way to well-worn stone cobbles heading off in a myriad of directions to form a city square. Lanterns burned from posts well above the street, providing light. Wide avenues jutted out from the main square in front of the gate, trees lining their long promenades. A large fountain made of carved stone sat in the middle of the square, fashioned to look like three women holding up offering bowls to the heavens. Numerous small stands were set up, merchants calling out their wares to passersby, offering everything from shabby cookware to fine silks from Jonguria. People bartered and argued with the sellers, their faces hard and unyielding one minute, smiling and friendly the next.
The sheer
As Halam had said, houses began to crowd into the road as the sun moved from burning their necks to stinging their eyes. The road began to widen, and where once there were nothing but rolling fields, there were now hills. The road climbed and dipped amongst them, and soon there were crowds of people thronging the road, many more people than Bryn had seen anywhere at one time before, even during harvest days in Eston.
Finally as the sky began to grow darker with passing minute, they headed over one final hill. Before them, set into a large valley, lay what could only be the city of Plowdon.
She was set like an immensity upon the land, fields surrounding her and roads leading from all directions. Bryn gaped open-mouthed at the sheer size of the city. It took up acres and acres of land. Fields were all around the walls, farmers busily working them. Countless wagons and people on horseback moved to and from the city gates, three of which Bryn could see set into the immense city walls, which towered over the flat fields around them.
Built hundreds of years earlier from stone cut and chiseled from the Montino Mountains and transported downriver on immense barges, the walls were the tallest structures that Bryn had ever seen; that is, until he looked beyond them into the city itself. Well inside of the walls, moving toward the center of the city, roofs began to push upward into the sky, reaching, and then surpassing, the heights of the walls built to protect them. Up and up they rose as they approached the city’s center, where what could only be the royal pala jutting up into the sky above them. Built over several generations reaching back hundreds of years into the past, well before the walls were a shadow of their current glory, the Tillatian kings built there palace on some low hills surrounded by the choicest farm land for leagues. Begun as a defensive castle in a time when danger could come from anywhere at anytime, the palace had grown over the years to include several more buildings erected around the original castle keep. Great spires were built to reach ever higher, providing views of the surrounding countryside, as well as any possible threat of danger. Now, however, the palace held only a commanding view over the city that grew around it, keeping a protective eye over the lives of thousands, any threats from outside being things of the past.
“Well, lad, welcome to the capital of Tillatia,” Halam said over his shoulder. “What do you think?”
Bryn had a hard time putting what he saw into words. Every description of the city he’d heard or read didn’t do justice to the sight before him. Finally he was able to utter just one word.
“Amazing !”
“Aye, ” Halam laughed, “that she is lad, that she is.”
Halam urged Juniper forward on the road, and they continued down the rise of hills to the valley floor below, heading toward the main gate of the city.
Wagons laden with goods moved in and out of the city gates as they approached. Two large guard towers rose on each side of the massive wooden gate, and a thick portcullis made of steel hung above their heads as they passed through the massive doors and into the city.
Once inside the hard-packed dirt road under their feet gave way to well-worn stone cobbles heading off in a myriad of directions to form a city square. Lanterns burned from posts well above the street, providing light. Wide avenues jutted out from the main square in front of the gate, trees lining their long promenades. A large fountain made of carved stone sat in the middle of the square, fashioned to look like three women holding up offering bowls to the heavens. Numerous small stands were set up, merchants calling out their wares to passersby, offering everything from shabby cookware to fine silks from Jonguria. People bartered and argued with the sellers, their faces hard and unyielding one minute, smiling and friendly the next.
The sheer
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