Chapter Nineteen

Once I had gotten the general idea of Garlomphen's Quitrem, Nyvern showed me to the next Quarter on the list: 'Kareemph's Quitrem', or the 'Craftsman's Quarter'. The archway for this was made with the same basic foundation as the last Quarter, but instead of being covered in stone boxes full of plants it had metal working built into the foundations and was painted in the form of brick working.

When I stepped in, the difference between this Quarter and the last one was shocking. They were complete opposites, for there wasn't a plant in sight here. Five small stone towers had been built in a circle in the center of the Quarter, and in the center of that was a statue of a large anvil with a hammer on top of it. Each tower seemed to hold the offices for a specific form of craftsmanship. One dealt with metals, the next with bricks, the next with wood, the next with jewels, and the last with leather and linens.

Outside of the ring of towers was another and much larger ring, but it was made up of the stonework and walls that created the backs of the shops there. Every so often there would be a small archway that helped you to get to the street in between the shops that faced one another. The shops were organized by type and specifications, so that forgeries melted into brick working, which melted into wood working, which melted into jewel crafting, which melted into fabric working. The switch between each style of work was smooth and hardly noticeable.

The light in here was provided by various torches hung up on the walls. There were shafts cut out of the ceiling as a sort of ventilation, and the excess smoke and gases would funnel up these shafts to the surface. Cut out of the stone along with these shafts were stairs that followed the shafts' progress, so that workers could go up and check for breaks or decay in the upper stonework.

Instead of having tunnels cut back into the rock wall as the last Quarter had done, these had the homes cut out from the rock face, creating an entire section of the wall into home after home. The front doors of each house was visible this way, as the houses were cut out of stone right above the other ones. In front of the houses were large stone walkways, supported below by structures that jutted out from the walls and held them up. At equal intervals, stone stairways had been built for people to get up and down from the cliff face.

Also, on the ground floor level, there was a great many pillars set at equal intervals for decoration and flair. On the upper levels, there were less pillars, but they were still there behind the large white railing that ran along the edge of the walkways. In all, there were four levels of houses, and they went around the span of the room at equal intervals for each level, with ten to twelve feet between each house on its left and right sides.

The nine leaders for this Quarter was one blacksmith, one stone mason, one chandler, one engineer, one leatherworker, one tailor, one miner, one jewel crafter, and one common laborer. New leaders were chosen every three years to take the new posts, though they were always the same professions in place.

Once we were done with 'Kareemph's Quitrem', Nyvern showed me to the next Quarter of the city, the 'Marglom's Quitrem', or the 'Magic Quarter'. The archway for this Quarter was covered in magical runes that signaled protection and power. As you stepped through the visible curtain of magic in the archway, you felt your skin tickle as the magic glided over you.

The vast Quarter was full of small globes of light that floated in the air called Wisps, who were small spirits that carried and delivered messages, as well as contained small magic of their own. The little lights were all over the place, floating down stairs or rising to the uppermost levels of the Quarter.

This particular Quarter had a very strange lay-out. The whole thing was created with magic, and crystals stored with magic power were glowing on the cave walls. At the top of the cave was something similar to the Northern Lights, lighting the cave in various colors. However, these 'Northern Lights' were actually made up of raw magical substances.

In the center of this Quarter was a single large tower, and at the top of the tower was a large round crystal, which was surrounded by the magical light the mages had created. Around the bottom of this large tower was a circular building that completely surrounded it, with open archways going through it to get to the central tower. I was told that the large circular building was the library, where all the books, scrolls, and runes were for casting spells and other small things.

Mages were, as a whole, very fond of books and learning, so many of them often became scholars as well. Apart from that, they were often scientists and great thinkers.

The way they had their Quarter set up was past unusual. Most of their houses were lined up out in the open, with houses stacked one on top of the other. Another strange thing about it though was that they had more of those houses underneath of the main section of the Quarter. Tunnels led underground at regular intervals where mages had casted permanent spells on special crystals to keep the pathways lit up. The underground tunnels held bigger houses with simply one story each, giving the inhabitants more room to spread out.

This also seemed to be the most organized Quarter in the city. The mages had a habit of needing perfection at its best, so they shaped the buildings and walkways to a rounded grid pattern that made them able to find their way around with ease; no back tunnels or hidden passages. It was a very useful trait to have.

The nine leaders of the Magic Quarter had been carefully chosen, since magic-users had a way of letting their powers corrupt them. The nine leaders consisted of one mage, one scholar, one scientist, one librarian, one alchemist, one sorcerer, one warlock, one psychic, and one fortune teller. Some of them don't sound important, but many strange things have been known to happen around werewolves.

When we left outside the arch, I took a deep breath. The feeling of magic in there was over-powering.

Nyvern led me to the next arch in the cycle, the 'Tlamite's Quitrem', or the 'Trader's Quarter'. The archway was covered in runes, symbols, and many words from other languages and places, calling forth the far-away cities and lands to join in trade. Of course, this was only calling forth the werewolves to join in trade, but that was a minor detail. As you stepped inside, you were blasted with the smells of exotic spices and scents that foreigners brought with them.

This was the always-shifting Quarter of the city, its inhabitants switching out constantly as visitors came to stay in homes and trade with one another, bringing parts of the ever-changing world with them. Tall houses and shops were laid out in a triangular grid pattern around the center point, which happened to be a large statue of a massive ship, setting sail for some distant land. The shops and houses were put side by side, and were two or three stories high for each one.

In the Trader's Quarter, nothing was ever the same twice. You could walk in there one day to see the front decorated in honor of the Surdian women, and the next day it would be covered in plants and spices, honoring Teirm's spice markets. The colors and people were always moving and hustling about, shifting their ways from one to another with each passing moment. This was the Quarter of constant movement; it was never truly quiet.

The houses were also carved out of the rocks and stacked against one another like any other cities homes were, but this section was also famous for a bit of paint. The houses started out plain, but when visitors arrived they would paint the outside and inside of the house, decorating it in clothes and bits of jewelry and other strange items.

One of the most difficult things concerning the Trader's Quarter is finding people who are there long enough to support a government. They finally decided to use one auctioneer, one tavern keeper, one boater, and one person from each of the six major areas in the world. This was usually One Surdian, one Ellesmerian, one Teirmian, one Farthen Durian, one Orthiadian, and one Uru'baenian. Once that had been decided, the Quarter moved on in peace. We left there quickly, eager to move on.

Now, it was time for the 'Nomool's Quitrem', or the 'Market's Quarter'. The archway was supposedly plain, but when you took a closer look you began to see pictures carved into the arch, though the pictures weren't colored. The pictures were mostly of food and baking, but many showed horses pulling carts, a woman taking jewelry, and a man buying a hatchet. Also, as you stepped under the archway, you began to realize why you didn't need anything special; the smell of the foods and spices would almost knock you off of your feet.

This was probably the most lively Quarter in the city, with people hustling about back and forth to buy things at low prices and make it home in time for supper. There were all kinds of wares here, there were wagons, horses, chickens, green foods, pots, plants, vases, silks, linens, jewelry, locks, poisons, weapons, pets, and fortune tellers. This was where the main of the businesses took place.

"Whenever people have wares they want to sell in a hurry, they tend to bring it to the market instead of waiting for people to amble into their territories." Nyvern muttered in my ear as we pushed our way through the crowd. The layout of the Market was very subtle and old-fashioned. In the center of the Quarter was a large fountain for penny tossing so wishes could be granted. Also in the center of the Quarter, at an equal spacing, was a large statue of a basket full of various items, the symbol for marketing.

Centered around the fountain and statue were all the large marketing stalls for the selling of goods. It was laid out in a rectangular format, and all the stalls were made up of wood framing and straw tops. The wares being sold inside varied greatly, and there was no real semblance of order in there. The nine leaders of the area were all chosen as overseers for the running and production of the market.

The homes for in the Market Quarter had been built around the outer walls of the Quarter, and then continued back in tunnels behind the walls, making three fourths of a ring of houses facing each other behind the large stone walls the made the inside of the main cavern. The Market was full of people bustling from place to place, and it took a very long time for us to escape from its tempting clutches. "You want some jewels? They look nice on a pretty lady!" I had laughed to myself before running off after Nyvern, on our way to the next Quarter of the humongous city.