Disclaimer: Still don't own except for those things I came up with, and possibly not them too. Lets just leave it as fare use, okay.
:}
Trina had been concerned about the people in the outstretched, non-clan parts of the Vega lands. She needn't have worried. The people, while far from the clansman they were used too, had no real fight in them. They watched the well armed party ride by, and the only negative reaction were the words of disdain that escaped the peasantry's lips. The locals could plainly see how much more capable the high-born's were. The nobles, well armed and trained, were far too much of these folks. Even the Vega clan militiamen Beck thought so little of were a far better fighting force then the rabble around them, and Trina knew it. 'It's something we'll change, once we have a say in the city. Tori, I'm counting on you.' Trina assured herself.
Any superiority they might have felt, however, vanished with the first sight of the City of Carson. The flatter landscape that led to the River Rollins gave few high points, but that wasn't as necessary as might have been, and before the party knew it, they were seeing the high points of the city, so far away.
"So, how far…" Jade started.
"Closer then you think." Rob jumped in. "The city is huge, and should be visible a fair distance away. But we're in the flatland's, little notable elevation change, except the river, cause it does flow. Huge and navigable from just past the city on for hundreds of miles through Ardun, to the capital and beyond. It's the major trade rout in the southern lands. Every noble, every family in the south sends their taxes and their trade through that city. It's the center of this part of the kingdom, and wealthy beyond counting."
"Didn't need the history lesson." Jade snapped.
"I did." Sam corrected. "The Holly Woods is a city for the south, but for the merchants who wish to stay outside the Vega holdings. The Cenan, I know that one, and I've heard it intersects with the Rollins. But, the where, how, I just… yea." Her blue eyes took in the distant towers that hovered up beyond the minds ability to understand a building that tall. "Magic, right?"
"Mesa." Robbie corrected. "Or rather, Butte, as it's taller then it is wide. But that one piece of real estate was the foundation of the city, a high, safe point on the river where the Carsons could control everything. The tower up there, it's ungodly higher, cause it's already so high up. The city below, it spreads out, and as we get closer, we'll see the walls. That's when the size of the place will hit us."
"You know a lot about the city." Trina noted.
"My family made me study, just in case." The ranger said. "But my usefulness will lessen, dramatically, once inside. I'm a ranger, and I'm at my best out in the wilds."
"That's my job." Sam promised, eyes now sharpened. "But the threats, they'll start well away from the city."
"We have about another ten miles before we see the rest of the city." Robbie noted. "You can almost see the spire from seven leagues away. We're maybe six…"
Tori, for her part, held her breath just a moment, allowing herself to take in the sight of the tower, just a line so far away. "I've never been to Carson City. Dad used to tell us how dangerous the place is."
"I've never wanted you here." Trina assured her sister. "I'm not crazy about my first visit. But if we're gonna achieve our goals, then we need to go there, into the belly of the beast."
Andre, meanwhile, had edged up to the lady. "Lady Trina, I should inform you, another of my kind is in the city, even as we speak. A dragon touched of my clan… I'm thinking, while not planning on abandoning my mission, I should find her, just in case. Sometimes, it's helpful to keep an eye on those who Azurban trusts, because we're, I guess special enough for the great one to use us to speak for the clan."
"Okay, but lets keep this woman safe, just in case." Trina told the man. "You don't think…"
"No, Azurban isn't dumb enough to send a woman to deal with someone like the Carsons." The mistral promised. "Someone male, without the power to make binding promises, so the dragon could keep negotiating should she need too. No, this woman, she's more likely a spy."
"Like you." Jade said, letting him know she'd overheard a great deal. "Admit it, those of you, the dragon touched, you're Azurbans eyes and ears outside the clan territories. You're the one's who can communicate with her, and let her know whats happening. This other dragon touched, she's obviously here keeping an eye on the city."
"Just hope she's no one I know." Andre sighed. "I love the idea of talking to someone who can relate, but we tend to keep just who and what we are secret, even from one another. Odds are, it's not someone I know, but it could be, and that'd be awkward. Best she just be some hot mama I can maybe share a drink with…"
"Not into reptiles." Cat told Jade. "Not that he lacks cuteness. Just, the whole reptile thingy, kinda a turn off for me. Personal tastes and the like. I mean, some of my best friends Are reptilian, and yet, not into banging them. Just, letting you know, cause the thought of those scales against my naked flesh…"
"Maybe we get into the city, and see what kind of information we can dig up?" Jade asked, hoping to get away from her familious's current tirade. 'You could have dwelt on this for the last several days. Why now?'
"Two of them." Cat said as if that was obvious. "Look, I've come up with a solution to your biggest non-dragon problem, and I think I can win you a hot Vega."
"Not now." Jade hadn't intended to snap out loud, but really wasn't in the mood.
"Of course not." Cat assured her. "Just, when the time comes, I'll lead, and you, just react. This'll be… Fun, yea. It'll be fun..."
Ten miles still took over two hours of riding to cross, and all that time, as they crossed small streams and other tributaries leading to the Rollins, the gathering was beginning to see the makings of a lake, and the river that flowed from it to the ocean. Two hours of broken farmlands and the occasional half hearten hamlet. But withing twenty miles of a city, anything bigger quickly faded in favor of the small amount of time it took to head to civilization.
Then, withing five miles or so from the walls, the city spread out before them, larger then the city of the Holly Woods. "Okay, it's permanent population is about the same as the Holly Woods, but it's transients make up over two thirds of the population. One hundred thousand plus at any one time. So, everything we experienced about The Holly Woods, we're gonna get that here, too." Trina warned the gathering.
The first thing they expected was the city to have outgrown the walls, and they weren't disappointed. However, while there were a mix of shanty towns and a couple of overgrown villages that they passed through before arriving at the wall, few things about these settlements outside the city were considered safe. The outside buildings seemed haphazardly constructed, lacking the attempt of a wooden palisade for protection. Instead, they found the city had built it's walls fairly extended from where they had predicted the city would grow too, and so tall, formidable walls greeted them once they made it through the exterior settlements.
"Okay, those walls…" Tori tried to estimate the height.
"Looks like thirty foot." Cat told everyone. "But that's just a guess. If I were to be accurate, I'd sat… Thirty foot to the platform level, plus battlements for protecting the archers, so maybe thirty four feet of wall. Yea, not that formidable."
"It just looks huge." Robbie added, but didn't believe it for a second. High above them, a couple of guards watched as they approached.
Tori smirked at her sister. "Okay, me and Beck cause a distraction while you scale, and we take the wall by noon? Have the whole city by nightfall."
"Tori, be serious." Trina snapped. "I have no idea if Ryder is a good enough climber. I'd have to take Beck, and we all know how slow he can be sometimes. Two days, minimum, more if there's a pretty girl to distract our cousin."
"Um, should we be joking about this?" The Vega clan member, names Simon, asked.
"Why not?" Ryder said. "Truthfully, this is a formidable, fortified city, with vast walls too tall to easily scale, and I'm thinking multiple gates around the city, out of necessity. Thinking the cost of manning those gates, those walls, is daunting."
The Vega banner, unfurled just for that occasion, bought them only the most basic courtesy. They reached the gate, inside a large structure, a small keep designed to be the strong point the enemy would never want to siege, and were only given the barest acknowledgment of being more then any other trader who was hoping to enter the city.
"We have a fee per person, and per animal, to enter the city." A board looking guardsman informed them. "Plus, all weapons must be peace bound while inside."
He barely looked up at them, and only then did he stop. The prisoner, the noble from Carson City, was the one the guardsmen recognized. The odd decision to not tie him up, and to leave him with a weapon, now paid off as the guard was faced with a reality. "Sorry, go right in. You and your party…"
The captured noble didn't make so much as a sound, letting the illusion play out. He knew something he never wanted to admit, that an incident here could well cut the city off from the constant supply of food it needed. Without the aid from the Vega clan, the vast population of Carson would starve withing a fortnight. So instead of calling the guards down on them, something which, assuming they got away, would just bring the throne into this private matter, he stayed quiet about the indignities he'd been forced to endure, and waited his chance to get revenge.
Once inside, the next major difference was immediate. The city of the Holly Woods was expanding. wide and flat. The Carsons had to treat every inch as sacred, so much of the city was built up as these massive multi-use buildings. Five story brick structures where the first floor was given over to shops and crafting, and above was for living. The city had wooden walkways built between buildings, allowing people to travel from one rooftop to the next, making an odd secondary set of communities five stories above the streets. It set an odd, contradictory feeling for the whole city.
"The streets, down here, mostly dark and dirty." Sam told them. "Back in the Holly Woods, as bad as the city might be, it was at least somewhat clean. Too many people here, relying on sewers that were not that well designed. Means garbage in the streets, and an overall dirty smell. I'm thinking, in many area's, the top stories are the one's people with means live in, and they have rooftop gardens and the like, to make everything feel cleaner. Betting they even have a way around the need for stairs."
"If we didn't have horses, we could find out." Robbie offered.
"On it." Cat squeaked, her invisible form flying up to have a look. Moments later, she was back. "Elevators in the buildings, and rooftop communities. Literally small houses of wood on the brick buildings. Neighborhoods with plants and life and a lot less garbage to deal with, all above our heads. Just, they have to have some method of getting water up there. But I think I saw some establishments as well, so a whole other world up there, for those who live here. Crowded, but also innovative. Just, how do they handle the extra weight of the buildings? I mean, they have to have some kind of special something, or the rooftop communities would be collapsing the whole city down around everyone's ears."
"Magic." Jade guessed. "Or really good architecture."
"Alchemi." Beck sighed. "I heard the Carson's hired a talented Alchemist from this collective, and while I have no doubt they used them for various magical tricks, if it were me, I'd have made damn sure my buildings wouldn't just fall apart."
"Cat…" Jade scanned for signs of magic. What she saw amazed her. "Not the current alchemists. No, whomever did this was years ago. Mixed into the mortar, pulling the whole together, granting it strength beyond expectation. These buildings will stand another century, as long as no siege tears them down." She looked around again. "Thinking we need to find us an inn."
"No." Trina smiled. "The hunt started already. No inn. We head to the castle, on the butte, and we make the Carson's play host."
"And the people trying to kill us?" Tori wondered.
"That's the hunt." Trina reminded her sister. "Lets see how long it takes for them to make their attempt."
They didn't have to wait that long. Several attempts were being plotted out, from the man who got close and tried stabbing Trina with a poisoned dagger, only to find her armor thick enough to stop the attack, to the bar fight that would turn deadly if only the Vega's had chosen to stop there, each plot was made and worked out. Given the bounty the Carson's had placed on Trina's head, there were multiple factions plotting to take her out. Only, a city as large as Carson, there were factions, and among the thieves and rouges, assassination wasn't the most profitable calling.
There was also a strong breeding ground for rebellion within the walls, especially when a tyrant ran the city, demanding a cut of everything. Most cities had those who felt they'd do better under new leadership, but Carson, with it's "corruption as normal" practices, bred them like locust. The result was that there was another plot afoot, this one fueled by the Carson's plotting against Trina, and the reaction to that news. The bounty placed on the Vage heir's head screamed of fear, and if the untouchable lords of Carson City were afraid, then that meant hope for those who opposed them. Underfunded, undermanned, the rebels would not be out plotted.
Multiple plots would soon intertwine, causing a shift even the Carson's couldn't have expected.
It happened so quickly, the participants were never fully aware of how and when things started to happen. First, someone, a guardsman on the take redirected the envoy from the Vega lands and her entourage down a specific street, then waited for them to be forced off their horses before alerting his allies. The small unit wanted their taste of the bounty on Trina's life, as well as a shot at some of the other comely women in the party. Only Tori was to be left unharmed, the orders said as much, and to guarantee the best chance at that, they'd have to avoid using ranged weapons if possible. So they sent the mounted party down the right street, and waited for the cart to be pushed out to block the road. A second cart cut off any retreat, and the assailants swarmed from either side, intent on overwhelming the nobles with numbers.
Unfortunately for this large, organized assassination attempt, not one of them had anticipated any threats beyond the group on horseback. No one knew where the archers came from, just they had taken the high ground, and were launching missiles intended to defend the nobles. Bolts and arrows, as well as a few sling stones, rained down on the two groups of would be assassins as they tried to close with the mounted warriors. Safety became about being close to the horses, pulling one of the high-born's off and dealing with them.
It was a fools errand. The knights and nobles were far better trained and understood the power of being on horseback as long as possible. They fought from horseback until forced off, or it just wasn't feasible any more. Knightly training meant using every advantage, including the strength of the horse, and the advantage of height over one's foe. The Vega's held onto that advantage down to the last second when they'd be dragged off their horses, and even longer. Using one another as shields, to keep hands and weapons at bay, they dismounted quickly behind their mounts. Now that they'd traded mobility for the short protection of the mounts as shields, they were able to form up and protect each other from the swarm. In time, they knew, they'd be overwhelmed. It would cost the relatively untrained locals heavily in lives and numbers, but the nobles knew they'd be taken down by the mass of enemies, eventually. The enemy were armed with whatever, but brought knives as their easiest to conceal weapons, and easiest weapons to acquire. Others had different weapons, allowed by different resources, but for the moat part, it made little difference. The were close in fighters, and they faced a shield wall now. The knights, the Vega's, they understood the different aspects of this kind of engagement. They used their shield wall to keep their distance as long as possible, racking up a heavy toll in dead and wounded foes. Still, enough enemies would win the day, even if it was by climbing over the wall of dead and dying before them.
Jade had been saved from this ambush by the simple act of the Vega's clansman Simon, who'd helped her get on one of the carts, and then, helped her shift things to protect them both. Cat, for her part, wove a simple illusion of them being someplace else, then of cover, and the locals lost track of both people.
Sam was at home in this kind of brawl, and only needed someone to watch her flank to stay alive. Robbie, less comfortable, wanted to get someplace where he could bring his bow into play, only realized he had no need, instead moving the two to use the horses as temporary cover until he formed an equine wall that separated a good deal of their assailants from the party, and left very clear targets for those above.
"I think I see what Robbie's doing." Tori screamed to her sister. "He's using our allies above to help contain the attack."
"No, he's using the archers to counter the numbers." Trina said back. "Right now, we might lose a couple of horse, and trust me, I'm taking that out of the Carsons hides, but it's also protecting us."
"It also means we have allies." Beck suggested. "Ryder?"
"I'd heard the Carson's were unpopular rulers, but that's never counted for much." The knight suggested. "Where are our city experts?"
"I think Jade and Andre are hiding." Beck told him. "Sam and Robbie, in the thick of the fight. Just, how long can we hold out..."
The answer was the corrupted guards hidden among the ranks of assailants. As the last of the known fighting men fell, an arrow in his back, the thugs decided they weren't ready to face an opponent who gave better then they received. At first, it was one or two who realized the cost of this bounty. But in the end, the crowd broke almost as quickly as it formed, and fled into the city.
After the latest ambush, the Vega delegation needed to regroup and decide what to do with their new situation. "Who's wounded?" Beck called out.
"Nothing major." Trina said. "My armor stopped it."
"Same here." Ryder said. "That should have been much worse."
"Simon's hurt, but it's not bad." Jade told them. "Cat hid us, and I decided to leave it at that."
"Nothing we can use against the Carson's." Beck sighed.
"Really?" Andre asked. "Our guide is dead." He glanced down at the slain nobleman who had oversaw the betrayal of their clansmen from earlier. "No one told the mob that he wasn't on the target list, and when he ran, cause why not, they cut him down. Yea, we need to find something…"
"Maybe." A female voice cut in. "Just, is that Samantha of the Puckett's?"
"Carly?" The blond asked, noting the leader of the rebels as she made herself seen.
:}
Okay, who wanted Carly? I am happy to oblige. Hay, the rebels needed a leader, so why not. Also, what were your thoughts about the city of Carson. Betting you're planning on moving there right now, right? So, review.