Dinly yawned long and loud. "Oh my, but I don't think I got enough rest last night, and we rose ere the sun this day. And speaking of last night, Ryn, could you say again just how all this came about. I was rather sleepy, you know, and I think I may have missed something in the telling."
"Well, Dinly, speaking of getting up early, what say we have some breakfast, and Rynna can tell us then," said Beau. He looked at Linnet. "I could use a good wake-up cup of hot tea."
They stepped to their ponies and mounted and rode toward the camp, faring down the slope Silverleaf and his captains had ridden up the evening before…
Bearing the flags of Darda Galion, Darda Erynian, Arden Vale, and Kraggen-cor, seven rode away from the camp of the legion and toward Caer Pendwyr above-War-leader Vanidar, Corons Eiron and Ruar, Chieftains Urel and Durul, DelfLord Volki, and Commander Rynna. Rynna felt somewhat out of place, having no flag of her own, but neither did the Baeron, and they seemed no less for the lack. Up the long slope they rode, to come at last to a steep embankment, the earthworks stretching out left and right, spanning the width of the headland. In three places along the rampart there stood heavy-timbered, wooden gates: center left, center right, and midmost. And above the gates stood warders, sentries in red-and-gold tabards. Vanidar had chosen to ride to the center gate, and now he and the others paused below.
"We have come in answer to the High King's call," said Silverleaf to the warders above, "and Lord Steward Voren has summoned us unto council. I am Warleader Vanidar, Lian Guardian"-he gestured to those behind-"and these are those whose armies I serve."
Rynna's eyes widened. These are those whose armies he serves? Hmph! Eight Warrows. Some army.
"Welcome, my Lord Vanidar," called down the gate captain, "we were told to expect you"-his gaze widened at the sight of Rynna-"though not the Elfchild you bring."
Before Vanidar could respond, Rynna said, "No Elfchild am I, but the commander of the force of Warrows."
Now the captain's eyes widened, and he breathed, "Waerlings." Recovering, he turned and spoke a command to unseen soldiers below, and Rynna could hear the rumble of a drawbar being pulled.
Through the gateway they rode, and beyond the earthen dike were pitched row after row of tents, among which flew standards from poles, demarcating where soldiers from various lands were encamped.
Riding alongside Ruar, Rynna said, "I see most of the flags bear a golden griffin on a scarlet field."
" Tis Pellarion," replied the coron. "The High King's flag."
"Well, they greatly outnumber the others."
"As it should be," replied Ruar. "The remainder are but token forces, left here to show the unity of the Free Folk."
Riding at hand, Coron Eiron barked a laugh. At Rynna's inquiring look, he said, "I see that Lord Steward Voren has had the good sense to separate the Fjordlanders from the Jutlanders and from the Gelenders as well."
Rynna looked to where Eiron pointed: a blue-and-white streamer flew at one corner of the camp far to the right; while far to the left and diagonally across the whole of the ground flew a green, orange, and yellow banner; and entirely opposite at the third corner set a red, blue, and white flag.
Eiron shook his head. "Uneasy sits this truce, I would say."
"Truce?"
"Aye, for they are eld enemies but temporarily united against a common foe."
Ruar shook his head. "Humans."
Eiron cocked an eyebrow. "Forget not, Alor, we were once as mad as men."
Ruar reluctantly nodded, as across the encampment they rode.
They came to another wall, this one of stone and high, and once again were permitted entry through a warded gate, beyond which lay the city proper, with its cobblestone ways and buildings of stone and brick and tile, stucco and clay, most of which seemed to be joined to one another, though here and there were stand-alone structures. Narrow streets and alleyways twisted this way and that, the pave stones of variegated color. Shops occupied many first floors, with dwellings above. Glass windows displayed merchandise, the handiwork of crafters and artisans: milliners, coppersmiths, potters, jewelers, weavers, tanners, cobblers, coopers, clothiers, tailors, seamstresses, furniture makers, and the like.
Rynna's gaze widened at the sight of the many and varied shops, and more than one of each kind, for she had not dreamt that such could exist, so different from the village of Springwater. And onward they rode, Rynna's head turning this way and that, marvelling at the plentitude.
Footway traffic was light in the eve, and they saw only one horse-drawn wain trundling through the streets, and this a water wagon. And Eiron said, "Pendwyr is a city without wells, and water is borne from shafts and springs down on the Plains of Pellar."
"Doesn't that make the city vulnerable to siege?" asked Rynna.
Eiron shook his head. "See the tile roofs? They are fitted with gutters and channels cunningly wrought to guide rainwater into cisterns for storing. The water from the plains merely augments the supply."
"It must rain often, then," observed Rynna.
"Aye," said Eiron. "Seldom does the city need rely wholly upon water from the plains."
"What about water needed to quench fires? Have they enough to do so?"
Eiron laughed. "Look about, wee one. This is a city of stone and brick and other such… things which do not burn."
Rynna gazed 'round, and the only wood her eye easily found was that of the brightly painted doors and shutters.
Eiron then said, "After the Chabbains destroyed Gleeds by fire-and were themselves destroyed-High King Rolun moved his court to the fort on this headland. And thinking upon the city just lost, 'Never again,' he declared, and he decreed that all buildings in Pendwyr must be made of stone, of brick, of that which would not burn."
"So it was then; so it is now," said Volki with an air of finality, and on through the city they fared.
Past shops and stores, past restaurants and cafes and tea shops, past inns and taverns, past large dwellings and small squares, past greengrocers and chirurgeons and herbalists they rode. And they crossed through several open-market squares, empty now that the day was done.
Finally they came to another gateway in a high stone wall running the width of the narrow peninsula. Again, Vanidar identified himself to the warders, and again they were permitted ingress. Beyond this wall the character of the buildings changed, for here were located a great courthouse, a tax hall, a large building housing the city guard with a jail above, a firehouse, a library, a census building, a hall of records, a cluster of university buildings, and other such- here was the face of government, the agencies and offices of the realm. Although impressed by the scale of the buildings within this quarter, it seemed cold and cheerless to Rynna and not nearly as marvelous as the city behind.
And as they rode forward, Caer Pendwyr loomed ahead, the citadel tall with castellated walls all 'round and towers at each corner, all enclosing the castle of the High King. When she and the others drew near the caer, Rynna could see that it sat on a freestanding spire of stone towering up from the Avagon Sea below. The fortified pinnacle was connected to the headland by a pivot bridge, a span which could be swivelled aside by a crew in the castle to sever the fortress from the headland.
At the moment the bridge spanned the gulf, guards at either end.
They gave their names to a captain, and he summoned two pages, sending one to fetch Lord Voren to the north turret chamber and the other to guide them on their way.
They were led through corridors and up spiralling stairs to a room high within an outer turret, and although Rynna was thoroughly turned about, Volki declared that indeed they were in the north tower, the one overlooking Hile Bay.