RivalGates.com
  • Home
  • News
  • Quest
    • Prologue
    • Chapter 1
  • Crucible
    • Chapter 1
  • Revenge
    • Chapter 1
  • Blog
  • Buy

Have a thought? Add to the Blog.

Sunday Excerpt, "Crucible" @Solsticepublish, @Solsticeshadows

12/21/2014

0 Comments

 
Within the walls was the castle itself. It too was a paradox. Rather than being built as a fortification, it was made to be a palace. Undoubtedly, the structure was being constructed to proclaim someone’s glory rather than protect it.

The city was a hive of congestion and urban sprawl lining a narrow north-south running river. With no thought having been put into planning, it had grown around the palace and followed no logical path. As they came closer they saw merchants clogging the streets peddling everything imaginable. The entire city was one giant marketplace. Not a single house could be found within the market. Only shops, stands and tents lined what had to be called streets for lack of a better term. Shacks which dared to be called homes, encircled the trading zone

Linvin stuck his face between the bars of their cell and called to a nearby soldier marching alongside. “Is that where we are going?”

“Yes,” replied the guard who looked around to make sure no one saw him talking to a prisoner.

Linvin asked more. “What is that place?” Again the goblin looked around and then said, “Marinhalk...It is the capital of the Empire.”

“Why are we being taken there?” Linvin inquired. Before the goblin could speak a whip struck him from behind. “Silence,” ordered his Goblin Sergeant. “You do not speak with the Emperor’s prisoners.” Linvin found the comment to be strange. They had become ‘The Emperor’s prisoners’?

Linvin could not help but compare Marinhalk with the other capitals he had known, Sarice and Fraylic. In the comparison, Marinhalk was the dismal poor cousin.

Sarice was the finest fortification in the world. Its inhabitants built a dense, well-organized capital for an endangered kingdom. Her walls displayed might and her stone interior resisted fire that could be used in a siege. The complex multi-level buildings made all possible use of the protected area.

Fraylic was an entirely different, though equally impressive capital. Having no pressing defense worries, the Sartanian Capital took no measures to fortify its exterior. The founders laboriously planned an infrastructure of wide, straight streets stretching out from the city’s center like the spokes of a wheel. As the city expanded, so did the roads. Trade could flow swiftly and efficiently through the economy. It was the perfect hub for a trade route.

Marinhalk possessed none of the others’ characteristics. Linvin needed no history lesson to discern the seat of power had been chosen in the empire’s early days due to its central location and proximity to fresh water. A wooden fort had been built and merchants clustered around. As the empire grew, engineers spent their energies building roads and distant fortifications to project the empire’s borders. Clearly the philosophy of the empire was to take the fight to the frontiers and never let it near the base of power. Such an aggressive and expansionist viewpoint meant the capital was left to grow on its own, without guidance or direction. In addition to a lack of adequate streets was a total neglect of sanitation and access to drinking water. With the addition of the autumn rains, the city was a quagmire of refuse and human misery. In the capital of the mightiest empire in the world crime, poverty and starvation held greater power than any army.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Fantasy fiction is my passion.  This series embodies my love for a good story and action.  You will find it to be many things, but not boring!  Read what you love and love what you read...

    Archives

    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.