Jeremy Laszlo - The Choosing

“Hello.” Garret greeted the man. “We rented four horses from Raven’s Hold, and were told we could return them here.”

“Indeed ye may lad, but first do ye have something for me?” The large man responded with a deep accent of the like Garret had never heard.

“Oh yes, I had forgotten.” Garret admitted. “Here you go.” He stated, pulling the small parchment from his coin purse and handing it to the man.

The man unfolded the small paper, breaking the wax seal and read it swiftly. Finished with the paper he again folded it as I had been before and stuffed it into a pouch on his belt.

“Let’s get the beasts in their stalls before we complete our transaction if ye don’t mind.” The man stated already headed for the door.

Garret followed the man to the door, and walking through it he watched the man take the reins of the horse that had been Garret’s mount, and asking the others to follow him, pulled the beast with him through the door. The man led them down the length of the long building passing stall after occupied stall of various breeds and sizes of horses. He led them to the far end of the building where a dozen or more stalls stood empty and clean. Releasing one horse into each stall he closed the wooden gates behind the animals and latched them securely in place. Turning to face the travelers the man smiled before he spoke.

“Well now that was easy.” The man said still smiling. “Sometimes they likes to put up a bit of a fight before you locks them up. Well then Let me get ye deposit ere.”

Reaching into another pouch upon his belt the man sifted through it with his fingers and brought forth a fist full of coins. Peering into his own palm he pushed the coins around in his hand counting them. Dropping several back into his pouch, he held his hand out for the group to see the coins he held.

“Fifteen silver be ye deposit for all the beasts ye rented. Now if me knows the way of things in this world, then I’d be a guessing fifteen doesn’t split too evenly between four peoples. Be that as it may, I also be guessing the pretty lady likes to shop and so I gives the money to her.”

The man held out the coins to Sara, who accepted them graciously, not having expected to receive anything in turn for the horses. Accepting thanks from each of the travelers the man led them back across the long building to the door they had entered. Seth paused at the door, and turned to once again face the man.

“Sir, would you be so kind as to point us to an inn?” Seth asked the man.

“Certainly I could, but first I need to be knowing what services it is ye will be wanting at an inn before I points ye to one.” The man replied.

“Well It would be nice to be near a market, as well as able to bathe and wash our clothes.” Seth told the man.

“Ah then, you’ll be needing to visit The King’s Herald, it be one of the finest inns in the city, but it be a bit pricey too.” The man replied smiling once again.

“That’s fine. Could you direct us to it?” Seth asked.

“Indeed I will.” The man responded. “Just follow the main road ye came in on, straight toward the center of the city. Bout Seventeen roads ye will cross when ye comes to the market. Past the market four more streets be The King’s Herald on the left of the street. Just look for the steam, ye can’t miss it.” He told Seth, and without waiting for a reply the man turned and walked back across the building.

Seth walked out the door to join his companions, and barely stepping through the threshold Sara grabbed his hand and entwined their fingers. She smiled at him, happy to once again be able to hold his hand as they traveled. Seth smiled in return and kissed her forehead lightly before telling his companions he knew where they could stay the night. Sara’s hand held firmly within his own as not to lose her in the crowd, Seth turned to lead them through the masses of people toward the inn.

The group weaved in and out of the crowd, taking in the sights around them. All were astonished to note that not every person in the city was human. Sara had met a few members of the other races of men, and Ashton had read about them all, but none of them could have imagined this. There were short stocky dwarves, tall incredibly thin elves, small child like gnomes, and even a few people that must have been cross breeds. The city was brighter now than it had been when they arrived, the sun finally high enough in the sky to shine its light over the massive walls surrounding the city. They walked down the street, their mouths occasionally dropping open in astonishment. The street climbed ever slowly up hill, and as they followed it they noticed a pattern to the streets that intersected it. All the streets were evenly spaced, crossing the one they followed at regular intervals. Seth had quickly noticed, and mentioned to his companions, that each street they crossed seemed to bring them to a different style of building, as if each section of the city had been built in ever older fashions the further they progressed towards the center of the city. They counted the streets as they walked, and enjoyed the scenery. The further they traveled into the city the fewer people crowded the streets making it much easier to walk. Looking back it appeared that the buildings behind them were built shorter and shorter as they went to the outer wall, however they discovered this was just an illusion caused by the road climbing steadily, forever uphill. As they continued to travel down the road the buildings became more and more lavish. Here the buildings were painted with murals depicting different times and stone statues adorned the buildings. All four travelers gawked at the beautiful buildings having never seen such elegance before. Seth hoped that one day he could afford a home as beautiful as the ones here, and he and Sara could enjoy it together.

As they climbed the street, they noticed yet another change in the architecture, now the buildings were not decorative, elaborate, or beautiful. Just the opposite in fact, these building were plain structures, built out of necessity. Most of them had signs above the doors, and windows filled with displays of various wares. They had reached the beginning of the market area of the city. They noticed another intersecting street just ahead, marking the road as the seventeenth they would cross. They walked the side of the street peering into each shop they passed, trying to make mental notes of the locations of any they might want to visit. The market was an expansive portion of the city consisting of nine of the city sections split by roads, and no telling how far the market carried down each side street. People bustled about here darting into and out of shops on either side of the road. In some places carts stood in the street and were either being loaded or unloaded. The shops of the city came in various shapes and sizes and even different colors, just like the people who inhabited it. Most of the people they could see now were all human, though even the humans here showed much variation. Some were pale and creamy looking like Sara, others were more of a tan color like the twins and Ashton, yet others were darker still ranging from shades of pale brown to a color almost as dark and rich as to look almost black.

The market ended abruptly without warning and was replaced by rows and rows of small homes. Each home was built identical to the next except for the varying colors they had been painted. These homes were all built close together, so close in fact that there were even homes behind the homes on the street, with only a small paved path joining them all together and spilling between two of the homes into the street. Looking between these homes there were more just like them as far as the eye could see to the left and right of the road. The masses of identical homes only spanned the length between two of the intersecting streets, and once again the group traveled amongst lavishly painted and decorative homes and offices. The more upscale buildings here lasted for three more intersections, and took them all the way to the section where they found the inn.