[Adonthell-artwork] A partial description of Erinsford, from a novel in
From:
Andrew Phillips
Subject:
[Adonthell-artwork] A partial description of Erinsford, from a novel in progress
Date:
Thu, 21 May 2009 11:49:25 -0500
I thought I might offer up a small portion of the novel I'm currently working on, which is set in the Cirdan kingdom about a century or so before the events of Waste's Edge. At this point in the story, the protagonists have sailed upstream from Cirdanth and are coming in sight of Erinsford, which at the time was still being called Erin's Ford. The events occur in the middle years of the reign of Erik the Grover, after the Grove had been established. This is just a draft, so it is still rather rough.
The characters, in order of mention, are:
Teodradt Cerfus, a human wizard Bernestim Solmanus, a riverboat captain of the ship Margilith Alastr, Margilith's ship's boy and Teodradt's apprentice, age 8
Koeseric the Young, the orphaned son of a Hunter of Magick and the foster-son of Miralee Sylarine, age 10 Lynnaeth Two-Rivers, Miralee Sylarine's Half-Elvish chambermaid Feldis Trindasoaemae, a Ranger of the College of the Celandine and of the City of Cirdanth
Told from Koeseric's perspective:
Teodradt and Bernestim announced that they would put into Erin's Ford during the morning muster of the crew. Koeseric and Alastr agreed at once and with only a glance to keep to the forecastle rail all day. They would announce the first sight of the town and its mighty bridge.
Alastr told Koeseric it was a big town with rings of walls, the biggest walled town so far upstream. His master, Teodradt, had said: "Cirdan power ends at Erin's Ford. It is the farthest outpost of the realm," so he quoted his master to his new friend.
Koeseric felt just as driven to share and impress as Alastr, so he paraded out a fact Mistress Lynnaeth had shared in passing. "Lynnaeth said there is a canal all around the town, so boats can do back the way they came. The big keep is in the middle of a great mound of pinkish-grey rock that comes up out of nowhere."
"Teodradt told me Erin's Ford used to be an island, or it had creeks and ponds all around it. The rest of the canals are made by hands."
"Master Trindasaoemae told me something, when he was training me to think like a warrior. He said the walls get thicker as you get near the big rocky hill. The walls outside are high and thin. The people live behind them, but that's not the fort. More people live behind inner walls that are thicker than the outer palisades. He said these weren't the fort either. He pointed at the castle on the map and said it wasn't the fort either."