From The Ashes

Chapter Six - The Lady Of Serpent's Blood

Arvayn Bryvaris

"Arvayn! Arvayn, wake up! We're coming up to the gates now!"

Arvayn opened his eyes, woken from an oddly deep, dreamless sleep. He hadn't fainted again, but he might as well have.

He'd managed to stay awake for the first half an hour or so of the journey, and it had felt good at first. The slow steady rush of moving air had helped clear his lungs, and had even eased the pain in his chest a little, to the point that drawing breath no longer took so much effort, and he could draw in deeper without flinching or coughing.

Then the fatigue had kicked in from fainting last night, making the sideways rattle and unsteady sway of the cart become a horrid sensation, dizzying and stomach churning.

He'd been speaking with Locke at the time, still avoiding deep personal subjects with him, and mostly discussing simple things, like the tales they heard recently coming from the far off village of Bleakthorne about strange, unfortunate goings on, the use of dark magic, and even the rumour that a Duskguide from their guild in the town of Loridge had been called to investigate. He'd gone quiet then, and he'd had to lie down as he'd felt like he was about to faint yet again.

Locke had seemed disappointed to end the discussion, but nevertheless went to entertain himself by moving to the front of the cart to ask Blythe for any interesting gossip. He must have fallen asleep shortly after that, as he couldn't remember anything else beyond that point.

He jolted upright, finding Locke sitting in front of him once more, his elbow resting casually on the side of the cart.

"How're you feeling? You alright now, yea?"

Arvayn nodded, "Better, definitely."

Locke raised an appraising eyebrow, "Truly? You don't look it. You're pale enough for me to still consider sending you to see a doctor."

Arvayn shook his head earnestly, "There's no need. Really, I'm fine."

"Fair enough. Faint again though and that'll be where I bring you. Wouldn't want you waking up and not knowing where you are, being confused."

"Mm."

They both turned forward to face the slowly rising peaks of the large limestone walls of Tay. It was like Kriggan's walls in many aspects, both were large and imposing structures, yet it also felt very different. Kriggan's walls were made of a darker basalt stone, and had a cruder almost rickety formation. Tay's walls, however, were lighter and of a more grey hue. They had a similar structure, yet somehow also looked sturdier, despite a curtain of wallflowers and other hanging plants draped in winding half spirals over several of the watchtowers jutting out of the wall.

There were five of these towers, a standard amount for a relatively small, yet well off and defensible town. It would likely have a higher authority in charge of it's governance, likely a mayor or governor, perhaps even a baron answering directly to the king himself.

It wasn't completely irrational to think these things, considering the town's background. Arvayn had never been within its walls himself, but knew that it was supposedly the first settlement ever built in the whole of Tayrul. Apparently starting as a humble farming village in the First Age, and expanding at the conclusion of the First Age and into the early Second Age into a gradually larger town. He found it odd that it had remained so after several millennia of change and conflict. Yet he also found he appreciated it for what it was, it was still standing and functional, which is more than most things many millennia old can say.

They approached the main gate, which was about as large as the one in Kriggan, though with more elaborate decor, with ancient iron supports wound over the wooden face of the doors in the flowing shapes of ivy vines twirling and intertwining into elegant, vein-like shapes.