A Tale of Crown and Country

Tavin

As much as Tavin hated travelling again, he couldn't just stop in the middle of his journey: that was just postponing the inevitable.

    Tavin woke up groggy and lightheaded, though a little more relaxed after the bread-throwing incident. He needed to get moving if he was to arrive in Ilane, the next town on the map, before night fell. He'd heard that bandits were prominent in this area of the country. On the roads between Odeila, Aldira, and Pharia it wasn't uncommon to see a band of roughly clad men on horseback. They stole what they wanted, though in general they didn't hurt anybody. Tavin wondered what King Crolimus had done to quell them–or what he'd done to deserve them.

    So Tavin wasn't taking any chances. After dark he'd be the most vulnerable, especially travelling alone with such a small dagger for protection. He hadn't much money, but when all the rich merchants and courtesans vacated the roads for warm lodgings he'd be the only target left.

    He also wondered why the towns in Allriya were so far apart. Surely with such a large population they could have afforded to build more settlements. But, as Tavin knew personally, people liked to live around other people. Urbanization, was a term he'd read somewhere to speak  to this phenomenon. The Vastranese had come up with it. Figures, Tavin thought, they were the brains of the continent, no matter how strange they were.

    Tavin set off as the sun was rising over the plains. As he exited the town merchants had already set up their wares in preparation for the day. Tavin wondered how they could have so many customers. The town was considered the entry into Jayakan, but he hadn't seen any Jayaki yet. Compared to the previous Allriyan towns, Odeila never slept, its vibrant energy pulsed only slightly less bright at night, but it never faltered for a moment. Before most reasonable people were awake the town was ready for the day. And they were even further south than before: the sun rose earlier than in Reightneir.

    Dry yellowed grass crunched under his feet as Tavin journeyed down the solitary road towards Ilane. He knew after mid-day he'd have to take the left fork towards his destination lest he end up closer to the Vastran border. The road was dustier than usual and he wished it would rain soon. The dry air felt like it was coating his lungs, and yet he knew it would only get worse the further south he went. He just hoped that being by the sea, Aldira was more temperate than inland. A few carts passed him by, but nobody gave a second glance to the lonely boy at the side of the road.

    By mid-morning Tavin had lost track of how many carts of horses had passed him. This was a much busier road than he'd travelled on before. Every time a cart rolled past it coughed dirt up into the air, and every time a horse galloped past Tavin feared he'd be trampled underneath.

    He wasn't scared of horses per se, but they were not his favourite ride-able animals. He much preferred a wooden cart to riding astride an animal larger than himself that could probably smell fear.

    Eating an apple as he walked, Tavin licked every last morsel of fruit from the core before tossing it to the side of the road. He looked out at the endless plains on his right, and to the distant Inglewood on his left. He knew that to the right the grassy plains turned to dry, lifeless earth; and beyond that the Jayakan border.

    The sun beat down on him, drifting in and out of the cloud cover. It gave off an annoying gleam that forced Tavin to watch his feet rather than the road ahead. He didn't have anything except his hand to protect his eyes from the sun's rays, and quite frankly his arm got too tired at a certain point. He longed to escape to the shade of the forest. Tavin knew that near the crossroad the forest nearly met the road, then maybe he'd be able to ditch the road for the shade without sacrificing precious time. That was one thing he had neglected to think about when considering travelling to Allriya, and something he'd never bothered to listen to from people who'd been: the heat. Tavin was acclimatized to the north: the freezing winters, the harsh northern winds, the rain on rain on rain in the summer and snow on snow on snow in the winter. He was used to barely seeing the sun except for glorious summer days when the temperature was high enough to venture outdoors without a coat. Tavin's day-long travels had made his transition to the Allriyan climate more gradual and therefore more difficult to detect. Only once reaching Odeila, half-way through the country, had Tavin really begun to notice the change in temperature and the effect the air had on him. He didn't want to think about how he'd fare in a place like Vastran or south Jayakan. He'd read that it hardly ever rained let alone snowed, and that it was the same temperature all year round: unreasonably hot.

    Tavin guessed at the time based on the level of the sun. It was a rudimentary and incredibly flawed method of evaluation, especially considering he was much further south than he was used to, but Tavin guessed he had a few hours before nightfall. He'd always been good at arithmetic.

    He reached the crossroads shortly after. He made sure to take the road towards Ilane and not Yvern, and was soon content to find that the sun had permanently disappeared behind a cloud. He'd have some shade until night fell. That meant not going out of his way–literally–to hide at the edge of the trees.

    Tavin caught the sight of Ilane's lights up ahead. He smiled to himself, more out of having avoided being robbed than completing the journey. The mind-numbing daily walks between towns were all starting to fade into one long memory. If he didn't think about it at all, he thought he might forget those moments altogether.

    Ilane was larger and more established than Odeila, he could gather that much even from such a distance. It was a city rather than a town, small by Allriyan standards, but about the size of Brekka. It had a wall surrounding the city limits. The road from Odeila led straight to a large open gate on the northwestern side of the city. He was getting closer to the capital, and the cities were starting to show it. A mass of carts were lined up in preparation to enter the city, too many to fit through the small gate even two at a time. Lights lit up the wall around the city and the tops of the buildings within that disrupted the dusk sky. Tavin was sure this city never slept either.

    But most impressive was the body of water to the south of Ilane. Lake Ayera's bright blue waters reflected the setting sun. It extended into the distance past Ilane, and Tavin knew it wound for miles towards the coast before disappearing into the Adith Sea.

    It was a beautiful sight: the bustling city, the glimmering lake, and the distant sun retiring for the day. For this first time since leaving Reightneir did he truly feel relaxed, like he knew where he was again. He didn't know if it was the proximity to trees again, the body of water, or the large city before him, but outside of the city limits where it was pleasantly warm and quiet, Tavin felt better than he'd felt in Odeila. Ilane was a jewel compared to that city.

    Because of the distance between Ilane and Aldira Tavin would have to spend at least three nights en route. It also meant he didn't have to depart at first light as he always did. Tavin couldn't wait to find out what sort of interesting characters Ilane hid within its leaning structures and stone walls on the banks of Lake Ayera.