King's Dragon: Book 2 Teaser Preview

Chapter 3, Part 1: Journey to Frohliem City

Part 1: Journey to Frohliem City

Dax and Scarlet followed the East River down from the Circular Sea to the town of Hillsgate, the gateway to the hill country around the Circular Sea. Going down river, it marked the transition to the great prairie lands of East Landly. From there, water in the East River ran cold south and east out of the hills into the plains, but the fields around the small city of Falls Meadow just ahead were hot and dry in the brassy heat of the afternoon sun. They were eight days out of Hillsgate and nearing Falls Meadow. The road was dusty, and the air was full of haze out on the horizon.

Neither had said much all morning until Scarlet observed, "Lot's of cattle out there."

Dax nodded in agreement. "That surprised me too. There are more than I'd thought there would be."

Scarlet swung around in his saddle and looked back at Dax. "I thought you studied all that stuff ahead of time. 'Surprises are problems,' if I remember correctly."

"And those are words of wisdom," Dax smile and nodded in reply. "However, reading about cattle grazing on the plains of East Landly and seeing them on the hoof reminds me how limited my imagination can be."

The next day, Dax and Scarlet walked their horses through the gates of Falls Meadow. The city was small, but it had a proper gateway facing the main road. Stout wooden barriers hung from stone pillars on either side of the causeway, and they stood open in the afternoon sun. For a hundred feet to either side of the road the wall's builders had used undressed medium sized boulders—probably local field stone, Dax guessed. Beyond the stones the wall continued fortified by stout wooden planks. The fact their city wall had any stone spoke well for the prosperity of Falls Meadow.

Frohliem City, capital of East Landly, lay another two days or so ahead, but Dax and Scarlet were hot and dusty. They decided to sleep in a bed before moving on in the morning. "Well," Scarlet said as they rode through the gate, "I'm imagining a roast, fresh cut from local livestock, along with a cold mug of ale. Where do you suppose we will find this 'Itchy's' recommended by the bar keeper in Tellenton?"

"If it's as good as he said, it shouldn't be hard to find someone who knows," Dax replied.

Indeed everyone in Falls Meadow knew Itchy's Inn, and they located it without trouble. Little Itch, the proprietor and son of the late founder, Big Itch, found them a room and arranged stabling for their horses. Little Itch was a lively, talkative man who showed them to their room.

With a few hours yet until supper, Dax and Scarlet decided to visit the market area. They had plenty of supplies, but they were interested in what gossip might be about. This close to Frohliem City news was fresher and more detailed. Most of the talk they heard was about a new tax King Kankasi was about to levy on each cow over twenty in a rancher's herd. Many dismissed it as mere talk out of the palace, but one man had heard a number of cattle farmers were already gathering signatures for a direct petition to the king to rescind the tax.

All the important people in Falls Meadow patronized Little Itch's inn, and Little Itch knew every thing happening in his city. That evening at supper, he stopped by their table and entertained them with several stories about the locals. Everyone in the stories seemed to have one or two nicknames, and Dax wondered, but Scarlet asked, "So, now that your father is gone, shouldn't you be Big Itch?"

"Nah," Little Itch replied, "m'dad was the big one, he was. Liked his own cookin'. Me now, I've been 'Little Itch' for so long, there's no way to change that. Once yah be named-up, it wouldn't do to change. Gets everybody confused." Not that anyone could possibly be perplexed by the elaborate stock of names, nicknames, humorous tags, and personal appellations that were already in use within the town.