Can you describe how this ancient city has de-evolved over the last thirty years? These old maps of this 1000-year-old civilization need to be updated. The 500-year war has ruined this once great imperial city. Ten years ago the benevolent king was murdered by the prince-regent heir to the throne as the 500-year war approached peaceful truce and a long-sought end of hostilities. The queen-mother and her handmaid saw the prince leave the king's chambers with blood on him. The prince's dagger was found on the floor by the king's bed-closet. While the prince is still free, escaped these ten years, the empire and the war under the rule of the Queen-mother and her only son, has fallen. Enemy armies are three days march, yet the nobility and merchant class blindly ignore the situation and focus instead profiteering from the destitute and displaced refugees that have grown the city population four-fold. Chaos has begun. The poor filled the harbor and fields seeking food. Gardens have been raided. Shops robbed. Murder and prostitution, and suspected cannibalism rule. Through all this, and thrown into a whirlwind of intrigue, a beautiful acrobat and her brawling sibling join with a reputed master burglar and a wizard-slave to end the war before the city is besieged and destroyed.
3 parts