“How are you going to explain that to the Captain, huh? That’s supposed to be special-issue. We won’t even get another shipment of that quality for months, probably! All the way from Pallass once the Blood Fields are frozen.”
“Ahem. Of course, that is how the phenomenon actually occurs. But the impetus is largely magical…I see you know your way around some natural events. This particular storm will not be raining any creatures, however. It truly was someone simply sending unwanted rain our way. It may be a scandal, although given how the Drake cities squabble—I detected it from the south. Perhaps as far as Pallass.”
“Indeed, indeed! I suppose it’s arrogance to think that I knew everything. Why, they might be doing this in a Walled City like Pallass…and you’re kind enough to keep me from looking like some back-country rube. Thank you, Miss Solstice.”
“I bought this with a bunch of the gold we got. The Lich was mostly carrying magical reagents in a bag of holding, by the by. If it was artifacts, we’d have fought over a staff. Unfortunately, it was just rare alchemical ingredients. Some [Alchemist] in Pallass snapped it up, so I got some fancy robes I’d been eying. And they’re pristine, so watch the drink, Calruz.”
“Most of the new adventurers are coming from Pallass but it’s taking a while given how far they’re coming. I bet we’ll get a lot more and probably even some Human ones, but not for a few more days at least. Anyways, the reason all the adventurers are here is because of those new ruins. Didn’t you hear about them? Apparently, it’s some kind of underground complex—a huge one! They uncovered it a few days ago. Some [Shepherd] was walking with a herd and saw an opening in the hillside. It might be a dungeon.”
Liscor was definitely no trading city like Pallass, the closest Walled City, but it occasionally got high-profile [Merchants] making a journey that essentially locked them into one part of the continent for a year. Unless they took a sea route to mitigate the High Passes issues.
“The Bloodfields run? It’s not something I’d do often, but I have a bunch of ore from Esthelm and Invrisil’s latest fads. It’ll be gold for copper—if the Bloodfields are quiet. I’m bound straight for either Hectval to unload the ore or, if they don’t want what I’m selling, Pallass’ steelworks.”
“Oh, of course. Certainly. Um, you can give me a few silver coins and it will get there, but more money means a faster delivery. Sorry, but it is overseas. Maybe I could get someone to pay for an image-[Message]? But that’s gold. How about two silver and I’ll copy this to Baleros for a slow Runner letter—and to Pallass? Maybe someone will send it back to the Titan. They’re all rich in the Walled City. Tons of famous [Strategists]. Heck, the Cyclops of Pallass lives there. Uh, the Grand Strategist of the Drakes.”
Pallass had sent their observers…for a time until they realized the cost was too high. They had their own kind of watcher, the Cyclops, though his role and Gazi’s—and their natures—were far different. She had passed through his realm mostly quietly. He knew better than to make unnecessary foes.
At some point, her father had told her that [Lords] of various families had petitioned the five great families of the north—Reinhart, El, Veltras, Terland, and Wellfar—along with the remaining Walled Cities—Manus, Zeres, Fissival, Oteslia, Salazsar, and Pallass—to relegate the fighting to one spot to prevent civilian deaths.
Drakes had a social hierarchy. More than that, they had a strict way of dealing with the chain of command, even when dealing with opposing factions. Thrissiam was from one of the Walled Cities. He hailed from Pallass, most northern of the six Walled Cities. It had been chosen to lead the suppression effort against the Goblins. As one of its better [Generals], Thrissiam was naturally an important Drake although he was not quite as important as a council member, Lord or Lady of the Wall, or the most elite echelons of Drake nobility.
It was one of the things that separated the Walled Cities from the lesser Drake city-states. Only a Walled City had the population and the pure bloodlines to field an entire battalion of such warriors. Only a company had been sent to accompany General Thrissiam, but it was a mark of the trust placed in him by the city of Pallass that they’d sent anyone at all. None of the Oldblood had been sent with Wall Lord Ilvriss in his dispute with Zel Shivertail.
“I know several [Tacticians] in Pallass—why not put your door in the Walled City? Drakes would love a chance to bypass the Blood Fields, the Walled Cities are far better than any Human city—not that I mean to offend anyone.”
