Adventures of Caelereth

At Santhros' gate, a lone guard stands out front. He stands unmoving, as though he is in a trance. He looks straight forward, almost unblinking, out into the horizon, watching for incoming travellers. This prestigous honor of guarding the Main Gate is done by none other than the elite guard of the city of Bardavos, his name, Jorud. He stands to the right side of the gate.

Above him are the other guards of the Main Gate. Their job is to raise and lower the gate, on Jorud's command. Also, on Jorud's command, a volley of arrows can be fired at the person wanting access to the city of Bardavos.

Yet, there is something unique about Jorud, which is quite unexpected for oncoming travellers; Jorud is a dwarf. A Thrumgolz who has seen his fair share of life and battles.

To gain access to the city, it is somewhat apparent that you will need to ask him. For he will not greet you, nor make the slightest notice of your arrival until you ask for entrance to the city. He might deny immediately, drill you for answers, or let you in immediately.

Seated on her horse Agatha, Arinda came riding up to the gates of Bardavos from the south. She had actually been travelling from the north, trying to reach the city of artists, in the hopes that she would find a mindsmoother there, but she had taken a wrong turning and had been forced to double back. Now she had reached her destination however, and she allowed herself a little sigh of relief, even if it was not at all certain that she would find what she was looking for.

The guard standing in front of the gate did not react at all to her presence, she saw when she approached the gate. For a moment she wondered if it was a statue, but then she saw him breathing. Perhaps it would be best to just dismount and approach him - he was after all quite short. Acting on her decision, she was soon standing on the ground - with a bit of a struggle, she was still getting used to mounting and dismounting without the help of a servant.

Knocking some of the dust from the road off her green riding dress, she took Agatha's reins and approached the dwarf. "Excuse me, good sir... Could I gain entrance into the city?" She asked in her politest tone of voice.

There was a slight tilt of the head, and the mane rustled against leather, cotton and plates of mail as the stout head turned to regard her. There was no emotion in those eyes, only a kind of deliberate calculation. The woman was sized up, sized down, calculated and adjusted for circumstance, and then there was the tiniest squint of the eyes, and the man shouldered his pike, stepping closer, holding out one hefty, flat palm.

"Empty yer pockets, let's see everythin' ye've got," she was ordered, with even less emotion, were it possible, than the dwarf's expression. There was little inflection in his voice, almost no variance in tone; not impatience, not boredom, not frustration, not pleading or coaxing or casual banter, but a flat tone, one solid sound that formed itself into his old Thrumgolz sound, his eyes still keeping a full study on her while he waited for his request to be complied with.

Arinda tittered nervously. The businesslike attitude of the dwarf unsettled her. She smoothed the front of her dress. "Uhm... ah... I don't actually have pockets." she stuttered. "There's... I mean, you can look in my saddlebags if you want. Not a lot there though, just some clothes and stuff to take care of Agatha." Then she looked from the guard to her horse and back, realising that he probably could not look into the bags so long as they were still lying on Agatha's back. With a nervous little laugh she opened the bags and withdrews first the dresses - careful not to let them touch the ground - and then the brush for Agatha from the other bag. She was not foolish enough to show all the places where she had sewn in coins, and anyway that was none of this dwarf's business.

"I hope that was enough?" She asked. "I really would like to go into the city and rest a bit, I've been travelling for some time and a bed would not at all go amiss right about now."

"Aye, fair enough. Mind your nose in the city." It was almost as if the guard slowly realized he was talking to a person, and what looked like a vague smile of sympathy appeared. He turned on his heels to look up at the two men atop the gate and bellowed out a strong, "Open up! She passes!", and stood by to wave her through as the gate laboriously rose, complaining aloud with the sounds of steel on stone as it rose, settled, and ascended further.

That business settled, the guard stepped back and resumed his post.

The half-smile that Arinda caught fleetingly on the guard's face reassured her that he was... well, not exactly human, obviously, but at least not quite so dispassioned as he had pretended. Gathering Agatha's reins in her hand, she waved at him before walking under the rising gate.

Once inside, she mounted again, though she kept the pace to a slow walk, as there were quite a lot of people about and she did not want to bowl anyone over. As she rode through the main street, she looked around. She passed several shops on her right, among them a blacksmith and a book shop. On her left was the market, already in full swing. Then, up ahead, she could see the sign of an inn up ahead. First things first - a room for the night, then she could go and enjoy the sights of the city.