Chapter 2
In exchange for the use of a small apartment, Slart opened the general store at night for emergencies. Sometimes travelers needed medical supplies, or traveling government officials couldn’t wait for the store to open in the morning. Her entire apartment consisted of two bedrooms connected by a small hallway. Since there wasn’t even a kitchen, Nort and Slart ate most meals at the Traitor’s Tavern Inn.
This morning, like every morning, Nort stood in the middle of his bedroom trying to shift. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. He slowly breathed in, then carefully released the breath. He imagined a field of snow drifting in a harsh wind. Then he pictured a flash of light as the sun crept from behind a cloud, but he couldn’t feel cold on his skin. He gave an exacerbated sigh as he released his last breath and opened his eyes. He still stood in the same dull room, getting ready to go to the same inane school he had attended for almost ten years.
Nort continued his breathing exercises, closed his eyes, and imagined a desert this time. He pictured a sea of sand with blistering heat, the sun beating down on his face. This time, though, he felt its warmth. Nort’s heart raced, his fingers tingled, and a shiver ran from the back of his neck down to his lower back. Nort opened his eyes and was blinded by intense sunlight. His eyes adjusted, and the familiar features of his bedroom drained away all his excitement. The sun had risen high enough that light flooded his room, and morning rays heated his face.
Disappointed at another failed attempt, Nort slunk off to the top of the stairs and sat down to slip on his leather shoes. He picked one up, crossed his leg over his knee, and paused. A thin layer of sand covered the bottom of his foot. He smirked, shook his head, wiped off the sand, and slipped on the footwear.
The general store was the area’s largest store and sold goods that were imported from all over the world. Clay pots and jars from the Arid Desert were among the most popular sellers. Foresters lacked the skills or materials to make pots, and any attempt within the southern Lush Forest failed horribly. Nort imagined his mother’s voice: ˝Every...ugh...pot comes with a free pound of Arid Desert!”
Nort and Slart had tracked sand into the apartment for as long as he could remember. He and Slart had stopped wearing shoes in their home to try and stop the sand, but Nort found sand on his feet almost every morning anyway.
Nort headed down the stairs, opened the door, and stepped into the alley between the general store and the Traitor’s Tavern Inn. The lane was only wide enough for two horse-drawn carts to travel side by side. Crossing to the Traitor’s Tavern Inn for dinner was a trivial task.
Nort took a right out his front door, passed a sign that read “Knock after hours,” and exited the alley past the length of the store. He turned right onto Village Square Road and headed west. Ten wagons fit abreast on this road, and sometimes wagons congested the way. During the busy trade season, caravans traveled east to staging areas or west to meet the main trade route. During that time of year, pedestrians avoided the road to avoid getting crushed in the traffic. The general store and inn stood on the road’s north side, and the village hall sat to the south.
Village leaders conducted meetings on the governance of the Village of the Traitor’s Tavern from a single room in the village hall. A large ceremonial field stretched from the rear of the building to the woods that lined a river. During festivals or times of crisis, village elders and leaders addressed crowds from a platform on the roof overlooking the ceremonial field. Organizers arranged most local festivals around the inn, the store, and the village hall on Village Square Road. If this road was the main artery of the town, then the Traitor’s Tavern Inn, village hall, and general store formed the heart.
Nort continued up the Village Square Road until he reached Widow’s Road. Village Square Road continued west and looped north to meet the main trade route. The northern gate sat at this meeting and marked the boundary to the Village of the Traitor’s Tavern. A large blue wooden beam supported by two almost identical logs formed the gate. Red stenciling designed to invoke the image of running blood desecrated the blue. Even though the fifteen-foot tall wooden structure was called a gate, it didn’t serve any practical purpose.
The Elder had built the Iron Gate, the Burned Gate, and the Clay Gate one thousand years ago, and villages had made gates facing the Crossroads to show respect to the new empire. Over time, the structures morphed into strictly ornamental structures, but the name “gate” stuck. A gate’s appearance reflected a village’s personality, history, or specialty. Traitor’s Tavern’s red stenciling represented the blood spilled by the old lord during the failed rebellion. The blue background depicted the watery grave of his widow, who had jumped from Widow’s Bridge when she learned of her husband’s fate.
Nort turned onto Widow’s Road and continued south toward his school. Merchants’ houses clustered around the village square, but as Nort traveled further, small farms filled the landscape. Past the farms, woods cluttered the sides of the road. After a few more minutes, the packed soil road changed into the wooden planks of an old bridge. The Widow’s Bridge spanned over fifty feet but never reached more than fifteen feet off the ground. Nort stopped crossing the bridge near the middle of the thirty-foot wide river. He stepped up to the railing, peered into the water, and reflected on the legend surrounding the Widow’s Bridge.
After the First Council, rumors had circulated that The Demon Reborn and her Dragon Guard had killed many of the lords led by The Ivory Bull. The conspiracy speculated that the empress planned on installing new lords after removing all the deposed’s relatives. One day, though, the lady of the keep donned her finest leathers, quietly ate dinner in the main hall, thanked her servants for their faithful service, and peacefully jumped into the river while on her nightly constitutional.
The water’s so still. Is it even moving? No one would die from such a short fall. Could that legend even be real? If it’s not, what else do they tell us that’s not true? Oh no, I’m going to be late!
Nort hustled toward the school building located on the bridge’s other side. The single-story schoolhouse totaled about half the size of the Traitor’s Tavern Inn. Each of the building’s five classrooms belonged to a different class of students.
The largest classroom held toddlers to five-year-old children. The students were to learn basic history and some mathematics and reading. Still, this class mostly babysat children for parents who needed to work fields or businesses. Children from five to ten years old occupied the second class. These children didn’t only learn academic courses like history, reading, and mathematics but also principles of farming and meteorology. Children of farmers and day laborers usually withdrew from the school after this class in order to work on their parents’ farm or take up their parents’ trade. Children ten to fifteen years old attended the third class. They learned advanced world history, methods of commerce, and theory behind trading, principles of diplomacy, primary world culture, advanced mathematics, reading, and literature. Children from lesser lords and merchants took these classes in order to rule over municipalities or run businesses. Young adults from fifteen to twenty years old completed their education in the fourth class. These children of powerful lords and traders learned advanced trading, diplomacy, economics, and developed world culture. The final course taught twenty- to thirty-year-old adults. Upon graduating, these students scattered around the world to become private tutors for ruling class lords or to start new schools in different areas.
Nort hurried to the school building, pushed open the door, and raced inside.
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