The city of Ishura opened up before them, sprawling alongside the banks of the river Arapanor, with its many towers and gilded spires. It glistened white beneath the burning sun, with the jungles clustered in close to it in parts, to the point that where the city began and the jungles ended could not rightly be told.
Ivkarha reined in her horse at the crest of a rise that they had ridden up, her, Thalas and a handful of rough looking men who accompanied them, men in battered leather armour, with small wooden shields hanging from their saddles and long spears in hand.. It had been a hard ride through the sweltering forests from the camp of the Veshyia, a ride of three days following the course of a branch of the Arapanor, three days of heat and humidity and plagues of biting insects that swarmed ever around. It was no easy ride but Ivkarha pushed on relentlessly, allowing little time to rest and so they had rode and suffered until wearied and worn they had arrived at Ishura.
“Here we are,” Thalas announced, his face haggard and drawn, slapping at an insect on the back of his neck. “Let us find a place to wash away the strain of travels, to wet our throats.”
“You can do that,” said Ivkarha sharply. “I have business to attend to.”
“By Paraba’s Teeth,” Talas said, “A few minutes won’t make a difference.”
“It might,” she responded curtly. She kicked her horse forward and started to descend, own towards the city, passing through farmlands spreading out around it, of waterlogged fields where farmers and oxen worked, following a raised path between them.
The noise of the city soon came to them, of people at work and at leisure, and there were a flow of people coming and going through the city gates as they arrived, under the barely watchful eye of a pair of guards with thick dark moustaches, leaning on spears. The people heading in and out were brightly clad, and of many lands and peoples, for Ishura was an important trading hub, where rare woods and resins from the jungles came, and the gemstones and gold from the nearby mountains of Ashimla flowed. Barely did the guards notice them, for little did they stand out among the crowds, and then only for the fact that they rode horses, and not that they were foreigners. Mercenaries they could easily pass as, seeking employ among the princes of the land, or to seek their fortunes in Ashimla, prospecting for gold and gems.
Into the city they rode, and the crowds grew thicker, and noisier yet, with all about people talking, laughing, with shopkeepers hawking their wars from beneath bright coloured awnings before their shops, and the wealth of the land was on display around them on tables.
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“Find a tavern, quick,” Ivkarha instructed Thalas. The weary man nodded and led the way through the crowds to a large building along the main street into the city. White the walls of it were, upon which were bright painted murals, of birds and flowers, of men and woman at leisure.
Thalas swung down from his horse as he reached it. “The Scented Dove,” he announced. “It’s as good as place as any here.”
Ivkarha nodded, getting down from her horse. She passed the reins of it to Thalas. “Get settled in. I am off to find a sage or scholar to help. Which way?”
Thalas motioned down the street. “Head that way,” he said, “Until you reach a large blue tower. Turn left, cross the river and you should be in the District of The Wise. You’d have to ask around there, as I beyond that I can offer no assistance.”
“Very well,” Ivkarha replied. She collected up her sword. “Get yourself settled in, but try not to get in too much trouble. We may need to move again at short notice.”
“You are not stopping for a drink at least?” Thalas asked.
“There is not time for that. You can, by my needs are more pressing.”
Thalas nodded glumly. “Whatever you say, Ivkarha.”
Ivkahra strode off, pushing her way down the street through the throngs about. The people were, for the most, short, both men and women, and she stood above them, able to look over the crowds. It allowed here an easy look to where she was going, and it did not take long for her to see the building that Thalas had mentioned. Some way along the street rose a tall, circular tower, its wall painted a bright blue, to the point that it almost blended in with the sky.
With a look of firm determination upon her face, her lips pressed tight together, she pushed on towards it, at times having to almost shoulder her way through the tight packed crowds. Yet, for the most, the people around parted way for her, for her appearance was grim, and her size imposing and she radiated the appearance of one not to be troubled.
Upon reaching the tower, she stopped for a moment, just long enough to stare up at it. It rose windowless to a gilded spire, and besides a broad door at the base bore no other marks or ornamentations that gave any sign as to its purpose.
Dismissing it from her mind, she turned as Thalas had directed, towards a bridge that crossed the broad and brown Arapanor as it followed through the city. The bridge itself was a large construct, of grey stone and with statues lining the way, statues that were a mix of man and beast; some bore the heads of animals, of great cats, stags and hawks, while others had limbs and bodies that ere part man and part beast.
Ivkarha made her way across the bridge, into another part of town, where there were fewer people about, and less noise as well. Those that were about were less colourful in their outfits, an older as well, with serious, contemplations upon their faces. When some did meet, their talk was low and considered.
She had arrive where she needed to be; now all she needed was to find someone that could tell her what she needed to know.