CHAPTER SIXTEEN: LAY OF THE LAND
Carter left the inn as soon as the sun had risen. Reeve Lannok had told him that he would give him three days before he informed his government about the black Witch Arm. That gave him three days to get as far away from Culvert’s Rock as he could. Although he wasn’t 100% sure anyone would actually come after him, he wasn’t about to risk it. He had to leave and soon.
He dressed himself in the same clothing he had worn yesterday, with the exception of the shirt and waistcoat. There was a large hole in both due to the stab wound he had received and he wouldn’t be able to wear them until he had them mended. In their place was a dark red shirt and black leather vest, another set of items he had bought from Logher’s. His other purchases were safely inside his knapsack, which was currently worn on his back. His sword and knife were secured to his belt, as was the Witch Arm.
He definitely needed to get a holster for the gun. He didn’t want it falling out or, worse, discharging while in his pants. Unfortunately, with no other firearms existing in this world, such a holster would have to be custom-made by a leatherworker or tailor. A job like that would probably take a few days at least, and that was time Carter didn’t have. A holster would have to wait until he was farther away from Culvert’s Rock, in a place that was safe enough for him to wait for the custom holster to be made.
He was about to head off when he remembered something. Smiling, the dark-haired man reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. He had managed to get his sunglasses back! The guards had found them on Teeth's corpse and they returned it to him after he had asked them for it.
He slid on the specs, their dark, round lenses covering his brown eyes.
Carter’s first destination that day was the Merchant’s Quarter. He needed maps, not only of the local region but the entire country. Possibly even the whole continent. It would depend on how far he needed to go, which was something he wasn’t completely sure about. How far and for how long would those chasing after the Witch Arm go? Would they hunt him all the way to the next town? The next province? The next country?
It took some exploration and a lot of asking around, but Carter managed to find a map maker’s shop in the middle of the district. It was still closed when he found it so he had to wait outside for two hours before the owner arrived to open up shop. He was a bit irritated at the time wasted, but he could do nothing about it.
The store was small, only slightly larger than the room at the inn he had been staying at, but it was filled to the brim with merchandise. Hand-drawn maps of all kinds and sizes were available. There were decorative, full-color maps that were framed and hanging on the walls. Highly detailed charts of the coastlines were in their own section, designed to be used by sailors and sea captains. There were even maps of faraway lands such as Lacotia and Dralov for sale.
Carter found what he was looking for near the front of the shop. In a prominent section by the windows, he saw numerous maps that catered to travelers. There were charts of not only the local, surrounding area but the entire continent of Gloria as well. The more expensive maps were highly detailed and beautiful, more works of art than tools of traversal. Carter focused on the more utilitarian maps though, the ones that just showed the location of cities, the roads connecting them, and the boundaries separating the nations.
Carter grabbed one of the cheaper maps that depicted the full continent. Gloria was a massive island divided into three large land masses. The northern and southern masses were separated by sea but connected to each other by a mountainous central mass. The Western Empire’s territory stretched across all of the northern mass, which was mostly made up of flat wood and grasslands on the western end. The further east you went, the rockier the terrain got, until you reached a massive range of mountains called the Corr which took up most of the east to northeastern part of the mass. The Western Empire’s capital is a city called Tidefall, located on the southern shores of the region and just a couple of weeks’ ride north of Culvert’s Rock.
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These mountains also ranged down into the central region, thus taking up most of the territory. To the west of the mountains is a small section of land that is mostly flat. This is where the Church’s Central Empire is located, with its capital Gloria situated near the sea.
The Eastern and Southern Empires share the third land mass, with the East taking up the northeastern part while the South resided in the southwest. A smaller mountain range takes up the middle of the region, acting as a border to separate the two empires. The Eastern Empire’s land is mostly composed of forests while the vast majority of the South’s territory is made up of fertile farmland.
An interesting thing about the map is that it marked some parts of the Southern Empire in colored areas. A green section encompassed much of the South’s northern area while the red section had taken up a chunk of the south, including several islands off the coast. There was also heraldry drawn atop these colored sections. The green one had a red shield marked with a black eagle. The red section had a blue shield with a black lion.
“Excuse me?” Carter asked the owner of the shop. He brought the map he had been browsing over to the old man. “What do these colored sections mean?”
The old mapmaker glanced at the parts Carter had indicated and grinned. “Ah, yes. Those are the conquered areas of the South. The green parts are the land the Western Empire took, while the red are the parts the Eastern Empire took.”
“I see. Are they still accurate? I mean, I hear that the war is still going on.”
“Oh, don’t worry, lad. These maps are very accurate.” The mapmaker assured him. “This map is…” He glanced at the map maker’s mark and noted the date on it. “It’s only a few months old, so it should still be good. The conquered territories have probably gotten bigger since it was made, but not by too much I reckon.”
Carter looked up from the map. “Bigger, not smaller?”
The man laughed. “Oh, hells no! Those Southern bastards are nothing but farmers and miners. Their army is absolutely useless, has been for over a century. Nah, we and the Easterners will probably finish taking over those lands within the next few years.”
Carter nodded. So the war was between the East and West versus the South. Didn’t seem very fair to have two countries teaming up against the weaker one, but war was rarely, if ever, fair.
That got him wondering. He looked down at the map, his eyes gazing at the green section denoting the lands of the South conquered by the West. The green had covered most of the South’s fertile farming land.
“When were these parts taken?” Carter asked, his finger pointing at the green.
The mapmaker noted the area. “Oh, those lands fell to the West two years back, right at the start of the war.” The man laughed. “The Southies folded mighty quick! Most of their knights and nobles didn’t even bother to mount a defense when they saw our fleets coming in. They just up and ran! Ha ha!”
“I see. How far are these lands from the front line?”
The man thought for a moment. “Well, most of the conquered cities are on the shoreline, and the fighting is mostly in the middle of the country. So, maybe a few hundred miles or so?”
Carter pondered the man’s words as he looked down at the map. His attention focused on the northern part of the Southern Empire, at the areas that were colored green. If what the man said was true, then these territories were the ones annexed by the West during the war. It had been less than two years since they had been conquered; that was enough time for the Western government to settle in but not enough for them to fully take control. Their grip on the region was firm but disorganized. A person who didn’t want to be found could get lost in such a place. It was also far enough from the actual fighting that he’d be relatively safe.
The dark-haired man nodded to himself, making up his mind. His destination was clear: he was going south. In order to do that though, he would need to secure passage on a ship.
Carter paid for the map. He also wanted to buy maps of the Southern Empire, but unfortunately, the shop didn’t have any on hand. That wasn’t a huge problem though, since he could just purchase some when he got to his destination.
He thanked the old mapmaker for his time, then left the shop. He made his way towards the dock, hoping that he would find passage on a ship headed south.
He was off to the Southern Empire.