Shadows over Nothross

Shadows over Nothross
by Urpo Lankinen

Contents
Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 1
"Trinsday, 2nd of Warmening, 630. I was arranging my bookshelves

this morning as Facyr brought in these two elven nobles. They gave us
pointers on something that could be about an old headache the
archmages of Colemia thought was already way past us for good - or
that's just my hunch, it could be just a plain ordinary crazy mage at
work. Gosh, and here I thought this was all just so insignificant. We're
now on the way to Furinel, and I'm writing this on a little bit leaky tent,
which I hope to get mended when we stop at Walvalley in three days
hence."
--Gnedrnygr Adithebadoggr's journal
The guard posted at the Small Gate watched the early morning traffic
with a certain kind of eye for details. Trinvnil, the sun of Avarthrel,
was rising, and painted the hill behind him and the valley across the
road with reddish hues. On clear mornings like this, it was possible to
see far away, all the way to the nearest islands in the distance across the
seas. Staan Athiv drew a good breath and reflected on the view to the
valley for a moment before returning to guard the traffic: it was
comforting that at least the views here stayed the same every year in
each season. He was a constable, and was in for a promotion next week,
and he knew that traditionally, the last week before promotions were
always the worst for city guards and most people who depended on the
luck. People tended to get killed in interesting ways just as they knew
something good was going to happen them, as if Nottomwah had put a
bump in the big roulette wheel in the heavens. Of course, Staan liked to
think that he didn't need to depend on luck, just skill, and besides, he
wasn't exactly getting a big promotion either, so he believed he was
quite safe. It was probably not quite as dangerous as the week before
retirement, for example. Yet, he felt it was still best to stay sharp, just
in case.
He had developed an eye to ignore certain details and focus on things
that weren't normal, and right now, all things were pretty much all blur
to him. Focusing on really important things was thus easy. He had a
good seat, or rather a guard post, from which to see how this country
worked.
Two wagons took typical city-manufactured junk to the countryside:

One had racks full of these finely crafted tools the city was known for,
another wagon carried several mysteriously robed monks, each
assigned to deliver some priceless books in person to monasteries in the
north. Staan chuckled at this; was the city exporting books, or monks?
With some religious upheavals in recent memory, you couldn't tell.
Some wagons, on the other hand, brought things from the countryside
that spread all around the city, and from other cities beyond: Barrels
piled upon barrels, all full of fruits and wine. Staan was just a guard
and didn't know much of the scheming of the merchants, yet he knew,
just by looking at the traffic and letting his mind wander to kill the
boredom, that the trade was running smoothly and the city was
prosperous.
This boring yet thoughtful routine had been that way all morning -
absolutely nothing interesting or complex that would need his
immediate attention, at least what came to guarding things. It was
clearly a good day for philosophizing in the duty.
Boredom and philosophizing did not mean he would be caught off
guard. He straightened himself up, having sagged a bit while pondering
things, and tried to show that he was at attention, as a pair of travellers
appeared from behind the hill on horseback.
When they got closer, he could see they were two elves. You don't see
elves too often in the big city, Staan thought - and these two look very
serious. Staan looked them with an eye of a watchman, which meant he
squinted at the pair menacingly and tried to tell whether or not the pair
was going to be of trouble. He quickly discerned that the elven male
and female, while being robed in those fine, yet suspiciously
inconspicuous robes, were not of any threat. After all, while he had
never seen elven robbers himself, he tended to guess they'd go for a bit
more lethal look, even while veiling themselves. These were just
ordinary elves.
The two stopped as they saw Staan. "Greetings of a fine morning to you,
guard", the male said.

"Good morning, sir", Staan replied. And who would this fair couple be?
Nobles, that's