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.Bride Street, if that was what it was, seemed interminable and was as crowded as the other streets.Afterhe had gone roughly half a mile, elbowing his way along, he reached an intersection where the avenuedid not continue directly across but turned at an oblique angle.He hesitated, but guessed that this mustbe the junction with West Street and turned right.A glance at the sun convinced him that he was nowheading due west.As he progressed, the nature of his surroundings altered somewhat.The shipfitters and ropemakers hadvanished when he left the canal behind, replaced by wheelwrights and metalworkers, and to some extentaaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r rthe brothels and warehouses had given way to residences.This new street was lined with weavers andcloth merchants, tinkers and blacksmiths, carters and tanners.Valder had never seen so many businessesgathered together before; any street in this city put to shame the traveling markets that had servicedmilitary camps.The buildings in this area also appeared to be newer than those right on the canal, favoring the modernhalf-timbered style for upper floors rather than the older custom of solid stone from foundation toridgepole.That made sense, of course; naturally the city would have started out clustered around the portand only gradually grown inland.West Street, if that was in fact the street he was on, ended eventually at a diagonal cross-street; Valderchose the left turn, to the southwest, without hesitation.Quite aside from any more abstractconsiderations, he could hear and smell a market and, from the corner of West Street, he glimpsed thetop of a stone tower that he took to be a gate tower.Sure enough, as he rounded the next curve he found himself looking down a straight street at a marketsquare, a very crowded market square, in the shadow of two immense towers.He wanted to hurry forward, as the long walk had made him impatient, but was unable to do so.Thestreet was too populous, and it seemed that a significant part of the crowd was not moving.A goodmany people were just standing, not walking in any particular direction.He managed to force his way into a stream of people that was moving steadily toward the market,marveling at the endless throngs as he did so.He had not realized there were so many people in all theWorld as he had seen in Azrad's Ethshar.A hand thrust itself in front of him and a voice demanded, "Alms for a crippled veteran!"Valder thrust the hand aside with a shudder and marched on.Beggars! He had somehow not expectedbeggars in this vast, overwhelming city.Of course, it made sense that they would be here.They wouldnaturally want to go where there was money to be had, and Azrad's Ethshar certainly had money.A signboard caught his attention.It depicted a huge, golden goblet with purple wine slopping over therim, and a line of runes across the bottom read, "Food & Lodging." Valder turned his steps in thatdirection, back out of the flow of traffic.A good many people, mostly scowling, stood around the door of the inn, but they did not interfere asValder shoved his way through.He stepped over the threshold into the dim interior and stopped dead.The inside of the inn was almost as crowded as the street.The main public room, just inside the frontdoor, was more than twenty feet on a side, but, except for a narrow path that led from the door to oneend, across the hearth, down along the row of barrels, and then to the back corner where a stair and twodoors led to other rooms, the floor was completely covered with blankets, displacing all the expectedtavern furnishings.These blankets were neatly laid out in rectangles about two feet wide and six feetlong, and on each one a man or woman sat or stood or lay, each with his or her personal possessionsstacked at one end.Some had nothing but a spare tunic, while others had large, unwieldy bundles.Virtually all wore the green and brown of the Ethsharitic armies.Startled and confused, Valder followed the path across the hearth and paused at the first barrel.Theinnkeeper emerged from one of the doors.aaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r r"What can I do for you?" he asked."Ah.a pint of ale, for now.""That'll be four bits in silver," the innkeeper warned.Valder stared at him in astonishment, forgetting the crowded floor for the moment in the face of thisgreater shock."What?""Four silver bits, I said.We've only got half a keg left, and no more due for a sixnight.""Forget it, then.What about water?""A copper a pint no change for silver, either.""That's mad! You're selling ale for the price of a fine southern vintage and water for the price of the bestale!""True enough, sir, I am indeed.That's what the market will bear, and I'd be a fool not to get what I canwhile these poor souls still have their pay to spend.""It's theft!""No, sir, it's honest trade.The gate and the market are so jammed, and the roads so full, and the ships sobusy with passengers, that I can't get supplies in.We have a good well out back, but it's not bottomlessand yields only so much in a day.I understand that the taverns nearest the gate are only accepting goldnow.""And your rooms?""All taken, sir, and the floor here as well.I'm an honest man and I won't lie about it; there is nowhereleft to put you that won't block my path.They're sleeping four to a bed upstairs, with six on each floor,and a blanket and a space down here would cost you a full silver piece, if I had any left.""It's all mad.Where are all these people coming from?""It is mad, sir, I won't argue that.It seems as if the entire army of Ethshar is jammed into Westgate.I'venever seen anything like it.It's the end of the war that's done it, of course, and I'm sure we'll never seeanything like it again.If prices come back down, I'll retire a wealthy man at the end of the year butwho's to say what prices will do when once they've started changing? The army doesn't set them anymore, so I need to charge what I can get [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Bride Street, if that was what it was, seemed interminable and was as crowded as the other streets.Afterhe had gone roughly half a mile, elbowing his way along, he reached an intersection where the avenuedid not continue directly across but turned at an oblique angle.He hesitated, but guessed that this mustbe the junction with West Street and turned right.A glance at the sun convinced him that he was nowheading due west.As he progressed, the nature of his surroundings altered somewhat.The shipfitters and ropemakers hadvanished when he left the canal behind, replaced by wheelwrights and metalworkers, and to some extentaaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r rthe brothels and warehouses had given way to residences.This new street was lined with weavers andcloth merchants, tinkers and blacksmiths, carters and tanners.Valder had never seen so many businessesgathered together before; any street in this city put to shame the traveling markets that had servicedmilitary camps.The buildings in this area also appeared to be newer than those right on the canal, favoring the modernhalf-timbered style for upper floors rather than the older custom of solid stone from foundation toridgepole.That made sense, of course; naturally the city would have started out clustered around the portand only gradually grown inland.West Street, if that was in fact the street he was on, ended eventually at a diagonal cross-street; Valderchose the left turn, to the southwest, without hesitation.Quite aside from any more abstractconsiderations, he could hear and smell a market and, from the corner of West Street, he glimpsed thetop of a stone tower that he took to be a gate tower.Sure enough, as he rounded the next curve he found himself looking down a straight street at a marketsquare, a very crowded market square, in the shadow of two immense towers.He wanted to hurry forward, as the long walk had made him impatient, but was unable to do so.Thestreet was too populous, and it seemed that a significant part of the crowd was not moving.A goodmany people were just standing, not walking in any particular direction.He managed to force his way into a stream of people that was moving steadily toward the market,marveling at the endless throngs as he did so.He had not realized there were so many people in all theWorld as he had seen in Azrad's Ethshar.A hand thrust itself in front of him and a voice demanded, "Alms for a crippled veteran!"Valder thrust the hand aside with a shudder and marched on.Beggars! He had somehow not expectedbeggars in this vast, overwhelming city.Of course, it made sense that they would be here.They wouldnaturally want to go where there was money to be had, and Azrad's Ethshar certainly had money.A signboard caught his attention.It depicted a huge, golden goblet with purple wine slopping over therim, and a line of runes across the bottom read, "Food & Lodging." Valder turned his steps in thatdirection, back out of the flow of traffic.A good many people, mostly scowling, stood around the door of the inn, but they did not interfere asValder shoved his way through.He stepped over the threshold into the dim interior and stopped dead.The inside of the inn was almost as crowded as the street.The main public room, just inside the frontdoor, was more than twenty feet on a side, but, except for a narrow path that led from the door to oneend, across the hearth, down along the row of barrels, and then to the back corner where a stair and twodoors led to other rooms, the floor was completely covered with blankets, displacing all the expectedtavern furnishings.These blankets were neatly laid out in rectangles about two feet wide and six feetlong, and on each one a man or woman sat or stood or lay, each with his or her personal possessionsstacked at one end.Some had nothing but a spare tunic, while others had large, unwieldy bundles.Virtually all wore the green and brown of the Ethsharitic armies.Startled and confused, Valder followed the path across the hearth and paused at the first barrel.Theinnkeeper emerged from one of the doors.aaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r r"What can I do for you?" he asked."Ah.a pint of ale, for now.""That'll be four bits in silver," the innkeeper warned.Valder stared at him in astonishment, forgetting the crowded floor for the moment in the face of thisgreater shock."What?""Four silver bits, I said.We've only got half a keg left, and no more due for a sixnight.""Forget it, then.What about water?""A copper a pint no change for silver, either.""That's mad! You're selling ale for the price of a fine southern vintage and water for the price of the bestale!""True enough, sir, I am indeed.That's what the market will bear, and I'd be a fool not to get what I canwhile these poor souls still have their pay to spend.""It's theft!""No, sir, it's honest trade.The gate and the market are so jammed, and the roads so full, and the ships sobusy with passengers, that I can't get supplies in.We have a good well out back, but it's not bottomlessand yields only so much in a day.I understand that the taverns nearest the gate are only accepting goldnow.""And your rooms?""All taken, sir, and the floor here as well.I'm an honest man and I won't lie about it; there is nowhereleft to put you that won't block my path.They're sleeping four to a bed upstairs, with six on each floor,and a blanket and a space down here would cost you a full silver piece, if I had any left.""It's all mad.Where are all these people coming from?""It is mad, sir, I won't argue that.It seems as if the entire army of Ethshar is jammed into Westgate.I'venever seen anything like it.It's the end of the war that's done it, of course, and I'm sure we'll never seeanything like it again.If prices come back down, I'll retire a wealthy man at the end of the year butwho's to say what prices will do when once they've started changing? The army doesn't set them anymore, so I need to charge what I can get [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]