Chapter 5 - Part V

The Lithenese poem fell on her Nüish ears without comprehension, but it did distract her from the sight before her as she followed the humming blonde man down the packed streets.

The two left the crowd and followed the tan sand and pulverized red clay River Road which led out of Center City to the east. As the number of people thinned out, Onion could better view her surroundings. To the left, the River Eir flowed, constricted by levies and sandstone masonry. The travelers and the river were sandwiched on either side by the towering sandstone and oak supported walls that encompassed the northern and southern districts and exiting highways.

While antiquated clay and wood walls separating each individual district had fallen into disrepair ages ago, the fortification surrounding the city of Eirdred were still prepared for the most sudden of threats. They were maintained diligently, even though the ancestors of the city learned that they could not hold against powers like those of Heilth. The walls nonetheless provided shelter from lesser attacks and if nothing else, were one of the few remaining symbols of unity against the increasingly crushing homogeneity of the Empire.

Seemless sandstone slabs held in place by thick wooden frames and topped with layers of red shale boulders scraped the sky fifty feet above Onion, and from there the City Enforcers or district police could track any move with lethal consequence. The River Road and Coastal Highway paths to Center City had never been sealed to the outside world, yet who would be foolish enough to bring an army through the gauntlet Eirdred offered? Even Heilth had dared not assault the city from the roads and was forced to use a combination of sabotage and naval might to establish their presence.

As they navigated the bustling roadway, Gregor explained to Onion in hushed tones the significance of these walls and their failings. This had brought to an end the rule of the Chosen, the coastal empire spanning halfway through Sandor to the south and encompassing all of coastal Lithen, as carved out by the First of Rel, Taecho Archne. "The Eirdren will tell you that Heilth broke over two hundred years of peace, but that is simply because Eirdren are not Lithenese." he grimaced.

At the exodus of the city stood two Guardhands and two City enforcers. To Onion's great relief, none of the faces appeared to be familiar, but she and Gregor remained alert as the cooperative Heilthian and Eirdred forces questioned Gregor and searched for contraband. Their suspicions were unwarranted. Those who manned the gates outside of the city of Eirdred more often than not, were those at the zenith of their service - the very young and the very old. While certainly not feeble, such a mundane task was useful only in training the inexperienced or maintaining the employment status of those who soon sought to retire by having them keep an eye out for fermented hougrixi reed juice, imported from the Outer Crest, or a powdered depressant known as gegleth moss.