52a - Under siege
The group move across the kill zone, following the road, which appears to have stablised beneath their feet.
By sheer good fortune, it seems, the retreating creatures veer away from them. Perhaps the great birds, with their armed riders, harrying them from above have made the monsters less willing to fight, or perhaps some other factor is at work here.
One of the ormvråkar sweeps in low, the rider leaning over to peer down at the travellers, and then the bird rises, circles twice, and flies off to rejoin the pursuit of the forest dwellers.
The group of travellers approach the gate, and a great bell starts tolling. The portal, a massive structure of steel and brass, moves aside with a deep grumbling sound, which sets the very ground vibrating.
Inside, massive stone butresses support the vaulted roof, a hundred feet overhead, where cables and walkways of steel cross and connect in a complex three-dimensional web. There are great lanterns up there, among the arches, lighting the chamber, which is otherwise empty.
The chamber clearly does not fill the whole ground floor of the structure. There is a wall opposite the gate, with another gateway, slowly opening, flanked by turrets, and with a parapet of stone, complete with embrasures and merlons, above it. Along those internal fortifications, gleaming rods of brass and crystal swivel and tilt, sweeping their aim across the group in the courtyard-like area below.
The opening inner gate reveals what appears to be a market place, lit by torchlight and crowded with a great many people. Just beyond the gate, a broad ramp leads down into the depths of the earth.
A young boy darts forward, out of the crowd in the market place. "G'day ter yers. New 'ere, are yers? Fer a single silver coin, I can lead all o' yers ter a good place ter stay. Soft beds, an' good food at the Sanctuary Inn."
Elsewhere...
Banglen-Yp, Harlequin and Roman watch as the inner gate opens now. Beyond it lays another chamber, this one filled with market stalls, stretching away into dimly-lit gloom. The wagons start forward again, through the gate, and down a ramp which carries them down, below the market, and into darkness.
The three are left (almost) alone, in the watchful presence of the brass and crystal rods.
A raggedly-dressed urchin, leaning against the wall beside the inner gate, calls out to them, "'Allo there. I seed yers got yerself kicked off o' yer caravan. That means yer'll 'ave no place ter stay, yeah? Well, fer jus' an' 'andful o' copper, I can tek yers ter a good place ter kick yer boots off. Sanctuary Inn... good grub, an' clean beds, if'n yer int'rested, like?"
Elsewhere...
Morgan descends the stairs from the fourteenth parapet. The attack on the caravan had been... interesting... the first he had actually had a chance to see, since his arrival in this place, two days earlier.
Other than sheer number of attackers, the beasts had shown no organisational ability. They had simply hurled themselves at the caravan, acting like starved animals.
Nothing new there... he had faced similar (though smaller) attacks himself, on the road here.
What had excited interest, among the defenders of Charyk, had been the way some of those with the caravan had moved to carry the attack to the beasts. This, it seems, is not the usual approach. Normal procedure is to stick close together, and defend, every step of the way.
At the seventh corridor, he leaves the stairs and moves across to the Main Stair, the one which will bring him closest to the Sanctuary Inn, and an imminent dinner...