Tales Of Gallanol : Ch.2 (Part1) View Over Emywid

Later that same morning, when the army was ready to leave Emywid, Owen went to find the High king in the North Tower. Deneldinhew stood on the battlement at the top of the tower, his cloak wrapped around him and the breeze making his hair blow. His mother stood near him leaning back against the white-grey stone wall of the tower, a scarf around her head, but her long black hair flowing down into the hood beneath it, also blowing slightly in the wind. Only the jewelled dome stretched above the battlement. Everything else that was Emywid lay below. The whole region of Emywid could be seen from this tower. Another tower, almost identical but not quite as tall protruded up from the palace a stone’s throw away to the south. Between them, stretching downwards and inwards, encased in marble, to the core of the palace in the central atrium, was empty space.

Evidently Deneldinhew had been saying goodbye to his mother. Now Deneldinhew was looking out northwards down the long valley of the Great River of Gallanol, and his mother was watching him. Owen apologised for the interruption, but Deneldinhew bade him stand with him for a while; then they would go down to Emywid together. Deneldinhew’s mother turned in through the wooden doorway and made her way out of hearing down the steps without speaking. Deneldinhew said nothing. The two friends stood and looked at the view. One of the greatest desires of all the children of Emywid was to stand in the battlements on top of the Highest Tower. Perhaps Deneldinhew was thinking that his ambitions had come true. Perhaps he had the feeling that he was at the beginning of a campaign which would make him one of the most legendary heroes of Gallanol. As Owen stood there in the wind he could feel the strength of the desires and ambitions, and goals, which Deneldinhew had set himself, and knew himself to be capable of achieving. Only a believer in himself could fulfil the role which Gallanol’s destiny had brought the High King, thought Owen.

He knew instinctively that Lady Cythrin had spoken words to inspire and ignite Deneldinhew’s confidence, and that he was praying for strength, confidence and success. Owen began to feel restless. It seemed like the whole morning he had just been waiting around while others deliberated and savoured the triumph of war. Owen knew time was of the essence in this campaign. They must sail swiftly north before King Lew could augment his forces and defences. He was impatient of the time lost in futile councils and the waiting for support from Galdellyn and Lanardein.

Owen looked out at the city. It lay mainly stretched out for a few miles along the west bank of the Great River. The land all around was relatively flat, although over the ages the river had cut into the land and there were fairly steep banks down into it, covered in woodland gardens, part of which were palatial preserve, next to the palace. To the south of the palace the embankment scarp was less steep along the river bank, and here ornate massive pillared, steepled, domed merchant store houses topped the scarp and spread over the slope down to the river, where many-oared large rowboats used to carry merchandise were harboured. The Great River was very wide as it poured sedately through the provinces of Galdellyn, Lanardein, Baerwys, and Elladein, where the River Ella was also wide and navigable.

On the eastern bank there was a similar dip on the escarpment opposite. In the dip on the eastern escarpment was a smaller, but no less magnificent white palace, which also belonged to the High King of Gallanol, King of Baerwys. The top of the scarp had no city, but at the base of the escarpment, spread along the embankment there was a fair sized extension of Emywid, which came onto the wharfs of the waterfront, where more boats were anchored. This eastern part of Emywid was called simply East Emywid. On the scarp and over the scarp of East Emywid, and on the waterfront at the bottom of the scarp to the north and south were villas of some of the great merchant families of Emywid. Each villa was architecturally novel and different from all the others. Each villa had extensive grounds, some of which were heavily wooded, and other parts which were laid out with fountains, beautiful flowers, hedges and paths.

Along the West Bank of the river, to the north and south of the waterfront of Emywid, below the tops of the escarpment, there were also similar merchant villas. The Great Palace of Emywid, at the top of which Owen and Deneldinhew stood, sprawled over the highest section of the scarp in Emywid, to the north of the merchants’ warehouses and wharves, surrounded even on the land sides by woodland gardens. The city of Emywid, wherein lived a million souls (certainly by far the largest of the great Gallanolian cities), was situated in a long sprawl, along the lands on top of and beyond the top of the scarp and the Palace.

Ornate whitestone and marble public buildings dominated the centre of the city. Here traders and craftsmen and farmers sold their goods. Here also were the libraries, the public art galleries, and the meeting places and music halls. Many of the buildings were very tall, with steeples and domes on top, though none were as high as the palace towers. Parks dotted the city, filled with trees and greenery. The roads were wide and paved. Horse drawn carriages carrying farm produce, goods and wealthy people could be seen winding around the streets. There were large residential areas stretching north, west and south through the town. Houses were built mainly of white stone, with red slate roofs. They were well spaced out, some of them tall, all varied. In between the houses were all sorts of trees and many had private fenced gardens. The edges of the city were heavily forested. The whole impression of the city was of white buildings and red roofs, interspersed with coniferous trees and, because it was winter, many bare deciduous trees. The day was not bright, it was a white-grey overcast bitterly cold frozen day, and the large fields beyond the trees and buildings were covered in white snow.

“Owen. When I am King in Elladein you will be my Captain there, and I shall know that Baerwys and Elladein shall never again fall apart.”

Owen was surprised the High King should be thinking of such things now before the campaign even began. “My lord, if I survive, I shall be your most trustworthy Captain. This conversation reminds me of little boys playing at war, dividing up the nations between them. For us it is for real. We are in power. Eric, Hew, Cynan, Rhodri and the rest of us. We all used to play together on the banks of the river. Some of us would pretend to be Martans, and we would rearrange our hair to emulate Martainian barons and knights. Others of us would be kings and captains and princes of Gallanol, and we would use our arms as shields and swords, and make our arms ache by hitting each other’s forearms. Now, ten, twelve years on we’ve all been to war. You are the High King! Eric leads the Baerwys army, and the rest of us are Knights of Gallanol, King’s Companions.”

Deneldinhew laughed good-heartedly. “Let’s hope we all survive this. It would be ironic if some of us really were to die. We’ve been ‘dead’ so many times before as children.”

“We’ll be alright. We are among the best trained soldiers in Gallanol. We are also leaders. We are never left undefended. Soldiers will give their lives to protect us.”

“You have a lot of confidence,” returned Deneldinhew. “Do you never have any doubts? I have doubts sometimes. I worry about the things that might be. When things go wrong I am to blame. I may be responsible for the lives of so many.” He paused for a while, and Owen did not speak. “Let’s go. They’re all waiting for us, are they not? Within a short while we shall be embarked on the barges.”

Deneldinhew turned from the view and the breeze and disappeared through the door into the stairwell. Owen followed him.