I was just thinking about Adrina, and how my latest draft of Marchelline cuts out the three chapters that I had originally written before the Mayrincourt section.  Ned is also curiously missing, but he’ll appear later. (If you’re wondering who Ned is, well, you haven’t met him yet, but he’s wonderful.)

This was written before I started writing first-person, and I’m still not sure which version I like better, but if you’d like to weigh in, go ahead.  It wasn’t important to Mar’s story, but it talks a bit about Maggie, although she isn’t named. 

(and yes, I lied about not posting till the 11th…)

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Gael patted his pockets, and then stopped walking, looking about him.  He smiled at her, and pointed down a winding street.  The street stood out only because it was decrepit in comparison to the surrounding streets.  The houses were built in a style Marchelline did not recognize, with roofs that sloped down to the streets.  The result of this was that little sunlight shone down on to the streets, and only a thin sliver of sky could be seen as they headed down the street.  The windows were all covered in a thick layer of grime, and some were cracked and shattered, with only jagged pieces of the window pane.  The other oddity about the windows was the color of the glass, each window appeared to be of a reddish color, although it was hard to tell through the layer of dust.  

Venice (photo by Herbert Sponner, wikipedia)

“Are these houses all abandoned?”

“No.” Gael pointed at one of the windows. “Look closer.  See, you can still see some life in the windows.”

Marchelline looked in to one of the windows, and saw a vase of flowers sitting on a table.  In another, she could barely make out steam rising from a kettle, sitting on a stove in the far corner.

“Why is it so strange down here?” Marchelline asked, and then regretted her choice of words. “I mean, it’s so different from the other streets.”

“This is the street where the historic flight from the castle took place.” When Marchelline looked at him confused, he added, “ When the prince was stolen by the witch from the north.  She fled across the rooftops with the baby strapped to her breast.  The people who live here, they hid her while the guards searched for her, and they helped her escape.  There was no real evidence of this, but they don’t deny it.  I suppose the Queen thought it was punishment enough to let them live in the past.  So, when Adrina began to rebuild, and modernize to symbolize a new era, the people here refused, and the buildings have just sort of started crumbling and showing their age.”

“And the Queen, she allows them to oppose her? Isn’t that dangerous, for a queen?”

“No one here will ever say they oppose her or the Lords, but some things, you just feel, right?”

Marchelline looked back  at the houses, and then in front of her.  Gael was walking a few paces ahead of her, turning his head slightly to glance in her direction as he spoke.  

“But, down this way,” He pointed further down the street, “Is the really interesting part.”

Marchelline followed his gaze to the end of the street.  A thin layer of water glistened in the streams of sunlight.  Water had collected at the bottom of the street, and Marchelline would have assumed it was just a puddle, but something in Gael’s voice made her doubt it.

“What’s that?”  Gael said nothing, but took her hand and dragged her at a run to the end of the street, pointing her down another set of streets.  As they reached the edge of the street, Marchelline noticed that the puddle was actually a small channel, which had filled the cross street. There were small boats tied to posts at the doorways of the houses, no doubt to ferry around the occupants of the street.  The water was deeper than she had expected, but she could not tell exactly how deep.

“This used to be a set of stairs.” Gael said, pointing down into the water.   “This street was raised up, to make the trek up towards the main stretch at less of an incline.  For hundreds of years, as long as Adrina had stood, there was never water this high.”

“And what happened?” Marchelline asked, hearing the story in his voice.

“Well, this story also has to do with the witch.” Gael  turned to her, excitement in his voice, “They chased the witch through the streets, these streets.  She had a boat down that way, at the bay.  When she reached her ship, she called down a mighty storm, one that’s never been equaled.  And, well, the sea moved inland, knocking down all the soldiers, and flooding the streets below this elevation.”

“And the water never went down?  Not even at the tides?”

 “Nope.  The opposite.  The water creeps up a little every year.  It’s the witch’s curse.”

“How deep is it now?” Marchelline asked.

“Oh, I’d say, maybe about my shoulder level.” Gael smiled cockily at her, “Wanna jump in and see?”

“Very funny.” Marchelline mockingly frowned, “No.”

Gael appeared to have finished with the street, for he started to walk back up it.  Marchelline stood a few more moments at the edge, staring down the street towards the sea.  She turned to follow him, and noticed an old woman standing in the doorway of a nearby house, watching her.  The woman raised an eyebrow at Marchelline, but said nothing before turning back inside the house and shutting the door.  Marchelline ran up the street, feeling something in the pit of her stomach she couldn’t explain.

 If I’m not mistaken, I really haven’t written anything about Adrina, except in the chapters, so I figure it is time to put up an Adrinan post.

Arroll City (in reality Mont Saint Michel, taken from wikipedia)

Adrina is the port city of Arroll, on the lower coast. It was once the capital of Arroll, but about 20 years before the start of Marchelline, the capital relocated to a walled town in the north constructed on a mount, now named Arroll City. (If you look up at the header, you’ll see Mont Saint Michel, the island whose image I based Arroll city after, minus the whole island bit.) I’ll probably devote another post to describing that; there’s a lot below the surface there.

Plym cutting through Adrina to the sea (in reality, Padua, as taken from wikipedia)

Adrina is still the largest city in Arroll, and is the stopping-over point for anyone making their way across the seas. It is also the place where the two main roads in Arroll converge, and is the last stop on the Plym river’s ferry service from Corbin. The city itself appears fairly normal when arriving; buildings a few stories high, a large outdoor marketplace, and a multitude of shops and services around every corner. The city is divided into two parts, the old city and the new. It’s quite obvious where the line is drawn; the architecture says it all.

The old city runs along the river, and is set lower than the newer areas. Around the time that the capital moved, there was a great storm that hit Adrina, causing the banks of the Plym to overflow, causing flooding in the low-lying areas. The water never receded, and the old city still sits, the water slowly rising with each year. There are legends as to why, and of course, they involve Hybrinian weather magic, but again, that is another story.

Old City, Adrina (Venice in reality, wikipedia)

The old city was once filed with as much bustle as the new city, but since the flooding many of the residents left, and the water made business difficult.  As a result, the residents who stayed tended to be those who had attachment to the old city, and the old ways.

The streets of Adrina are fairly complexly laid out.  Although they were originally laid out in a grid system, much of the grid has been taken over by new structures, flooding, or ruins, making it’s navigation much like a labyrinth.  The old city is much easier to navigate by boat, than on foot, and the majority of its residents travel solely by water.  First time travelers to Adrina fare best if they stick to Market Road, which travels from the edge of town down to the port, a sort of continuation to the Kings Highway.  As said by the name, it is where the open market is located, as well as a multitude of inns and shops.    

All images in this post are from wikipedia, liceansed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0

Las causas de la barra de River siguen dando novedades. Cayó Beto, capo en la popular, y ahora la Justicia va por Caverna, jefe de La Banda de Gonzalo. La Cámara nulificó su testimonio en la causa Acro y ahora podría ser indagado por la gresca del playón, donde Balá lo acusa de haberlo herido. Por otro lado, la madre de los Schlenker hizo una denuncia en el juzgado 29 donde dice que hay una conspiración de Adrián contra sus hijos de la que, asegura, no estaría exento el abogado de Alan, Roberto Ribas.