Marienburg

There was a particular irony to walking into one of the greatest port cities in the world. It was not, Camilla reflected, as she trugged along the trail footsore and weary, a particularly pleasant irony. The grandly named Marienburg Road, was effectively a muddy goat track which was to unimportant to even warrant paving stone. The sides of the road were covered with almost dead grass as the autumnal chill sucked the warmth from the air. Here and there a cottage stood, feeble fires blazing against the evening as the two weary travelers passed by.

It had been an awkward time to arrive, they had been too close to the city to risk camping out in the woods and too far to make the trek before nightfall. Camilla hefted her pack over her shoulder and picked her way along the road. She for one would welcome a proper bed for the first time in a week, even if it did cost a chunk of their increasingly meager savings. It had surprised her how quickly the money had gone but both of them had resolved to enjoy it, neither having any particular desire to settle down to a quiet life.

The lights atop the city walls were clearly visible now. Odd low walls which were familiar to her. Marienburg was a remote city by any means, but it was also on one of the major trade arteries of the world. Beyond greedy Imperials, pirates and raiders of all sort would be drawn to the city if it wasn't well defended.

Cydric had explained that Marienburg wasn't truely part of the Empire and hadn't been since the time of someone called Boris Goldfinger. Camilla wasn't an expert on Imperial history, but to her the state of affairs in Marienburg seemed natural. A city ought not be bigger than a city, afterall how could one govern territory that one never saw. The city state was the natural order of things. She was about to remark as much to Cydric when the clatter of horses hooves drew her attention. 

Turning she saw, to her amazement a great black coach, rocketing along the road at a speed that would have been suicidal reckless on the promenade at Pavona, much less on rocky animal track like this one. The whip of the drive cracked loudly in the night air and Camilla realized that the driver either hadn't seen them or had no intention of stopping.

[b]"BLoody buggering hell!"[/b] she yelled and threw herself sideways at the same time as Cydric did barely avoiding the churning hooves and clattering wheels as the coach raced past. She had a momentary impression of plush silk curtains and gorgeous carved wood and then the thing was past, tilting but not quite toppling as it took one of the shallow bends in the road. Sparks came up from the hooves of the horses as they struck rocks in the road. She cast a skeptical eye over at Cydric.

[b]"Welcome to Marienburg I suppose,"[/b] she said with the detached amusement of someone who has just dogged an arrow.