The Pearl Of Vynes - Chapter 9 The City Of Glaedel

The rays breaking through the dense foliage overhead shone brightly despite it being early morning. Broaching the last of the trees, Alice could hear the sounds of dirt being walked and conversations being made and an even distant sound that sounded much like the village back at home. The light made Alice blink for a moment but the visage before her made her gasp. An impossibly tall citadel stood before her, the walls around it hid much of the inner town. The tall city was surrounding by water, Alice could see people off in the distance crossing the moat by bridge. A slow stream of people were entering and leaving the city as she stared at the clear and shining marble.

“Welcome to the City of Glaedel, a merchant’s harbour and a place for those who wish to stay hidden from the outside world” Miles said with a hand outstretched to show the enormous city before them, presenting it to Alice as if she were in a shop and browsing through the cases on display. The landscape had a multitude of colours and odd quirks, looking up she could see a number of trees were losing their leaves such as in the fall, but others were looking incredibly healthy such as bearing through summer. The mixture of colours provided a vivid palette for Alice’s eyes to devour as if all the seasons celebrated at once here.

“For a first timer this is often an adventure of a lifetime” Miles said to Alice, giving her a wink and mischievous grin. Alice was still awestruck at the city’s beauty, the size stretched high into the clouds. Miles started to walk off in front Alice, Alice chased after Miles and walked closed behind him. As they got ever closer, the city loomed over Alice in a mighty showing of riches and engineering. Alice then noticed that the people that were now joining them were not quite like them. Some were of different animals standing on two legs while other were more of a mixture of species, a number of small animals ran past her feet and weaved their way through the ever growing crowd. Miles was explaining some things to Alice that she now had tuned into.

“Glaedel is owned and maintained by the Merchant King. He’s a funny kind of guy but he always loves to turn over a profit. A bit hard to fault him” Miles said, giving a chuckle at the end.

“Miles?” Alice asked.

“Yes missy?” Miles replied, cocking an ear in her direction.

“Is this real? “Alice said dumbfounded, Miles chortled at her words.

“As real as you want it to be” Miles said with a wink at Alice.

“So that time I found a troll outside of the village?” Alice asked looking slightly concerned now.

for visiting.

“Yes, it took a lot of effort to convince him not to eat you” Miles said nonchalantly

“And the time I saw those faeries, feeding the flowers in the garden?” Alice asked again.

“Lovely ladies I would say” Miles responded.

Alice’s eye started to sparkle in excitement, quickly darting head around to look at the people entering the city. All sorts of people caught her eye, short and tall. Ears and odd bits of fur were mixed in the crowd that was now surrounding the two of them. ears and fur mixed in with the human heads walking into the city. Smaller creatures underfoot ran through the crowd and raced each other to the gate. A number of creatures and people on brooms flew overhead, sprinkles of dust left behind showed the flight path of faeries flying above the crowd. Alice could barely believe her eyes as her jaw hung in disbelief.

“You should close your jaw missy, don’t want a fly to wander in” Miles said in mute amusement. Alice closed her mouth and observed in wide eye wonder at all the creatures that walked past. Miles started to explain some of the creatures that walked past her. Some were quite humanoid, while others were very much of animal or monsters. Miles and Alice mingled with the crowd as they shuffled towards the cities gates, a large bridge spanned across the island’s moat. The bustle and noise becoming a dull roar in Alice’s ears, just outside of the city. Miles and Alice got squeezed in as they slowly walked inside and the crowd dispersed as they started to enter into the streets. Everything was so clean underfoot to Alice, despite the road being made out of cobblestone the dirt seemed almost non-existent. A whirling noise sounded by the two and Alice noticed a small cart trailing through the city, it didn’t have a horse leading it but it had a rotating broom on its back that swept the ground the driver a small rodent drove around Alice’s leg making his rounds for the day. Slowly trundling past Alice watched as the small cart passed them by. Alice felt unclean considering the how the city looked, almost at a polished sheen without a speck of dirt or dust on any walls or windows.

“No worries about it missy, there’s a special place we’ll drop by first before we meet my contact” Miles said grinning at her. Alice looking confused followed Miles as he led her through the streets, wandering in an odd but purposeful manner between each street. Miles stopped underneath a sign, Alice looked up at the wooden picture. A dress was carved into it with a needle and thread surrounding it. There was also a number of odd symbols beneath it, which Alice couldn’t figure out. Alice grabbed Miles’ shirt and pointed her finger to the sign above.

“Miles, do you know what the weird symbols mean?” Alice said, emphasising the symbols underneath the image. Miles raised his eyebrows, his face turning to surprise.

“Your mother never taught you how to read?” Miles asked in a surprised tone. Alice shook her head in response.

“Well I’m happy to teach you, at the very least it’ll keep you out of trouble. It’s very important so I’m surprised your mother hadn’t done this earlier” Miles said, placing a reassuring hand on Alice’s shoulder. Miles turned and opened the door to the store. Alice followed behind, hearing the distinct sound of a small bell as Miles closed the door behind the two of them. The room had tables covering the room, each had a number of cloths and dresses on it. A clear glass container held a figure with a dress being worn. The dress drew Alice close as she looked at the clothing with close inspection. The small sounds of the city had become muted as they had entered the store and Miles walked over to a small silver object sitting atop a table. Miles tapped the silver object with his finger and sounded a loud ding breaking the quiet of the room. A curtain behind the counter parted but Alice couldn’t see anyone come out. Suddenly walking out from behind the counter was a slightly plump cat, orange and brown splotches decorated its fur. It was only wearing a green silk coat with small patterns of cats decorating it. The cat using its paws grabbed the edges of its shirt then looked at Miles in the eye.

“Welcome, welcome. How can I help you today?” the cat said in a pleasant voice. The cat took a moment longer and then, as a best as a cat could showing surprise spoke again.

“Ah, Miles, it’s been so long. It’s good to see you again” the cat said in a friendly tone.

“It’s good to see you too young master” Miles grabbed Alice by the shoulders, presenting her to the small cat.

“This is my friend’s daughter, its her first visit to Glaedel so we’ll need a spruce up” Miles continued. The cat walked closer to Alice and looked her over.

“Hmm, yes. A wardrobe change is desperately needed for this lady” the cat said in a slightly distressed tone. The cat walked back behind the curtain and the sounds of him rummaging around drew Alice’s attention.

“Would you like the regular?” the cat said behind the curtain.

“If you would” Miles replied, Alice still in his hands. Miles led Alice over to a wooden booth, a curtain drawn back to show a mirror, allowing Alice to see herself for the first time. Looking herself up and down, her hair was tussled and had dirt dried in it. Her plain peasant smock was filthy, what could’ve been a cream colour was instead stained with dirt and food stains. Alice felt shockingly out of place. As Alice was distracted by seeing herself in the mirror, the cat came back out from behind the curtain. The cat was holding a bunch of materials, with a tape measure hanging around his neck.

“Ma’am if you could stay still for me, that would be wonderful” the cat said to Alice. Miles stepped back as he watched Alice getting her measurements done. The tape floated into the air, holding itself against Alice’s limbs. Moving and measuring each length of Alice’s body, the cat nodded as he gestured the tape measure back to him. The cat put his materials down on a nearby table as he wrote down some numbers on a parchment he hid in the pockets of his oversized shirt.

“You’re definitely filling out well for a lovely young lady such as yourself. I’ll just have you go into the booth and then we can start to get you changed” the cat said gesturing at the booth while he finished scribbling on his parchment. Alice walked into the booth, closing the curtain behind her. Miles watched as Alice’s plain smock was placed on the top of the booth as Alice waited. The cat finished his writing and gave two short claps. The parchment rolled up and disappeared as the material the cat was carrying earlier flew into the air and flew into the booth. Alice gave a yelp as the clothes surrounded her and changed size. Alice could feel her hair getting straightened and the dirt being washed out. Miles watched from the outside in amusement as he could still hear the sounds of Alice fighting with the material. A moment of silence filled the air as Miles listened attentively. Alice’s hand came around the curtain and she poked her head out.