Free Lady Carliss and the Waters of Moorue by Chuck Black

shouting at her husband and wagging her head. She ranted about his laziness while he just continued to smile a silly grin.
    Carliss decided that she had seen and heard enough. Quickly she exited the shop.
    “This is really strange,” Carliss said to Salina as she took one more look at the motionless, dazed townspeople.
    Dusk began to gather as they mounted up and left Wallen, confused by what they had seen. Perhaps the city of Moorue would give them more answers, Carliss thought. Darkness had fallen, however, by the time theyneared the city, so they made their camp on a hill overlooking the city and its flickering lights. They would enter Moorue in the morning.
    They awoke to a panoramic view of the city and took some time to get their bearings. From their hilltop vantage point, Carliss could see that the city was partially encircled by a wide river that formed a kind of moat around its edges.
    “That’s the Jem River, I think,” Salina commented, stepping up beside her. “Take a look at the castles.”
    Carliss had already noted the three towering castles that stood as sentries between the river and the city’s edge, positioned on the northern, eastern, and southern corners of the city. A great stonewall ran from castle to castle, creating a protective barrier around Moorue. The land between the city wall and the river was dense with trees and vegetation, but not as foreboding as the swampland that began just beyond the outer banks of the river and stretched into the Altica valley. This vast swamp was cast in shadow by a tangle of trees and shrouded by a mist that showed no signs of burning off in the morning sun.
    Carliss deduced that the swamp had to be the habitat of the esca lizards Petolemew had talked about.
Is the wall the people’s only protection from the lizards?
she wondered. Why would a city be built this close to such a dangerous abode?
    There were many questions to answer, but perhaps the most intriguing of all was the strange sight she beheld in the middle of the swampland a fair distance from the river’s eastern edge—another castle that was twice the size of the other three. It seemed to sit atop the trees in the swamp, and its spires towered higher than any of the other three castles. Also above the treetops was a brick causeway that looked to be the only way in and out of the massive structure. It spanned most of the swamp, then descended via staircase to connect with a bridge that spanned the river. Though it was daylight, Carliss could see a string of torches burning along each side of the bridge. A narrow road ran from the bridge to the city wall where the eastern castle was positioned.
    It was a strange and surreal place that seemed to defy all logic. To build such a city with four castles in the midst of a poisonous-lizard-infested swamp would have taken great effort and many resources, and the inhabitants, it seemed, would be in constant danger. How could such a city prosper? Yet the city did seem prosperous, with caravans of wares entering and exiting the city gates in a steady flow. Many had passed by them on the road without uttering a word.
    Salina broke into Carliss’s reverie. “So, where do we start?”
    Carliss thought a minute. “With Lord Malco,” she said, remembering the name that one of the marauders had spoken. “And I have a feeling”—she pointed to the massive castle in the swamp—“that he lives there.”

DESTINY
    As she looked over the strange scene of city, swamp, and castles, Carliss felt her stomach churn. Now that they had arrived in Moorue, the urgency of her mission threatened to overwhelm her. While traveling, they at least had been moving forward. Here her task turned from travel to investigation, something that was difficult to hurry and impossible to be patient with, knowing that time on a fellow knight’s life was ticking away.
    How dangerous was the swamp? Was this truly the lizards’ domain? Did the ancient flower truly exist, or was it a myth?