The rain came down in sheets as it battered the rooftops and pounded against the large wooden fence that surrounded the town of Denark. The gusting winds drove the rain sideways for brief moments before dying down, only to pummel the area with hail mixed with the already heavy rain. The guards manning the main gate paced back and forth across the top of the fence on a platform just large enough for two men to pass side by side. This time of night there were only two guards on duty. Each of them was wearing gray leather armor adorned with a red eagle on the chest piece. The various flags displayed around the fence also bore the red eagle that was synonymous with the town of Denark.
Both men wore matching gray hooded cloaks to protect them from the storm. Being completely soaked, the cloaks did little to provide warmth, but did help shield from the stinging raindrops that felt like gravel being thrown every time the wind picked up. Each carried torches that came with metal shielding around the flame to help deal with weather conditions such as these.
Even with the shielding, one or the other torch seemed to keep going out in the hurricane-like conditions, while the man with the remaining lit torch would use his to light the other’s. So far, keeping the torches lit had been the biggest peril they had faced this evening. No travelers seemed to be on the roads this night. Not that many would be at this hour anyway, but with the current weather conditions, they expected the night to be uneventful.
“How much longer are they going to leave us out here?” asked Oben through his thick blond beard and mustache as he pulled the hood over his face as far as he could. The other man just grunted as they passed each other for what seemed to be the thousandth time tonight. Grend was a tall man with a thick black beard and long black hair tied back into a ponytail. A veteran guard, he had seen much worse conditions than this and was not about to complain just to complain. The rainy season in Denark was always quite violent and had built a bit of a reputation for the town due to the extreme weather. Smoldering-hot summers and bitter-cold winters were nothing new here. Throw in the occasional monsoon, and that was Denark as a whole.
It did not seem that many people called the average-sized town home. Sure, there were some locals, but it was mostly a trade town where folk would come and go. You could get anything you needed here as long as you had something of value to trade or plenty of coin. This was also one of the few towns in Tarmerria that did not have a large staff of militia on hand despite the large quantity of goods that could be gained by raiding the trade town. The main reason why Denark had little to worry about raiders was mostly due to its place in the delicate balance of Tarmerria’s economy.
For one, they had no political allegiance to any of the larger cities. They had made no friends or enemies on any side, and would trade with any government who could offer proper compensation. Cities often sent couriers many miles with one or more wagons to stock up on goods that would be hard to come by during the winter months, or even common goods that would simply be cheaper to buy in large quantities from the trade town. Denark was not known for the high-quality goods that could be found in Athsmin, but you could usually get a better price, and the quality was fair enough. It was also a better town to buy grains and other food items, although most of those was imported from Bryer.
It would serve no purpose to sack Denark, since almost all the local towns and even some not-so-local cities benefited from having the supply town nearby. The other reason had little to do with business. Any individual caught stealing—or committing any crime, for that matter—was simply executed the same day. Anyone who was caught doing anything illegal knew what their fate would be within seconds, so no one dared.
Denark had no dealings with slavers like most other cities did. They dealt in weapons, silks, materials, and other goods, but not in lives. The market was large for slavers who bought and sold criminals from cities that simply looked to turn a profit from someone who would be executed anyway. Most of these poor souls were sent off to the games, where they would fight for their lives in arena-type battles, simply to entertain a mob and turn in even more profit. Denark was one of the only towns that found criminals to be an inconvenience instead of a source of revenue and disposed of them as fast as possible.