IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS...
The nights of Hailey, Daughter of the Sun, Queen of Syfall and of the Kingdom of the South are haunted by the disturbing visions of the marching armies of the Night Lord, an evil supernatural being who had manifested Himself in the lands of the North. Following the advice of Praja, her trusted counselor and court sorceress, Hailey sends her younger sister, Eluan, and her lover and captain of her guards, Darya, to alert her vassals, the Duchesses Sung of Hadun and Dasha of Vinevris. In the meanwhile the Night Lord has already subdued the mind of Queen Artemis of Troygrove, and has instructed her about His plans of conquest and dominion...
https://www.literotica.com/s/daughter-of-the-sun-ch-04
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The seven mounted riders contemplated the sight of the city from the top of the grassy hill.
From their elevated point of observation, the terrain gently sloped down until the shores of the wide gulf that overlooked the placid waters of the Southern Sea. And there, set on its banks, splendid and shining like a precious jewel, stood the ancient and marvelous city of Vinevris.
In the intense and brilliant light of the early afternoon, the great city appeared to the travelers in all its glory, similar to an enchanting mirage emerging from the air, distorted by the summer heath; hundreds of slender towers rose high into the sky like needles, each of them topped with domes and vaults shimmering in brilliant colors of emerald, ruby, sapphire, gold and silver, forming a sumptuous kaleidoscopic vision capable to enchant the eyes and to conquer the heart of whoever would have allowed their gaze to rest on it.
Vinevris was a rich and opulent city. Being the main port of the Kingdom of the South, and one of the largest in the whole Mur, its immense wealth was the consequence of the intensity of the commercial trades with almost all of the other cities on the continent and beyond. From its great harbor, countless vessels and galleons came and went from every part of the known world, transporting every kind of merchandise, from the ones aimed to satisfy the most basic necessities of life to the most exotic and luxurious oddities.
From the far distant, western land of Antaros, on the other side of the Ocean, immense ships arrived fully loaded with gold, spices, exotic herbs and fruits, and precious woods coming from the Empire of Yzca and from the many other, mysterious realms which flourished of that continent.
To the south, the mighty galleons of Vinevris were capable to reach the Isles of the Moon, right in the midst of the Southern Sea, and and push themselves even beyond, reaching the coastal cities of Lyras, Apsus and Zakata on the immense and still mostly unexplored continent of Gowanda, returning to Mur filled with marvelous pearls, diamonds, precious stones, ivory, incenses, resins and perfumes of every kind.
And to the east, the greedy and fearless sailors and traders of the city were able to reach the other main ports of Mur, the three Sultanates of Tarbaste, Saad and Galador, the great and mysterious island-continent of Gajandri, up to the semi-mythical kingdom of Thalos, in the far orient, which was believed by many to be the very end of the Earth. Their ships returned loaded with silks, fine drapery, dyes, and precious artifacts, for the delight of the rich inhabitants of Vinevris.
Every possible kind of goods was traded in that city, with the sole exception of slaves; accordingly to one of the fundamental laws promulgated since the most ancient times by the royal House of Val Lumenar, slavery was absolutely prohibited throughout the whole Kingdom of the South; anyone found to be owning, capturing, or dealing in slaves would have been immediately sentenced to death.
"The Door to the World"; this is how the city was nicknamed by the inhabitants of the Kingdom. And, indeed, it was possible to meet the whole world among the crowded streets of Vinevris, in its great squares, in its thriving markets and in its luxurious palaces. Vinevris was a cosmopolitan city, a meeting point and a crossroads for cultures, races and religious faiths from all over the world, but, at the same time, it could have been also a dangerous place, full as it was of adventurers of dubious morality, charlatans, swindlers and thieves.
The city took its name from the legendary Queen who had founded it, over three thousand years before. Stories and myths reported that the young Queen Vinevris was only twenty-two, when she had landed on the southern coast of Mur with a fleet of fifty ships carrying the remains of the army and of the people who had remained faithful to her, after her forced exile from her homeland in Antaros. And, on the spot on the beach where nowadays stood a shrine in her memory, the young Sovereign had planted her sword, swearing in front of all the Goddesses to guarantee safety and prosperity to her followers and to anyone who may have decided to place themselves under her protection.
The original small settlement of exiles, made of simple mud and wooden huts, had turned quickly into a fortified town, and then into a lively centre, capable of attracting the inhabitants of the other villages located along the coast and in the immediate hinterland.
At that times, the local populations of Mur were still relatively primitive if compared to those of the western continent, whose civilizations were much older. The men and women who came from Antaros following their Queen surpassed the locals in navigation techniques, agricultural knowledge, metallurgy and forging. The economic and military growth of the new center, and its gradual territorial expansion northwards, caused growing friction with the city of Syfall, at that time ruled by Queen Ellyn Val Lumenar, one of the distant, direct ancestor of Hailey, the current Queen, and her relatives.
Five years after Vinevris had landed on the coasts of Mur, the military clash with Syfall became inevitable. For about three years the war had continued in the form of continuous skirmishes between the two cities, with alternated results. Until, on a foggy autumn day, the two armies had met in a decisive frontal clash along the western bank of the Arnon river.