Chapter 29 Onwards to the castle
"Do you have more information from Follin?" I asked Ntombi
"Not much more, just some information on the people that came here. They came in the evening 2 nights before. The next day we would already move out… their team had only 3 members, and all of them were scary in some way." She answered as she shook her head slightly, it seemed that she didn't know much more so we would need to ask Follin himself when we got there.
"Interesting… I guess he will have a reason to keep most of it away from us, but Brady will know it as well."
The team took a quick rest as they caught up with Ntombi. She had gotten an injury during the previous scout run, that was also why Rohan could join Fiora's team that quickly.
"Let's get moving again, Leslie you have a route in mind?" Britta stood up after they had a 30-minute rest. The shelter's location was safe enough to not worry about any satyr's.
"Ah Britta yes indeed, I will keep it short like you asked me. We have 2 options, the first is straight way via the inner city, but that is too risky so I recommend the second option. Which is the long route via the edge of the inner city to the northwestern area."
"Sounds good we take the long way. Inner city is risky." Britta agreed for the rest of the team as they packed their little belongings.
It would be the last time in the shelter, they hoped.
Moving out they started walking in a northwestern direction, similar to how they had gotten to the inner city in the first place.
Ntombi was quick and good in scouting out the roads ahead. Her skill allowed her to move quicker at the cost of more energy and nutrition. Speaking of downsides of a skill, Britta had a rather big downside. Her skill increased her reaction time, but when the skill ended her reaction time would be very slow for a while until the electrical impulses restored to their original level. That was the explanation that Leslie gave it.
By nightfall they reached the edge of the inner city. The neon light turned on again as Duran's Cross was the first to shine in the dark. The rest of the city followed quickly. Every area had some sort of specific theme for the buildings, they were walking through mostly living quarters, but even then the themes were clearly visible. Having characteristics from metals such as copper, lead, zinc, etc. Even the decorations would change, being more pristine if the theme was silver and gold or more rigid for iron and raw ores.
The artwork and statues in the seldomly available parks would be themed. The closer the area was to the inner city, the more extravagant all the decorations would become. At the southern outskirts of the city, there would be no decorations. Just plain concrete building blocks and the bare minimum accessories. The location of the shelter was still in an acceptable place. Further south the city government wouldn't put a shelter for the people.
The journey took them most of the next day as well, getting closer by the end of the day they took a rest at a bed and breakfast building. Treating each other to some good food that wasn't yet spoiled. Most food in the city was becoming spoiled after more than a week out in the open, except for some places with fridges like the current place.
It was called Miner's Den, being an old place were miner used to eat back in the day. Now it was just a spot were old people from the oldest generation would gather. The front of the building was covered with wood, trying to create the saloon image it had back in the day. It had already been broken down and rebuild at least three times, but the inside atmosphere was perfect. Having that warm glow throughout the building and a typical smell. Even without people it felt comfortable. They crashed the night and left early in the morning again, they would arrive by noon at the castle.
They crossed the Western Canal, used for big ore and mineral shipments. Having many bridges, despite being such a wide canal. All of the bridges could be lifted or opened in one way or another. Some methods include folding the bridge, or just pulling the road back into the ground, or even dropping the bridge in the water.
Finally, they managed to reach the castle, Leslie had told them extensively about it's details, but the most important thing was of course the name. The castle was named Basantl. It was visible from a distance, standing on a artificially created hill in the center of the northwestern quadrant. It towered slightly above the rest of the buildings, the castle's peaks allowing for views on the surroundings.
The castle was dark grey in color, and hexagonally in shape with a small tower on each of its vertices. One central domineering tower stood in the middle of the castle. The roofs were covered with black tiles and the edges had black metal for design. The style was very rough and intimidating, having many spikes and thick walls to keep intruders out while minimizing the number of windows and openings. It had a large vault in some of the dug-out basement levels, keeping large amount of riches in ores and minerals.
The rest of the castle was either part of the central building or smaller living quarters. It was partially used as a strategic base but also for many citizens to live in. The road to the castle used to be covered with many homes or storages, but now it was just a wooden walkway that circled 3 times around the hill until it reached the gate.
The main building material of Basantl was basalt stones cut into large square bricks. The shape came from the rare formation of hexagonal basalt formations that was found in the central bathing house of the castle. The castle was build on a hot spring that was reserved for the owner at that time. Now it functions as luxury hotel and museum, only allowing the richest people to bathe.
There had been many rumors about the hot spring not functioning anymore, but those had stopped a couple months ago after some influential people had visited the baths.
Leslie had managed to find out all this information in a book he found at a store. He was a man of knowledge and curiosity.