Hey gang, it’s me again with yet another Snippet from Maldene.  This time it’s a quick little look at the Harbor Of The World.  Picture an enclosed harbor about the size of the Gulf of Mexico, with the coastline for about a couple hundred miles inland being a single continuous strip of stone buildings, and you got the main idea.  With the architectures of dozens of different cultures, trade from all over the world, it is the one place that anybody on the planet has heard of no matter how far out in the sticks they live.  A place where just about every type of race on the planet mingles in one massive medieval-style city environment.

So, let’s take a little peek now at the fabled Harbor Of The World…

The pungent smell of ozone hit the air as they suddenly appeared in the middle of the dirty street. Several passersby saw the group of strangers appear out of thin air, but paid it no more heed than one would a person wearing odd clothing, before going on about their own business again.

“You’d think they see people appearing out of nowhere every rise,” Eldar said looking around.

“This is Harbor Of The World,” Sabu said, “they probably do.”

They were all there except for Blag-ak. The ogre had indeed wanted to stay behind to watch over his precious dragon eggs, like some one-ton nursemaid. Quickfoot, on the other hand, couldn’t leave fast enough, so eager was he to get into trouble in such a large marketplace. For a lot of them, it was their first time here.

“This was the street where that gypsy fortune teller was that me and Eldar saw before we met you,” Sabu pointed out to Sindar, “that’s how I was able to transport us here. I’ve been here before.”

The street was reasonably crowded for a noontime nev, its old stone-paved streets lined with the smell of tristurel-old human sewage, yet mixed with that of hay and horses, pigs being off-loaded from some ship at the docks, a hint of freshly worked leather at an unseen tannery, fresh vegetables and hot meat pastries from innumerable open-air vendors, the scent of men sweating in their daily work and old women smelling of fresh-cut fish, and with the fresh salty smell of the inland sea that is the Harbor, awash throughout all else.

What the nose missed, one’s ears could fill in, for the sounds of activity were all about. A continual hubbub of noise, from which one could hear snippets of life; the call of the teamster leading his animal through the nearby streets, the sound of a street vendor calling out the quality of his finely blown glass figurines, the scream of someone being robbed on the street, sailors shouting to each other on the docks, the sound of horseshoes making repeated contact with the street as a carriage was pulled down a cross-street nearby, the hushed whispers of secret deals in dark corners, and the applause of people watching street performers ply their trade for a few coins.

The eyes, too, had much to offer. Races of all types wandered these streets. Human, Elves, Dwarves, even a few such as Quickfoot. At one end of the street they were on could be seen a medium-sized merchant ship, its Thirdocian crew unloading cargo. In front of a nearby door, standing guard, stood a fur-covered humanoid cat, standing on two legs like everyone else, but descended from more feline races, his tail swishing back and forth, his fangs showing as he firmly stood his post. Stone-carved buildings lined the streets, their millennia-old walls bearing the painted names and symbols of various businesses. Street vendors, in their wood and cloth booths, lined the street corners like rust the edge of a blade. Streets went on for indeterminable lengths before finally fading from view or twisting out of sight. And finally, the bright blue sun overhead, with Gamri crossing its path, let everyone know, and feel, how close to the tropics they were.

“Now this is what I call a town!” Eldar exclaimed.

“It certainly is big,” Shong commented as he looked around at the crowded streets.

“My friend,” Bronto said, “you haven’t seen anything yet.”

As they were all looking about, a horse rider galloped by, cussing at them for blocking the street.

“I think we should move,” Sabu observed. “Let’s go down by the docks; there’s more room there.”

“I still don’t like the smell of this place,” Lindel said, as they started walking, “not one fresh plant or piece of greenery around here.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Eldar said, walking beside Lindel, “the nearest tree may be hundreds of miles away, but Sÿlva’ may be found in other forms around here.”

“Now this is the proper place to live in,” Quickfoot said, skipping on ahead, “places to hide, pastries to steal, sights to see.”

The street ended at the docks, a wide area lined with ships coming and going, people of all sorts busying about. They walked over to an empty pier to stop, no ship there to crowd their view.

“That,” Sabu pointed out to the bay, “is the Harbor.”

For some their first view, for others not their first but still holding its own impact. In front of them the sea stretched out to the horizon, the shore they were on going on to either side for as far as even the elves could see. A light sea breeze blew in their faces as they looked out upon the large expanse of calm waters. Ship after ship poked its sails up into view. Uncountable ships, some near, others farther down the coast. Some ships far out into the Harbor, still others as several tiny specks far on the horizon. Like grains of sand floating upon the water, they seemed, and just as numerous.

“This is a harbor?!” Lindel exclaimed.

“It looks more like a whole ocean,” Shong agreed, eyes wide.

“That’s what I thought when I first saw it,” Kilgar put in. “It looks endless.”

“Trust me when I say,” Sabu said to all, “that there is another side, that the Harbor is enclosed from the sea but for a narrow outlet of a mere hundred miles wide.”

“A mere hundred miles?” Sindar asked with some incredulity.

“It’s said to be the home of a million ships,” Bronto said, gazing wistfully out to sea, “from all over the world. Some of the ships just trade back and forth across the Harbor itself, it’s so vast.”

“And quite easy to get into trouble in,” Kor-Lebear observed calmly.

“But, that’s the best part of this place,” Eldar grinned.

“He’s right,” Sindar said, “we all have to be careful.”

“We should split up,” Sabu said. “Bronto, why don’t you take Shong and Kilgar and see about getting us a ship. We’ll meet you at that same place we stayed at the first time we were here.”

“Sounds good,” the big man said, “and maybe I can show Shong here some real city life.”

“Lindel,” Eldar said, “come with me; I know some places you gotta see.”

“The rest of you,” Sabu said, “just make sure that you’re with someone that knows the area. We’ll be meeting at the Boar’s Head Inn around nightfall.”

“This is going to be some fun,” Eldar said gleefully.

“Now this is a place I can sink my teeth into,” Kilinir said to Kor-Lebear.

“Or a dagger,” Kor-Lebear said quietly back.