The city was shaped like an engrailed crown with its high walls curving to bridge six encircling hills, each of which was capped with an ornate watchtower. Its two southern walls slanted sharply inward, forming a narrow corridor that led to the gate. He slowly advanced into the tapering channel while several bowmen lining the battlements above trained their weapons on him, a reception that was no precaution for what approached from the South. There would be no questions as to his business here or his place of origin—he was a citizen they recognized well. And the report they must have gotten from the other returning hunters clearly left no room for rebuttal. As he neared the sealed stone entrance, a rectangular hatch creaked open at eye level, through which a guard’s inhospitable glare accompanied a protruding arrow. “Any closer and you’ll be a stain on that sagging hide!” the voice reverberated coarsely. “I was attacked on the road,”
