It was still early afternoon, so they spent a few hours seeing the sights of the city. After agreeing to meet back at a nice inn they found, they split up. Thomas went to the city's library on the off chance that it had a book worth reading, Diana went to a temple to pray and meditate, and Jerry and Lirenna went to the museum, which was reputed to have a fine collection of Agglemonian artifacts. Shaun and Matthew just wandered the streets, trying to get the feel of the city. This was the largest city they had ever been in, having a population of well over a hundred thousand, and they found it all fascinating.

     At one point they were stopped by a patrol of city guardsmen, who checked them to make sure their peace knots were secure. They asked what their business was in the city and Shaun answered that they were tourists from the Overgreen Forest, which earned him a hard, suspicious look. Tourists were discouraged from the fortress city, every visitor was regarded as a potential spy, but eventually they had to let them go after warning them to keep out of trouble. "Seems like good advice," muttered Matthew as they left. Like Shaun, he had noticed the battered and worn condition of the guard’s sword hilt and scabbard. It was hardly ceremonial and had seen regular use.

     They had originally intended to confine their explorations to the central, more prosperous parts of the city, but after only a couple of hours they had circled the tower and returned to their starting point and were running out of new places to explore, so they gradually drifted into the surrounding somewhat dingier areas. The streets there were narrow and filled with rubbish and filth, with drainage channels along the middle down which trickles of dark water ran, disappearing at intervals down drainage holes from which a foul smell arose. "I don't like it here," said Matthew, wrinkling his nose with distaste. "Let's go back to the library and see if we can help Thomas find anything on the Oracle."

     "In a minute," said Shaun. "You go back if you like. I want to see what's down here."

     "There's nothing down here except filth and bad smells," said Matthew. "Come on, let's go."

     Shaun ignored him and carried on, past where a group of small dirty children were kicking a mouldy cabbage against a wall. They stopped while the two young fighters passed, staring at them in fascination until they rounded a corner, whereupon they resumed their game.

     "Hey, look!" said Shaun, pointing to a large brick building from which a sign hung. The sign declared that the building was a tavern called the happy goblin, but the grinning goblin's face painted above it, flaking with age and weathering, had clearly been painted by someone who had never seen a real one. "A tavern! Come on, let's try it."

     Matthew reluctantly followed Shaun into the seedy looking establishment, and they found themselves in a dimly lit public bar in which an assortment of disreputable looking characters were chatting amongst themselves and puffing on clay pipes. Half a dozen conversations stopped abruptly as they entered, and at least twenty pairs of eyes stared at them suspiciously as they made their way across the room to the bar, where a huge bosomed woman in her mid thirties wearing far too much face paint was serving a couple of bored looking conscript soldiers whose swords, they were pleased to see, were peace knotted.

     Shaun was intensely curious about city life, but knew that it was better not to admit to open curiosity. "Please forgive the intrusion,” he said therefore, “but I'm afraid we're lost. I wonder if you could direct us back to the east road."

     "The east road, my lovelies?" said the barmaid, smiling a smile that didn't quite make it all the way to her eyes while she looked them over appraisingly, trying to get a feel for how much copper and silver they were carrying. "Well, deary, you're closer to the north road here. You just go north until you get to the temple of Nimbus, turn west, and that takes you to the north road. Follow it south, and you'll find yourself on tower road. Just follow it round to the east road. You got all that, my lovely?"

     "Thank you very much," said Shaun. He tried to think of a good reason to stay instead of leaving and following her instructions immediately, but couldn't think of one. Luckily, the soldier standing next to him came to his rescue. "You're not from these parts, are you?" he asked, giving them a careful, measuring looking over.

     "No," replied Shaun, returning the gaze. "We're from Kenlinton in the Overgreen Forest, about halfway between here and Callinia. We're travelling to Andor with a friend to meet his family. This is our first time in Ilandia."

     "Really?" said the soldier in amazement. "You live in the Overgreen Forest? With all those monsters, that close to the Shadow? I've passed through the forest on patrol and I wouldn't live there for all the gold in Tara! Let me buy you both a drink. Tess, four mugs of old and filthy if you please." He slammed a handful of copper coins on the bar as the smiling barmaid poured four measures of mud coloured liquid into the small pewter cups. The soldiers took one each, leaving one each for Shaun and Matthew, who picked them up gingerly. Both the soldiers tossed their drinks down quickly, gave gasps of appreciation and then they looked at the two newcomers, exchanging amused glances with each other.

     Shaun, wanting to make a good impression, tossed his back as well, and almost choked as the drink burned its way down his throat like liquid fire. He doubled over in a fit of coughing while the entire room erupted in laughter. After a while the laughter died down and several conversations started up again as the room's occupants lost interest in the newcomers. They had been accepted.

     Matthew sipped at his drink while Shaun and the two soldiers got talking. Shaun told them about their adventure in Dermakarak, their battles with the buglins and shologs and the discovery and killing of the clay man, in which the soldiers were very interested. He said nothing about Vantarestin or what they had found there, but he did mention that ‘a good friend of theirs' was convinced that another invasion was coming. The soldiers took this with a grain of salt, however, believing that the Shadowhosts would never dare attack again after the disastrous defeat they'd suffered last time. “My dad was part of the army that chased them all the way back to the Shadow,” said the first. “They were beaten, totally defeated. We taught them a lesson they’ll remember for a thousand years.”

     “Have you seen much action yourselves?” asked Matthew. “How often do you go out there?” He waved his hand to indicate the wilderness beyond the borders of Ilandia.

     “We came back from a patrol that went all the way out to Purby a couple of months back,” said the second soldier. “Quietest patrol I’ve ever been on...”

     “Purby’s down towards Calmany,” Protested Shaun, though. “It’s nowhere near the Shadow. You ever been up near Kenlinton? Panwood? Tilbrook?”

     “Not for a few years,” replied the soldier. “What about you, Monk?”

     “Went up near Dillvan a couple of years back,” he replied. “It was a bit hairy,  I’ll admit, but it’s what you expect in the forest. The locals were a bit jumpy...”

     “Jumpy!” exclaimed Shaun. “They’re streaming into Ilandia by the thousand!”

     “They always are,” replied the soldier. “Ever since I’ve been stationed here. They’re pulling their hair out trying to find places to put them all. That’s not because it’s so bad out there, though, but because it’s so good in here. All the advantages of civilization, plenty of work to be found now the harvest season’s getting close. If I lived out there, I’d be trying to get in here.”

     “Well, we do live out there and I can tell you what it’s really like,” said Shaun, who went on to describe all the awful things that had happened to people they knew. The soldiers were becoming restless, though, and so the woodsmen changed the subject, asking about what life was like in a big city, something that they knew nothing about.

     “This is a popular tourist city,” said Monk. “People come from hundreds of miles around to see the Tower. They don’t usually come to this part of town, though. They stay in the inner circle, where it’s safe.”

     “Safe?” asked Matthew.

     “Things can get a little rough around here for tourists, especially if they don’t take care not to stand out. I’m a little surprised to see you two here, to be honest. Can’t remember when we last had someone in here who wasn’t local.”

     “We live in the Overgrown Forest,” said Shaun with a smile. “We’ve fought snouts, ogres, even trolls. I think we can take care of ourselves.”

     “Ever fought people?” asked the second soldier. “Human beings?” The two woodsman glanced at each other. “Thought not. It’s not like fighting shologs. You can kill a snout easy as anything, but to run a sword through a human being, even one that’s trying to kill you... It takes five years to train a soldier, and most of that is spent trying to overcome your natural inhibitions against killing another human being.”

     “Are you saying it might come to that, here in Fort Battleaxe?”

     “It can happen in any big city. Welcome to civilization, my friends.”