Excerpt: In Autumn Gold

And the lamp flickered, flickered, and went out.

Its dying light was reflected in the eyes of one Goizeder Riestra, who took this as his cue to stand up. The golden light of the early evening fell through the shaft nearby. Once Eder's eyes adjusted, he made his way through the children playing racing games, the shops selling contraband not to be found anywhere else, the houses that reached all the way up the twelve feel to the ground of the city above, and Undertown girls coyly renting themselves for one night and one night only, up to the gates to one of the stairwells leading up to the main city.

He picked the lock and opened the gate, then went up the stairs. He wasn't pleased to find out, upon surfacing, that he had chosen a stairwell that had ended up facing west. He made a face and shielded his eyes, turning away. Being on the streets proper of Moon Shadow City always bothered him, for being what he felt was so much more exposing that the Undertown.

The city's layout was very orthogonal, but to someone like Eder who spent all his time in the maze-like Undertown, it was very easy to get lost, even when coming up from the same gate most of the time. He looked around. Some of the shops were vaguely familiar to him, but that would only be good for minimal help. At least he had a clear indication of direction, thanks to the low sun, so he decided to go off with the sun at his back, since the shops further down in that direction were more familiar.

He had his destination in mind, and it was only a matter of finding it. Of course, the way things up there usually went for him, it more often than not resulted in his taking longer than he probably should have. The problem was that there were no stairwells leading back down to the Undertown that were close to where he wanted to go. Rolling his eyes, he figured that it was probably that way for a reason.

He was headed to the bazaar, which was in an alleyway that could be rather hard to find if one didn't already know where it was. It wasn't planned for it to be there, secluded, but even in spite of that it certainly did enough business to keep it there. At the far end of the alley, nestled comfortably right against the city walls, was a tavern with an adjoining inn, and said tavern was his ultimate destination.

He wandered through the city streets. The sounds of groups of street musicians playing their violins and guitars provided a pleasant sound which could never be heard in the Undertown. Such things simply weren't done there. He noticed his shadow getting longer, and started to hurry. The lamps in the homes above the shops were starting to shine brighter, starting to become much more noticeable, and it would not be long before Moon Shadow City was bathed in that mix of starlight and street lamps.

By the time he came across a street which he knew was by the bazaar, he slowed his pace down. It would be dark by the time he reached the bazaar, he was sure of that, but now he knew his way well enough to be guided by what dim light there was. The bazaar would be dark, since common sense dictated that lamps weren't allowed there, but that would be almost inconsequential due to the light coming from the tavern inevitably being bright enough for him to find his way. Only a few minutes had passed before he stopped, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness which always seemed much more at home in the Undertown than up here.

He looked up. The sky was filled with stars, and while he had no patience to stop and look, since it wasn't that practical and he had things to do anyway, they didn't escape his notice, and the view from the darker part of the city never failed to be breathtaking. He didn't see it often, and even though he knew he needed to get going, he couldn't help but stop and afford himself a second or two to take in the view.

He started walking again, and it wasn't long before he made it to the bazaar. He probably could have made better time if he had chosen a different stairwell, but it was too late to worry about something like that now. He drew his cloak tighter around himself, and walked down the bazaar's main path. The cloths strung across the tops of the poles, across the stalls and walkways to create a canopy that encompassed almost the entire plaza, and they only served to make it, once coupled with the light flooding from the tavern casting shadows, almost scary, definitely enough to make it creepy. But the light was bright enough to illuminate the path, and all that needed to be done was simply go toward it. In a matter of seconds, he made his way to the tavern, faintly hearing noises coming from within. He opened the door.