A Geography Of Haarth: Normarch
The A Geography of Haarth post series is traversing the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth. Each locale is accompanied by a quote from either The Heir Of Night, The Gathering Of The Lost, or both.
This week we head further into “N” with Normarch, a locale of some prominence in The Gathering Of The Lost.
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Normarch: the stronghold of the castellan of Emer’s Northern March
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“Looking the other way, Carick could see the boughs of an orchard above the buttery roof, and wooded hills rising, blue in the distance. He had to lean right out the window to catch a glimpse of the castle, which was built of the same gray stone as the inn. Its walls were considerably lower than those of either Ar or Terebanth, and the central stronghold was little more than a single donjon with a series of roofs stretching away on either side. Halls, Carick supposed, cudgeling his memory for details of Emerian castle architecture, and there would be armories and more stables as well. Kitchens, too, he thought, as fresh baking aromas drifted up to the window. He felt hungry again already.
Craning further out again, Carick saw figures wheeling and maneuvering on horseback beneath the castle walls. He spotted archery butts as well, and guessed that these must be the garrison’s training fields. A working stronghold, he thought, and remembered what had been written in a cramped hand on one of the few maps of Emer to be found in Ar. Normarch, the notation had said, and then, in even smaller letters: the Duke’s bridgehead in the north.”
~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two: Chapter 13 — Normarch