A Geography of Haarth: Normarch (Updated)
The A Geography of Haarth post series traverses the full range of locales and places from The Wall Of Night world of Haarth.
From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the series explored locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost.
Now it’s returned to gazette the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three.) The new series comprises updates of previous entries as well as new listings.
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Normarch: the stronghold of the castellan of Emer’s Northern March
“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
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Drifts of mist lay between black trunks, and a russet fox slipped out of the undergrowth, stopping with one paw raised to gaze at her from eyes she knew would be the color of barley ale. Above its head, a knot in an oak trunk twisted, first into a fox’s mask, before shifting again into the face of Lord Falk, Castellan of Normarch and leader of the Emerian Oakward. The russet fox slipped away.
~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 18 — The Wayhouse