The
Road to Kethlow
This is the only road that leads from Hapsburg to
civilisation; it runs along a
clear space between the Harkness
Mountains
and the Great
Forest. While the road runs more
or less along the
middle of this strip of scrubland in the foothills of the mountains,
the
mountains themselves and the forest are never more than a couple of
miles away.
The road is a simple track, little more than a pair of ruts cut into
the
surface by the wheels of wagons that have already passed this way. The path bends around
small hills or large
clumps of bushes and in some places stones have been pushed into the
ground to
fill pot holes or to re-enforce marshy spots.
It shows the way and makes travel easier, but it isn’t a
‘proper’ road.
An ‘official’ caravan takes this route about once per week, guarded by
a small
detachment of the Laird’s men, although there is nothing to stop people
from
travelling the road at anytime. However,
seeing as most of the road falls outside of any military patrol areas,
there is
the risk of dangerous animals, bandits and attacks from mountain or
forest
dwellers, so most people prefer to wait and travel in safety. The caravan takes the best
part of three days
to get from Hapsburg to Kethlow, although an unencumbered man can do it
in less
than two days and a man on a fast horse inside one day.
As the crow flies, it is about 30 miles
between the two places, but the road has a few twists and turns, hills
to
negotiate and other distractions that tend to slow travel down.
About twelve miles from Hapsburg, you come to Palisade
– the first overnight
stop for the caravan. It
is literally a
small fenced area where wagons can be parked securely overnight. Apart from that, here is a
basic inn and a
couple of trappers’ huts here. It
falls
under the aegis of the Laird of Hapsburg.
Another eleven or so miles brings you to the second stop along the
route at
Theale. This is a small
agricultural
village, where the caravan parks in a central paddock and everyone
sleeps in, or
under, the wagons. There
is a tavern
that sells food and drink, but does not have any rooms to rent.
From here it is only a few miles more into Kethlow.
The road becomes safer at this point, you
start to pass between fields or see shepherds with their flocks -
mounted
patrols from the Baron’s Guard pass along the road, and there is small
traffic
back and forth between Theale and the market in Kethlow.
And then you come to the town of Kethlow
itself. As befits a
town originally
established as a military outpost, the town itself is surrounded by a
thick
stone wall, although it has grown so much over the years that more
people now live
outside the walls than within.
The surounding land is typical of the foothills in this area.