CARTASSA. LA CITTA' NEL DESERTO

      Thus began the new adventure in the city of Cartassa, after the En-Kara fair I settled in the new house, and in the new office, I began to get to know the city and the citizens, especially those who were closest to me, thus I discovered that Lady Mae, the Head Caste of Healers, she was the adoptive sister of lady BB,      

and consequently also Safina, she would be my cousin, lady Mae became my aunt, even if I was not the real son of lady BB and her husband Sir Mith, they saved me from port Scip Rock, while the Panthers of the Shendi forest attacked and destroyed the overlying city of Korat, I also met my adoptive sister Lady Lucy, and my brother Sir Finthor, with his slave YiYi, while Safina's companion, lived in the forest not far away with his Congo tribe. Several ladies lived in the city, they had key positions in the management, Lady Jinny, a very beautiful Scribe in her blue clothes, Lady Shadow, and Lady Athena, Finthor, despite having a slave, who he flaunted by

 always carrying her with him, also courted Lady Athena, or perhaps the opposite, it was she who died of love for him, even though he, the Chief of the Red Caste, the warriors, preferred fighting and taverns with slaves. I looked around, there wasn't much work to do, I spent the days with the others in the tea room, at the outdoor tables at the end of the street, after the square, and on the way to get there, Lady Shadow stopped often with his easel, he painted, men or landscapes, I had forgotten to talk about Sir Bernhard, the Chief of the Caste of Scribes, very good and knowledgeable, but often absent, he too had at the time been adopted by Lady BB, who as you understood he helped all the young people who were alone, homeless or who had lost their family like me. One day as I passed by the large square on my 

way to the tea room, usually at that time everyone gathered, but strangely that day there was no one, everyone had gone to the forest for Safina's engagement with Sir Combo, so I returned to the square , I heard the screams of women, as soon as I turned the corner I saw fire inside the tavern, I rushed, trying to make myself useful, to help the slaves who lived upstairs, where they usually welcomed the customers, eager to pass by. a few hours with a blanket on, with the help of a slave who also came, we put out the flames on the ground floor with water taken from barrels that were used in the tavern, other slaves were trapped on the upper floor, we ran up the staircase,

and with blankets we tried to put out the flames, we saved all the slaves screaming and blackened by the smoke, the girl who was with me, slipped on the water and fell into the fire and was burned, I pulled her away and rushed her down the street, the infirmary was not very far away, it was on the other side of the square, then luckily Lady Mae also arrived, the head of the Healers caste who immediately took care of her, I immediately understood that it was very serious, and Mae said we will do everything to save her, to It wasn't difficult for me, I was wearing a long Scribe dress with my arms covered, I had only burned my hands, the little slave was very serious, I waited for Mae to take care of her, she did the first dressings with her ointments, then finally he cured me too, he told me not to get my hands wet and come back the next day for the check-up, of course I came back often, I was anxious for that brave young woman, who had risked her life to save her friends. Upon their return everyon  

complimented me, I was proud for having demonstrated my courage, meanwhile I didn't miss the opportunity, every time I went to the tea room, to stop and have a chat with the beautiful Shadow, but in addition to the views and the colours, he saw nothing else, so I concentrated on Lady Jinny, who in theory was engaged to Finthor, even if unrequited, which is why in my opinion, she was trying to make him jealous, by directing her attentions towards me, Lady Athena took the she did everything she could to make us become something more than friends, so I started courting her, even though Jinny was very attached to her job, she wanted to become an Ambassador and was studying.

Finthor preferred fighting in the arena rather than city life, sometimes I went to watch him while he trained, he didn't have a great technique, I had seen better, but since he was my adoptive brother I admired him, what I didn't admire in he was his attitude towards Athena, he preferred to have his slave YIYI with him, meanwhile Lady Mae had had her little girl, a little angel, she carried her with her wrapped in a cloak on her shoulders. I continued to court Jinny, she secretly loved Finthor, in the end to make him even more jealous, she agreed to do the companionship ceremony with me. We did it on the upper floor of the tea room, where in the center there was a large round table, and in the presence of Athena, Finthor, and Safina, we exchanged the glass of wine to seal the company, I had prepared the documents and we signed them with our seals, including the two witnesses, once the ceremony was over she went back to her job and I went back to mine, we didn't have a house together yet, so everyone went back to their own homes, there hadn't yet been any relationship between us , Athena had realized that Finthor would never become her companion, together with YIYI she organized a trap against me, making Jinny believe that I had an agreement with Shadow, so Jinny broke up the company, with the help of Bernahrd the Caste Chief.

I didn't love that woman and I forgot her, in the meantime another Scribe had arrived in the city who passed himself off as a Magistrate, his name was Lord Cougar, LC, Bernhard his old friend gave him the job of assistant Chief Caste, I was furious, I had aspired to that job for a long time, I was well known and appreciated in the city, for this reason there was immediate hatred between us, a deep hatred mixed with jealousy on his part towards me, he spent his time sitting outside the office, like a farmer with his feet on a barrel, and there he sometimes dozed off, but he looked and observed, his intentions were immediately clear, to take command of Cartassa, one day what I had foreseen

happened, he with the help of Bernhard and some Congo warriors attempted to conquer the city, my concern was to save Safina and lady Mae, while Jinny, Athena, and Shadow were now safe in the forest. Protected by Sir Combo, meanwhile there was no trace of Finthor, I ran to the palace but it was deserted, I knew of an exit that led to the small lake, I ventured towards the shore, in the end I found Safina hidden among the rocks.

In the fallen city was in the hands of those people, everyone fled running towards the desert, then finally Finthor arrived with his soldiers, and after a small fight I managed to drive those savages back towards their forest, but in their escape they destroyed everything they they could, making the city a pile of rubble.
By now Cartassa was destroyed, it would have taken a long time to rebuild, so I decided to leave, I still didn't know where, I had heard of a city called Lara, so I would head there.....

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