The Twins Read Online Free Page B

boundary. Baladar had the lands surrounding the northern and northwestern most approaches to the city cleared and leveled, allowing his scouts to see the approach of any force well in advance of its arrival at Pardatha’s gates from their vantage points atop the high towers built for just this purpose.
    Baladar, being the practical man that he was, made sure that the fertile ground was utilized for grazing and planting. He also made certain that the fields that were cultivated thereon would pose a substantial obstacle to any advancing army. Cloudberry bushes flourished there; incredibly thick and dense and covered with sharp thorns. Bergenbane vines, the fruit of which was used for medicinal purposes, grew in compact, winding clumps tangling around the feet and hooves of anything that tried to walk over them, and low growing Rasteria bloomed in abundance, whose sweet-smelling flowers attracted the dangerous Tsenso bee, which, when disturbed, stung in fierce and furious waves, but whose honey was sweeter than that of any other drawn from flowers in the land.
    The eastern front was shielded by the forbidding Spiritwood which grew high on the crest overlooking the dry river bed below. The dense foliage made it difficult for a force of any strength, transporting wagons and the machinery of battle, to easily navigate through to the city. Baladar fortified outposts at the eastern most edge of the forest, and he created a network wherein messages and information could securely be passed back and forth between the city and the front. It would be difficult for any sizable army to advance unseen against Pardatha from that position.
    The only remaining direct approach to the city was through the gorge, and unfortunately, there was little he could do to prevent an attack from thence. A former river bed, the valley to the southwest was wide and barren. It ran almost to the gates of Pardatha themselves, the city being perched on a bluff above it. He could only hope that due to the fact that it was so exposed, nothing other than a massive force would dare advance through it, knowing they would be seen long before they reached the city gates.
    Prior to the demise of his beloved, the work of protecting Pardatha from the envious eyes of its would be enemies was effortlessly carried out by Briland. She was a true beauty, in body, mind and spirit. Her blood could be traced directly back to the High King Breardan, and his beautiful and mysterious Queen Lanatrae. The Tomes devote chapters to the glories of the reign of the High King. During his time, the Lalas trees were everywhere, and accounts of his Queen’s close relations to the one who chose her, provided numerous and uplifting stories that are told to children today at bedtime, and during times of crisis. They still comforted the people of the kingdom, probably more so than ever these days, with their accounts of the beauty of the High Queen, and her soft touch and healing nature.
    The Tomes recount her miraculous ability to transport herself instantly to the bedside of the seriously ill and dying. Lanatrae was said to be able to heal with her touch. More than one story recounted the words of the healed on the brink of death as remembering a vague image of Lana’s body taking on the sinuous simulacrum of her tree, her arms like soft, leaf laden branches as they enveloped them and brought them back from the very edge of eternity to the healthy impermanence of life.
    The domain of the High King Breardan was seemingly limitless. He ruled over most of the known world, with harmony and gentleness. Yet no one ever doubted his strength, as was most needfully demonstrated during the bitter battles precipitated by the marauding Trolls toward the end of his fifth tiel. Rarely though did anyone or anything threaten the peace of Gwendolen in those days.
    The network of communication created by the trees and the Chosen was sturdy and comprehensive. It was even rumored that somewhere, known only by the