Tarka they say was built by Tamrak, eldest of the five siblings and the father of the Tamrin. The city nestles between the snow covered peaks of The Twins.

I well remember my first journey to Tarka. I walked all the way with the baggage train of the Army, not knowing if my father or sister had survived the battle, not knowing what fate awaited me in the Tamrin capital. It took almost half an Alume and was full of wonders and terrors. I had read of faraway places in that monster Akrad’s books and papers in stolen moments, Yet I had never been more than a couple lek from the place where my sister and I were born. I almost forgot the pain of the blisters, the aching legs, the overwhelming tiredness and the ostracism my travelling companions as new mountain vistas, village scenes, precipitous valleys and highland landscapes unfolded before my startled eyes.

As the days marched by my feet toughened and my leg’s muscles hardened and the long daily trek with the added morning and evening tasks were almost easy. The journey seemed to stretch out endlessly. Then one day we were following the road round the base of a sharp triangular snow covered peak in the early afternoon. As we crested a rise in the road, we saw the great, grey walled city looming on our right.

The city was perched on the flank of the mountain, a smaller snow covered peak on the other side and a small fertile valley stretched out in front, divided by a small glacier fed river and circled by sharp edged cliffs.

Adapted from Akrad’s Children Chapter Eighteen

[Insert – Add drawing/image of the Twin Peaks and the City.]

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