iguanamountain blog

VISITING THE RIVERMEET FAIR

Blog City Prompt: Pick a fictional place (jn or out of our world) from any story, novel, or play. Imagine you are visiting that place as a tourist, and write about it as if you are a travel writer. Don’t forget to tell us your source.

Very fictional, very out of our world:   
Here are excerpts from KNIGHTS OF SPARROW and the views of the Rivermeet Summer Fair in the country of Carfane. Our first arrival is Brezay
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Now, some days later, Brezay passed unnoticed on the trail through the orchard behind the new palace. A solitary guard in the back tower had no interest in a lone horseman who looked like a monk leading a loaded packhorse.

When Brezay reached the road entering Rivermeet, he joined the crowds waiting to cross the south bridge into the rear of the expansive grounds. The main structures of the huge Arena and the walls around the Church Council Pavilion on his left were matched by the bright flags and billowing canvas roofs of the Fair Market and Horse Ring on the right. The smells of campfires and food cooking teased his senses along with the pungent scents of hundreds of animals mixed with the earthy hints of wetland swamp that bordered the rushing stream.

Once beyond the bored guards, Brezay turned towards the horse ring, scanning the crowd for some friend he could trust.

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Next comes Paloo and his cousin, Jonn traveling on the main highway to the Rivermeet.

For five days after leaving their stop-over at Port Bluewing, they moved their herd along the dusty road beside the river, swollen wide with the spring melt of mountain snows. Each day the crowds of families riding in carts, merchants with wagons loaded with products, soldiers on horseback, and the wealthy in carriages populated the road. Everyone seemed to be in a state of expectation and holiday exuberance.

Early afternoon the old Blue River Road ended abruptly with the canvas-framed back wall of the Rivermeet Fair. The animal tracks led off to the south of the rambling structures. Some were faded, and some covered with newly stretched canvas in shades of red and orange. The herders moved their charges past a large warehouse-barn advertising 'Feed and Hay', and then a large pond with watering troughs, muddy and bright with new grass and willows around the edges.

He walked toward the long line of newly white-washed pole fences of the corrals with the campsites for the horse-sellers nearby. Beyond the fences stood the sales building and the high, solid walls of the Horse Ring. Already the campground was filling with new arrivals setting up their tents and equipment. At the far end he found tighter enclosures for sheep and goats, the air around them rich with the smells of animal waste.

Paloo  passed where the South Road entered the grounds over a guarded bridge crossing a smaller, rushing stream that would be the source of water for the pond. Across the stream, green hills gently rose to the distant mountains.  Inside the grounds, the road led him beside the campground of the Competitors, which had large, elaborate tents and horse enclosures. They were all clustered close to the tall, imposing, stone walls of the Grand Arena. High above, white and gold banners waved, proclaiming the domain of the Church of God's Light.

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Some of this is perhaps inspired by the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas, WY from my childhood. It had this same energy and spirit. And of course, the big rodeo arena and all the exhibits. The camping came from vacations in Yellowstone Park in the 40's. Knights of Sparrow is currently being reviewed in depth by WYRM group. Lots of work for me.

Write on...>>>iggy

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