Durga heads to the left

Durga headed to the left, following the firelight and smell of smoke. Ahead he could hear the sounds of men shouting and the breaking of windows. Then, suddenly a loud scream penetrated the air, and he hurried ahead, eager to join in the looting. Why else would he have come, except for the chance to plunder? War was endemic in the world these days, and those who could swing and sword and possessed the will to take what they wanted could prosper.

He turned a corner and stopped. Ahead was a long wide avenue, filled with large houses, expensive looking shops, and on a corner an upscale inn. By the looks of it this was a neighborhood inhabited by the city’s elite, merchant lords, nobles, and so on. In more peaceful times the street would have been filled with the ****-borne litters of the powerful, carrying the lords of Andrapur to the palace, and their ladies to social engagements, and for the more daring assignations. Now the street swarmed with mercenaries, breaking into buildings, flames licking up the side of one house and threatening to spread to the rest of the block. From his left came a high pitched shriek, and then loud whoops and shouts.

He looked around, and saw, ahead of him the inn on the corner. A sign depicting a naked maid entwined around a wine bottle swung the front. The door lay off the hinges, lying in the street, the wood shattered. From inside he could hear the sound of breaking bottles. A moment later a man stumbled out, his hand full of gold coins.