Ashwell
Names: Ashwellthe villageAshwell village
First appears in Book 1: The Dreaming Void, chapter 3 (Inigo’s first dream)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: The Dreaming Void
- Ch 7Ashwell is burned and overrun by a large bandit force at night, with resistance shrinking to a few Guild compounds.
- Ch 7Ashwell was burned to the ground by bandits in one night; only seven survivors of over four hundred villagers were found.
- Ch 7Ashwell met a terrible fate that shook the whole province, and stories of it unnerved the caravans, many of which cut their journeys short.
Book 3: The Evolutionary Void
- Ch 4Ashwell is Edeard's childhood village, destroyed by the Gilmorn and now overgrown and reverted to grassland.
- Ch 4Ashwell lies in ruins, overgrown and decayed; the gates and roofs are gone and the village is far smaller than Edeard remembered.
- Ch 4The villagers' bones still lie beneath the dirt and weeds, as the dead were never buried after the attack.
Connections
- containsEggshaper Guild
- inQuerencia
- inRulan province
- part ofRulan province
- related toEggshaper Guildguild hall is in the village
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 3Morning before the assessment
Edeard wakes, eats with Akeem, who explains his senior apprentice assessment and Guild ethics, then tours the Guild compound checking the genistars before the well project is completed.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Akeem sends Edeard to Makkathran
Akeem tells Edeard he has outgrown him and should study at the Blue Tower in Makkathran, promising a sponsorship letter and passage with the Barkus caravan this month. Edeard accepts and is told to keep it secret.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Edeard meets Salrana and joins the cave gathering
Edeard meets Salrana, who teases him about Zehar, then joins the apprentices in a cave, bringing wine, and learns Zehar's plan from Fahin.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Bandit attack on Ashwell
Waking in terror, Edeard senses the bandits; a large force with guns and fastfoxes burns Ashwell and slaughters villagers and guards. Edeard kills several bandits, and Akeem urges him to flee.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Edeard rescues Salrana
Edeard tells Salrana to flee to the market corn measure station, meets her there, and hides her with concealment while the watchtower bandit tracks them and bandits close in.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Hiding in the well
Edeard distracts bandits with beer and genistars, leads Salrana to the unfinished well, and seals it with a stone slab, hiding for hours while Ashwell burns.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Aftermath of Ashwell
Emerging, Edeard and Salrana find the village destroyed and gather seven survivors. A Thorpe-By-Water posse arrives and takes them away without pursuing the bandits.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Edeard and Salrana secure passage with the caravan
Edeard and Salrana ask Barkus for passage to Makkathran. Edeard demonstrates concealment and offers sculpted guards; Barkus agrees to take them as family tyros, if Edeard keeps the trick secret. They leave in three days.
- Book 3 · Ch 4Return toward Ashwell
Edeard and Dinlay ride to Ashwell and find the old village lands overgrown.
- Book 3 · Ch 4Edeard revisits Ashwell
Edeard and Dinlay enter the ruined village, find unburied bones, and Edeard confronts memories of the attack.
- Book 3 · Ch 4Edeard refuses to relive the past
Tempted to go back and save the village, Edeard refuses, accepts the past, and leaves for Makkathran.