Day 19: Old cities have character

An ancient city at a crossroads has passed from conquerer to conquerer -- now, an ancient evil stirs within, and archaeologists must team with strongmen to fight its influence.

None can say when al-Medynah was first founded. It sits in the crux separating the great powers from each other; to the northwest lie the bellicose nations united under the Great Church; to the east the imperious but decaying Old Empire.

Over millenia, the city has changed hands over and over again. Petty warlords from conquered it again and again, stealing it -- and its easy port access to both halves of the civilized world -- from one another in the hazy past. Grand powers of the West and East have held it for centuries at a time, both before and after the Great Church and the Old Empire; when those scourges of the north crusaded south, laying waste to all who opposed them, the Hyksars took al-Medynah as their crown jewel.

Its people bear the marks of their storied masters. Blood from East, West and North run in the Medynites; their architecture borrows from their neighbors and from far-flung, ancient rulers who have been lost to history. Generations have built atop the hovels and ruins of those before them, sometimes razing old buildings and other times co-opting them.

The ancient city has secrets for those who know where to look. Sewer grates lead to forgotten catacombs, where dead kings slumber beneath millners and tailors. Humble buildings hide trap doors that descend into 100-year-old storefronts, their doors blocked by earth; below even that is another dwelling, and another, each more ancient than the last. The city's history may be forgotten or misunderstood, but it still exists in a very real way.

Al-Medynah's become something of a mecca for archaeologists. The locals regard these out-of-towners with disdain or outright hostility -- archaeology, they contend, is nothing more than respectable graverobbing. They're partly right, unfortunately -- a lively and dangerous black market trading in historical baubles exists just in the city's shady places. Some of the superstitious warn that such truck can't come to any good end.

Those old wives and gullible fools may be right. Disappearances are on the rise, and not just of foolish explorers who fall in with a rough crowd -- respected natives have gone missing, or found with the life snuffed out of them. Mysterious portents alarm believers, and even give the jaded pause for thought -- birds fly backwards, fresh water in turns brackish and coppery as it's being sipped from cups.