1. Main Gate: The gatehouse frames a high gate with a portcullis made of agafari poles from Gulg. The portcullis is open during the day (except when the fortress is under attack), and closed at night. A force of four men is kept in the gatehouse at all times, watching for caravans approaching from the road.
2. Walls: These stone walls are 20 feet high and topped with machicolations. Each side of the fort is manned by two guards at all times, and alarm gongs are mounted at the center of each wall, If rung, these gongs will rouse all of the guards to the defense of the fortress. Sections of the walls are trapped with many 8'-diameter round pits, spined to prevent a trapped person from removing a foot or limb. The pits are covered with sun-baked clay, and they are easily spotted in daylight. Thus, they present a hazard only to a night traveler, or to an attacker coming quickly over the wall. Hurgen has trained his men to channel attackers scaling the walls into one of these areas to further delay their invasion. Hurgen himself has no fear of these areas, as the pits are too small to catch his massive feet.
3. Warehouse: This building holds the trade goods of Fort Harbeth. Most of the building is a warehouse, covered by a roof of leather on a wooden framework. The roof keeps the sun from beating down directly on the trade goods, but the warehouse is still hellish during midday. The rear section of the building is the slave quarters; 80 slave laborers are herded into this section and locked in at night.
4. Trading Office: This building is both the trading office and the residence of the master trader. The building has two stories; a small staircase winds up the front of the building to the entrance on the second floor. The second floor is the trading area; it is austere and functional. This floor also holds the chambers of Waltian's four personal slaves. The lower floor, which is partially underground and therefore considerably cooler, is Waltian's home. This floor is filled with accommodations, including a direct pipe to carry water from the cistern to a bathing well for the master trader's personal comfort. This bathing well, and the water it consumes, is a sore point with some traders forced to make do with the water in the outer troughs.
5. Trader's Barracks: This building houses Kelira and the other traders who serve Waltian Inika. The building is divided into three bedrooms, each holding three traders and one personal slave each. A central common room allows the traders to eat and discuss the day's business in the shade. Waltian rarely comes here.
6. Garrison Barracks: Forty soldiers and their 10 slaves reside in the longer main building; the square building to the south is Hurgen's quarters, with ceiling and furniture suitable to his large size. A kitchen has been added to the building, jutting out to the east; the garrison cook is responsible for feeding all of the staff of the fortress.
7. Cisterns: These large stone cylinders hold the accumulated water from the spring. Should the spring fail, there is enough water in the cisterns at any one time to support the full complement of freemen in the fortress for six months. (Should slaves and erdlu be given water in that time of duress, the cistern would only last two months.) The spring water flows directly into the cisterns, and the heavy leather awnings over these tanks, combined with the cool flow from the spring, keep the water from becoming too warm and stagnant during the day.
8. Erdlu Pen: This low hollow is the pen for the erdlu herd. The herd is allowed to forage for scrub during the day, but at night it is kept here. The sides of the hollow are too steep for the erdlu to climb; the birds can enter and leave only through the narrow, gently-sloped pass. The pass is blocked by a rough gate made of mekillot bones.
9. Caravanserai: This large, level area of hard-packed earth is where merchants and their caravans camp when visiting Fort Harbeth. A narrow pipe from the cisterns inside the fortress can be opened to fill the water troughs on the western edge; the water can be shut off from inside, preserving the water supply in case of siege. The area is kept clear of brush by the garrison and by the grazing erdlus.
10. Stable: This building houses the small hive of kanks
that serves this fortress as mounts. There is supposed to
be a full complement of 20 kanks at Fort Harbeth at all
times. The fort, however, is often at less than full strength.
The kank tenders must ensure that the brood queens do
not lay eggs in the stable, so the area is kept free from
vegetation. Gravid brood-queens are driven to a nearby
valley where the hive can raise the new brood. Once the
hatching period is over, the kanks are driven back to the
fortress. Excess kanks are sold or driven away