"They left the backwater tedium of Fallows behind and roamed up Horliss Road, running parallel to the River Brail. Part way along its length Horliss Road widened to form an ancient market square called Cheppings. It is a part of Yaleth with a genuinely antique feel to it, a relic from the days when the town had been the capital of the Kingdom of Dorlaf. Unlike most of Yaleth the area had never been destroyed subsequently, so had never been properly rebuilt. Horliss Road itself is straight enough but a series of tiny, winding lanes curl off, mostly dropping from its eastern side down to the river. The most notable is Priac Steps, which falls down from the elevated plateau which Cheppings stands on. So steep and narrow it is practically a spiral staircase, Priac Steps draws its fame from an occasion last century when a Baron of Dorlaf went bumpety-bumpety-bump down it to his watery grave, allegedly after receiving a hearty shove. Here and there along Horliss Road stands a house of such hoary age that it might claim to predate the Confederacy. Most, though, have been gradually replaced, with stonework and designs belonging to twenty different decades. But all conform to the general Cities trend of being tall, narrow, precipitous structures which open directly onto the road and are a jumble of private residences, tenancies, shops and small workshops. As the road begins to slowly climb the southern flanks of Pretbells Hill the houses on the right side give way to a scrubby public park sloping down to the river.
The area isn't a genuinely poor district but has an air of slightly resentful dilapidation. Long ago Horliss Road had been one of Yaleth's chief thoroughfares but the ley lines of the city have gradually altered. Horliss Road was left on the edges and its residents, petty traders and salaried clerks, also seem to have been bypassed by the glamour of the Triple Cities. "(from A Shining Light)