~
The following morning our party of five set out through the forest on our way to see Serinae’s mysterious friend. Any further efforts on my part were to no avail, my questions fell upon deaf ears it seemed. Serinae would not elaborate any further apart from telling us that she lived in a town five days journey west from where we were, the name of the town being Amentura, a port town on the coast, where Dahl’Ambronis meets with the vast watery expanse of the Great Trad Ocean. I had not heard of the town before and I was reminded of just how cloistered my existence had become whilst studying at the abbey. But Serinae did describe it in sketchy detail saying it was a pretty town, built on a hillside the houses tumbling down to the coast, apparently very prosperous being mainly concerned with shipping and merchants some of whom traded across the great ocean to the continent far to the west. Jondris however seemed to know of the place although he said he had never been there.
At least the going was easy. In the main we walked along paths and lanes that showed signs of much use, indeed many times on the journey we came across travellers of varying sorts coming and going, all seemed relaxed and confident in their greetings and well wishes towards us and this made the journey a most pleasant undertaking. The weather remained fine and the company enjoyable as we talked lightly. I walked along a spring in my step, excitement in my heart in anticipation of the possibility of adventure.
Master Łĩnwéé especially proved to be a good travelling companion, always cheerful and a great teller of tales and lore, all of which seemed to involve heroic battle; heavy drinking and feasting; the finer points around the engineering involved in mining and tunnelling; the making of fine weapons, adornments and armour and the regular occurrence of unpronounceable names of various heroes and heroines lauded throughout the extensive realms of his peoples history. The other talent that Łĩnwéé seemed to excel in was the telling of raucous jokes, most of which we laughed at but some I found to be somewhat vulgar and found myself frowning, much to Łĩnwéé’s amusement and this of course did not deter him from the telling, in fact I think it encouraged him.
One evening when we had camped for the night, I asked him how he found himself in Corbond, it transpired that he was part of a company that had escorted some dignitaries of some sort from the Grûndén city of Gwéldølĩn to the abbey at Dor’iesnal and with prior arrangement with his superiors, instead of returning straight away with his companions he had wanted to take a few days off at Corbond, a small holiday he called it, but this was accompanied with a sly wink of his eye. I missed the purpose of his wink and I found I felt slightly embarrassed, so didn’t venture to ask any more questions on that particular subject.
But I found myself frowning at my thoughts. “Some holiday,” I remarked.
He smiled at me and said, “aye well lassie it were gettin' a little borin’, but not now, Lord Øédréll has seen fit t’ lay an adventure in m’ lap and I mean t’ make the most o’ it.” At this he turned his axe so that he could plant the shaft firmly down onto the ground, and leaning on the shaft, his hands placed between the two blades spread his legs slightly apart and smiled a broad smile at me. “Say m’ pretty wee lassie, be ye glad t’ take me along fo’ the fun o’ it eh? Ye ner’ can tell when ma’ axe may need a swingin’ an’ a choppin’.” He then winked his bright blue eye at me from beneath his bushy eyebrow.
This made me giggle; I thought then that I couldn’t help but like this stout Grûndén man for he seemed more akin to my people than any other race I had met. I was very glad that he had joined with us.
As we continued to travel I found we were passing through some of the oldest parts of the ancient forest of Gel’Te’Ertenya, the trees of which were beautiful broad leaved specimens, the ground on which we walked seemed to spring us along as it was covered in soft leaf mould and either side of the path deep patches of wonderfully green spongy moss, small colourful flowers pocked their heads through the moss and many bees and insects flew around them. Everything felt very natural and seemed to have been undisturbed for many years.
We feasted on the most marvellous mushrooms, tasty nuts and mouth-watering berries; the fare of the forest was abundant and ripe for the picking. Nature’s larder at its most plentiful and very finest. This did not seem to please Łĩnwéé though, for on numerous occasions he could be heard pleading with Serinae.
“M’lady Serinae, perhaps ye may have a little o’ that dried fish and meat jerky about ye person?”
The sun warmed our backs in the mornings and our faces in the afternoons and we were serenaded by the call of song birds. I often mused that if we were to change direction and travel north we would arrive in my home country, the eleven realm of K’Reselnare. I hoped that maybe our journey of adventure would take us there some day. For now though I was out of the confines of the abbey at Dor’iesnal and I felt a freedom and sense of release, but something in the back of my mind harboured a great wish to return to my home. But we continued west at least for the time being on towards Amentura and Serinae’s mysterious friend.
On the evening of the fourth day my acute hearing picked up a pleasant rhythmical noise on the warm breeze blowing into our faces. There was a salty smell on the same wind and strange bird calls that I had not heard for many years. Serinae welcomed the call of the sea gulls and she confirmed it was a sure sign that we were nearing the Trad Ocean. I could not help dancing with excitement; I desperately wanted to see the ocean again after all these years.
The great Trad Ocean the largest expanse of water in the world. I once heard that it was supposed to cover about a third of the globe. A vast expanse of seemingly endless ocean that ran from the far north to the far south dividing the world in two vertically. Its far northern and southern extremities were supposed to be a frozen wasteland, comprising of thick impenetrable ice the whole year round. Yet in the far south I had heard it say that mountains made of fire rose into the sky disgorging flame and fume. But even with the backdrop of such volcanic activity the ocean remained frozen for much of the yearly cycle. It must be terribly foreboding in those regions. I had seen snow fall in the northern parts of K’Reselnare, even near to the coastal regions, the rivers and lakes have been known to freeze over in the harshest of winters. But I had never seen or heard of the ocean freezing.
I had been close to the Trad Ocean many times before, further north from Amentura, for there up the coast the T’Iea have a small fishing town nestled by the sea, it is called R’Ealto'Noac’Trado. It is a beautiful place languishing between the foothills of the Mountains of Ambrunista to the landward side of the town and the Trad Ocean to the seaward. I can still remember the simple beauty of the place, the rising of the sun over the snow white peaks of the mountains and its setting beyond the rim of the ocean.
My father has relatives there, his older sister and her family. The husband, my uncle Tear’E a boat builder and part time fisherman. We used to stay with them in the summer when I was young. I remember my uncle Tear’E, a thin person with ruddy complexion; his features chiselled by the ocean elements, his hands hard and calloused from handling his tools and the ropes of the sailing vessels he built. His wife, my aunt U’Sule, a jolly sort with a fondness for smoking a long clay pipe. She always wore, as seemed traditional in that place, a soft leather hood over her head delicately stitched with colourful threads, with a beaded tassel hanging from the crown. They have three sons, the eldest Had’Ress, the same age as me and two twins Re’Nert and Pas’Furn who were both just a few years younger. I used to spend my holidays playing in the sand dunes and splashing in the ocean with my cousins and numerous other children from the town. Oh how I relished those memories from my childhood.
But that was many, many years ago and for now I was destined to remain excited until I could perceive the ocean again after all these years. Hopefully we would get our first sight of the expanse of water the following day, for it was getting too dark now to see.
We camped that night with the sounds of the not so di
stant ocean lulling us to sleep. I dreamt of summers spent by the sea and frolics in the sand dunes. Of trips out onto the ocean in the fishing boats, the sounds of the water lapping against the hull, the creaking of the rigging and the ropes, the songs hummed and sang by the fishermen as they worked, the salt taste on my lips and the mineral aroma of the drying salt water upon my clothing.
I was up early the following morning well rested, for I had enjoyed a marvellous night on what felt like a soft feather bed formed by the soft mosses and tree litter. But now I was anxious to get moving. My dreams during the night of sunny sand, miles of beaches and sand dunes with long sea grass waving in gentle warm breezes. The little cotton seed pods of the grasses sailing away on the breeze. Of lying on the warm sand holding my mother’s hand as we pointed out imaginary shapes in the white fluffy clouds passing high above. Of setting my father’s teeth on edge as I blew through my fingers where I clasped a blade of the grass causing a loud screeching noise. All this had only served to increase my excitement of seeing the ocean. Oh, how I longed to see the Trad again.
We breakfasted on puffy, juicy mushrooms, all except Łĩnwéé for Serinae had taken pity on him and shot a large hare, this he butchered and prepared and cooked for himself with glee, his excitement was plain as he chattered away to himself in his own language whilst he worked. But eventually we packed and were on our way at last, none too soon for my impatience to get moving was starting to show and I am sure became obvious to all.
Within an hour or so we left the line of trees and found ourselves on a high grassy cliff top overlooking the ocean. I gasped, so there it was at last, completely unchanged, just as I remembered it, the azure blue, the white crested waves, the stiff warm wind that blew in from the deep ocean, the gulls wheeling about, their mournful cries carrying far on the breeze.
We turned to the south and followed a well-travelled cliff path as it snaked around headlands, occasionally dipping down into small coves with warm sandy beaches, only to climb again to another headland from where we could see more of the same coastline disappearing into the distance.
I was beginning to think we should have turned north and not south, perhaps we had gone the wrong way and were heading along the coast away from Amentura. But eventually after we arrived at the top of yet another lofty headland, there at last below us resplendent in a large oval shaped bay I had my first view of our destination.
White stone walled houses started right at the sea front and wound their way back inland where they became less numerous. In their place stood larger buildings also white in colour but higher in numbers of stories or just in size of interior, they looked more like work places rather than the houses of the towns inhabitants. A small harbour ran along the town’s seafront, wooden breakwaters led out into the ocean looking for all the world like a pair of arms embracing the sea. A pebbly beach to the right of the town covered in fisherman’s nets drying in the warm sunshine. Then high on the surrounding rolling hills behind the town sat many palatial looking villas and opulent mansions. I could see quite clearly even from this distance each beautiful manicured garden, all sporting brightly coloured flowers and shrubs basking in the sunshine. Each garden was surrounded by high white stone walls with ornate iron gates set at intervals within them. I realised that this was certainly a place grown rich from its trading activity. I wondered if Serinae’s friend lived in one of these houses, wondered if she and perhaps her family were merchants grown wealthy on rich profits, but I forgot to ask as we made our way down the cliff path. The warmth of the sun and the increasing shelter from the sea breezes raised the temperature as we wandered down the steep winding way and I found myself slipping off my back pack to allow the cool breeze to blow across my perspiring back.
We entered the town through a small portico guarded by two very sleepy looking town militia, one an old man snoring loudly, as he sat on top of the stone wall, an empty bottle of ale next to an empty tankard by his side. The other a, gangly looking youth, the formers grandson perhaps, who looked no more than in his twelfth or thirteenth summer. The young lad was leaning his cheek upon his halberd, his face pushed up showing a sunken eye and gapped teeth. Neither moved nor even batted an eyelid at us as we passed them by, clearly Amentura had few enemies and had little experience of any kinds of trouble, at least in recent years. I couldn’t help myself as I passed by the youth, I made the long piece of grass I had been sucking between my teeth brush gently across his ear, he just slowly waved at the ear with a hand as if dislodging a persistent fly. I put my hand over my mouth and giggled, Serinae smirked, Jondris waved his finger at me, which made me smile even more.
Once through the gate, the town spread out before us. We were still quite high up on the downward slope of the cliff path even though it had become a metaled roadway into the town proper. The way was narrow and cobbled, the cobles themselves had shiny worn surfaces and dipped lower in the centre of the road a sure sign that this street and presumably the town had been here for many an age.
The houses either side of the street were gaily painted in pastel colours, a bounty of flowering plants hung from window boxes and it was common to see thick stone walls with hollowed out troughs in the tops where soil and plants had also been placed. Many of the plants were thick stemmed with rubbery leaves and petals, some had no leaves at all that I could see but were covered in sharp needle like spines, some of these had bright blooms in amongst the spiny covering. Most seemed to be trying to outshine its neighbours for all displayed their best show of blooms in colours too numerable to mention, it was a beautiful sight to behold.
Various painted signs hung outside some doorways, these were either displaying the names of the houses or sometimes advertising some trade that I supposed went on inside. This area, indeed the whole town had the look and feel of a well to do place, well maintained and not embarrassed to show off its prosperity a little. People we passed along the street were also well dressed and friendly, always keen to greet us with a happy gesture or kind word.
A little before the point where the street levelled off, I noticed some discolouration on the base of the painted walls of the houses, this discolouration started at ground level and got higher up the walls as we came down the sloping avenue. Where the road levelled off the area of discolouration remained at a similar height above the ground about three quarters of a metre. Some houses had obviously tried to cover up these marks by repainting, but even here some discolouration showed through the new paint. Jondris then remarked that it looked like the town had suffered floods not so long ago.
Eventually we came across a beautiful little square. This square had several roads and alleyways leading to and from it. In the centre of the square was set a grassy area with flower beds and four or five wooden benches, some occupied by people sitting and resting. In the very centre of the square a statue of a man rose up upon a pedestal. He stood with an unfurled scroll in his hands looking out to sea, I was curious to know who he was and what he had done to merit a statue of himself being raised in this town square, but we didn’t get close enough to see any plaque or sign.
We made our way around the square and after turning down an alley we stood before a large building with a sign boasting the name ‘The Salt ‘n Surf Inn’. The door of the Inn was open wide and as we approached a cat ran out of the door followed by the head of a broom. Upon the handle end of the broom stood an old man about the same height as me, he was muttering something about mouse catchers not doing their jobs or earning their keep. He then spied us and immediately lent the broom against a wall just inside the doorway and quickly unfastening the strings at his back, took off the dirty old apron that he was wearing. He then bowed to us and bid us welcome at his Inn, which according to him boasted, “thy besty eat’n an’ drink’n on the coast wit’ the besty ru’ms t’ boot.”
We rented ourselves five besty ru’ms for the night which did prove to be very comfortable in deed, clean and well looked after. Then after washing and sorting ourselves out we
met in the common room to drink some tea, well some of us did, the rest had other beverages, each to their own tastes. Łĩnwéé sat in awe staring at a massive glass jug with handles both sides that contained a large quantity of ale.
Serinae excused herself after her cup of tea saying that she needed to run an errand and she would meet us back here before the evening meal was served. At this she set off back through the front door of the Inn and disappeared up a side road, a different one from the road we entered on.
We sat chatting amongst ourselves for the next few hours, we were all in high spirits and we joked about the errand Serinae felt compelled to do and what it could possibly be. The sweet wine that was served to us no doubt encouraging the descriptions of Serinae’s errand to be more and more absurd. In the middle of this raucous laughter Serinae did indeed return. She strode through the entrance door just as it was getting to be dusk outside. She came straight over to where we all sat and joined us at the table. We all greeted her and Jondris asked if she had completed her errand to which I admit I gave a childish smirk choking on the wine I was drinking. Giving me a somewhat sideways glance she said that yes she had. I looked at her and she smiled back.
We all stared at her expectantly and eventually she laughed and said, “ok, ok I’ll tell you what it was I had to do. I felt it best that I go see my friend before we all descend on her house, just to prepare her for whom she will meet, that is all.”
Łĩnwéé then asked Serinae about this mysterious friend of hers and why she lived in this town. He waved his hand around theatrically and had a slur to his voice, between two of the words he belched loudly, I could smell the ale on his breath from where I sat. I laughed.
“She is a very old friend,” explained Serinae, looking at me with a frown on her face, “we go back a long, long time, I was once a travelling companion and guardian to her, for she travelled extensively in past years, hence the reason for living here in this port town, she was always in need of a ship to take her, or us, somewhere and as Amentura always has a regular supply of ships of all sizes going to lots of different shores it was an ideal place to stay.”
Łĩnwéé raised a finger and waved it in front of her face, he then asked why we were to meet her, for if she held great knowledge then what could we possibly have to say to her over any matter.
Serinae just said that it would be better to hear any requests from her own lips rather than through someone else who did not perhaps know the whole story.
“So, what is your friends name then?” I asked.
Serinae replied, “her name is her own, I’ll let her introduce herself, but she has become quite famous for her writings and books and you may have heard of her.”
Now I was very much perplexed and intrigued by the nature of this person, but no amount of demands or questioning could persuade Serinae to say anything further, instead she made her excuses and went upstairs to her room. I for one couldn’t wait to go and have this meeting just to satisfy my own curiosities.