~
Within a few hours the land below us gave way to a vast area of salt water marsh. The delta of some great river that I could not name flowed out into the sea. The water below us was discoloured a golden sandy brown for miles around as if the waters of the river were washing the land into the ocean.
Flocks of birds could be seen below, their white wings shining brightly in the sun light. Many hundreds more swam upon the slow, shallow waters. As I watched a darker, much larger shape flew across the vista below our craft, a large bird of prey of some kind. All of a sudden a great cry rent the air that could be heard even from our high position and the enormous flock of birds took to the air as one, obviously not wanting to be an easy target for the bird of prey above them. But the hawk just circled lazily on the breeze not taking any notice of the white expanse of wings below it. I supposed it had perhaps eaten already and was enjoying both a full belly and probably the fact that it had caused so much turmoil below. Serinae moved and sat beside me, she looked thoughtful and I asked her what she was thinking.
“Ah Mini, below us is the delta of the great river mother ‘Ealle’, she gathers her waters from the snowy caps of the great mountain range that divides the continent of Dahl’Ambronis between east and west, the mountains we call Tolle’Fornosse’Veetri, the range Jondris would call The Great Spine. The Ealle gathers many tributaries into herself as she flows to the Trad Ocean eventually emptying her waters into the sea here below us.” She was silent for a second or two, a faraway look in her eyes. “It’s a funny thing that a river such as the Ealle starts with so much energy and life, a tumbling torrent high in the Tolle’s but here below us her energy is spent and she is content to wander the lowlands and eventually spill her life force into many smaller rivers. It is as if she has become old and gentle, her wise old mind spread over many things instead of the youthful purpose of her headlong rush to the sea.”
Then after a few more moments of thought she continued, “you know Mini if you were to have a boat sail from here up river you would soon come across the old T’Iea city of Ter’Fin’Ealle where our people have lived for many ages. It is a fine and ancient city that spans across both sides of the Ealle River. The trees there are so tall and large, many span across the waters providing natural walkways to get from one side to the other, their branches trained in growth and intertwined artfully by the skill of our people to form great living bridges.” She smiled and drew herself up, then taking a deep breath she said, “one day, when I have the time, I will return there to the place I lived with my parents, I feel I must return at least once before the Maker invites me home.”
“How long have you been gone from there?” I had to ask.
She looked at me deep in thought. “Too long Mini, I have not been home for …… far too long.” She shook her head and looked at the deck of the flying machine for a few minutes lost in some private thought. “You know Mini there was a time when the great forest of Gel’Te’Ertenya spread from the little known eastern shores to the western where Amentura lies, and also north from the snow line of Tolle’Ambrunista beyond which the Grûndén can be found, down to the wide open beaches of the southern sea where the great sea turtles lay their eggs. The whole continent was once clothed in the once unbroken forest of Gel’Te’Ertenya and our people had many cities, towns and villages within the green swathe. The trees indeed covered the whole continent apart of course for the great mountain range Tolle’Fornosse’Veetri. There the high snows make it impassable for most of the year, but there are a few high valleys that for a few weeks each year are almost clear of snow and thus enable passage to the eastern lands. Valleys that allowed the race of men to cross from the east into the west long ago.”
The way she looked told me that event perhaps held some special significance for her. I remembered her saying something about this crossing of the mountains in her conversation with Tezrin that night in the tavern in Corbond. I wanted to mention this, but I stopped myself for all of a sudden her face looked like thunder and her eyes burned deep green. But this passed, instead she shivered and clasped her arms about her person, remaining deep in some thought.
She then looked up and smiling again and looking at me continued, “It was said that you could travel through the woodland canopy across the whole forest without stepping once upon the earth and the trees would bend their branches to aid your passage.”
Then with a look of sadness upon her face she added, “but now the T’Iea populations have diminished, although we still have major cities within the realm, many of the outlying towns and villages have been long abandoned. War and famine have taken a toll on our people Mini, but our heart is still strong and the Maker Eny’Nin’Rel, the God of All still sees purpose yet to have us walk upon his earth, for it is by his grace lone that we remain here.”
We both stood and leaned on the parapet looking out at the river winding its way inland.
She said, “have you noticed in recent years the tree spirits grow fewer? They are withdrawing from the world.” She turned towards me and gathering my hands in hers she said, “Mini the world is indeed changing and I fear for it. I fear what is to become of it. I wonder if we are already too late to change things around, bring the world back onto its feet again. I feel the trees tire, the earth heave and sigh. I'm worried that soon the natural state will be on its knees and nothing will bring it back to standing again.” At this she returned to where she was sitting before.
All this talk left me in a rather melancholy mood, I tried to distract myself by looking inland to see if I could get any visual hint of a city in the forest, but all I could see was the great green spread out below and unbroken to the far horizon. I had never been to Ter’Fin’Ealle and I had to agree with Serinae that it would be well worth a visit one day.
Suddenly I felt the airship shift beneath me and it began to change direction. Obviously a new course had been set over the ocean to the waypoint on the coast of the Rust Desert, just as Tnie had told us. Within minutes we had crossed the marshy coast and found ourselves high over the Trad Ocean which extended out before us as far as the eye could see to the far horizon. Many sand banks could be seen below, some high enough to rise above the waves, a convenient roosting place for wild life as some of these were covered in wading birds of all sorts. Others were populated by what looked like grey coloured animals basking in the sunshine, they had no legs on which to walk, just large flat hand-like growths with long fingers webbed together with long claws at each end. Their movement across the sand was in great rolling lopes, they looked for all the world like a child’s see-saw the way they moved upon their great curved bellies. Their cries and honking noises could be heard even at this height. The larger and noisier creatures had great tusks protruding downwards and upwards from their mouths, I would not like to have to defend myself against one of these beasts for their size and weight looked formidable.
After a few hours the land behind could no longer be seen and we were surrounded by the glistening water of the great Trad Ocean below. The waves looked like tiny ripples from this height, the vista completely unbroken except for the odd wispy cloud that passed beneath our vessel. I still find it hard to believe even to this day that I have flown above the clouds, higher than any bird it seemed at the time. But then on odd occasions we would fly alongside some flock of birds or even a single bird like the great albatross that seemed to enjoy our company by flying adjacent to us on many occasions. The great bird kept one wary eye upon our vessel but apart from that didn’t seem to mind at all that we should be accompanying it upon its solitary journey across the vast expanse of water beneath us.
The ocean below remained unbroken for many miles but occasionally the odd sailing ship could be seen passing beneath us. I’m sure more may have passed unnoticed for they seemed but small dark coloured dots on a painted backdrop of blue. I wondered what the sailors may have thought of the spectacle of a ship sailing high above them born on the air currents rather than the waves of the o
cean.
I often felt sorry for Łĩnwéé he was quite obviously not enjoying his time flying. I would regularly sit beside him. On these occasions he would generally look at me an unpleasant grimace upon his features.
Once I commented, “poor Łĩnwéé you obviously do not take to this form of travel?”
“Nay lassie, I be a’luvin’ t’ rock beneath me feet, m’ people spend most o’ their time below the ground ne’er high above it.” He placed his head back into his hands, I sat and patted him on his back for a while as he groaned pitifully.
Our days passed on by. The blue sky above and the equally blue ocean below, the only thing that broke the blue upon blue were the clouds that we either passed over or passed beneath. The night time was my favourite though; the monotony that was the daytime gave way to a sight that I never tired of. As long as the higher wispy clouds remained absent above us, the most breath-taking view was revealed. The night sky was blacker then black, and the stars, the Maker be praised, were stunningly beautiful. I would spend hours upon hours just lying on the bench gazing up at them. Millions upon millions beyond counting shone in the night sky from horizon to horizon and in every direction. It was as if the world had been draped in a sparkling blanket. I dreamed of patterns as my mother and I used to imagine with the clouds. I could join up stars and make animals and other imaginary things. My heart jumped as a shooting star shone out its brief but spectacular life streaking across the night sky. Sometimes whole showers of them could be seen, a light show that took my breath from me.
One night I must have fallen asleep, for I awoke in the morning still lying on the bench, but some kind soul had placed a warm blanket over me so I still felt warm as my eyes adjusted to the bright blue of the sky above. I became aware of a presence beside me so I sat up and stretched.
“Good morning Mini,” it was Serinae.
“Hello Seri,” I yawned and said sleepily, “thanks for the blanket.”
She smiled and nodded once in response to her kindness.
I noticed Solin’s crest of wolfs head and jewel stitched onto the corner of the blanket, I wrapped it around my shoulders tighter and sat back down. “Solin Seri, she is a good friend of yours?”
She turned to look at me. “Yes, you could say that, although our relationship is also very much a professional one of course. But yes, we became great friends and shared much together for we had much in common and we found our interests complimented each other nicely.”
I nodded, “so how come you were in the far north just at the right time to save her from the Ognod’s as she described in her story?”
She sat back and looked up towards the brightening sky. “I was in the employ of the Grûndén King for a while. In fact I was living in Gwéldølĩn with the Grûndén at the time. On many occasions I was tasked to travel north to take a look at the Ognods lands and to report back to the Grûndén any unusual activity that may be going on.”
“You are brave Seri, I don’t think I could have gone up there all alone on an errand to spy, the risks must have been immense, what would have happened if you were caught?”
“Well, I was not alone Mini, at least not normally, I had another with me most times, another ranger, it would be foolish to go alone I think. But on that occasion he, the other ranger that is, had travelled elsewhere on other business, we deemed the danger for me would be minimal for the Ognod population that far north was reported very low. I should have been able to easily avoid contact with them.”
I repeated my question. “So what were you doing that far north, you weren’t seeking that same temple were you?”
“Not exactly no, I was trying to ascertain just what Ognod activity there was in the area. I had been in the region for several days and had no contact with the Ognods in all that time. Earlier on the day of which Solin spoke I had come across what I thought was an Ognod hunting party and followed them in the hope they would lead me to their encampment and I could see just how many there were. But of course I later discovered at the same time as coming across Solin, that in fact these Ognods were not out hunting at all but were in fact the temple guards. This roused my curiosity and so I followed them. I couldn’t work out why the Ognods deemed guarding such a dilapidated temple as so important so I kept watch. The guards never stayed in one place, for some reason they stayed clear of the temple as much as possible, they spent most of the daytime walking up and down the length and breadth of the valley. In the night time they always made camp as far from the temple as possible. Well I watched and waited and when they attacked and killed two other Ognods my curiosity was roused. The rest I think you know.”
“But why would they attack their own kind?”
She shrugged. “Well Ognod society is a strange one, it is based very much around smaller clans, it seems that certain clans do not suffer others for some reason. Obviously these temple guards had instructions not to allow any others in sight of the temple, or maybe an old feud governed their actions. Who knows.”
“No wonder Solin’s Ognod escort did not want to go any nearer the temple.” I shook my head thinking about such unsolicited violence especially between those of the same race. This would, could never happen in my own T’Iea society. “So after you escorted Solin back to Amentura?”
“Well, Solin had the artefacts, the cylinder and picture, she was anxious they should not fall back into Ognod hands. She also wanted to investigate them and this she could not do on the road. So I said that I would escort her as far as the Grûndén city under the mountain. From there she should have an easy journey south over the Tolle’Ambrunista, especially if she travelled with one of the regular parties of Grûndén that go that way.
We made it to the Grûndén city of Gwéldølĩn where I met my ranger partner who had returned from his trip. During the time we spent in Gwéldølĩn with Solin, he seemed to become very interested in her and they struck up a good friendship, for he too had an interest in ancient artefacts and the history of ages past. When she left to head south he insisted on going with her as a guide. For some reason I thought I would go as well, I don’t know why, it was like some warning, some premonition an itch if you like. So when she asked that I to accompany her I agreed to do so.”
Before I could ask anything else Seri remarked on how she could smell breakfast being prepared below and she stood and walked over to the steps and disappeared below decks. I followed her a few minutes later. I wanted to ask further questions, but Seri started to converse with Jon, so I just concentrated on eating and drinking my fill.
At certain times Tnie would go down below deck and consult his charts to make sure we were on course, the first time he needed to do this he called Jondris to him and after giving him some instruction Jondris sat at the helm with his hands on the wheels keeping our course using the compass. The first time this happened Jondris seemed less than confident about flying the machine and several times we felt a jerk as he inadvertently moved one of the wheels by taking his hand off to scratch his nose or shift into a more comfortable position. But as the journey went on Jondris found himself getting more adept at the controls and his confidence grew. At these times I couldn’t help but smile as the beads of sweat on Jondris’s brow testified to the poor man’s level of concentration.
We flew on for a further day and a half. I marvelled at the sheer size of the ocean beneath us, if it took this long to fly over the ocean between the continents at great speed, how long must it take to go by ship? I think I preferred the relatively short trip by air rather than the long way by ship.
Early one morning Jondris was again at the controls and Tnie had gone below to study the charts once more, so I thought I would go below and see what progress we were making.
When I got down into the hold Tnie was indeed leaning over the chart table with a measurement stick, his thoughts deep in his calculations. I approached and stood by his side so that I also could see the charts.
“Are we close?” I asked,
Tnie looking up at me
replied, “well as near as I can calculate we are well over three quarters of the distance across the ocean, we should see distant land later this afternoon if all goes well.” He pointed out the coastline on the charts.
“You must be excited by your return home,” I pointed out,
Tnie just smiled and resumed his study of the chart.
While I had his attention I thanked him for the use of his vessel.
He gave a laugh and said, “you are more than welcome my lady, but alas the vessel does not belong to me. These machines are expensive to build and common folk like me can never own one, they are a reserve of the ruling class in Scienocropolis.”
“Then who does this one belong to?” I asked.
Tnie just apologised and excused himself and said that he needed to concentrate on flying the craft, saying something about Jondris being a novice he lowered the goggles back over his eyes and turned from me to return above to the controls. I followed him up onto the deck.
As we exited from the hatchway I heard an excited cry and Serinae could be seen pointing ahead of us, Jondris was peering forward as well. Tnie looked towards where they were gazing and suddenly ran to a locker on the side of the deck and got out a long tube which he extended and after raising his goggles onto his forehead, brought this tube up to his eye and looked through it. I also looked in the direction they were pointing in the hope that I could see what was causing all the excitement. I could make out a small dark dot against the blue sky in front of us.
“What is it?” I asked.
Tnie withdrew the tube from his eye and thrusting it at me said, “here take a look.”
I grasped the tube and bringing it up to my eye could see nothing, just a blue blur. But then something black flashed across my field of vision, I struggled to move back to a position where I could again see this object. I withdrew the tube from my eye and glanced at the dark spot that was bigger now, then keeping my gaze on the object slowly brought the tube back to my eye. I gasped as I could now make out very clearly another gnome flying machine, the view of the machine was head on, it was obviously flying directly towards us. I could make out several figures on deck, one had a similar tube raised in front of his eye and was quite obviously looking directly at us. Then the view was lost to me as our airship moved violently beneath my feet and I was forced to drop the tube from my eye as I had to grasp the hand rail to stop myself from falling to the deck. I noticed Jondris standing now and grasping onto the side of the vessel, Łĩnwéé was sprawled upon the deck and Tnie was back at the control wheels. He was still moving them sharply this way and that, little wonder that the vessel had pitched so violently beneath our feet. Before I could exclaim any comment or shout any word of complaint we were engulfed in a white mist, I could feel wet water droplets on my face. I felt a little panic rise in my breast for looking about I could see nothing in any direction more than a few meters away. Then it occurred to me that we had flown into a bank of cloud.
Łĩnwéé was picking himself off the deck he was ranting and raving at Tnie, shouting about stupid stunts and giving no warnings.
Tnie just looked ahead a grim expression upon his face, he said, “I am sorry, but I think it best we are not seen or our mixed company noted before we reach the city.”
“Why?” I asked.
“We Pnook live almost entirely alone on the continent of the Rust desert, we do not see many visitors from the other races, this solitude has made us mistrusting of outsiders I’m afraid, so I think it better that the Pnook authorities are not made aware of our intent to travel to Scienocropolis, at least not until it is absolutely necessary.”
We remained within the cloud bank for a time. Everything had a silvery shine to it for the water had condensed and settled upon every surface including me and my companions. Jondris looked quite funny as tiny water droplets had formed upon his bushy eyebrows and moustache. The same for Łĩnwéé his long beard was silver and glistening for the same reason.
As we came out of the clouds I noticed we were much lower and the ocean was much closer than it had been all the way across on our journey. I also noticed that beneath us the ocean was changing, whereas before the waters were a deep blue colour suggesting great depth, with white crested waves upon the surface being the only gauge given to the eye of the height we were flying at. The waters below were getting lighter in colour. On occasions the silver sheen of immensely large schools of fish could be seen clearly swimming close to the surface. Once several monster fish could be seen much to the excitement of all aboard, these creatures moved sluggishly and from time to time would dive below the surface only to reappear later and blow out a great cloud of what looked like steam from a hole in the top of their head. I asked if anyone knew what these vast creatures were, no one came up with a plausible answer.
Then ahead I could make out a red hew amongst the blue of the water. As we approach over this red colour I could discern what looked like a coloured red dye in the water, this dye lay in patches. Some large some small but increasing in quantity as we flew onward.
Then all of a sudden Tnie cried out and pointing to the horizon ahead he remarked excitedly, “there, there it is, the continent of the Rust Desert, the land of my people.”
I followed his pointing finger and gradually after wiping my eyes to remove the excess water in them caused by the wind of our speedy travelling, I could begin to see a line of deep red on the horizon. Land, yes it was land. As we got closer I could see immense cliffs rising abruptly from out of the ocean, many hundreds of metres high, all of them the deepest red colour like iron left outside in the rain, stained red from too much wet and not enough oil cloth. I could see a gap in the cliffs where what looked like water, water dyed red, cascading into the sea, the sediment that the water carried turning the sea red. It occurred to me that this was what I could see earlier, the red coloured staining in the water.
I looked at the water fall and said, “well if we can get that water cleaned up, at least we will not go thirsty.”
Tnie then laughed and replied, “Mini that is not water you see, yes it looks like a cascade of water from the face of the cliff, but there is no water, at least that I know of, in the great Rust Desert. What you see is a fine dust pouring out like water, in fact it is so fine it flows like water.”
I looked again, but it still looked like water to me.
“Those are not water falls but dust falls, each grain is very small and a perfect sphere and so dense it weighs a similar amount to a similar sized drop of water, the result is that the substance flows like water, if we can get a cup of it I will show you.”
“Where does it come from,” I asked, “surely it is not like rain that falls from the sky and forms into rivers?”
“That’s a good question,” was his response, “for you see far inland the winds take up the sand and grind them together into finer and finer grains until they become like a fine powdery dust. This dust flows together and then cascades into cracks in the earth formed between other types of rock and flow down where subterranean dust rivers flow slowly but surely out of the continent and into the sea as you beheld over the cliffs.”
I pondered this for a while then added, “but that must make this land terribly unstable and difficult to rely on for any length of time for building upon, how do you ensure the safety of your buildings foundations surely you cannot rely on the earth to support any heavy constructions at all?”
Tnie smiled and said, “you are correct, but long ago we Pnook came up with a unique solution to that problem, we are a very ingenious race you know, you will see, I will say no more for the time being.”