Techromancy Scrolls: Soras (16 page)

I shook my head and she smiled in satisfaction, with a little mischief in her tone as she nudged her chin toward the ridge. “You will be able to see it once we move beyond the lower ridge.”

I started to get excited but deflated as Rain said, “Let us stop here to allow the horses a rest and we can eat to keep our strength up.”

Sara trotted off the path which was widening to a small road and chuckled.

The little tease, she knew that the Great Mother was going to stop us here in the valley before I could see the Great Sea. I growled, it would be more threatening if I didn't sound like more like a rabid squirrel. This got them all chuckling, were they all in on it?

I noted a wide road farther down the valley with a couple Altii wagons moving toward a lower mountain path. Roman said from behind me as we all dismounted, “The Ring.”

Ahh. I nodded.

The Ring was the network of cobblestone roads that connected all of the Lower Ten keeps. This would be one of the spokes that bisect the greater ring. The series of roads and bridges was commissioned centuries ago by Highland.

We took our saddle bags off our horses and let them graze in a small meadow by the river. Then we settled on a log beside a ring of rocks that looked to be a recently used fire pit. We all seemed to have a need to stretch and work the kinks out from riding all morning. Roman stepped away, into the trees to look for kindling.

Ranelle said, “This will be our last fire. As we move farther into Solomon, stealth will be the order of the day.”

I smiled at that, I was too intent on rescuing Udele that I didn't think about the fact that when we crested the mountains, we had entered the Solomon Realm. I mentally checked off the fifth realm of the Lower Ten that I have set foot in. This was a grand adventure, Jace wouldn't believe me.

As we waited for Roman, we went through our packs and set some supplies for lunch aside. Sara pulled out a whetstone and started honing her blade when it seemed satisfactory to her she looked at me and offered the stone.

I shook my head and explained as I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword, “Anadele always keeps a sharp edge and never nicks or dulls.”

She narrowed her eyes and pocketed the stone. Penelope asked in a disbelieving voice as she was reorganizing her pack, “That is your fabled enchanted blade?”

I turned to her and nodded as I drew Anadele. I explained as I slowly spun her in my hand, “The Lupei weaponsmiths say that her nature had changed after I channeled so much power through her in the battle of the Monolith. Her edge never dulls and she seems neigh unbreakable now.”

I struck down on the stone circle and sparks flew off of her almost glowing blade my arm and blade ghosting in the air, making them hard to focus on.

Then I offered Anadele to Penelope. She took it carefully and examined the blade, Rain leaning in with interest as she shook a pebble out of a boot.

The blonde woman went to touch the undamaged area on the blade which I had just struck on the stones. I started to warn her to be careful, but she pulled her finger away exclaiming, “Ouch!” She looked at her bleeding finger and smiled and put her finger in her mouth to quell the bleeding.

Then she said, “It's sharp as a straight razor!” She grinned and tugged a hair from her head and dropped it over the blade, it appeared to just drift apart in two. She swallowed.

I smiled in pride, there was no honed blade sharper.

Then Sara prompted, “But it appears to be sized for a child.”

I blurted out, “Hey! She's a proper blade.”

The three women smiled at me. They were teasing.

Roman arrived with a small armful of twigs and branches and went about starting a small fire in the pit. He glanced over as Penelope examined my blade. She paused and looked at the crests embossed in the leather bindings on the hilt.

She asked, “What is this?”

I looked at what she was looking at. I smiled and said, “My family crest.”

She rolled her eyes and said, “I know that, silly Sora. I mean this animal in the crest, I've never seen such.”

I grinned and said, “That is a creature from the Before, they were lost in the Great Impact. It is called a platypus. It is a noble and adaptable creature, and a fierce fighter, like a wolverine or badger.”

She cocked an eyebrow at it and ruminated on the same thought I often had. “To have lived in those days. We lost so much to the Impact, it must have been an amazing world to see such creatures.”

Ranelle started singing a Gypsy tune with her rich voice. It spoke of times lost to us and the future ahead. The others joined in, adding their voices, and I was happy just to sit back and listen. It was so much like the songs the bards sang in the market at the Keep. The songs were half entertainment and half to preserve history so it would not be lost to time. I was saddened when the song was done.

We cooked up a quick broth with dried vegetables and jerky and discussed life in the caravans. I could never get enough of hearing of their travels. I almost think that a life roaming the world might be a better and more eventful life than living in a keep. I almost snorted at myself, realizing that my life the past two years has been anything but uneventful. Here I was in Solomon, without my Lady, to prove that.

We doused the fire and buried the coals before we retrieved our horses. Then we headed for the ridge. Ranelle said, “We'll cross over the river on the next valley and stay north, away from the patrols on the Ring.”

I nodded as we rode our refreshed steeds. I had so many questions I could ask later, I was just anticipating the sight of the Great Sea. The concept of a body of water so vast that you cannot see the other side just confounds me, it must be amazing.

I thought I was prepared... I was wrong.

There are things in life that you hear about, but they are just stories, you think you understand the stories and always temper them with the fact that most tales are exaggerated again and again, gaining more bravado with each retelling. But when you actually witness these things with your own eyes, it is never quite what you were expecting. Seeing it makes it real with visceral details in a way that your imagination can't fathom.

We crested the ridge and my heart stopped beating. I have seen many maps of the habitable lands, and the Great Sea always just looked large compared to our lake, Dragontooth Lake. I knew it was nothing compared to the bodies of water from the Before times called oceans which covered much of the earth itself. So I tempered in my mind what to expect.

I was so wrong. I came to a halt on Goliath, I stopped breathing and I think my heart may have skipped a few beats. From our vantage point, I could see another sprawling valley and another ridge, but like a mirage, over that ridge a half days ride away was a third valley that disappeared into the water as far as my eye could see into the horizon to the north, south, and east.

I'm not really religious, I'm not sure what to believe, but seeing Heaven's Gate and now the Great Sea ahead of me... “Good God!” I had not been prepared to see such a sight. Again I felt so... small.

My fingers fumbled at my tool pouch and I pulled out my spyglass. Then looked again. I could see white sails dotting the water's glassy surface. I couldn't tell what kind of boats they were from this distance but some appeared substantially larger than even the biggest fishing sloop on the Dragontooth, the Mermaid, which was almost forty feet long. Old man Hess Fisher actually lived on board it in a small cabin on the boat itself.

I lowered my spyglass taking one last look at the vast body of water, shaking my head. Then I paused, eyes were on me. I turned to see the other four looking at me oddly then back at the sea.

Rain gave me a soft smile and said, “Come now young Sora, we mustn't tarry if we are to get to a safe place to camp for the night. It's still a days ride before we even reach the sea.”

I nodded and put my spyglass away and absently urged Goliath into motion without taking my eyes off the sea.

How was it possible for so much water to exist? That was enough to feed and awaken so much of the uninhabitable lands. They say it is over two hundred miles long and a hundred miles wide at it's narrowest point, and takes over ten days to ride around.

I smiled at myself for behavior befitting a child seeing the wonders of Carnival for the first time. I lamented when we descended into the valley and that last ridge swallowed up the spectacular view.

We rode in silence now that we were deep into Solomon territory. I worried what would happen if we were caught, I didn't have the protections of the Prince's diplomatic escort as they were with Celeste. She would be so angry I left the Gypsy encampment where I was safe. But I couldn't sit around and do nothing, letting Mother Udele's torture continue. It would be days before Celeste returned.

Then I relaxed a little as I remembered I was traveling as one of the People, not as a Knight of Wexbury. No realm has say nor sway over the Gypsies and we were free to travel anywhere we wished without informing the realms. But... those dark knights. Was anything certain anymore?

The Hinterland Forest swallowed us. On the Backside, there seemed to be virtually no conifers. I saw a pine or two but it was a dense leafy forest much like the Black Forest between Flatlash and Treth. It was lush and green and full of life. I caught glances of deer, elk and many woodland creatures as we progressed.

From time to time I noticed odd marks on some trees, they looked old and resembled some of the runes on my clothing. Gypsy markers? I paid closer attention to my surroundings. We had turned off the larger trail, well worn by wagons, to what looked essentially like a deer trail we were following as we diverged from the river some time back. Multiple game trails were crisscrossing through the trees. I nodded, they were trail markers to ensure we stayed on the right path.

We emerged from the forest onto that road again at some high rocks over a narrow spot in the river. I blinked. In front of us was a work of art. A wood suspension bridge multiple times the size of the two little foot bridges at the west end of Cheap Quarter into the warehouse district, a shortcut to the market.

This one had soaring posts as thick as tree trunks and a webwork of ropes tied in intricate patterns, more decorative than functional in most cases. The swooping main ropes supported the plank pathway with regularly spaced suspender ropes. The planks looked to be of hardwood as thick as my leg, broad as my chest, and there was even a carved railing on either side.

It tasted of elegance and age, I had never heard of it's like. The realms built most of our bridges, even the small ones, out of stone. That way they were more durable and not subject to the weather and ravages of time, and they did not sway in the wind or undulate as a rope bridge did.

Rumors of the foot bridges in Cheap Quarter are that a hundred years hence, one of the gardeners got together with the others and they pooled their resources and set up rope bridges to pull their harvests across to the warehouses without informing the Duke. They were added to over time and eventually became the footbridges that are just barely wide enough for a person to walk it pushing a cart. The Dukes over the years have ignored these unofficial bridges because they helped the citizens of the Keep.

I swallowed when I realized we were to cross a rope bridge with horses! We stopped and Ranelle told me, “One at a time. Lead your horse.” I nodded and laid my hand on one of the great supports, it was carved with various gypsy symbols. It was gorgeous.

I asked, “How have I not heard of such a bridge. This is incredible.”

It was Sara who answered with a sly tone to her voice. “The People have a great many things the Altii do not know about yet. For as many of them as there are scurrying about the lands, they are still young and ignorant and have not explored all there is in this world.”

She paused when the Great Mother cleared her throat. Sara's eyes went wide as she quickly added, “No offense Sora.” I just inclined my head. She was right after all. I smiled internally that she had spoken to me like I was one of her own, forgetting where I hailed from for a moment.

Roman went first. Walking slowly, leading his horse, who made nervous grunting sounds as they stepped onto the planks. There was a groan as the bridge swayed to readjust to the weight then they made their way across. It was wide enough that two horses could walk side by side.

When they made it across he moved aside and studied the shore then signaled. Ranelle walked quickly, without pause, her horse followed without protest. They had obviously done this often as they seemed to have no apprehension at all. Then Penelope whispered to me, “Your turn, my Sora.”

I gave her a toothy grin. “Yes, of course. I'm not nervous about falling into the river at all, piece of cake.”

She and Sara chuckled. Then Sara said in a low voice, “Just don't look down.”

Mother Luna! Why did she have to go and say that? I know she was trying to be helpful, but when you tell someone not to do something, their first inclination is to do exactly that.

I asked, “Why can we not just ford the river on horseback instead? I'm not afraid of a little water and Goliath is an exceptional swimmer.”

She replied with a sympathetic smile and said, “The river is too swift here. It is half a day's ride to an area it would be safe.”

I grinned nervously and then sighed heavily to their chuckles. I pouted as I stepped up to the first plank. “Be nice, this is my first time.” I spun to catch the smiling girls ready to tease and admonished, “And no virgin jokes.” This got explosive laughter from them and they covered their mouths. So much for stealth. I stuck my tongue out at them, then I turned back to the task at hand and steeled myself.

I took a deep breath and stepped onto the bridge, Goliath following. When his weight was on the bridge, the ropes groaned and creaked, but we didn't go plummeting to our doom as I had envisioned. I turned to him and said nervously, “See boy? No reason to be apprehensive.” He was in cahoots with the evil snickering women, as he didn't seem perturbed. Traitor.

I turned back and started walking, my hand on the smooth railing that looked to be carved walnut. One step at a time, feeling the sway of the bridge and getting comfortable enough with it by the midpoint to speed up. I, of course, looked down. May Sara eat only sour apples. I swallowed and felt my stomach lurch. We were so far over the river, and it has whitewater even more violent than the ones turning my paddle wheel experiment.

I looked back up, come on Laney, pull yourself together. I exhaled, centered myself then walked the rest of the way with my eyes glued to the opposite end of the bridge. We stepped off and I hugged Goliath's leg, “See boy? It wasn't so bad.”

Ranelle said teasingly, “You look absolutely pale Laney.”

I gave her a toothy grin. “I don't remember asking your opinion, Rain.” I looked at Roman then quickly amended, “Great Mother.”

She chuckled. “Rain is fine in our group lady.”

I crinkled my nose at her and looked away haughtily as she chuckled again. I turned to watch the other two cross without any hesitation. Grr.

Then we were mounted up and continued our downward trek, cutting off the road onto a deer trail just a hundred yards down. I noted that it was much warmer already, quickly heating toward summer temperatures again as we moved down the foothills.

There are times in your life that are burned into your memory, because something powerfully emotional happened, whether it was great joy, sorrow, or fear. Fear is the most likely to burn itself in because it is at the heart of the primal nature of mankind. Fight or flight. What happened next was one of those moments. When I think about it now, it seems silly compared to facing down two Adepts at the Monolith, but then again, they weren't threatening to eat me. The giant grizzly that reared up in our path and issued a roaring challenge was.

The horses spooked and I had to rein in Goliath. A grizzly could take down a horse, but most likely not one the size of mine. But it still spooked him. I wasn't sure what to do. Did we run?

It started to charge, but I thought bears were afraid of humans. Rain held a hand back and I glanced back to see the two archers lower their bows. My instinct was to run, theirs was to fight.

Then what followed scared me as much as the bear. Ranelle, the leader of the Mountain Gypsies, slid off her horse and stepped toward the charging bear as it bellowed in rage. She held a hand up in front of her and I could taste just a wisp of her sweet power. And the bear reared up on its hind legs towering above her. Mother Luna, it had to have been almost eight feet tall.

It roared down at her but didn't attack. Ranelle seemed unphased as she just reached forward and placed her hand on the bear's chest and asked in a concerned tone, “What seems to be the problem? You seem awfully agitated.”

She actually started to scratch the bear's chest and it lowered to all fours and roared at her again then started making a grunting growling sound as she started scratching the bear's ears. “There, see? You don't have to be so loud.” The bear seemed to begin to enjoy the scratching and leaned into her, almost knocking the insane Gypsy woman over.

Rain thumped its shoulder solidly a couple times like you would a pet dog and started scanning around as she said, “Let's see if we can figure this out.” She looked up and chuckled. Then looked at the bear and said, “That explains it, ma'am. We didn't mean to startle your family, your cubs are safe and we'll be moving along now.”

I turned in my saddle and looked up at where she had been looking, to see two cute little grizzly cubs up a nearby tree. The bear was a mother protecting her cubs, that is why she was attacking.

She gave the bear's ears one last scrub and told her as she turned her back to it, “We'll be taking our leave now.” Then she saddled up and signaled for us to follow as she moved slowly away from the mother bear.

As I passed, I smiled at the bear and she growled and did a mock lunge that got Goliath to sidestep then we left her behind to mind her children. It took a couple minutes before I could breathe properly and my heart stopped threatening to burst from my chest. Adrenaline is cruel like that. I looked at a seemingly unperturbed Rain and whispered, “You're genuinely unbalanced, you know that woman?”

She smiled and turned her head slightly to me without looking over. “She seemed upset about something. She wouldn't have attacked unless we threatened her cubs.”

I nodded as if in understanding and said teasingly, “One hundred percent nuts.” She seemed pleased at that as he smile grew and she urged her mount faster.

I turned in my saddle to look back at the bear then at the archers who only offered me apologetic shrugs and toothy grins. Bonkers, they are all bonkers... that was a grizzly! I grinned to myself and turned back in my saddle and caught up with the Great Mother.

We crested the far ridge of the valley as Father Sol dipped below the Whispering Walls. It was odd to see him lowering in the mountains instead of rising from them. We stopped in an alcove in a rock overhang. I could see the firelight of villages reflecting off of the glassy surface of the Great Sea far below. It was too dark to make out much.